Centre for Public Education
Our current system of education must embark on a bold transformation to ensure all of our young people have access to a high quality twenty-first century education, regardless of where they live, their gender, cultural background or socio-economic status.
At a systemic level we are faced with a complex array of barriers to an equitable and excellent system of education. These include, but are not limited to – outdated definitions of school, learning and public education; sectors of schools which are deeply divided and competitive; narrow measures of school and student performance; awareness of required changes but lack of political will and courage to make change; a funding arrangement which protects advantage; a national perception that private education equates to a ‘better’ education; parents and educators feeling problems are too large and cumbersome to address; students without any voice or opportunity to contribute to change.
This landscape must change.
Building on the rich twenty two year history of the Education Foundation, and utilizing the substantial platform and human resources of the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), in 2011 we will proudly launch the Centre for Public Education, which will be
- An independent advocate for a system of school education built on the pillars of equity, democracy and imagination
- An organisation without vested interest, which will form new partnerships and surprising alliances for change
- A risk-taker, prepared to address the deep, entrenched and often-unfamiliar barriers to change.
Our initial priorities will be
New measures of success – Creating a broader set of metrics for success at an individual and school level, in line with the goals identified in the Melbourne Declaration.
New funding arrangements – Introduction of an equitable and transparent State and Commonwealth funding arrangement for all schools. Continuing the work of ‘Case for Change’ and ‘A New Federalism’. This will go beyond core funding and will also look at DGR, payroll tax and other associated incentives / disincentives for resourcing our schools.
New champions for public education – Seeking to recruit a broad base of champions for Public Education in order to build pride in our public schools, create a major shift in public discourse and reverse the drift to private schools.
