tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/school-fees-10197/articlesSchool fees – The Conversation2023-05-31T13:26:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2049242023-05-31T13:26:44Z2023-05-31T13:26:44ZFree secondary education in African countries is on the rise - but is it the best policy? What the evidence says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525851/original/file-20230512-29-k330gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa's secondary school enrolment rates still lag far behind those of other world regions'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Dorey/Contributor/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When President Salva Kiir <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/14/south-sudan-expands-access-free-education">announced the abolition of secondary school fees</a> in South Sudan in February 2023, he was following several fellow African leaders. </p>
<p><a href="https://presidency.gov.gh/index.php/briefing-room/news-style2/364-president-akufo-addo-launches-free-shs-policy">Ghana</a>, <a href="https://www.madagascar-tribune.com/Gratuite-des-inscriptions-dans-les-etablissements-scolaires-publics.html">Madagascar</a>, <a href="https://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-abolishessecondary-school-tuition-fees-full-free-education-by-jan-2019/">Malawi</a>, <a href="https://statehouse.gov.sl/president-bio-launches-free-education-calls-on-parents-andteachers-to-support-the-initiative/">Sierra Leone</a>, <a href="https://togobreakingnews.info/togo-gratuite-frais-de-scolarite-secondaire/">Togo</a>, and <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202202030616.html">Zambia</a> have all announced free secondary education policies in the last five years. Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa were early trendsetters in this regard.</p>
<p>Despite its popularity with policymakers, parents and other stakeholders, the abolition of secondary school fees in resource-constrained contexts is still a subject of debate. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://southafrica.un.org/en/191051-african-leaders-launch-education-plus-initiative#:%7E:text=Education%20Plus%20calls%20for%20free,to%2Dwork%20transitions%2C%20and%20economic">African Union</a>, global NGOs like <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/31/millions-children-denied-free-secondary-education">Human Rights Watch</a> and various United Nations agencies are in favour. </p>
<p>Others are sceptical. They highlight financial sustainability and equity implications, especially at the upper secondary level. A report by the Malala Fund, a global education NGO, <a href="https://r4d.org/resources/financing-upper-secondary-education-unlocking-12-years-education/">argued</a> that free upper secondary education “would be regressive in nature” and might not be affordable for low-income countries. </p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/8fa2c.html">systematic review</a> to take stock of the evidence. We conclude that free secondary education can be costly and inequitable in the short run, especially if it diverts resources from primary education. Based on these findings, we recommend a policy of “progressive universalism”: free education should be introduced gradually, starting with the lowest levels. </p>
<h2>Setting the scene</h2>
<p>Many African countries abolished primary school fees in the 1990s and early 2000s. This led to a <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/a55bc38c-5d2b-5932-83e4-debc56e30da9">major rise in enrolment</a>. But secondary school enrolment rates still lag far behind those in other world regions. <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.CMPT.LO.ZS?locations=ZG">Less than half</a> of children in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary education, compared to around 80% in South Asia and Latin America. High fees and related costs are a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08a5b40f0b6497400056a/School-fees-2012-Morgan-report.pdf">major impediment</a>, particularly for children from low-income backgrounds.</p>
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<img alt="A map of Africa, marked with various shades of red to indicate which countries have free secondary education" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525850/original/file-20230512-17-9ip8wm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Free secondary education policies in sub-Saharan Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors supplied</span></span>
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<p>The number of sub-Saharan Africa countries with free secondary education policies in place has increased rapidly over the last two decades. Almost half of all African countries now offer fee-free education at the lower secondary level. Almost one in three does so at the upper secondary level. The aim of the recent wave of free secondary education policies is to raise overall education levels – and, ultimately, countries’ <a href="https://cocorioko.net/president-bio-launches-free-education-calls-on-parents-and-teachers-to-support-the-initiative/">broader prosperity and social conditions</a>. </p>
<p>Abolishing school fees is also <a href="https://www.ghgossip.com/ghana-election-2020-free-shs-alone-can-boost-500k-votes-to-npps-win-franklin-cudjoe/">popular with voters</a>. This may have been on the minds of politicians seeking to win or maintain power.</p>
<h2>The cost of free education</h2>
<p>There are two major problems with secondary school fee abolition in resource-constrained states. The first is that, in most African countries, the majority of children from poor households would be ineligible for free secondary education. In Somalia, Niger and Mozambique, less than one in five of the poorest children <a href="https://www.education-inequalities.org/indicators/comp_prim_v2#maxYear=2019&minYear=2014&ageGroup=%22comp_prim_v2%22&dimension=%7B%22id%22%3A%22wealth_quintile%22%2C%22filters%22%3A%5B%22Quintile+1%22%2C%22Quintile+5%22%5D%7D&countries=%5B%22BDI%22%2C%22BEN%22%2C%22BFA%22%2C%22CAF%22%2C%22CIV%22%2C%22CMR%22%2C%22COD%22%2C%22COG%22%2C%22COM%22%2C%22ETH%22%2C%22GAB%22%2C%22GHA%22%2C%22GIN%22%2C%22GMB%22%2C%22GNB%22%2C%22KEN%22%2C%22LBR%22%2C%22LSO%22%2C%22MDG%22%2C%22MLI%22%2C%22MOZ%22%2C%22MRT%22%2C%22MWI%22%2C%22NAM%22%2C%22NER%22%2C%22NGA%22%2C%22RWA%22%2C%22SEN%22%2C%22SLE%22%2C%22SOM%22%2C%22SSD%22%2C%22STP%22%2C%22SWZ%22%2C%22TCD%22%2C%22TGO%22%2C%22TZA%22%2C%22UGA%22%2C%22ZAF%22%2C%22ZMB%22%2C%22ZWE%22%5D">complete primary school</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/only-1-in-3-girls-makes-it-to-secondary-school-in-senegal-heres-why-and-how-to-fix-it-200294">Only 1 in 3 girls makes it to secondary school in Senegal: here's why and how to fix it</a>
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<p>Moreover, even those eligible for free secondary education are often unable to attend. School fees constitute <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/facing-forward-schooling-for-learning-in-africa">less than half</a> of households’ education spending in most African countries. Most free secondary education policies do not cover the cost of essential non-fee expenses such as textbooks, school uniforms, meals and transport. Nominally “free” secondary education can therefore be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059311000101">unaffordable for low-income households</a>. This means the benefits of fee abolition would mainly accrue to children from relatively privileged households and not help those who needed it most.</p>
<p>The second problem is that enacting these policies is very expensive. Empirical evidence from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2020.1789066">Ghana</a>, The <a href="https://academic.oup.com/wber/article-abstract/33/1/185/2420643?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Gambia</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775721000467">Kenya</a> and other countries shows that free secondary education policies can substantially increase secondary school enrolment and completion rates in the short run. But they do so at a very high cost: the average expense per senior secondary student is <a href="https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/node/819#:%7E:text=2015-,Pricing%20the%20right%20to%20education%3A%20The%20cost,reaching%20new%20targets%20by%202030&text=This%20paper%20shows%20there%20is,and%20lower%20middle%20income%20countries">equivalent to that of five primary school pupils</a>. </p>
<p>Considering the <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/277051/africa-sovereigns-left-exposed-to-looming-debt-crisis-afdb/">precarious financial position</a> of many African states, providing free secondary schooling to the entire population is likely to be fiscally unsustainable. </p>
<p>It may also divert scarce resources away from basic education, which is already chronically underfunded. In Malawi for example, which recently abolished secondary school fees, there are <a href="https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/packed-classrooms-reality-educational-planners-malawi-13351">more than 70 students</a> per primary school teacher.</p>
<h2>What is to be done?</h2>
<p>Access to education is <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/human-rights/universal-declaration/translations/english">a human right</a>. In an ideal world, the global community would ensure that all children could enjoy a full cycle of free, high-quality education. </p>
<p>Most African countries are far removed from this scenario, however. Policymakers must balance the potential benefits of abolishing secondary school fees against the urgent need for investment in basic education. </p>
<p>In many cases, this would suggest a phased approach to introducing free education, which prioritises public spending on basic education in the short run, while asking wealthier households to contribute to the cost of higher levels of education. <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/662580">A good example</a> is South Africa’s fee-free schools policy, which was designed to increase enrolment in the poorest districts.</p>
<p><em>Mohammed Alhassan Abango and Leslie Casely-Hayford of Associates for Change, Ghana co-authored this article and the research it is based upon.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research project on which this article is based was funded by the British Academy.</span></em></p>The introduction of free education should follow a gradual process, starting with the lowest levels.Rob Gruijters, Associate Professor in Education & International Development, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038402023-04-18T20:01:41Z2023-04-18T20:01:41ZA new report proposes full public funding for private schools, but there’s a catch<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521484/original/file-20230418-24-ivxgck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C16%2C5395%2C3594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are multiple signs the Australian education system is in crisis. This includes <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/australian-school-education-is-falling-short/">declining academic outcomes</a>, <a href="https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/opinion-no-quick-fix-for-teacher-shortages-we-need-a-longterm-strategy/281939">teacher shortages</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-principals-are-reaching-crisis-point-pushed-to-the-edge-by-mounting-workloads-teacher-shortages-and-abuse-201777">principals facing abuse</a>, and an upswing in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-20/three-in-four-act-school-principals-subject-to-violence-survey/102119620">school violence</a>. </p>
<p>Hanging over these is the Productivity Commission’s <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/school-agreement/report">January 2023 assessment</a> that what we’ve done with Australian education over the past decade has done “little, so far, to improve student outcomes”. </p>
<p>Education authors Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor agree. In an ambitious new report for education initiative <a href="https://all-learning.org.au/about-all/">Australian Learning Lecture</a>, they offer a way forward. </p>
<p>They <a href="https://all-learning.org.au/?page_id=2613&preview=true">propose a framework</a> for Australian schools to increase parental choice (including for religious-based schools) and improve the inequity that afflicts the system.</p>
<h2>What’s the problem?</h2>
<p>Greenwell and Bonnor say too many disadvantaged students are being concentrated into communities of disadvantage. This results in </p>
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<p>unacceptable gaps in learning [that] separate disadvantaged students from their more privileged peers. </p>
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<p>Since the introduction of government funding to non-government schools in the 1960s, we have seen an increased concentration of advantaged students in some schools, and the same for disadvantaged students. The <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/Equity-in-Education-country-note-Australia.pdf">OECD has been warning Australia</a> about this for some time. But current policy settings offer little incentive for change.</p>
<p>As Greenwell and Bonnor argue, achieving our national educational goals is unlikely when:</p>
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<p>we are stacking the odds against the children who have the least luck in terms of the circumstances they are born into.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-productivity-commission-says-australian-schools-fall-short-on-quality-and-equity-what-happens-now-190646">The Productivity Commission says Australian schools 'fall short' on quality and equity. What happens now?</a>
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<p>There is also a conflict here with the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">United Nations Declaration of Human Rights</a>, which affirms that education at least at primary level should be free and compulsory. Crucially, parents have “a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”.</p>
<p>Australian non-government schools do provide opportunity for parents to exercise this right, but even the lowest level of fees charged by some Catholic system schools can still be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/parents-face-sos-plea-as-battlers-left-behind-20040811-gdjj0e.html">beyond the reach</a> of some parents. </p>
<p>As the authors note, this is not a problem for non-government schooling alone. Segregation within government schools exacerbates the situation. <a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-is-trying-to-make-the-selective-school-application-process-fairer-but-is-it-doing-enough-187283">Selective schools</a> (government schools that select students on their academic or performing arts ability):</p>
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<p>draw in a high proportion of advantaged students, compounding the concentrations of the strugglers in comprehensive public schools.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-national-school-reform-agreement-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-school-funding-202847">What is the National School Reform Agreement and what does it have to do with school funding?</a>
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<h2>What’s their proposal?</h2>
<p>Greenwell and Bonnor offer a five-point plan, the first three of which are relatively uncontentious. </p>
<p>First, they want to fully fund school entitlements under the so-called “<a href="https://www.education.gov.au/school-funding/resources/review-funding-schooling-final-report-december-2011">Gonski model</a>”. This would ensure all schools get the funding resources they need to deliver quality learning. <a href="https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/labor-kicks-the-public-school-funding-can-down-the-road/">Some estimates</a> show government schools currently receive less than 90% of their entitlements.</p>
<p>Second, they call for a frank conversation on a new common framework for Australian education. This would include not only funding arrangements, but “commensurate obligations and responsibilities” on schools.</p>
<p>Third, convene a national summit at which “common interests are identified and areas of agreement are developed”. Greenwell and Bonnor are at pains to point out their suggestion is not to prescribe the total solution. Rather, they invite stakeholders to come together and design a system in which “equity and choice can be expanded in a win-win manner”.</p>
<h2>A change to school funding</h2>
<p>Greenwell and Bonnor’s fourth point is likely to be a catalyst for much debate: they propose full public funding for all non-government schools, within a commonly agreed regulatory framework. </p>
<p>Yes, this means non-government schools would be fully funded by the taxpayer. But they would not be able to charge their own fees. </p>
<p>The authors argue this would remove the fee barrier for non-government schools and open the possibility for any family to choose a non-government school without the impost of fees. It expands, rather than restricts, parental choice. And the bonus is non-government schools “could continue to apply enrolment and other policies necessary to promote their specific religious or educational ethos”.</p>
<p>If non-government schools don’t want to do this, they don’t have to, but there’s a catch. Schools that “continue to charge fees or reject inclusive enrolment obligations would no longer receive any public funding”. </p>
<p>Their fifth point is the creation of a new authority to oversee implementation and monitoring of the new framework.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">Still 'Waiting for Gonski' – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding</a>
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<h2>Can it work?</h2>
<p>The Albanese government has committed to “work with” state and territory governments to get every school “on a path to 100% of its fair funding level”, as per the Gonski model. </p>
<p>This will come under the microscope as the next National School Reform Agreement is developed. This ties school reforms to the funding the federal government provides the states and territories. The <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/expert-panel-inform-better-and-fairer-education-system">next agreement</a> is due to begin in January 2025 and is currently the subject of a review. </p>
<p>Whole holding a national summit should be straightforward, a national common framework has substantially more barriers to overcome. The multiple sectors of education governance in Australia (state/territory, Catholic, independent), and the multiple legal instruments that govern them, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-labour-party-wants-to-abolish-private-schools-could-we-do-that-in-australia-124271">make this very difficult</a>, even from a practical perspective.</p>
<p>At the simplest level, education remains a state/territory constitutional responsibility that seems unlikely to be collectively ceded back to the federal government any time soon. </p>
<p>The idea that non-government schools would have to choose between government funding or charging their own fees is also likely to be politically difficult. This is not to say the proposal is far-fetched. UNESCO, in its <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379875">Global Education Monitoring Report</a> has noted </p>
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<p>publicly funded education does not have to be publicly provided.</p>
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<p>As the review into the next National School Reform Agreement gathers pace, Greenwell and Bonnor’s invitation is for us all to come together with a vision for something different in Australian education. </p>
<p>Certainly the evidence strongly suggests what we are doing right now is not working.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Kidson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a new report, education authors Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor propose a framework to increase parental choice and improve equity in the school system.Paul Kidson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820602022-06-27T08:15:41Z2022-06-27T08:15:41ZThe public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471069/original/file-20220627-19-v60bif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C455%2C5006%2C3337&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eton College, founded in 1440, is the largest boarding school in England.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/5-june-2019-windsor-uk-eton-1554469532">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some UK private schools appear to be taking advantage of their charitable status and the lax legal definition of “public benefit” by charging fees that are increasingly out of kilter with their ongoing costs.</p>
<p>Around 1,300 UK private schools, including the vast majority of the most prestigious private institutions, enjoy long-standing charitable status. This gives them substantial tax advantages but obliges them to use their charitable resources for public benefit.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211?journalCode=cbse20">research</a>, conducted over the last four years, focuses on how these schools acquire, sustain and use their wealth, and on the associated thin transparency and accountability regimes that have endured for more than a century. (Responses received are collated at the end of this article.)</p>
