ABC AM with Lexi Metherell

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview on ABC AM Date: 3 February 2014 Time: 8am SUBJECT: Independent Public Schools PRESENTER: The Federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, is asking all Federal MPs to talk to their local schools to encourage them to become independent public schools, where parents and principals have a far greater say. Under the Pyne plan, there will be more autonomy over how schools are run, curriculums are set and budgets spent. The Commonwealth has set aside $70 million to achieve its goals to have a quarter of all public schools independent by 2017. Education Minister Christopher Pyne is speaking here to Lexi Metherell. LEXI METHERELL: Christopher Pyne, the Commonwealth wants a quarter of all schools to become independent public schools by 2017, and you’re asking all Federal MPs to encourage their local schools to take up this system. Do you expect Labor MPs to comply? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yes, I do Lexi, because you might have forgotten that some time ago that Julia Gillard used to take credit for the Western Australian Independent Public Schools Model, and Chris Bowen the shadow treasurer wrote in his book last year that he was in favour of independent public schools, and Alannah MacTiernan who’s the Member for Perth from Western Australia, she’s in favour of more autonomy for public schools. So, in fact, there are many Labor people, including the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who want to take credit for this initiative. LEXI METHERELL: What exactly will the $70 million be spent on? Will it be spent on transitioning schools into this system? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think probably the money will mostly be used for the training and empowering of principals, their leadership teams and school boards so that they are ready to become independent public schools. LEXI METHERELL: Is this the best use of the education dollar? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We promised before the election that we would have an Independent Public Schools initiative, that we had a target of 1500 public schools by 2017. It sure is a tight budgetary situation, but the Treasurer, the Prime Minister and I have agreed that $70 million is about right to give this initiative the kick-along that we want to see happen. LEXI METHERELL: In Western Australia there have been independent schools now for about four years. But an evaluation by Melbourne University found there was little evidence that it had led to change in either achievement or enrolment. So does it actually lead to better student outcomes? What evidence is there for that? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, that’s not quite right. That report found that the story of the implementation into the Independent Public Schools initiative is a positive one. As quoting from the actual report, “with independent public schools’, principals overwhelmingly maintaining that even in the early phases of the implementation, the initiative is considerably enhanced. The functioning of their school created the opportunity to access more benefits and will lead to increased outcomes for the whole school community”. That’s quoting from the same report, so one doesn’t want to selectively quote from reports. The truth is that whether it’s international evidence, overwhelmingly all of that evidence, all that research shows the more autonomy at a local level, the better the outcomes for school students, and that should be our number one priority – putting students first to give our children the best opportunity they have to reach their best selves. LEXI METHERELL: It wasn’t a key recommendation of the Gonski Review, though, to introduce independent public schools. So how does this fit with that review of education funding? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, in fact, the Gonski Report did say that there should be more autonomy in public schools, so it did say that. But the Gonski Report is not, of course, the only important research paper on education. There are many others and the reports from the OECD, from the PISA results, from our own Australian researchers, from the Australian Council of Education Research, which is not a government-funded body. All of these indicated that the more autonomy at a school level, the more the principal can choose the staff, the curricula and extra-curricular activities, working with parents, working with the board, the better the outcomes for students. So, we want to do everything we can to give our students the best chance possible in life, and that’s why we’re going down this path. Ends