The way forward on school funding Presentation to ACSSO Roundtable 11 November 2017 Peter Goss School Education Program Director @peter_goss

Contents Where we were The Gonski 2.0 traverse The journey ahead How to spend the money well

Where we were: pre-election

The fundamental problem: in principle agreement on the goal, but no way to get there

Contents Where we were The Gonski 2.0 traverse The journey ahead How to spend the money well

Comparing the options ✘ ✓ ✓✓ +/- ✘✘ Education Act NERA Compact Gonski 2.0 All schools reach 95% ✘ ✓ Consistent across sectors Affordable to Cth ✓✓ Affordable to States +/- Beneficial to States Consistent across states ✘✘ Indexed in line with costs Removes systemic deals Overfunded schools lose $ Transparent funding allocations Investment in teachers

Six steps forward National commitment to needs-based funding, concept of SRS locked in Over-funded schools can lose a dollar Realistic plan to bring all schools to at least 95% of SRS Commonwealth funding consistency across states National Schools Resourcing Board Review of SES score

One huge missed opportunity Reducing indexation earlier would have Funded the quicker transition Made Gonski 2.0 more affordable for states

Three steps back Makes next federal election a bit of a wildcard Response of ALP and AEU Anger generated with states and territories Anger generated within (parts of) Catholic sector

Contents Where we were The Gonski 2.0 traverse The journey ahead How to spend the money well

Changes need to cascade through the system Commonwealth government State governments Systemic schools Individual schools

The Commonwealth will be busy National Schools Resourcing Body Appointments ✓ Resourcing support Authorising environment / terms of reference Review of SES formula Disability funding Agreements with states National reform agreement Bilateral implementation agreements Cost baseline (needed because of 95% clawback mechanism) Gonski 2.0 Review Additional requirements for states? No mood for compromise

States have some serious challenges Rebalancing funding across sectors Finding extra $ for state schools Especially Vic, NSW, QLD Allocating funding within government schools NSRB will require greater transparency

Systemic (esp. Catholic) schools have to adjust Rebalance and justify internal funding allocations NSRB will require greater transparency Manage fee impacts School closures Beware the narrative: school fees or rational parental choice?

Finally, we need to “Do a Gonski” in each school

Contents Where we were The Gonski 2.0 traverse The journey ahead How to spend the money well

Australia needs an adaptive education system

Key reforms to lift education outcomes Focus more on student progress (growth) Put more ‘small data’ on student progress into the hands of teachers Make better use of ‘big data’ for policy-making Improve teaching effectiveness Prioritise teacher time toward high-impact tasks Strengthen the use of assessment data Make collaborative learning more effective Improve feedback and appraisal Strengthen student engagement Invest in top (specialist) teachers to spread best practice Revamp school leadership pathways Strengthen the evidence base and data flows Improve top level evidence base Build capability to translate evidence into practice Better understand what practices are currently happening in schools

However the Commonwealth role should be limited 1 Does idea have strong evidence? 2 Can Government make it happen? 3 Will Commonwealth intervention help or hurt?

Four new things the Commonwealth should do First, deliver on existing federal responsibilities Then: Co-ordinate new investments in how to measure ‘new’ capabilities in the classroom Develop better national measures of learning progress Invest in new digital assessment tools (for use in the classroom) Create a new national evidence body

Questions?