Why public and private schools are partners in educating all Australian children
John Frew in a recent essay asserts that public schools are increasingly burdened with students facing complex challenges.
Meanwhile, private schools lure more desirable students with questionable claims of better academic outcomes and stricter discipline.
As a principal of 20 years, I must disagree with Frew’s depiction of public schools as a “toxic environment in which violence and chaos flourish…. [because] they shoulder the exclusive burden of supporting students whose severe behavioural challenges stem from deep vulnerabilities”.
Any teacher who has marked the HSC will confirm that the vast majority of students from both independent and public sector schools receive a quality education.
Excellent teachers abound across sectors as do graduates, meeting Frew’s ideal of informed citizens who can critically engage with the world.
As principal of Warakirri College (western Sydney), I must also dispute Frew’s assertion that disadvantaged, vulnerable students with challenging behaviours are the “exclusive burden” of public schools.
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First of all, students with challenging behaviours are not a burden. They are young people with the right to a quality education and a positive future, which is why non-government Special Assistance Schools like Warakirri College exist.
Frew appears to be unaware of the 49 Special Assistance Schools and campuses in NSW, which educate some 3000 students.
These schools work in partnership with local high schools to meet the needs of young people who are not flourishing in a large mainstream school because their complex needs and challenging life circumstances require a smaller, more flexible educational environment that can provide appropriate support.
Warakirri College is an independent school with four campuses in western Sydney, serving 500 young people aged 15-22; approximately 70 per cent of our students have a socio-emotional disability.
Students come to our school because they have mental health challenges, complex family situations or extreme social disadvantage. Many applicants are in out-of-home care, have been victims of bullying or have recently been released from juvenile detention.
Frew is right when he states that such students require significant resources to meet their needs; the Commonwealth provides 80 per cent of those resources, while the State Government provides 20 per cent. Warakirri College does not charge fees.
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This funding enables Warakirri to provide a free creche for teenage mothers so they can complete their schooling and receive parenting support.
The increasing percentage of young people who cannot attend school in person are being served by our substantial Distance Education Program, whereby qualified teachers deliver the NESA curriculum so that isolated, vulnerable young people can have the opportunity to complete their HSC, gain an ATAR and progress to a TAFE college or university if that is their goal.
Like other Special Assistance Schools, Warakirri College provides students with all educational materials, covers the cost of excursions and camps and sometimes assists with the provision of clothing, prescription glasses and special requirements for transition to work, such as steel-capped boots.
We provide breakfast, morning tea and lunch and students are encouraged to learn to cook nourishing cost-effective meals.
Frew alludes to the benefit of appropriate interventions that can change the educational trajectory for challenging students.
By addressing underlying trauma, focussing on each student’s potential, helping them to feel safe, affirmed, capable, trusted and loved, we see extraordinary progress among our students.
Attendance improves, their engagement is better, they start to form friendships and with 80 per cent progressing to further education and training, they begin to see that they can have a positive, contributing future.
For example, 50 per cent of Year 12 Warakirri graduates continue their education at TAFE, 30 per cent receive a University offer and 10 per cent are assisted to progress directly to employment.
Education is not a “one size fits all” endeavour. Parents and students need a choice of quality educational options and sometimes young people must move between public and independent schools depending on their life circumstances.
Independent Special Assistance Schools provide an effective pathway for our community’s most disadvantaged young people to receive a quality education.
Instead of dividing our public and private, not-for-profit schools, we should acknowledge that both public and independent schools work in partnership to address the needs of students, including those that are most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
A principal of 20 years, Carolyn Blanden has worked in both public and independent schools. She is currently principal of Warakirri College, which has campuses in Blacktown, Campbelltown and Fairfield and plans to expand further into outer western Sydney.
This article first appeared in Pearls and Irritations. Read the original here.
