CPD fellow Chris Bonnor gives us a look at his crystal ball on Australia’s education system in 2020, and it’s not all that promising. The Gonski Report delivered to us the reality that our funding system needed to be revised, in order to attain an equitable solution for all of Australia’s kids. Quoting from his co-authored book ‘The Stupid Country’ with Jane Caro, Bonnor predicts that a system based on reward and punishment funding, testing, and ranking will continue to drive a stake in the gap between those students from well-off backgrounds, and those who are not. The focus required needs to encompass all aspects that affect a child’s education, especially those decisions made outside the school gates, such as funding. A wide scope of evidence is calling for a funding model that adequately reflects the different needs of students to enable resources to be directed to where they are needed most.

So much for almost three decades of constant and often manic school reform seeded by the neo-liberals and driven by successive governments urged on by compliant commentators.

It isn’t working: we are not creating schools which provide even comparable quality and opportunities for all our kids.

Read the full article in Online Opinion here

Change can happen faster than you think – help us seize the moment and point to the alternatives. Add your voice to ours!