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Media Release

July 26 2006

A good education - but only for some

Quality education is available to every child in some countries, but Australia is not one of them.

While Australian 15-year-olds perform relatively well in international assessments, poorer performers are left further behind in Australia than in other countries. In fact, students’ social backgrounds are more strongly related to achievement in Australia than in countries such as Canada, Finland and Korea.

This dilemma, and how to address it, is the subject of Achieving quality and equity in education, a lecture to be delivered by Professor Barry McGaw at the University of South Australia next week.

“When Australians engage in debate about educational quality or equity, they often seem to accept that a country cannot achieve both at the same time,” Prof McGaw, Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, said.

The need to improve the quality of education is well accepted across OECD and other countries as they seek to strengthen their human capital to underpin their modern, knowledge economies.

Improved equity is also important for this purpose, since the demand for high-level skills is widespread and the opportunities for the low-skilled are diminishing.

“Schools differ little in some countries. Where they do, much of difference can be explained by the social backgrounds of individual students and those whose company they keep,” Prof McGaw said. “The negative effects of poor company may be much greater than any positive effect of good company.”

Prof McGaw added improved equity in education is also important for social cohesion. His lecture examines the roles schools can play in building social capital and looks closely at examples interstate and in South Australia - including the Mawson Centre - that are producing positive results.

Achieving quality and equity in education
with Professor Barry McGaw AO
Director, Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne
Thursday 3 August
UniSA City East Campus, Basil Hetzel Building, Mutual Community Theatre (H2-02)
5.45pm for a 6.00pm start – Free event

Jointly presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA, CEDA and Delfin Lend Lease

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