What does Public School Education in Australia Mean in the 21st Century?

What does ‘public school education’ mean in Australia in the 21st century, with its past
tradition of free, compulsory and secular schooling, and the present school sector policies urging
the widespread use of digital technologies? This paper starts from the premise that histories
and traditions underpin the provision of public school education in Australia. It is argued
that the recognition of the nature of these histories and traditions is important to acknowledge
for their sustainability: so they are not taken for granted; are subjected to investigation and
are debated; and where appropriate can be maintained. In addition, acknowledging the role of
certain traditions in public schooling enables us to ask questions about the taken-for-granted
assumptions embedded within school education at a time when digital technologies are being
advocated as a core policy requirement in the provision of universal schooling in Australia.
The aims of this paper are to firstly, reflect on the sustainability of selected traditions in public
school education by asking what does public schooling mean in Australia in the 21st century;
and secondly, to contribute to the development of a stock of Australian literature based within
and pertinent to the public schooling sector. This paper argues that the meaning of the phrase
‘public school education’ has altered over time, and that some traditions underpinning public
school education are being lost and others are being reauthored. The paper concludes that with
the ongoing inclusion of digital technologies into school education, interpretations of the
meanings of ‘public school education’ ought to be reconsidered.