Searching for the public: school funding and shifting meanings of ‘the public’ in Australian education

Abstract

School funding is a principal site of policy reform and contestation in the context of broad global shifts towards private- and market-based funding models. These shifts are transforming not only how schools are funded but also the meanings and practices of public education: that is, shifts in what is ‘public’ about schooling. In this paper, we examine the ways in which different articulations of ‘the public’ are brought to bear in contemporary debates surrounding school funding. Taking the Australian Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski Report) as our case, we analyse the policy report and its subsequent media coverage to consider what meanings are made concerning the ‘publicness’ of schooling. Our analysis reveals three broad themes of debate in the report and related media coverage: (1) the primacy of ‘procedural politics’ (i.e. the political imperatives and processes associated with public policy negotiations in the Australian federation); (2) changing relations between what is considered public and private; and (3) a connection of government schooling to concerns surrounding equity and a ‘public in need’. We suggest these three themes contour the debates and understandings that surround the ‘publicness’ of education generally, and school funding more specifically.

Keywords:

• School funding
• public education
• media
• education policy

Notes

1. For example, a recently established OECD initiative is its ‘School Resources Review’ series, which, according to Nusche et al. (2016), is designed ‘to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education’ (Nusche et al. 2016, 3). See here for a list of countries that have participated in the review: http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/school-resources-review-reports-participating-countries.htm

2. This research is based on a Melbourne Graduate School of Education Seed Funding Grant, 2015.

3. In Australia, The Australian is typically understood as editorially right wing and is owned by media proprietor Rupert Murdoch, while The Age is generally considered to sit more to the left. The ABC is a government-funded media outlet, and is legislatively required to provide ‘balanced’ coverage. Despite this, conservative pundits and politicians often charge it for being left-leaning.

4. Based on 2015 data, which is the most current data available. See Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4221.0 Schools, Australia, 2015: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4221.0

5. See: http://www.igiveagonski.com.au/