Fighting for Equity in Education

The struggle is long but hope is longer

Another Study Shows That Funding Matters in Education

Posted on Friday November 9, 2018

Yet another study shows that money matters in education. There is now compelling evidence from some 13 studies in the last two years showing that increased expenditure on public schools improves student achievement, especially when targeted at disadvantaged studen >> Read on...

Australia Has One of the Most Socially Segregated Schools Systems in the World

Posted on Thursday November 8, 2018

New OECD data shows that Australia has one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and in the world and that it had the equal largest increase in social segregation in the world since 20 >> Read on...

Expert Review of ACT Education System is Urgently Needed

Posted on Monday November 5, 2018

An expert public inquiry into the state of ACT education is urgently needed. We need to better understand the trends in education outcomes and inequities in outcomes in the ACT and we need to find out what are the factors behind these tren >> Read on...

Media Release: Advantaged Schools Get First Call on the Best Teachers

Posted on Tuesday October 23, 2018

A research paper published today by Save Our Schools shows that Australia allocates more and better teacher resources to socio-economically advantaged schools than to disadvantaged schools. SOS National Convenor, Trevor Cobbold, said there is a shocking mis-allocation of teaching resources between disadvantaged and advantaged schools in Australia that ranks alongside the worst in the OECD >> Read on...

Disadvantaged Schools Miss Out in Access to Teachers

Posted on Tuesday October 23, 2018

Government teacher policies are compounding achievement gaps between rich and poor by discriminating against disadvantaged schools in their access to teaching resources. Incredibly, Australia allocates more and better teacher resources to socio-economically advantaged schools than to disadvantaged school >> Read on...

Morrison Puts More Nails in the Coffin of Gonski

Posted on Friday October 12, 2018

The Morrison Government has put more nails in the Gonski coffin with its new special funding deal for private schools. It decided a $3.2 billion increase for Catholic schools before determining the measure of need and is providing a $1.2 billion slush fund not based on nee >> Read on...

State Govts Evade Commitments to Public Schools

Posted on Monday October 1, 2018

Labor and Coalition state governments are trying to evade commitments to increase their funding of public schools through a subterfuge. If successful, public schools, which enrol over 80% of disadvantaged students, could lose up to $2.6 billion a yea >> Read on...

Have Kids Stopped Trying on PISA and NAPLAN?

Posted on Wednesday September 12, 2018

Studies show that student motivation and effort is lower in tests such as PISA and NAPLAN where the results have fewer personal consequences for students than Year 12 assessments. Low student effort is likely to at least partially contribute to the contrast between improving Year 12 results over the last 15 years and the decline in PISA results and the stagnation in Year 9 NAPLAN result >> Read on...

New Figures Reveal that the ACT Government Has Cut Funding to Public Schools

Posted on Thursday May 31, 2018

Despite much rhetoric about its support for public schools, the ACT Government has cut funding for public schools since 2009. It even cut its funding during the Gonski funding period, after agreeing to increase i >> Read on...

New Figures Show States Have Cut Funding to Public Schools

Posted on Tuesday May 29, 2018

Total government funding per student in public schools (adjusted for inflation) was cut between 2009 and 2016 while funding for Catholic and Independent schools increased significantly. Even during the Gonski funding period of 2013-2016 funding increases for private schools far outstripped the increase for public school >> Read on...

Another Failure of Govt Oversight of Private Schools

Posted on Thursday May 10, 2018

The NSW Auditor-General has slammed the NSW Dept of Education for its failure to ensure that the Catholic and Seventh-Day Adventist school systems are accountable for the way the spend NSW Government funding. It also condemned the failure of the Dept to verify private school enrolments for funding purpose >> Read on...

Funding Increases Benefit Low Income Students

Posted on Wednesday April 11, 2018

Money matters in education for low income students. A major new study shows that legislative reforms in the United States that led to increases in funding in low income school districts led to large increases in student achieveme >> Read on...

Audit Report Identifies Factors Obstructing Effective Use of Funding in Queensland Public Schools

Posted on Wednesday April 4, 2018

Queensland Audit Office report shows that inadequate central oversight and support measures combined with heavy reliance on school autonomy has hampered effective use of funding in Queensland public schoo >> Read on...

Census Data Reveals High Social Segregation in Australian Schools

Posted on Tuesday March 27, 2018

Analysis of the 2016 Census data shows stark social segregation between public schools on the one hand and Catholic and Independent schools on the other. Students from low income families are highly concentrated in public schools while those from high income families are concentrated in Catholic and Independent schools. Social segregation in Australia’s schools has increased markedly over the past 40 year >> Read on...

Labor is a Specialist in Special Deals for Private Schools

Posted on Thursday March 22, 2018

Labor’s claim that it is merely restoring funding cut from Catholic schools by the Turnbull Government is disingenuous. In fact, it is restoring massive over-funding created by the Howard Government’s socio-economic status (SES) funding model which Labor surreptitiously folded into its Gonski funding mode >> Read on...

