There is not a level playing field at school, PM says

CHILDREN from low-income families are being let down by the school system, with the PM saying there is not a level playing field.

CHILDREN from disadvantaged and low-income families are being let down by the school system, with Julia Gillard saying there is not a level playing field at present in the education system.

Writing for The Australian, the Prime Minister says it is "simply not acceptable" that the gap in literacy skills between the nation's most disadvantaged and advantaged children was the equivalent of three years of extra school. "Our children deserve better," she says.

INTERACTIVE: See how your child's school compares

Ms Gillard's comments follow analysis by The Weekend Australian of national literacy and numeracy test results for the nation's 10,000 schools that underscored the social divide in the education system.

For the first time, the results of public and private schools were analysed separately. Excluding selective schools, the analysis reveals that the highest-scoring government schools sit below the top private schools.

And the top-scoring schools, whether government or private, are teaching students from well-heeled postcodes.

Ms Gillard says the analysis was possible only because of the government's reforms in education.

Of the schools funded under the federal government's national partnership in literacy and numeracy, Ms Gillard says 17 were initially identified as performing substantially below the standard of schools teaching similar groups of students.

"As of 2012, they are no longer classified as below-standard," she says.

"A further 110 schools were identified in 2010 as performing at levels substantially below that of similar schools . . . and as of 2012, there are only seven of these 110 schools classified as below-standard.

"We may not run schools or directly deliver education services, but we are still driving the most significant education reform agenda in living memory.

"The conclusion of The Australian's analysis, that there is not currently a level playing field in our education system, is spot-on and has been one of the two central reasons for Labor's reforms."

Before the meeting of the Council of Australian Governments this week, Ms Gillard says she will be seeking support from state and territory governments to validate the recommendations of the independent review of school funding, chaired by businessman David Gonski.