School student results plateau despite $3 billion funding
Australian school kids' achievements are close to flat-lining, and Education Minister Simon Birmingham does not think that's good enough.
The 2016 NAPLAN preliminary results, released today, showed a 1.26 per cent increase in numeracy scores and barely any change in reading or writing across all year levels.
Senator Birmingham said the plateauing results are not good enough, considering the extra money being spent on schools.
"Today's results once again show that, despite significant funding growth, we are not getting sufficient improvements in student outcomes," Senator Birmingham said.
"We have excellent schools and teachers in Australia that successfully set the vast majority of our students up for life but we need to move the conversation on from just how much is being spent in schools to focus on how record funding can best be used for the benefit of students."
He demanded that the focus shift to evidence-based measures.
Teachers said while there have been significant gains in how well students are doing, the country needs to do much better.
Unlike the minister, the Australian Education Union said delivering the full Gonski funding to schools will be a big help.
"No one in their right mind thinks that denying schools the resources needed to meet the needs of all students is a strategy that will lead to better results," federal president Correna Haythope said.
According to The Australian, the federal government promised to implement the Gonski funding model over four years.
However, the government has not committed to the full six-year funding envisaged when the program was introduced by the previous Labor government under Julia Gillard.
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard introduced the Gonski program under her government. Source: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Labor's deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said the government was refusing to fund the full Gonski model.
“To see the big difference needs-based school funding will make nationwide, it must be fully implemented," she said.
New South Wales Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said international evidence suggested it could take up to six years to improve student results.
“Funding is important but the children who sat the NAPLAN assessment in 2016 had the benefit of only 9 per cent in additional funding that the Gonski review found was needed to lift outcomes in all school," he said.
The ACT, Victoria and New South Wales were among be the best performing states.
Meanwhile, longer-term gains were made by Western Australia and Queensland.
The Northern Territory remained substantially below the national averages, with 44 per cent of Year 9 students performing below the national minimum standards in writing tests.
PRELIMINARY 2016 NAPLAN RESULTS:
Reading 0.4 per cent boost to scores
Writing 0.2 per cent decline
Numeracy 1.26 per cent boost