Funding Increases for Private Schools in Victoria Have Far Outstripped Those for Public Schools

Posted on Wednesday March 14, 2018

New figures show that the Coalition Govt in Victoria slashed funding for public schools from 2009 to 2014. There was a small increase in the first year of the Andrews Govt, but public schools in Victoria will remain significantly under-funded without a major funding effo >> Read on...

The Arms Race Between Elite Sydney Private Schools is Fuelled by Govt Over-Funding - Update

Posted on Friday March 9, 2018

New figures show that the arms race in ostentatious facilities between elite private schools in Sydney is being fuelled by more than $170 million a year in government over-funding. This includes about $50 million in over-funding beyond their entitlements under the Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding arrangement >> Read on...

The Arms Race Between Elite Sydney Private Schools is Fuelled by Govt Over-Funding

Posted on Tuesday March 6, 2018

The arms race in lavish facilities between elite private schools in Sydney is being fuelled by more than $150 million in over-funding by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments. It frees up private income from fees and donations to devote to expanding luxury facilities and denies much needed resources for disadvantaged schoo >> Read on...

New research shows what makes a difference in teaching literacy and why ‘evidence-based’ is not enough

Posted on Monday March 5, 2018

Well-intentioned efforts to improve literacy in Australia should be built upon the understanding that the work of teachers is complex. We need to change the script that blames teachers for low literacy levels by telling them how to do their job. Our observation of uncommon pedagogies is an indication of how doing a teacher’s job can’t be simplified into a set of ‘evidence-based’ method >> Read on...

More Compelling Evidence That Increased Funding Improves School Outcomes

Posted on Monday February 26, 2018

Seven new studies published in the last four months demonstrate that money matters in education, especially for disadvantaged students. Increased funding has large effects on student achievement and high school graduation rates. Numerous earlier studies have found similar effects. The problem in Australia is that past funding increases have been small and directed to school sectors with the least ne >> Read on...

NSW Public Schools Benefit Under Gonski 1.0

Posted on Wednesday February 21, 2018

Funding for public schools was boosted under the Gonski 1.0 funding plan by much more than for private schools and reversed the previous trend of funding cuts to public schools. However, public schools in NSW remain significantly under-funded while private schools are over-funde >> Read on...

Who is for teaching?

Posted on Thursday February 15, 2018

Attracting and retaining high calibre teachers requires more sophisticated strategies than quick fixes such as fast tracking ‘tradies’ into teaching. It is a simplistic solution that ignores the skills required for high quality teachi >> Read on...

Government Funding Increases Continue to Favour Private Schools

Posted on Monday February 12, 2018

New figures show that government funding increases continue to favour private schools over public schools despite the fact that public schools enrol the vast majority of disadvantaged students. The Commonwealth provided larger increases for private schools while state and territory governments continue to fail to adequately fund public schoo >> Read on...

Public School Funding in Tasmania Slashed by Labor and Liberal Governments

Posted on Saturday February 3, 2018

New school funding figures show that successive Tasmanian governments have slashed funding for public schools in recent years, while the Commonwealth has boosted funding for private schools. >> Read on...

Doubt About Reliability of Figures on Teacher Attrition in Australia

Posted on Thursday February 1, 2018

A new research paper has found there is no robust evidence to support claims that high proportions of teachers leave teaching within their first five years. It says the teacher attrition rate in Australia is unknown. >> Read on...

ACT Private Schools Have the Mother of All Special Deals

Posted on Tuesday January 30, 2018

The $58 million adjustment fund for ACT private schools is the mother of all special deals. It will increase the already massive overfunding of several highly advantaged private schools and delay, or postpone indefinitely, reductions in over-funding. >> Read on...

Caution Needed in Interpreting PISA 2015 Results

Posted on Saturday January 27, 2018

Study shows that the switch from pen-and-paper to computer tests for PISA 2015 assessments may have contributed to significant falls in results amongst higher performing countries. >> Read on...

Study Shows That Vouchers to Attend Private Schools Reduce Student Achievement

Posted on Thursday January 25, 2018

New study shows that vouchers for disadvantaged students to attend private schools result in lower test scores in maths, reading, science and social studies. >> Read on...

Reducing Education Disadvantage Will Increase Individual Well-being and Economic Prosperity

Posted on Monday January 8, 2018

Report to Federal Government shows that reducing disadvantage in education will have significant individual and economy-wide benefits. It says that school funding must be sufficient to overcome educational disadvantage associated with low socio-economic background. >> Read on...

