School Choice: What Motivates Parents

Abstract

The educational system in Australia today is radically different from the school systems of the past. As Mark Porter (2010), Chairman of the Independent schools Council of Australia writes: The expanding role of the federal government in school education and the sustained growth of the independent sector are major developments which have influenced the nature of schooling in this country. (p. 2) The rise of the independent sector has given parents choice when it comes to selecting a school for their children. This increase in choice has been accompanied by a change of focus in Australian education. There has been a move in two major policy directions, marketisation and school performance. Both of these policies can be seen through a lens of competition, choice, the increasing emphasis on accountability, value adding to the curriculum through the addition of extra curricular activities, and the move to make the consumers of education bear the costs (English, 2009).