Independent Public School program to stay … for now

QUEENSLAND’S Independent Public School program will remain in place until “at least” the end of 2020. But it might be in for some changes and other school wanting to sign up to it shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Queensland Minister for Education Grace Grace. Picture: AAP/Darren England

INDEPENDENT Public Schools will continue in Queensland, with a long-awaited review of the controversial schooling model confirming principals and parents support state schools being given more autonomy.

Education Minister Grace Grace this morning confirmed the Independent Public School model, established in 2013 by the Newman government, would continue for “at least this term of government”.

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But Ms Grace made no commitment to maintain Independent Public Schools, which have been heavily criticised by the powerful Queensland Teachers’ Union, beyond the next election.

“The Federal Government’s funding ceased in 2017 but the Palaszczuk Government has maintained it,” Ms Grace said.

“We will continue to provide funding for at least this term of Government, but we want the Federal Government to step up and pay their fair share, too,” she said.

Ms Grace released the review of the program — currently in place in 250 Queensland schools — today. No further schools will be able to sign up to the program, however, with Ms Grace saying the Government had met its quota.

The Independent Public School initiative was designed to give state schools more say over local staffing decisions, and greater engagement with their school communities through the creation of school councils.

Currently, Independent Public Schools are among the best performing schools in the state in NAPLAN testing, and include Brisbane State High School, Ashgrove State School, Rainworth State School, and Indooroopilly State High School.

The audit report into the IPS model found the principals at Queensland’s 250 Independent Public Schools did not want to relinquish the autonomy and flexibility they received.

“IPS principals and their communities are highly supportive of the initiative and reported a strong sense of empowerment through increased autonomy, greater engagement with their school communities, the ability to make local decisions, and the flexibility afforded for management of human resources enabling them to choose their own staff,” the report said.

But concerns were raised during the evaluation that the IPS model was creating a two-tiered education model, and non-IPS principals should be given similar opportunities to have more discretion over staffing decisions and greater access to professional development.

Ms Grace has announced she will set up a steering committee to address seven recommendations contained within the review.

The committee will also consider how to expand elements of the program to non-independent schools.

Rather than scrapping the program, Ms Grace has committed to funding it for the rest of this term of Government “at least” but called on the Commonwealth to reinstate its funding share.

“Students in an IPS school today will continue to be in an IPS school tomorrow and for the rest of this term of Government,” Ms Grace said.

“We will continue to provide funding for at least this term of Government but we want the Federal Government to step up and pay their fair share too.”

Ms Grace said the steering committee would be led by her director-general and would report back to Government by the end of the year.

The review recommended the autonomy and flexibility granted to principals of independent public schools be rolled out to all state schools. But it also recommended changes to the teacher transfer system.

“We want to make sure all stakeholders are consulted about how any benefits of the IPS program will roll out across our network of schools,” Ms Grace said.

The review comes after the Government was slammed for bowing down to unions during its Budget Estimates Hearing after the Queensland Teacher’s Union called for the Government to axe the program.

Ms Grace said earlier this month there was “nothing to hide”, with the “great” report including seven recommendations on how IPS should progress.