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Joint action urgently needed to lift Australia's educational performance

03 September 2012

The Smith Family today welcomed the Commonwealth Government's commitment to extra funding for schools but urged it and State and Territory governments to work expeditiously to finalise a new funding model to lift Australia's educational performance.

"Today's announcement is an important step in reforming school funding because it places the educational needs of students at its centre", said Dr Lisa O'Brien, Chief Executive Office of The Smith Family. "But The Smith Family urges the Commonwealth, in partnership with State and Territory governments and the educational sectors, to work with a sense of urgency so these important reforms can begin to be implemented and their benefits realised".

"We also can't expect schools alone to bear the burden of improving educational outcomes. Government, community organisations, business and the wider community need to work together with schools, to harness the expertise and resources required to improve young people's educational outcomes. We need to use our collective resources in ways that have been demonstrated to have the best effect and a key part of that is being responsive to young people's circumstances and needs".

"We know that all governments are facing difficult choices about how they allocate limited resources, but a well educated population is the key to Australia's economic and social wellbeing. Our educational performance has flat-lined over the last decade and significant numbers of young Australians are not achieving key educational outcomes, highlighting the need for urgent action," said Dr O'Brien.

"Lifting our educational performance is in everyone's interests given a volatile global economy, an ageing population and Australia's increasing reliance on knowledge and service based industries," said Dr O'Brien. "Given Australia's long tail of educational disadvantage, focusing funding on the children who need it most and applying that funding expeditiously, will reap major dividends for our whole community".

"Allocating additional funding to where it's most needed is the essential first step in improving educational outcomes, but it's not enough by itself. We also need to reform what happens in and out of schools, particularly those serving very disadvantaged communities and understand that enhancing teacher quality is just one part of what's required," said Dr O'Brien.

The Smith Family supports recommendations made in the Review of Funding for Schooling because it provides funding where it is needed and specifically recognises factors that impact on a child's educational outcomes.

"The Smith Family believes that we can and must do better on the educational outcomes achieved by young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Today's announcement is an important step but lifting Australia's educational performance will take a whole of community response. Achieving this goal is not only in the best interests of young Australians; it is undoubtedly in our nation's best interests," concluded Dr O'Brien.

Some key educational statistics highlighting the educational challenge facing Australia

  • There is a bigger gap between the educational achievements of students from low and high income families in Australia than there is in comparable high performing OECD countries (NOUS Group, 2011, Schooling challenges and opportunities).
  • Only 56% of students from low SES complete Year 12, compared to 75% of students from high SES (DEEWR, 2011, Review of School Funding).
  • Around a third of Indigenous Year 5 students are below the national minimum standard for reading (ACARA, 2011, National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy: National Report for 2011).
  • Around 500,000 young people are at risk of leaving school without the knowledge to participate effectively in a globalised economy (Estimate based on 2009 data from Programme for International Student Assessment).
  • Australia is only one of a small number of nations to see a fall in reading performance from 2000 to 2009 on the Programme for International Student Assessment (Thomson S et al, 2011, Challenges for Australian Education: Results from PISA 2009).