tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/equity-in-education-27145/articlesEquity in education – The Conversation2024-03-03T14:27:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224652024-03-03T14:27:50Z2024-03-03T14:27:50ZNavigating special education labels is complex, and it matters for education equity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578488/original/file-20240228-24-s7p4c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C87%2C3631%2C2583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Racialized immigrant parents in a study had to find ways to navigate the education system as newcomers, while also addressing intended and unintended effects of special education programs for their children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mche Lee/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Ontario Ministry of Education’s <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/edu-special-education-policy-resource-guide-en-2022-05-30.pdf">special education policy and resource guide</a> provides instructions <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/special-education-ontario-policy-and-resource-guide-kindergarten-grade-12">to school boards and schools</a> on administering special education programs. </p>
<p>It also emphasizes the importance of education equity, and involving parents in special education designations. </p>
<p>As researchers, we explored the rights of Latin American and Black Caribbean youth when it comes to special education in our project: the <a href="https://rcypartnership.org/en/">Rights for Children and Youth Partnership</a>. </p>
<p>To better understand newcomer experiences, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2255837">we interviewed</a> 32 parents, 12 of whom indicated having a first-hand experience with special education in Ontario schools.</p>
<p>We learned that despite the special education policy’s commitment to involving parents, many parents felt excluded from decision-making processes surrounding assessments for their child’s learning needs, and faced language barriers. </p>
<h2>Identifying need for special education</h2>
<p>In Ontario, students presenting learning needs may be identified as exceptional within one or more special education categories. These categories are intended to address conditions affecting their learning. </p>
<p>Special education can benefit students to ensure an equitable educational experience. However, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1277996.pdf">researchers have also raised concerns</a> about the efficacy of special education programs for equitable learning because of how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248821">social factors such as racism and classism result in discriminatory framings of disability and the perception of special needs</a>.</p>
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<p>In Ontario’s largest school boards, Black and Latin American youth have been disproportionately <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/Intersection%20of%20Disability%20Achievement%20and%20Equity.pdf">placed in special education programs</a>, compared to students in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818813303">other racial-ethnic groupings</a>. </p>
<p>Research from the Peel District School board, serving the western Greater Toronto Area, reports <a href="https://www.peelschools.org/documents/16.2b_Directive9-EquityAccountabilityReportCard-UnderstandingtheEquityGapinSpecialEducation.pdf/16.2b_Directive9-EquityAccountabilityReportCard-UnderstandingtheEquityGapinSpecialEducation.pdf">Black students are three times more likely to be identified with a behavioural exceptionality</a> and streamed into special education programming. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/i-was-very-isolated-report-documents-hispanic-students-alienation-in-ontario/article_21d6d9fd-1b13-57c3-8f26-94d545a80556.html">Latin American youth have reported arbitrarily being placed in English as a Second Language courses</a> and labelled with communicational exceptionalities, despite proficiency in English. These labels carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818812772">long-lasting impacts on their educational journey</a>.</p>
<h2>Complex special education processes</h2>
<p>In Ontario, the special education placement process is complex and can include many parties (like teachers, principals, special education staff, school board officers, parents or guardians and, if requested, interpreters).</p>
<p>These parties engage in consultations to evaluate the student’s learning needs. Assessments are then reviewed by a board’s <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/identifying-students-special-education-needs">Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC)</a>, consisting of at least three members, one of whom must be a principal or supervisory officer of the school board.</p>
<p>According to the guide, educators should encourage and invite parents to participate throughout this evaluation process and the IPRC meeting, though their attendance isn’t required. </p>
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<img alt="A blurred person seen in a corridor of file folders and records on shelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574794/original/file-20240211-26-iklod6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Special education labels and categorizations are documented in student records.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Redd F)</span></span>
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<h2>Lack of required parental input</h2>
<p>Parents are, however, required to sign and agree to the IPRC’s statement of decision. They have a right to appeal the findings, and are given 30 days. If parents don’t appeal, the board instructs the principal to implement the committee’s decision, including <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/individual-education-plans">individual education plans (IEP)</a>. </p>
<p>The child’s provincial student record documents the outcomes of the decision, including the various labels, or “exceptionalities” identified, and the IEP. These records follow students throughout primary and secondary education.</p>
<p>Lack of required parental input throughout the process indicates that early on, educators alone can make decisions involving a child. </p>
<h2>Language barriers</h2>
<p>In our study, one parent, Mariela, described the challenges of learning a new educational system. This was compounded by the technical language educators used: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The language that is used is very strategic. It’s language that doesn’t welcome parents’ feedback [and] parents don’t know they have the option to say no. […] It’s like, ‘This is what happens; this is what we do. We need you to sign this.’ And that’s the language; it isn’t welcoming for parents to ask [questions].”</p>
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<h2>Specialized language</h2>
<p>Parents also recognized that a sense of pressure to accept educators’ decisions was discriminatory based on their limited abilities to keep up with the discourse and to have input in decision-making. Scarlett described feeling intimidated:</p>
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<p>“It was always so traumatic and intimidating dealing with the school; it would be me and five school officials, you know? […] It’s like, you’re coming into this space, and decisions may already have been made.”</p>
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<p>Scarlett’s son was identified as having behavioural issues as early as Grade 2. She insisted her son be tested for gifted learning, recognizing that he was experiencing behaviour difficulties because he was bored and not being academically challenged. </p>
<p>Her son was not placed in a gifted class until Grade 7. During what she called “lost time,” the school involved the police in instances when he was “acting out,” and recommended her son be sent to a treatment facility for high-risk youth.</p>
<h2>Pressure to accept decisions</h2>
<p>Special education meetings also illuminated imbalances we observed in our study between parents who understood they had the right to ask for an interpreter or bring a representative — and parents who were unaware of this. </p>
<p>Claudia voiced concern about a special education label for her son in elementary school, saying educators had mistaken his speech difficulties for low intelligence. She was told her son’s speech delay would impact his ability to go to college or university.</p>
<p>She later recalled learning about her right to bring someone with her to IPRC meetings. She detailed the impact of having her son’s daycare supervisor there with her, saying: </p>
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<p>“I wanted to bring that person to support [me], probably for emotional support, for the English support, for the systematic barrier that I knew that I could face.” </p>
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<p>With the support of someone who educators also considered an “expert,” Claudia withdrew her son from special education programs — and instead sought additional support outside the school system.</p>
<p>Notably, only a few parents mentioned knowing their right to bring someone to the meetings, and all said the information came from sources outside the education system.</p>
<h2>Lack of guidance</h2>
<p>The Toronto District School Board has made the effort to increase access to parents’ rights to special education, offering the <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Learning-Equity-and-Well-Being/Special-Education-and-Inclusion/Parent-Guides-to-Special-Education-and-Inclusion"><em>Guide to Special Education and Inclusion for Parents/Caregivers/Guardians</em></a> in various languages.</p>
<p>However, for immigrant parents in our study who had no prior experience in Ontario’s schooling system, the lack of concrete information about their rights was a barrier to them being true participants in decision-making. </p>
