Public education in Australia faces challenges as never before. While politicians and media pundits agonise over the latest NAPLAN results, lamenting falling standards, teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, disillusioned with the pressures of their working environment and the lack of trust in their work by policy makers. What is the answer? How should Australian education change to better meet the needs of students, teachers and our complex, rapidly changing society?
In this important new book Emeritus Professor Alan Reid argues that it is time for a new narrative in Australian education policy and practice. He states that for too long education has been dominated by a standardization discourse with its origins in neoliberalism and an emphasis on education as a private commodity rather than as a public good. He presents detailed research to show that the standardization approach, particularly its market-oriented emphasis on high stakes testing, competition between schools and uniformity has, over the past 30 years of its dominance of the policy agenda, made the work of schools more difficult and failed to address the challenges of the future. The book offers instead a new vision of education that is futures-focused and prizes flexibility, adaptability, collaboration, and agility. Its policy features include student-centered teaching approaches, integrated and project-based learning, inquiry, formative assessment and teacher autonomy. The book uses a case study of the fourth industrial revolution to model the features of this approach, including new directions for curriculum, pedagogy, and school and system cultures. Importantly it shows how educators must be brought back to center stage in educational policy making.
This ground-breaking work offers a positive vision for the future based on a recognition of the value of education as a builder of strong and adaptable communities.
"At the heart of the book is a penetrating critique of neoliberalism and the damaging effects it is having on education and society. It draws on historical insight, sociological curiosity and case studies to illuminate the shortcomings of existing policy settings ... It should be essential reading for policy makers, educators, parents, and anyone interested in the current state of Australian education.'
Professor Barry Down, School of Education, Murdoch University.
Australian education policy for the past 40 years has been heading in the wrong direction and is entirely unsuitable for preparing young people for the 21st century. Exaggeration? Sadly not.
For a teacher, there is nothing more exhilarating than encouraging young people to realise the power of learning. But in our schools today, teachers spend so much time preparing their students for high-stakes tests, gathering data and filling in forms, that many of them feel like the life has been squeezed out of their role. Schooling has been turned into a market, and school leaders are forced to spend precious time and resources competing with other schools. Their professional experience is disregarded as policy makers turn to the corporate world and self-appointed commentators to determine curriculum and school funding.
The outcome? Our schooling system is becoming more segregated; children from poorer backgrounds are falling behind; public schools are starved of funds; and good teachers are leaving.
One of the most highly regarded educational leaders in Australia, Alan Reid, argues it's time to reconsider the purposes of education, the capacities we need for the future, and the strategies that will get us there. He outlines a new narrative for Australian schooling that is futures-focused and prizes flexibility, adaptability, collaboration and agility, with students, teachers and school communities at centre-stage.
'A provocative and persuasive argument for the necessity of a new narrative for Australian schooling so as to meet better the demonstrable demands of the twenty-first century...' -
Emeritus Professor Bob Lingard, The University of Queensland 'At the heart of the book is a penetrating critique of neoliberalism and the damaging effects it is having on education and society. It should be essential reading for policy makers, educators, parents, and anyone interested in the current state of Australian education.' -
Professor Barry Down, Murdoch University 
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