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

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

3. Where we were: pre-election

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

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

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. 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

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

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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?

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

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

17. Australia needs an adaptive education system

18. 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

19. However the Commonwealth role should be limited1
Does idea have strong evidence? 2
Can Government make it happen? 3
Will Commonwealth intervention help or hurt?

20. 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

21. Questions?