'The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education', written by Brian Caldwell and Don Hayward, provides a very important and timely contribution to the debate about the future of public education. The book deserves particular praise as it successfully places Victorian events in a global context and succinctly outlines some of the major options for further reform.
     That the book is also very timely is supported by the recent report on the Schools of the Future by the Victorian Auditor-General.  The report, dated December 1997, notes that the Accountability Framework devised for Schools of the Future “represents a significant advancement in terms of measuring school performance...” and that the Department “is to be applauded for its initiative and the progress it has made...”.
     As stated in the Preface, the purpose of the book is twofold, firstly, to tell the story of Victoria’s Schools of the Future and secondly, to put forward and explore a number of options for further reform of the school system.  As such, the book is unique in that it is able to draw on both the practice and theory of large scale educational reform.
     The book begins by outlining the ‘the crisis in public education’ across the Western world.  Whether it be Britain, New Zealand, America or the different states of Australia, the general consensus is that public education has failed.  High rates of illiteracy, the ‘dumbing down’ of the curriculum and the success of Asian nations like Singapore, Japan and Korea in international tests like the Third International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) are provided as evidence of this failure.
     The next two chapters provide Don Hayward’s account of one attempt to
provide a more efficient and effective system of public education.  As the Shadow Minister for Education and the Minister for Education after the election of the conservative Kennett Government in October 1992, Don Hayward is in a good position to provide an account of what he terms “...my revolution in education in Victoria”.
     This revolution involved overhauling a highly bureaucratic, centralised system of public education suffering from ‘provider capture’.  Excessive teacher union demands, the moribund and self-serving nature of the education bureaucracy and the indulgences of the previous Labor Government had all conspired to ensure that students were no longer being properly educated.
     The system, as outlined by Hayward, was ripe for change and drawing on
his experience as a senior executive in General Motors he set out a strategy to achieve such change.  The two chapters centre on the Minister’s role in implementing this strategy.  The reader is told by Hayward that he was instrumental in overhauling the curriculum, in devolving power to schools, in balancing the education budget, in introducing state wide assessment and reporting, in introducing new technology to schools and ensuring that the community understood and supported the new initiatives.
     The reader is also told that many around the Minister doubted whether such a wide sweeping and fundamental change process could be successful and that “...the Schools of the Future program was underestimated by everybody except me”.
     Why were education reforms in Victoria introduced so quickly and so comprehensively and have they led to a better system of public education?   Part of the explanation, as argued in Chapter Four, is that the environment in Victoria was unique. No where else has there been an alignment of political conditions so necessary for the introduction of such major reform.
     In answering the second question, the results from a number of research projects are presented.  The strength of this section of the book is that shortcomings raised by critics of Schools of the Future are presented and an international perspective is taken on research into the effectiveness of educational reform measures similar to that which has occurred in Victoria since 1992.
     The Cooperative Research Project, a longitudinal study undertaken by Melbourne University, represents one of the most extensive attempts to evaluate the success of Schools of the Future and Chapter Four describes this project in some detail.  Generally speaking, the principals involved in the project endorse the Schools of the Future framework and an overwhelming number state that they do not want to return to the previous system.
     The majority of principals also agree that educational outcomes, as reflected in the areas of curriculum, teaching and learning, have improved because of devolving power to schools and introducing guidelines like the Curriculum and Standards Framework.  The one shortcoming here, as noted by the authors, is that these results are not based on actual measurement of student performance; rather they are based on opinions and perceptions.
     The remainder of the book deals with the substantive point that initiatives like Schools of the Future are a necessary, but insufficient condition for lasting school reform.  Such is the nature and scope of societal change that further reform is needed if schools are to adjust and cope with the challenges represented by the third millennium.
     Whether it be the impact of information related technology, the arrival of the knowledge-based society or the competitive nature of global financial markets, the argument presented is that schools based on the factory model of delivery are irrelevant and obsolete.  The problem, then, becomes how do we arrive at an education system capable of meeting such challenges and what will such an education system look like?
     Chapter Six addresses these questions.  The view of education presented is in line with much of what is currently being written about schools in the third millennium.  New technologies will lead to the ‘virtual’ classroom, traditional subject boundaries will disappear, there will be an increased use of para-professionals and schools will become ‘learning network organisations’.
     The structure and organisation of the existing government and non-government school system will also be radically different.   Caldwell and Hayward argue that the current distinction between public and private schools should disappear; all schools that receive government funding should be considered ‘public’.  Unlike the current situation, where schools are funded by government, the argument is also put that funding should follow the student.
     The belief that education systems should accept the primacy of parent choice and the beneficial effect of the ‘market’ is strengthened with the proposal that all schools should be able to set fees, thus formalising a voluntary situation that already exists within government schools.
     Drawing on the experience of grant maintained schools in Britain and charter schools in America, Chapter Six also suggests that Victorian schools are ready to take the next step in achieving greater autonomy and school-based control over management, organisation and curriculum.  Of interest here is the point that the current Victorian Minister for Education, Phil Gude, has established three committees that are researching many of the issues raised by Caldwell and Hayward.
     Notwithstanding the strengths of The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education, there are a number criticisms.  While accepting that parents and students should have greater freedom to choose what school best serves their needs, the authors argue that there should be a universal curriculum and assessment framework.  Such a situation begs the question of what is the value of school choice, if all schools suffer from the same curriculum and assessment regime imposed from the centre.
     Currently, in America there is a good deal of debate about President Clinton’s desire to establish a national curriculum and assessment system and thereby bring coherence and order to what is seen as a diverse and fragmented education system.  Some commentators, given the mediocre and politically correct nature of what is being written, argue that this is a recipe for disaster.
     There are also a number of inaccuracies and omissions in the early chapters. Whilst acknowledging the significant structural and financial problems that had to be addressed because of the excesses of the previous Labor Government, it is clear that budget reform continued to be a problem as late as financial year 1995-96.  In that year the initial education budget for current outlays fell short of actual outlays by some $98.9 million, (Victorian Budget paper No.2, 1996-97, Table 2.4). Most of the overrun occurred in the schools area.
     The contribution of the Parliamentary Secretary, Stephen Elder, in the Quality Provision process and the establishment of the KODE schools, also appears to have been underrated.
     Throughout the Western world governments of all political persuasions are undertaking significant and far reaching educational reform; often with the same problems raised and the same solutions put forward. The Caldwell/Hayward book provides a valuable contribution to this debate and, as such, it should be widely read.