Australia should consider following an American model of schools partnering with major companies, Tony Abbott has argued after a visit to an IBM-backed college in New York.



The prime minister toured the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, which offers students the opportunity to complete a high school diploma and an associate degree in applied science and a potential career path.

The “grade nine to 14” college is a partnership of the New York City Department of Education, City University of New York, NYC College of Technology and IBM Corporation. Students undertake two years of college as part of the program, while the IT giant provides mentoring and grants job interviews to graduates.

In comments described by education unions as a “thought bubble”, Abbott praised the “innovative” education model which he believed Australia should consider adapting.

He said many young people ended school not knowing what career they would pursue and businesses complained they could not find workers.

“I also think it is terrific that at this particular school we have got a major business – IBM – involved in a very hands-on way so that the graduates of this school will be immediately job-ready and indeed are being offered preferential hiring if you like, preferential entry-level hiring by a major, significant employer,” Abbott said.

“I am determined when I go overseas not just to meet with leaders, not just to meet with experts, not just to advance Australia’s commercial interests through business to business meetings, but also to look at what other countries are doing where they are doing things that we can learn from. Obviously a school like this does have all sorts of potential for application in a country like our own.”

Abbott said the concept was “not entirely dissimilar” from the Howard government's Australian technical college model, but with “a more hands-on business role”.

Pressed on whether students would have to pay if the concept was copied in Australia, Abbott said: “Well, it would depend on whether this was done in a school setting or whether this was done in a post-school setting. If it was done in a post-school setting there would be fees involved. If it was done in a school setting there wouldn’t be fees involved.”

The Australian Education Union said allowing corporations to “shape” the curriculum would ensure students obtained narrow education that was shaped towards the company's needs, not those of students.

The union's president, Angelo Gavrielatos, said students leaving schools today could expect to have several different careers.

“They need a broad curriculum that prepares them for this, not one that is designed for the short-term staffing needs of one company,” he said.

“Tony Abbott should abandon this thought bubble, and reassure Australian parents that he will not be handing over schools to corporations.”

The Greens also attacked the idea, saying Abbott must “keep big business out of public education” and not “Americanise Australian schools”.

The Greens senator Penny Wright said the private sector should have no place writing the curriculum for public education.

“Our public education system should provide a chance for every student to reach their potential, and no – we don’t want fries with that,” Wright said in a statement. “Australia has a proud history of a strong public education sector and it is the government’s job to support it, not commercialise it.”

The then New York mayor Michael Bloomberg explained the concept when he announced the partnership with IBM in 2010.

“Together, we’ll create a school that runs from grades nine to grade 14 – yes, grade 14. All students will learn the traditional core subjects, but they’ll also receive an education in computer science and complete two years of college work,” Bloomberg said at the time.

“When they graduate from grade 14 with an associate’s degree and a qualified record, they will be 'first in line' for a job with IBM and a ticket to the middle class, or even beyond."

Since then five similar schools have opened in Chicago, linked to companies such as Microsoft, Verizon and Motorola, and several others began operating in New York City, according to a New York Times report.

The US president, Barack Obama, paid tribute to the school, known as P-Tech, in his state of the union address last year. “We need to give every American student opportunities like this,” he said.

