From the ALL team

2022 has brought us a multitude of reports, news articles and radio programs on education: what it is: what it should be; and what is holding us back.

We have heard about lessons learned from the COVID lockdowns and tales of remote learning experience, also changes to the Australian curriculum and a review ten years’ on from the Gonski report.

The ALL team has collated many of these reports and shared them on our resources hub. Certainly one of the most important of these publications is Waiting For Gonski: how Australia failed its schools by Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor. Kathe Kirby, an ALL team member, provides a critique of the book in this newsletter.

The authors argue that the level playing field which Gonski tried to create was never achieved and now is getting more and more divided and iniquitous. Australia’s funding arrangement is unique in the world and contributes to this problem.

In order to solve this problem, the book proposed that public funding brings public obligations, and a public contract is needed, requiring non-government schools to operate with policies comparable to those of government schools. We think this suggestion is one which deserves more discussion, and would welcome your thoughts. We hope to see this important conversation continue.

Work continues on our ALL projects, Passion Projects for Deep Learning and The Future School: Seeing is Believing. More soon in our next newsletter.

Do continue following us on social media and add to the conversation about new ideas in education.

The ALL Team