Abbott’s education policy will fail students

Media Release.

Tony Abbott’s education policy, outlined in the Australian today, is weak on detail, and re-commits Australian students to a broken education model.
What Mr Abbott deliberately fails to mention is that school funding will go backwards by a staggering $16.2 billion if the Coalition is elected.
This is because he plans to stick with a school funding model that has been rejected by the experts and diagnosed as broken by an independent review panel.
Mr Abbott’s policy for Australian Schools doesn’t stack up against Labor’s National Plan for School Improvement.

CLAIM:   The key to better schools, at least as much as more money, is better teachers, better teaching, higher academic standards, more parental involvement, and more principal autonomy.

FACT:  Mr Abbott is simply co-opting Labor policy.  Under the National Plan all participating sectors will have to give school leaders and communities a greater say in decision-making. We’ve committed to improving school autonomy and have already rolled out the program to almost 100 schools.

CLAIM:  We recognise that quality professional development for teachers has to be at the top of the education agenda.

FACT:   At the last election Mr Abbott pledged to slash $425 million from the Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership. The Coalition is on the record as wanting to sack 1 in 7 teachers. Today, he provides no details about how he would deliver professional development for teachers, let alone pay for it. On the other hand, Labor introduced the first national standards for teachers and principals, established the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), and developed the teacher professional framework including annual performance reviews for every teacher. Our National Plan includes higher entry standards for the profession, mentoring for new teachers, and a commitment to ongoing professional development.

CLAIM:   We will continue existing levels of funding for schools, indexed to deal with real increases in costs and we will ensure that the targeting of funding is based on the social and economic status of the community.

FACT:    Tony Abbott’s Coalition plan to keep a broken funding model that will short-change students to the tune of $16.2 billion over six years. Coalition Education Spokesperson Christopher Pyne initially suggested the Coalition would index school funding at 6 per cent (ABC’s Q&A – October 8, 2012), but it’s clear today the Coalition is backing away from this position because they know it will be impossible under the current broken funding model.

CLAIM:   We will also work with schools, parents and children to tackle the challenge of cyber-bullying.

FACT:    Labor has already introduced a National Safe Schools Framework. Under the National Plan, every school must have a plan to tackle bullying and teachers will get more training on how to manage disruptive and bullying behaviour.

Australians have a clear choice at the federal election between the Gillard Government’s plan to deliver high wage, high skilled jobs of the future for students or to revert back to the current broken model on a Coalition government.
If Tony Abbott’s Coalition is elected they will be a disaster for schools. They don’t have a plan to fund schools or reform education and they will rip up any funding agreements with the states and territories to deliver an extra $16.2 billion over six years.

Peter Garrett AM
Federal Member for Kingsford Smith
Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth