13.1 Having examined trends in schooling over the last decade, the likely social and economic context of the next decade and the specific issues to which it was directed by the terms of reference, the Committee sets out in this chapter its recommendations for future Commonwealth government involvement in primary and secondary schooling.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
13.2 The Commonwealth's involvement in primary and secondary schooling has been associated with positive changes in the character of schooling, the ways in which it is provided and the extent to which the community and individuals are able to benefit from it. The examination of the ways in which the Commonwealth's involvement has been effected in respect of both general resources and specific purpose grants has led the Committee to make four major observations.
13.3 First, the current funding arrangements are too rigid to allow effective redeployment of resources by the Commonwealth, the States and non-government school rruthcrities to meet changi!lg priorities. Given higher rates of partir:ipation in post- compulsory schooling there will have to be additional expenditure on tertiary education where the pressure of numbers will be felt over the next decade. This additional expenditure will fall largely to the Commonwealth. It cannot be assumed that additional resources will be available from the Commonwealth for schools. Some flexibility in the deployment of resources is necessary to support high priority objectives and to meet needs that were evidenced in most of the reviews of specific purpose programs commissioned by the Commonwealth Schools Commission in 1984.
13.4 The second observation is that too little attention has been given to an ongoing review of the objectives and effectiveness of Commonwealth programs. Programs have continued after they have achieved their original objectives or have been shown to be incapable of doing so. For example, the General Recurrent Grants Program for government and non-government schools, which was designed to lift school resources to particular target levels, was continued without review after government school systems and non-Catholic non-government schools had, on average, reached those levels and after it had become clear that Catholic schools would not reach them under existing resource management policies. After a gap of some years the present Government adopted the community standard as the basis for future recurrent resource funding, and new targets, exceeding current resource levels, have been set.
13.5 Thirdly, although the Commonwealth has collected detailed information on expenditure from non-government schools and is seeking more information from both sectors as to how its funds are applied, it has little infonnation. either descriptive or 172
quantitative, about changes which have been effected through its funding, Where neither the rationale for the provision of funds nor the Commonwealth'8 expectations of outcomes are clear, the flow of information is likely to be unsatisfactory. On the other hand, since schools and school systems are important social institutions which are either public enterprises or heavily subsidised by public funds, they have an obligation to provide public information about educational outcomes. The Committee believes that there is considerable scope for improvement in this area.
13.6 Finally, the lack of clarity apparent in program objectives is matched by confusion about which objectives can be achieved in the short run and which require long term commitments. Real improvements in the quality of education come from sustained efforts to introduce change and to maintain the momentum of change until it has affected the whole school system. Attempts at providing remedial instruction for secondary school students and for early school leavers typify short term measures whose effects on the whole school system are transient. Valuable for the students who are involved, they nevertheless do nothing to prevent successive waves of students with similar learning deficiencies, and they may make it seem that remedial action to overcome these problems is a Commonwealth responsibility. In setting up new programs, therefore, the Common- wealth should be clear both about the time scale within which benefits should occur and about the extent of long run commitments which it is willing to make. Within this context, the Committee believes that long run objectives should be emphasised. In particular, it supports policies seeking to improve the learning outcomes for primary school students, as these have long run effects. Similarly, it supports staff development through which large scale qualitative changes can be expected to take place over a long period.
13.7 In the light of these considerations and the discussion in Chapter 12, the Committee has adopted the following general principles in formulating its recommenda- tions for Commonwealth funding of programs in primary and secondary education:
• a limited number of concisely stated national objectives should be pursued at any one time;
• effort should be focussed on elements of the school population or schools, and not spread thinly over the full gamut of schooling;
• priority should be given to the support of activities whose benefits, although accruing in the long run, are likely to be continuing;
• apart from continuing commitments to a few areas where there are long term obligations, there should be sufficient flexibility in funding arrangements to permit the redeployment of resources to meet changing priorities;
• direct Commonwealth involvement in program administration should be limited in favour of greater review and evaluation and improved flow of information to the public about activities in schools; and
• a smaller number of programs, but with better administrative support, should be funded.
