‘We support parent choice’: Uproar over NSW schools chief’s push to reconsider private schools

Premier Chris Minns says his government “fully supports” parental choice in the education system after the head of NSW’s 2200 public schools questioned whether private schools should exist.

NSW Education secretary Murat Dizdar kicked off a fierce row on Monday after he told the ABC the provision of private schools needed to be “debated and discussed”.

NSW Education Department secretary Murat Dizdar later appeared to walk back his comments on private schools.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“We’ve had countries across the world that have been very successful on their educational path with one provision, and that’s been a public provision,” he said.

Dizdar’s comments sparked intense backlash from Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney, who condemned them as “outrageously bad and very worrying for Catholic education”.

“Thankfully, the department does not make policy; it is charged with implementing government policy,” he said.

On Tuesday, Minns said the government supported parents’ choice when it comes to schooling, adding the system gives people “the opportunity to enrol their kids in a religious education, a Catholic education and independent education”.

“And that’s a that’s a good thing. We’re certainly not going to stop it or change policies in relation to it,” Minns said. “We think it’s fundamental when it comes to the education system in NSW.”

He said the government’s responsibility was to “ensure that we have world-class public education … so there is a genuine choice”.

Dizdar’s remarks were made in an article published on the ABC’s news website ahead of his profile on an Australian Story episode titled Class Wars on Monday night.

However, hours before the program aired, Dizdar appeared to walk back his comments, saying they “were not intended to disrespect the good work of my colleagues in other sectors”.

“I recognise and value the important role the Catholic and independent sectors play in our education system in NSW, now and into the future. I am a passionate champion of the transformational power of public education,” Dizdar said in a statement.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car said there was an important role for Catholic and independent schools, and the three sectors work together in “a collegiate way.”

“We do respect choice, and there is no change to policy settings. But I would say that Murat is a very strong advocate for public education,” she said.

“We appointed him to do a big job leading the education department, and we are well on our way to driving down [public school] vacancies.”

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman described Dizdar’s comments as “unacceptable” and his position “untenable.”

“Labor’s education secretary wants to take that choice away from families. He believes that private schools should be abolished. That’s an extraordinarily radical proposition,” he said.

“His position is untenable. It’s one thing to have an education secretary who might have alternative views on particular pedagogy or curriculum. But this goes to the core of our education system.”

In the ABC program, Dizdar – who has spent more than two decades in public education as a teacher, principal and senior official – outlined NSW’s four-year plan for public education and welcomed the state’s recent $4.8 billion school funding deal with the Commonwealth.

Most public school funding comes state governments, while most private school funding comes from the Commonwealth and fees, which have increased about 50 per cent over the decade, exceeding inflation and wage growth.

The Gonski review into school funding was designed to level the playing field for Australian students regardless of their school sector.

NSW has recorded declining public school enrolments over the past three years, losing roughly 25,000 students.

National Catholic Education Commission executive director Jacinta Collins said Catholic schools “have a 200-year history serving alongside the government sector and catering to some of the most disadvantaged areas in Australia”.

“Each week, we read about the funding wars, the culture wars, the ideological wars, and the reading wars in education. It’s perpetuating a divisive culture focused on battling each other rather than focusing on improvement for all students,” Collins said.

Inner west girls’ private school PLC Sydney principal Paul Burgis said it was critical that NSW had strong public education, but high-quality independent and Catholic schools “also benefits us all”.

“Independent schools often approach education from a completely different perspective and thus offer our state a wide range of models for education,” he said.

“Catholic and independent schools serve the full range of communities in NSW.”

In 2020, former NSW education minister Adrian Piccoli proposed governments to fully fund private primary schools on the condition they stop collecting fees from parents and agree to the same accountability rules as public schools.

Piccoli said Catholic, independent and government schools had a role but “we should always be debating how to make the education system work for every student, particularly for those who are the most disadvantaged.”

“Things like that are worth debating because the system is getting worse due to the residualisation of schools. The data shows the concentration [of disadvantage] is getting worse and worse.”

Oran Park Anglican College principal Naomi Wilkins said parents wanted choice based on culture, values, co-curricular activities and behaviour management in schools.

“Is the government going to fund faith-based schools? Because a lot of parents choose schools because they want that,” she said, pointing to international systems such as the UK, where the state funds about a third of religious schools.

She said in Oran Park, on Sydney’s south-western fringe, Catholic and independent sectors were quicker to build schools in the high-growth area.

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