Public vs private: Which schools are the best resourced?
Victoria is in the middle of a student boom, with more teachers hired as our schools’ growth explodes. But is the student-to-teacher ratio at private schools that much better? SEE THE LIST
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Independent schools have been revealed as the best resourced in the state, with fewer than 11 students for every teacher.
And regional schools outclass metro campuses, with more teachers per pupil.
Lauriston Girls’ School has among the lowest ratios, with just eight girls for every educator at the Armadale campus.
Deputy principal Tim Watson said while the school’s class sizes would be slightly bigger — specialist teachers and full time support educators are included in the ratio — it was an issue with which families were engaged.
For parents, the number of students in a class was “visible — they can see it and they think it is important”.
“I think class size is interesting, it is something parents are conscious of but I think it’s given far more importance than it should.”
Data from the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority shows Victorian independent schools outrank public and Catholic campuses for teacher to student ratios, with 10.7 students a teacher.
Both state and Catholic school hired a teacher for every 13.6 and 13.5 students respectively.
But Mr Watson said research showed small class sizes had “very little impact on learning outcomes”.
“What it does show is teachers in smaller classes need to change the way they approach that, and personalise the learning,” he said.
“It allows you to offer more feedback, I think it can make discussions easier.
“But when a class gets too small, it can get hard too.”
He said there could be a balance to having fewer students so everyone was heard but not having too few that discussions waned.
Regional schools outdid city campuses for the number of teachers available. Regional kids were likely to have a teacher for every 12.9 students, while Melbourne’s ratio was 13.1.
Melbourne University Prof John Hattie, author of internationally-acclaimed research on teaching practices, said it would “surprise parents” to know how well resourced Australia’s schools were. “I think it will shock your audience,” he said.
Prof Hattie said teacher to student ratios, rather than class sizes, were a better indicator of a school’s resource level.
“Parents think class size is important — to them it’s a proxy to their child getting more attention,” he said.
BEST AND WORST-RESOURCED SCHOOLS
“But a bad teacher of a class of 25 is still a bad teacher of a class of 15.”
Victoria defies a national trend, where independent schools also have the lowest ratio of 11.7 students to a teacher, but then public schools follow with 13.8 pupils, and Catholic campuses with 14.
The state’s ratio has improved in the past decade, with more teachers hired at a time of student growth.
In 2008, there were 13.6 Victorian students for every teacher. Last year that number fell to 13.
In the same decade, the state added almost 182,000 extra students, to more than 971,000 last year. The number of teachers maintained pace with 16,000 further educators in that time, to a total of nearly 75,000 by 2018.