Category: Education

In November 2018 we published an analysis <http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Final-overseas-student-revisited.pdf> of the higher education overseas student industry. It was framed around the remarkable growth in the share of commencing overseas university students to all commencing students over the years 2012 to 2016. This share increased from 21.8 % in 2012 to 26.7 % in 2016. Since publication, higher education statistics for 2017 have been released. They show <http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Final-overseas-student-revisited.pdf> that the share of commencing overseas students to all commencing students have increased to 28.9 %. In the case of the Group of 8 (Go8) universities, by 2017 this share had reached well over 40 % in the University of Sydney, ANU, and the University of NSW (Table 1).  (more…)

Yes, it was Sunday and the news is usually more sensational than during the week. But the extravagant building plans of some ‘elite’ schools, revealed in the Sun Herald, were certainly eye-opening. According to the report, two of these schools are already funded by governments well above their Schooling Resource Standard. The combined cost ($365m) of the planned capital projects at the seven named schools is close to the amount allocated to address the maintenance backlog across all public schools in NSW. (more…)

Public schools will lose about $6.1 billion in funding over ten years from 2018 under the new Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments published last week. It means that public schools will be under-funded by about $4.6 billion to 2027. In contrast, a special provision in the Agreement will allow private schools to continue to be over-funded. What a legacy by a Labor Government!  (more…)

Labor and the Coalition both appear to be poised to go to next year’s federal election brandishing their contrasting versions of ‘Gonski’. Key features of the original 2011 Gonski model for funding the nation’s schools generated broad consensus. Given that it relates to an issue that has been persistently fraught in Australian politics, this should not be dismissed lightly.  (more…)

Compared to Britain, Australia has been highly successful in its venture into international education over the past decade but a number of writers have raised concerns over the continuing viability of depending on this source of funding into the future.   (more…)

Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled by about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. The loss to NSW public schools is about $6.1 billion over the ten years and about $1.4 billion for South Australian public schools. Public schools around the country will lose about $16.5 billion over ten years if the swindle is extended to other states, as is likely.  (more…)

Coming soon to your local school is news about South Australia’s ranking on the McKinsey Universal Scale.  Most likely you will have never heard about the McKinsey Universal Scale, or McKinsey for that matter.  McKinsey is yet another international company that is seeking to cash in on the international preoccupation with constructing league tables about education performance.  (more…)

Schools hold up the mirror to a society as well as shaping its future. There is more to education than schools, but schooling is the formal process by which we assist young people to develop their capacity to learn and to think for themselves in a democratic society.  (more…)

Years ago the late Bernie Shepherd and I began wading through a mountain of My School data about schools. We soon discovered that the public funding of private schools was growing so rapidly that they would soon get more money from governments than was going to similar public schools. So we published our early findings which, along with our motives, were met with denials and accusations by the Catholic and Independent school peak groups. Fast forward four years and the ABC News has just produced an up-to-date and more sophisticated analysis for all to see. The situation has worsened; this issue won’t go away. (more…)

The festive campaigning season is upon us and the federal Minister for Education wishes to bring gifts to those small tertiary institutions located in sensitive rural constituencies. Unfortunately for those who live in the greater (ie research-intensive) metropolitan institutions the Minister seems to have been told that the load capacity of Santa’s sleigh is finite. The university system as a whole does not rank high enough politically to get a bigger slice of the Christmas pie so the elves need to help the Minister make do with what he has. (more…)

Australia prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, but it is a myth in education. Not only do we have one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and the world, but a report just published by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) shows that Australia’s education system is nearly the most unequal in the developed world. There is a clear link between social segregation and education performance in Australia.    (more…)

A new OECD report shows that Australia has one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and in the world. It also shows that Australia had the equal largest increase in social segregation in the OECD and the world since 2006. Government education and funding policies are major factors behind the increase in social segregation.  (more…)

Debates about discrimination in schools need to go much further, argues Chris Bonnor (more…)

Veto action on certain successful Australian Research Council research proposals together with a proposal to establish a “national interest” test by federal Ministers for Education reflect poorly on the independence and integrity of university research and research training. (more…)

The large gaps in student achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia are well known. What is less well known is that government teacher policies are compounding the gaps by discriminating against disadvantaged schools in their access to teaching resources. Incredibly, Australia allocates more and better teacher resources to socio-economically advantaged schools than to disadvantaged schools.  (more…)

The Gonski funding model was systematically dismantled by the Abbott and Turnbull Governments and it was almost dead and buried by the end of Turnbull’s reign. The Morrison Government has put more nails in the Gonski coffin with a new special $4.6 billion funding deal for private schools that is not based on need. (more…)

The recently announced promise of preschool education funding for 3 year olds has the potential to improve developmental and education outcomes for young children, but with chronic teacher shortages in early learning centres, delivering new preschool programs will be a major challenge.   (more…)

If short term reactions are any guide it seems that many of those who submitted to the Ruddock review into religious protections might have some cause for regret. While it is early days, it is likely to throw a timely spotlight on religious school enrolment and employment discrimination. Such discrimination already applies unevenly across Australia, but an emerging question might be why it should exist at all. (more…)

How many students have been the victims of the VET FEE-HELP rorts?  The Government doesn’t know the answer to this question, nor how much it may cost to waive such debts.  New legislation being introduced to Federal Parliament seeks to make it easier for students who have suffered due to the inappropriate conduct of their VET provider, to have these debts waived. But when will they get their money back? (more…)

At the University Chancellors’ 11^th national conference in Adelaide on 4 October, the Australian National University Chancellor Gareth Evans delivered the inaugural Chancellor’s Oration. One section of his speech dealt with the imperative to defend university autonomy. (more…)

Recently I chatted with a friend about how much we all owe to some teachers and mentors. So I decided to share, with a few minor changes, what I wrote about twenty years ago about two teachers to whom I owe a great debt. They turned my life around. (more…)

Public schools have suffered a double blow in the last fortnight. The Morrison Government announced a $4.6 billion appeasement deal for private schools with no increase for public schools. Last week The Guardian exposed how Labor and Coalition state governments are trying to evade commitments to increase their funding of public schools through a subterfuge. If successful, public schools, which enrol over 80% of disadvantaged students, could lose up to $2.6 billion a year. Public schools need and deserve better than this. (more…)

While most attention is focussed on the level and distribution of funds paid directly to non-government schools by the Commonwealth Government, little attention is given to the very substantial financial concessions and benefits that the private school system obtains from all levels of government in Australia. The millions of dollars of revenue foregone by local, state and Commonwealth Governments in relation to non-government schools as a result of their anachronistic status as charities are simply not taken into account when funding decisions are made. This post uses one Victorian municipality to identify the type of financial benefits provided to private schools by all levels of government in Australia and indicates the scale of such benefits. (more…)

The ACT should be an ideal location for operating a Catholic school system – a land of milk and honey. (more…)