<p>System accountability is needed to ensure immigrant racialized students and families are effectively provided support and understand the special education process. This support must be tailored to better address the needs of parents, so that their children are equitably positioned for successful academic pathways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Parada: This study received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC- 895-2015-1014). Toronto Metropolitan University Ethics Committee approved this study (2018-200).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Perez Gonzalez and Veronica Escobar Olivo do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study of newcomer Latin American and Black Caribbean parents in Ontario schools found many parents felt excluded from processes surrounding assessments for their child’s learning needs.Laura Perez Gonzalez, Research Assistant, School of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityHenry Parada, Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Social Work and the Immigration and Settlement (ISS) Graduate Program and Graduate Program Director, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityVeronica Escobar Olivo, Research Associate, School of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234342024-02-21T20:40:33Z2024-02-21T20:40:33ZUniversities should respond to cuts and corporate influence with co-operative governance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576047/original/file-20240215-18-62xlak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5615%2C3505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall in Toronto, Ont. Universities must shift towards co-operative governance which fosters collaborative approaches to teaching, research and grappling with the crises we collectively face. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It doesn’t take much to see that today’s higher education system needs a restart. Colleges and universities across Canada face varying <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-real-cost-of-the-fiscal-crisis-hitting-canadas-universities/">degrees of financial crisis</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2023-0005">interference in research by corporations and governments</a>. At the same time, students are experiencing <a href="https://theconversation.com/low-funding-for-universities-puts-students-at-risk-for-cycles-of-poverty-especially-in-the-wake-of-covid-19-131363">growing inequitable access to higher education</a>.</p>
<p>That’s the bad news. The good news is there are proven alternative education models, but it requires moving from the current fixation on rankings to co-operation.</p>
<p>Post-secondary institutions spend too much effort boosting their university rankings, despite studies demonstrating that spending limited resources on the ranking race <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctv2sm3b3t">diverts resources</a> from improving education to the detriment of students and communities. </p>
<h2>What rankings miss</h2>
<p>Metrics used in major global university rankings often privilege wealthy institutions, but how they became wealthy and continue to be wealthy is not part of the equation. Many top-ranked American and Commonwealth universities, for example, are rich because of <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/ebony-and-ivy-9781608193837/">slavery</a>, the plantation economy <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-commonwealth-universities-profited-from-indigenous-dispossession-through-land-grants-185010">and colonial land grants</a>.</p>
<p>These same universities continue to amass wealth from donors who can, and often do, influence institutions, including by <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/whistleblower-allegation-harvard-muzzled-disinfo-team-after-us-500-million-zuckerberg-donation-1.6672862">stopping research</a> that is in the public interest. </p>
<p>We face unprecedented global crises. Making education a consumer good — accessible to those who pay top dollars through their own funds or increasingly through the burden of debt — is, at best, limiting the ability of higher education to expand public and policy conversations through education. </p>
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<p>At worst, it’s contributing to the crises we face by sticking to a model that conflates individual wealth with ability. <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/edi-eng.aspx">Research is clear</a> that quality suffers when equity is overlooked in who produces knowledge and how it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-big-companies-fund-academic-research-the-truth-often-comes-last-119164">funded</a> and saps energy from innovating <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenizing-universities-means-building-relationships-with-nations-and-lands-204613">sustainable and equitable research</a>.</p>
<p>The good news is that innovative higher educational models that emphasize equity and inclusion thrive. The key lies in reimagining the role of universities. </p>
<p>Instead of adhering to a corporate model based on individual achievement, we need to shift towards co-operative governance that fosters collaborative approaches to teaching and research, and grapples with the crises we collectively face. </p>
<h2>Equity through co-operative education</h2>
<p>The solidarity economy and co-operative sector can be the model to guide a new way of running an equitable, just and ethical university. </p>
<p>Central to <a href="https://ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity">co-operatives</a> is democratic governance, concern for community and education for members to, for example, responsibly carry out financial roles. There are co-operative universities, and corporate universities that have co-operatives on their campuses. </p>
<p>Spain’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/how-mondragon-became-the-worlds-largest-co-op">Mondragon Corporation</a> is a co-operative created in the 1950s during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. It now encompasses a network of over 81 co-operatives, employing over <a href="https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/about-us/">80,000 people</a>, which includes a co-operative university. </p>
<p>At the root of the co-operative education system is learning how we are interdependent and developing the knowledge and skills to participate in democratic decision-making. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8ZoI0C1mPek?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video on Mondragon co-operatives from Workplace Democracy.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Canada has a legacy of co-operatives, with credit unions like Desjardins, Vancity and Meridian, and insurers like The Co-operators. They demonstrate that prioritizing human development is not only possible but also profitable. </p>
<p>Credit unions support small businesses, microfinance and mutual aid structures, such as <a href="https://www.federationhss.ca/en/canadas-hidden-cooperative-system-legacy-black-banker-ladies">The Rotating Operating Savings and Credit Network</a>, a model that could immensely benefit students. </p>
<p>Integrating the study of economic, housing and educational co-operatives into university curricula and across disciplines would give students a broader understanding of their choices in how they work, live and learn with others. </p>
<h2>Co-operative governance</h2>
<p>We do not expect Canadian universities will become co-operatives overnight, but making steps towards a co-operative model is possible and needed. </p>
<p>As members of the <a href="https://africanaeconomics.com/">Diverse Solidarity Economies Collective</a>, we propose four changes to undo the bias for the status quo. </p>
<p>First, focus on co-operative economies on campus. For example, in Trinidad, the University of West Indies St. Augustine campus has its own <a href="https://www.uwicu.tt/frequently-asked-questions/">credit union</a> system rooted in respect and caring for community. This reflects the university’s commitment to social justice. Credit unions focus not on enriching shareholders but on their members and people-centred development.</p>
<p>A second structural change can be businesses on university grounds. More restaurants and shops run by student unions can ensure their members benefit. Vendors, catering and contractors at universities should support businesses owned by those from racialized and marginalized communities, and those defined as social purpose enterprises and co-operatives. </p>
<p>Increasingly, universities are seen as an <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/blackstone-world-s-largest-real-estate-investor-sees-significant-opportunities-in-canadian-student-housing-multi/article_0eba9440-4338-5ab3-bb88-59ae8da83e08.html">untapped market for real estate investors</a>, which further <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universities-colleges-turning-into-real-estate-hedge-funds-higher-education-2023-3">increases costs for students</a>. Instead of building housing that is out of reach for the increasing number of <a href="https://forum.academica.ca/forum/housing-instability-amp-homelessness-in-the-student-population">housing-insecure students</a>, staff and faculty universities could look to <a href="https://campus.coop/">several successful</a> student <a href="https://neill-wycik.coop/">housing co-ops</a> in Canada.</p>
<p>There is a resurgence of interest in co-ops, yet they still form a small part of student housing. Reimagining university real estate investments through the lens of co-operative housing, intentional communities and land trusts would provide security and a sense of community that could address isolation and mental-health crises that are on the rise. </p>
<p>These models focus on keeping investments within the community, contrasting starkly with typical rental housing on campuses.</p>
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Read more:
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<p>The third change is advocating for government funding that fosters an equitable system-wide approach to funding public education, rather than fostering inter-institutional competition based on rankings.</p>
<p>The fourth change would be adhering to the United Nations’ declaration that 2025 is the <a href="https://ica.coop/en/newsroom/news/resolution-calls-second-international-year-cooperatives-2025">Year of Co-operatives</a>. It’s time for universities, especially publicly-funded ones, to rethink their corporate model. </p>
