Overview Australia has a relatively large degree of choice between schools, a product of historical private and non-profit sector involvement in the provision of schooling after British colonisation. Analysis of school funding data in this report shows that there are more similarities in how schools are funded than differences. This report aims to challenge the...

Examines the policies and research on charter schools and their equivalents in five countries –USA, Sweden, Chile, England and New Zealand. Summary Charter schools and free schools – publicly-funded, privately-managed schools – have been introduced in several countries around the world as a way of extending school choice, particularly for low income families. This report...

Regulation of childcare for the purposes of early childhood learning and development is a relatively new phenomenon. Where debates were once about whether children are better off in childcare or at home with a parent, today’s conventional wisdom, based on sometimes misguided interpretations of research, is that childcare is good for all children provided it...

This report argues that the government should reform family payments to help parents who are disincentivised from working as much as they wish. Overview In 2013–14, $32 billion was spent on family payments, amounting to 7.7% of total federal expenditure in that year, and 22% of total federal spending on social security and welfare. Family...