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The Gonski Report

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Reading the AFR this morning, it would seem that this is somewhat like the super changes in that it's little more than an election commitment.

Julia Gillard has given the states till June 30 to agree which is after the last sitting of Parliament before we go the polls. Any enabling legislation would therefore have to wait until the next term of government.
 
The proposed allocation of funding seems to hugely discriminate against W.A., apparently because this state has already put in the extra effort (also extra funding?) to lift standards in education.
So, whacko, they are penalised when it comes to federal funding!

With the proposed spending of this amount of money (in the unlikely event that it ever gets legislated and actually happens) I'd like to know how the federal government are going to measure the effectiveness of its 'reforms'?
 
Has the Gillard Labor government ever improved anything by throwing extra taxpayer's money at it.?:rolleyes: Standards are only ever raised by increasing efficiency. The answer is efficient teachers.
 
Calliope said:
Has the Gillard Labor government ever improved anything by throwing extra taxpayer's money at it.?:rolleyes: Standards are only ever raised by increasing efficiency. The answer is efficient teachers.
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I don't think you will have anything to worry about as I heard the Greens are going to oppose the whole deal.
 
Julia said:
The proposed allocation of funding seems to hugely discriminate against W.A., apparently because this state has already put in the extra effort (also extra funding?) to lift standards in education.
So, whacko, they are penalised when it comes to federal funding!

With the proposed spending of this amount of money (in the unlikely event that it ever gets legislated and actually happens) I'd like to know how the federal government are going to measure the effectiveness of its 'reforms'?
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Just another disgracefull decission, by disgracefull people.IMO

One plus this Labor government has achieved is, they have shown the Australian people how bad politicians can be.
 
As the states dig into the detail, they're not so sure.

The Australian understands that the federal government is seeking an initial injection of at least $580m in the first year of the new system unveiled on the weekend by Julia Gillard, of which the commonwealth will provide about two-thirds.

More than half the $14.5bn increase in funding is not forecast to flow through the school system until 2018 and 2019, which places it beyond the forward estimates period in federal and state budgets.
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But the Newman government is sceptical of the revised 65-35 per cent commonwealth-state funding split, with its own modelling showing it would have to inject an additional $2.48bn over the period -- $1.2bn more than the Gillard government is publicly demanding. The extra amount is believed to represent the amount of indexation over the six-year period.

The West Australian and Victorian governments yesterday confirmed they, like Queensland, had been offered a 50-50 deal with 4.7 per cent indexation overall and were not informed before Ms Gillard's announcement that the deal had been revised to 65-35 and an overall indexation rate of 3.6 per cent, representing an average of the different state and commonwealth rates.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...ki-funds-to-flow/story-fn59nlz9-1226622011138
 
It's not the cash handout, its what happens in the classroom that counts.

Improving teaching standards and school culture is vital

IN the interests of Australia's children, government and education authorities should take note of indigenous leader Noel Pearson's salient warning about the Gonski funding reforms.

Mr Pearson has taken a hands-on role in working to boost school attendance rates and performance on Cape York.

He told the ABC's Lateline that the story of Australian education over recent years had been one of increased investment without an increase in success. Further investment would be wasted unless it translated into more effective teaching in every classroom.

The facts and figures of Australia's educational performance support Mr Pearson's argument that the Gillard government's focus should be on driving genuine school reform rather than funding.

During the past decade, federal expenditure on schools has increased by about 85 per cent and the states have spent an extra 27 per cent -- much of it directed towards reducing class sizes.

Little, if anything, has been gained. Australia is one of just four OECD countries in which 15-year-old students went backwards on international assessments between 2000 and 2009.
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(My Bolds)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...t-all-about-cash/story-e6frg71x-1226622002244
 
Noel Pearson is correct, as usual.
There is also the irony that money is to be taken out of university funding, those institutions which are actually responsible for training the teachers!:rolleyes:
 
In Victoria

TEACHERS have won pay rises of up to 20.5 per cent over three years after the long-running industrial saga was finally resolved today.
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The pay rise has nothing to do with performance.
 
Country Lad said:
Earlier on in this thread (post #11) I gave the links where significant improvements were made by 3 schools by changing the way they were managed in a more autonomous way with good teachers being appointed at appropriate salary levels as happens in those countries outperforming us in education.

I am of the opinion that the reluctance of the Fed Government to head in this (proven here and overseas) direction is that they don't want an argument with the Teachers Unions. The unions are vehemently opposed to teachers being paid according to performance or being paid performance bonuses regardless of the fact that this occurs in any industry you can think of.

Queensland in particular now has a problem because they have looked at the success factors around Australia and other countries and has put in plans where high performing teachers are to be paid accordingly, teachers willing to undergo greater training and/or attain further uni qualifications would be compensated to do so. The teachers in that State were to be paid according to performance criteria and the unions are screaming loud and long. It appears the Teachers Union considers that mediocrity should be rewarded the same as high performance.

Now Qld is being asked to participate in a scheme where results are unproven and at the cost of uni education which will no doubt also affect the upskilling of teachers. On top of that because WA has been ahead of the game in school performance, they get very little money to undertake further improvements towards world class standards. Go figure.

Cheers
Country Lad
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There are a couple of issues here.

The research on school autonomy is pretty patchy. There are other things that make a bigger impact.

The problem is being able to assess teacher quality in and across different schools.

As Hattie has shown, there are bigger factors on student performance than the classroom teacher. You simply can't compare a teacher in suburban Melbourne with a teacher in a busted **** NT community.

In fact, the research shows that the biggest indicator of student performance, is the previous 2-3 teachers. So any measure of performance is likely to be misattributed.

You can use qualifications as a proxy for performance. But the teaching industry is pretty recalcitrant in this regard, and demand higher pay that in other industries would be impossible without further education.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that content specialisation such as in Finland is a big driver of teacher performance. In Australia, the teaching industry often shuns highly qualified teachers, and they are often sideswiped into lower paying positions than they should be able to command. It is quite bizarre.

Aside from the teacher quality and teacher effectiveness arguments, the next most impactful factor for student performance is teacher feedback.

Rather than reducing class sizes, we would be better off having larger class sizes, and more time for detailed feedback. It is simply a classroom management argument from the teachers, and driven by the fact they have some of the most lazy and obstinate workers I have come across.

Calliope said:
Has the Gillard Labor government ever improved anything by throwing extra taxpayer's money at it.?:rolleyes: Standards are only ever raised by increasing efficiency. The answer is efficient teachers.
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Efficiency. Really?
 
Really we would be better off just bringing back standard examinations, thereby showing which areas are failing.
Having standard exams at specific ages, with levels of difficulty to reflect the subjects being studied.
This gives a snapshot of the nation and the outcomes from a student/ school perspective.

Oh sorry forgot, you can't have exams anymore, it puts the kids under too much pressure.
Best just to let them slide down the accademic scale and cover up for those who are allowing it to happen.:D
 
sptrawler said:
Really we would be better off just bringing back standard examinations, thereby showing which areas are failing.
Having standard exams at specific ages, with levels of difficulty to reflect the subjects being studied.
This gives a snapshot of the nation and the outcomes from a student/ school perspective.

Oh sorry forgot, you can't have exams anymore, it puts the kids under too much pressure.
Best just to let them slide down the accademic scale and cover up for those who are allowing it to happen.:D
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That's exactly what NAPLAN is.
 
It is hilarious how Gillard is splashing all this money around, when she won't be in office to deliver.:D
 

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