<p>It will mean moving beyond the fixation on rankings towards a governance model built on solidarity, grounded in equity, ethical business and economic co-operativism aimed at preserving and protecting people and the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Shenaz Hossein receives funding from Canada Research Chair program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Stack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities should shift toward co-operative governance structures that foster collaborative approaches to teaching and research, which can help tackle the crises we collectively face.Michelle Stack, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, University of British ColumbiaCaroline Shenaz Hossein, Associate Professor, Global Development & Political Economy, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102692023-07-25T20:05:47Z2023-07-25T20:05:47ZWhat are enabling programs? How do they help Australians get to uni?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539115/original/file-20230724-17-lvf4zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C42%2C4012%2C2960&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of Education Minister Jason Clare’s top priorities for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-job-ready-graduates-scheme-for-uni-fees-is-on-the-chopping-block-but-what-will-replace-it-209974">Universities Accord</a> is encouraging more Australians to go to university. As he <a href="https://www.jasonclare.com.au/media/transcripts/5559-national-press-club-q-a-canberra-wednesday-19-july-2023">notes</a>, “more jobs are going to require a university qualification in the years ahead”. </p>
<p>Alongside this call is the recognition we need to improve access for people from equity cohorts - including Indigenous Australians, those from low socioeconomic and regional and rural backgrounds and people with a disability. </p>
<p>As the accord’s <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/accord-interim-report">interim report notes</a>, we need a higher education system that no longer prevents “talented people from attaining life-changing qualifications”.</p>
<p>One way to do this is through enabling programs.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-universities-accord-could-see-the-most-significant-changes-to-australian-unis-in-a-generation-194738">The universities accord could see the most significant changes to Australian unis in a generation</a>
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<h2>What are enabling programs?</h2>
<p>Enabling programs are run by universities and taught by academics and are also known as “foundation” or “bridging” programs. They are non-award courses (meaning they don’t lead to a degree or other qualification) and aim to prepare students for undergraduate study. </p>
<p>They are not part of secondary school and can run for anywhere between about four weeks to two years. Most students study for about six months. </p>
<p>Many are available both on campus and online, with the option of full-time or part-time study.</p>
<p>The accord interim report calls for funding stability for the university sector for 2024 and 2025. It also says university funding for these years should be “directed towards a range of assistance, such as increased support for students in enabling courses”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three students work at desks in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539138/original/file-20230725-25-zu95a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Enabling programs are also known as ‘foundation’ or ‘bridging’ programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>What do they teach?</h2>
<p>The programs are designed to build a range of skills and knowledge students need to succeed in further study.</p>
<p>Courses cover a <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/aeipt.223411?casa_token=g20Wyzk6N_YAAAAA%3AwhVuxTE5GxoO7XnDXdsGvb9zSurmL-HmzHA5jkRnjneXvmt_pBc3APASgtqT5rbx39hyphcCwX1oGPzA">wide range topics</a>, from generalised study skills to preparation for a specific degree.</p>
<p>Enabling programs can teach academic writing, library research, foundational mathematics, study skills and discipline-specific knowledge. </p>
<p>For example, if a student is interested in gaining entry to a nursing degree, they will need academic communication skills, mathematics, anatomy and digital skills. A future psychology student could benefit from skills and knowledge in social science and statistics. </p>
<h2>Who are they for?</h2>
<p>Enabling programs are for anyone who needs further preparation before starting university. Commonly, this includes students who left school early, did not get a university entrance rank or did not do as well as they hoped in Year 12.</p>
<p>When applying to university, students can preference enabling programs as a viable “plan B” if they don’t receive an undergraduate offer. </p>
<p>Enrolments in enabling programs <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/student-enrolments-pivot-table">have grown </a>from 6,490 students in 2001 to 32,579 in 2020. A large proportion of students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">32% of students</a> in enabling programs are from low socioeconomic backgrounds, which is double the proportion of undergraduate students.</p>
<p>Of the 48 enabling programs in Australia, 15 are explicitly for Indigenous students, who represent approximately <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2020-section-6-indigenous-students">6% of all enabling program enrolments</a>. This is more than double comparative undergraduate enrolments. </p>
<p>More <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">than a third</a> of enabling course students are from regional and remote areas.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/these-5-equity-ideas-should-be-at-the-heart-of-the-universities-accord-203418">These 5 equity ideas should be at the heart of the Universities Accord</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can you access one?</h2>
<p>Universities have enabling programs on their websites and in their program guides for future students.</p>
<p>They are supported by federal funding so they can be offered free to students. </p>
<p>Depending on the program, you can apply directly to the university or through state-based tertiary admissions centres, at the time when you nominate your university preferences. </p>
<h2>Why are they so important?</h2>
<p>Australian studies <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.622093343833841">show</a> students who complete enabling programs <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2021.1990222">do just as well in undergraduate study</a> as students who enter via traditional pathways, such as directly from high school.</p>
<p>Enabling programs are effective because they are <a href="https://www.newcastle.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/462272/Enabling-Pedagogies-Research-Report.pdf">designed to meet the needs of students</a> who want a university qualification but have experienced educational disadvantage. They focus not only on academic skills but also on <a href="https://www.newcastle.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/243992/CAPABILITY-ONLINE.pdf">building confidence</a> to study. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1682216539909505024"}"></div></p>
<h2>How can we improve them?</h2>
<p>In the final Universities Accord report due in December, enabling educators want to see <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/consultations/consultation-accord-terms-reference/submission/15128">several changes</a> to the way the system works, to make sure anyone who needs this help to go to university can access it. </p>
<p>This means fee-free places need to be demand-driven, with flexible funding to match fluctuations in student enrolments and allowing universities to increase enabling places as demand grows.</p>
<p>In addition to existing payments such as Austudy and ABSTUDY, there should be further financial support for disadvantaged students doing these courses. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are over-represented in enabling programs, and struggle find adequate study time while <a href="http://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/55_Federation_MarciaDevlin_Accessible_PDF.pdf">balancing family and financial commitments</a>. </p>
<p>We would also like to see enabling qualifications <a href="https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/2841/1385">included</a> in the <a href="https://www.aqf.edu.au">Australian Qualifications Framework</a>, which regulates education and training qualifications.</p>
<p>This would ensure formal recognition of a student’s achievement and then give them flexibility about which university they enrol in, because it would be recognised Australia-wide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uncapping-uni-places-for-indigenous-students-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction-but-we-must-do-much-more-208918">Uncapping uni places for Indigenous students is a step in the right direction, but we must do much more</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Kate Hattam a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charmaine Davis is an executive member of the National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Weiler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Universities Accord wants to make sure ‘talented people’ do not miss out on getting ‘life-changing qualifications’. This is where enabling programs can help.Sarah Kate Hattam, Senior Lecturer at Education Futures University of South Australia, University of South AustraliaCharmaine Davis, Lecturer in Academic Communication and Humanities, University of Southern QueenslandTanya Weiler, Senior Lecturer, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853942022-06-27T19:51:23Z2022-06-27T19:51:23ZWhat does equity in schools look like? And how is it tied to growing teacher shortages?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470988/original/file-20220627-17-xlnih3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5244%2C3522&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared victory on election night, he said he <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-22/anthony-albanese-acceptance-speech-full-transcript/101088736">wanted to unite Australians</a> around “our shared values of fairness and opportunity, and hard work and kindness to those in need”. </p>
