Christopher Pyne in the red on student outcomes in independent public schools

Updated

There's a long standing belief that student outcomes can be improved by giving public schools the authority to choose staff, manage budgets and exert control over the curriculum.

In Western Australia, a third of all public school boards and principals have these powers. Those schools are known as 'independent public schools' (IPS).

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne wants public schools across the country to follow the WA model. On a recent episode of Q&A, Mr Pyne claimed the move to independent public schools is improving student outcomes:

Wendy Harmer: It is not improving student outcomes.

Judith Sloan: It is, Wendy.

Christopher Pyne: It is in Western Australia.

Mr Pyne also said: "All international evidence points to the fact that the more autonomous a school, the better the outcomes for students."

The claim: Christopher Pyne says independent public schools are improving student outcomes in Western Australia.

Christopher Pyne says independent public schools are improving student outcomes in Western Australia. The verdict: There has been no measured improvement in student outcomes in WA's independent public schools. Mr Pyne's claims are unsubstantiated.



The Federal Government has promised to make 25 per cent of public schools 'independent' by 2017. It's offering $70 million in funding to make this happen.

ABC Fact Check takes a look at the international evidence and whether the move to an 'independent public school' system in Western Australia has created better student outcomes.

Independent public schools in WA

The Independent Public Schools Initiative was launched by the West Australian Government in 2010. The schools have more power to hire staff, manage the budget and shape the curriculum. Unlike private schools, independent public schools cannot charge fees and must accept all student enrolments.

Last year, the WA Education Department commissioned a comprehensive evaluation of its independent public school initiative. The wide ranging report, by the University of Melbourne, contains academic achievement data and charts the perceptions of school principals, teachers, parents, board members and P&C associations. The report said: "In this early phase of the IPS development there is little evidence of change to student outcomes such as enrolment or student achievements."

The evaluation, handed down in May this year, was led by Professor Janet Clinton from the university's Graduate School of Education. "There was no hard evidence of any change to attendance, suspensions, or academic achievement," Professor Clinton said.

Professor John Hattie, who also worked on the evaluation, told Fact Check academic achievement was measured against:

NAPLAN scores

Western Australian Monitoring Standards in Education for Science and Environment

Year 12 Australian Tertiary Admission Rank

Professor Hattie said when interpreting NAPLAN scores it was important to note that before joining the initiative the schools involved had better academic results than other public schools. But they made "no improvement under the 'independent' model", he said. Professor Clinton said classroom teaching needed to be improved to achieve better student outcomes.

Despite the strong empirical data indicating no improvement in student outcomes, interviews conducted with school principals as part of the evaluation found the vast majority believed there had been academic improvement. The report also found the majority of independent public schools reported a more "motivated, energised and engaged" school community.

Peter Titmanis from the WA Education Department said: "Given the initiative was launched in 2010 with 34 schools, with other schools joining in subsequent years, it would be unrealistic to expect to see major leaps in NAPLAN results in such a short space of time."

In a statement to Fact Check, Mr Pyne said: "Anyone visiting Western Australian Independent Public Schools would be astonished at the transformative power of school autonomy. I have visited them and can tell you first hand that the outcomes for students in all aspects of their school has dramatically improved. The work the Western Australian Government is doing will set their state up for excellence in education for decades to come."

International evidence

Many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have granted high levels of autonomy to public schools over the past decade. Closer to home, the state of Victoria moved to an 'autonomous' public school system more than two decades ago. Victoria's Education Department says its current public schools system is among the most devolved or 'autonomous' in the world.

A recent Grattan's Institute report by Ben Jensen titled 'The myth of markets in school education' says: "Despite this, Victoria's performance on national and international assessments is not significantly different from NSW, where autonomy is much lower. Scores in NAPLAN follow similar trends."

"The level of autonomy in a country's schools is not consistent with how well they perform internationally," it says.

Consecutive reports by Stanford University's Centre for Research on Educational Outcomes have shown students from "charter schools" in the United States, which are privately run, publicly funded schools, underperform when compared to equivalent students in traditional public schools.

Mr Pyne's office pointed Fact Check to a 2010 OECD report which says: "In countries where schools have greater autonomy over what is taught and how students are assessed, students tend to perform better."

The international picture is ambiguous.

The verdict

There has been no measured improvement in student outcomes in WA independent public schools. "All international evidence" does not point to the fact that the more autonomous a school, the better the outcomes for students.

Mr Pyne's claims are unsubstantiated

Sources

Topics: education, public-schools, federal-government, liberals, wa, perth-6000, vic, australia

First posted