Fighting for Equity in Education

The struggle is long but hope is longer

New Figures Show that Government Funding Increases Favour Private Schools

Posted on Thursday January 29, 2015

New figures show that government funding increases for Catholic and Independent schools have outstripped funding increases for public schools since 2009. >> Read on...

What Do Parents Get for a Costly Private School Education?

Posted on Tuesday January 27, 2015

Parents paying up to $500,000 to put their children through private schools do not get better educational outcomes. >> Read on...

Open Letter on Testing by Diane Ravitch

Posted on Thursday January 22, 2015

An open letter by Diane Ravitch to the US Senate calls for annual standardised testing to be dropped in US schools. >> Read on...

Media Release: Public Schools are the Equal of Private Schools

Posted on Monday January 19, 2015

A new analysis of school NAPLAN test results published by Save Our Schools shows that the results in public schools are just as good as those in private schools. >> Read on...

Public Schools Do Just as Well as Private Schools in NAPLAN

Posted on Sunday January 18, 2015

A new research paper from Save Our Schools shows that the often-presumed superior test results of private schools compared to public schools is a myth. Public, Catholic and Independent schools with a similar socio-economic composition have very similar results in nearly all states. >> Read on...

Charter Schools’ Promise Unfulfilled

Posted on Thursday January 15, 2015

A new charter school study shows that independent public schools do not deliver on their promise of higher student achievement. >> Read on...

ABS Study Shows Big Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor in Qld

Posted on Monday January 12, 2015

Study shows a large achievement gap between high and low SES students in Queensland. >> Read on...

Low SES Students Do Better at Uni than High SES students

Posted on Tuesday January 6, 2015

A new study shows that students from low SES schools have higher grades in first year university than students from high SES schools and that public schools students achieve just as well as private school students. >> Read on...

“Markets Don’t Work in Education” Shockwave

Posted on Monday December 15, 2014

Markets in education don’t work according to a leading US research economist responsible for many studies on charter schools. >> Read on...

Parents Are Becoming More Disillusioned With NAPLAN

Posted on Friday December 12, 2014

There were record withdrawal rates from the NAPLAN tests across Australia and in most states/territories this year. It suggests that increasing numbers of parents realise that NAPLAN is not compulsory. >> Read on...

The Success of East Asian Students is Explained More by Family Attitudes Than Differences in Teaching

Posted on Wednesday December 3, 2014

A new study shows that differences in teaching between East Asian countries and Australia are not a critical factor in the differences in student results. Instead, it shows that differences in family attitudes to education are the key factor. >> Read on...

Closing Small Schools May be Ineffective and Inefficient

Posted on Monday November 24, 2014

An OECD review of studies of school size shows that small schools may provide better school outcomes for students, especially at the primary school level and for lower socio-economic status students, and that closing small schools is not as cost-effective as often assumed. >> Read on...

More Funding for Low Achieving Students Improves School Outcomes

Posted on Monday November 17, 2014

A new academic study shows that additional funding for low achieving students significantly increases schooling outcomes. It provides additional support for the full implementation of the Gonski funding plan. >> Read on...

Education Policy is Based on Myths According to Leading Academic

Posted on Tuesday November 4, 2014

A leading education academic says that education policy in Australia is based on myths. >> Read on...

UN Report Condemns Privatisation of Education

Posted on Friday October 31, 2014

A report to the UN General Assembly warns that the rapid expansion of private education is increasingly replacing public education and exacerbating inequalities in societies. >> Read on...

Education Chief Says Market-Based Policies are Ineffective

Posted on Thursday October 30, 2014

The head of Australia’s leading education research body, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), has questioned the effectiveness of teacher and school incentives as a school improvement strategy. >> Read on...

Private Schools Are No Better Than Public Schools

Posted on Saturday October 25, 2014

A new academic study shows that private schools are no better than public schools after taking account of the socio-economic background of students and schools. This is the fourth study in the last year to show no difference between public and private schools. >> Read on...

OECD Says Australia is ‘Low Equity’ in Educational Resources

Posted on Tuesday October 21, 2014

A new PISA in Focus published by the OECD shows that the gap in educational resources between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia is the fifth largest in the OECD and one of the largest of all the 65 countries participating in PISA. >> Read on...

SOS Supplementary Submission on Low SES Funding Loadings

Posted on Sunday October 19, 2014

A supplementary submission by Save Our Schools to the Federal Government’s review of the low SES funding loadings says that the proposal by Independent Schools Victoria to remove the additional loadings for schools with greater concentrations of low SES students should be rejected. >> Read on...

Media Release: Call to Keep Funding Loadings for Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Friday October 17, 2014

A proposal by Independent Schools Victoria to remove additional funding for highly disadvantaged schools is hypocritical, disingenuous and indefensible. It ignores a corpus of research evidence that supports more funding for disadvantaged schools. >> Read on...

Money Matters, Spend it Right

Posted on Wednesday October 15, 2014

Research shows that increased funding definitely improves student outcomes, especially for disadvantaged students. Claims by the Federal Minister for Education regarding large increases in funding over the past decade are incorrect. >> Read on...

Gonski Funding Will Future Proof Access to Quality Education

Posted on Sunday October 12, 2014

Gonski funding will provide significant learning opportunities for students most in need. >> Read on...

Claimed Advantage for Disadvantaged Students in Charter Schools is Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on Thursday October 9, 2014

The evidence for Jennifer Buckingham’s claim that the expansion of Independent Public Schools will benefit students who have the most to gain does not stack up. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Results Provide Little Joy and Much Concern

Posted on Tuesday October 7, 2014

The preliminary NAPLAN results for 2014 show that reading and numeracy have stagnated across Year levels while writing has continued to decline. >> Read on...

Media Release:Uninvited Submission Calls for Gonski Plus Funding Loadings for Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Thursday October 2, 2014

An uninvited submission from Save Our Schools to the Federal Government’s selective consultation on the Gonski funding loadings for disadvantaged students has called for the loadings to be increased. >> Read on...

The Case for Gonski Plus Funding Loadings for Low SES Students

Posted on Wednesday October 1, 2014

An education research brief from SOS shows that the current Federal Government funding loadings for low SES students are far too low to be effective. >> Read on...

Worth a Read: Week Ending 28 September

Posted on Sunday September 28, 2014

Some articles from last week worth reading. >> Read on...

Victorian Report on School Autonomy is Intellectually Bankrupt

Posted on Wednesday September 24, 2014

The Victorian Competition and Efficiency report on school autonomy says that research studies show that the effect of school autonomy on school results is inconclusive. However, the Commission rejects is own finding and recommends increasing school autonomy. >> Read on...