<p>So what would this look like in Australian schools? Schools, after all, are where a society that believes in fairness and opportunity must begin. Equity involves more than <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">fairly funding schools</a>. </p>
<p>It is about matching teachers’ passion with the respect, time, resources and conditions that enable them to do what they signed up to do: make a difference in students’ lives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-60-of-teachers-say-they-want-out-what-is-labor-going-to-do-for-an-exhausted-school-sector-183452">Almost 60% of teachers say they want out. What is Labor going to do for an exhausted school sector?</a>
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<p>Based on <a href="https://www.monash.edu/education/research/projects/qproject">our research</a> into quality use of evidence do drive quality in education, I suggest equity, hard work and kindness should underpin school policy in three ways.</p>
<h2>1. Ensure fairness in funding</h2>
<p>The first priority is fairness in funding. It has been ten years since the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/school_funding/school_funding/report/a03">Gonski review proposed</a> a more equitable approach to school funding. The goal was to ensure differences in students’ educational outcomes are not the product of differences in wealth, income or power.</p>
<p>Since then, the approach has been diluted and gone backwards.</p>
<p>While resourcing to schools increased by over A$2 billion over a decade, the Grattan Institute <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/lopsided-funding-gives-more-public-money-to-private-schools/">found</a> that once wage growth is taken into account, private schools received over 80% of this extra funding despite educating less than 20% of Australia’s most disadvantaged students.</p>
<p>COVID-19 <a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-60-of-teachers-say-they-want-out-what-is-labor-going-to-do-for-an-exhausted-school-sector-183452">has intensified</a> disparities that are hard-baked into Australia schooling through the historical <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">segregation of schools</a>.</p>
<p>The basis of the reform therefore needs to be reviewed. As then Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a former education minister, effectively tied a hand behind the government’s back by committing to the principle that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/no-gonski-nirvana-why-australia-s-most-ambitious-education-reforms-have-failed-20220215-p59wpj.html">no school would lose funding</a> as a result of the reforms.</p>
<p>This distorted Gonski’s needs-based aspiration.</p>
<p>The needs-based funding that needs to be directed to public schools for them to be fully funded according to the Gonski model equates to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/13/the-gonski-failure-why-did-it-happen-and-who-is-to-blame-for-the-defrauding-of-public-schools">more than $1,000 per student each year</a>. But ensuring all schools get a fair share of public funding is only a part of the challenge.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing shortfalls and excesses in School Resource Standard (SRS) funding by state and territory, 2018-2023" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-resourcing-board/resources/review-needs-based-funding-requirements-final-report-december-2019">Source: Review of needs‑based funding requirements: final report, December 2019/DESE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">Still 'Waiting for Gonski' – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Reward those who choose to teach</h2>
<p>A second priority relates to fairly rewarding the hard work of teachers. This should include incentives to enter the profession, and better pay and working conditions to keep them there.</p>
<p>Teacher shortages are <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-education-minister-jason-clare-can-fix-the-teacher-shortage-crisis-but-not-with-labors-election-plan-184321">reaching critical levels</a>. Modelling in Queensland, for example, shows <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/16/queensland-to-have-one-of-nations-worst-teacher-shortages-modelling-suggests">a 25% decline</a> in state high school teaching graduates over five years. Secondary school enrolments are predicted to increase by 13% over the same period.</p>
<p>As Southern Cross University education professor Pasi Sahlberg notes, teachers “<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-education-minister-jason-clare-can-fix-the-teacher-shortage-crisis-but-not-with-labors-election-plan-184321">start excited and depart exhausted</a>”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-education-minister-jason-clare-can-fix-the-teacher-shortage-crisis-but-not-with-labors-election-plan-184321">New Education Minister Jason Clare can fix the teacher shortage crisis – but not with Labor's election plan</a>
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<p>During the campaign, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/labor-to-pay-highachievers-up-to-12000-a-year-to-study-as-school-teachers-at-university/news-story/8ba0f18569b2842842b123e45c7e370e#:%7E:text=High-achieving%2520students%2520would%2520be%2520paid%2520up%2520to%2520%252412%252C000,they%2520receive%2520an%2520ATAR%2520of%252080%2520or%2520more.">Labor promised</a> high-achieving students would be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/high-achievers-to-get-up-to-12k-a-year-to-become-teachers-under-labor-20220508-p5ajj8.html">paid up to $12,000 a year</a> to study education to lift teacher standards.</p>
<p>“We want to make sure our kids get the best education they can. That means we have to make sure they get the best-quality teaching,” Albanese said. </p>
<p>Labor also announced plans to double the number of high-achieving students enrolling in teacher education over the next decade, from around 1,800 a year at present to 3,600.</p>
<p>Also, about 5,000 students who receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 80 <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-to-recruit-more-high-achievers-into-education-20220508-p5ajjg">will be able to get</a> an annual $10,000 payment over their four-year degree. An extra $2,000 a year has been promised to students who commit to teach in regional areas – the worst affected by teacher shortages.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1523454888214396928"}"></div></p>
<p>Providing incentives like these might work – particularly as <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-to-recruit-more-high-achievers-into-education-20220508-p5ajjg">only 3% of high achievers</a> in Australia select teaching for undergraduate study. Contrast this to the 19% who select science for undergraduate study.</p>
<p>Three decades ago, <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-to-recruit-more-high-achievers-into-education-20220508-p5ajjg">about ten times this proportion</a> of high achievers chose to study teaching.</p>
<p>But, unlike other fields such as agriculture, such rankings are <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=3608">less reliable as predicators of performance</a> in education. It is <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=3608">rightly argued</a> that other skills, such as high-level interpersonal skills, are important to the quality of teaching, alongside high-level literacy and numeracy.</p>
<p>We need to be thinking more boldly and expansively about how we can inspire and assess people to enter the profession.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-teachers-pay-in-australia-it-starts-out-ok-but-goes-downhill-pretty-quickly-122782">Three charts on teachers' pay in Australia: it starts out OK, but goes downhill pretty quickly</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Make schools better for teaching</h2>
<p>But even if such measures might attract new teachers, attrition rates are also concerning.</p>
<p>Educators persistently indicate they are <a href="https://www.agsa.org.au/research/australian-principal-occupational-health-safety-and-wellbeing-survey-riley-et-al-2021/#:%7E:text=The%2520annual%2520Australian%2520Principal%2520Occupational%2520Health%252C%2520Safety%2520and,per%2520week%2520in%25202020%252C%2520while%2520twenty%2520per%2520cent%25E2%2580%25A6">suffering stress</a>, burnout, abuse from parents and excessive workload, which takes away from teaching students.</p>
<p>Increased workload pressures mean they have less time to focus on teaching students. It ultimately drives many out of teaching.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/nsw-teachers-to-strike-over-pay-and-conditions-next-week/101171092">Strikes</a> for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/14/nsw-education-department-launches-legal-action-against-teachers-union-over-may-strikes">better pay in New South Wales</a> in relation to the government’s 2.5% wage cap for public servants are on one level about fair pay, but also reflect deeper concerns about working conditions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/read-the-room-premier-performance-pay-for-teachers-will-make-the-crisis-worse-185406">Read the room, Premier. Performance pay for teachers will make the crisis worse</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Teachers do not feel respected. A <a href="https://www.monash.edu/thank-your-teacher">2020 study</a> found nearly three-quarters of educators felt underappreciated.</p>
<p>The challenge of keeping teachers in the profession therefore entails much more than pay. <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-salaries-might-attract-teachers-but-pay-isnt-one-of-the-top-10-reasons-for-leaving-177825">Research</a> has shown salary ranks after factors such as commitment to the profession, job satisfaction and positive relationships with students and colleagues. The most common reasons for leaving include workloads, being unappreciated, stress and burnout from years of struggle in substandard conditions.</p>
