Education challenges identified by OECD will be addressed, says Clare

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Education funding needs to be tied to practical reforms if we want better outcomes for Australian students, says federal education minister Jason Clare.

Clare was responding to an OECD report on the Australian education system that showed the nation had a good education system but needed to confront several challenges, including federal v state funding.

He said the government accepts the education system should be “a lot better and a lot fairer”.

“The report provides a valuable international perspective and will inform future reform efforts, including the review into the next National School Reform Agreement (NSRA) led by Dr Lisa O’Brien,” Clare said.

“It shares common themes with the Productivity Commission’s final report on the NSRA, which was scathing in its criticism of the current agreement.

“The current school agreement lacks key targets and, most importantly, the real practical reforms that we need to tie future funding to.”

Clare said the next agreement will “fix this”.

“We will ensure future funding is tied to reforms that will make a real, practical difference,” Clare said.

“If you’re a child today from a poor family, or from the bush, or you’re an Indigenous child, then you’re three times more likely to fall behind at school.

“We must turn this around.”

The OECD report identified challenges for Australia’s education system. One was the tension surrounding the resourcing of private and public institutions.

“At all levels of the Australian education system, the important option of privately funded education was identified by the OECD as having an effect on the distribution of resources and delivery of service in the education system,” the report said.

“Previous OECD reporting has focused on addressing the risks to student participation in education among low socio-economic status students at levels of education that rely significantly on private expenditure.”

OECD saw funding for pre-primary education as a pressure point because private sources account “for almost double the OECD average proportion of private expenditure”.

Another funding and resourcing issue the report noted is the balance between national and state/territory funding.

“Past OECD reporting on system-level education policy also identified a lack of clear and consistent principles in funding for vocational education and training,” the report said.

“Challenges identified included an overlap of state and commonwealth responsibility for the regulation and funding of [vocational education and training].

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