Valuing Our Profession: The economic benefits of investment in education
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 4, 7 June 2024, page 14.
The campaign to secure full schooling resource standard funding for all state schools continues. For many, this is an issue about government “expenditure”. It is useful to remind ourselves, and those we engage with about the campaign, that it is more properly conceived as about “investment”.
As noted in a report* issued by the Australia Institute in 2023, the benefits of investment in state schools can be said to operate on at least three levels.
The immediate employment and economic activity associated with the operation of the state school system: “Including indirect economic impacts, public schools support some $45 billion in GDP, and a total of 365,000 jobs. Public education has been an important source of job creation, economic activity, and capital investment …”
The enhanced labour market and productivity performance of students who complete their schooling: “Public schools generate even larger economic benefits through the subsequent enhanced labour market experience of school graduates. Students who finish Year 12 are on average more employable, more productive, receive higher earnings, and pay more taxes than those who do not finish school ... Businesses and employers ... benefit from the enhanced productivity of school graduates.”
The broader social and fiscal benefits arising from the correlation between school completion and welfare, health, and crime: “The enhanced life chances provided to public school students as a result of their access to universal, high-quality education generate very important benefits and savings experienced throughout society … School graduates are healthier; they are less likely to need public income supports; and they are less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. These outcomes are hugely beneficial for those individuals, their families, and their communities. But they also have enormous impacts on the economy, and on government budgets – including by reducing the call on government-funded health care, income programs, and police and justice systems.”
These points are not controversial and are supported by numerous other reports from bodies such as UNESCO, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the OECD.
The report estimates that the benefits accruing from funding public schools at minimum resource standards established through the schooling resource standard would more than offset the additional expenditure required.
As teachers, we tend (rightfully) to emphasise the role of state schools in enhancing the life chances and wellbeing of students. We may also cite the role of schools in fostering good citizenship, promoting mutual understanding and respect, and reducing inequality. But we should also not be shy about highlighting “the significant and far-reaching benefits of stronger public education for economic activity, future productivity and earnings”.
*Littleton, E., Macdonald, F. and Stanford, J. (2023) The Case for Investing in Public Schools: The Economic and Social Benefits of Public Schooling in Australia, The Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, August.