Postcodes, not high fees, are best clues to performance - The Centre for Independent Studies
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Postcodes, not high fees, are best clues to performance

If you need any more proof that higher school spending doesn’t guarantee better academic results, look at the Year 12 rankings announced this week.

Many parents may be surprised the non-government sectors don’t seem to perform significantly better than the government system, once student socio-economic background is considered.

How can it be that independent and Catholic schools with much more money from parental fees often don’t outperform government schools with similar students? Because the non-government schools are unfortunately often just as susceptible to following education fads as government schools — sometimes more so.

The harsh reality is that just because a school charges a fee — of, say, $30,000 — it is still no guarantee it uses evidence-based teaching practices.

And Catholic diocesan systems can be less focused on improvement than government systems, as they don’t have an elected state education minister under political pressure to lift standards breathing down their necks.

So which Australian schools tend to be at the top?

Academically selective government schools (with students mostly from advantaged backgrounds) and government schools in wealthy suburbs, in addition to some relatively high-fee non-government schools, have topped the rankings.

This busts a great myth in Australian education that non-government schools cause inequity; in reality, the inequity that exists is based largely on postcodes.

In Victoria, independent school Ballarat Clarendon College topped the rankings for the first time. While it has substantial fees, it outperformed academically selective schools and far more expensive independent schools, so it’s obviously doing something right. As shown by its impressive NAPLAN results, it has a focus on ensuring core literacy and numeracy are taught well in the earlier years, and this foundation is built on to achieve better results in later years.

In NSW, James Ruse Agricultural High School — a selective government school — came first for the 24th consecutive time. It’s a school built on decades of high expectations.

We naturally expect selective schools to perform near the top, but outperforming all other selective schools and high-fee independent schools is no mean feat.

Why do so many parents still choose high-fee schools if they aren’t necessarily the top performers?

In our recent CIS/YouGov survey of parents, we found academic achievement was a lower priority than location and facilities for parents when choosing a school. And there are many other factors — such as school discipline, religion and catering for special needs — that parents take into account. This is how non-government schools can really add value.

Schooling is more than academics, and parents are best-placed to decide what is most appropriate for their children. They make significant financial sacrifices to send their children to non-government schools.

But let’s not be naive about the efficacy of spending more money on education. Higher parental fees — or more government funding — do not buy excellence.