The Government and people keep focusing on this stupid funding and as a result everything else is ignored. Given that the Governments control the funding it is a concern!

Nobody can turn back time, and beliefs and cultures cannot be changed overnight.

What the Government needs to do is to maintain their support of the Private system and at the same time increase support and funding for the Public system.

They need to lift the Public system without trying to bring the Private Schools down so as to make Public schools competitive at the Private school level so that the new kids on the block that start in the Public System will remain there. So many people that I know started their kids in the Public System. My third one is moving next year from the Public to the Catholic. We didn't want that, we wanted him to stay in the Public system but they wouldn't place him in the school he needed to meet his identified social and intellectual needs. It impacts our whole family as I have to find more work. Apparently he didnt' get enough test marks on a day so they couldn't take into consideration his request for special consideration. So we left.

The Government always wants to bring down the top and level the playing field - Labor way. Question I would ask is whether it is in our best interests to bring the standards down?

Petal,

By diverting the money from one area to another you save $2bn? I guess you were trained at the school of creative accounting. I guess your arts degree is sufficent armour to make an emotional attack. Your links and blogs do just that, are completely without economic substance, and are simply the politics of envy

My error was taking your assertions seriously, something I won't repeat.

Even the labor government has recognised the contribution that independent schools make and are not going to change the funding model even though private schooling is anathema to them.

Petal,
Ultimately, student outcomes have very little to do with funding, and much more to do with teachers attitudes and teaching methods being used

I have rarely found a feminist who places any value on the male gender, other than being a source of funding for women.

I understand girls will frequently refer to boys as being “hunks” and “spunks”, with no objection shown at all by feminists, and I have regularly seen girls slapping, hitting and kicking boys, but rarely have I heard any objection to this from feminists.

The greatest danger to the education system is that there will become large imbalances and quite severe discrimination and prejudice in future years, due to the shortage of male teachers.

I rather like the research by the Rand Corporation " the most critical factors [educational achievement] appears to be socioeconomic ones. These factors include parental education levels, neighbour hood poverty parental occupation and family income"

If any one really, and I believe nobody really does, want to what investigate what makes a difference in education read Hart, Betty and Riseley, Todd "Meaningfull diference in everyday experience of young american children. Or Google its citation references

A summary is in American Educator with the title of something like the '30 million word catastrophe" - available through google.

Yes it is the parents. And sorry, for good or evil, it is the mother because she has the child from 0 - 3. Effectively school outcomes are decided before the child enters the school. Research the concept of "school readiness". Not popular concept in Aust but research backs it and your local kinder teacher can confirm it.

School choice makes little difference, nor teachers (for the obvious reason that the average kid will have the average teacher over their school life). Single sex schools have a short term positive effect but (and any one can see why) long term is negative. Parents are fond of gifted programs but their effect is neutral in the long run. Selective schools, private schools do worse than public in such measures in the long run. If one wants a illustraion of the ineffectiveness of schools ask why Catholic schools are full but their churches are empty?

None of which even comes close to the efect of mothers behavior 0 - 3.

"By diverting the money from one area to another you save $2bn?"

It's also referred to as "economic management". Run a business well, and it costs you less money to do so! Sorry if that concept is unfamiliar to you. Who's the one without "economic substance" now? I'll say it one last time: Read. The. Link. Once again, it's obvious from responses like this that our education system is indeed sadly lacking.

"Ultimately, student outcomes have very little to do with funding, and much more to do with teachers attitudes and teaching methods being used"

Yes, I've heard the "funding" argument before - it is normally spouted by those who want to spend less money on public schools.

These posts seem to be dominated by HRS-a nazi feminist under every bed and Jolanda-seems to post forever about her kids not getting into NSW selective schools. I wrote to Leslie Cannold after her first article on not being able to afford to send her child to a private school. Result no answer-I obviously touched on some sensitive issues regarding her really meaning she wanted to choose an elite private $20 k school over say a modest $3k catholic school. The high school her son attends actually performs pretty well at VCE but obviously the charms of Wesley etc in her neighbourhood group are just too appealing. What is happening has much to do with what Yvvone is talking about. The stretched middle class-many publically educated in the 70's- with a deeply ingrained belief that they could have done better with a private education. This is the real driver for spending probably upto 50% of their household incomes on private school fees. The smart middle class identify high schools with a mainly middle class intake that perform well and position themselves to get their kids in-they move house, lie, whatever. How your kids perform in the long term has much to do with parents' intelligence , whether they have a degree,etc. Even if you spend $20k a year but model things at home like never reading a newspaper, watching crappy commercial TV, etc your kids are highly unlikely to be very positive about the value of education.