Wall-to-Wall Spin
To The Sunday Age Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Several writers in your last issue gave Paul Sheahan, Principal of Melbourne Grammar, the rounds of the kitchen for daring to say that the standard of teaching in independent schools is more consistent.
Now I realise this is a sensitive subject, reflecting on parental judgement of schools and on teacher service delivery – affecting children’s prospects. But if your readership is interested in objective truth on this matter, it has to be said that the criticisms made of Sheahan’s position are woolly and emotive. Take your number one letter “Shame on Grammar Principal”. It is wall-to-wall spin.
Obviously the claim that the teaching in one sector is better is a statistical generalisation – about overall standards. Everyone knows that the best of any sector is better than the worst of any sector. So to say there are good and bad in all systems is a waste of ink.
To say great teachers are excellent is a tautology. To say “many” good teachers choose the state sector implies very little since we are talking 10s of 1000s of teachers. To say independent teachers aren’t “necessarily” better is avoiding the real question: are they on average actually better? And the fact that all teachers are processed through the same teacher training institutions does not imply that you get the same spread entering every sector.
So averse is your writer to parental judgement of schools that she claims “… there is no objective way for a parent to know the outcomes … in advance.” That is patently false. The published outcomes are consistently different across sectors and schools.
Is a state-run service necessarily inferior? No. But you will not get the best standards in a sector which is union-controlled and does not replace poor teachers. And you will get a better service in a competitive sector whose customers can walk out at any time.
Philip O'Carroll