Promising steps but we are still skating the surface of what is really needed

The election is over. All public schools are on the path to better funding by 2034. That’s a decade away. We congratulate the Federal Government and Jason Clare for raising the Commonwealth’s funding to public schools and insisting that states meet their funding obligations.

The commitment to review how that funding is used and whether it is making a meaningful difference to young people is also welcomed, especially the potential to address educational challenges like declining participation rates, school refusal, teacher and well-being.

These are all promising steps, but they skate the surface of what ALL believes is really needed.

We have long called for wide systemic change if Australia is to achieve its goal of a high equity system that supports all students to reach their full potential. This ought to start with a broader conversation on a common regulatory framework for all Australian school sectors to ensure equity and proper choice for children and their families.

This call has been supported by a growing number of highly respected educators including Michele Bruniges, former Federal Education director (see the story below), and Dean Ashenden, Honorary Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

Ashenden, author of Unbeaching the Whale; can Australia’s schooling be reformed?, also stresses the importance of genuine cross-sector-collaboration to develop common rules to govern choice (by families) and selection (by schools). He also recommends steps to end disclosure of every school’s performance on My Schools, such as NAPLAN scores.

Michael Sciffer, school counsellor and PhD scholar, (see story in this newsletter) says it is time to challenge social segregation in schools. He takes up one of the recommendations in the Best and Fairer Education System review: to update the Measurement Framework for Schooling to include school segregation, school socioeconomic context, and how they relate to schooling outcomes.

Robert Hattam, emeritus professor of educational justice at the University of South Australia, says it is time to recalibrate the policy regime, away from inequality to one that rebuilds school and teacher professional autonomy and stops blaming schools, teachers and students for policy failure. He asks whether it is possible for Australian schooling to become a machine for equality and proposes a conversation about a Royal Commission into Australian schooling.

We welcome these ideas. After all, it was in 1989 when ministerial councils issued their common and agreed national goals for schooling in Australia, starting with the Hobart Declaration, then the Melbourne, the Adelaide and the Alice Springs (Mpartntwe) versions. These statements however are superimposed on a system that has for far too long moved in the opposite direction from equality, equity, quality, efficiency and effectiveness.

We say the time is now to push on. This next stage in school reform for Australia is the one which matters. Let’s not waste it.