<p>Fostering excellence in teaching is therefore not just about attracting quality candidates, nor is it only about paying them at the right level once they become teachers. It’s about respecting their judgment and professionalism, as well as supporting them throughout their careers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-salaries-might-attract-teachers-but-pay-isnt-one-of-the-top-10-reasons-for-leaving-177825">Higher salaries might attract teachers but pay isn't one of the top 10 reasons for leaving</a>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1173340747384414215"}"></div></p>
<p>Even though pay might be poor <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-teachers-pay-in-australia-it-starts-out-ok-but-goes-downhill-pretty-quickly-122782">in comparison with other professions</a> and the workload overwhelming, educators continue to teach because they are driven by a deep, passionate moral purpose to make a difference in kids’ lives.</p>
<p>We understand the challenges. Let’s hope kindness, fairness and a clear moral purpose drive the policy of Australia’s new government to address current problems as well as deeply embedded historical legacies.</p>
<p>The Albanese government has a tough, complex job – not unlike teaching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucas Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Difficulties in attracting and retaining teachers have a lot to do with the conditions they find themselves working in. Here are 3 ways to develop a school system that’s fairer and better for all.Lucas Walsh, Professor and Director of the Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1780162022-03-03T00:53:50Z2022-03-03T00:53:50ZStill ‘Waiting for Gonski’ – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding<p>You may think “not another article on school funding”. But this important story has to be told and the book, <a href="https://unsw.press/books/waiting-for-gonski/">Waiting For Gonski: how Australia failed its schools</a>, should be read by every parent, economist and Australian committed to “the fair go”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of Waiting for Gonski" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449405/original/file-20220302-23-6u0rsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsw.press/books/waiting-for-gonski/">UNSW Press</a></span>
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<p>The title is apt and who would have thought a book on school funding would be a riveting read? Authors Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor have all the angles covered.</p>
<h2>What went wrong?</h2>
<p>The much-lauded <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-resourcing-board/resources/review-needs-based-funding-requirements-final-report-december-2019">Gonski reforms</a>, recommended ten years ago, have not been effectively enacted. The book provides a clear account of how it all went wrong in “the Gonski we got” and “postmortem” analysis chapters.</p>
<p>Rather than levelling the playing field, it is clear the system has become more unfair. More funding has gone to less needy schools. Government funding to non-government schools grew at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/private-school-funding-has-increased-at-five-times-rate-of-public-schools-analysis-shows">five times the rate</a> of funding for government schools over the past decade. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing changes in funding for public, Catholic and independent schools from Commonwealth, states and all governments, fees and other income, and total income." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449423/original/file-20220302-17-7reycb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/get-gonski-back-on-track/#more-5070">Chart: The Conversation. Data: Analysis of ACARA, National Report on Schooling data by Trevor Cobbold (2021), Save Our schools website</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The review introduced the concept of the <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/quality-schools-package/fact-sheets/what-schooling-resource-standard-and-how-does-it-work#:%7E:text=The%20Schooling%20Resource%20Standard%20%28SRS%29%20is%20an%20estimate,for%20Schooling%2C%20led%20by%20Mr.%20David%20Gonski%20AC.">Schooling Resource Standard</a> (SRS). The review panel said this was the funding “needed as the starting point for […] transparent, fair, financially sustainable and educationally effective” resourcing. The SRS uses a base funding amount each student, plus “loadings” for particular school and student needs. </p>
<p>The majority of government schools are yet to be fully funded to the SRS. At the same time, many non-government schools are overfunded, well beyond the standard (and fees sit on top of this government funding).</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Shortfalls and excesses in SRS funding by state and territory, 2018-2023</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing shortfalls and excesses in School Resource Standard (SRS) funding by state and territory, 2018-2023" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449433/original/file-20220302-17-sn3bo7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-resourcing-board/resources/review-needs-based-funding-requirements-final-report-december-2019">Source: Review of needs‑based funding requirements: final report, December 2019/DESE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>A 2019 <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-resourcing-board/resources/review-needs-based-funding-requirements-final-report-december-2019">federal government review</a> of needs-based funding makes it clear government schools’ needs are not being met and the system lacks transparency. New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania committed to reach 75% of SRS funding for government schools beyond 2023. NSW and Tasmania will reach 75% in 2027, Victoria in 2028 and Queensland in 2032. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=P5VfEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT229&lpg=PT229&dq=%22federal+government+has+locked+in+a+model+where+every+private+school+will+get+fully+funded+by+2023,+whereas+very+few+government+schools+will+ever+get+fully+funded%22&source=bl&ots=d8lnkDkl5T&sig=ACfU3U0zwqjkFj8i3I3buUZXjV8RN-b-Cw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz8aK2oKb2AhVoT2wGHdjLAekQ6AF6BAgaEAM#v=onepage&q=%22federal%20government%20has%20locked%20in%20a%20model%20where%20every%20private%20school%20will%20get%20fully%20funded%20by%202023%2C%20whereas%20very%20few%20government%20schools%20will%20ever%20get%20fully%20funded%22&f=false">quote</a> from the then Grattan Institute school program director, Peter Goss, is instructive: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The federal government has locked in a model where every private school will get fully funded by 2023, whereas very few government schools will ever get fully funded. By 2030 we’re going to be having this same argument and it’s all predictable from now.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Unlevel playing field has a long history</h2>
<p>While many schools are still waiting to receive the Gonski needs-based funding, Greenwell and Bonnor make it clear there was also a sense of waiting in the lead-up to the review and 2011 <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/school-funding/resources/review-funding-schooling-final-report-december-2011">report</a>. </p>
<p>Pre-Gonski history provides important insights, including coverage of mistakes in the original establishment of Australia’s inclusive public education system. The system wasn’t really inclusive and created the first unlevel playing field, with well-resourced free education for most, alongside struggling Catholic schools. This changed after the 1960s, when the private sector successfully lobbied for funding. But, as the authors point out, “one unlevel playing field replaced another”.</p>
<p>The 1973 Karmel report followed, but was criticised because, as Simon Marginson <a href="https://www.ppesydney.net/content/uploads/2020/04/Reassessing-Karmel-results-of-the-1973-education-settlement.pdf">wrote</a> in 1984:</p>
<p>“[The report] did not develop an understanding of the dynamics of the dual system of schooling that operates in Australia […] [and] failed to go to the roots of inequalities in schooling”.</p>
<h2>Gonski also failed on this score</h2>
<p>Bonnor and Greenwell point out this criticism also applies to the Gonski review. Rather than tackle the complexities of the public-private system, Gonski left untouched the issues of school fees and very different school sector obligations, operations and accountabilities. Inequities in school operations, including enrolment policies, were not addressed.</p>
<p>While recommending adequate funding for schools where students had greater needs, the review did not question or seek to resolve why these students concentrated within disadvantaged schools, most of them government schools. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-becoming-more-segregated-this-threatens-student-outcomes-155455">segregation of schools has since increased</a>. Both the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/equity-in-education_9789264073234-en">OECD</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/995-an-unfair-start-education-inequality-children.html">UNICEF</a> have identified this as a key weakness in Australian schooling.</p>
<p>Greenwell and Bonnor point to the significance of the review’s focus on the impact of peers on student achievement, in a structure where fees sort and segregate students into different schools on the basis of socio-educational advantage. Bonnor says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The review panel couldn’t, or chose not to, join the dots between this phenomenon and Australia’s increasingly mediocre levels of student achievement.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gonski review panel member Ken Boston now agrees and attributes much of our educational woes to weaknesses in the report and failures of implementation. Noting the model was to be needs-based and sector-blind, he <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/want-to-know-why-our-schools-keep-lagging-the-world-s-best-20220216-p59wtq.html">says</a>: “Quite the opposite has occurred”. </p>
