Politics and school education in Australia: a case of shifting purposes

• Published in: Journal of educational administration 2010-01, Vol.48 (2), p.182-195
• Main Authors: Cranston, Neil, Kimber, Megan, Mulford, Bill, Reid, Alan, Keating, Jack
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administrative Organization; Australia; Australia. Dept of Education, Science and Training (DEST); Australia. Dept of Employment, Education and Training (DEET); Citizenship education; Coalition governments; Comparative analysis; Content Analysis; Council for the Australian Federation; Curricula; Democratic values; Education; Education policy; Education sector; Educational Administration; Educational Change; Educational Development; Educational history; Educational Improvement; Educational leadership; Educational Objectives; Educational Policy; Efficiency; Equal Education; Equality; Federal government; Federal Regulation; Federal State Relationship; Federalism; Foreign Countries; Funding; Funding formulas; Government policy; Government Role; Government School Relationship; Ideology; Labor; Literature Reviews; Managerialism; Markets; Melbourne Declaration; Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (Australia) (MCEETYA); National Curriculum; National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools; Participative Decision Making; Policy analysis; Policy formation; Politics; Politics of Education; Position Papers; Primary secondary education; Private education; Public education; Public good; Responsibilities; School Based Management; School Districts; School Restructuring; School systems; Schools; Social efficiency; Social justice; Social Mobility; Socioeconomic status; Studies; Upward mobility; Values education; Young Adults
• ISSN: 0957-8234; 1758-7395
• DOI: 10.1108/09578231011027842

Purpose - The paper aims to argue that there has been a privileging of the private (social mobility) and economic (social efficiency) purposes of schooling at the expense of the public (democratic equality) purposes of schooling.Design methodology approach - The paper employs a literature review, policy and document analysis.Findings - Since the late 1980s, the schooling agenda in Australia has been narrowed to one that gives primacy to purposes of schooling that highlight economic orientations (social efficiency) and private purposes (social mobility).Practical implications - The findings have wider relevance beyond Australia, as similar policy agendas are evident in many other countries raising the question as to how the shift in purposes of education in those countries might mirror those in Australia.Originality value - While earlier writers have examined schooling policies in Australia and noted the implications of managerialism in relation to these policies, no study has analysed these policies from the perspective of the purposes of schooling. Conceptualising schooling, and its purposes in particular, in this way refocuses attention on how societies use their educational systems to promote (or otherwise) the public good.