‘Inequity in our schooling system incompatible with self-image of a fair go’: Bruniges

Michele Bruniges, now chair of the AITSL Board, was Secretary of the Federal Department of Education from 2016 to 2023.

In a keynote address delivered yesterday at the Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit in Sydney, she said the inequity in Australia’s schooling system is incompatible with our self-image of a fair go.

Outlining national research that shows 94 per cent of schools with a high concentration of disadvantage are public schools, Bruniges said “the impact of this trend is that it creates a cycle of negative perceptions that undermine the bonds that tie children, their families, and their schools, to their community”.

“We need a broader national discussion … We need to think about how we encourage a trend away from concentrations of disadvantage,” she told an audience comprising mainly teachers, school leaders and parents.

“This could involve looking at school zoning – challenging the way postcodes concentrate both wealth and disadvantage.

“It could involve asking more of schools that receive government funds to open their doors to children from less-advantaged backgrounds – beyond the sporting scholarship.”

Bruniges said in some cases, socioeconomic segregation is driven by parents with the financial means who are seeking out private options, while schools with the biggest challenges “get dismissed as bad schools”.

The former high school teacher and later director-general of the NSW Education Department from 2011 to 2016 is conducting research with UTS, supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, looking at how schooling in Australia is increasingly segregated along socioeconomic lines.

The aim is to inform the development of targeted interventions and policy initiatives aimed at mitigating concentrations of disadvantage.

In 2017, Bruniges cited, approximately 430,000 Australian students attended a school with a high concentration of disadvantaged students. By 2023, that figure had grown to 555,000 students – an increase of 125,000 students in just six years.

Bruniges, pictured above, says addressing inequity could involve asking more of schools that receive government funds to open their doors to children from less-advantaged backgrounds beyond sporting scholarships.

The Greens welcomed Bruniges’ comments, with spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne saying the current system is “hollowing out” many of the nation’s public schools, particularly in growth areas, and forcing parents to make tough decisions for their children.

“Dr Bruniges’ work on disadvantage in schools confirms that public schools are doing more and more of the heavy lifting in terms of educating disadvantaged students,” Allman-Payne said.

“It’s not a real choice for parents when both the local private and public school receive taxpayer money, but only one is expected to cater to disadvantaged kids.

“We need to start asking all schools that receive public money to cater to the needs of the public. That could mean a serious conversation around common standards or catchment areas for any school that receives taxpayer funding.”

Allman-Payne claimed that every proportional increase in private school enrolments is a public policy failure, especially when they are also publicly funded schools.

Responding to Allman-Payne’s comments, Independent Schools Australia (ISA) CEO Graham Catt said it is important to acknowledge that fairness in education goes beyond funding debates and includes ensuring all families have genuine choices about where they send their children to school.

“The study undertaken by Dr Bruniges and the Paul Ramsay Foundation … is invaluable and will provide policymakers with crucial insights,” Catt said.

“For too long, interest groups have framed the issue as a public vs. private debate, when in reality, a broader and more nuanced discussion is needed, one that recognises the vital role all school sectors play in supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable students across Australia."

Catt explained that more than 157,000 students with disability, 19,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students from refugee backgrounds, and 140,000 children in regional and remote areas are enrolled in independent schools across the country.

“These schools are certainly doing their share in addressing disadvantage,” he said.

"Many independent schools provide targeted fee assistance and tailored programs for students facing disadvantage.

“Special Assistance Schools, for example, support over 15,500 students who have disengaged from mainstream education, offering intensive support to help them back on track.”

Access to a quality education, Catt said, should not depend on a postcode lottery, where families feel pressured to spend millions of dollars to buy into the catchment zones of well-resourced public schools.

“It is disappointing to see some, including the Australian Greens, seek to position this important work (Bruniges’ study) as an attack on non-government schools.

“Instead of using divisive rhetoric, we need collaboration across all sectors and governments to address the systemic challenges that this report will identify.”