<p>We found that some of these schools have more than doubled their fees over the past two decades, which appears to indicate that they are pricing by what parents can pay, rather than their actual costs.</p>
<p>Charging very high fees while offering discounts (known as fee remissions) that mostly benefit the already-wealthy can be justified as lawfully charitable and delivering public benefit under the loose regulatory environment created by English charity law. Furthermore, the limited nature of the level and reach of fee remissions is often obscure, given their – quite legitimate – treatment in private schools’ financial accounts.</p>
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>While less than 7% of pupils attend private schools in the UK, in <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type">2020 more than 31%</a> of students at Oxford University were privately educated. This educational disparity is effectively subsidised by all UK taxpayers through a broad range of tax exemptions available to private schools with charitable status. The UK also subsidises universities by a roundabout route, meaning that privately educated students pay to get access to a state-subsidised system.</p>
<p>It is not possible to state with certainty how much the UK’s charitable private schools save through tax exemptions. However, a good estimate according to our research is around <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">£3 billion a year</a>. This equates to more than 6% of England’s total state school budget (£47.6 billion) in 2020-2021.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the UK parliament’s <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1581/financial-sustainability-of-schools-in-england/publications/">Public Accounts Committee</a> reported in March that severely straitened finances have seen many state schools in England narrowing their curriculum offerings, dropping subjects, cutting staff and reducing support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brighton College commissioned a world-leading architectural firm to design its new Sports and Science Centre. Photograph: Laurian Ghinitoiu/OMA.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An air of exclusive luxury and privilege</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>At Millfield, a full range of academic and instrumental tuition is offered in a purpose-built Music School … Millfield is fortunate to have the Johnson Hall, our 350-seat Concert Hall with superb acoustics and a stage large enough to host a full orchestra and choir. The Johnson Hall Steinway D Piano was recently described by international artist Pascal Rogé as ‘among the ten best pianos I have ever performed on’. (Extracted from the <a href="https://www.millfieldschool.com/senior-13-16/the-arts/music">Millfield School website</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Music education is culturally and socially enriching for children, and deemed a vital part of a well-rounded education. Millfield, a high-fee private school in south-west England, is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistresses%27_Conference">Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference</a> (HMC) – a powerful lobby group of private schools. Most HMC schools have similarly abundant music offerings.</p>
<p>These provisions stand in <a href="https://musiceducation.global/growing-divide-music-provision-in-state-and-independent-schools-in-england/">stark contrast</a> to the parlous music offering in state schools. A survey conducted by <a href="https://www.ukmusic.org/policy-campaigns/music-education/">UK Music</a> found that 50% of children at independent schools receive sustained music tuition, while the figure for state schools is 15%. Furthermore, 17% of “music creators” were educated at fee-paying schools, compared with 7% across the population as a whole.</p>
<p>The intellectual, cultural and social advantages accruing to private school students through music education are echoed in all other curriculum fields, from the performing arts to sport to STEM subjects.</p>
<p>UK private schools generally possess lavish facilities and infrastructure. <a href="https://www.brightoncollege.org.uk/news-and-events/articles/new-buildings/">Brighton College</a> commissioned a world-leading architect, <a href="https://www.oma.com/projects/brighton-college">OMA</a> – whose <a href="https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/landmark-oma-projects/">other buildings</a> include the London Design Museum and Moscow’s Museum of Contemporary Art – to design its new £55m Sports and Science Centre. Opened in 2020, it features: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a cinema-style auditorium linked up to science departments across the globe, 18 university-standard laboratories, six breakout spaces for personal research and tutorials, a 25-metre pool, a strength and conditioning suite, a rooftop running track with panoramic views, and a double-height sports hall. (Extracted from the <a href="https://www.brightoncollege.org.uk/news-and-events/articles/sports-and-science-centre/">Brighton College website</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A couple of miles down the road, <a href="https://www.roedean.co.uk/">Roedean School</a> noted of its refurbished boarding facilities in 2015 that “each house is adorned with artwork and a palette of House colours, and complemented with a mix of new and period furniture”. </p>
<p>Roedean has utilised its superlative facilities to create an air of exclusive luxury and privilege. In one annual report, the school quoted high-society magazine <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/the-swankiest-boarding-house-in-the-world">Tatler’s</a> exclamation that “Roedean now has the swankiest boarding facilities in the country, perhaps in the universe”. Such abundance is a common feature of private schools’ marketing strategies.</p>
<p>The increasing asymmetries between state and private provision in the UK severely skew educational, cultural and <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elitist-Britain-2019.pdf">social outcomes</a>. Such disparities led Finland to outlaw charging for education nearly 50 years ago. In contrast, some UK private schools have used their charitable status and formidable networks to achieve a “virtuous money circle” that is effectively being subsidised by all UK taxpayers, while benefiting a small minority of predominantly wealthy families. And while they offer some fee remissions for those unable to pay their full fees, our research suggests these usually do little to make the schools less exclusive.</p>
<h2>Charitable status, public benefit and tax</h2>
<p>Charities in England must have charitable purposes, and for more than 400 years, English law has recognised education as such a purpose. Charities must also deliver public benefit with their resources – but this term is only loosely defined in law. This effectively permits private schools to allocate most of the benefits of their land, buildings, facilities and scholarships to a small group of significantly better-off families who can afford the school fees.</p>
<p>For a century or more, charities have been exempted from a broad range of taxes – a form of public expenditure known as “tax expenditures”. Rather than collecting taxes and then spending the money on public services, the government simply excuses certain classes of taxpayers (in this case, charitable private schools) from paying tax in the first place.</p>
<p>Such tax expenditures are largely invisible because they are not measured, and no specific budget allocations are made and subjected to parliamentary scrutiny. Private schools are, in practice, subject to little or no accountability with regards to the effectiveness or equity with which they use this cash.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Eton school pupils walking in street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students from private schools such as Eton are disproportionately represented at the UK’s top universities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/etonian-schoolboys-english-independent-boarding-school-1174007794">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Charitable resources intended for public benefit and the considerable tax savings enjoyed by many private schools help provide luxurious facilities. In turn, young people from families wealthy enough to pay the high fees generally gain disproportionate access to top universities and <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elitist-Britain-2019.pdf">subsequent life chances</a>, in part through the “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/online-old-boy-networks-just-the-job-for-top-private-schools-xw8k5k0j9">old school tie</a>” networks.</p>
<p>Indeed, a representative of the Old Marlburian Association (the alumni association for Marlborough College) told <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/online-old-boy-networks-just-the-job-for-top-private-schools-xw8k5k0j9">The Times in 2019</a> that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parents now expect that what they pay for is not just five years of teaching but lifetime membership to a special club. It’s the reason people decide to send their kids to public schools and not to the local academy, where they may very well perform better academically.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact that privately schooled students are remarkably over-represented at top universities is, in part, because these schools’ essential selection criterion is family income, which usually ensures that students already have considerable <a href="https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/what-is-cultural-capital/">cultural capital</a>. Other selection criteria may include tests and interviews. </p>
<p>The schools’ wealth also gives their students significant advantages in terms of an abundant supply of quality curriculum materials, small class sizes and intensive teaching, plus a potential benefit from the schools’ ability to “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/private-schools-gamed-covid-rules-to-give-their-pupils-more-top-a-levels-6z0z6w9r5">game the system</a>”.</p>
<p>The fact that UK higher education is still significantly state-subsidised means, in effect, UK taxpayers continue to fund privately educated students during their university studies. Such students’ disproportionate representation is a serious opportunity-loss for state students, many of whose schools are suffering real financial hardship that negatively impacts their students’ educational and career outcomes.</p>
<h2>Private schools’ sources of income</h2>
<p>Private schools have three primary sources of income. </p>
<p><em>1. Fees</em></p>
<p>Fees charged to families are the major source of private schools’ income. Fees may not seem a legitimate public concern – people can spend their money as they please. But the links between fees and the schools’ charitable obligations need to be unpacked.</p>
<p>Private school fees are high relative to average UK incomes. In 2018, average annual fees in day and boarding schools were nearly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/apr/27/average-private-school-fees-rise-above-17000-a-year-for-first-time">£15,000 and £33,000</a> respectively. In real terms, fees have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-charts-that-shows-how-private-school-fees-have-exploded-a7023056.html">more than doubled</a> over the last 25 years. These price points <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">serve to exclude</a> lower-income families. The fee increases also match marked rises in the disposable income of wealthier families in the UK, and the increased recruitment of students from wealthy overseas families – in particular from Russia and China.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">research</a> demonstrates, empirically, that many private schools charge much more than is strictly necessary for them to fulfil their charitable purposes of providing education. For example, comparing average day and boarding school fees by region, the differences between day fees in the cheapest and most expensive English regions could not be explained by costs alone. Specifically, while boarding school fee differentials (17%) were roughly equivalent to the difference in associated costs such as staffing, average day fees in the cheapest region were 35-40% lower than those in the most expensive.</p>
<p>Similarly, we found a stronger correlation between local <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/regionalaccounts/grossdisposablehouseholdincome">gross disposable household income</a> and day fees than with boarding fees. This suggests that day schools are particularly responsive to the disposable income levels in their catchment area.</p>
<p>But boarding school fees are also rising rapidly, as was highlighted in a recent <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boarding-school-fees-soar-to-50-000-a-year-jr0qnk5qk#">Sunday Times report</a> which suggested the average annual cost of sending a child to an English boarding school is now “approaching £50,000” due to planned fee increases for the next academic year.</p>
<p>The increasingly upmarket facilities of charitable private schools, such as those described earlier, may, in turn, be used to justify these rising fees. The vast majority of children from families with more modest incomes are excluded by this fee spiral from enjoying such facilities – which should, by law, be available for public benefit.</p>
<p><em>2. Tax reliefs</em></p>
<p>Private schools benefit financially from the tax exemptions that arise because of their charitable status. Their operating surpluses (profits) and capital gains (profits on the sales of investments including shares, land and facilities) are exempt from income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax.</p>
<p>In England and Wales, private schools also receive an 80% discount on business rates (local taxes). Furthermore, they can claim 25% of all donations received (such as chancellor Rishi Sunak’s donations to his old school, Winchester College, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/05/rishi-sunak-and-wife-donate-over-100000-to-winchester-college">reportedly exceed £100,000</a>) from the tax authorities in <a href="https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/plan-your-giving/individual-giving-account/how-does-it-work/gift-aid#:%7E:text=Gift%20Aid%20is%20a%20scheme,donation%20from%20your%20own%20funds.">gift aid</a>.</p>
<p>This suite of tax exemptions arose principally from a legal and public <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">campaign</a> conducted by the Headmasters’ Conference in the early 20th century, and have remained largely unquestioned ever since. Charities that provide education are also, under a 1977 EU Directive, exempt from charging VAT, while bequests to schools are exempt from inheritance tax.</p>
<p>The total scale of these tax expenditures is mostly unknown. The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-labour-private-schools-b1927130.html">Labour Party</a> estimated the annual value of VAT forgone by the state from charitable private schools was £1.6 billion in 2019. In 2021, it estimated the annual value of these schools’ business rates discount and income tax relief to be around <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-26/tax-private-schools-to-raise-17bn-for-state-education-sir-keir-starmer-says">£100m</a> and £700m respectively. In all, we estimate the total value of private school tax exemptions could be in the region of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">£3 billion</a> a year.</p>
<p><em>3. Investments and donations</em></p>
<p>Many private schools derive substantial income from invested funds and donations. Some of this income is derived from related charities whose purpose is to fund specific private schools, but which are separate for legal and accounting purposes. Whatever the source, this income is charitable in nature and must legally be used for public benefit.</p>
<p>In some cases, private schools hold significant investment portfolios accumulated over long periods of time. For example, the published financial accounts of Eton College and Winchester College show they have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">total reserves</a> of £323,000 and £526,000 per pupil respectively.</p>
<p>In law, such investments must have a charitable purpose. Yet Eton, despite fees of £42,500 per student, still has to use investment income to help fund its spend on education. In reply to a request for comment on this article, the school confirmed: “The amount Eton spends on education is not met fully by fee income; a significant proportion of that expenditure comes from income from our endowment.” This means the school uses income from charitable assets to subsidise educational provision that it already generously funds through fees.</p>
<p><em>Sources of donations and fees</em></p>
<p>Across the private school sector as a whole, it is worth considering whether the sources of donations and fees are always legitimate, and if the potential exists for <a href="https://qz.com/1392063/money-laundering-in-the-uk-private-schools-in-the-crosshairs/">money laundering</a>. In 2018, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) asserted that money is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5a2ab2a4-b83b-11e8-b3ef-799c8613f4a1">being filtered through British private schools</a>, and criticised schools for failing to flag suspicious payments to the government. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/03/07/britains-private-schools-face-funding-shortfall-sanctions-wealthy/">sanctions</a> placed on Russian citizens following the invasion of Ukraine again put a spotlight on the sources of school fees and donations – there are some 2,300 Russian children currently studying in UK private schools. However, these schools are not legally obliged to report suspected money laundering, and may also have limited capacity to carry out checks.</p>
<h2>How private schools use their income</h2>
<p>UK private schools are, on the whole, replete with financial resources. Because they are charities, they cannot pay out dividends (they have no shareholders) and their freely available (“free”) reserves must, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284727/rs3text.pdf">in law</a>, only be sufficient to enable them to carry out their charitable objectives. </p>
<p>Their remaining “restricted” reserves are funds that are held for charitable purposes – such as saving for a new building or funding bursaries. But charity law and <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284727/rs3text.pdf">accompanying guidance</a> are not prescriptive, and simply require trustees to formulate reserves policies that justify a target level of reserves, and explain how they intend to achieve that target.</p>
<p>The accounting firm <a href="https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/insights/industries/not-for-profit/charity-reserves-review#:%7E:text=On%20average%2C%20charities%20were%20found,the%20sector%20as%20a%20whole.">BDO</a> has suggested that, across all charities, reserves policies are far from satisfactory. In the case of private schools’ accumulated reserves, there appears to be little action (or appetite) from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission">Charity Commission</a> to address this issue. In short, these charitable schools are free to accumulate cash and have significant discretion as to how it is used.</p>
<p>One way to absorb cash that cannot be reasonably kept as free reserves is to incorporate it into more facilities of the type described earlier. Investment in <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/increase-in-private-education-fees-is-driving-out-middleclass-families-a3240636.html">luxurious infrastructure projects</a> appeals to the schools’ target markets, potentially enabling them to charge even higher fees.</p>
<p>While a detailed analysis of schools’ expenditure on infrastructure is problematic, due to the unpredictable nature of such expenditure and the difficulty in distinguishing it from normal infrastructure renewal, the rise in private schools’ total <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-charts-that-shows-how-private-school-fees-have-exploded-a7023056.html">annual capital expenditure</a> from £247m in 1997 to £771m in 2013 (the latest reliable figure) supports this analysis.</p>
<h2>What constitutes adequate provision for ‘the poor’?</h2>
<p>English law requires that charities provide benefits to at least a significant section of the public. However, the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589796/Public_benefit_analysis_of_the_law.pdf">Charity Commission</a> advises that what constitutes “significant” is a matter of judgment.</p>
<p>In a landmark case in 2011, the UK’s Upper Tribunal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-law-journal/article/public-schools-for-public-benefit/92A67B8BF2A587E8DDBADE8453D2D45F">ruled</a> that the law “requires that those who benefit from the charity’s purpose must be sufficiently numerous to constitute ‘a section of the public’”. While school-age children obviously constitute a significant part of the public, fee levels exclude a very large proportion of them. How, then, are private schools not in breach of their public benefit obligations?</p>
