Education commons for the whole community
Australia needs to approach the long running public-private education debate
in new ways, according to UniSA’s Professor of Education, Alan Reid, who has
been researching the nation’s different education sectors and comparing them
with overseas education systems.
This research, based on international comparisons, led Prof Reid to propose a new approach to funding that draws both public and private schools into what he calls an “education commons”. At the centre of this approach is a reassertion of the public purposes of education.
“In the past decade, the federal government has emphasised the private benefits of education. We are told that there is an education market, with consumers who exercise choice. But large sums of public money go into education. The community has a right to expect that this money will also contribute to broad public goals,” he claims.
How can individual choice and the public good be balanced? Prof Reid proposes that we think about educational institutions as being part of an education commons.
“A commons is a public space that is held in common by the community to be used equally by all in the community, and where there are rules and regulations about its use that are publicly agreed on,” Prof Reid said.
In an education commons, educational institutions would be publicly funded, provided that they agree to sign up to a charter of public principles. Institutions that refuse would not receive any public funds. Such principles would go well beyond the present current minimum requirements for public funding. For example, they might include reference to the ways in which all schools should contribute to the building of a multicultural society.
“This might mean, for example, that private schools organised around a particular world view might have to demonstrate that their students have contact with people from different backgrounds, and are exposed to a range of views, cultures and experiences. This exposure to diversity might form, say, 10 per cent of a school’s formal curriculum time in order to get public money,” Prof Reid said.
“We can see this happening already. Some Muslim schools in Melbourne are working with local public schools on a curriculum project in years 5 and 7, and on community based projects with year 9 high school students, which they display publicly together.”
The education commons approach allows people to have choices about the education of their children but at the same time ensures that public purposes are being served, in this case, developing a multicultural and harmonious society.
“I believe that public money in relation to education should be spent on giving young people the broadest education possible. One of my concerns about the current system is that public money is going to some private stand-alone single view schools that push a particular view of the world,” Prof Reid said.
“Some people have been arguing strongly for an education market where people could simply get vouchers and shop around for the school of their choice. I strongly oppose that approach because I think it does not have within it any sense of public purpose and of education as a public good. It is about individuals and their private benefit and, invariably, it best suits people of means.
“My suggestion maintains the notion of choice but places it within a set of publicly agreed principles, which are seen to be about the public good.
“The Victorian government has moved a little in that direction. While not called an education commons, it is setting up a system where private schools have to agree to a whole range of measures that state schools need to accept so there is a growing sense that if private institutions are to receive public money, they should be serving public purposes.
“This is not an attack on private schools but an approach that says all schools should be working towards the same community goals. These goals should be established as part of democratic community dialogue,” Prof Reid said.
“Making funding the starting point has limited the debate on public and private schooling and stifled new ways of thinking about it. The logic of an education commons suggests an approach that is needs based, and strives to provide the very best educational opportunities and facilities for all Australian students, while maintaining diversity of choice.”
Prof Reid points out that at the moment his ideas are exploratory. The next step is to conduct some research into how public purposes are currently understood and enacted in Australian schools. This information will be gathered and analysed through interviews and survey questionnaires. The research is beginning to attract a lot of interest among professional organisations, not least because if offers different ways to think about the public/private debate in Australia.