True to his word, federal education minister Simon Birmingham has not funded the full ‘Gonski’ school funding package beyond the first four years of the six-year model. Nobody paying attention to what the government has been saying about education funding over the past year could have been surprised at that announcement. The budget contains an additional $1.2 billion allocated over the budget forward estimates.
Nonetheless, the federal schools budget is a large sum of money. By 2020, it will amount to over $20 billion a year. The government has set down a wide-ranging set of policies that are ostensibly conditions of funding being delivered to systems and schools. It is not clear to what extent these conditions can be enforced, given that the funding increases are the minimum amount legislated; some might be sacrificed in the pursuit of achieving the highest priorities.
The reforms proposed by the government have a strong focus on improvements in literacy and numeracy, driven by the introduction of new assessments at the beginning and end of school, and the creation of incentive structures for quality teaching — such as shifting teacher pay away from seniority-based pay scales to salary structures based on quality standards.
One of the new assessments proposed is a phonics test, an idea that has been promoted by the CIS FIVE from FIVE reading project. If it is based on the phonics screening check in English schools, it would be a short, oral test of children in Year 1 that would show whether children are able to decode simple words. If they cannot, either their school needs to revise their early reading instruction programs, or the child needs more specialist support, or both. This assessment aims to reduce the number of children whose reading problems are unaddressed until they take the NAPLAN test in Year 3.
While the government and the opposition diverge on the question of funding for schools, there is no reason there cannot be bi-partisan commitment to the good reforms contained in the budget policy document, some of which are relatively inexpensive — including the phonics check.
Dr Jennifer Buckingham is senior research fellow and director of the FIVE from FIVE literacy project at The Centre for Independent Studies www.cis.org.au
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Education: doubt about enforcing measures
Education: doubt about enforcing measures
Nonetheless, the federal schools budget is a large sum of money. By 2020, it will amount to over $20 billion a year. The government has set down a wide-ranging set of policies that are ostensibly conditions of funding being delivered to systems and schools. It is not clear to what extent these conditions can be enforced, given that the funding increases are the minimum amount legislated; some might be sacrificed in the pursuit of achieving the highest priorities.
The reforms proposed by the government have a strong focus on improvements in literacy and numeracy, driven by the introduction of new assessments at the beginning and end of school, and the creation of incentive structures for quality teaching — such as shifting teacher pay away from seniority-based pay scales to salary structures based on quality standards.
One of the new assessments proposed is a phonics test, an idea that has been promoted by the CIS FIVE from FIVE reading project. If it is based on the phonics screening check in English schools, it would be a short, oral test of children in Year 1 that would show whether children are able to decode simple words. If they cannot, either their school needs to revise their early reading instruction programs, or the child needs more specialist support, or both. This assessment aims to reduce the number of children whose reading problems are unaddressed until they take the NAPLAN test in Year 3.
While the government and the opposition diverge on the question of funding for schools, there is no reason there cannot be bi-partisan commitment to the good reforms contained in the budget policy document, some of which are relatively inexpensive — including the phonics check.
Dr Jennifer Buckingham is senior research fellow and director of the FIVE from FIVE literacy project at The Centre for Independent Studies www.cis.org.au
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