Will our world class public education system be kicked into the dustbin of history by fearful politicians and religious bureauc Even if the Gillard Government survives and gets sufficient finance - they do not have the intestinal fortitude to call the bluff of the sectarian lobb The public education system and is being starved out of existence
Since 1964 diversion of billions of dollars of public funding from the public to the private education sector has undermined public education.
Since the 1990s -with
private/public partnerships;
shared facilities;
independent public schools;
and refusal to build new public schools in developing areas
attempts are being made to privatise public education. Australian parents are expected to mortgage their children’s future in a ‘user-pays’ economic system in which ‘choice’ - with ‘no choice’ for the poor - reigns supreme.
BUT
In 2013 conservative Australian governments are going one step further.
They are considering blatant profiteering in the primary and secondary as well as the tertiary sector of education.
Katherine Feeney brisbanetimes.com.au urban affairs reporter and blogger reported on 28 January 2013 that the Queensland Newman Government’s Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek is considering the introduction of for-profit primary and high schools. He sees the outsourcing of the educational opportunities of a nation’s children this as a logical extension of the principle of ‘choice.’
The Baillieu Government, with Martin Dixon from the Catholic Education Office at the Ministry of Education helm, is imposing private, fee-paying education on Victorian parents. The choice of a free, secular and universal public education for Victorian children is UP FOR SALE to the private sector
The current debate over the Federal Government’s proposed anti-discrimination legislation has thrown into relief the inevitable result of entanglement between religion and the state.
The draft Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Bill is currently being examined by a Senate inquiry and some church leaders claim that the Prime Minister had assured that that she has no intention of limiting religious freedom –code for their freedom to discriminate on the basis of religion and lifestyle.
Labor's Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill which is currently before the Senate offers religious employers open slather. It has long been a problem for teachers. It is now becoming a political issue.
DOGS are not surprised. They have always said that centuries of religious conflict led the Men of the Enlightenment to realise that If you break the principle of separation of religion and the State;
The Australian Education Debate is top-heavy with facts, figures, testing procedures and statistics.
Yet there is a crucial figure that is constantly left out of the private school funding equation: taxation expenditures which generally go by the name of taxation exemptions.
Julia Gillard is looking for at least $4 billion for Australian public schools. Perhaps she should be looking at the non-for profit profiteering sector to find it.
Finland has repeatedly rated near the top in international rankings based on science, mathematics and literacy. Sydney teacher Katrina Kemp visited the country to learn why.
The Melton Mowbray College and Mernda Acacia College closures are proof of the failure of the ‘market’ to educate children. The State Government has failed to provide sufficient State secondary facilities in these growing areas, leaving it to the so-called ’independent’ sector.