Literacy gain clear, but not funds
THE future of funding to boost literacy and numeracy in struggling students remains unclear, despite the PM's claims of success.
THE future of funding to boost literacy and numeracy in struggling students remains unclear, despite Julia Gillard lauding the success of the program under her watch.
The Prime Minister yesterday touted the National Partnership for Literacy and Numeracy as a success in addressing disadvantage and inequality in schools.
However, when the national partnership ceases this year, about $500 million will be effectively withdrawn from the system.
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Writing for The Australian, Ms Gillard cites the partnership as one of Labor's initiatives overcoming the "unacceptable" gap in literacy and numeracy between the most advantaged and disadvantaged students. Asked yesterday whether the government would continue funding beyond this year, she said: "I'm very proud of our achievements in this area and will work to continue to improve literacy and numeracy in disadvantaged schools."
The government is considering the future of the partnerships as part of negotiations with the states, territories, independent and Catholic school systems over a new funding model following the independent review chaired by businessman David Gonski.
The Gonski report hailed the partnerships, noting the schools were improving at a greater rate and warning that these gains could be lost when funding ceased.
One of the more than 2000 schools funded under the partnership is Ballarat Secondary College, which received about $265,000 a year, or about $230 a student, for the past three years.
That money ceased at the end of last year, and the school was moved on to the national partnership for schools in low socio-economic communities, but principal Paul Rose said it provides about $100,000 less and is guaranteed only until the end of this year.
The college teaches the most disadvantaged, including a number of young mothers, and about 17 per cent of its students are back at school after a gap of some years. In Year 7, students are on average three years behind their peers around the nation.
With the extra funding, the school hired two specialists in literacy and numeracy to work as full-time coaches for staff, but they now teach half the time to allow them to be retained.
The money also allowed two teachers to be relieved from teaching half the time to work with colleagues across all subjects. "We had literacy coaching for every teacher in Year 7 and Year 9, and numeracy coaching for every teacher in Year 8 and Year 10 to ensure we had strategies that were being used in every classroom," Mr Rose said.
In the first six months, more than 85 per cent of Year 7 students had gained the equivalent of an extra six months of school and in some cases were two years ahead. By Year 10, students were still not meeting the national standard but everyone had improved in literacy beyond the average rate of improvement for the state.
"The Prime Minister has said it's not acceptable to have this level of disadvantage in a country like ours, and I couldn't agree more," he said. "I don't believe $230 a kid is a heck of a lot to spend to promote literacy and numeracy funding for the lowest SES group in this part of the world."