Today, educators, researchers and young people are converging at a major forum to discuss the question ‘where now for public schooling in Australia?’.
The forum, hosted by UNSW Sydney’s Division of Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement and facilitated by Big Picture Learning Australia, explores how systems can deliver fulfilling, inclusive and engaging education for every student.
A recent report from the Productivity Commission found that rates of school retention are at a 10-year low, with one in five students (21%) failing to finish Year 12.
Additionally, surveys have shown many young people feel they don’t belong, and that they’re not learning in the ways the system demands, while for others, the curriculum doesn’t engage their interest, or they feel trapped in the classroom when they’d rather be exploring the world.
To address this, Federal, State and Territory Governments have put national school reform on the agenda. However, some experts say one key question that is often overlooked is whether the way we ‘do’ school is actually the problem.
Converging at today’s event to discuss this very question are leading thinkers, including authors, Dean Ashenden and Chris Bonnor; Verity Firth AM, Vice President of Societal Impact, Equity & Engagement at UNSW and former NSW Education Minister; and Viv White, AM, CEO & Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning Australia.
What reforms can fix education’s biggest problems?
In his new book, ‘Unbeaching the Whale: Can Australia’s schooling be reformed?’, Dean Ashenden argues that the ‘whale’ of schooling – 9,500 schools, tens of thousands of classrooms, 300,000 teachers and four million students - is beached.
He argues that the education system can be redesigned, but only with a coordinated commitment to change.
“Australian schooling is in big trouble. 'Performance' has been going backwards on most indicators for at least 20 years,” Ashenden told The Educator.
“Incremental fix-list reform like National School Reform Agreements can't work. They focus on symptoms not structural causes.”
Ashenden says Australia’s education system is in need of serious restructuring if it is to fix the serious problems it’s been facing.
“This includes restructuring the ‘grammar’ of schooling – the organisation of students' daily work, and learning careers,” he said. “The big need is to realise that kids are producers not consumers, and to organise learning programs around progress and growth.”
‘Schools cannot be standardised outlets anymore’
The sector system also needs a big overhaul, says Ashenden.
“The three sectors must move toward broadly common funding and regulation of choice and selection,” he said. “We also need to push responsibility from Canberra back into the states/territories; and move from top-down micro-management to supporting schools and school leadership.”
Ashenden said schools “cannot be standardised outlets anymore”.
“Like kids and teachers, they need space to find their own way,” he said. “I agree with Andy Mison, president of the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association: big reform is daunting, but the alternative is continued entropy.”
Ashenden says the best hope is in fitting incremental, step-by-step reforms into a long-term strategy.
“It won't happen unless there is a big push from below, driven by major professional organisations. The unions are crucial – but only if they take big reform as seriously as defending terms and conditions of employment.”