A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald has reconfirmed Australia’s above-average penchant for private education.
According to the SMH, Australia now has a high rate of enrolment in non-government schools, compared to our OECD counterparts and the lowest proportion of students enrolled in NSW government schools since Federation.
“A report released recently by the NSW Department of Education and Communities shows the share of children attending private schools has swelled by 10 per cent in NSW in three decades,” the paper wrote on August 24.
“Last year, just 65.7 per cent of students in NSW were enrolled in a government school”.
The report highlights an interesting trend towards private education and reveals that a marketised education system is very much a reality in Australia.
Since the 1990s, much of the Western world has seen a shift in education towards a focus on creating students who will function successfully in a global economy. It is underpinned at its heart by neo-liberalism and the ideology of the free market.
But a market-based approach to education has been widely criticised.
Nodding, for example, in 2003, argued that “it is as though our society has simply decided that the purpose of schooling is economic – to improve the financial condition of individuals and advance the prosperity of the nation. Hence, students should do well on standardised tests, get into a good college, obtain well-paying jobs and buy lots of things.” (p.3)
Despite criticisms of the privatisation of education, it continues to grow in sway, moving away from a privilege of the elite, to an increasingly common choice for the middle and even working class.
In his discussions on cultural politics and education, Michael Apple (1996) writes about countries’, particularly the United States’, growing belief that a good education is directly tied to economics.
He argues that a new right-wing hegemonic alliance is dominating the sphere of education by capitalising on society’s ‘fears’ and ‘panic’ over falling standards in education, violence and economic fragility.
“Because so many parents are justifiably concerned about the economic and cultural futures of their children… rightist discourse connects with the experiences of many working class and middle class people.” (1996, p.6)
I think this quote is particularly relevant to the situation in Australia. More and more working and middle class people are sending their children to private schools, out of some kind of fear that their children will be ‘left behind’ if they don’t. And it this ‘middle-class flight’ that is really driving these private school enrolment figures up.
University of Melbourne’s professor Richard Teese, told the SMH that parents are increasingly concerned with giving their children what they perceive to be a competitive advantage.
“There's no evidence I know of that suggests that those concerns are more satisfied in the private sector than the public sector,'' he said. ''But the perception that there is, is a deeply held one.”
Indeed, one quote in the article by Sydney father John*, illustrates this perception perfectly.
“I think if you're going to spend money on anything during your life the best thing you can invest in is your kids' education.”
But scarily, the flight to private education raises serious concerns about equality. For those who cannot afford a private education, will they be ‘left behind’ in the new global economy, where a price on education garners such importance? Will such a trend work to reinforce the hegemonic structure of society where those without ‘cultural capital’ are essentially locked-out and barred from breaking the ranks?
Tovey, J. (2013). Gone are the days of the old school yard, The Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved 24 August 2013, from: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/gone-are-the-days-of-the-old-school-yard-20130823-2sh09.html
Apple, M.W. (1996). Cultural politics and education, New York, Teachers College Press
Noddings, N. (2003). Happiness and education, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
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