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National Education Forum

The Principal, Mrs Josie Crisara OAM, and the chair of the Aitken College Board, Ms Vicki Steer, were in Canberra this week where the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA) and Independent Schools Australia (ISA) co-hosted a forum about the future direction of Australian education.

Discussions were informed by ISA’s School Choice Counts campaign and an AHISA paper calling for a ‘public debate about the purpose of and approach to Australian schooling’.

Independent Schools Australia (ISA) has launched a campaign - School Choice Counts - defending school choice and calling for stable federal funding to keep school fees affordable.

The campaign outlines ISA’s key priorities ahead of the national election:

AHISA CEO put forward in their position paper  A New Narrative for Australian Schooling that 

The lack of a policy vision about the moral, human and civic purpose of schooling at the national level may well be contributing to the widening gaps in the achievement of Australian children that national and international testing continues to record. 

 

The paper highlights the need for

a 'values-based’ vision of Australian schooling that renews and re-articulates the moral purpose of schooling, more akin to the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (2019): ‘that all young Australians will become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community.

Mrs Crisara stated that 

This an opportunity to engage in the public debate around schooling and to ensure that the voice of independent school families and educators was heard. It reflects the growth in enrolments in the sector whereby parents are looking for a values-based education for their children and equipping them for learning in our rapidly changing world.

  

The full discussion paper can be read on the AHISA Website.

Or the PDF is availbale here.