SOS Australia – Page 4 – Fighting for Equity in Education

Media Release: Victoria is a Failed Eductaion State

sosaustralia / November 13, 2022November 13, 2022 / Media releases

The public education group, Save Our Schools, today called on candidates in the state election to commit to fully funding public schools. National Convenor, Trevor Cobbold, said “far from being the education state, Victoria is a failed education state”.

“It was a premature step by the Andrews Government to change Victorian car number plates to read ‘The Education State’. The latest NAPLAN school results show this to be a mistake; the number plates should say: ‘A Failed Education State.’

“Victoria is a failed education state because it has failed disadvantaged students and public schools. Funding failures are a key contributor to the education failure.

“Successive Commonwealth and Victorian governments have failed to fully fund public schools with the result that they are vastly under-funded to meet the learning needs of disadvantaged students, over 80% of whom attend public schools.

Victoria is a Failed Education State

Trevor Cobbold / November 13, 2022 / Equity in education, Funding

The following is a summary of a research paper on school outcomes and funding in Victooria.. The paper can be downloaded below.

Victoria is not the education state it claims. It is a failed education state because it has largely failed to improve results for disadvantaged students, the vast majority of whom attend public schools. Funding failures are a major factor behind the education failure.

There have been a few successes, most notably in some Indigenous outcomes, but they are few and far between. The Victorian election is an opportunity to fix the failures. The funding of public schools is a key test for candidates and parties.

Public Education – A problem for the ALP

sosaustralia / October 19, 2022 / National issues

One major problem the ALP has to face is the state of public education. The new Federal Government may be able to shift some blame on to the Coalition for the current shameful conditions. However, they are in a bind, if they seek to redress these problems they will face substantial electoral backlash, the majority of swing voters have already left the public sector. A further problem is that the geneses of these current conditions lies at the feet of the Rudd/Gillard ALP Governments.

If Australia wants to improve school outcomes, we need to define what ‘equity’ really means

sosaustralia / October 14, 2022 / Equity in education

Last week, the Productivity Commission released a major report on how to improve Australia’s school and university sectors. “Education is ripe for disruption”, deputy chair Alex Robson said.

The commission suggests longer schooldays, online classes taught by qualified teachers, and streaming students into ability groups to improve Australia’s educational performance.

But while these ideas may work well for some students, they won’t necessarily work for all.

If Australia is serious about improving its education system, we need to look at improving the whole system, for all students. This means we need a clear definition of what equity means for schools.

More Fudges by Mr. Tudge

Trevor Cobbold / September 25, 2022September 26, 2022 / Funding

The Shadow Minister for Education, Alan Tudge, has again fudged figures on school funding and school results. He is a serial offender here. He regularly resorted to fudging data while Minister for Education to denigrate Australia’s school performance. His fudges obscure the facts that school funding increases have heavily favoured private schools for the last two decades.

Millionaires Who Pay No Tax Rob the Poor

Trevor Cobbold / September 11, 2022September 11, 2022 / Funding

New figures published by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) last month dramatically show how the rich rob from the poor. They rob from the poor by paying no or minimal taxes which siphons funding from key services such as public education, health care, aged care and the NDIS. The ATO figures show that a tiny minority of very wealthy individuals feed their wealth at the expense of millions of low income families who rely on these crucial public services.

Labor Should Scrap the Stage 3 Tax Cuts for the Rich

Trevor Cobbold / August 26, 2022 / Funding

The Albanese Government should scrap the Stage 3 tax cuts for the rich. They are indefensible when public education and other critical human services face a funding crisis. New studies show that there are no trickle-down economic benefits from tax cuts for the rich. They only to boost inequality directly and indirectly.

Stop the Stage 3 Tax Cuts for the Rich

sosaustralia / August 22, 2022 / Funding, Media releases

Save Our Schools today called on the Albanese Government to ditch the Stage 3 tax cuts for the rich. SOS National Convenor, Trevor Cobbold, said the tax cuts are indefensible when public education and other services face a funding crisis. “New economic studies show that the tax cuts will only serve to boost inequality without any economic benefit”.

“The tax cuts will cost $243 billion over the next ten years according to new estimates by the Parliamentary Budget Office and over $150 million will go to the top 20% of income earners. This massive windfall for the richest people in Australis will exacerbate inequality and those most in need will be denied key services.

The Purpose of Education

sosaustralia / August 18, 2022 / National issues

I find it hard to think of a time when the management of the education of our children is in such disarray. Recent announcements by the NSW Minister for Education and I assume endorsed by her senior bureaucrats have exposed what I believe to be a level of incompetence not previously experienced by the teaching profession. The implementation of an increased level of the supervision of teachers’ and schools’ performance implies that they are not of ‘quality’ resulting in the unrealistic and inconsequential levels of accreditation, the purpose of which seems to reflect a complete distrust of the teaching profession. The latest initiative is to provide lesson plans to support the teachers, perhaps the most ill-informed and insulting policy I have seen.

New Plan to Solve Teacher Shortage Ignores Root Causes

sosaustralia / August 15, 2022 / Teachers

Last Friday, Australia’s state and federal education ministers met with emotional teachers, who spoke of working on weekends and Mothers’ Day to cope with unsustainable workloads – and how they were thinking about leaving the profession.

This was part of their first meeting hosted by the federal minister Jason Clare. The top agenda item was the teacher shortage.