<p>The Upper Tribunal ruled that, in making adequate provision for “the poor”, consideration should be given as to whether the charity in question provides a “luxury” service. Its judgment stated that, while the provision of luxury facilities is no bar to charitable status, there is a greater onus on private schools to demonstrate how they provide a public benefit.</p>
<p>However, Charity Commission advice does not prescribe any limits either to the degree of luxury which may be provided, or the maximum level of charges. And the Upper Tribunal ruled that “the poor” does not just include those who meet official definitions of poverty. Its definition extended to those of “modest means” – defined as those who could not afford the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589796/Public_benefit_analysis_of_the_law.pdf">school’s full fees</a>. Given the current high levels of school fees, such families may be far from poor by official measures. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-abolishing-private-schools-really-make-a-difference-to-equality-124141">Would abolishing private schools really make a difference to equality?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Crucially, decisions as to what constitutes adequate provision for “the poor” are at the discretion of individual school trustees. Charitable private schools stay on just the right side of a fuzzy legal line in deciding who benefits from the resources they generate from fees and other income sources, such as tax reliefs and investment income.</p>
<p>But, these schools were given <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-law-journal/article/abs/public-schools-for-public-benefit/92A67B8BF2A587E8DDBADE8453D2D45F">short shrift</a> by the Upper Tribunal in 2011 for arguing that, simply by relieving the state of the cost of educating their students, they were delivering public benefit. And while many private schools allow local communities to use their facilities, such as swimming pools, the Upper Tribunal stressed this does not provide public benefit as it has no direct educational purpose. With its more recent plans to <a href="https://staracademies.org/news-story/star-academies-signs-partnership-agreement-with-eton-college/">sponsor selective academy schools</a>, Eton College might fare better on perceived public benefit provision.</p>
<h2>Who qualifies for private schools’ reduced fees?</h2>
<p>Mostly, charitable private schools seek to demonstrate their public benefit through fee remissions and complete exemptions. These may be means-tested, awarded based on academic, musical or sporting talent, or given as discounts for families with more than one child at the school, or to the children of staff. Again, these decisions are at the trustees’ discretion, within the law.</p>
<p>In 2011, the Upper Tribunal set no minimum level of total fee remissions, stipulating only that it must be more than “merely token”. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">Our analysis</a> reveals that in 2018-19, UK private schools awarded fee remissions totalling just over £1 billion to 176,234 out of their 537,315 students. Analysis of all fee remissions awarded by the 192 HMC schools in 2019 shows a median value of 10.4% of total fees.</p>
<p>Of this £1 billion, some £440m – 44% of the total fee remissions – was means-tested. The proportion of fees discounted on this basis ranged from 1.7% to 15%, with the median at just 5.1% (for the 142 HMC schools where the means-tested split could be identified). In all, our research shows the means-tested £440m was shared between 44,395 students – an average of around £1,000 a head. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="External view of St Paul's School" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St Paul’s School offers fee assistance to families with an annual household income of less than £120,000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-united-kingdom-on-6th-july-1128947594">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just 6,118 – 1.1% of all private school students – received a full scholarship, and a further 2.1% received fee remissions in excess of 75% of fees. Of the schools contacted during the writing of this article, <a href="https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/">St Paul’s School</a> highlighted that 80% of its 147 bursaries are for between 75%-100% of the fees, and Eton highlighted that in the 2020-21 academic year, 90 of the 261 boys receiving fee remissions paid no fees at all. According to our research, these are uncharacteristically high percentages compared with the national average.</p>
<p>Importantly, while private schools may be proud of their scholarship provision, most provide no data on the demographic profiles of recipient students, making it impossible to evaluate the extent to which these benefit less well-off families. And given the high levels of fees, most students in receipt of means-tested fee remissions will still require very substantial family contributions.</p>
<p>For instance, St Paul’s offers fee assistance to families with an annual household income of less than £120,000, which can arguably be justified when the definition of “modest means” is being unable to afford fees of around £27,000 a year out of post-tax income.</p>
<p>Charging very high fees and giving fee remissions which mostly benefit those who could be considered to be already wealthy can certainly be justified as lawfully charitable and as delivering public benefit. But this is because of the loose regulatory environment created by charity law and associated accounting rules, and because of a simple lack of public transparency and accountability in the system. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-rid-of-private-schools-wed-be-better-tackling-inequalities-between-state-schools-121805">Get rid of private schools? We'd be better tackling inequalities between state schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Furthermore, the limited nature of the level and reach of fee remissions may be obscured by their – quite legitimate – treatment in private schools’ financial accounts. For example, if full fees are £15,000 per year and a 50% deduction is awarded, the schools show (either on the face of the Income & Expenditure account or in a note) gross fees of £15,000 and the remission of £7,500 as a deduction from that figure. However, the additional cost to the school of teaching that pupil is likely to be lower than the valuation placed on the fee remission, because schools’ costs are largely fixed or stepped (for example, when an extra teacher is required). But there is, of course, an opportunity cost to the school of replacing a full-fee place with a student paying a reduced fee.</p>
<p>There is a relative dearth of accountability around the finances of charitable private schools, despite the public funding they receive through tax reliefs and their public benefit obligations. The UK government collects no data on the value of tax expenditures received by the schools, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">our analysis</a> of the (limited) scale and distribution of private school scholarships was <a href="https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/debate/2021-05-26/lords/lords-chamber/dormant-assets-bill-hl">highlighted in the House of Lords</a> in May 2021 as a cause for concern.</p>
<p>Discussing the private school sector, Andrew (Baron) Adonis said in his <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-05-26/debates/47D12772-75FC-4FE5-858B-A76E7D829F1C/DormantAssetsBill(HL)">speech</a> that “what starts off as a hugely privileged sector, even in the work that it does that is supposed to be charitable – in relieving fees and giving access to these charitable assets – is not meeting those objectives”.</p>
<h2>So what could be done?</h2>
<p>The financing of the UK’s charitable private schools is a matter of public interest and concern. These schools have public benefit obligations regarding their use of charitable assets, yet some fees indicate that private schools are indulging in market pricing, excluding nearly all but the wealthiest from any charitable benefit. In addition, the schools receive substantial benefits by being exempt from a wide range of taxes.</p>
<p>Given the current state school funding crisis, it can be argued that educational resources are being misapplied as a result of private schools’ charitable status, exacerbating educational inefficiencies and social injustice. For anyone seeking to address these issues, our research leads us to the following conclusions:</p>
<p>(1) The UK government should introduce robust systems of transparency and accountability for charitable private schools, regarding how their charitable assets are used and by whom, and the extent and distribution of the tax reliefs the schools enjoy. For example, private schools could be required to report demographic data on the recipients of their public benefits along with the results of independent stakeholders’ evaluations. Collated nationally, such data would provide an important input into debates on education funding.</p>
<p>(2) The UK government should also consider withdrawing the tax exemptions enjoyed by these schools (Scotland has already withdrawn their business rates discounts). In 2020-21, total spending on state schools in England and Wales was £47.6 billion. If tax exemptions for private schools, were removed, the resulting increased taxes could be redistributed to state schools, increasing their <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2020-21">budget</a> by around 6%, thereby making a significant contribution to the government’s levelling up agenda.</p>
<p>(3) The charity status of these private schools should be reviewed. They are, for the most part, elite organisations delivering a paid-for and exclusive product. The extent to which this meets public perceptions of “charity” is questionable. Of course, removal of charitable status would mean making new arrangements for the assets the schools hold, as they could not legally retain control of charitable assets such as investments and buildings. Control of these assets might be transferred to, say, a national education trust for the benefit of all UK school students. In part, this could be achieved by renting back the buildings and facilities to the private schools where they are located, with the rental income raised then being distributed throughout the state school system.</p>
<p>(4) Finally, higher education policies on university access need to specifically address issues associated with the disproportionate representation of private school students. The UK government has, for some time, devoted considerable resources to widening higher education participation, with its main policies encouraging disadvantaged students to gain access and achieve success. Such policies effectively ignore the opportunity costs borne by state educated students because of charitable private schools’ tax exemptions and other benefits.</p>
<p>Any attempts to effect change will, however, inevitably be met with significant pushback. Over at least two centuries, the UK’s private schools have successfully mobilised charity and tax law to their advantage. Yet this exercise of power is effectively invisible to wider public view, due to the complexity of legal linguistics and processes, the pseudo-objectivity of the law, and the failure of parliament to make public expenditure on private education a matter of regular debate and accountability.</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<h2>Responses to this article</h2>
<p>All schools named in this article were offered the opportunity to comment on its key findings. The following schools offered comments, which are summarised here:</p>
<p><strong>Eton College</strong></p>
<p>“The amount Eton spends on education is not met fully by fee income; a significant proportion of that expenditure comes from income from our endowment. In our last financial year to 31 August 2021, Eton spent £7.081m on financial aid. 261 boys at Eton (19%) received fee reductions; 90 of these boys paid no fees at all. This year, that number is 103. </p>
<p>"We work with a number of external partners, including the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Bursary Foundation, to ensure that our bursary programmes reach those who would most benefit. Since we are heavily oversubscribed by parents willing to pay the full fee, these costs are real costs, which we are proud to meet.</p>
<p>"Eton also has a large and expanding partnership programme. We are about to open three new state sixth-form colleges in partnership with Star Academies, which Eton will help to fund in perpetuity. We file detailed annual accounts with the Charity Commission. These are scrutinised by our Audit Committee and by our full governing body, in addition to being externally audited. Our Reserves Policy is set out in our published accounts.”</p>
<p><strong>St Paul’s School</strong></p>
<p>“Our Governors and committees are very engaged on reserve levels, public benefit and accountability – our parents expect it. For the next academic year, we are looking at a fee increase of 3.5%. This increase follows the decision of the governors to increase all staff salaries by 3%, with an additional amount for lower-paid staff members in order to meet cost-of-living increases. The Governors have a stated commitment to try to restrain our fee increases to remain in line with, or below, inflation.</p>
<p>"Fees rebates were provided during the first term of COVID remote learning (summer 2020) and again in the 2021 spring term (which many parents donated back to our bursary appeal). Regarding families with modest incomes being excluded from fee remissions, 80% of our bursaries are for 75-100% bursaries, meaning the majority of the 147 bursaries currently awarded are for those most in need. Fee remissions are shown as a deduction from gross fee income in the notes to the accounts, and then the remissions coming from restricted donations are added back – our understanding is that this is the same for all independent schools.</p>
<p>"In terms of ‘free reserves’ (reserves which are immediately available to spend), the school has none because our unrestricted reserves are tied up in buildings which, as you will understand, are not immediately realisable. As a charitable foundation we are not driven by profit, but equally we are committed to maintaining the resources of the school and the high educational provision which we were founded in 1509 to provide. Our partnership work through the West London Partnership – which we established – is substantial and growing.”</p>
<p><strong>Roedean School</strong></p>
<p>“In terms of our boarding facilities, the houses were in dire need of refurbishment as they had not been refurbished for many years and also required structural work to the building. Any residential accommodation needs to meet the required standards for boarding. We do put pupils’ artwork on the walls and House colours (red, blue, green, yellow) are used in the Houses, along with furniture (new and old). The Houses are the girls’ ‘homes’ and we want all girls to feel at home here. Tatler’s quotation reflects their magazine’s style.”</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-school-cat-stevens-built-how-conservative-politicians-opposed-funding-for-muslim-schools-in-england-161956?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The school Cat Stevens built: how Conservative politicians opposed funding for Muslim schools in England
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malcolm James is affiliated with the Labour Party, but has not done any paid or unpaid work for them in this area. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Kenway receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Boden is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>The tax exemptions enjoyed by the UK’s charitable private schools are estimated to equate to 6% of England’s annual state school budgetMalcolm James, Head of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityJane Kenway, Emeritus Professor, Monash University. Professorial Fellow, Melbourne University., Monash UniversityRebecca Boden, Chair Professor, New Social Research, Tampere UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1811482022-06-13T15:03:25Z2022-06-13T15:03:25ZWhy freemium software has no place in our classrooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467310/original/file-20220606-13103-l9xwus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C20%2C6669%2C4154&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freemium software in education exacerbates the digital divide for students who may be economically disadvantaged compared to their peers.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-freemium-software-has-no-place-in-our-classrooms" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Digital teaching and communication tools are increasingly present in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. By April 2020, not long after the onset of the pandemic, Google Classroom <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/google-doubled-numbers-classroom-quarantine-114500325.html#:%7E:text=Google%20Classroom%2C%20a%20free%20service,That%27s%20boosting%20other%20products.">had doubled its users to more than 100 million</a>.</p>
<p>For educational technology companies, the pandemic <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mayrarodriguezvalladares/2020/08/02/the-covid-19-crisis-is-a-boost-to-educational-technology-companies/?sh=ae96a2ace6d9">accelerated opportunities to grow markets and profits</a>.</p>
<p>Whether for facilitating learning, assessing learning or communicating with parents and guardians, digital tools are increasingly part of many children’s and parents’ school experiences. </p>
<p>In our ever-connected classrooms and societies, one notable element is the use of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/11/19/should-you-choose-freemium-for-your-software-startup/?sh=fffd69850b7b">freemium software</a> — software that is free for all users to obtain and use, but only with limited features. For a fee or monthly subscription, users can unlock further features. </p>
<p>Educational settings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-05-2018-0059">should focus on equity, especially when it comes to decisions related to the use of technology</a> for teaching and learning. </p>
<p>In educational settings, software — whether for teaching and learning or parent-teacher communication — should not have <a href="https://thejournal.com/articles/2022/04/21/maker-of-prodigy-math-expands-into-literacy-learning-with-new-prodigy-english-game.aspx">tiered offerings where users who have the financial means to pay are privy to a better version of the software</a> with additional features and tools. </p>
<p>School boards and provincial education ministries should focus on implementing <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/voices-field/how-does-digital-accessibility-and-universal-design-learning-udl-impact-your-districts">universally accessible tools</a> to eliminate two-tier access for learners and families that is enabled with freemium software. This may include licensing commercial software that has been carefully evaluated and assessed for how it supports student learning. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-technologies-for-student-learning-4-principles-school-boards-and-parents-should-consider-173211">Investing in technologies for student learning: 4 principles school boards and parents should consider</a>
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<h2>Marketing strategy</h2>
<p>Freemium software is an excellent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-09-2016-0096">marketing strategy and economic driver</a>, and it’s become popular for multiple applications. <a href="https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/10/24/spotify-free-vs-paid-subscribers-report-2021/">Spotify software is one popular example for everyday music</a> listening.</p>
<p>Some examples of educational software that have freemium versions are <a href="https://techtalent.ca/prodigy-game-to-hire-400/">Prodigy Math</a> and <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/as-education-shifts-online-classdojo-serves-51-million-students-worldwide-announces-profitability-and-new-solo-capitalist-funding-301216471.html">ClassDojo</a>. According to these respective software companies, 20 million students a year use the <a href="https://prodigygame.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409750056596-Prodigy-Math-Membership-Packages-">free version of Prodigy</a>. More than <a href="https://www.classdojo.com/about/#:%7E:text=ClassDojo%20is%20a%20global%20community,%2C%20videos%2C%20messages%20%26%20more">50 million teachers and families</a> use ClassDojo and <a href="https://www.classdojo.com/plus">more than one million use the “plus” (premium) version</a>.</p>
<h2>Equity in classrooms</h2>
<p>Freemium software exacerbates the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2021008-eng.htm">digital divide</a> for students who may be economically disadvantaged compared to their peers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children are seen at desks working on laptops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467311/original/file-20220606-18-5wk3om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The free version of freemium software is not suited to educational settings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In turn, it contributes to what’s known as the <a href="https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2014/04/11/new-digital-tools-new-matthew-effects-what-can-teachers-do-">Matthew Effect</a> — where those who have more acquire better, more beneficial experiences compared to those with less who are left behind. </p>
