Does sending your kid to private school really pay off?

Debate has often raged about the benefits of private versus public schools. Now the impact on results has been revealed.

Paying hefty fees for private education doesn’t guarantee higher academic results than in public schools, a new Australian study has found.

Researchers from the University of New England compared NAPLAN literacy and numeracy scores for 2762 public and private school students in grades 3, 5 and 7 and year 9.

They found there was no difference in marks for grades 3 and 5, but private school kids narrowly outperformed their public-school peers in grade 7 and year 9.

However, when socio economic advantage was adjusted for, there was little difference between the two school sectors.

Paying hefty fees for private education doesn’t guarantee higher academic results than in public schools. Picture: Rob Leeson

A small advantage favouring independent schools remained for year 9 numeracy and writing, but this also disappeared when prior achievement was taken into account.

“It’s well recognised that children from more advantaged circumstances do better in basic skills tests and we need to account for that,” lead author Sally Larsen said.

The findings come as fees in private schools in Victoria range from as low as $2000 per year to more than $40,000.

“The high investment in private schooling in Australia might not necessarily relate to better NAPLAN results for students attending those schools,” Ms Larsen said.

“If parents are looking at the development of basic skills then this research shows that all schools are doing a fairly equal job,” she said. “But parents may also be looking at what else private schools may have to offer — these decisions are made on lots of other factors.”

Ms Larsen said that the initial higher achievement of students in private schools was likely to be “more dependent on the characteristics of the students who select into the schools, rather than any advantageous feature of the school sector learning environment”.

“Contrary to popular beliefs about the better quality of private schooling, it is the attributes of students, along with their family socio­demographic backgrounds that contribute the most variance to achievement in basic skills tests,” she said.

The debate about public and private schools shows no sign of stopping. Picture: Jay Town

One strong proponent of the private sector is Shelley Ryan, the foundation principal at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary in Werribee, which is opening next year.

“Parents have faith and confidence in our teaching and learning environment and the social and emotional side of things too,” she said.

St Joseph’s parent Laura Chamberlain said she chose a Catholic school for her son “because we want him to not only have the opportunity to excel academically and develop as a whole person, but also to be part of an inclusive and supportive faith community”.

Mother of three Charlie Golding has her daughter Marnie enrolled in the state system at Seabrook Primary School.

“We moved to the area because of the reputation of the school,” she said.

“I am so happy with finding somewhere Marnie is supported and where she is seen as an individual.”

GROWTH A MAJOR MEASURE

Maria Karvouni, Principal, Auburn High

Government schools are committed to supporting every child in their school and to providing for their students’ learning and wellbeing needs. Every government school is required to set aspirational goals, actions and targets for their students, that they monitor and review regularly. These targets are both academic and engagement/wellbeing targets based on annual attitudinal surveys from students, parents and staff.

Often what is most widely published, and generally what schools are judged on, are the academic results from the NAPLAN and the VCE. While results are important, they do not provide you with a base point for where a student started.

A more accurate measure of the quality of a school, or the impact it has, is the measure of growth that students achieve during their time at the school. If a school can show that they have continued to extend and stretch their students beyond their expected range, this indicates it is a very good school. NAPLAN growth data (that is, the comparison between years 3 to 5, or years 7 to 9) can often be a much better measure of the impact that a school has had on the students.

At Auburn High School our students generally come to us with high NAPLAN achievement results in year 7. While I can publicise my great NAPLAN data at year 7 and 9, what I feel most proud of is the impact my school has had with the growth data of my students. By using common teaching and learning frameworks and ensuring there are high expectations and consistency in every classroom, we have managed to not just maintain high results but to exceed the expected growth of our students from years 7 to 9.

PARENTS, TEACHERS HOLD KEY

Allan Shaw, Principal, The Knox School

I used to be the chief executive of the national association for principals of independent schools. We advised the then minister for education, Julia Gillard, that NAPLAN results would become a defacto measure of school quality. She disagreed with us consistently. She thought the debate about school quality would be more sensible and sophisticated.

Some 12 years later, after many websites, media articles and tables, which compare schools based on NAPLAN results, we have a group of academics comparing sectors based on NAPLAN results. The research here suggests there is no difference between sectors when you use NAPLAN results as a measure and allow for socio-economic advantage. I do not find that surprising at all.

The most important influence on a child’s educational development is the child’s parents. The interest the parents take, the approaches they use, the attitudes they have, and the expectations they hold, form the most significant influence on a child’s educational development.

The quality of the teacher in the classroom, not the school, or the sector, is the second most important influence on a child’s educational development.

There are often greater differences between classrooms, within a school, than there are between schools, let alone between sectors.

Therefore, my key role is to have the very best teachers in front of the children in our school and have them continue to grow and learn, improving the quality of their professional skills, working in partnership with the child’s parents. That is what makes a good school, not the sector by which it is labelled.

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