The Shadow Minister for Education, Tanya Plibersek, reflected on the role of and importance of faith-based schools when she addressed over 300 Christian school leaders at the Christian Schools National Policy Forum (Tuesday 25 May).
“Faith has always played a major role in Australian education” said Ms Plibersek, noting that this was the case even before European settlement, “For Indigenous Australians, education was inseparable from spirituality.”
“… religious schools exist to pass on deeply held values” she said to the delegate, “[b]ut you also exist to provide a quality education”.
The Shadow Minister went on to re-affirm that “Labor supports parental choice”.
“We support it with our actions and our policies and our budgets”.
“We support sector blind, needs based school funding”, she told delegates from schools in membership of Christian Schools Australia and
- Adventist Schools Australia
- Anglican Schools Corporation
- Associated Christian Schools
- Australian Association of Christian Schools
- Christian Education National
- Lutheran Education Australia
“Christian schools greatly appreciate the support received from both major parties for fair funding for non-government schools”, said Mark Spencer, Director of Public Policy.
“The recognition and endorsement of parental choice in education, the support for the rights of parents to choose Christian schools that reflect their values and beliefs has shaped our education system across the decades” he said.
[The Christian Schools National Policy Forum has for nearly three decades brought Christian school leaders each year to Canberra. This year the Forum focussed on the results of the Cardus Education Survey (https://carduseducationsurvey.com.au) which demonstrated the contribution of Christian school graduates to “the common good” of our nation.]
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