Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. Is the minister aware of new research, released by the Grattan Institute, which identifies the importance of teaching quality, not increased funding, in improving student outcomes?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKenzie for yet another thoughtful question on education policy. I am aware of the Grattan report, Circuit breaker: a new compact on school funding, released today, and I welcome the fact that the Grattan Institute has released this report—a far more thoughtful contribution to school education policy than what we hear from those opposite, who just run their usual scare tactics, and, frankly, far more thoughtful than some of the hysterical claims we hear from state and territory governments from time to time as well. This report absolutely demonstrates an understanding of the budget pressures Australia faces, and the need to make sure we get the optimal outcomes from our record growing levels of school investment. It does acknowledge that:

In a tight fiscal environment, prudent spending decisions are vital.

The report further notes:

Australian spending on school education increased over the last decade, but student outcomes did not improve. Whatever we did, it didn't work. And doing the same again is likely to have the same outcome.

These are very wise sentiments indeed, highlighting that we need to focus carefully on how record growing funding is invested. In fact, it says:

More money alone will not guarantee better student outcomes. It is not enough to target money to the most disadvantaged schools; each school must then use that money wisely.

And it goes on to say:

Effective teaching is known to have the largest impact on student outcomes outside of the home …

All of these are sentiments that the Turnbull government agree with. It is why we want to make sure that our school funding, which will grow from $16 billion this year to more than $20 billion by 2020—funding above inflation, above enrolment—that the Grattan Institute recognises can absolutely be used to help address disadvantage in schools is also used as effectively as possible, particularly in helping to address teacher quality issues and lifting the quality of teaching right around Australia. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, a supplementary question.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister update the Senate on what the Turnbull government is doing to ensure our school funding contribution leads to improved student outcomes, given the Commonwealth is not the major funder of schools in Australia?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I absolutely can, because we released in the budget this year our Quality schools, quality outcomes report, which not only demonstrated our record growing levels of investment in Australian schools, but also, importantly, highlighted the areas in which we want to see that investment focused. We want to see that investment support teacher quality, by ensuring optimal use of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers; better recognition and reward for highly accomplished and leading teachers; better arrangements for the certification of potential principals; support for boosting literacy, numeracy and STEM performance; earlier identification of problems and challenges that young children may have, so that we can have earlier intervention; minimum standards of literacy and numeracy skills for school leavers to obtain their higher school certificates; and support for increased research into long-term teacher training so that we are helping address not just the changes we are applying in universities to initial teacher education but also professional development standards for existing teachers into the future. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A final supplementary question, Senator McKenzie?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister explain what the research released today finds in relation to the school funding model that the Turnbull government inherited from Labor?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This report backed up what we have been saying for some time—that the Turnbull government inherited 27 different special funding deals that were struck by then education minister Mr Bill Shorten in the Gillard government and the Rudd government to ensure schools around Australia have received vastly different sums of federal funding even where they have identical demographic compositions. So students in schools with the same demographic composition receive vastly different sums of federal funding in one state versus another state because of these special deals.

Beyond that, those deals locked in and grandfathered decades of other special deals that were put in place by the then Rudd-Gillard government and their predecessors, creating a hotchpotch framework that means that there will be no consistency across school funding in Australia for another 150 years if existing arrangements are left in place. That is why I am committed to making sure we have constructive discussions with the states and the non-government sector to get a fairer deal in the future. (Time expired)