Labor's Your Child. Our Future represents the most significant improvement in schools education in Australia for two generations.
Improving education is the key to opportunity, to innovation and to the future economic and social prosperity of our nation. No matter what their background, no matter where they live - city, suburb or in the regions - no matter what type of school they go to - Government, Catholic or Independent, Labor wants every child to have the same chance of succeeding at school, and in life, as any other child in the country.
As part of Your Child. Our Future, the Gonski funding and reforms will be delivered on-time and in-full - and the Turnbull Government's cuts will be reversed. This $37.3 billion investment will see every child in every school funded on the basis of need.
This funding is not a blank cheque - it comes with strict obligations and benchmarks on systems, schools and teachers, so that parents can track improvements in their children's learning. Labor is putting education at the centre of our positive program for government.
Every school. Every child.
Labor's plan will see every student get a better education, in every school around Australia. By funding students on the basis of need, this investment will flow to Government schools, Catholic schools and Independent schools. This historic investment will allow every school to provide every child with more individual attention, better trained teachers, and better support for students with a disability.
Funding arrangements will be transparent and accountable. States will be required to uphold their obligations under existing agreements and ensure that federal investment delivers evidence-based programs in classrooms, and is not used to prop up state budgets.
To drive this reform, Labor has set clear targets in school education, including:
- 95 per cent Year 12 completion
- All STEM teachers in secondary schools will have a relevant tertiary qualification
- Digital technologies and computer science - coding - is taught in every primary and secondary Australian school
- All students will study maths or science to Year 12
- Returning Australia to the top five countries in reading, maths and science
- Meeting the OECD definition of a high quality and high equity schooling system
- Every Australian student encouraged to undertake a continuous course of study in an Asian language or culture throughout their years of schooling
Australian schooling has fallen behind internationally. According to OECD data, in the year 2000 only one country outperformed Australia in reading and maths, and in 2006 only two countries outperformed Australia in science. Today, 16 countries outperform Australia in maths; 9 countries in reading and 7 in science. These reforms bring Australia back to the front of the pack, and provide a platform for schooling to tackle all the challenges of the future economy.
The quality of schooling in a country is a powerful predictor of the wealth that countries will produce in the long run.OECD, Universal basic skills: what countries stand to gain, 2015
The reforms
Your Child. Our Future will put needs-based funding permanently at the heart of our school system - so every student in every school will get the support they need to achieve their best. Where they are being properly delivered, needs-based school reforms are already making a big difference in our classrooms - improving results and changing lives. They are simply too important to abandon. To deliver an education system that provides students with the skills they need for the jobs of the future, Labor will:
- Implement the Gonski agreements on time and in full and reverse Malcolm Turnbull's cuts
- Provide long-term funding certainty so schools, principals and teachers can focus on improving outcomes for their students
- Enforce transparency and accountability measures so federal investment actually reaches classrooms and drives evidence-based improvements in teaching and learning
Focus on every child's needs
Labor's approach to schools is simple: every child should get a great education. Labor's positive plan for schools will make sure every child gets more attention, more tailored support, and more one-on-one time. All students will benefit - especially those with the most to gain, with needs-based loadings for:
- Students with a low socio-economic background
- Indigenous students
- Students with disability
- Students with limited English
- Small schools
- Rural, regional and remote schools
More individual attention
Your Child. Our Future will ensure all students are supported to improve their literacy and numeracy skills and reach their full potential. Labor's plan will deliver more one-on-one support and attention for every student, early intervention programs in every school, remedial literacy and numeracy support, extension classes to challenge students who are excelling, access to specialist allied health support like speech and occupational therapists, and a focus on evidence-based teaching and learning so our schools do more of what works, and less of what doesn't.
More than one in five Australian children aren't reaching key milestones when they start school, and too many of these students stay behind. Evidence shows that with the right early intervention, these students catch up. Your Child. Our Future will make sure early intervention programs are in place in every school, so that no student is left behind.
Targeted teaching and data analysis is improving outcomes for Australian students
In 2015 the Grattan Institute showed how targeted teaching and the use of data was being used to improve student learning in Australian schools. Using adaptive and diagnostic testing, teachers have been able to pinpoint student progress and target their teaching to what each individual student needs to learn next. One of the trial schools in a disadvantaged area was on track to improve the proportion of early primary students meeting learning benchmarks by 20 percentage points.
