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Thank you all for joining us today.
It is great to have so many school leaders, community representatives, academic experts and representatives from state and territory governments here to discuss school autonomy and, most importantly, how it can best contribute to improving education outcomes in Australia.
In particular, we will be hearing from Brian Caldwell and the findings of his new research project International Study of School Autonomy and Learning.
The research project was initiated by the Ministry of Education in Israel and participating countries include Australia, Canada, China, England, Finland and Singapore.
The project focuses on government schools and investigates
“the strength of links between higher levels of school autonomy and student achievement.”
So far, two key pieces of work have been completed:
- An overview of the research literature of the existing evidence on the links between higher levels of autonomy and student achievement; and,
- The completion of a set of case studies of autonomy in Australian schools.
While school autonomy has important benefits in terms of the management and governance of schools and reflecting community preferences; it is its potential impact in improving student performance that is most important.
Professor Caldwell has highlighted that there have been many studies on school autonomy and student performance, but that
“there is an absence of recent evidence in the Australian setting on the strengths of links between school autonomy and student achievement.”
Professor Caldwell’s research seeks to identify those aspects and elements we can draw from both Australian and international experience, that make school autonomy most effective in improving student performance.
The Australian Government has provided funding support for this international project because we want our policies to be informed by sound evidence about what works best.
We do not want school autonomy to become just another education fad because we did not understand how to implement it effectively. There are simply too many fads, and as a parent I will add that they often add to parental confusion, as they are rarely explained.
The potential for increased school autonomy to improve the quality of our education system is too important to ignore or to not utilise to the utmost.
The evidence shows, and overseas experience highlights, that increasing school autonomy can help lift student outcomes and better meet the needs of local communities.
The 2012 OECD analysis of PISA results showed that schools that have more power to make decisions on curricula and assessments perform better than schools with less autonomy over these matters.
OECD analysis also found students going to a school with greater autonomy to allocate resources scored nine points higher in mathematics than a student who attends a school with less autonomy.
The 2010 UK Schools White Paper concluded that:
“Across the world, the case for the benefit of school autonomy has been established beyond doubt. In a school system with good quality teachers, flexibility in the curriculum and clearly established accountability measures, it makes sense to devolve as much day-to-day decision making to the front line.”
Here in Australia, both the Productivity Commission[1] and the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission[2] have also reported regarding the effectiveness of school autonomy. However, they also highlighted that success depends on the types of responsibilities devolved, school capacity and how accountability for student outcomes is ensured.
As the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission argued, the real challenge is not whether…
…“there should be devolved decision making” but “rather it is about how far it should extend, through what means it should be given effect, and how to make sure schools are accountable for the decisions they make.”
We hope that this forum can help address these issues.
Some may ask why the Commonwealth Government, which is neither constitutionally responsible for schools nor employs any teachers or principals in schools, should be interested in school autonomy.
[Indeed, it is a question I have asked myself upon assuming this portfolio and working with Minister Pyne since the change of government].Certainly, the Commonwealth, with limited on-the-ground experience and capacity, must not be tempted into overreach, to try to micro-manage schools, or to take over functions that properly belong to the states and territories.
But the Commonwealth does have an important national leadership role, indeed, I suggest a responsibility, to identify national priorities and to promote initiatives and innovations across the states and territories that improve the quality of education for all Australians.
Because school autonomy can contribute to improving education quality this Government introduced the Independent Public Schools – or IPS – initiative, as a means to give further incentive to the states and territories to support school autonomy.
Following our commitment prior to the 2013 election, the Commonwealth is providing $70m over four years to states and territories to promote increased local decision making and parental and community engagement in participating government schools.
I am pleased that all jurisdictions are now participating in the IPS and more than 1,000 schools are currently benefiting from activities funded by the Commonwealth Government.
By 2017, it is estimated that more than 5,000 government schools across Australia will be participating in this IPS program.
And because we want to ensure school autonomy has the maximum impact in improving student outcomes, the Commonwealth is sponsoring research and this forum so that we understand how best to proceed in the future.
While school autonomy is a relatively new concept nationally, we saw from the opening video this morning that states like Western Australia have been forging ahead with their own IPS initiative for some time now.
And most importantly, delivering great results.
Some 57 per cent of public schools in Western Australia will be Independent Public Schools, which illustrates the success of this model.
The University of Melbourne’s 2013 report on the Western Australia IPS initiative found that IPS principals overwhelmingly maintained that, even in the early phase of the implementation of IPS, it has considerably enhanced the functioning of their school and will lead to better outcomes for the whole school community.