<p>In the cases where schools choose to use software that has a freemium version, boards should license the software to ensure that all learners have equitable access to the tool.</p>
<h2>Hidden costs</h2>
<p>What’s important to understand is freemium software is not actually <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html">free software</a>, all things considered. With the <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/ftc-coppa-edtech">data being collected</a>, the provider is gaining valuable data from users. </p>
<p>The software provider gains a direct marketing channel to the parent and child through the application. The developer can now target <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-15-classdojo-goes-beyond-school-to-launch-first-monetization-feature-for-parents">the user with advertising for advanced features</a> that are accessible if they pay a fee. </p>
<p>The U.S.-based non-profit organization Fairplay <a href="https://fairplayforkids.org/pf/prodigy/">has called on schools to say no to using Prodigy</a>, noting that the platform’s “push to sell premium memberships is relentless, and aimed at kids. In just 19 minutes of ‘studying,’ we saw 16 ads for membership and only four math problems.” In February 2021, the organizaton’s Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood and advocacy partners <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/child-protection-nonprofit-alleges-manipulative-upselling-math-game-prodigy-n1258294">sent a letter of complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about Prodigy</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1362857809839345664"}"></div></p>
<h2>A school fee?</h2>
<p>Parents who are able and willing to pay for premium access may do so without giving it much thought, or assume that the school has selected the tool and there is a cost, likening it to a field trip fee. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-fees-undermine-public-educations-commitment-to-equity-120058">School fees undermine public education’s commitment to equity</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>In addition to offering different forms of student and family access to tools, interactions enabled by premium features of freemium software could affect classroom relationships in inequitable ways.</p>
<p>For example, premium features of Prodigy Math enable <a href="https://www.prodigygame.com/Memberships/math/">parents to compare their child’s progress with their peers</a>: if children are privy to this information about classmates, this could affect how they engage with other children. In ClassDojo, if parents pay <a href="https://www.classdojo.com/plus/">for the plus version</a>, they are able to <a href="https://classdojo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411779117197-How-do-Read-Statuses-and-Urgent-Messages-work-on-ClassDojo-">access “read statuses”</a> — notifications about when their messages to teachers have been read. Teachers have the ability to turn this feature off.</p>
<p>This has the potential to strain the parent-teacher relationship or to create privileged or priority communication access to teachers by parents who have paid if the teacher feels pressured to respond or be accessible. </p>
<h2>Universally accessible tools</h2>
<p><a href="http://metaari.com/whitepapers.html">As spending</a> continues to increase on educational technology, it is important that software used for teaching and learning is <a href="https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/62393">evaluated by educational technology specialists</a> and supported across entire school boards. If freemium software is being used, it should be <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-06-03-edtech-should-be-more-evidence-driven">selected based on evidence</a> and licensed for the users. </p>
<p>Communication platforms need to work well and meet the needs of teachers and instructors while bolstering communication between the school and family without any cost to the parent or guardian. </p>
<p>Increasingly, data security <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-online-school-kids-privacy-data/">and student privacy are concerns</a>. Software that is deployed for teaching and learning in classrooms should be carefully selected using standard practices. </p>
<h2>Supports for digital tools</h2>
<p><a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1016573">Proper supports for digital tools</a> are required in order see benefits from tools. It’s important to realize that simply making technology accessible to students isn’t a guarantee of better learning outcomes: For example, research from the United States shows that the <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/what-research-says-about-11">extent to which educators support training and immersion with devices in schools</a> matters to students’ measurable learning gains.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-platforms-alone-dont-bridge-youth-divides-121222">Digital platforms alone don't bridge youth divides</a>
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<p>In a time when school boards and schools are called upon to implement decisions that address student <a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">inequities and narrow the opportunity and access gaps students and families face</a>, the free tier of freemium software is a step in the wrong direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucas Johnson receives funding from Canadian Network for Innovation in Education and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.</span></em></p>Software that advertises premium features for a fee is ill-suited to school environments, where children should experience universal access.Lucas Johnson, PhD Student, Faculty of Education, Lakehead UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1571442021-03-23T18:50:40Z2021-03-23T18:50:40ZEducation funding is unfair — and public schools asking parents to chip in makes it worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391040/original/file-20210323-17-smiesz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-mother-daughter-leaving-school-432179689">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We have estimated around $8 billion of non-government or private funding flows through Australia’s school system each year — both public and private. The vast majority of this comes from school fees. The rest is from “<a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/finance-data-dictionary.pdf">other private sources</a>”, including donations and community fund-raising.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the independent school sector generates the most private income. But public schools also receive private income that goes towards things like refurbishing facilities.</p>
<p>We analysed private income in every Australian school using data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). At the time of our study, the latest figures available for school fees and income were from 2015. </p>
<p>We found independent schools totalled an average A$9,227 of private funding per student. This was followed by Catholic schools ($2,873) and government schools ($752). </p>
<h2>What are parents paying for school?</h2>
<p>We found <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-019-00319-1">school incomes from private sources increase</a> with the relative advantage of a school. </p>
<p>Relative advantage is defined using ACARA’s <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/media/1820/guide-to-understanding-icsea-values.pdf">Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage</a> (ICSEA). This scale is a proxy for socioeconomic status used by education sectors in Australia. </p>
<p>ACARA calculates the ICSEA score for each school using factors such as students’ parental education and occupation, the proportion of Indigenous students at the school, students with a language background other than English and the school’s geographical location. </p>
<p>An ICSEA score above 1,000 indicates greater socioeconomic and educational advantage; an ICSEA score below 1,000 indicates greater disadvantage. In our analysis, we put schools into four categories: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>very disadvantaged (ICSEA 900 and less)</p></li>
<li><p>disadvantaged (ICSEA from 901 to 1,000) </p></li>
<li><p>advantaged (ICSEA from 1,001 to 1,100)</p></li>
<li><p>very advantaged (ICSEA more than 1,100).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Parents in very disadvantaged independent schools paid an average of $1,225 in 2015 per student. This increased to an average of $14,624 in very advantaged independent schools.</p>
<p>Parent fees at the most advantaged government schools were $745 in 2015 per student. At the most disadvantaged government schools, parents paid around $299 per student.</p>
<p><iframe id="L6Al8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/L6Al8/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>School fees on the rise</h2>
<p>Private school fees are growing faster than inflation and are now one of the biggest financial outlays in the average Australian family. </p>
<p>Only 50% of families with children attending private schools pay fees from their disposable incomes. The rest, according to <a href="https://edstart.com.au/blog/record-low-wage-growth-impact-on-family-budget-and-school-fees/">market-based research by Edstart</a>, increase their credit card debt, take out personal loans, redraw on their mortgage, or borrow money — often from grandparents. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-next-government-needs-to-do-to-tackle-unfairness-in-school-funding-110879">What the next government needs to do to tackle unfairness in school funding</a>
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<p>According to the latest financial data from ACARA, fees have increased in some public schools since 2015, too. </p>
<p>Using metropolitan Brisbane schools as an example, <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/47507/finances/2019">Macgregor State High</a> (ICSEA 1,018) had a 19% increase in fees between 2015 and 2019 — from $576 to $715 respectively. <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/47543/finances/2019">Browns Plains State High</a> (ICSEA 963) had a 10% increase from $273 to $305, and <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/47551/finances/2019">Bray Park State High</a> (ICSEA 989) had a 6% increase from $387 to $415. </p>
<p>But many public school fees had a less than 2% increase, and some, like <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/47578/finances">Kelvin Grove State College</a> (ICSEA 1,129) actually reduced their fees from $1,714 to $1,532 per student between 2015 and 2019. Other very advantaged public schools also reduced fees.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-state-school-parents-spend-record-400m-on-free-education-20210314-p57akt.html">article in The Age</a> showed families in Victoria spent a total of $400.1 million for the 2019-20 financial year in public schools. </p>
<p>The article said data from ACARA showed total parent payments to Victorian state schools have risen by $160 million since 2009.</p>
<h2>What happened to free education?</h2>
<p>Fees in public schools are often referred to as voluntary contributions. This is because <a href="https://ppr.qed.qld.gov.au/attachment/user-charging-procedure.pdf">government legislation</a> prevents public schools attaching parental fees to student enrolments. </p>
<p>But public schools <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220620.2019.1689234">sometimes use various strategies</a> to promote fee payment. For instance, schools may exclude students from extra-curricular activities and excursions if parents have not paid fees. This may compel parents to pay to avoid their child’s embarrassment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-public-schools-get-nearly-6-times-as-much-funding-thanks-to-parents-117268">Some public schools get nearly 6 times as much funding, thanks to parents</a>
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<p>There are other ways parents contribute money to public schools. </p>
<p>Bake sales, fetes and “democracy sausage” sizzles have always been a cornerstone of public schooling. And like their private school counterparts, public schools are now investing in strategic fundraising with parents and alumni, and sponsorship arrangements with businesses and philanthropists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391023/original/file-20210323-13-ahc8je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">School fundraise using various means, such as bake sales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gluten-nut-free-items-bake-sale-614435771">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In our study, we found very advantaged independent schools received the most funding from “other” income sources, compared to all other independent schools. But in the public school sector, the very disadvantaged schools received the most from “other” income sources, compared to other public schools. This was the same in the Catholic school sector, where the very disadvantaged schools received the most from “other” income sources. This may be because disadvantaged schools are receiving targeted philanthropy. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.schoolsplus.org.au/">Schools Plus</a> is an intermediary organisation that works to connect disadvantaged schools with donors through a tax-deductible giving program.</p>
<p>Since 2015, Schools Plus has directed $17.8 million to both public and private disadvantaged schools in Australia. Most of these donations come from the corporate sector, large trusts and foundations, and high-net worth individuals. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.schoolsplus.org.au/success-stories/2020-impact-report/">Schools Plus 2020 Impact Report</a>, most schools apply for funding to help improve student engagement and performance. While all disadvantaged schools (with an ICSEA less than 1,000) are eligible for Schools Plus funding, the process is competitive, meaning not all schools that need extra funding receive it. </p>
<h2>An equity issue</h2>
<p>Income raising is a labour-intensive process that is re-imagining the role of school staff and parents. Raising money relies on entrepreneurial principals, savvy PR staff, engaged parents and parent committees, as well as the work of intermediary organisations like Schools Plus. This is a problem, especially when it comes to public schools.</p>
<p>Research from the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07352166.2017.1421432">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220620.2020.1850433">United Kingdom</a> cautions that an over-reliance on private income could lead to governments shirking some responsibility for resourcing and supporting schools. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-primary-private-schools-should-be-fully-funded-by-governments-but-banned-from-charging-fees-131753">Australian primary private schools should be fully funded by governments — but banned from charging fees</a>
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<p>This has the potential, if it has not already, to produce a multi-tiered education system based on parental capacity and inclination to pay. </p>
<p>The ongoing issue here is one of equity. When schools start relying on private funding (both fees and philanthropy) to augment how basic education services are provided, schools in most need of extra support are the least likely to be able to afford it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Hogan receives funding from the Australian Research Council (project DP170103647). The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Parents don’t only pay for private schools. Many public schools ask parents to make ‘voluntary contributions’, and many more are upping their fundraising game.Anna Hogan, Senior lecturer, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1277532020-02-27T19:00:56Z2020-02-27T19:00:56ZCanada’s high schools are underfunded and turning to international tuition to help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316936/original/file-20200224-24664-1ssz5ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C102%2C3486%2C2150&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters join a demonstration organized by teachers' unions outside the Ontario Legislature, in Toronto, as four unions hold a province-wide education strike on Feb. 21, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite months of work to rule and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-teachers-provincewide-strike-1.5470980">weeks of concentrated job actions</a>, the Progressive Conservative government in Ontario has failed to negotiate a deal with teachers to date.</p>
<p>Amid news about negotiation sticking points, such as class size and mandatory e-learning, a key issue at stake is that education has been chronically <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2019/09/04/ontario-school-boards-map/">underfunded at the tax base</a>. In fact, Ontario, like other provinces, is increasingly relying on <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/strategyK12.pdf">private revenue streams</a> as a solution. </p>
<p>Last month, the <em>Toronto Star</em> reported that the Doug Ford government “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/01/13/secret-document-shows-ford-government-changed-its-mind-before-making-online-course-mandatory-for-high-schoolers.html">planned to slash school board spending while creating courses to sell to other jurisdictions at a profit</a>.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1216717145595424768"}"></div></p>
<p>Such a tactic would hardly be a new strategy. It should rightfully be seen as part of broader funding trends that provinces have quietly adopted into strategic plans and policies presented under the umbrella of <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/international-education-program.aspx">international education</a>. </p>
<p>This means increasing student and teacher global awareness and competencies through curricula and student exchanges — and also increasing <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/program-management/international-education">how much international revenue supports Canadian school systems through recruiting international students and exporting Canadian curriculum abroad</a>.</p>
<p>The push to license Canadian curriculum abroad reflects a larger trend in Canadian education to <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/education/strategy-2019-2024-strategie.aspx?lang=eng">grow educational “export services and explore new opportunities abroad</a>.”</p>
<p>The <em>Toronto Star</em> recently reported that high school administrators in Ontario and British Columbia have noticed <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/30/canadian-high-schools-welcoming-growing-number-of-international-students-boards-say.html">a significant increase</a> in international students. </p>
<p>These students are international citizens who have been recruited to Canadian high schools. Like the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/27/we-think-of-them-as-cash-cows-international-students-want-to-immigrate-but-colleges-employers-want-to-boost-their-bottom-lines.html">growing numbers of international post-secondary students studying in Canada</a>, these students are leaving their home countries and families behind in order to pursue their education.</p>
<h2>International revenue</h2>
<p>In 2015, Ontario released a <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/strategyK12.pdf">policy strategy</a> for K-12 international education. It cites four goals, including future-oriented learning, growing programs for international students to attend K-12 schools, sharing Ontario curriculum globally and expanding pathways to post-secondary schools so students will continue to live and work in Ontario.</p>
<p>The policy explicitly notes that school boards are actively recruiting international students “<a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/strategyK12.pdf">in response to issues of declining enrolment in some areas, or as an additional source of revenue</a>.” </p>
<p>Fostering a sense of intercultural awareness, communication and respect in school communities is critical today — and indeed, much of this can be bolstered through quality programs, teaching and investment in students’ equitable opportunities in their local schools. International exchange can also be a significant and beneficial learning experience. </p>
<p>But one concern is that this recruitment of children from around the world has evolved in a context where <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168">neoliberal educational reforms</a> of the past several decades <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/BC%20Office/2016/08/ccpa-bc_Kto12EducationFunding_web.pdf">have eroded</a> tax funds for public education, lowering <a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/education-funding-if-it-looks-like-a-cut-and-it-hurts-like-a-cut-then-it-probably-is-a-cut/">per pupil spending</a>, and forced school boards to supplement their revenue. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317441/original/file-20200226-24690-1a5mkqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools are increasingly forced to justify their outcomes and budgets on the basis of international [global standards like PISA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Boards are under pressure to do more with less. Even as cuts to education occur, schools are increasingly forced to justify their outcomes and budgets on the basis of international <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadian-high-school-students-among-top-performers-in-reading/">global standards, like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Program in International Student Assessment (PISA)</a>. In this socio-economic climate, Canadian provinces’ <a href="http://studyatgreateressex.com/">welcome</a> of international high school students looks like marketing. </p>
