School autonomy reform and social justice in Australian public education

ARC Discovery Grant which is being led by Deakin University but for which I am a CI.
Summary of project below:
There is strong political consensus internationally that school autonomy will drive up academic standards. In Australia, federal and state policies advocating Independent Public Schools (IPS) claim that greater localised governance and decisionmaking generates more effective public education. No definitive links can be found between school ‘autonomy’ and school ‘improvement’. Indeed, there is evidence linking this reform to increased inequalities at both system and school levels. This study will investigate the rationale for the policy of IPS and provide an evidence based as to its impact on practice in Victoria, WA, NSW and Queensland schools with a particular focus on social justice.