Ten years ago, then prime minister Julia Gillard pledged that a new school funding model would put Australia in the world’s top five education systems by 2025, with its students among the leaders in reading, science and maths. They would have the teachers, librarians and interactive whiteboards they needed. And each child would have their own learning plan, so struggling students were not left behind and bright students did not disengage.
Before the Gonski review, education funding was a mess. Federal funding to the non-government school sector increased under the Howard government, but the system was complicated, opaque, and gave more to some schools than others without any apparent reason.
Lawrence says another major error was delay. The panel had representatives from all states and sectors, had lively debates but agreed on the path forward. The reforms also had support from everyone from the Business Council to. But the government delayed its response. “The delay came for political reasons, and that momentum was lost,” she says. “With big changes you need to put your foot on the accelerator.
In NSW, the NSW Department of Education gave public school principals their so-called Gonski money - extra funding for disadvantaged students - as a lump sum to use as they thought best, with little requirement to explain how they spent it, let alone any need to demonstrate how those spending decisions improved their students’ learning. The non-government sector has even less accountability.
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