SOS Australia – Page 9 – Fighting for Equity in Education

WA Public Schools Lose Billions Under New Education Agreement

Trevor Cobbold / December 14, 2018March 30, 2019 / Funding

Public schools will lose about $6.1 billion in funding over ten years from 2018 under the new Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments published last week. It means that public schools will be under-funded by about $4.6 billion to 2027. In contrast, a special provision in the Agreement will allow private schools to continue to be over-funded. What a legacy by a Labor Government!

Devastating Critique of US Education Policies

sosaustralia / December 13, 2018February 26, 2020 / Choice and competition

Diane Ravitch has made another devastating critique of market-based education policies in the United States, many of which have been copied by the Gillard Government. Some key excerpts follow. Continue reading “Devastating Critique of US Education Policies”

Public Schools Are Swindled by Billions Under New Education Agreements

Trevor Cobbold / November 30, 2018June 2, 2019 / Funding

This article is a summary of a new Education Research Brief published by Save Our Schools. The Brief can be downloaded below.

Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled by about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. The loss to NSW public schools is about $6.1 billion over the ten years and about $1.4 billion for South Australian public schools. Public schools around the country will lose about $16.5 billion over ten years if the swindle is extended to other states, as is likely.

Australia’s Education System is Nearly the Most Unequal in the Developed World

Trevor Cobbold / November 15, 2018February 24, 2019 / Equity in education

Australia prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, but it is a myth in education.

Not only do we have one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and the world, but a report just published by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund shows that Australia’s education system is nearly the most unequal in the developed world. There is a clear link between social segregation and education performance in Australia.

Another Study Shows That Funding Matters in Education

Trevor Cobbold / November 9, 2018February 24, 2019 / Funding

Yet another study shows that money matters in education. A new study published in the latest issue of the Economics of Education Review found that increased funding for New York State school districts led to increased student test scores. It concluded:

The findings in this study show clear and compelling evidence that educational resources improve student learning…[and] builds onto a growing body of evidence that educational resources contribute to improved student outcomes. [pp. 176, 177]

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

Trevor Cobbold / November 8, 2018March 30, 2019 / Equity in education

A new OECD report shows that Australia has one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and in the world. It also shows that Australia had the equal largest increase in social segregation in the OECD and the world since 2006. Government education and funding policies are major factors behind the increase in social segregation.

Expert Review of ACT Education System is Urgently Needed

Trevor Cobbold / November 5, 2018February 24, 2019 / ACT issues

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 trends. Save Our Schools has been calling for this for the past eight years. It is backed up by a string of recent expert and official reports, the latest being a report by the Grattan Institute. Continue reading “Expert Review of ACT Education System is Urgently Needed”

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

sosaustralia / October 23, 2018December 9, 2018 / Media releases

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.

Disadvantaged Schools Miss Out in Access to Teachers

Trevor Cobbold / October 23, 2018March 30, 2019 / Equity in education

The following is a summary of a new Education Research paper published by Save Our Schools. It can be downloaded below.

The large gaps in student achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia are well known. What is less well known is that government teacher policies are compounding the gaps 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 schools.

Continue reading “Disadvantaged Schools Miss Out in Access to Teachers”

Morrison Puts More Nails in the Coffin of Gonski

Trevor Cobbold / October 12, 2018March 30, 2019 / Funding

The following is a new Education Policy Brief published by Save Our Schools. It can be downloaded below

Introduction

The Gonski funding model was systematically dismantled by the Abbott and Turnbull Governments and it was almost dead and buried by the end of Turnbull’s reign. The Morrison Government immediately put more nails in the Gonski coffin with a new special $4.6 billion funding deal for private schools that is not fully based on need.

The new special deal has two main components –an additional $3.2 billion over 10 years from 2020 to 2029 to implement a new method of assessing capacity to pay in private schools and an additional $1.2 billion over the same period to support parent choice. The large bulk of the increase will go to Catholic schools.