Public Schooling Reform in Australia: In Whose Interests?

Concerned with the need to scrutinize the rhetoric of current blueprints for schooling reform to ensure that in their implementation there results a power redistribution which is in the interests of improved educational outcomes for more students, particularly for those who are currently the least advantaged. It is argued that with the implementation of decentralization and devolution policies for public education, there is a need to ensure that the principle of equity is maintained as an end to be achieved through democratic and efficient means which are in harmony with the spirit of public schooling in a liberal democracy. Questions related to the motives for reform and who benefits are pivotal.