My School, PISA and Australia’s equity gap

11 May 2011Do schools determine the performance of students, or do students determine the performance of schools? In Inside Story, Chris Bonnor investigates

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WAGGA WAGGA in the Riverina region of New South Wales is a typical large regional centre, resembling both rural and urban Australia. Just as they do elsewhere, students go to school each day armed with their packs and books and computers – ready to learn, socialise and play.

But they’re equipped with much more than can be found in their packs. Some of them come from houses where books and learning hold pride of place, where parents have a post-secondary education and a well-paid job. In other houses the parents find each day more of a struggle and the longer-term goals of education are far more elusive. When students walk in through the school gate each day some of them are already well ahead of the others…

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Photo: Susan Stewart/ iStockphoto

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