Readers of Pearls and Irritations may be aware of the Public Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which turns donations into life-changing scholarships for students and others in around 200 NSW schools.

It dates from 2007 and has become a big part of the stories and lives of thousands in public education. Just as important, it highlights these stories in high-profile events.

It recently added an Outstanding Advocate for Public Education award to its expanding celebration of achievement. It must have been hard to choose an awardee because both of us shared the honour. In accepting the award we were asked to make brief comments, before a large audience in the Sydney Town Hall. We separately reflected on what it all means – inevitably drawing on the ideas we have shared with readers of Pearls and Irritations.

Lyndsay Connors and Chris Bonnor

Lyndsay

I am deeply honoured by this award.

Whatever I have done to deserve it has been because of the opportunities that have come my way. I owe a great deal to the teachers in my public schools for being able to take up those opportunities, as well as to my family, colleagues and friends.

I thought my public speaking days were well and truly over, but you can all blame Murat for indicating that a brief address would be in order tonight.

I’m only speaking now because I can’t think of any more important time in my life to speak up about how vital it is that we preserve and advance a strong and socially representative public school system as a pillar of our democracy.

We are meeting here tonight at a time when democracy itself is under threat around our world.

The ideals of liberty, equality and solidarity define public education. But there is another distinctive, defining, moral value as well: altruism, the love of strangers.

It is not only democracy which is fragile, but now the future of our planet.

Coming to terms with climate change will require a capacity for people from across the world to join with each other: from places they might never have heard of, and with a shared commitment to our common humanity. And we need inclusive schools to help build that capacity.

Since the 1960s, our public schools have become increasingly inclusive.

In celebrating this fact, we must be careful not to slip from being visionary into becoming delusional.

The fact that public schools are owned, funded and operated by governments is necessary, but not sufficient.

More has to happen for the ideals of public education to be realised.

And in so many of our schools more does happen.

It happens when thoughtful and committed school leaders create the conditions for teachers to do their best work; and gain the support of the school community.

It happens when parents come together with their neighbours (with some of whom they don’t necessarily share interests or tastes; or political, religious or cultural affiliations) because of their shared commitment to the education of each other’s children.

One of life’s conundrums is that in some respects we are all the same — and must be treated equally; and that we are also all different both as individuals and as groups — and need to be treated equitably.

Public schools provide the ideal setting for learning to build consensus about how to deal with our sameness and our differences.

Teachers are the lifeblood of our school system. And the core business of that system – to develop students’ intelligence and sensibility for life in an open and fair society – happens in classrooms, in the hearts and minds of teachers and students.

Providing schools with the conditions and resources that are most likely to enable teachers to do their best work must be at the top of any reform agenda.

This is a good year for public education in NSW.

The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement has been signed by Commonwealth and state governments, both of which have education ministers with an explicit commitment to our public schools.

And there is a recent $100m lift to public schools in the NSW budget, including for improved buildings and facilities where needed in parts of the state.

It is wise to live our lives poised between hope for the best and fear of the worst.

Australia has long had a commitment to universal, compulsory schooling. States have the legal obligation to ensure that there are enough school places for the student population and that they are where they are needed. Meeting this obligation is becoming increasingly challenging.

I continue to hope that the vast majority of Australians believe that all our children and young people are equally entitled to the highest quality of schooling this country can afford.

If we do, simple logic then leads to the conclusion that in all corners of the country, students must have guaranteed access in their own right – irrespective of personal, family or community circumstances - to inclusive, public schools – schools where they can develop their own potential and achieve their personal best – schools where no one is held back and no one is left behind.

In a context where the student population is mobile — growing, declining and shifting — what does this mean in practice?

One thing it clearly means is this:

That, in all areas of the country, the public school must always be the first school to open and the last school to close!

Chris

How amazing to be up here in this company – especially with Lyndsay, my colleague and inspiration. I thank Murat and his team, and the Public Education Foundation, for its focus on advocacy.

And I know I’m gazing across a sea of advocates together in this place.

More than ever, our advocacy is so important. Public education is about community and nation-building by connecting very different people in each school - and building bridges between them.

If that stops happening, we are all in trouble.

The best advocates for this are our schools, each working hard to show that they are up there with the best. We must always do that.

But that isn’t enough. We are now in challenging times. We must do more and do it differently.

Yes, I’ve long challenged those who advocate for private schooling – but that doesn’t create effective advocacy. And yes, like you I “gave a Gonski”, to make sure public schools were fully funded. But even if that happens, allegedly by 2034, not enough will change.

For 15 years, I’ve gathered the evidence that proves Australia’s weird public/private system simply can’t deliver - and that the side effects are increasingly nasty. But evidence alone these days has to do battle against beliefs, opinions and feel-good stories.

So advocacy needs to change yet again, to ask why our public/private framework of schools is no longer fit for purpose.

It has evolved into a system that is divided, not into good or bad schools, but according to the size of your pay packet, to quote the federal minister.

What did we expect when we funded private schools and let them continue to charge fees? Inevitably, they enrol those who can pay – and by definition, exclude those who can’t.

You can see how this plays out in every single Australian community, in your suburb, town and street.

Public education doesn’t exclude. Our obligation, no, our source of pride, is to be open and available to all families, in all circumstances.

But we now need to insist that all publicly-funded school systems must do this. It’s about fairness: no funding without fairness!

Without such a shared obligation, the strugglers will become even more concentrated in our schools, with nationwide implications.

How did other countries avoid our unfolding disaster? To find out, I was joined last October by 11 others to see what Canada did.

Our report _Lessons from Canada, an equal school system is possible_, is now available.

It’s not about transplanting success from overseas, it’s about creating different conversations about our schools. It’s advocacy with solutions.

Others are doing similar work. Michele Bruniges, a previous NSW public education head, has come up with ways to help level the unfair playing field of schools.

She says we need a clear set of mutual obligations on all schools for their taxpayer dollars, with schools needing to demonstrate clear public benefit and national interest.

And by implication, schools that don’t should lose their public funding.

Such new thinking about reshaping school education makes me optimistic about the future and the treasured place of public education. Through advocacy we can help shape a preferred school future, one for everyone.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.