Despite the Australian Constitution implying school education to be a state responsibility, the Commonwealth has increasingly interfered with state school education. The Australian Government Muscling in on School Education therefore offers a historical account of this government involvement in Australian education, from federation to the present day, providing a much-needed, fully updated and relevant overview the topic. Arguing that education has become an arena for competing political forces, this book examines the powerful influence of the Commonwealth over education and the political motives behind it, exploring how politics influences aspects of the curriculum, teaching standards, assessment and reporting, funding, teacher selection and policy more broadly. Ultimately questioning whether this influence is in the interests of the members of the community who depend on education, the book holds government engagement in education to account. Taking the major epochs of federalism as an organizing framework, the book’s chapters include explorations of: The efficiency dynamic and the progressive years (1919–39) Postwar imperatives and the Menzies years (1949–72) Coordinative federalism and treading softly: the Whitlam years (1972–5) and Fraser years (1975–83) Corporate federalism: the Hawke/Keating years (1983–96) Supply-side federalism and globalization: the Howard years (1996–2007) National control and the Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison years (2007–15) A thorough and significant examination of the historical engagement of the Australian government in education, this book is essential reading for student teachers and postgraduate students in education studies and politics.

Despite the Australian Constitution implying school education to be a state responsibility, the Commonwealth has increasingly interfered with state school education. The Australian Government Muscling in on School Education therefore offers a historical account of this government involvement in Australian education, from Federation to the present day, providing a much-needed, fully updated and relevant overview the topic. Arguing that education has become an arena for competing political forces, this book examines the powerful influence of the Commonwealth over education and the political motives behind it, exploring how politics influences aspects of the curriculum, teaching standards, assessment and reporting, funding, teacher selection and policy more broadly. Ultimately questioning whether this influence is in the interests of the members of the community who depend on education, the book holds government engagement in education to account. Taking the major epochs of federalism as an organising framework, the book's chapters include explorations of: The efficiency dynamic and the progressive years (1919-39) Post-war imperatives and the Menzies years (1949-72) National control and the Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison years (2007-2015) A thorough and significant examination of the historical engagement of the Australian government in education, this book is essential reading for student teachers and postgraduate students in education studies and politics.

This book summarises and analyses the major issues in Australian education policy today.

As the 21st century proceeds apace, Australia faces new and old challenges, both domestically and internationally. These include managing complex governance issues, preventing democratic fracture, balancing an ever- shifting geopolitical strategic order, addressing the recognition and identity demands of marginalised groups, and responding to crises and urgent policy challenges, such as climate change. Bonotti, Miragliotta, and the other contributors to this volume analyse and evaluate the challenges which confront Australia by locating them in their national and comparative context. The various contributions reveal that while these challenges are neither novel nor unique to Australia, the way in which they manifest and Australia’s responses to them are shaped by the country’s distinctive history, culture, geography, location, and size. The chapters offer a cutting- edge analysis of these pressing challenges faced by Australia and offer reflections on how to address them. The book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of Australian politics, and of comparative politics in a global perspective.

This work attempts a comparative description and analysis, focusing on the US, the UK, and Australia on the topic of the Right, educational policy, and schooling. It adopts as its underlying theme the burning fuse in tracing the topic back to Joseph de Maistre a Rightist who fled revolutionary France to seek safety in the company of Tsar Alexander I’s Russian Empire. Here, he had much to say about school education, not for all, but rather the “deserving” social elite. During the past three or four decades in the US, the UK, and Australia, the Right has been remarkably successful in amassing political power. And in doing so, the right of politics in these countries has reshaped school educational policy and practice, a necessary step in securing the future of the Right as a political force. Moreover, even during the years the Right has been on the opposition benches in these countries, such has been the strength of their political force that governments of the Left have acquiesced to much of their school educational policy. A pioneering effort, this book asserts that to understand school educational policy in the third decade of the 21st century, we need to comprehend the politics of the Right. This book will be of interest to researchers and postgraduate students interested in Education Studies, Theory and Policy, and International and Comparative Education.

Australia needs a new national conversation on school education. We should seize the opportunity provided by the Commonwealth's Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools (known as the 'Gonski 2.0 Review'). The Turnbull Government commissioned the Gonski 2.0 Review in an effort to ensure the extra Commonwealth money going into schools over the next decade is spent wisely by the states and territories. But this report warns against over-reach: too much Commonwealth intervention into school education could be counterproductive and costly. Under the Gonski 2.0 funding deal struck last year, schools will get an extra $23 billion in Commonwealth funds over the next ten years. But the Commonwealth's need for reassurance about how the money is spent must be kept in perspective: the extra federal funding is only 3 per cent of all government spending on schools over the period. Much more important is that all government money for school education is spent effectively, regardless of where it comes from. This report first identifies the big system reforms needed to improve students outcomes. Most of these reforms are the responsibilities of state and territory governments. Then the report considers what few things the Commonwealth should do to help. The biggest advances will be made only.