<p>Such changes in how school boards are funded raises questions about the short-term and long-term costs to students, families and Canada’s educational policy vision.</p>
<h2>$16,000 high school tuition</h2>
<p>As of 2015, <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/strategyK12.pdf">there were 19,000</a> international students in Ontario K-12 schools. The Toronto District School Board’s annual tuition for international high school students <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/International-Programs/International-Students/Fees">is $16,000</a>.</p>
<p>This tuition amounts to significant revenue streams. International students paid $5.3 million to <a href="https://epsb.ca/media/epsb/ourdistrict/districtbudget/2018-2019AuditedFinancialStatements.pdf">Edmonton Public Schools</a> in 2018-19. <a href="https://www.vsb.bc.ca/District/Board-of-Education/Financial_Information/Documents/2018-2019%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf">The Vancouver District School Board budget</a> reported nearly $28 million in tuition from international students in 2019. <a href="https://www.cbe.ab.ca/about-us/budget-and-finance/operating-budget-2018-19/Documents/Budget-Report-for-2018-22.pdf">Calgary District School Board</a> disclosed revenue nearing $20 million.</p>
<p>Canada promotes the fact that “<a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/education/abroad-etranger.aspx?lang=eng">there are many elementary and secondary schools around the world that offer the curriculum of one of Canada’s provinces</a>.” </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.cicic.ca/982/perform_an_advanced_search_in_the_directory_of_offshore_schools_and_international_education_resources.canada?search=_">125 elementary and secondary schools licensed to offer Canadian curricula internationally</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.cicic.ca/982/perform_an_advanced_search_in_the_directory_of_offshore_schools_and_international_education_resources.canada?search=_&p=on&c=">Ontario is selling its curriculum</a> to 19 partner institutions internationally, with a view to expanding. </p>
<h2>From communities to consumers</h2>
<p>One problem is that these international exchange programs downplay their potential impact on broader networks and public systems in Canada and globally.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316937/original/file-20200224-24672-geialk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario and other provincial governments want to see international revenue supplement public education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a nation, Canada <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?locations=CA">is richer</a> than ever. Yet funding for public education from the provincial public coffers is increasingly contentious. In Ontario, the Conservative government insists that it has <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/what-are-the-issues-in-ontario-teacher-dispute">increased education funding, but the amount the province provides in per-pupil funding has decreased</a>. </p>
<p>By chipping away at the collective will to fund schools through taxes by creating alternative funding streams, Canada is eroding education as a public good and replacing communities with individual consumers. </p>
<p>By doing so, the divide <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17508487.2016.1176062">between rich and poor worsens</a>. For example, with acceptance of the idea that private funds should pay for education, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ib-program-fee-1.5381467">fees function</a> to keep formerly public school programs inaccessible to some members of the public. Such divides can perpetuate damaging inequalities from one generation to the next.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fun-fair-and-all-school-fundraising-may-carry-hidden-costs-to-society-118883">The fun fair, and all school fundraising, may carry hidden costs to society</a>
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<p>At the same time, the growing sense that being equipped for the global economy means education is about completing modules and meeting standardized levels of productivity has set the perfect stage for cutting budgets by reducing teachers and forcing students into online learning. </p>
<p>It’s not difficult to imagine how online learning curriculum in Ontario classrooms marketed beyond the province could be the next money-maker. </p>
<p>School boards should not have to turn to revenue sources outside of the tax base in a country that is committed to excellence in public education.</p>
<h2>Impact on international students</h2>
<p>In 2018, CBC reported that a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/underage-visa-students-falling-through-cracks-in-canada-1.4525664">lack of regulation in the industry supporting student home stays and lodgings may leave some youth vulnerable</a>. Right now, the lack of publicly available data on international high school students who are unaccompanied minors studying across Canada is troubling.</p>
<p>The question of accountability to and for international high school students is particularly relevant given that studying as a minor in Canada is sometimes positioned as a <a href="http://www.peelschools.org/international/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx">long-term pathway</a> from secondary to post-secondary education or is accessed as a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/25/ive-given-up-everything-explosive-growth-in-international-students-comes-at-a-steep-cost.html">route to citizenship</a>. </p>
<p>The <em>Globe and Mail</em> flagged the impact on students when they encounter the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-international-students-coming-to-private-colleges-say-they-were-duped/">false promise</a> of entry into post-secondary education as a route to citizenship from education brokers or agents abroad — but what of high school students? For younger students, who have had even less time to <a href="https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp">accumulate the educational and professional accomplishments</a> needed for permanent residency status, disappointment might be even harder to weather.</p>
<p>Research and public awareness efforts in support of international students are needed. If Canadian provinces use international programs simply to subsidize funding gaps, it will ultimately damage confidence in school safety and value. Public education in Canada needs to be public in spirit and practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After years of neoliberal policies eroding the tax base to pay for high schools, mandatory online learning curriculum from classrooms could be the next international money-maker.Lana Parker, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of WindsorBonnie Stewart, Assistant Professor, Online Pedagogy & Workplace Learning, Faculty of Education, University of WindsorNatalie Delia Deckard, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1200582019-08-21T22:39:42Z2019-08-21T22:39:42ZSchool fees undermine public education’s commitment to equity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288437/original/file-20190818-192258-1e2qd2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C1000%2C640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many parents feel compelled to pay school fees, even while they feel they shouldn’t have to.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m looking at $85 per child in school fees for the 2019-2020 school year at my sons’ public high school. It breaks down like this: $35 to support clubs, teams, councils and athletics; $35 for the yearbook; $10 for an athletics T-shirt; $5 for an agenda.</p>
<p>The amount may not seem that high, but I know that $85 is just the beginning. </p>
<p>Throughout the year, I’ll be asked to pay for team uniforms, tournaments, field trips, gym memberships, prom tickets and probably more. These costs are on top of school supplies, like calculators and notebooks. </p>
<p>Public schools across Canada charge fees to cover a wide variety of expenses, and many parents who can afford to pay may be willing to hand over the cash. </p>
<p>You may be wondering: “Aren’t Canadian public schools free because they’re covered through taxes?” In fact, all Canadian provinces and territories permit public schools to charge fees for services, programs or resources that go beyond what’s required for a basic education. </p>
<p>My research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818807331">policies and dominant ideas about good parenting compel parents to hand their money over to their children’s schools</a>, even when they feel they shouldn’t have to. Parent involvement, school council and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-015-9261-7">school choice</a> policies common in Canada and elsewhere promote the idea that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2015.1130026">parents are responsible</a> for doing whatever it takes to ensure their children’s success in school and, more broadly, in a competitive society. </p>
<p>But not every family can bear the financial costs, so their children may miss out on opportunities that wealthier kids enjoy. Paying school fees may be optional, but enabling parents who pay to get more benefits for their kids undermines <a href="https://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/382/Canadian-report-on-anti-discrimination-in-education-EN.pdf">Canadian ministries of education’s commitments to equality of educational opportunity and inclusion for all</a>. </p>
<h2>Cost of ambiguity: Québec lawsuit</h2>
<p>Québec school boards recently had a wake-up call about the potential costs of charging parents: last summer, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/parents-to-be-compensated-for-school-fees-in-153-5m-class-action">the Québec Superior Court approved a $153.5-million settlement agreement</a> which found that parents whose children were students in 68 Québec schoolboards had been inappropriately charged fees. The class action lawsuit was launched by a mother from Jonquière.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1116710597993947136"}"></div></p>
<p>Through the settlement agreement, parents who had kids in the named boards between 2009 or 2010 and 2017 will see <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases/notice-of-court-approval-of-a-transaction-702238261.html">just over $24 per student per school year</a>: so, if a parent had two children in a named board they will receive more than $48 per year for every year the kids attended school in that timeframe. </p>
<p>The lawsuit claimed that fees charged by school boards were in violation of <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/ShowTdm/cs/I-13.3">Québec’s Education Act</a>, which guarantees free education to elementary and high school students.</p>
<p>In July, legislators in Québec clarified what the “right to free educational services” for residents does — and does not — include. Notably, after public consultations, Québec’s public schools are <a href="http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/en/parents-and-guardians/references/school-fees/">still permitted to charge fees for school supplies, special materials, specialized programs and more</a>. </p>
<h2>Types of fees</h2>
<p>These allowances point to the different types of fees schools charge. First are the fees that every student is asked to pay. They may cover items that individuals will use — like agendas — or activities that anyone can join like clubs, teams and special events. The amounts vary. A report by the not-for-profit organization People for Education finds that in Ontario, <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/2019-annual-report-on-schools-what-makes-a-school/#chapter9">activity fees in secondary schools range from $10 to $300</a> and that many schools also charge athletic fees ranging from $1 to $1,500. </p>
<p>These fees can be barriers to students’ involvement in school activities and sports, <a href="https://mottpoll.org/reports-surveys/pay-participate-limiting-school-activities-lower-income-students">especially kids from low-income families</a>. Not participating in extracurricular activities means missing out on their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20274">academic, social, psychological and physical health benefits</a>. </p>
<p>Other fees are those charged to students taking particular courses who might want to use better materials, acquire certifications or go on related field trips. The fees are voluntary, <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/08/24/Public-Education-School-Fees-Across-Canada/">but they create two tiers within the same classroom</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288599/original/file-20190819-123699-1iw6bqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School fees can be barriers to students’ involvement in school activities or sports.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>The problem with waivers</h2>
<p>Some governments, boards and schools waive fees for families who can’t afford them. For example, <a href="http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96412_06">B.C.’s School Act</a> requires that boards have “policies and procedures to facilitate participation by students of school age ordinarily resident in British Columbia who would otherwise be excluded from the course, class or program because of financial hardship.” </p>
<p>But parents might not know about these policies: in the U.S., the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health based at the University of Michigan found that <a href="https://mottpoll.org/reports/pay-participate-impact-school-activities">only seven per cent of parents had ever requested a waiver or scholarship for participation fees</a>. The poll surveyed 961 parents reporting on 1,323 children in middle or high school. Families may also not want to ask for help. </p>
<p>Policies that require parents and students to ask for waivers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732308330246">ignore the stigma attached to poverty and financial hardship</a>. Sometimes <a href="http://communitysector.nl.ca/node/77">kids just miss out</a>. </p>
<p>Policies to waive fees also won’t help students who want to successfully compete for spots in some specialized programs that involve competing provincially and years of paying for training, travel and equipment. </p>
<p>Finally, waiver policies help institutionalize a fee-for-service approach in public education. The belief “if you want more you should pay more” is one of many ideas from the private sector now common in public schools. </p>
<p>This kind of thinking both shifts the balance between schools serving public and private interests towards prioritizing individual benefits, and it enables governments to underfund public education since they know parents will make up the gaps.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on Aug. 21, 2019. The earlier story said only seven per cent of parents had heard of waivers or scholarships for school participation fees, instead of only seven per cent of parents had ever requested them.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120058/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Winton receives funding from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Some parents in Québec are being reimbursed after a ruling that they were overcharged school fees. If taxes cover public schools, should parents have to pay at all?Sue Winton, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1166102019-05-12T09:28:30Z2019-05-12T09:28:30ZWhat Nigerian students told us about transactional sex on campus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273594/original/file-20190509-183109-1dskdu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Red Confidential/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Transactional sex among female undergraduates in Nigeria is a <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/humaff.2012.22.issue-2/s13374-012-0020-5/s13374-012-0020-5.pdf">social reality</a>. The practice has been reported on regularly in the mainstream <a href="https://punchng.com/explaining-sex-for-marks/">media</a> and explored in various <a href="http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng:8080/bitstream/123456789/1021/1/%2815%29ui_art_nwokocha_transactional_2007.pdf">research papers</a>. </p>
<p>This cross generational relationship is widespread in <a href="https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Cross-generational-and-Transactional-Sexual-Relations-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Prevalence-of-Behavior-and-Implications-for-Negotiating-Safer-Sexual-Practices.pdf">sub-Saharan Africa</a>, and across the world where sponsors are commonly known as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11388993/Universities-where-students-sign-up-to-sugar-daddy-dating-site-to-pay-fees.html">“sugar daddies”</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/humaff.2012.22.issue-2/s13374-012-0020-5/s13374-012-0020-5.pdf">our study</a> on transactional sex in Nigerian universities, my colleague and I looked at the symbiotic relationship between some female Nigerian undergraduate students and <em>aristos</em> – wealthy, married or unmarried men. The students have transactional sex with the <em>aristos</em> in exchange for financial, social or educational support. </p>
<p>Because a great deal of these relationships happen undercover, there are no solid figures on the number of women involved in them. But there are many reasons that these relationships happen. It’s a practice that’s driven by economic hardship, a desire to network socially, and peer influence. </p>
<p>To understand more about these relationships <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/humaff.2012.22.issue-2/s13374-012-0020-5/s13374-012-0020-5.pdf">we conducted</a> 30 interviews with female undergraduates – commonly known as “runs-girls”. </p>
<p>We found that the students engage in transactional sex for pleasure and money. Typically, wealthy students would be with an <em>aristo</em> for pleasure, while those who needed financial support did it for the money. Most of the women we spoke to viewed it as a critical survival life investment strategy and rejected the “prostitution” label. </p>
<p>Although these relationships could offer the students economic, emotional, and political support, their effects can also be negative. The students expose themselves to sexually transmitted infections, physical violence and academic setbacks, because the relationships can distract from their studies. </p>
<p>Those with sexually transmitted infections risk of spreading these to their boyfriends, while also suffering economic losses seeking treatment. </p>
<h2>Finding clients</h2>
<p><em>Aristos</em> are usually wealthy postgraduate students, lecturers, politicians, business people and military personnel. They are people with wealth and authority. </p>
<p>The students looked for these clients on and off campus, using connections and referrals. They then familiarised themselves with the potential client’s routine, aiming to eventually manufacture an encounter. </p>
<p>There’s usually a generational gap between the “runs-girls” and the <em>aristos</em>. The students often refer to their clients as “uncle”, “daddy” and, more recently, “aristo”. All of these bring connotations of the person’s expected role: to take care of the student. </p>
<p>If the students don’t have much financial support from their families, these relationships provide them with that security. Some started as a one-off “date”, for which they got a sum of money. But longer-term relationships also developed in some instances. </p>
<p>In return for sex, the women were given luxury possessions, like cars and mobile phones; investments for businesses they might start; or work placements when they finish their studies. </p>
<p>As one female student said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The type of connection I have with politicians, lecturers, and military men cannot be purchased with money. At times, when I have problem, all I do is to make a call, depending on the nature of challenges…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Nigeria, <a href="https://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/">about 23%</a> of young people are unemployed. These connections, with people of influence, may be a ticket to employment. As one “runs-girl” revealed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of my clients who happened to be a commissioner connected my senior sister to get a job at immigration even without any much stress…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Transactional sex isn’t limited to financially strapped students. We spoke to rich female students who engaged in it for sexual fulfilment. One 24 year old student said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am from a rich home, my father is even a Major (in the army), and my mother a nurse, but I’m involved in campus runs because of sexual satisfaction, although nothing goes for nothing, because sex is for enjoyment. I have a guy that I help financially, and on the long run he pays me back with sex. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>In this research we identified a few challenges. </p>
