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Two recent pieces published on The Conversation (by Barbara Preston and Jennifer Chesters) argue that parents might be wasting their money paying for a non-government school education.
They contend that government school students do better at university and, especially when compared to students from independent schools, have similar labour market outcomes.
Defining the value of a school education in terms of tertiary performance and employment outcomes ignores the fact that there are many other less utilitarian reasons why parents might choose a Catholic or independent school.
The faith-based nature of many non-government schools; that most have extensive co-curricula activities such as Saturday sport; and that such schools have a school culture that parents support are also important considerations.
There is also a considerable amount of research suggesting that non-government schools, compared to many government schools, achieve stronger educational outcomes in areas like completion rates, academic results, success at the tertiary level and promoting social cohesion.
The 2013 Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series No. 39/13 investigating the impact of Catholic schooling on wages concluded: … during the prime time of a career, wage rates for Catholic school graduates progress with labour market experience at a greater rate, on average, than wage rates for public school graduates.
The paper, after 15 to 25 years of labour market experience, put the benefit for Catholic school graduates at: … around 12% higher growth in real hourly wages compared to wage projections for those who attended government schools.
American education academic Francis Vella reached a similar conclusion in a 1999 paper. He wrote: We also find that individuals from Catholic schools are more likely to find employment and are paid higher wages in addition to the effects operating through the higher levels of achieved education. Continue reading
Sources
- The Conversation
- Image: Stuff
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