No ‘blank cheques’ for hard up schools, says Jason Clare

The Albanese government says it won’t write ‘blank cheques’ to fix Australia’s failing education system, after one in three students failed basic maths and literacy tests this year.

One in three Australian children can’t read to the required level.

The Albanese government says it won’t write “blank cheques’’ to fix Australia’s failing education system, after one in three students failed basic maths and literacy tests this year.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare on Wednesday hinted at extra federal funding in the next intergovernmental agree­ment on public school spending, to be negotiated next year.

He said the cash must be spent on “things that will make a difference’’, such as catch-up tutoring, explicit teaching methods and wellbeing support for struggling students.

Mr Clare told Sky News that public schools “aren’t funded to the level they should be … but I’m not interested in blank cheques”.

“This is our last and best chance to get this right,” he said.

“We need to make sure next year that we tie funding to the sort of things that are going to work, that are going to help children who fall behind in primary school to catch up in high school, and to finish year 12.’’

Mr Clare said public schools were missing out on 5 per cent of the funds they required under the needs-based funding model devised by business leader David Gonski in 2012.

He flagged legislative changes to raise the federal government’s share of state school funding from 20 per cent to as much as 25 per cent, with state and territory governments to pay the rest.

“Depending on how those negotiations land next year, that may require changes to legislation in order to address that cap,’’ he told ABC radio.

“We have to make sure we link that funding to the sort of things that are going to help children who fall behind at school.

“Only one in five children who fall behind in third grade have caught up by year 9.

“If you fall behind and you stay behind, you’re more likely to drop out (of school).’’

Mr Clare said he was concerned that one in five high school students were failing to finish year 12, with dropout rates highest among poor teenagers.

“This is happening at a time when you’ve got to finish high school and then go on to TAFE and university, otherwise it’s going to be harder and harder to get a job and build a career.’’

Results from the this year’s NAPLAN – National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy – reveal that one in 10 students requires “additional support’’ to catch up with classmates.

Another one in four students fell below expectations for minimum standards of literacy and numeracy.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson on Wednesday branded the results a “national embarrassment’’.

She called on the federal government to mandate “explicit teaching’’ methods in which the teacher delivers step-by-step instructions to students until they master content, as well as ­phonics-based teaching of reading so students can learn to sound out words.

“This is not about the quality of Australian teachers, who are hardworking and dedicated,’’ Senator Henderson said. “Many universities are offering deficient teacher training courses which are not adequately preparing teachers for the classroom.’’

Mr Clare has already reached agreement with state and territory education ministers to improve the quality of teacher training by forcing universities to train teachers in explicit instruction, phonics and classroom management from 2025.

“I’m not going to blame the opposition for 10 years of failure,’’ he told the Sunrise program. “My job is to fix this. We can’t afford to wait. This is our last, our best chance, to get this right.’’

Greens schools spokeswoman Penny Allman-Payne said Australia’s two-tiered system of private and public schools “is baking in disadvantage and supercharging inequality’’.

“The NAPLAN results are clear evidence Australia needs to entirely rethink its approach to school funding,’’ she said.