Anyone who thinks Australia’s dismal record on education isn’t about money is in cloud-cuckoo land. Actually, I’ll rephrase that: there IS money, and perhaps it’s enough, but it’s expended in the wrong places.
A thread.
A thread.
2. When some schools have swimming pools and huge manicured sports grounds while others fight to provide students with pencils and tissues, we have a problem. A huge problem. Schools are funded dreadfully with vastly disproportionate amounts going to wealthy private schools.
3. If I choose to buy an expensive car, the govt. doesn’t subsidise my choice. If I have the money, I pay for what I want. Yet in education, those who choose the expensive options get huge govt. subsidies for it. This makes no economic sense, let alone that it’s vastly unfair.
4. Particularly as this doesn’t happen in other countries - ESPECIALLY those with the highest educational achievements. Look at Finland. They fund public schools properly and don’t waste huge amounts that essentially pay for non-educational extras that should not be paid by govt.
5. What would I know? Well, I trained as a teacher of the deaf, but only spent 2 years teaching in the early 90s before starting my own business. I returned to teaching (at the same school) for 1 year ~ 20 years later. This gave me a unique perspective on what had since changed.
6. The biggest change was the huge emphasis on NAPLAN. Teachers taught to get kids to pass the tests, because funding & other benefits relied on publicly-released results. Teachers were very stressed as they faced huge pressure from management to get kids to certain standards.
7. I taught deaf students within the school & their needs were overlooked/ignored in the race to succeed at NAPLAN scores. This made the whole process stressful, difficult & competitive. Schools faced enormous pressure to maintain funding & attract more “good” families/students.
8. The rich schools not only had far more money, but boosted NAPLAN & VCE/HSC scores by buying students via scholarships. This hurts poorer schools results even further. Turning education into a competitive game locked into funding objectives has irreparably harmed education.
9. Students fall behind because teaching NAPLAN skills doesn’t offer a well-rounded education, esp. for students with differences. Nobody has time for them. Parents in poorer schools can’t get the right help for their child in many cases. Teachers are stressed and many leave.
10. Teachers know they’re failing some students. They also have onerous, extreme reporting duties which take away from preparing interesting lessons & spontaneity. But they’ve no choice but to suck it up or resign. One year was enough for me: I left again to go back to business.
11. It’s of absolutely no surprise that standards are declining, teachers leaving, parents are frustrated, & kids without “perfect” learning skills falling between cracks. In fact, I’m surprised it isn’t worse than it is. If you’re wealthy, education in Aus is mostly v. good.
12. But if you can’t afford private education for your children, education is broken. Not for all, as some schools manage against the odds to serve their students v. well, but in many the situation is dire. I fear greatly for the future unless more equitable funding ...
13. ... and a better understanding of how things have gone wrong since schools became a competition sport and a commitment to fix same prevails. Sadly, that won’t happen under this govt. It’s devastating for all involved. End.