<p>Waiting for Gonski is a riveting, but depressing, account of how that happened. Drawing on interviews with key figures, the authors describe the manoeuvrings to get the funding legislation passed, the distorting of Gonski’s recommendations, the intensity of the activities of the lobby groups, and the eventual sabotage of the remnants of Gonski that managed to get over the line.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="School children in uniform walking across school grounds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449445/original/file-20220302-27-1ko7lu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since the Gonski review, tens of thousands of students have gone through a school system that failed to meet their educational needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Students – and Australia – continue to miss out</h2>
<p>The story is complete with a coming-of-age personal drama highlighting the impacts of funding on two young students as they move through their schooling.</p>
<p>It is important to remember that many thousands of children have completed <em>all</em> their schooling in the post-Gonski era, without the funding deemed necessary for the system to be “educationally effective”. The pathways of those lives have missed out on the educational enrichment funding to the Schooling Resource Standard would have brought.</p>
<p>Alongside Waiting for Gonski, a <a href="https://www.cper.edu.au/conferences">Why Money Does Matter</a> conference marked the 10th anniversary with further sobering analysis, available <a href="https://www.cper.edu.au/conferences">here</a>. </p>
<p>Gonski made “needs-based” equity funding part of our vocabulary but not part of our system. It is clear that action to fully implement true needs-based funding is urgently needed. </p>
<p>Waiting for Gonski ends with a call to action. For our education system to thrive nothing short of <a href="https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/Structural%20Failure_final.pdf">substantial structural change</a> will do. </p>
<p>Greenwell and Bonnor also argue public funding brings public obligations, and a public contract is needed, requiring non-government schools to operate with policies comparable to those of government schools. Such an approach would “level the playing field”, which would undoubtedly strengthen Australian education and our economy. Do we have to wait much longer?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Let us do something, while we have the chance! … Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!” <strong>― Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot</strong>.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I previously published a report "Structural failure: Why Australia keeps falling short of its educational goals" co-authored by Chris Bonnor, one of the authors of 'Waiting for Gonski'
I am also on the Board of the Centre for Public Education Research that hosted the conference mentioned in this article.</span></em></p>A decade ago, it was hoped the Gonski reforms would level the playing field for Australian students, but the system is now even more unfair. A new book lays out how it all went wrong.Rachel Wilson, Associate Professor in Education, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180962019-06-04T22:19:55Z2019-06-04T22:19:55ZProblems with PISA: Why Canadians should be skeptical of the global test<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277415/original/file-20190531-69091-1c83c55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Focusing on narrow PISA measures may increase skill levels but cause students to miss out on the kinds of learning that generates higher-order thinking.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a> — the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) global standardized test of student achievement — is frequently used by commentators to compare and rank national or <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadian-schools-spend-more-as-enrolment-and-test-scores-fall-116945">provincial education systems</a>. </p>
<p>PISA, which has now spread into 80 countries as a <a href="https://simonbreakspear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Breakspear-PISA-Paper.pdf">best education practice</a>, presents itself as a tool to <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/">help countries make their systems more inclusive leading to equitable outcomes</a>.
But PISA is far more ambiguous and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics">controversial</a>. </p>
<p>Many academics and educators critique PISA as an economic measurement, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2016.1143278">not an educational one.</a> The media generally use PISA results to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2018.1425243">blame and shame</a> school systems. And the way that some politicians, policy-makers and researchers have used PISA is more closely aligned to a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/berj.3120">political process</a> than an educational one.</p>
<p>There are many reasons to be skeptical about PISA rankings and how they’re used to compare student achievement or to identify best practices or solutions for educational problems. </p>
<h2><em>1. A narrow measurement</em></h2>
<p>PISA numbers are limited in what they can explain and the conclusions they can support.</p>
<p>PISA measures math, science and reading skills, not more <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444">holistic educational goals</a> or <a href="https://en.unesco.org/themes/literacy">understanding of literacy</a> as defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization <a href="https://en.unesco.org/">(UNESCO)</a>. PISA is a narrow measure of educational achievement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/testing-literacy-today-requires-more-than-a-pencil-and-paper-114154">Testing literacy today requires more than a pencil and paper</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>PISA typically samples 5,000 to 10,000 15-year-old students from about 500 randomly selected schools in each country every three years. Up to 53 students are randomly selected in each of these schools. </p>
<p>In small countries with fewer than 5,000 students, all 15-year-old students are sampled. The two-hour test relies heavily on multiple choice and rating scale questions. </p>
<p>PISA ignores the importance of engagement and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767724.2018.1531234">positive attitudes to learning</a> for future success. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277413/original/file-20190531-69051-1s2yzrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The capacity for teamwork resists measurement but is significant for student and lifelong success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Educational outcomes that are important for future citizens or a well-rounded education are not captured: for example, democratic participation, understanding of history and politics, teamwork, well-being, moral values, creativity, aesthetic skills, athletic talent or communication skills. </p>
<h2><em>2. Relation to Indigenous schools, special needs students</em></h2>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.cdhowe.org/media-release/measuring-indigenous-education-outcomes-key-progress">federally funded Indigenous schools are not considered in PISA data</a> and would likely impact provincial scores. The absence of Indigenous schools may help mask disparities in educational equity in Canada and marginalize the significance of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/first-nations-schools-are-chronically-underfunded">chronic under-funding of Indigenous-controlled education</a> and <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2018/gaping-holes-ottawas-indigenous-fiscal-policy/">basic infrastructure</a> necessary to Indigenous child well-being.</p>
<p>Differing levels of how <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0969594X.2017.1421523?journalCode=caie20">special needs students are integrated in distinct jurisdictions</a> also confound PISA results.</p>
<h2><em>3. Statistical uncertainty</em></h2>
<p>PISA tests a sample of students and the results are then adjusted to reflect a whole population of 15-year-old students. The scores therefore include a measure of statistical uncertainty and PISA <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisafaq/">can only report a range of positions</a> (upper rank and lower rank) where a country can be placed. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1022498">co-relation between poverty and lower test results</a>: the OECD notes that up to <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-volume-I.pdf">46 per cent of the differences in PISA mathematics scores among OECD countries</a> can be explained by socio-economic disadvantage.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychometrics">Psychometric</a> experts, who examine the fitness and effects of particular methodological choices and the validity and reliability of modelling and calculations, <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/616">criticize PISA for downplaying the problematic nature of its calculations</a>, and its <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1056717">lack of transparency in reporting uncertainties</a>.</p>
<p>The majority of nations fall in the middle PISA rankings. However, small differences in mean scores can shift rankings by 10 to 20 places.</p>
<p>Relying on a small number of questions also means scores are highly affected by completion rates. In some jurisdictions, higher scores may result from greater significance being placed on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2014.930020">PISA completion</a> by parents and school authorities.</p>
<h2><em>4. Pressure to narrow curricula</em></h2>
