The Federal Government has welcomed a new international report that it claims gives its education reforms the ‘tick of approval’ from the Organisation for Economic Co-Development (OECD).

The OECD’s Education Policy Outlook: Australia report praised Australia’s ‘fair and inclusive’ education sector, saying that it is continuing to deliver equity, quality and high completion rates of students.

“Australia’s schools have positive learning environments, strong pedagogical leadership and well-prepared teachers, all supported with an effective evaluation and assessment framework,” the report concluded.

However, the report also found that Australian school funding ‘lacks transparency and coherence’, with a number of reports and reviews concluding that it is difficult to accurately assess and determine how individual schools are funded.

The report concluded that Australia needs to increase its focus on the professional development of its teachers, with a further focus on ‘tackling system-level policies which hinder equality in education.’

Federal Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, said the report confirms the need for systematic reform of the school funding model.

“This confirms the Gonski Review findings and the need to act. The report backs up the need for our proposed education reforms and the National Plan for School Improvement,” Mr Garrett said.

The release of the report comes after the New South Wales Government became the first state to sign up to the Gonski reforms, securing $5 billion in funding for the state’s schools.

The full report can be found here

http://www.oecd.org/edu/EDUCATION%20POLICY%20OUTLOOK%20AUSTRALIA_EN.pdf