Perth Voice Interactive

A COOLBINIA principal and the president of the WA school teachers’ union disagree over the merits of independent public schools.

Next year another 178 schools in WA will become IPS, including Sir David Brand School, which caters for students with disabilities aged 4 to 18.

Independence allows principals more autonomy, including control over recruitment and the spending of school budgets. Sir David Brand principal Hilary Palmer says it will allow her to cut red tape: “We are going to cut out as much of the bureaucracy as we can and maximise teacher-student learning time,” she says.

“Research shows that if a teacher is really engaged with their program it makes a huge difference to the learning progress of a child with a disability or learning difficulty.

“It will allow us to expand our partnerships with our agencies, particularly the Centre for Cerebral Palsy which is located next door, and various other therapists.”

But union president Pat Byrne says her members have mixed views.

But ‘try before you buy’ worries union

“Some teachers report that IPS schools put more teachers on fixed-term contracts—a sort of ‘try before you buy‘ approach,” she says.

“These teachers feel a lot of pressure to toe the line in order to retain their contracts into the next year.

“Principals also complain that while the department says schools can make independent decisions, reductions in funding to schools means that there is little scope within the budget to make any independent decisions.”

Ms Byrne says the workload for IPS principals increases significantly and there is no distinction in learning between IPS and non-IPS students.

From next year there will be 300 IPS across Perth and 442 across WA, accounting for around 70 per cent of public school students.

Mt Lawley Liberal MP Michael Sutherland says the four local schools becoming independent (West Morley and Sutherland Dianella primaries, Sir David Brand and North East Metro Language Development) will reap rewards.

“The initiative began slowly with 34 schools granted independent status in 2010,” he says.

“From 2015, more than half of all WA public schools will be operating as independent public schools.

“Research has found that schools given greater independence have experienced a noticeable lift in energy, motivation, innovation and engagement by students, staff and the extended school community.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK