NewsBite

School funding

This Month

Too many high-fee private schools are failing to deliver adequate academic results for their students.

‘Cruiser schools’ and why parents might not be getting what they pay for

Australia has one of the most privatised school systems in the world, but national data suggests not all students are benefiting from their costly educations.

  • Julie Hare

September

Students sit an exam at Sydney’s Northern Beaches Secondary College.

The suburbs where nearly every child goes to a private school

In some suburbs, parents don’t ask whether to go public or private; it’s more a question of which private school to send their kids to.

  • Julie Hare

August

Education Minister Jason Clare on stage with Julie Hare on Tuesday.

Labor’s ‘populist’ student caps will break funding model: unis

Education Minister Jason Clare sought to allay worries over caps on international students, but his proposal was labelled “scandalous” by one vice chancellor.

  • Updated
  • Ronald Mizen
The AFR Higher Education Summit in Sydney on Tuesday.

‘Face it, not every research project deserves funding’, unis told

Productivity Commission chairman Michael Brennan says vice chancellors need to be more realistic in the claims they make to policymakers. 

  • Ronald Mizen
In the results for 2024 this week, one in three students failed to meet the basic benchmarks for literacy and numeracy.

NAPLAN puts schools in remedial class

The hopes that the $319b Gonski funding revolution would turn around the worst-performing students are turning into one of the great public policy debacles.

  • The AFR View
Advertisement
Girls outperform boys in every NAPLAN domain except numeracy.

Boys’ results plummet early in high school

After 10 years of compulsory schooling, about two in five boys are struggling to read and write at a high level. This is a big problem for the nation.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
Too many teachers are having to improvise their classroom materials.

Three ways to end NAPLAN mediocrity in our schools

Governments must lift proficiency levels, boost the quality of classroom curriculums and identify as soon as possible those students who are falling behind.

  • Jordana Hunter and Nick Parkinson
Education Minister Jason Clare on Tuesday.

Minister on a mission needs a break from the states

The latest NAPLAN results are bad news for too many school students. Jason Clare is determined to change that, but will he succeed where so many others failed?

  • Jennifer Hewett
This year’s NAPLAN results make dismal reading as one in three students fail to reach national achievement benchmarks.

One in three pupils fails to meet baseline literacy, numeracy

The latest NAPLAN results also reveal a stubborn gap between test results of rich and poor children, highlighting the failure of schools to overcome disadvantage.

  • Julie Hare

May

Hampton Primary council president Mark Alexander says any funding delays will limit what upgrades the school can achieve as it waits on an election promise made by Labor in October 2022.

Schools sweat on election funding promises as Victorian debt rises

Melbourne’s Hampton Primary School fears the Victorian government won’t follow through on a promise made on eve of the 2022 election.

  • Gus McCubbing

March

Too many children are treading water in schools that struggle to improve academic performance.

How ‘families’ of schools could spread educational success

Instead of hoping “superhero” principals can lift schools that fall short, a network bound together through a united executive team can increase the odds of improvement.

  • Jordana Hunter
Amanda Bell

Clare threatens to take funding away from Cranbrook

Education Minister Jason Clare has threatened to withdraw federal funding from Cranbrook School if an investigation finds “evidence of a pattern of immoral or unethical behaviour”.

  • Julie Hare
Well-heeled schools have much better access to resources, but ChatGPT could help level the playing field for poorer schools if used properly, experts say.

Private school parents save the education system $4.6b a year: study

A new analysis calculates that governments spend $4.6 billion less each year than they would if all students were enrolled in public schools.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
Catholic provided schools have suffered from an element of sectarianism.

No class envy in the classroom

The panic over government-school enrolment rates should not undermine Australia’s successful mixed model of school funding.

  • Dallas McInerney

February

The attendance problem is slipping through the cracks as demand for more resources dominates the education debate.

Don’t blame the COVID pandemic for truant kids

Social trends, parents and governments are all at fault for rising rates of student absenteeism that threaten to become permanent.

  • Glenn Fahey
Advertisement
Less that 80 per cent of students finish year 12.

The rate of teens finishing year 12 is falling

The federal government is increasingly picking up the bill for schools as states and territories fail to meet funding agreements.

  • Julie Hare

January

Just 1.3 per cent of public schools receive their full funding entitlement, compared to 100 per cent of independent schools.

Underfunding of public schools fuels achievement gap, analysis shows

Funding gaps are fuelling unacceptable achievement gaps between rich and poor, private and public, city and country, the Australian Education Union says.

  • Julie Hare

December 2023

Australian students experiencing disadvantage are, on average, about five years of schooling behind their more advantaged peers.

A chance to fix the inequity chasm in Australian schools

A report handed to education ministers last week has outlined a plan for real change after decades of reforms that have failed to bite.

  • Doug Taylor
There’s a growing gap in outcomes between children sent to private and public schools.

Clare to states on school funding: ‘There are no blank cheques’

The federal government is seeking to link reforms designed to improve the educational outcomes of children in return for increased funding.

  • Julie Hare
Addressing inequality in the education system is underpinning a new funding agreement.

Every child, better outcomes, every year: schools plan goes to states

Labor’s key targets including attendance and annual learning gain will form the basis of negotiations around a new national school funding agreement.

  • Julie Hare

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/school-funding-61m