<p>Some “runs-girls” accepted offers of unprotected sex for better pay. This put them at risk of catching sexually transmitted infections and, consequently, the cost of treatment. As one student said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am always scared of having naked (unprotected) sex. Most times I use (a) condom because one can never know a man that has HIV/AIDS. Although sometimes some men always want naked sex and in that case, they will have to pay triple than what is earlier bargained. Part of the money realised as a runs-girl are used in revitalising the body, in which I go to the hospital once in a month to examine myself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Other risks are that the women could be physically harmed. This is particularly true if the clients choose not to pay an agreed amount. </p>
<p>Their education could also suffer as they may choose to engage in “runs” rather than go to class. </p>
<h2>Action needed</h2>
<p>Getting the government or even universities to take action will prove difficult because our evidence suggests that policy makers, politicians and the business class are involved, as <em>aristos</em>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, given the risks associated, something ought to be done.</p>
<p>One possible solution might be to establish part-time jobs for vulnerable students, and to institute courses about running businesses so that young women can earn money independently. </p>
<p>In addition, institutions should put together and roll out communications campaigns <a href="https://www.ui.edu.ng/content/gender-mainstreaming-office-0">that teach</a> young people about the implications of transactional sex.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oludayo Tade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In some Nigerian universities, wealthy female students engage in trasnactional sex for pleasure, while those that needed financial support did it for the money.Oludayo Tade, Researcher in criminology, victimology, electronic frauds and cybercrime, University of IbadanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1014082018-09-24T10:08:05Z2018-09-24T10:08:05ZImproving the lives of adolescent girls: a case study in rural and urban Kenya<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232068/original/file-20180815-2894-1tgshov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Girls in Kenya face a range of challenges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Adriana Mahdalova</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Adolescent girls in Kenya face a range of challenges that compromise their ability to learn, earn and thrive. Girls who live in cash-poor environments are at risk of dropping out of school, sexual violence and early sexual initiation, early and unintended pregnancy, and early marriage. </p>
<p>It’s critical to intervene before events like this take place. An <a href="http://www.popcouncil.org/research/adolescent-girls-initiative-action-research-program">initiative</a> in two marginalised areas of Kenya – the country’s largest slum Kibera in Nairobi and Wajir County in Northeastern Kenya – is attempting do just that through a combination of interventions intended to empower girls and keep them safe.</p>
<p>The initiative, called the Adolescent Girls Initiative - Kenya, began in 2014 and reached 6,000 girls aged 11-15. It involved the Population Council and African Population and Health Research Center. Save the Children and Plan International implemented the program in Wajir and Kibera.</p>
<p>It tested the effects and measured the financial costs of various interventions – from violence prevention and economic empowerment to health and education. The evidence emerging from the study is encouraging. <a href="https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2018PGY_AGI-K_MidlineReport.pdf">Results show</a> that positive changes for adolescent girls are possible in these two very different, marginalised settings. And it reinforces the point that context matters, and that interventions must be tailored to different settings. </p>
<h2>The interventions</h2>
<p>The project involved four interventions —- violence prevention, education, health and wealth creation —- aimed at addressing particular problems. Each was designed to deal with the particular circumstances of communities. </p>
<p><strong>Violence Prevention:</strong> Groups of adult stakeholders participated in community dialogues on the challenges facing girls in their community. They were then given funding to develop and implement a plan to address at least one of those challenges. </p>
<p>In Wajir, for example, most of the challenges identified related to girls not enrolling in or dropping out of school and the communities wanted to improve the poor infrastructure in the schools. Therefore, most of the projects involved building classrooms, latrines, or pipe water into the schools. </p>
<p>In Kibera, the group created libraries or resource centres to respond to the girls’ need for a safe place to do homework. </p>
<p><strong>Education:</strong> A cash transfer, conditional on school enrolment at the start of each term and regular attendance throughout the term, was made to cover schooling costs. Participating families received a bi-monthly incentive payment ($15 in Wajir; $11 in Kibera), direct payment of a portion of school fees (about $7 per term for primary school and $60 per term for secondary school), and a schooling kit for the girls that included sanitary pads, underwear, soap, a pen and a notebook. </p>
<p><strong>Health:</strong> Weekly girls group meetings – called safe spaces – were held. These were facilitated by a young woman from the community and covered a range of health and life skills topics including sexual and reproductive health. </p>
<p><strong>Wealth Creation:</strong> Financial education was provided in group meetings. In addition, savings accounts were opened in the urban site and home banks distributed in the rural site. A small amount (USD$3 per year) was also given as an incentive to save. </p>
<h2>What worked</h2>
<p>At the end of the two year programme, the project’s results show positive impact for girls across a broad range of health, social, educational, and financial indicators in both Kibera and Wajir, though results varied across both sites.</p>
<p><strong>Education:</strong> The effects of the conditional cash transfers were positive. The point of impact depended on context. In Kibera, where enrolment in primary school was already close to 100%, cash transfers improved completion of primary school and transition to secondary school. But in Wajir, where only 75% of girls were enrolled in school at baseline, cash transfers served to increase primary school enrolment to 95%. This was a huge improvement clearly demonstrating the power of education cash transfers to bolster school enrolment in under-resourced and marginalised communities. </p>
<p><strong>Health:</strong> The health intervention results were also different in the two regions. In Kibera, girls participating in the safe spaces groups were more likely to have improved knowledge, seek help and know how to use a condom and have social safety nets. Girls who actively participated in the safe spaces groups were also more likely to stay in, or complete, school. </p>
<p>But in Wajir, girls participating in safe spaces groups were not likely to know about sexual and reproductive health. This could be due to the socially conservative cultural norms in Wajir. However, participation in groups did lead to small improvements on girls’ belief in more equitable gender norms and self-efficacy, or a girl’s belief about her ability to succeed in a given scenario. </p>
<p><strong>Wealth Creation:</strong> Financial literacy and savings improved in both regions. At baseline, less than 1% of girls reported having savings. For girls who received all four interventions (health, education, violence prevention, and wealth creation), the number rose to 42%. The combination of financial education sessions with savings mechanisms and $3 incentives confirms that having the opportunity to immediately put into practice the new skills helps the theoretical training to “stick.” </p>
<p><strong>Violence Prevention:</strong> All groups received violence prevention, therefore, it was not possible to evaluate its community-based impact. However, researchers concluded that conversations on gender inequalities, education cash transfers and safe spaces in Wajir laid the groundwork for a shift in thinking about girls in the community. For example, after the intervention, community members increased their expectations that girls would complete secondary school and increased the age at which families expect girls to get married.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2018PGY_AGI-K_MidlineReport.pdf">Evidence</a> from the project reinforces the theory that helping adolescent girls build social, health, education and economic assets through a multi-sectoral approach, involving communities and households, is more cost effective than any one singular intervention component – and leads to a larger impact and positive change on girls’ lives. </p>
<p>The design of future interventions for vulnerable girls needs to account for the context to maximise efficiency of spending resources –- particularly on education cash transfer programs. </p>
<p>An end line survey, will be conducted in mid-2019 to confirm if improvements in social, health, savings, and educational attainment for girls in the medium term will have a longer term influence on the timing and choices of marriage and sexual relationships. These results are expected in 2020.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Austrian works for Population Council. She has led Population Council grants from the UK Department of International Development which funded AGI-K. </span></em></p>Interventions for vulnerable girls in Kenya aim to empower and keep them safe.Karen Austrian, Senior Associate in Kenya, Population CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/721892017-02-12T19:10:13Z2017-02-12T19:10:13ZFactCheck: is Australia below the international average when it comes to school funding?<blockquote>
<p>Australia is slightly below average when it comes to international funding for our schools. <strong>– Tanya Plibersek, shadow minister for education, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/grade-one-diagnostic-tests-opposed-by-labor-education-union/news-story/8d85ad948bcee3e0535e2d669bd36547">speaking to journalists</a>, January 29, 2017</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Current school funding arrangements <a href="https://theconversation.com/gonski-model-was-corrupted-but-labor-and-coalition-are-both-to-blame-65875">run out at the end of this year</a>, and schools need to know what will replace them. So we can expect to hear arguments over how much funding different parts of government should provide, how funding should grow over time, and how it should be allocated. </p>
<p>Before entering those challenging discussions, it helps to agree on some baseline facts. Tanya Plibersek, shadow minister for education, recently told reporters that Australia is slightly below average when it comes to international funding for our schools.</p>
<p>Is that right?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>When asked for sources to support her statement, a spokesman for Tanya Plibersek referred The Conversation to OECD data showing that Australia’s per student spending as a percentage of per capita GDP is 18% for primary compared to the OECD average of 22%, and 23% for secondary compared to the OECD average of 25%. </p>
<p>These figures come directly from <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933397510">Table B1.4</a> of the OECD’s <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm"><em>Education at a Glance 2016</em></a> report. This report is used as the source of most figures in this FactCheck.</p>
<p>The metric that Plibersek uses clearly supports her claim and comes from a reliable source. But there are other ways to measure school funding and compare Australia’s spend with other developed countries.</p>
<p>This FactCheck will focus on recurrent funding from federal and state/territory governments, the crux of Australian school funding debates <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/schoolfunding">since at least the 1970s</a>. Capital investment – such as on new buildings or new schools – is excluded. Private funding is an important source of income for many schools, but by its nature is beyond the control of education ministers. </p>
<h2>How should we compare funding levels?</h2>
<p>Australia should be compared to other developed countries. This most often means the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/list-oecd-member-countries.htm">35 countries</a> that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). </p>
<p>Countries have vastly different numbers of students, and students in some countries stay in school longer than in others. Wage rates also vary greatly across countries. </p>
<p>To account for these differences, there are different ways to compare education funding. </p>
<p>There is no ideal metric, but comparing education funding to GDP probably gives the most accurate picture: it is more stable over time, because it does not rely on exchange rate conversions, and it reflects, at least in part, differences in wages.</p>
<h2>Slightly below OECD average when expressed as a share of GDP</h2>
<p>As a share of GDP, Australia’s allocation of government money to schools is slightly below the OECD average. Australia spent <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm">3.2% of GDP</a> on school education in 2013, slightly below the OECD average of 3.4%. </p>
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<p>So, measured this way, the data support Plibersek’s assertion. </p>
<p>Looking at the population mix provides further support, because Australia has relatively more <a href="https://data.oecd.org/pop/young-population.htm">young people than the OECD average</a>, and a <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-you-worry-about-a-schools-shortage-it-really-depends-on-where-you-live-53296">booming school-age population</a>. </p>
<p>For example, only 143 Koreans out of every 1,000 are under the age of 15, compared to 188 Australians. So while Korea spends marginally less on school education as a percentage of GDP than Australia (3.1% vs 3.2%) the reality is that Korea spends a much higher proportion of GDP per student than Australia. </p>
<p>The metric cited by Plibersek takes differences in population mix into account, but is harder to interpret than a simple comparison of funding to GDP. </p>
<p>And measuring funding in different ways may give a different picture.</p>
<p>For example, if private spending (meaning school fees) is included in the same metric, Australian spending on schooling is just above the OECD average (3.9% versus 3.7%). This reflects the relatively high proportion of fee-paying non-government schools in Australia compared to most OECD countries.</p>
<h2>Direct per student funding gives a mixed picture</h2>
<p>Per student funding metrics can be used to directly compare the amount of money being provided in support of the average student. But these are fraught, because some countries are richer than others and because exchange rates fluctuate over time. That’s partly why I think comparing education funding to GDP (as in the chart above) is a more accurate reflection.</p>
<p>The most recent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933397510">OECD data</a> give a mixed picture of per student spending, showing (when rounded) that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Australia spent slightly less in 2013 than the average OECD country on primary school students: US$8,300 versus US$8,500</p></li>
<li><p>Australia spent about 10% more than the average OECD country on secondary school students: US$10,900 versus US$9,800 </p></li>
<li><p>Over the expected duration of schooling, the cumulative spend per student was about 16% higher in Australia than the OECD average. This is because Australian students stay in school longer than in many other countries.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>A higher proportion of total government spending</h2>
<p>Comparing education funding to total government expenditure makes Australia’s relative spend on education look artificially high, since <a href="https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-spending.htm">Australian government expenditure as a percentage of GDP is among the lowest in the OECD</a> even if superannuation is included <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/601-CALF-size-of-gonvernment.pdf">(see page 14 of this report)</a>. </p>
<p>The data show 9.7% of government spending in Australia goes on schooling. This is higher than the OECD average of 8.0%. </p>
<p>Indeed, it ranks us equal sixth out of 33 OECD countries for which these data are available. This may well be the source of federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s claim that Australia’s spend on schools is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-16/government-to-reconsider-school-funding-global-education-report/7850746">“among the top of the pack in terms of investment”</a>. </p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Was Tanya Plibersek right to say “Australia is slightly below average when it comes to international funding for our schools”?</p>
<p>It all depends on how you measure it – but, yes, she is basically correct.</p>
<p>OECD data show that Australia’s per student spending as a percentage of per capita GDP is below the OECD average. </p>
<p>And as a share of GDP, Australia spent <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm">3.2% of GDP</a> on school education in 2013, slightly below the OECD average of 3.4%. Measuring funding this way gives the clearest picture, in my view.</p>
<p>Measuring funding in different ways gives a different picture, as explained above, and some approaches show Australia ahead of other developed countries. But measuring Australian government spending on schools as a share of GDP gives an easy, accurate and stable metric for international comparison, and supports Plibersek’s claim. <strong>– Peter Goss</strong></p>
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<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This article accurately depicts relevant OECD data. Using this data, it shows Tanya Plibersek’s comment to be accurate. </p>
<p>As an aside, however, it is important to keep in mind that Plibersek’s comments and related OECD data focus only on nation-to-nation comparisons. Yet in Australia’s federal system of governance there are significant differences between levels of school funding when comparing states and territories, and also schooling sectors. </p>
<p>Plibersek’s focus on Australia as a whole is certainly useful for understanding where Australia “sits” in comparison to other OECD nations. But to engage fully with a debate about Australian school funding arrangements, close attention is needed to how federal funding interacts with sub-national systems and sectors. <strong>– Glenn C. Savage</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and Grattan uses the income to pursue its activities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn C. Savage receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>Tanya Plibersek, shadow minister for education, told reporters recently that Australia is slightly below average when it comes to international funding for our schools. Is that right?Peter Goss, School Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662122016-10-03T04:12:47Z2016-10-03T04:12:47ZYes, some Australian private schools are overfunded – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140023/original/image-20161003-24082-1v1hlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is little regulation about how private schools spend public funding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Education minister Simon Birmingham recently made the claim that some private schools are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-27/education-minister-acknowledges-some-private-schools-over-funded/7880058">“overfunded”</a>. </p>
<p>The comment received considerable interest because it opens the possibility that public funding of such schools may decrease. </p>
<p>This is a remarkable turnaround from the Gillard Labor government’s <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/prime-minister-julia-gillard-says-private-schools-will-get-more/story-fn59nlz9-1226453690310">pledge</a> that no school would see a reduction in the amount received from the public purse.</p>
<p>While Birmingham was reluctant to define what he meant by “overfunded”, the student resource standard established by the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review-of-funding-for-schooling-final-report-dec-2011.pdf">Gonski school funding review</a> is a good place to start. </p>
<p>Since his comment, an analysis published in the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/full-list-1-billion-flowing-to-wealthy-private-schools-officially-classed-as-overfunded-20160930-grs6nz.html">Sydney Morning Herald</a> found that more than 150 private schools in Australia are overfunded based on the Gonski resource standard. This overfunding amounts to more than A$215 million per year.</p>