<p>As an instrument of international comparison, PISA has <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1033739">created pressure for states to narrow curricula</a>, relegating subjects such as the arts and social studies to second-class status, and to introduce <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1478210316652009">testing cultures to monitor performance and achievement</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277412/original/file-20190531-69067-g3yofy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing culture has been linked to a dislike of schools and learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Testing culture and curriculum narrowing have been linked to students dropping out, students and teachers cheating, students undergoing <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/nurture-joy-of-learning">stress and anxiety disorders</a>, teachers leaving the profession, a fear of failing and a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2014.930020">dislike of schools and learning</a>. </p>
<h2><em>5. Overlooking inquiry-based learning</em></h2>
<p>As school systems narrow curricula to focus on testable concepts, students may reach high levels of proficiency in a few subjects but lose out on programs of study based on active, inquiry-based processes and content.</p>
<p>Countries with the highest PISA scores appear to have the lowest levels of inquiry-based learning. High levels of inquiry-based science appear to have a negative association with <a href="https://www.europhysicsnews.org/articles/epn/pdf/2017/04/epn2017484p17.pdf">PISA science scores</a>. Focusing on PISA may <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=337192064494253;res=IELAPA">increase skill levels but cause students to miss out on learning</a> that generates higher-order thinking. </p>
<h2><em>6. Cultural specificity</em></h2>
<p>Even though PISA use is spreading globally, and is translated into national languages, it is still framed by Western understandings and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1474904116658299">may distort</a> results from students with <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ752980">diverse social and cultural histories</a>. This will become more of a challenge as <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-global-testing-standards-will-force-countries-to-revisit-academic-rankings-115199">PISA’s ambition is to move beyond testing skills to assess attitudes that promote student success</a>.</p>
<h2><em>7. Corporate partnership in the age of digital surveillance</em></h2>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://newint.org/features/2016/04/01/edu-businesses-impact">journalists</a> and <a href="https://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Issues/Privatization/PearsonGutsteinReport.pdf">researchers have expressed concerns</a> about <a href="https://www.pearson.com/corporate/news/media/news-announcements/2014/12/pearson-to-develop-pisa-2018-student-assessment-21st-century-fra.html">PISA’s partnership with Pearson</a>, a global educational business enterprise that boasts it operates <a href="https://www.pearsonglobalschools.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZqAo">more than 70 countries worldwide, reaching 100 million people</a>. </p>
<p>The partnership is a worrisome conflict of interest. PISA assesses and ranks school systems and Pearson is a <a href="https://worldsofeducation.org/en/woe_homepage/woe_detail/4858/unmaking-the-market-maker-pearson-in-the-global-south">provider of global</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pearson-outlook/virtual-schools-keep-pearson-on-course-for-return-to-profit-growth-idUSKCN1MR0S0">online</a>
<a href="https://www.connectionsacademy.com/news/pearson-acquisition">charter schools</a>, tests and <a href="https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/why-choose-pearson/thought-leadership/online-blended-learning/online-learning-services.html">education consulting</a>. Additionally, in an age of rising concern about <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/9.%20Overview%3A%20Impact%20of%20Developing%20Technology%20on%20Privacy/surveillance-technologies">digital surveillance and data privacy</a>, it is reasonable to ask how data on students and teachers that’s collected globally may be used, and to what end. </p>
<h2>What needs to change</h2>
<p>Other democratically governed organizations such as UNESCO should play a larger role in the collection of international educational data. This would ensure students’ and teachers’ rights are protected and children have the vibrant and democratic educational structures, processes and relationships they are entitled to. </p>
<p>PISA has shifted education discussion globally in alarming ways. The OECD needs to listen to critical voices and rethink its PISA strategy and framework.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarfaroz Niyozov works for the University of Toronto.
He received funding from SSHRC in 2009.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are many reasons to be skeptical about PISA rankings, and their use to compare student achievement or to identify best practices or solutions for educational problems.Sarfaroz Niyozov, Associate Professor, OISE, University of TorontoWendy Hughes, EdD student, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796602017-06-22T20:06:09Z2017-06-22T20:06:09ZAustralia is still lagging on some aspects of early childhood education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175117/original/file-20170622-13687-1ddw9hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia is doing well on enrolling four-year-olds in pre-school, but the picture on three-year-olds is less clear.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The OECD’s latest <a href="https://www.oecd.org/publications/starting-strong-2017-9789264276116-en.htm">Starting Strong</a> report provides an update on early childhood education opportunities across the developed world, and a fresh insight into how Australian children are faring. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/ecec-thematic-reviews.htm">Starting Strong series</a>, which began in 2001, provides valuable comparisons and analysis of early childhood education systems, and has been highly influential in the development of early years policy globally. Australian governments drew heavily on this resource in the development of our <a href="http://www.acecqa.gov.au/national-quality-framework">National Quality Framework</a> and <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf">Early Years Learning Framework</a>. </p>
<h2>International trends</h2>
<p>Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has experienced a surge of policy attention in recent years at the national and international level. </p>
<p>The debate has also shifted its focus, with policymakers realising that equitable access to quality ECEC can strengthen the foundations of lifelong learning for all children. As a consequence, governments around the world have increased the resources allocated to the early years and taken steps to enhance quality and improve equity of access. </p>
<p>This is underpinned by <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/quality-early-education-for-all/">international research</a> that shows access to quality ECEC has positive effects on wellbeing, learning and development. </p>
<p>Universal or quasi-universal access to at least one year of ECEC is now a reality in most of the OECD. In most countries, more than 90% of children are already enrolled in preschool (or in primary education in some countries) at age five. </p>
<p>High enrolment rates are also observed for lower age groups. Among four-year-olds, 90% or more are already enrolled in preschool (or primary education) in two-thirds of the 37 countries.</p>
<h2>How does Australia compare?</h2>
<p>While Australia has successfully expanded access to ECEC in the year before full-time school, we can still do more to lift quality, and participation in under fours, in order to further capitalise on our investment in the early years. </p>
<p><em>Participation</em> </p>
<p>Australia has an above average proportion of children under three attending ECEC. It also has had one of the fastest rates of growth in the proportion of four-year- olds attending preschool, skyrocketing from 53% in 2005 to 85% in 2014 thanks to the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/national-partnership-agreements">National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education</a>. </p>
<p>However, we are still behind the UK, France, Germany and several Scandinavian countries, where more than 95% of four-years-olds attend ECEC. </p>
<p>In contrast, Australia has one of the lowest proportions of three-year-olds enrolled in preschool, at only 15%. However, this figure reflects the limitations of current data collections, as it does not include the large number of three-year-olds attending programs delivered by an early childhood teacher in long daycare settings.</p>
<p><em>Investment</em></p>
<p>On a per-child basis, Australia ranks fourth highest of OECD countries in public expenditure on preschool. This is largely driven by lower child-staff ratios.</p>
<p>There are fewer than ten children for every teacher in Australia. In countries like Chile, China, France and Mexico, for example, there are more than 20 children per teacher.</p>
<p><em>Impact of ECEC on achievement at age 15</em></p>
<p>The report identifies participation in at least two years of preschool as one of the most powerful influences on students’ results in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) at age 15. Given this, Australia’s comparatively low rate of participation in at least two years of preschool is a concern. </p>
<p>The report finds that the strongest impacts on student performance are seen in education systems that offer preschool programs to a larger proportion of the population and over a longer period of time. Those with lower child-to-teacher ratios and that invest more per child at the preschool level are also most effective.</p>
<p>However, of all these variables, the strongest predictor of performance at age 15 is the number of years a student participates in ECEC. This is consistent with <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/two-years-preschool/">Australian research</a>, examining the benefits of expanded access to a second year of preschool for all children in Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175107/original/file-20170622-13708-hgi00j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Structural early childhood education and care inputs that improve student performance at 15-years-old, Starting Strong 2017.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Across the OECD, 22% of students who had attended early childhood education for less than a year performed below the baseline level of proficiency in science. Yet only 10% of students who attended more than two years of preschool were below the baseline. </p>
