"For profit schools to cash in" - For profit schools heading downunder

[slothpomba]

For profit schools to cash in

Global education companies are planning to open Australia's first for-profit schools targeting local primary and secondary students as early as next year.

Fairview Global, a for-profit schools network based in Malaysia, will send scouts to Australia within six months to find potential sites, with the aim of opening two schools next year and in 2015.

''We plan to have one school in the west and one in the east of Australia - cosmopolitan cities of intellects with international-mindedness,'' said the chairman of Fairview International Schools' governing council, Daniel Chian.

At present, private schools must be not-for-profit to receive public funding, a status held by Catholic and independent schools. Schools are for-profit if revenue is passed to an outside person or group for financial gain. They are legal to operate.

Mr Chian said the expansion plan was being guided by a former vice-chancellor of an Australian university who is now a member of the Fairview governing council, but would not reveal the name.

A second company, Gems Education, based in Dubai, hopes to open a school in Australia. Its original plan to start one in Melbourne was shelved two years ago.

The moves have outraged the president of the Australian Educational Union, Angelo Gavrielatos. ''These are large companies driven by a profit motive that consider education as the last bastion when it comes to untapped resources. Our children cannot be seen as a commercial resource - a plaything for companies to make profit.''

The NSW and federal education departments said they had not received any inquiries from overseas for-profit education companies.

For-profit schools are banned under Victorian law. ''The regulator - the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority - cannot register a school, primary or secondary, for profit,'' said a Victorian Education Department spokesman.

Some for-profit schools exist in Australia but they mainly cater to foreign students.

A Fairfax Media investigation could not identify a for-profit school aimed at the mainstream student that is part of a global brand such as Gems Education. Gems Education claims to be the world's largest kindergarten to year 12 private education provider, offering the British, Indian, US and International Baccalaureate curriculums.

The company's communications director, Richard Forbes, who is Australian, said it had received three inquiries in the past three months from Australian investors interested in setting up schools, but its focus was on developing schools in Africa and south-east Asia.

Arguing for profit-based education, Mr Forbes said US studies showed a large portion of public-system investment never reached the classroom.

''In a competitive environment, an environment where the customer - the parent - has a choice, the quality must be high or they will look elsewhere,'' he said.

The former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile is a consultant for Gems Education, which is making profits from schools in at least three countries, including Britain.

''There are schools for profit in the UK and in the US, so in an economy like Australia's there will be that level of competition, they will eventually appear,'' he said.

A former dean of education at the University of Melbourne, Brian Caldwell, agreed that for-profit schools would make attempts to break into the Australian market in the next five to 10 years.

''But I don't think it's likely to attract significant enrolments, and I don't think they are the answer to improving Australia's school education - they're not viable,'' he said.

A spokesman for the NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, gave Fairfax Media the same response as the department on the legality of for-profit schools, when asked whether he would allow for-profits to operate.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/forprofit-schools-to-cash-in-20130119-2czzc.html#ixzz2ISDOnYJV

What does everyone think?

[EvangelionZeta]

Pretty sure I read somewhere (The Australian?) that For-Profit schools, principled ethics aside, tend to be really, really bad at actually providing worthwhile educations and are quite often sub-standard.  I'll see if I can find the article.

[Professor Polonsky]

Yuck. Hope it's not recognised by State governments.

[brenden]

Sounds mighty fucking terrible.

[slothpomba]

Pretty sure I read somewhere (The Australian?) that For-Profit schools, principled ethics aside, tend to be really, really bad at actually providing worthwhile educations and are quite often sub-standard.  I'll see if I can find the article.

Might of been in The Conversation? - http://theconversation.edu.au/do-we-want-for-profit-schools-in-australia-7015

Excellent news site though, its written by uni academics.

Yuck. Hope it's not recognised by State governments.

According to the article, it's banned in Victoria, so, that's a good start (or bad..depends on your views i guess).

If they're For-Profit, they cant recieve state funding (in Australia). Apparently, most of the For-Profit P-12 schools in the USA depend on the fact that they can get government funding. I think they recieve some kind of voucher or something and can use it at any school, including For-Profit ones..which is essentially siphoning off the government.

I guess just to play the devils advocate, Food is probably one of our most essential commodities and its fine for people to profit off that. I'm not sure but are private hospitals also for-profit? Either way, if its ok to profit on things like this, what exactly is wrong with doing it to schools? In theory, the competition will make all schools better.

Here's a totally contrary article that supports them -> http://ipa.org.au/publications/1264/fear-of-school-profit-holding-quality-back/pg/3 and another positive one http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/whats-wrong-with-for-profit-education-transcript/3320148#transcript (hit show transcript)

Plenty more like it on google.

Obviously, to profit, it means they need to take in a fair bit more cash than they spend. They can either charge more (which i guess is fine if you want to send your kid there and can afford it) or they can spend less. Spending less seems like teachers might get a salary hit or they'll cut down a lot of programs to the bare minimum or something like that.

[Professor Polonsky]

Many States in the US have a voucher program for students, which they sometimes can use in for-profit schools. Just more corporate welfare.

Actually, I have a problem with food being for-profit too. I think if staple food prices reach the point that many people can't afford them, then we'd see them subsidised by the government. We simply haven't reached that point yet, and hopefully never will (that requires very high inflation or a hit in supply).

[Mao]

Actually, I have a problem with food being for-profit too. I think if staple food prices reach the point that many people can't afford them, then we'd see them subsidised by the government. We simply haven't reached that point yet, and hopefully never will (that requires very high inflation or a hit in supply).

Right, staple food doesn't include, for example, smoked salmon or caviar.

In the same way, part of education is already for-profit. ATARNotes is one such example, so are almost every tutoring service provider. The question is not about whether or not there should be for-profit businesses in education, the question is where do you draw the line.

I believe the "technical schools" being set up around victoria has a place for for-profit providers. These already exist to a certain degree after the year 12 level (e.g. Hair-dressing academies and so forth), I don't see a reason why these cannot be brought forward, so long as a FEE-HELP structure is established for these institutions too.

Academia-wise, I don't think there is much room for for-profit providers, since they don't usually provide a higher quality of education for reasons already mentioned.

[Professor Polonsky]

Right, staple food doesn't include, for example, smoked salmon or caviar.

In the same way, part of education is already for-profit. ATARNotes is one such example, so are almost every tutoring service provider. The question is not about whether or not there should be for-profit businesses in education, the question is where do you draw the line.

There's a different issue with for-profit schools, which is unique to this situation. As the only goal of a for-profit is to make money, there are many possibilities for exploitation of the system. They would have no educational mission at all, just make money at all costs. Can I pay for higher SAC rankings?

[enwiabe]

I have no problem with tightly regulated for-profit schools.