On Tuesday, NSW became the latest state to sign up to the Federal Government’s school funding deal, clinching $4.8bn in additional funding.
With Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory already signed up, Queensland remains the holdout state, due to its ongoing concerns over funding allocations.
The agreement between the Albanese Government and the NSW Premier Chris Minns raises the Federal Government’s share of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) from 20% to 25%, ensuring public schools reach full SRS funding with state contributions. It also eliminates past “accounting loopholes” that let states inflate their contributions, with NSW committing to direct real funding into classrooms.
However, some say that to truly improve education, policymakers must go beyond funding increases and reform the school system itself.
“More money for schools and children in education will never be a negative, and yes, research shows that funding can improve outcomes; and yet there are some strong caveats to this announcement, which is less game changing and more just a slight evening of the playing field,” Dr David Roy, a senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle’s School of Education told The Educator.
“The game remains the same and the radical change education needs is less likely to be forthcoming.”
Dr Roy said there are some concerns with the “political rhetoric and spin” that has been shared in recent media around school funding.
“With multiple funding agreements between the different States and Territories, the Federal Government is still hiding the details contained within them,” he said. “General statements have been made, such as investing in evidence-based teaching and catch-up tutoring. Such terms are misnomers and somewhat deceptive.”
Dr Roy questions whose evidence, and which “selective pieces” of that evidence will be chosen.
“We currently have a focus on phonics and explicit teaching which, in itself, is not a bad thing, unless you ignore other evidence, such as the need for context in language development, or the role of embodied practice in learning,” he said.
“Teaching is complex, and narrowing the methods to limited forms will damage children and the nation.”
‘Funding more of what is not working is a great concern’
Dr Roy questions why education policies prioritise traditional subjects while disregarding extensive research on the benefits of language learning and the arts.
“If the evidence base is the focus and best practice, then why is the importance of second language learning ignored, or the decades of research that teaching in the creative arts has exponential benefits for all areas of education development for children?” Dr Roy said.
“There is an ongoing focus on numeracy and reading and writing, but student progression is not improving significantly. Funding more of what is not working is a great concern.”
Dr Roy said there is “clear evidence” that having multiple teachers in a week does not support learning, nor does an overemphasis on final exams like the HSC or measures such as ATAR and NAPLAN, which are not necessarily based on best evidence.
“It seems ‘best practice’ is quite selective. This is ironic given the research questioning the benefits and revealing the harm connected to selective schools,” he said. “Individual tutoring to support learners might be positive, so long as it is offered equitably beyond the major urban areas, and that regional, rural, and remotes students have the same opportunities.”
Dr Roy said too often those sections of the community have been left behind in the so-called “raising achievement and equity” push.
“Will children with a disability, First Nations children, or other marginalised and vulnerable groups be better supported? There is a lack of detail being offered,” he said.
“Funding will be used to increase the teaching workforce, but with no real detail and explanation. Will initial teaching qualifications be made free to encourage more adults to join the teaching profession?”
Funding deal too little, too late for today’s students
Dr Roy also challenges whether educators will be respected as experts in their field or continue to face restrictive teaching mandates that undermine their professionalism.
“Will the teaching profession be treated as the experts which they are; or will there continue to be imposed ‘scripts’ on how to teach that disenfranchise and demoralise our most engaging staff?” he said.
“Most disappointingly, the funding will take 10 years to implement, thus most children who are currently in school will have left by the time the funding model is fully implemented. Long term implementation models don’t work for children who grow up fast.”
However, Dr Roy acknowledged that the new funding model is supported across the major parties which “at least is a positive.”
“Funding increase should be celebrated, but I think it will just perpetuate practices and systems that are selective in the evidence they use, and the manner education is delivered Independent private schools may on average have more funding…but they also have the freedom to offer alternative schooling methods for the 21st century,” he said.
“If we want to really change the flatlining of education success, we need to not just increase the funding – we need to change the archaic system of schooling.”