<p>This means students are more than twice as likely to be low performers in science if they attend less than one year of preschool. </p>
<p>For Australia, the impact of preschool on PISA was less evident, likely reflecting a low proportion of the population attending at least two years of high-quality preschool at the time.</p>
<h2>Low levels of access for disadvantaged children</h2>
<p>The OECD report also highlights that the children most likely to benefit from early childhood education – those from disadvantaged backgrounds – are least likely to participate.</p>
<p>The report shows a sizeable gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children when it comes to the 15-year-olds who had access to at least two years of ECEC. Australia ranks below the OECD average on this, and substantially behind countries such as New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Switzerland. </p>
<p>This pattern is consistent with previous <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/2310907/E4Kids-Report-3.0_WEB.pdf">Australian research</a>.</p>
<h2>Australia’s early learning market</h2>
<p>Comparatively, Australia has a high proportion of non-government ECEC services, and services highly subsidised but not delivered by government. </p>
<p>Overall, 77% of Australian children attend ECEC in private, not-for-profit or community-run services, compared to an OECD average of 32%. All of these services are what the OECD calls a “government-dependent private setting”, meaning a private entity that receives more than half its core funding from government.</p>
<p>The OECD warns of the potential dangers of a market structure where government is the main funder, yet has limited control over delivery, quality and pricing. </p>
<p>On top of this, Australian families also contribute a comparatively high proportion of ECEC funding. In almost half of OECD countries 90% or more of total ECEC expenditure comes from government, while in Australia, 35% comes from families. </p>
<p>This iteration of Starting Strong also has a particular focus on the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/publications/starting-strong-v-9789264276253-en.htm">transition</a> from ECEC to the school system. Good transitions are critical to ensuring the benefits of investment in the early years flow on throughout children’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest OECD report on early learning education and care gives Australia a mixed report card.Kate Torii, Policy Analyst, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversitySarah Pilcher, Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversityStacey Fox, Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/587082016-05-02T02:07:23Z2016-05-02T02:07:23ZWhat will schools get out of the budget? Just some more unwanted gift cards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120807/original/image-20160502-28129-dxrx09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The federal government has announced it will give an extra $1.2 billion to schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Budget time - the time when the federal government hands out gifts to the nation, or takes them away.</p>
<p>Gift giving is always tricky. Do you give cash, or is that a cop out? Gift cards are a popular option. A carefully chosen present shows you’ve put some thought in. </p>
<p>Government budgets are usually about presents. With presents, the giver has all the control. They can choose things that suit them, maybe get a good deal from a friend’s shop or repurpose an old gift in the back of the cupboard. </p>
<h2>Educational funding arrangements</h2>
<p>When it comes to school education, our current funding arrangements mean that the federal government can’t really give “presents” because school education is primarily a state and territory responsibility.</p>
<p>So federal governments have to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-01/education-set-to-be-election-battleground-with-funding-boost/7373228">hand over cash at budget time</a> – for this budget they’ve already announced they will give an extra A$1.2 billion to schools between 2018 and 2020 and an additional <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-01/education-set-to-be-election-battleground-with-funding-boost/7373228NAPLAN">$118 million</a> to support disabled students – and they find that intensely annoying. After all, who knows what the states and territories will spend the money on.</p>
<p>Hence, they have always been begrudging funders of school education, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/malcolm-turnbulls-bias-revealed-in-school-funding-plan-20160405-gnze4d.html">particularly government schools</a>.</p>
<p>In order to exert some control over apparently incapable/irresponsible/infantile state and territory governments, federal governments have often turned to the gift card option - where they agree to hand over cash on the condition that gift cards are first exchanged for goods chosen by the Feds themselves.</p>
<p>Over the years that is how we have been gifted the <a href="http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au">Australian curriculum</a>, the <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers">Australian Professional Standards for Teachers</a>, those A to E reports you receive each semester, and that <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html">National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy test</a> your kids sit each May. </p>
<p>These big federal gifts, well, they’re okay, but they don’t seem to have done much to close the educational achievement gap in schools, <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-change-the-way-we-measure-student-progress-in-schools-56422">which is growing rather than shrinking</a>. </p>
<p>They are like those awkward gifts you sometimes get - like a Thermomix, or a piece of art glass. You can see it is big and expensive, and you should probably be thankful, but you are not sure what to do with it. You kind of wish they had just given you the cash. </p>
<h2>The 2016 budget</h2>
<p>This year’s budget has given us yet more education gift cards to use in the stores of the federal government’s choosing - <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/federal-budget-2016-1b-backtobasics-test-for-schools/news-story/af4c57f3e34b50cb4b57dce9061b9c23">two more tests for our children to sit</a>; one when they come into school and one when they leave. </p>
<p>States and territories will be forced to cash in their gift cards for a literacy test for school starters. The trouble with this gift is that the states and territories already have one. School starters, for example, do <a href="http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/beststart/assess.htm">Best Start</a> in New South Wales and <a href="http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/pips">performance indicators in primary schools</a> in the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia. </p>
<p>Why are we spending money gathering more proof of what we already know - too many children in this wealthy country struggle to read and write.</p>
<p>Why aren’t we spending money on fixing the problem rather than finding more ways to say we have a problem.</p>
<h2>What happened to Gonski?</h2>
<p><a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/aeu/pages/1/attachments/original/1393387838/Gonski_Final_Report_2012.pdf?1393387838">The Gonski report</a> was commissioned to better understand the very real problem Australia has with <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-does-australia-have-one-of-the-most-unequal-education-systems-in-the-oecd-58156">educational inequity</a>. </p>
<p>The report identified four characteristics that are correlated with being an under achiever at school - your socio-economic status, your proficiency in standard Australian English, whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander and whether you have a disability. </p>
<p>None of these characteristics are intrinsic to low-educational performance. These cohorts are over represented in the low achieving quartile of educational performance simply because our education systems fail to meet their educational needs. </p>
<p>Having described the problem, the Gonski report recommended focusing funding attention on individuals. Tie funding directly to individual disadvantage and put programs in place to improve the educational outcomes of those individuals. </p>
<p>Accountability would be transparent and easy - is the individual progressing as a result of the interventions put in place for them. If not, why not?</p>
<p>With this budget, the Gonski review has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-gonski-gone-we-can-expect-more-demand-for-private-schools-52760">emphatically rejected</a> by the government - not just its <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-more-money-for-schools-improve-educational-outcomes-57656">recommended funding model</a>, but also its <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-not-gonski-funding-then-what-57275">careful analysis</a> of educational inequity in Australia.</p>
<h2>What do we need?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-gonski-anyway-13599">Gonski report</a> and its recommendations did not solve educational inequity, but it did offer a logical way forward. </p>
<p>The work that needs to be done now is to understand which are the effective educational interventions, what conditions need to be in place for them to work, and what makes them work for some kids and not for others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Misty Adoniou works for the University of Canberra. She has received government funding to research spelling, writing instruction, teacher standards and the needs of refugee background students. She is on the Board of Directors of TESOL International, an affiliation of 104 teachers associations around the globe. </span></em></p>So far the budget has given us more education gift cards to use in the stores of the federal government’s choosing - two more tests for children; one when they come into school and one when they leave.Misty Adoniou, Associate Professor in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.