Aid for every indigenous student

THE government has ignored one recommendation of the Gonski review because it would have disadvantaged indigenous students.

THE government has ignored one of the chief recommendations of the Gonski review because it would have disadvantaged thousands of indigenous students, and instead opted to provide extra money to every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student in every school.

As a result, about 31,900 more indigenous students and at least 3650 more schools -- 69 per cent government, 20 per cent Catholic and 11 per cent independent -- will be eligible for extra money.

In his education review, David Gonski recommends a new funding model that applies additional loadings for indigenous students on top of the base resource payment per student.

The Gonski report suggested a 40 per cent loading for the base payment for each indigenous student at a school with an indigenous population of between 5 per cent and 25 per cent. This loading could increase to 100 per cent where more than 75 per cent of students are indigenous.

The government wants to change the loading for indigenous students proposed by the Gonski review panel by extending it to every indigenous student, in every school.

The government told The Australian that providing a loading for schools with only 5 per cent or more of their students from indigenous backgrounds would mean too many students would miss out on extra support they needed at school. So they will change the model to provide a loading for every indigenous student in Australia, about 160,000 students across the country.

The government is responding to feedback from the First Peoples Education Advisory Group and other education stakeholders, who claim this would be the fairest and most effective way to allocate the extra money.

It also comes after the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples declared in a submission to the government that it "unequivocally rejects" the recommendation about how the "indigeneity" additional loading would apply for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The review panel recommended the loading be applied in incremental steps, but the government became concerned this would mean in some cases a difference of one or two students could push a school over or under a threshold and make a large difference in the amount of funding the school would receive.

They want this adjusted on a sliding scale, with no abrupt incremental steps, so for each percentage increase of enrolment in indigenous students, there would be a gradual increase of the value of the loading.

Minister for School Education Peter Garrett told The Australian the extra support was part of the government's commitment to closing the gap.

"Because we know students from indigenous backgrounds often face extra challenges at school, we want to give them more support," he said.

"Every school will be eligible for this extra funding -- government, Catholic and independent.

"Our extra funding will help schools pay for things like more literacy and numeracy coaches, homework and breakfast clubs, and programs to help parents become engaged with the school and play a greater part in their child's education."