Australia’s education debate must move beyond funding and sector structure to confront a deeper governance problem: school systems that measure constantly but fail to learn from teachers, principals and communities.

The recent exchange between Trevor Cobbold and Save Our Schools and Chris Bonnor with Tom Greenwell, highlights both the strength of, and the frustration with, contemporary education debate.

Trevor has once again mounted a powerful defence of public education and needs-based funding. Greenwell and Bonnor have responded with a thoughtful argument that structural reform must go beyond funding and address the competitive advantages enjoyed by non-government schools.

There is much merit in both positions. Both are motivated by a genuine concern for educational equity. Both recognise the increasing segregation of Australian schooling and the growing concentration of disadvantage within the public system. Both seek a fairer system.

Yet reading the exchange, I found myself wondering whether we have become trapped within a debate that is now too narrow.

After more than 40 years in education, I have come to suspect that funding is only one part of a much larger governance problem. It is a suspicion that sharpens when I ask a simple question: what if the reforms being proposed were actually achieved?

What if public schools finally reached 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard? What if some version of the structural reforms proposed by Bonner and Greenwell were implemented? Would we necessarily see the improvements we expect?

The answer may seem obvious. More resources should produce better outcomes. Fairer arrangements should produce fairer results.

Funding matters. Public schools should be properly resourced and concerns about the competitive imbalance between sectors deserve serious consideration.

The question, however, is whether we have become so focused on funding and structure that we have overlooked the way educational systems themselves operate.

When I began teaching, schools were comparatively simple organisations. They were not necessarily........

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