Learning to share: Australia's Building the Education Revolution and shared schools

Abstract

This article analyses the conceptual and policy contexts of the Australian government's Building the Education Revolution (BER) programme. This $A15 billion commitment to renewing school facilities is the Australian government's largest single measure of economic stimulus in response to the recent global financial crisis. Public debate and analysis of BER have focused on its economic objective. The programme has a second, less publicised objective, to promote community building and engagement with schools by specifying that funded facilities will be available for community use. This article argues that, in contrast to the Australian government's rhetorical commitment to educational innovation, BER follows a modernist tradition of infrastructure provision characterised by top-down programme design and limited attention to the ‘soft’ infrastructure of organisational systems and human resources. While conceding the circumstances in which BER was developed, this article identifies areas where the programme requires further development to optimise this current high-point of investment in Australian schools.