Education systems need hard lesson

THE feral critics of federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne made one simple but seriously-flawed assumption when they attempted to savage him over the former Labor government's terminally damaged Gonski education reform.

In the collective view of the leftists at the ABC and Fairfax Media, the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor governments possessed some degree of competency. That's a bad place from which to make any assessment of the programs they left in place - like Gonski. Respected businessman David Gonski must rue the day he agreed to look into the education funding shambles for former prime minister Julia Gillard. In the end, it became nothing more than an ideologically-driven scheme to bribe state and territory leaders. To think it would ever break with Labor tradition and achieve success was always too much to ask for. But a few Pollyannas remain ever willing to sacrifice thoughtfulness for wishy-washy idealism, despite the evidence of such lethal failures as Labor's pink batts scheme, its tragically fatal border protection scheme, its extravagantly wasteful and inefficient national broadband rollout, its laughable carbon tax and ineffective mining tax. Media figures tripped over themselves in their rush to embrace Gonski as the latest educational panacea. But what was it ever going to achieve beyond increased funding - Labor's ever-ready toss-more-money-at-the-problem universal but always ineffectual solution? NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell should have been aware of the risks posed in getting into bed with Labor, as should his Education Minister Adrian Piccoli. They should have given more thought to the substance of Gonski rather than let themselves be dazzled by the cash Gillard was offering to entice them and other states to sign up. In education, principles as well as principals count. The key defect in what is now known as Gonski is that Labor gutted the plan of genuine forward-thinking reform and ensured that it was about nothing more than cash handouts which Labor would place on the national credit card. There is nothing wrong with that, if it's affordable. The big error lies in believing money is the sole answer to educational problems. In the past decade the education budget has increased by 40 per cent but results have declined in real terms across every subject. Australian taxpayers pay $42 billion a year for shocking results. The Abbott government has been faced with the choice of continuing to fund bad policy and fail our children or trying to help them gain from their schooling. Given that the federal government doesn't own any schools or employ any teachers, the choice seems simple. Give the states and territories some guidance on curricula, replace the hideously ideological literacy program, for instance, with the universally accepted and proven phonics method of teaching reading, improve the quality of teachers by getting more involved in teacher training within universities, permitting school principals to assume greater responsibility and enjoy greater autonomy and, crucially, actively promote the engagement of parents or grandparents in the education of their children and grandchildren. What happens in the classroom has far greater influence over a child's education than the amount of money being handed out. It is clear Pyne is relentlessly focused on teacher quality and training and understands that university students who don't understand basic principles of English, let alone science or maths, are being trained as teachers. They are the victims of failed educational fads and yet are expected to be able to teach future students. The most hysterical criticism of the Abbott government's plans for education has come from the teachers' unions, because they can see their control being diminished as principals are given greater responsibility. Hypocritically, the leftists who have always campaigned for more state schools are opposed to the creation of more state schools if they are to be given greater independence. Independent state schools introduced in Western Australia are now so successful they are luring pupils from non-government schools, which upsets teachers' unions and the left enormously. The schools are owned by the state but run by principals, with involvement from parents. Parents say the education their children receive at such schools is transformational. Pyne firmly believes he was elected to make a real contribution, not merely occupy a seat in parliament. He knew he was always going to be attacked by the educational establishment for identifying its core weakness. Labor never tried to make the necessary changes because it didn't want to create conflict with its trade union support base. While the Abbott government has not cut the education funding agreed to during the forward estimates period, it is going to insist on value for money. That's a principle which principled principals will happily agree to.