Perspectives
Perspectives is a new series of essays from the Whitlam Institute in which we offer respected public intellectuals an opportunity to canvass ideas and to put their views forward on the policies that would shape a better, fairer Australia. The series is designed to encourage creative, even bold, thinking and occasionally new ways of looking at the challenges of the 21st century in the hope that the enthusiasm and insights of these authors sparks further thought and debate among policy-makers and across the community.
The first in the series, An agenda for social democracy, was authored by Professor John Quiggin, Australian Research Council Federation Fellow from the School of Economics and the School of Political Science & International Relations at the University of Queensland. The essay addresses the question of where we want Australia to be at the other side of the Global Financial Crisis with a thoughtful, some may say provocative, exploration of what may be required to give practical effect to a social democratic economic agenda.
The second in the series (released 16 February 2010), Secondary schooling and the education revolution: Looking for means towards the end? was authored by Professor Jack Keating from the University of Melbourne. The essay argues that a genuine education revolution cannot be achieved without structural reform of schooling in Australia.
‘The current structural arrangements are locked in to such an extent,’ he states, ‘that a systematic set of initiatives is needed across curriculum and qualifications, schools as delivery systems, and pathways systems.’ Central to Keating’s argument is his view that a real revolution lies in fundamental changes to the relationships across Federal and State governments, the government and non-government sectors, and the schools and tertiary education sectors.
Keating argues that fuller consideration of such structural issues is critical in overcoming the downside of experiments in the market liberalisation of schooling, which international evidence suggests has led to greater inequity.