Better trained teachers and better quality teaching
If we want our school system to be among the best in the world, we need to make sure we attract excellent candidates to the teaching profession and equip them with the skills they need to make a difference in the lives of students. A Labor Government will work with universities, school systems, teachers and principals to improve the quality of teaching and learning by enhancing entry requirements for teaching degrees, improving initial teacher education, and ensuring better ongoing professional development.
75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations today require skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Yet today in Australia, about 40 per cent of teachers teaching science and maths in years 7 to 10 do not have a STEM tertiary qualification. A Shorten Labor Government will make sure that by 2020, all secondary STEM teachers are tertiary qualified in their discipline; establish a STEM teacher training fund to support 25,000 primary and secondary school teachers over five years; and encourage STEM graduates to teach by offering 25,000 Teach STEM scholarships over five years.
Support for students with disability
The most important factor in making sure students with disability get the support they need at school is fully implementing needs-based funding in our schools. In 2013, Labor established the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) to determine the level of adjustment and support required. That is why Labor will provide $320 million from 2017 in additional funding - more than reversing the Turnbull Government's cuts to the More Support for Students with Disabilities program.
Too many students with disability missing out
Students with disability are too often missing out on opportunities to learn that are taken for granted by other students. According to a recent survey of parents, one in five students with disability does not attend school full time, and one in four has been denied school enrolment. 26 per cent of people with a disability do not go beyond Year 10, compared to 18 per cent of people without a disability.
Better targeted resources for schools
Labor is making this significant investment to ensure that every student in every school has a great education - and that starts with making sure every teacher and principal has the resources they need. Your Child. Our Future will mean more resources flow into all classrooms, so schools can deliver improved programs that respond to individual student need. Schools will have the flexibility to invest in resources such as in-classroom technology to support learning; music, sport and drama programs; access to specialist allied health support; more subject choices; and more extra-curricular activities.
Accountability and transparency
Federal investment in schools should reach our classrooms. This funding is for students, not to prop up state budgets. Federal Labor expects that States and Territories will honour their funding obligations in accordance with existing agreements. Labor will work with states, territories and school systems to ensure that our investment is being used to improve results at a local level and that this is being transparently communicated to parents.
The choice is clear - Malcolm Turnbull's cuts to schools
The Liberals promised a "unity ticket" on school funding. Instead, they ripped billions out of Australia's schools and dumped the Gonski reforms. The 2015-16 MYEFO - the first budget update under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison - confirmed billions of dollars in cuts to Government, Catholic and Independent schools. Malcolm Turnbull's cuts mean an average cut of $3.2 million per school - the same as sacking one in seven teachers - less individual support, fewer subject choices, less support for students with disability, literacy and numeracy programs cut, and less training and support for teachers.
Fees will increase, schools could close and the quality of education will be compromised.National Catholic Education Commission, 6 February 2015
The need for reform
In Government, Labor recognised the urgent national importance of excellent and equitable schools and commissioned the biggest review of our school funding system in 40 years - the independent Review of Funding for Schooling. The review involved more than 70 education groups, 39 school visits in every state and territory, and more than 7,000 submissions. The reviewers found that "Australia lacks a logical, consistent and publicly transparent approach to funding schools" and recommended the implementation of a needs-based, sector-blind system.
Australia will only slip further behind unless, as a nation, we act and act now.Final Report: Review of Funding for Schooling, 2011 (p.212)
Financial implications
Labor is committing to fund a permanent and ongoing shift to needs-based funding in our schools because every child in every school should be equipped with the basic skills to secure the jobs of the future. The independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed the impact of funding years five and six at $4.5 billion. To ensure these reforms are permanent and ongoing, Labor has provisioned $37.3 billion for the package over the decade from 2015-16 to 2025-26 (inclusive of Labor's commitment to fund years five and six).
| Measure ($m) | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School Reform Funding | 0.0 | 0.0 | -552.0 | -2,171.0 | -2,723.0 |
| Disability interim funding | -53.3 | -106.7 | -106.7 | -266.7 | |
| Children with a Disability Australia | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.3 | ||
| Total funding | -53.3 | -658.8 | -2,277.8 | -2,990.0 |
This funding will be offset, over the forward estimates and the medium-term, by existing improvements to the Budget proposed by Labor including making multinational companies pay their fair share of tax, reducing superannuation tax concessions for millionaires, increasing the changes to tobacco excise, ceasing the Emissions Reduction Fund, and not proceeding with the Liberals' new Baby Bonus.
The Gonski reforms represented a structural shift in the way our schools are funded. The first six-year agreements are being honoured by Labor with this announcement.