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Given that Catholic and independent schools tend to produce better results than government schools, one would expect to be able to demonstrate that the non-government sector adds more value to a student's education. The evidence does not bear this out.
A two year process of research, consultation, public input and expert consideration and analysis is a reasonable route to follow for a government-appointed independent inquiry into a major policy issue. But when that process simply leads into a further protracted process, its value is questionable.
A recent poll shows 70 per cent of people think the Federal Government gives too much money to private schools. Catholic schools have contributed enormously to the Australian community, and thus make a claim for some funding on the basis of the common good.
I differ with Frank Brennan in his belief that there is no harm in voting Green. The Greens' policy on funding for Catholic schools will force closures, increase fees and change the ability of Catholic schools to be genuinely Catholic. Stephen Elder, Director of Catholic Education, Melbourne
A Queensland father removed his children from a Catholic primary school in protest against the graphic sexual education given to his children. Schools are best placed to cover sexual health because students can be supported in developing a mature sexual ethic.
The misguided claims made by Ross Fitzgerald in a recent article in Eureka Street, How Catholic schools are failing the poor, cannot go unanswered.
A neoliberal funding policy has undermined the ability of Catholic schools to meet poor children's needs. Instead, Catholic schools have allowed millions of tax dollars to be siphoned off public schools and given to the private sector.
Ross Fitzgerald claims Catholic schools 'have become the instrument through which tax dollars are siphoned off public schools and given to the private sector'. His argument is a misrepresentation of the facts.
A religious purpose is at the heart of Catholic Social Services. Because of this purpose, organisations need to be able to recruit people who support the social mission of the Church, and whose conduct will not compromise or undermine the witness of the Church.
Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act allows religious and quasi-religious groups and individuals to 'discriminate' lawfully. It's hard to see the relevance of the beliefs or lifestyle of a cleaner or clerk in an independent, para-religious school.
Val Yule is a writer on social issues and researcher on imagination and literacy. In the 1970s she was schools psychologist for disadvantaged Catholic schools with the Commonwealth Disadvantaged Schools Program.
37-47 out of 47 results.