In his article “Parents voting with their feet on school failings” (Canberra Daily, 10 June 2021, p.12) Gary Humphries refers to parents of students attending public schools as “insiders”. As one of those “insiders”, I find his article simplistic and misleading.
His article implies that students are leaving ACT public schools in droves. This is not borne out by the statistics. The latest ACT Schools Census of February 2020 (https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1562682/February-2020-Census-.pdf) found that enrolments at ACT public schools has grown by 12.1% since 2016, compared with a 5.1% increase at ACT private schools.
Mr Humphries partly uses NAPLAN results to comment on the performance of ACT public schools. NAPLAN is administered in all schools and NAPLAN results reflect all school sectors.
Mr Humphries bluntly states that “Resourcing of schools is not to blame.” Noting that ”Save our Schools” recently found that the income per student at independent schools in 2019 was over 50% higher than for public school students, (https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/new-figures-reveal-increasing-resource-advantage-for-private-schools/#more-4934) I do not understand how he reaches this conclusion.
My children are being educated in ACT public schools, with my oldest now in Year 12. Despite the significant funding disadvantage of public schools, my children receive quality education, supportive pastoral care and excellent extra-curricular opportunities such as the outstanding ACT Instrumental Music Program.
I hope that no parent is swayed by this simplistic article and recommend all parents consider their local public school among their education options.
A. Jones, Duffy ACT
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