OECD Says Targeted Support Is Essential to Improve Results for Disadvantaged Students and Schools

Posted on Wednesday January 3, 2018

A new OECD report highlights the large inequity in school results in Australia and the huge disparity in teacher shortages between advantaged and disadvantaged schools. >> Read on...

Govt. Failure to Ensure Private School Systems Distribute Funding According to Need Will Continue Under Gonski 2.0

Posted on Wednesday December 20, 2017

A recent report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has slammed the Commonwealth Government for failing to ensure its funding of private school systems is distributed according to need. Yet, this failure is likely to continue under Gonski 2.0 as it has for the past decade or more. >> Read on...

Large Achievement Gaps Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Students Continue

Posted on Tuesday December 12, 2017

NAPLAN data shows continuing large achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and those from highly educated families. The gaps have increased between students from highly and lowly educated families since 2008, but have narrowed between high education status students and Indigenous students. >> Read on...

Gonski 2.0 Is The Best Special Deal Private Schools Have Ever Had

Posted on Sunday December 10, 2017

Confidential data released by the Commonwealth Department of Education under FOI shows a massive increase in over-funding of private schools by 2027 and continuing under-funding of public schools. >> Read on...

New Study Undermines Case for a Year 1 Phonics Test

Posted on Wednesday December 6, 2017

A new study comprehensively refutes the claim that phonetics is little used in teaching reading in Australian schools. It shows that the large majority of teachers in Australian primary schools use a combination of methods in teaching reading, including phonetics. >> Read on...

Increased School Funding Increases Post-Secondary Attainment

Posted on Sunday November 26, 2017

A new academic study has found that increased expenditure on primary schools has positive long-term effects on educational attainment by increasing post-secondary participation and completion. >> Read on...

Notice to Readers

Posted on Monday October 30, 2017

SOS will return to regular posts in late November >> Read on...

Elite Melbourne Private Schools to Get Big Funding Windfalls from Turnbull Government

Posted on Monday October 9, 2017

Wealthy Melbourne schools get funding windfall from massive increases in the number of disability students that are scarcely believable. They have been accused of gaming the new system for funding disability students. >> Read on...

Does Australia need an assessment tool to measure literacy and numeracy achievement in Year 1 classrooms?

Posted on Saturday September 30, 2017

The Australian Literacy Educators’ Association has strongly criticised the new literacy and numeracy test for Year 1 students. >> Read on...

OECD Report Shows that the Allocation of Resources in Australian Schools is Highly Inequitable

Posted on Wednesday September 27, 2017

OECD report shows that students in socio-economically disadvantaged schools in Australia are less exposed than students in advantaged schools to the learning environments and educational resources that matter the most for science performance. >> Read on...

Pathetic Response by Teach for Australia to Criticisms

Posted on Monday September 11, 2017

Teach for Australia has abjectly failed to answer criticisms of the program. >> Read on...

Study Shows Beneficial Effects of Increased Expenditure on Pre-School and Schools

Posted on Tuesday September 5, 2017

Another major academic study shows that increased expenditure on disadvantaged pre-schoolers and disadvantaged schools improves school results and life outcomes. >> Read on...

Teach for Australia Fails in its Mission

Posted on Thursday August 31, 2017

An evaluation report shows that Teach for Australia is not targeting the most disadvantaged schools and that it has a very high attrition rate. Previous evaluations show that it is not cost effective. >> Read on...

Scotch College Property Buying Spree Supported by the Taxpayer

Posted on Thursday August 24, 2017

Taxpayer funding is supporting a property buying spree by Melbourne’s elite Scotch College to expand its gold-plated facilities. >> Read on...

PISA Rankings Are Misleading Because of Differences in Student Coverage

Posted on Tuesday August 22, 2017

The PISA international league table rankings are misleading because a large proportion of the 15-year-old population in many countries is not in school. There are significant differences in the proportion in school even among developed countries which influence the rankings. >> Read on...

Guiding Principles for School Reform and Classroom Practice

Posted on Tuesday August 15, 2017

Emeritus Professor of Education at Stanford University, Larry Cuban, outlines the principles that have guided his thinking and actions as a practitioner, scholar, and blogger about teaching, learning, and school reform. >> Read on...

Community Schools Are a Successful Strategy for School Improvement

Posted on Tuesday July 18, 2017

Community schools can be a successful strategy for improving schools according to a new review of research studies and program evaluations. >> Read on...

Factors Contributing to School Success by Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Thursday July 13, 2017

A new study has found that strong peer relationships, caring supportive teachers, family and community support, and strong motivations all contribute significantly to school success by disadvantaged students. >> Read on...

Inclusion Rules the Day

Posted on Monday July 3, 2017

Senator Hanson’s statements on children with autism are based on ignorance and are a breathtaking simplification. Her comments fail to distinguish between the few children for whom a special setting school is appropriate and the many for whom it would be a short cut to a diminished education.< >> Read on...