Real Action on Quality Education
13/08/10
The Coalition is committed to quality schooling for all children.
Education should be a pathway towards prosperity – for individuals, their families and our nation as a whole.
Schools should foster the achievement of excellence and equip our children for happy productive lives.
Under Labor, education has been about spin, waste, bureaucracy and ineptitude.
In few other areas has the Rudd-Gillard Government promised so much but delivered so little.
Labor came to power in 2007 promising ‘nothing less than a revolution in education’, but education ranks among the Rudd-Gillard Government’s worst failures.
Nowhere has the waste and incompetence of the Labor Government been more apparent than in our schools. This gross waste and mismanagement has compromised the education, services and assistance that our students need and deserve. Australian schools are clearly no better than they were three years ago.
The Coalition has a plan for real action to invest wisely and meaningfully in our schools, to promote quality teaching through individual reward and recognition and to help children with disabilities. Our plan is based on parental choice, local decision-making and greater certainty for schools.
A Coalition government will establish a $200 million Better Teacher Reward Fund to recognise and reward our best and brightest teachers.
Every school in Australia will be eligible to apply for money from the Better Teacher Reward Fund, for the sole purpose of paying their teachers more judiciously and paying them more.
However, preference will be given to teachers in disadvantaged schools, schools with a high proportion of special needs students and schools located in regional areas.
The Fund will pay good teachers more money straight into their pocket, ensuring they are directly rewarded. Under the Coalition’s plan, payments to teachers will commence in 2013 – a full year ahead of Labor’s teacher pay proposal.
A Coalition government will also commit $120 million towards the establishment of a School Technology Fund to provide grants for the technology improvements needed to enhance educational outcomes in schools. These grants will support new and future teaching and learning approaches – including the integration of ICT and multimedia technologies.
Grants approved through the School Technology Fund will be paid directly to schools. This will avoid state government bureaucracies and help ensure that the money provided makes a difference and that value is obtained where it is needed.
Schools will be able to decide what they need and determine the best way they can get value for money. This will enable schools to match appropriate technology with the education requirements of different year levels, or to use funding for more ICT professional development to incorporate the best technology to support learning.
While the needs of each school are likely to vary, grants of up to $50,000 will be available through the School Technology Fund.
A School Technology Assessment Panel will be established to assess grant applications and make funding recommendations. Education sector stakeholders and IT experts will be invited to serve on the Panel. To boost ICT equity in schools, applications from the most disadvantaged schools will be given priority.
An elected Coalition government will also:
- Maintain equitable funding arrangements for existing schools and support Establishment Grants to help new schools to grow;
- Restructure National Partnerships to achieve value for money;
- Give greater control to school principals so they can effectively deal with issues in their schools;
- Support and strengthen the National Safe School Framework by addressing cyber-bullying;
- Extend support and funding for the National School Chaplaincy Programme;
- Work towards a better National Curriculum;
- Revise the My School Website to help student improvement;
- Put the study of languages back on the agenda;
- Give a real voice and true future to regional education; and
- Continue the Secure Schools Programme.
The Coalition has already announced a plan to extend and expand the Education Tax Rebate to help parents meet the costs of education and support families and an Education Card to support students with disabilities and their families.
The Coalition will also act to stop Labor’s ‘school halls’ programme waste and provide a schools building boost.
From day one, a Coalition government would stop the school hall rip offs by giving money directly to school P&Cs that wouldn’t waste it and would achieve better value for money.