The Federal Government has announced a National Plan for School Improvement, in response to the Gonski Review.

 

The plan aims to ensure that by 2025 Australia is ranked amongst the top five countries in the world for the performance of students in Reading, Science and Mathematics, and for providing our children with a high-quality and high-equity education system.

 

Under the plan, discussions will be held with the states and territories and non-government school sectors with the aim of improving schools by: 

  • Lifting teacher quality, including requiring more classroom experience before graduation and higher entry requirements for the teaching profession. 
  • More power for principals, including over budgets and staff selection. 
  • More information for parents through My School. 

 

The National Plan for School Improvement will be phased in over several years, as recommended by the Gonski review.

 

Funding for each school will be based on the needs of every individual student they enrol through a new benchmark amount per student — a new Schooling Resource Standard — based on the costs of schools that are already getting good results.

 

Schools with students who face additional challenges would be entitled to extra funding based on six categories: children from low income families, Indigenous students, students with disability, children with limited English skills, the size of the school, and those who attend rural and remote schools.

 

This additional money would be a permanent feature of the new funding system provided to help pay for requirements such as teachers’ aides, specialist literacy and numeracy coaches, and special equipment. Schools would no longer need to rely on grants or short-term programs.

 

This extra money, called ‘loadings’, will be fully publicly funded so every student who needs more support will get it, no matter what type of school they attend.

Other features of the new school funding model include:

  • All government schools would continue to be fully publicly funded.
  • Special schools (like schools for students with disability) would also receive full public funding.
  • Like the current system, the government funding provided to non-government schools would be adjusted based on parents’ capacity to contribute.
  • Current annual indexation would be replaced by a new measure that reflects the real cost increases across all schools.
  • Every school would see its funding rise every year.

 

The Prime Minister will begin meeting each of the Premiers and Chief Ministers to discuss school improvement and funding reform.

 

A special subcommittee of all Australian Education Ministers will be established to drive this reform, and the Government will also meet with representatives of independent and Catholic schools.

 

Precise funding details will be worked through in discussion with states and territories and any extra Commonwealth funding will be contingent upon the states signing up to these new arrangements.

 

As a first step, the Federal Government will introduce legislation into the Parliament by the end of 2012 that will enshrine the core principles of the National Plan for School Improvement and a new approach to funding. As discussions progress the legislation will be updated to include the specific settings of the funding model agreed.