<h2>Complex funding model</h2>
<p>As Birmingham noted, the current funding system is extremely complex and opaque. It is a collection of <a href="https://theconversation.com/gonski-model-was-corrupted-but-labor-and-coalition-are-both-to-blame-65875">historical deals and arrangements</a> rather than a coherent strategy.</p>
<p>In tracing a brief policy history, federal government grants were first provided for private schools in 1964. These were intended as one-off capital grants for struggling Catholic schools to purchase science blocks.</p>
<p>Recurrent per-student grants for private schools were introduced in 1970. While funding for private schools was initiated by the conservative Gorton government, Labor and Coalition governments since then have supported federal funding of private schools because it gained them popularity with voters. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.whitlam.org/gough_whitlam/achievements/education">Whitlam</a> government in 1973 attributed large funds to private schools, but this was counteracted by his equally large funding for public schools. </p>
<p>Federal funding to private schools increased substantially during the <a href="http://www.saveourschools.com.au/national-issues/the-great-school-fraud">Howard government</a>. Between 1999 and 2005, federal funding for public schools increased by $261 per student compared to an increase of $1584 for each private school student. </p>
<h2>How private schools are funded</h2>
<p>All private schools receive public funds, mostly from the federal government but also from state governments. </p>
<p>They receive recurrent funding, to pay for ongoing costs like teacher salaries. They also receive capital funding, to pay for their buildings and facilities.</p>
<p>There is very little regulation about how private schools can spend their share of public funds. <a href="http://apo.org.au/resource/drift-private-schools-australia-understanding-its-features">Research</a> from over a decade ago showed that many private schools use public funds to improve their facilities rather than reduce fees.</p>
<p>Overall, total public funding (federal and state) has increased at a greater rate for private than public schools. <a href="http://www.saveourschools.com.au/funding/productivity-commission-fails-to-lift-the-bonnet-on-its-own-funding-figures">Analyses of data</a> from the Productivity Commission showed that total public funding has increased by 9.8% for private schools but only 3.3% for public schools over the last ten years.</p>
<p>Lower-fee private schools receive a larger amount of recurrent public funding than their higher-fee counterparts. This is because the socio-economic status (SES) dimension of the model, in which funding is based in part on the SES of students at the school. But high-fee schools receive a substantial amount as well. </p>
<p>A brief illustration from the federal government’s <a href="http://www.myschool.edu.au/">MySchool website</a> is telling.</p>
<p>We examined MySchool data from the six most expensive elite private schools in Perth that charge more than $20,000 in fees per student. </p>
<p>On average, these six schools received $2,200 per student from the state government and $3,000 per student from the federal government in recurrent funding. </p>
<p>They also received on average $3.7 million in capital funding from the federal government over the last five years. Taken all together, these figures amount to an estimated public spend of $270 million over the last five years, for six schools that are already extremely well resourced.</p>
<h2>Funding model is inefficient</h2>
<p>The other problem with our current funding model is that it is inefficient. For example, a key prong of the federal government’s innovation strategy is to increase the number of young people who study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects. Yet <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2013.846414">research</a> found that many low SES high schools don’t offer these subjects due to funding constraints.</p>
<p>Our funding system is based on an illogical basis of entitlement, not need. In our current system, all schools are entitled to public funds, regardless of whether they actually need them or not. All parents are entitled to a “return” on their tax dollar, regardless of where they send their child to school.</p>
<p>Rather than basing our funding model on the entitlements of schools, it should be based on the needs of students and communities. </p>
<p>All students, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents earn, are entitled to an education that will develop their interests and capacities to the fullest. This would benefit individual students and their families and communities, but it would also benefit the nation as a whole.</p>
<p>Very few countries, if any to our knowledge, provide similarly high levels of recurrent and capital funding to private schools, while also allowing them to charge fees.</p>
<p>Not all private schools are overfunded. But it is probably safe to say that most high-fee private schools are overfunded, and conversely, that many low-fee private schools are underfunded. And this will only change if we abandon the old deals and start afresh with a simpler and more coherent funding model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s school funding model provides high levels of public funding to private schools, while also allowing them to charge fees.Laura Perry, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Research, Murdoch UniversityEmma Rowe, Lecturer in the School of Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646962016-09-04T17:44:10Z2016-09-04T17:44:10ZSouth Africa does child support grants well, but not other welfare services<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136114/original/image-20160831-30804-x1yxkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The financial safety net for South African children is better than in most countries. But other vulnerabilities aren't taken care of adequately. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Jabulile’s young niece, Thando, came to live with her, she immediately treated her in the same way she treated her own four children, despite the financial pressures of having an extra mouth to feed. </p>
<p>Thando’s mother, a drug addict, lives on the streets and so Thando became part of her aunt’s family. Jabulile gets a child support grant of <a href="http://www.gov.za/services/child-care-social-benefits/child-support-grant">R350 a month</a> for each child, including Thando. The primary caregiver of any poor South African child under the age of 18 years is entitled to claim a child support grant.</p>
<p>Jabulile’s story strongly parallels the experiences of many families of the nearly <a href="http://www.sassa.gov.za/index.php/statistical-reports">12 million children</a> receiving a monthly child support grant in South Africa. And the government has every right to point to the social grants system as one of its most successful <a href="http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/SAF_resources_csg2012book.pdf">national poverty alleviation strategies</a>. </p>
<p>But what is often forgotten is that grants are only one arm of the social welfare obligations the state has to its citizens. The second arm, social welfare services, has not fared as well. These services include assistance for vulnerable groups, such as disabled or homeless people, children in need of care (due to neglect, abuse or <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2005-038%20childrensact.pdf">exploitation</a>), and should also support families and communities in overcoming the difficulties of everyday life. </p>
<p>Jabulile’s case illustrates the failings of this arm of welfare. </p>
<h2>The system’s failings</h2>
<p>Welfare services in South Africa are delivered both by the state and by NGOs. This is common in developing countries where states rely on NGO support to deliver welfare services due to capacity and funding limitations. </p>
<p>But the quality of services available has been eroded over the last <a href="http://www.wlce.co.za/index.php/2013-04-30-11-57-18/press-releases/159-ngos-watch-closely-as-budget-for-social-welfare-service-funding-is-reviewed-by-the-parliamentary-portfolio-committee-on-social-development">five years</a>, especially in the NGO sector which is increasingly financially embattled. Community needs have long outstripped available programmes, which are shrinking. <a href="https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjBz7XL3OvOAhUqBsAKHTnhDBEQFghBMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fdocs%2F110614nawongo.doc&usg=AFQjCNE_RRSow-8gRfJkJR-Xa3uhMuSpSw&sig2=DXf55uBDecj_WOt9ZuhHSA&bvm=bv.131286987,d.d2s">Government</a> is seriously under-funding NGO welfare services. Political and institutional <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13552074.2016.1194560">tensions</a> between the NGO sector and the state have also affected care, while there are few seamless links between different state services such as housing, education, welfare and health. </p>
<p>These problems make accessing services, such as the right to attend school without paying fees, impossibly difficult. </p>
<p>Jabulile lives in an area of Johannesburg with fee-charging public schools. Her school-age children are all given a fee exemption, which is their right. But as she is not Thando’s legal guardian, the school insisted that Thando’s biological mother apply for the fee exemption. </p>
<p>Jabulile eventually found her sister after looking for her for weeks. Her sister agreed to sign the forms and the school granted the fee exemption. Jabulile will have to repeat this process every year. </p>
<p>The requirements for receiving a child support grant - that she is her niece’s primary caregiver and is earning below the <a href="http://www.gov.za/services/child-care-social-benefits/child-support-grant">means test</a> - should have been enough for the school to automatically grant a fee exemption. But South Africa lacks the institutional links between services for this to happen. </p>
<h2>Compounding a problem</h2>
<p>Jabulile’s eldest son, Mandisi, has Down syndrome. He recently turned 18 and therefore had to leave his special needs school which doesn’t cater for learners after this age. He has had to stay at home.</p>
<p>His speech, halting at best, has deteriorated markedly since he left school, where he was happy and received a range of therapeutic services. He spends many hours lying in bed staring at the ceiling.</p>
<p>Jabulile has been told repeatedly by the wonderful and committed staff at various adult facilities for mental disabilities that placement in an appropriate learning or work setting is extremely hard to find. </p>
<p>These are just two examples that illustrate the lack of service integration and the paucity of welfare services that make Jabulile’s task of caring for her family much harder. A small monthly cash transfer can’t solve all their challenges. It is the start and not the end of the delivery of social justice to Jabulile and others like her.</p>
<h2>Not just about redistributive justice</h2>
<p>Nancy Fraser, a well-respected US-based feminist welfare theorist, conceptualises social justice as a combination of three things: redistributive justice (towards economic equality), recognition justice (towards equality of respect and dignity), and representation justice (towards equality of formal and substantive political and institutional rights).</p>
<p>South Africa has made important progress towards redistributive justice. But the welfare and social service institutions fail to deliver integrated and responsive services.</p>
<p>Thando should automatically be entitled to a fee exemption. Mandisi should have a clear progression of education and stimulation services into adulthood. And Jabulile should not have to fight to get what is formally her right. In having to fight for these benefits, her dignity is damaged. In addition, even though her formal rights are not questioned, her substantive rights to these institutions are denied. Finally, her role as a carer is undermined rather than supported.</p>
<p>The way the system works is that instead of the child grant being a “gateway” to services, caregivers have to fight for every individual service. The burden of getting these services lies on the people who need them most, instead of on the state, where it rightly belongs.</p>
<p>It is important that when receiving services, programmes, rights, cash transfers and other public goods, people’s dignity and legitimacy to claim these public goods are not undermined - intentionally or unintentionally.</p>
<p>By not expending energy on improving the structural, institutional, social and political realities, the state is suggesting that income support is sufficient to deliver social justice. The everyday experiences of women receiving the all-important child support grant shows it is not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tessa Hochfeld received funding from the South Africa - Netherlands Research Programme for Alternatives to Development during this study. </span></em></p>The lack of service integration and the paucity of welfare services make poor people’s task of caring for their familes much harder. A small monthly cash transfer can’t solve all their challenges.Tessa Hochfeld, Senior Researcher, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626642016-07-20T18:30:12Z2016-07-20T18:30:12ZWhy low-fee private schools are struggling to take root in rural Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130948/original/image-20160718-2122-1b1q13s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-cost private schooling isn't accessible to children in Nigeria's rural areas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On a walk through the slums of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, or its economic heartland, Lagos, you’ll learn something about the country’s education system today: low-cost private schools are everywhere. </p>
<p>They’re small and often occupy ramshackle buildings, but they cater for the <a href="http://www.esspin.org/resources/reports/lagos">vast majority</a> of children in Lagos, and appear to be doing so in Abuja’s slums too. These schools far outnumber government institutions in such settlements. A Lagos or Abuja slum will usually have just one government school compound; not enough to cater for all the children in the catchment area. </p>
<p>This development isn’t unique to Nigeria. Low-fee private schools are <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21660113-private-schools-are-booming-poor-countries-governments-should-either-help-them-or-get-out">on the rise</a> in India, Pakistan, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. Even when a government provides free universal primary education, many parents will still choose to pay because they believe private schooling gives their children a better chance for learning – or because the government school is just too far to walk to. </p>
<p>Nigerians in cities have some choices about where to school their children. But what about their counterparts in the country’s expansive rural areas? Research I’ve conducted <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2016.1142737">finds</a> that it’s <a href="http://www.esspin.org/resources/reports/kwara">very rare</a> for children in rural areas to have any access to private schooling. Instead they are forced to rely on poor quality, poorly resourced government schools.</p>
<h2>What’s happening in Kwara State</h2>
<p>Nigeria’s population was estimated at more than 182 million in 2015. Its rural population accounts for <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL">just over half</a>.</p>
<p>I conducted a study for the UK Department for International Development’s Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria while living in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State. Kwara is one of Nigeria’s poorest and least-known states. It doesn’t enjoy the same prosperity as the south-west yet neither does it struggle with intractable problems such as those of the north-east or the Niger Delta. </p>
<p>With a team of fieldworkers I set out to find out how many private schools had popped up in Ilorin, the state’s largest urban centre, focusing on and reaching every part of Ilorin West Local Government Area. We wanted to contrast this with what we would find in Kwara’s remote rural areas, choosing Baruten in the state’s north-west and Ifelodun in the south-east. To do so, we walked through town to reach the most hidden corners, and drove long distances in the country, exploring all the villages we could find. </p>
<p>The condition of Kwara’s government education system was abysmal at the start of our work in the state. An <a href="http://www.esspin.org/resources/reports/kwara">assessment</a> conducted in 2008, three years before our fieldwork, found that fewer than half of one percentage point of the state’s teachers could pass a test of primary grade 4 level material.</p>
<p>Some parents have been increasingly responding to this low quality by pulling their children out of government education in favour of relatively low-fee private schools. This was especially true in urban Ilorin. But there were barely any low-fee private schools in the rural areas we studied. </p>
<h2>Hardly any market</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131052/original/image-20160719-13868-yx3p9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are far more low-fee private schools in Kwara State’s urban centres than in its rural areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found 294 low-fee private schools in urban Ilorin. Only a third of these were known to the government’s Ministry of Education.</p>
<p>The situation was very different in the rural areas. We drove for endless kilometres on unbelievably rough roads with no form of public transportation, from remote village to remote village. In Baruten and Ifelodun combined we found about a third of the number we’d located in just one large part of Ilorin.</p>
<p>In most villages people didn’t even know what a private school was. They usually simply directed us to the only village school: that provided by the government.</p>
<p>In the same year, Nigeria carried out a nationally representative household survey with the support of USAID. It <a href="https://www.eddataglobal.org/household/index.cfm?fuseaction=showDatasetDir&A2=NG">found</a> that just 9.3% of all rural children were attending private schools in Kwara State. The figure was 58% for urban children. Starker still: 1.5% of those children who fall in the poorest 40% of Kwara’s population were attending private school. The figure was 80% among the richest 20% of children. </p>
<p>Neither my study’s findings nor those of the representative household survey are surprising. There is simply virtually no market for private schooling in remote rural areas of this Nigerian state.</p>
<p>Why is this the case?</p>
<h2>Geography and poverty</h2>
<p>Part of the reason is geographical. Kwara is sparsely populated. At the time of our study there were just 80 people per square kilometre. Contrast that with another area that <a href="http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA23.pdf">I’ve studied</a>, rural western Uttar Pradesh in India. This had 820 people per square kilometre at about the same time and many private schools alongside those run by the government.</p>
<p>Low-fee private schools are essentially businesses. They need to cover their costs: teachers’ salaries, basic materials and infrastructure, and a salary for the head of the school who is usually also the proprietor. So if there are relatively few children in a village and some are going to government school – which are relatively plentiful in these rural areas – then in most places there are simply too few children to support a private school’s existence. There are often too few children to support the existence of more than one of any type of school.</p>
<p>The second and biggest reason for the lack of growth in Kwara’s private schooling landscape is poverty.</p>
<p>A poor child in Kwara is lucky to go to school at all. The household survey showed that two-thirds of ten- to 16-year-olds in the poorest 40% had never been enrolled in any school. The indications are that fee-paying options are no solution for the very poor. And there is therefore no market logic for private operators.</p>
<h2>Where to improve the system</h2>
<p>So how can the absence of access to quality education for rural Nigerians be addressed?</p>
<p>The most equitable action would involve fixing government schools – while at the same time leaving existing private schools to just get on with what they are doing. The government needs to concentrate its resources on reaching the poor and remote. Quality simply must be improved to make accessing government schools appear worthwhile.</p>
<p>There are aspects of private school management, staffing and teaching methods that currently failing government systems could usefully adopt. </p>
<p>These include, wherever possible, hiring local people who are part of the community. They’ll have a greater understanding of their neighbours, and be more accountable. They’ll also be used to living in tough rural conditions and won’t miss classes because they’re relying on public transport from elsewhere.</p>
