Why a focus on Canada?

While marketisation has been promoted as a mechanism for improving educational equity and effectiveness, substantial evidence suggests that it may have the opposite effect.

A recent study by Australian researchers including LEAP participant Michael Sciffer, compared Australia and Canada, two countries with similar demographics and economic contexts but differing levels of education marketisation.

The study – The impact of marketisation on school segregation and educational equity and effectiveness: Evidence from Australia and Canada drew on data from the Program for International Student Assessment, the findings suggest that educational marketization reduces educational equity and effectiveness by increasing school social segregation and stratification of resources.

It also found that

• Australia has higher levels of school choice, competition, and privatisation than Canada.
• This marketisation is linked to increased school segregation and stratification of resources in Australia.
• Consequently, socially disadvantaged students in Australia have significantly lower academic performance compared to their Canadian counterparts, without any corresponding gain for socially advantaged students.

The authors of the study are Laura B Perry, Ee-Seul Yoon, Michael Sciffer and Christopher Lubienski.

https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/The-impact-of-marketization-on-school/991005637960907891