Colleen Harkin Discussing IPA Education Research On 2GB Summer Nights – 6 January 2025

In this interview, Colleen Harkin appeared on 2GB Summer Nights to discuss the IPA’s research into the National Curriculum.

Bill Woods:

And one report over the weekend talked about commercial coaching centres. Apparently they’re doing great business. Some running HSC tutoring courses are costing five-and-a-half grand a year for a single subject. The estimated billion-dollar private tutoring industry has grown rapidly over two decades, they reckon. Unregulated coaching centres, offering selective school test preparation courses and HSC coaching in maths, physics and chemistry. All kinds of students have access to it.

But imagine, if you’re already paying 50 grand for your child to complete year 12 in a top school, and then spending another five-and-a-half on tutoring, that’s for one subject, because you’re not quite sure you’re getting value for your 50. That’s big dollars. One teacher at a Sydney selective public school estimated 80% of students at that school had been receiving private coaching. Colleen Harkin is an education expert from the Institute of Public Affairs. She’s written and said a lot about the education institution and she joins us now. Thanks for your time, Colleen.

Colleen Harkin:

No problem.

Bill Woods:

Are you surprised by these numbers?

Colleen Harkin:

Well, no, not really. The fact that that industry is growing is not surprising. It does show, for example, it reflects the fact that parents are not particularly overly confident in the education system itself. And you can’t blame parents for wanting to provide their child with the greatest opportunity that they can give them, particularly in year 12, because it is that important year of university entrance or not, or what grades that they’ll get and access to different courses.

So, it’s not a surprise that people want to spend whatever time and effort or money or whatever it is that they have access to, to provide their child with the greatest opportunity that they can.

Bill Woods:

Do you reckon … And it’s hard to tell, I know, because each school is different despite the opinions we might have on the education system as a whole. But do you reckon it’s more about overzealous parents? Do you think that perception you just spoke of is accurate?

Colleen Harkin:

Oh, look, no, I genuinely think that there’s a grave concern about what’s going on in the education system. Teachers are absolutely overwhelmed with administration and paperwork and bureaucratic responsibilities. It takes them away from teaching.

In the younger years, there’s an absolute focus on political ideology rather than on core skills development. And our national results completely reflect a lack of academic standard across the nation. So, people know that there’s something wrong and they’re very concerned about what that means for their child. So, it’s not surprising that it is reflected in people who are also trying to do something about it themselves.

Bill Woods:

So, the question then is, does it create an imbalance between the parents who can afford the tutoring and the parents who can’t? Obviously, some of the teachers are saying that they’re seeing in classes some kids are as much as a term ahead of the others. Obviously, that makes teaching even more difficult in some respects.

Colleen Harkin:

Look, teachers have never had a more difficult job. I have the greatest respect for classroom teachers. They work in very difficult environment and the demands on them are extraordinary. But I don’t think that that means that we should be aiming to diminish aiming for excellence. What is wrong with trying to do the best that you can possibly do?

So there are two different issues that are being conflated there. So, this sort of business about the growth of the industry is actually a bit of a sideshow rather than actually looking at what’s going on in the main game, because the quality of the education system is in free fall, teachers have got very difficult jobs and our academic standards are falling. So, that’s actually what we should be looking at. What is actually going on in the classrooms and why are we ending up in this situation where people feel the need to do that? That’s really the issue that’s at hand.

Bill Woods:

Yeah. And look, there’s always been tutoring of some kind around the place. Sometimes it’s done for nothing by somebody you know or someone who is a benefactor of some kind and wants to help somebody out.

But interesting comment from the Australian Tutoring Association chief executive, guy called Mohan Dhall. He said that there’s a lack of regulation in the industry, which means little oversight, external validation or accountability to some of these colleges. And he says it’s a global issue. So, I suppose even though it’s a growth industry, and it might well be validated by the points you’ve made, should it be regulated and what can we do about that?

Colleen Harkin:

Yeah. Look, I did read that, and I have to admit I was amused because it’s actually the increase of bureaucracy and red tape that has got us into this mess in the first place.

Bill Woods:

Right. Yeah.

Colleen Harkin:

The overregulation and the demands on teachers that take them away from their actual job of teaching, and this idea that more and more paperwork will somehow fix the problem is actually core to the problem that exists. So, what we need to do is actually focus on the education system itself. It’s failing teachers as much as it is failing the students, by the way. It’s not just the students whose opportunities are diminished here. And focus on why are we in this situation that these people who are getting to year 12 who don’t actually have the core skills, or they feel that they need to be assisted further development there. That’s what we’ve got to have a look at.

And the fact that people are paying to go and get extra tuition, I mean, they’re the people who will know whether that’s value for money or not, and they’re making that choice. They’re entitled to do it. It’s their money. They will know whether they’re spending their money wisely or not. So, no, I think that whole issue of regulation is an interesting one, but it is what’s got us in this place in the first instance.

Bill Woods:

No, that’s a good point. You don’t want cowboys in the industry, but at the same time, you’ll certainly weed those out if the mainstream education system is a better one and requires less demand for tutoring. And on that point, you mentioned core skills, and that seems to be the indication, doesn’t it, Colleen, when it comes to this tutoring a lot of it is in the basics? And that is a big question mark for our education system, is it not?

Colleen Harkin:

Oh, absolutely. Across the nation, we have something like 49% of our year nines are not meeting minimum standard in literacy and numeracy. That’s a shocking figure. And across the board, about 33% of the nation at every year level of the NAPLAN results, or the OECD PISA results, or the TIMSS results, all of the external and independent exams that are done across the nation are consistently showing that there is a very worrying lack of attainment standards in core skills. We’re not talking about sophisticated understanding of things, we’re talking about basic proficiency.

So, if you have almost half of the nation’s year nines, which is your 15-year-olds, who are not proficient in reading and writing, as a nation, we have a very serious problem going forward.

Bill Woods:

Very good point. Colleen Harkin, thank you so much for your time.

Colleen Harkin:

Thank you. No problem.

Bill Woods:

Colleen is from the Institute of Public Affairs.

This transcript from 2GB Summer Nights on 6 January 2025 has been edited for clarity.