ONLY from my personal experience it seems that this confidence seems to come from the relationship between students and teachers. Now I'm walking on shaky ground here because I also know of quite a few public school teachers who seem to teach in a manner that imparts confidence with their students.... but it's almost always been in evidence with my daughters teachers at the private schools she has been to. I know that that the teachers all seemed to LOVE working at these schools... the class sizes were small (my DDs first teacher only had 10 girls, what teacher wouldn't be happy about that!)... the pay is better... the facilities and resources are better... happy teacher = happy kids?

On the flip side it's a different story at my DS's public school... he's had ok teachers but they seem to lack the spark... I don't like the one-size-fits-all approach... I really don't like their school reporting system! The grounds are grim and the rooms uncomfortable. The teachers talk to the kids in a way reminiscent to how I was spoken to at my public school... can't put my finger on it but it's different to how the teachers speak at the private ones... can someone help me out? Anyhow he's not returning next year. But we'll most likely try the public system again when we move... I REALLY do want to find something good to say about Australia's public system!