All Australian kids deserve a quality education, regardless of who they are and where they live. But there has been a growing divide between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia, with students most in need missing out on essential resources because of an unfair and outdated funding system.
The Gonski Review has changed all that with its practical, common-sense recommendations that ensures a fairer and more needs-based approach.
Under the Gonski plan, all schools are funded according to the individual needs of their students and what is required to educate them to a high level. In other words, government funding is prioritised to our lowest-performing students, which goes a long way towards closing that divide and providing all students with the same educational opportunities right across the board.
Gonski success stories
So is it working? Yes, is the short answer. Where the funding is being delivered, schools are reporting that it’s making a real difference in the lives of students. Below are just two of many examples of positive change the Gonski reforms are making to schools around the country.
Bennett Road Public School, Western Sydney
Bennett Road Public School has used Gonski funding to improve the literacy skills of its youngest students – setting them up to succeed academically for the rest of their school years.
The school has benefited from an Instructional Leader funded by the NSW Government in 2013, but principal Matt Plummer says it is the arrival of Gonski funding in 2014 that has allowed the school to deliver real improvements to literacy. The school has:
- Employed a new staff member who works with teachers to help them design programs for classes and lift the quality of their teaching for Kindergarten through to Year 2.
- Used its Gonski funding to buy $80,000 worth of new books so each classroom has its own library and students can see books as a natural part of their day.
- Increased the use of Reading Recovery to allow an increased number of students to have access to daily one-to-one reading and writing instruction from a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher.
- The school has also employed a speech therapist who sees between 20-25 students each fortnight. It also employs two School Learning Support Officers to provide follow up speech lessons daily for these students.
- It has also reduced class sizes for Years 1 and 5.
Student performance has already lifted as a result of these programs, something which is reflected in the schools 2015 NAPLAN results. The NAPLAN results for Year 3s showed marked improvement in all aspects of literacy, with writing lifting 60 points and moving close to the NSW State average.
The school now wants to use the full six years of Gonski funding to expand what it is doing and ensure all students can get the support they need. Principal Mr Plummer said that Bennett Road’s improvement has shown that Gonski works for them, and for schools in similar circumstances.
Caboolture East State School, QLD
Caboolture East State School, north of Brisbane, has used Gonski funding to lift the performance of students and turn itself into a high-achieving school which will be crucial for ensuring their students’ future success in the workforce.
Principal Julieanne Wilson says Gonski has given the school the resources it needs to refine its teaching culture and to give its 700 students the support to overcome barriers to learning.
- Staff at Caboolture have been able to use its extra resources to focus on four areas: Reading, Numeracy, Writing and “Upper Two Bands”, which focuses on its Gifted Students in the top bands of NAPLAN achievement.
- The school has developed reading, writing and maths programs to ensure consistency in practice across the school, and Gonski funding has also allowed investment in improving teaching practice.
- The school is also now able to run programs in conjunction with local universities and TAFEs to show students the opportunities they have after they leave school.
The vast majority of NAPLAN data also shows that Caboolture East is consistently improving and the school has seen jumps in NAPLAN data that correlate directly with its focus areas.
Mrs Wilson says that the school wants to use the full six years of Gonski to enhance the STEM (Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering) teaching expertise because these are subjects which will be crucial for their students’ future success in the workforce.
Help keep Gonski delivering
If you believe in supporting the the reforms that are helping students like those in our story, you can register your support here.