<p>If they are not so knowledgeable, and maybe not qualified teachers (just like existing government teachers), these people can be supported with extensive materials to boost their teaching. The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria has already drawn on this approach in its work with government school teachers by developing set lesson plans for all teachers to use. On-paper qualifications should not be everything: many of Kwara’s failing teachers tested in 2008 were formally qualified.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Härmä received funding from the UK Department for International Development to conduct this research.</span></em></p>It’s unusual for children in Nigeria’s rural areas to have any access to private schooling, even if it’s of the low-cost variety. They must rely instead on poorly resourced government schools.Joanna Härmä, Visiting Research Fellow in Education, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533292016-01-20T03:59:34Z2016-01-20T03:59:34ZUniversity protests are important – but school fees also matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108431/original/image-20160118-31828-1rurfub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School fee exemptions that are meant to help poor families can actually cause them major problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It <a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/152183-how-much-it-costs-to-send-your-child-to-private-school-and-university-in-sa.html">costs more</a> to send a child to some of South Africa’s elite private schools than it does to cover tuition at many universities. This is just one reason among many that it’s time for a commission on school funding. The school fee system also needs urgent attention – not least because it is hardening the education system into a <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/education-in-sa-a-tale-of-two-systems">class-divided order</a>. </p>
<p>South Africa is thinking about overhauling higher education funding. This process should be accompanied by a major relook at the school funding and fee exemption system.</p>
<p>At the country’s universities, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-protests-point-to-a-much-deeper-problem-at-south-african-universities-49456">#FeesMustFall</a> campaign has rightly concentrated the collective mind on rising student fees,<a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-31-loans-weigh-students-down">historical debt</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/financial-stress-distracts-university-students-from-academic-success-49818">financial burdens</a> students face when entering university, and an ineffectual <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/education/2016/01/09/zuma-reiterates-funding-pledge-to-national-student-financial-aid-scheme">National Student Financial Aid Scheme</a>. </p>
<p>But the divide between fee-paying and non-fee-paying public schools is equally worrying. A fee-exemption <a href="http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/government/schoolfees.html">system</a> was initiated in 1996 and culminated in some schools being declared entirely fee-free from 2006 – paradoxically allowing poverty to continue at one end of the scale and affluence to persist at another.</p>
<h2>No-fee schools</h2>
<p>The Department of Basic Education is proud of the fact that, in 2016, <a href="http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/more-children-attending-no-fee-schools-survey">just over 60%</a> of children do not pay school fees. This system was introduced after a long battle by NGOs in the 1990s against fees, particularly those charged to people in poor areas. </p>
<p>The problem is that these fee-exempt schools are not well resourced. South African government spending on education <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/igfr/2015/prov/03.%20Chapter%203%20-%20Education.pdf">compares favourably</a> with other developing and middle-income countries. But this <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2012.00862.x/abstract">does not</a> necessarily translate either into adequate outcomes or resourcing of schools. </p>
<p>On average, <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/igfr/2015/prov/03.%20Chapter%203%20-%20Education.pdf">about 80%</a> of provincial budgets are spent on teacher salaries, with some spending more and some less. This leaves about 20% or less for spending on maintenance, textbooks and other necessary resources. </p>
<p>It is no accident that more broken windows and toilets are found at schools in the poorer Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces than in wealthier parts of the country. There is simply not enough in the non-personnel allocation to schools to shift spending patterns. And there is little provision to deal with poor management of the meagre resources that are allocated. </p>
<p>Frustrated communities complain to watchdog organisations, but this does not solve the problem.</p>
<h2>The changing nature of suburban schools</h2>
<p>Increasingly, poor parents – particularly from urban areas like Johannesburg and Soweto, Cape Town, Durban and Pietermaritzburg – try to send their children to schools in well-off suburbs. </p>
<p>Schools receive more or less government funding depending on the socioeconomic status of their surrounding communities. So, a school in an established suburb like Durban’s Glenwood will get less money than one in a poor township such as Umlazi. But children from Umlazi can attend school in Glenwood, creating a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059315000449">disjuncture</a> between the social class of the area in which the school is located and the children attending it. </p>
<p>Since resources are allocated in such a way that schools in poorer areas get more, and those in richer areas get less, unexpected anomalies have arisen.</p>
<p>Educational statistics have not kept pace with these changes in suburbs and the nature of schools in them. Research shows that many such schools <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/november-2009/school-money">receive less</a> than they should if their learners’ parents’ income levels were taken into account.</p>
<h2>Poor parents lack power</h2>
<p>The chasm between whether schools are fee-paying or not is being widened by schools’ practices and assumptions that reinforce admission on the basis of the ability to pay. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/south-african-schools-act-regulations-relating-to-the-exemption-of-parents-from-payment-of-school-fees-in-public-schools-regulation-1052-of-2006-2006-11-10">Legally</a>, no child can be excluded if the parents are unable to pay school fees. Children in fee-paying schools are still eligible for total, partial, or conditional exemption from fees. It is the duty of the principal and school governing body to apprise parents of their liability for fees unless they have been exempted. </p>
<p>But often fee-paying schools don’t want to accept children who cannot pay. They simply don’t tell parents that they’re eligible for an exemption. In some cases, this reluctance is spurred by provincial governments that don’t compensate schools for exempted pupils.</p>
<p>Poorer parents accessing such schools may know their rights but lack the confidence to act on this knowledge. This is especially true when they’re confronted by a bursar whose first response to a request for the exemption form might well be: “But if you can’t pay, there are many fee-exempt schools that will take you”. Because of this, parents will simply not pay fees nor apply for exemption.</p>
<p>At the end of their school career, then, these young people are saddled with unpaid debts. These will mount when they enter a university. The hidden slights against such children – the shame and burden of knowing that action can be taken any time – soon accompany that person to university. It can transform into a monumental anger.</p>
<h2>Need to revisit school funding model</h2>
<p>Schoolchildren can and have been as vocal as university students in their demands. Both the students of 1976 and Equal Education more recently have shown this. But the silence that has developed around school fees needs to be broken. </p>
<p>An argument can be made that if fees should fall anywhere, it should be in schools first. There is enough evidence that the system is not working as it should across all schools and needs a fundamental rethink.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Chisholm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s fee exemption system is at the heart of a deepening divide in the country’s school sector. It’s time for a major relook at how this policy is applied.Linda Chisholm, Professor of Education, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/436242015-06-22T05:46:15Z2015-06-22T05:46:15ZLeaked school funding proposals: should we be worried?<p>The <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-school-reform-paper-proposes-cutting-federal-funding-20150621-ghtkkz.html">leak of four reform proposals</a> for Australian schooling from a confidential draft of the Green Paper on the <a href="https://federation.dpmc.gov.au/">Reform of the Federation</a> has triggered panic and confusion across the country. But while the proposals may seem worrying at first glance, they need to be put in context.</p>
<p>First, these are not policy announcements. They are merely the next step in the long, exhaustive White Paper process, following the launch of the <a href="http://federation.dpmc.gov.au/issues-paper-4">issues paper exploring roles and responsibilities in education</a> late last year. </p>
<p>Discussion and feedback from that paper has been digested by the White Paper Taskforce in the Prime Minister’s department, and now have taken some rudimentary form as a collection of policy reform options in a draft of the Green Paper. </p>
<p>These options are now the subject of confidential and collaborative discussions with Australia’s state and territory governments – discussions intended to critique, elaborate, amend and refine. Following these revisions, the Green Paper will be publicly released for everyone else to view and have their say.</p>
<p>The Green Paper is a <a href="http://federation.dpmc.gov.au/faq-page#n168">consultation document outlining a range of possible solutions</a> to the key problems as assessed by the government. Public submissions are encouraged. </p>
<p>Only after all of this feedback, and yet more research, more consultation with stakeholders and further discussions with the states, will the Commonwealth release the end product – the White Paper – next year. </p>
<p>This document will officially state the government’s preferred policy settings and approach on government roles and responsibilities in education, health, housing and financial relations. Even White Papers, however, are far from implemented policy: they are just preferred policy settings.</p>
<p>Second, the proposals leaked to Fairfax Media are not at all surprising to those that read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-government-to-take-a-back-seat-in-education-35714">background “issue paper” on federalism in education</a>, which repeatedly argued that schooling outcomes would likely be improved if the Commonwealth returned some or all of its responsibilities in school education to the states. It also raised the possibility of alternative funding structures.</p>
<h2>Proposal 1: make states and territories responsible for all schools</h2>
<p>This could improve the targeting and effectiveness of education funding and programs. But it must be accompanied by commensurate funding from the Commonwealth to the states. </p>
<p>Having two levels of government making funding and program decisions independently distorts policymaking, dilutes the effectiveness of programs and distracts schools from their own cohesive and tailored plans for enhanced learning. </p>
<h2>Proposal 2: make states responsible for public schools, and Commonwealth non-government schools</h2>
<p>This could exacerbate the inequities and policy perversions created by two levels of government pulling independent policy levers independently, and provide incentives to reduce expenditure at the expense of the other level.</p>
<h2>Proposal 3: reduce Commonwealth involvement in schools, without significant structural change</h2>
<p>This is the most likely scenario of the four draft reform options, and depending on the detail it could see significant improvement. Productive collaboration between states and Commonwealth could enhance targeting of needs-based funding and by extension equity and excellence throughout all school systems. </p>
<h2>Proposal 4: make the Commonwealth the dominant funder of all schools</h2>
<p>This would be unlikely and unwise. The <a href="http://www.appa.asn.au/content/gonski-report/Review-of-Funding-for-Schooling-Final-Report-Dec-2011.pdf">Gonski Review of School Funding</a>, and the Commonwealth government itself, both repeatedly state that policy experience and expertise in schooling is held by the states, not the Commonwealth. </p>
<p>Connected to this fourth draft proposal was a suggestion that wealthy families pay fees to send their children to public schools and that Commonwealth funding for schools be connected to family ability to contribute. This fee impost could incentivise families to shift to private schools, exacerbating the residualisation in Australia’s school system from the public system to private schools.</p>
<p>Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne quickly distanced himself from this proposal: </p>
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<p>However, public schools around the country already charge a variety of fees and levies. In most states, schools can legally charge for things <a href="http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/publications/20150211-School-costs/20150211-School-costs-presentation.pdf">“not directly related to providing free instruction”</a>.</p>
<p>Excursions, uniforms, music instruction, and school photos usually incur extra costs. On top of that, many schools ask for money for building funds and more. School principals cite inadequate government funding as the reason for these parent payments.</p>
<p>In 2013, Victorian parents of public school students <a href="http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_and_publications/latest_reports/2014-15/20150211-school-costs.aspx">paid</a> A$310 million to schools – an average of A$558 per student. This was an increase of A$70 million, or 29%, since 2009. Schools in wealthier areas charge and collect much more than this. Schools educating disadvantaged families charge far less and have a low collection rate. </p>
<p>The Victorian Auditor General’s Office <a href="http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_and_publications/latest_reports/2014-15/20150211-school-costs.aspx">found</a> “parent payments have become essential to the provision of free instruction in government schools”; “schools are charging parents for items that should be free”; and the Victorian Department of Education:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… has no oversight on what items and how much schools charge parents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We need to do away with the myth that public education is free and talk about how government and communities can <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/the-shared-work-of-learning/">work together to better support schools and students</a>. Schools have been operating without necessary support for too long. Greater coordination, collaboration and support is urgently required.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Hinz is a member of Need to Succeed, which advocates for needs-based, sector-neutral school funding, and has spoken at their Victorian symposium.</span></em></p>The leak of four reform proposals for Australian schooling has triggered panic and confusion across the country. But while at first glance the proposals may seem worrying, they need to be put in context.Bronwyn Hinz, Policy Fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy (Victoria University) & PhD Candidate, School of Social and Political Sciences & Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/261562014-05-01T05:42:04Z2014-05-01T05:42:04ZWealthier parents shouldn’t pay even more for public schooling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47513/original/df9c92fp-1398914802.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charging parents in affluent areas more for public schooling will only increase the inequity between schools</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbouchard/5168061145/in/photolist-8SFEwv-3TvR2K-5fxkGV-9zFNu-9zFWy-56fT8g-g1KZ7p-efNsZ6-7MPx7Y-6dCZhb-boqBmr-iofjgM-9dGAtT-4nq9mK-3TB8tA-9cjSUX-bAsR4-6K2bMS-7osoW5-5bb1AJ-56iRCS-MaKuZ-36EX4e-6n14nQ-bzTKMr-bzTLmc-3tY8-5FJErN-bmYYrs-5peuzD-avWqbJ-FTtnp-6bV6Nu-7fo2QU-bzTKGp-53ChTL-9cnPLY-8sQhd9-avTJv2-6k5dre-Gpqk2-7f3qPs-g1KxNh-g1KXpN-5fAjFd-bzTPPn-bzTMaM-bmYYT5-5HiW42-8sQhzC">Flickr/Philip Bouchard</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/rich-families-should-have-to-pay-to-attend-public-schools-report-says-20140429-zr13z.html">recent proposal</a> for wealthier families to pay higher fees for public schooling is unworkable and counter-productive on a number of levels.</p>
<p>It’s not generally known that the fees levied and collected by public schools already vary widely according to socio-economic status. Public schools in more affluent areas set fees and have a range of various “voluntary” contributions and costs associated with elective subjects and activities. This can total $2000 a year or more, despite the fact that public schooling is notionally “free”. Schools in poorer areas typically have much lower fees of $100-200 and a much lower rate of fees collected from parents. </p>
<p>Thus there is already a certain amount of inequity within public education – as well as between public and private education. The latest proposal would exacerbate this.</p>
<p>More generally, this proposal is another step along the road to “user pays” in schooling, with those who can pay more receiving a better-resourced service. Instead of public education being an investment in national personal, social and economic prosperity, it is <a href="http://m.theage.com.au/comment/why-free-market-will-not-fix-problems-with-teachers-and-teaching-20140402-zqpo2.html">increasingly being seen</a> as an industry that requires deregulation and exposure to market forces. This will enable governments to further abrogate their responsibility to adequately resource public schools.</p>
<p>Many parents have been convinced that public education has failed and that the interests of their children might best be served by opting out. Adding a new layer of fees to public schooling will be enough to trigger this decision for some. There is a danger that public schools, especially those in lower socio-economic areas, will be left to implode and crumble while parents with the means to place their children in better-resourced public and private schools will do so.</p>
<p>Finally, there is no mention as to how these higher fees for “wealthier” public school parents will be either set or collected. Will this be a job for the tax office? Will fees be based on taxable income for the previous financial year? Will fees be collected through regular income tax deductions? What of the self-employed or families with more than one income? This could become a costly bureaucratic nightmare to implement.</p>
<p>Since European settlement Australia has been built on the foundation of free, secular, compulsory and universally available public education. An equitably funded public education system is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level:_Why_More_Equal_Societies_Almost_Always_Do_Better">better for everyone</a>. Where possible a choice of schools should be available to parents but this choice should not be based on either the relative affluence of a school or on the ability of parents to pay for such schooling.</p>
<p>Australia is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level:_Why_More_Equal_Societies_Almost_Always_Do_Better">becoming a less equitable society</a>, and the <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review-of-funding-for-schooling-final-report-dec-2011.pdf">Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling</a> was the latest and most comprehensive attempt to grapple with the issue. Previous schemes have been bedevilled by the political imperative that no matter what the model, no school or system would be worse off under the new arrangements. This entrenches rather than remedies inequity.</p>
<p><a href="https://austcolled.com.au/event/2014-jean-blackburn-oration">In a speech this month</a> David Gonski will reflect on the findings of the review and on the prospects for a more equitable and productive means of funding Australian education. Australians need to consider this review and the broader issues it addressed. We need a plan to sustain and nurture public and private education rather than half-baked measures.</p>
<p>Australia might be able to exist without a car industry but it can’t survive and prosper without an adequately resourced and supported public education sector.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Dinham receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The recent proposal for wealthier families to pay higher fees for public schooling is unworkable and counter-productive on a number of levels. It’s not generally known that the fees levied and collected…Stephen Dinham, National President of The Australian College of Educators, and Chair of Teacher Education and Director of Learning and Teaching, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.