I was fortunate to be invited by The British Council to join a group of eleven Headteachers from Gloucestershire (six primary, two special, three secondary) on a two-week study visit to Melbourne schools. We departed from Heathrow on the afternoon of Saturday 16th March 2002 and arrived in Melbourne at 4 a.m. local time on Monday, after an arduous flight with only a re-fuelling stop at Singapore. We were met at the airport by the Chief Executive of the Australian Principals Centre who explained the programme for the remainder of that day! Coping with the loss of sleep en route together with adjusting to the eleven-hour time difference took the best part of the first week, it really is a very long and tiring journey.
Our hosts were extraordinarily accommodating, we were shown around a good selection of Melbourne schools together with invitations to a meeting of the Victorian Association of Secondary State Principals (where the new State education minister addressed the Principals for the first time) and met with Professor Brian Caldwell, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Melbourne University.
The secondary schools I visited were Camberwell High School (alma mater of Kylie and Danii Minogue), Galvin Park Secondary College and Wesley College. The first impression I had was of the relaxed atmosphere in the schools - there is nothing like the pressure to achieve, the drive to ratchet up standards which English schools face. Australia does not have Ofsted nor 'league tables'. Melbourne pupils attend secondary school from Year 7 (same transfer age as U.K.) to Y12, taking the Victoria Certificate in Education in their final year. No annual plethora of exams for them, just the 'VCE'. They may then progress to further or higher education, invariably remaining in Melbourne. The idea of leaving home to study at a distant university is alien to them, they are restricted by funding but also by distance, the nearest university outside Melbourne being a plane journey away.
Some interesting facts hint at different approaches: 14% of secondary children are not on any school register, they simply don't attend school. Attendance is regarded as high in Y7 (at 90%, which we would regard as poor), falls somewhat in Y8, drops again in Y9 and Y10 (these are seen as problem Years when students are not 'connected' to their studies) then rises back towards 90% in Y11 and Y12 (when there is the VCE to work towards). Almost all primary children attend the Government schools but 40% of secondary children attend Melbourne's independent schools. Fees for independent schools cover a wide range, up to £14,000 p.a. for a place at Wesley College, Melbourne's top school which has 3,500 students on three separate sites.
Australia's independent schools receive Government funding of £2,000 per pupil. There is some debate about the ethics of this but the prevailing argument seems to be that people of wealth and influence object to paying large amounts in tax only to have to pay all over again for their children's education if they choose to go private. Or, to put it another way, Ministers' children attend private schools.
The distinction between Government and non-Government (independent) schools is sharp. You only need to observe Melbourne at the end of a school day to see the difference: some children very smartly dressed in school uniform, even if it looks somewhat prosaic or quaint - from independent schools - the rest in T-shirts, boys sporting beards, aspiring to the surfer/beach-dude look. In one Government school the Principal proudly showed us a tailors' dummy stood in the entrance foyer clad in the school uniform of gold and green (national colours) which he had introduced a couple of years ago, we then looked around the school but failed to see anyone wearing it!
The education system in Australia is determined by the State governments. The Federal (or Commonwealth) Government may dictate some requirements but essentially they collect the tax revenue then dispense it to the States, in the case of Victoria it then passes almost all to its schools. Funding is good compared to English schools, there is minimal bureaucracy, nothing like the empires of our Local Education Authorities. The Principals are seen as the experts who know best how to spend their funds. Hence there is no shortage of facilities (Victoria had recently told its schools to provide one computer per five students), school buildings are good and teachers' pay is better than in the U.K.. Australia has had teacher shortages but has overcome the problem - its biggest threat now is poaching of their teachers by U.K. schools, although the latter are not seen as attractive other than as a temporary means to earn while back-packing, they have heard all about poor discipline, stressful Ofsted inspections, bureaucratic Government initiatives and examination pressures.
How are schools accountable? They must produce an Annual Report which must contain a minimum of information specified by the State, to include exam. results and summaries of surveys of their teachers and of their parents. Every three years the school must produce a Report which sets out the ways in which it plans to develop.
Initially we thought that the schools were not stretching their students, that achievement did not compare to the U.K.. However we then reflected that pupils and teachers seem happy, parents are very supportive of schools - so who were we to criticise? Our judgements were based upon comparisons with our experience in England but the schools we observed were serving their communities and inevitably reflected their aspirations and ethos, which are not the same as ours.
We did have some free time which was appreciated, particularly since Melbourne is a very exciting and most pleasant city. It is spread over a huge area, apart from the central business district, the suburbs comprise detached homes each with their piece of land. There are large areas of parks and green space, main roads are wide, public transport is excellent (regular trams operate in and out of the centre), the city is clean and spacious.
Sports facilities are fantastic - 'ovals' (for cricket or football) abound as do sports centres, there are at least three major horse race-tracks, many stadia (each of which seems to be well-appointed, equivalent to a reasonable football ground in the U.K. - for cricket as well as rugby, etc.) in addition to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (seating 100,000, used for test cricket as well as Aussie Rules Football matches), Olympic stadium (Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympic Games), Rod Laver Tennis Arena (home to the Australian Open) and so on. No wonder the Aussies are so good at cricket, tennis, swimming, golf - but then the weather is conducive to getting out and enjoying the sunshine almost all year round.
We were accommodated in an hotel which was opposite a magnificent park and huge lake (not to mention the Australian Formula 1 race track). A tram into the centre cost £1 for a 2-hour ticket, trams around the centre were free. They seem to have much better public facilities, public funding seems to be less constrained.
During the week-end we drove out to see countryside. Petrol is cheaper (around 30p per litre), hence cars tend to be larger - we hired a mid-range model, with a 3.8 litre V6 engine. We drove along the Great Ocean Road, which passes sandy bay after sandy bay. However the water comes from the Antarctic, wet-suits are recommended. We walked through a temperate rain forest, then drove inland hoping to see kangaroos bouncing. In fact we saw nothing but flat, arid, featureless farmland without a hint of wildlife, other than brightly coloured parrots and one snake which had been sun-bathing on a forest path until we drove over it. Australia prides itself on the vast number of poisonous creatures which live there. Since we had not noticed them in abundance we visited Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, driving past vineyards to get there. It was a very hot day so the wildlife was somewhat less than energetic, indeed much of it (e.g. koala, duck-billed platypus) is nocturnal.
My experience of Australian countryside is not to be taken as typical. However visitors must recognise the vastness of the country and much of Australia is extremely inhospitable. A train journey from Melbourne to Ayers Rock would have taken 21/2 days. The only realistic means of getting from one city to the next is by aeroplane.
So we tended to limit our explorations to Melbourne. A highlight was a visit to the opening match of the Australian Rules Football season, we joined the fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to see Richmond beat Collingwood by 149 points to 118. Over 65,000 enjoyed a fast and exciting match (even to us, and we didn't know much about what was happening). No wonder soccer doesn't grab their interest, who wants to see a 0-0 draw?
A fascinating visit, I count myself to have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit Melbourne schools and also to see something of the city and its environs. I am very grateful to our hosts and to The British Council.
Melbourne across Albert Park lake
Melbourne from the sea
