Comment

Jane Caro
How public school students will start the year

On the final day of school last year, a public high school catering to a very disadvantaged community presented its students with a gift pack. It included a young adult novel, a classically popular picture book – so the student could read it to a younger relative or friend – a voucher for the municipal pool donated by the local council, a toiletry pack including deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, chocolates and a pack of Tim Tams. This was followed by a presentation and barbecue and every student was given ice-creams.

As the principal walked through the playground, she passed a student clutching his gift bag and sucking on two Paddle Pops, one on each side of his mouth. He stopped her.

“This is the best school in Sydney, Miss,” he said blissfully.

“I know,” she replied.

Most Australians would turn their noses up at this school. It is located in an economically disadvantaged suburb – the kind that well-off people drive through quickly, if they have to visit at all. The children it teaches are overwhelmingly from the lowest socioeconomic group, according to the My School website’s Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage. More than two thirds of its students are from families in the lowest income quartile, almost half are from immigrant, refugee and non-English speaking backgrounds, and Indigenous students are a sizeable cohort.

The school cares fiercely about all of them. Like virtually every other public school in Australia, it is underfunded according to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) – the measure of how much funding a school requires to meet its students’ educational needs, established by the landmark Gonski review of 2011. This school does receive disadvantage loadings, in line with the Gonski recommendations, but the degree of difficulty these students face means its SRS is still out of reach.

More of this school’s students are going on to tertiary education, however – thanks to the dedication of its teachers but also to outreach by universities, such as the University of Technology Sydney’s U @Uni Academy, which are actively seeking more diverse and disadvantaged students. Nevertheless, despite the previously mentioned appreciative student, nobody is boasting about attending this school. This does not mean they don’t love it, or that it does not do brilliant work. Our society simply no longer judges schools according to their merit but, rather, according to the social status of the children they teach.

This is what happens when successive governments overfund fee-charging schools with the fewest needy students, and underfund schools serving communities with the highest needs. The OECD says Australia has one of the most segregated schooling systems in the developed world, with increasing concentrations of disadvantaged kids in disadvantaged schools. Moreover, that concentration is growing at the second-fastest rate in the developed world.

We now have schools that are no longer fit for purpose, where you can hear the classrooms on either side all day long, with doors that don’t shut, windows that don’t open, ancient toilets and strings of demountables. One high school in Victoria is expecting 13 classes of new Year 7 students – all will be starting in demountable classrooms. The latest versions are higher quality, but many have unreliable internet connections and air-conditioning.

Demountables are common in public school playgrounds because schools are often unsure how many kids will turn up on the first day. The local school-age population is no longer the guide to enrolments it once was. Uniquely – and not in a good way – Australia publicly funds its schools to cannibalise one another. This country is the only one in the world that publicly funds two systems. One has all the rights – to charge fees, service the communities they choose, enrol only the children they select – and the other has all the responsibilities, for compulsory education, to accept all comers, to not charge fees. A more rigged playing field is hard to imagine.

I asked teachers from a range of different public schools – from leafy inner-city suburbs to schools at the coalface of poverty, and some in regional and rural areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland – what their students would and would not get when they returned to school. All sounded the same note of proud defiance. They know the deficits of their schools, and many feel resentment as they pass luxuriously resourced, publicly funded private schools on their way to work.

One principal pointed out that his students would get “comparable education outcomes for a fraction of the price”, greater socioeconomic and social diversity – which will help build resilience – and more inclusive education for non-neurotypical students. What he said they would not get more of is stress, particularly about results. This was mentioned a few times and, given the rising rates of anxiety and mental health issues in young people, is no small thing.

Indeed, one school counsellor said that students in public schools could rely on getting fully qualified school psychologists – even if they were sometimes doing their work in a converted storeroom or in an office that was not soundproofed. Speaking of confidentiality constraints, another teacher lamented that their school is so short on space that four deputies are forced to share an office – pity the poor parent who wants to talk about a problem in private.

One teacher at a disadvantaged regional NSW school sounded that same proudly defiant note when she described her Year 7s as “being carefully guided and supported in the transition to their new school environment”. In an email listing what they will receive, she noted “a welcome pack of essential learning materials such as pens, pencils and exercise books”, support to buy uniforms, access to a learning support team, a wellbeing team and school counselling services, plus two dedicated teams working to build community for First Nations children. Included in the list is “A Library!!!!!” – the exclamation marks say everything about the rarity of this feature for public schools today.

Her list of what students would not get includes an onsite pool and manicured grounds as well as personal access to a laptop or device – they are borrowed via a booking system. There will be no consistent and reliable heating and cooling in this regional school, in an area subject to extremes of heat and cold. Importantly, though, these students will also not be “expelled or asked to change schools based on not meeting school standards”.

A teacher in an urban middle-class area lamented that not only would her students not get a fancy bus driving them door to door, they would get no bus at all – not even one open to all passengers. The recent privatisation of bus services has led to the cancellation of the route that used to go past her school’s door.

Teacher after teacher pointed out that their public schools would not get full funding according to their SRS until 2034, despite the recent deals the Albanese government struck with the states. In other words, not until this week’s cohort of fresh, shiny-faced kindergarteners are in Year 8.

Despite all this, public schools continue to punch above their weight, as there is no difference in academic results between private and public schools when adjusted for socioeconomic status. Which is a bit of an indictment of the private schools, given that, bar a handful in the Northern Territory, every single one is funded above its SRS – some way, way above. What are they doing with all that money, if not getting better results?

The one thing private schools won’t get when their students come back this year is any conditions tied to their generous public funding, beyond obeying the law and teaching the curriculum. They will not be expected to take on more responsibility for the compulsory education of all students, to hang on to students who are failing, or to remain open in areas of falling enrolments or locations that are uneconomic. They won’t be asked to cap their fees, despite an annual trend of increases above the rate of inflation, which has led to private school fees becoming the equal fourth most common cause of bankruptcy in this country.

Nevertheless, if the public school teachers I spoke to are any guide, what public schoolchildren will get when they return to their less-than-salubrious schools in 2026 is highly motivated teachers who feel passionately about giving their students the very best opportunities they can.

If only our politicians were similarly motivated.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on January 24, 2026 as "Back to public school".

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