March 16th, 2008

Gillard, school education, and social inclusion

Andrew Norton wonders whether Julia Gillard is going to “upset the public school lobby” with her suggestions on schools funding:

DEPUTY Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to extend the model of funding private schools on a socio-economic basis to public schools in a move to confront disadvantage across both sectors.

As Norton notes, the details of Gillard’s proposals are unclear. But I’m not sure that the implication that he draws from it is the way this twist to the policy debate is likely to play out:

To the extent that currently ‘over-funded’ government schools in affluent areas lost out, it would speed the shift to the private system. I don’t think the public school lobby is going to like the implications of what Gillard is suggesting. But it will be tricky for them to handle. ‘Equity’ is one of their cloaks of respectability, and it will be hard for them to argue against more money for poor schools.

That presumes that there will still be a distinct public school lobby when and if this becomes a reality as opposed to musing. What Gillard is suggesting, as I read the excerpts from the interview she gave, is fleshing out Kevin Rudd’s desire to reframe the debate so that it transcends arguments about the ownership of schools. It also, I think, entails a somewhat different funding system for private schools after 2012, because that would almost be a sine qua non of an integrated system which applies federal funding to every school on the basis of “social inclusion” objectives. This really is genuine “third way” thinking - in that it seeks to undercut the ideological grounds of current disputes. But it’s worth noting that it has its own ideological twist. Perhaps I haven’t quite caught the Blairite groove, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that “social inclusion” isn’t the first thing that a lot of supporters of private education have uppermost in their minds.

Cross-posted at Larvatus Prodeo.

Tags: education , julia gillard