A NEW funding model for the nation’s ailing education system could help close the widening gap between schools in capital cities and country towns.
But it won’t happen for more than a decade under a lengthy reform timetable outlined today by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
During an address in Canberra this afternoon, Ms Gillard agreed an extra $6.5 billion funding was needed each year to improve the nation’s struggling education sector.
Should the federal and state governments thrash out a deal on who foots the bill, some of the cash will be directed to schools in regional and rural areas, where students are consistently recording substandard results. How much extra those schools will receive remains unclear.
In February, a landmark review of school funding by respected businessman David Gonski found students in regional, rural and remote towns and cities did not record the same strong results as their metropolitan counterparts.
NAPLAN reading tests from 2010 showed nearly 50 per cent of year 9 students ranked in the top three performance bands, compared to about 40 per cent of students in provincial cities and 25 per cent in remote towns. Students in rural and regional areas were also far less likely to complete year 12 compared to metropolitan students.
Ms Gillard cited Cowra Public School, in central-west NSW, as an example of how a regional school could lift its performance when given the right resources.
Under the proposed funding model, government schools – which educate most disadvantaged, disabled and Indigenous students – will receive higher rates of funding.
“Funding should recognise children are individuals, not standardised widgets,” Ms Gillard said.
The $6.5 billion annual funding injection will be introduced progressively from 2014 to 2020. The government wants Australia to return to the top five countries in the world for reading, maths and science by 2025.
That timeline means the first children to enter a ‘top-five’ school system have not yet been born, however Ms Gillard made no apologies for the lengthy transition period.
Bernie Roebuck, the principal of Finley High School in south-western NSW, said the reforms should be rolled out much faster.
“I understand that sort of money is not easy to find but we know that students in our part of the world need support and they need it pretty much pronto,” said Mr Roebuck, who is also deputy president of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council.
“I understand a staged increase was likely but we’re still talking about two years before we even get to first base and in my view, that’s bitterly disappointing.
“Every year that goes past I think we’re getting further behind the eight ball.”
During today’s speech to the National Press Club, Ms Gillard said the nation’s Indigenous students were being particularly let down.
“By year 9, the average Indigenous child in very remote Australia is reading below the level of a year 3 child in the city,” she said.
The average 15-year-old maths student in Australia was now two years behind a 15-year-old in Shanghai, she noted.
Ms Gillard also said by year 3, nearly 90 per cent of children from poor households were reading below average. By year 9, the same student would be two years behind a child from a well-heeled household when it came to reading and mathematics.
The Prime Minister will now work to convince the states, territories and independent school sector to sign up to the proposals, which include sweeping reforms to teacher training and performance and principal autonomy.
The changes, if implemented, will represent the biggest reform to the education system in 40 years.
