Non-government schools are good for democracy in Australia

A recurring argument in the so-called “public versus private” debate is that non-government schools undermine social cohesion, and thereby threaten Australian democracy.

The dominant theme of such criticism is that social cohesion is endangered by “social exclusion”, which non-government schools are said to practise by virtue of their enrolment policies (which may favour certain religious, ethno-religious or cultural groups) or fee structures (which may limit enrolments to those who can afford to pay).

While the conviction that religious and other non-government schools are socially divisive appears to be strongly held by its proponents – including politicians, trade unionists, academics and education bureaucrats – there is little evidence to support it. On the contrary, all the evidence suggests that non-government schools contribute significantly to the development of social capital in Australia and are symbols of the health of our pluralist society, not a sign of its demise.

The work of US academics Anthony S. Bryk, James Coleman, Jay P. Greene and others shows that private schools in the United States are better integrated racially and economically than public schools, are more likely to produce “publicly spirited citizens” and that children in private schools are more likely to voluntarily associate with members of a different racial or ethnic group than children in public schools.

As yet, there is little research in Australia to add to the evidence of the US studies. However, reports issued by the Australian Council for Educational Research show students attending Catholic and independent schools are more likely to undertake volunteering, while students in independent schools are more likely to achieve better academically even after discounting for socio-economic status (studies by James Coleman and others link social capital with academic achievement), and have higher levels of school engagement (which has been linked to civic engagement).

The assumptions underlying arguments that non-government schools undermine social cohesion are also questionable, beginning with the assumption that social democracy survives on secularism. Use of the terms ‘public’ and ‘private’ deserve particular scrutiny. There is a very real distinction between the public purposes of schooling and the public institutions of schooling that use of these terms obscures.

Government ownership of schools is not a necessary condition of provision of public education, nor is it a guarantee of an inclusive environment. It should be obvious to even the casual observer that government schools, especially at the primary level, reflect the socio-economic profile of their catchment area. The influence of geographic location on academic achievement has been almost as well publicised as the attempts of parents to overcome it.

School choice (or “social exclusion” to use the language of critics of non-government schools) in the government schools sector is commonly practised through out-of-area enrolments, real estate purchase or, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, competition for places in the academically selective high schools.

Over one million Australian children – or one in three school students – are currently enrolled in non-government schools. Most of those schools have a religious affiliation. Catholic systemic schools enrol nearly 20 per cent of Australian students, and independent schools enrol 12 per cent of students. Independent schools include Christian schools of both the larger and smaller denominations and the non-denominational. As well there are Jewish schools, Islamic schools, Aboriginal community schools, special schools for students with disabilities and learning difficulties, and schools with non-mainstream educational philosophies such as the Montessori and Steiner schools. Overarching this diversity is a multi-layered system of regulatory and accountability mechanisms to ensure the public and civic goals of schooling are met.

The sheer number of students involved in non-government schooling, and the commonality at the core of their learning experience, is evidence that Australia has in place a system of schooling that successfully meets wider societal purposes, and at the same time supports cultural, ethnic and religious self-determination and accommodates individual needs and aspirations.

Most would see this not as an unravelling of our social fabric but as evidence of a pluralist democracy at its best.