More families are choosing private over public schools despite cost-of-living pressures eating into family budgets. Almost 1.5 million students are now enrolled at catholic and independent schools. Public education advocates say many parents are being forced to make the move due to continued underfunding of government schools.
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00:00 Private schools have never been as popular.
00:05 At Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School, just south of the Gold Coast, students and families
00:10 are queuing up to enter the private system, even as cost of living pressures bite.
00:15 You do anything for your kids.
00:17 Other things will just take second place to giving them those few years of a really good
00:23 quality education.
00:26 Last year the number of students here rose by about 10%.
00:29 Parents will make incredible sacrifices for their children and one of the things parents
00:34 rate very highly is quality education.
00:38 Principal Stuart Markart puts the school's success down to its values, which are anchored
00:42 in Christianity.
00:43 A lot of the messaging here at the school is about developing a person of substance,
00:50 a person of character, a person who can make good decisions when no one is watching.
00:56 Across the country, private school enrolments grew eight times faster than public schools.
01:01 Last year private schools grew by 2.5% to 1.47 million students.
01:07 That's 36% of all young people.
01:10 Public school enrolments grew by just 0.3%.
01:14 The private school lobby welcomed the figures but advocates for public education say it
01:18 isn't a fair fight and many parents are forced to move because of underfunding.
01:23 I think parents are very much aware that there is a huge resource differentiation between
01:30 public schools and private schools.
01:32 Experts like Dr Emma Rowe say most public schools still haven't reached their Gonski
01:37 funding levels.
01:39 The funding system is not fair in Australia and it very much privileges private schools.
01:45 A nation increasingly turning to the old school tie.
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]