Federal parliament passed the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding Reform) Act on 26 November 2024 following years of research and consultation with the education sector.
These laws, and accompanying bilateral agreements, aim to reduce educational inequality and student disadvantage.
Unfortunately, the funding reforms are also a missed opportunity to resolve long-standing funding shortfalls or compel meaningful employer action on excessive teacher workloads.
While the federal government is to be commended for increasing their investment in education, the new funding arrangements simply don’t go far enough.
Most public schools will still fall short of full funding. A core IEU value is that funding must centre on student need.
Needs-based funding is the cornerstone of an equitable system - it’s vital to close achievement gaps for students from diverse backgrounds.
The work of our members and schools in the non-government sector must be complemented by a world class public education system that is accessible to all children in all communities.
While the federal government has increased their contribution from 20% of the Schooling Resource Standard to 22.5%, this still fails to deliver full funding for most Australia’s public schools.
Employers must be held to account
The government is to be commended for applying a workload impact assessment to the reform agenda to ensure overworked school staff are not burdened by even more administrative tasks.
While the new arrangements acknowledge teacher workload and staff wellbeing, they fail to require specific and enforceable workload interventions at the school or system level.
Employers must genuinely engage with IEU members on workload. Simply acknowledging the problem or offering vague reports on existing (and often inadequate) workload responses isn’t enough.
Reforms need to mandate specific new workload measures supported by a stricter reporting regime. Employers should be held to account by having to demonstrate workload reductions in their schools.
The funding arrangements rightly target three primary objectives:
- equity and excellence in education
- student wellbeing for learning and engagement, and
- a strong and sustainable workforce.
Without concrete workload reduction outcomes for teachers and school leaders, and full funding for all schools, these worthy objectives may well be doomed to fail.