IS THE LABOR PARTY FAIR DINKUM ABOUT SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION?

The electorate have been treated to a lot of hype from the Labor Party about "An Agenda for the Knowledge Nation". But what have Barry Jones and Kim Beasley to say about public education?

The "Knowledge Nation"   Report can be found on the Australian Education Union website. The DOGS searched far and wide for discussion on public education - to little avail.  Finally, in Recommendation 11 they discovered the following:

Recommendation 11:

"The Commonwealth and the States should overhaul and modernise Australia's schools by:

• increasing the proportion of Commonwealth money going to public schools and funding non-government schools on the basis of need;

• raising school participation through a targeted program that tackles the causes of disadvantage;

• creating more linkages and co-location between schools and universities, including ongoing teacher skill development programs and mentoring programs for disadvantaged high school students;

• investing in the creation of a modern teaching profession through ongoing training and re-training programs, providin g financial incentives to teachers to upgrade their skills and qualifications, and, in partnership with the States and Territories, raising the standing of the teaching profession, particularly in critical areas of shortage suich as science and maths;

• making ICT literacy a core component of learning alongside literacy and numeracy by providing ongoing training for teachers in the use of ICT in the classroom, ensuring there is a national educational Internet portal for all schools and members of the community to use, expanding 'cyber libraries', making Internet access more affordable for all schools, and encouraging schools to develop and share high-quality online curricular; and

• providing children, from kindergarten through to Year 12 with a variety of experiences, encouraging a spirit of curiosity, excitement and their capacity for conceptual thinking to make linkages, form judgements, and to feel a sense of empowerment in a variety of disciplines, including language, music, art, sport, mathematics and communications. "

This Recommendation has echoes of the 1973 Karmel Committee Report. And DOGS noted then, and have been proved right, that it is disastrous for public education to be caught up in any government funding of private education whether it is on the basis of need or otherwise . Need has long since become greed while our public system goes begging.

But it is unlikely that Kim Beazley will even get back to where his father started in 1973. He does not appear to be as   interested in the welfare of the children in public schools as those in the private sector. After all, his children have been well served by the private church system at both the school and university level.

In  his media release on the Knowledge Nation Taskforce Report, dated 2 July 2001, Beazley does not mention public education. He only mentions the objective of

"Ensuring that 9 out of 10 young Australians leave their teens with a Year 12 or equivalent qualification."

This is a laudable objective. But how is Beazley going to do it? With the public or the private system? The denominational system with its sectarian objectives has failed ALL the Australian children in both the nineteenth and the twentieth century. Only the public system caters for ALL children.

Is Beazley, like Howard, going to condemn the majority of Australian children in the twenty first century to an under funded public system. In spite of his laudable objectives is he going to continue Labor party policy of kow towing to ecclesiastical influence in education funding?