Why do we need to change the status quo?

Australia’s track record of educational achievement is now among the most inequitable of any country in the OECD, and we have also been experiencing an overall decline for two decades.

To turn Australia’s educational performance around and close the unacceptable gaps between students from different backgrounds, we need to effect three changes:

1. fund all schools on the basis of educational need
2. ensure children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity to thrive in more socio-economically mixed schools
3. create a system where schools compete, not on their ability to attract additional resources and the right students, but on their capacity to help each child achieve a full year of learning, every year, and to realise their full potential.

We can do this by creating a framework in which all schools have a common framework of responsibilities and obligations to ensure that all schools have public obligations in return for public funding from Commonwealth and state governments.