The marketisation of education in Australia: Does investment in private schooling improve post-school outcomes?

Citation:

Chesters, J. (2018) The marketisation of education in Australia: Does investment in private schooling improve post-school outcomes? Australian Journal of Social Issues; Sydney, 53(2), 139-157

Abstract
The distribution of school funding has been a controversial
topic for decades particularly since the Australian
Government introduced a new funding model for private
schools in the late 1990s. Recent research shows that
changes in the funding of private schools have encouraged
growth in the number of private schools allowing parents
with the financial means to select from an increasing
range of options for their children. For this article, I conduct
analyses of data from the 2003 cohort of the Longitudinal
Surveys of Australian Youth project to examine
differences in the outcomes of students according to the
type of school attended. The results presented in this article
show that students with highly educated parents were
more likely than other students to attend independent
schools. After controlling for the level of economic, social
and cultural status of the school population, type of school
attended was not associated with academic achievement,
as measured by the Programme for International Student
Assessment tests. Furthermore, there was no statistically
significant association between type of school attended
and employment status, occupation or earnings at age 24,
net of level of educational attainment.

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