And while the University of Melbourne research noted that it was too early to illustrate a causal link between increased school autonomy and improved student outcomes, it was clear that many benefits can come from giving schools more autonomy – for students, for teachers, for school leaders and principals.
Victoria, my home state, has been a pioneer in this area.
I am pleased that education leaders from Western Australia and Victoria are here today to talk about their experiences, and so too the representatives from other states who are also taking initiative in this area.
This forum provides an opportunity to further shape the Australian context for school autonomy and to consider how we can learn from international and Australian school autonomy initiatives.
Let me briefly comment on Professor Caldwell’s research and the others presenting papers today.
So far, Professor Caldwell has presented two key pieces of work that have been completed: an overview of the research literature of the existing evidence on the links between higher levels of autonomy and student achievement, and the completion of a set of case studies of autonomy in Australian schools.
These papers are available today.
While Professor Caldwell will soon share with us more detail on the research, there are a couple of standouts for me, which I would like to share.
First, higher levels of school autonomy are associated with higher levels of student achievement, providing this is balanced with accountability.
The issue for policy makers is clarifying what does “balanced with accountability” mean in practice and how do school systems manage this appropriately?
Second, Professor Caldwell’s research highlights that autonomy proves most effective when schools make decisions on issues like selecting and supporting outstanding teachers, allocating funds to high priorities among student needs, and engaging parents to support their children’s learning.
For this to occur, the role of principals as school leaders working with the support of their staff and also connecting with parents is critical.
This raises issues about the quality of selection and training and development of both school principals and teachers across Australia.
Professor Caldwell will no doubt expand on these points. I’m looking forward to hearing what he has discovered as he further explored the links between school autonomy and performance in the context of the case studies he conducted in schools in Queensland, the ACT and Victoria.
These schools: Broadmeadows Primary School in Victoria; Specimen Hill Primary School in Victoria; Canberra High School in the ACT, and Millmerran State P-10 School in Queensland are all represented here today by their principals.
These schools were selected through the international research project and are not linked to the Government’s Independent Public Schools initiative, so they provide us with four independent case studies of schools that illustrate how the links to student achievement have been made.
The four schools represent a mixture of urban, rural and remote locations.
Anecdotal evidence provided by each school reinforces findings from the first phase of the project and suggest that the strongest link between school autonomy and student achievement is in the work of school leaders in building the professional capacity of staff.
I’d like to quickly look at one of the case studies, to give you an idea of the sorts of transformative action made possible by increased school autonomy.
At Broadmeadows Primary School in Victoria, the principal, Mr Keith McDougall, identified a need and was create a new teaching model aimed at improving student reading skills across the school.
This resulted in the school improving its NAPLAN results, either better or substantially better than similar schools in reading.
This is just one example of the types of benefits that come with increased school autonomy, and one we are determined to see more schools in Australia enjoying.
What the Government most wants from this forum is a clear indication of what we have learned both in Australia and internationally about how school autonomy can best be implemented so that it provides real benefits for schools, teachers, principals, parents and most importantly, for students.
School autonomy is one of our four pillars of our Students First priorities.
The others are: teacher quality; parental engagement; and a strong curriculum.
These are all intricately linked.
You cannot achieve effective school autonomy unless teachers have been trained to take responsibility and use their initiative in the classroom, and to be able to interact effectively with parents.
And school autonomy must involve a measure of parental engagement so that schools can better understand the needs of their students and the aspirations of the local community.
Let me now handover to Professor Caldwell who will give us an overview of his research findings and set the scene for today
You will also hear about “Understanding School Autonomy’, ‘School Autonomy in Practice’, with presentations on the Australian school case studies and reviews of Independent Public Schools.
The last session of the Forum is on ‘Lessons for Future Education Policy’ will be of particular interest to all policymakers as we seek to develop the school autonomy further.
The contributions will help inform how we can progress this reform so that in the long term we get the best results for our students.
The Government is looking forward to the next stages of research and to hearing what the outcomes are from today.
Thank you for you participation in today’s forum.
You are helping us realise our goal, to put students first and secure the brightest possible future for the next generation.
[ENDS]
[1] Australian Government Productivity Commission Research Report (2012) Schools Workforce
[2] Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission report (2013): Making the Grade: Autonomy and Accountability in Victorian Schools Inquiry into School Devolution and Accountability