Our Schools Need a Workers' Republic!
The state of education has been a matter of persistent debate in Australia. With education standards falling and working and learning conditions worsening, political pundits from across the political divide have been clamouring to assign blame. From "lazy" teachers to "horrible" children and "weak-willed" parents, there is no shortage of finger-pointing in our current climate. Many solutions have been put forward, with everything from the reintroduction of the cane to the public shaming of terrible teachers being put on the table. Each of these solutions misses the fundamental problem in the Australian education system: the economic structure that has built and developed it, a system that treats our children as cogs in a machine with only one purpose, to make the bosses rich at the expense of our future.
It doesn't take a lot of looking to realise that our education system isn't working, for us or our children. Mental health concerns have been on the rise amongst children, with 1 in 3 adolescents experiencing an anxiety disorder. Despite this increase, school systems have reacted not to support students, but to punish them. School suspensions and exclusions have skyrocketed, despite there being limited evidence that these punishments will improve behaviour in the long term. Schools spend time micromanaging phone use and uniform compliance, worried more about the colour of a student's socks than whether they are happy, healthy and developing. Attendance rates are down and homeschooling is increasing, with parents becoming increasingly convinced that something is rotten in the education system. Despite these concerns, governments across the country focus primarily on metrics and data they can use to show the "merits" of their educational approaches. Governments pour billions of dollars into standardised tests such as NAPLAN and PISA, despite these tests being wholly unsuited to accurately measuring student achievement. The end result of all of these issues is clear in our students' educational outcomes, with both apprenticeship and university rates falling.
It is important to note that none of these issues can be laid at the feet of teachers and school leaders. Most teachers are passionate, hardworking individuals who are forced to choose constantly between what is best for their students and what the government asks of them. Their working conditions, too, are getting worse. In Queensland, 7 in 10 teachers have experienced workplace violence and abuse. In New South Wales, ever-growing demands on teachers' time have them working 55 hours a week, including 11 hours at home or on the weekend. Is it any surprise, then, that the 5-year attrition rate for teachers sits at 50%, and 35% of current teachers are considering quitting?
With more money than ever being poured into education, why are we seeing these issues? The reason is structural: schools are not a place for the full social and educational development of our children; they are places where compliant workers are built and deployed. We live in a world of workers and bosses, so why wouldn't we replicate this same structure in our schooling system? The belief that school exists primarily to prepare children for work has become so normalised that even parents and community members list it as a major factor in their child's schooling. The problem is that this belief, and the actions that come from it, creates a system that does not see our children as human beings. Rather, it sees them as workers, pieces of an economic pie that wasn't baked for us, or for them. It strips them of everything that makes them unique and robs them of what should be an exciting part of their lives, filled with wonder and discovery. What's left are children who are more anxious and vulnerable than ever, and parents who are at odds with teachers when what they have in common is far stronger than what keeps them apart.
Something must be done to improve the conditions and outcomes in our schools: for our teachers, our children and our futures. We must look beyond school as a place that prepares our children to submit to a boss's every whim, no matter how unjust. We must demand better for our children. We must demand that our schools truly become places of learning and growth. To achieve this, we must end the system that puts profit over people. We must put the power back in the hands of the Australian people, who are the only ones capable of creating a brighter future for us all. Only a workers' republic can build an education system fit for purpose, one that prioritises students and their educational and social needs. Only then can our students reach their full potential. Only then can they enter our society primed and ready to build a better future for us all.
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