173
IMPLEMENTATION
Delivery Mechanisms
13.8 The Committee proposes that the Commonwealth use a combination of four types of delivery mechanism: negotiated agreements; long term specific purpose programs; limited life specific purpose programs; and directly administered activities or projects. In each of these mechanisms, including initiatives managed by the Common- wealth itself, clear objectives and effectiveness indicators should be specified at the outset. Each of the first three should be associated with a set of firm, clear and simple reporting requirements. These should be such as to allow a ready flow of information about progress towards the objectives and to facilitate the assessment of the effectiveness of the use of Commonwealth funds.
13.9 Negotiated Agreements The Commonwealth would specify the objectives of general funding and arrange with recipients, through negotiated agreements, for its funds to be applied to the achievement of these objectives. The detailed administrative arrangements become matters largely for the recipients.
13.10 Long Term Specific Purpose Programs The Commonwealth would operate long term programs, each with its own administrative structure and operating guidelines.
Specified funds would be allocated to them, usually under specific, rather than general, provisions of the annual States grants legislation. The present specific purpose programs administered by the Schools Commission have, in effect, been programs of this type.
Long term specific purpose programs would appear to be most suitable in situations in which the Commonwealth is meeting long term obligations.
13.11 Limited Life Specific Purpose Programs The Commonwealth would operate specific purpose programs, but for a limited term, such as four to six years. Reviews would be conducted before the expiry of the period to determine whether the program should be subsumed within negotiated agreements, extended or terminated. Again, funds would be specifically identified in legislation and the intention to limit the program's life would be made explicit.
13.12 Directly Administered Initiatives The Commonwealth would mount its own projects or activities with specifically identified funds, rather than use a program format.
The Schools Commission's activities in the areas of girls' education and Aboriginal education have been of this kind, as have the activities of the Curriculum Development Centre.
POLICY OBJECTIVES
Recurrent Expenditure
13.13 The development of general competences is one of the universal goals of schools and school systems. The Committee suggests that the prime policy goal of the Commonwealth in schooling should be the raising of the capabilities of all students in these competences. This must not be taken to imply that the Committee is urging sole
concentration by schools on this goal or, in popular parlance, on basic skills. There are larger and more comprehensive responsibilities for school authorities.
13.14 Real improvements in quality in the long run depend on ensuring that primary students move into secondary education with high levels of attainment in the general competences. This in turn depends on providing special care and assistance for the potentially disadvantaged at an early stage and on ensuring that early sex role stereotyping does not preclude girls from later obtaining approximately equal representation in secondary subject areas. The achievement of such changes in primary schools requires the commitment of teachers to the task and the enhancement of their skills in these areas.
13.15 To ensure that participation in Years 11 and 12 continues to rise, attention should focus on those groups which are currently under represented. In the short run, one of the greatest needs is to equip all teachers to cater more adequately for students from special groups whose educational needs are being met imperfectly. Equally, there is need to sustain present efforts to encourage girls to broaden their choice of secondary school subjects and to raise their -levels of attainment in non-traditional areas.
13.16 Staff development activities, at both primary and secondary levels, should be directed at the following four priority areas identified in Chapter 10:
• encouraging more teachers to direct their efforts to raising their students' general competences;
• encouraging more teachers to adopt rigorous approaches to curriculum content;
• assisting teachers to plan consistent and coordinated approaches to the curriculum;
and
• assisting teachers to identify, and feel confident and competent in teaching students suffering educational disadvantage.
In particular, teachers' capabilities in teaching Aboriginal students, students whose first language is not English and handicapped students must be enhanced if members of these groups are to be accepted as the responsibility of all teachers as a normal part of teaching.
13. 17 Staff development should include both in-service education, and consultant and advisory services. In-service education ranges from whole school activities to courses for individual teachers, along the lines set out in paragraphs 10.42 to 10.44. The provision of consultant and advisory services is equally important, as it assists classroom teachers trying to change their practices.
Capital Expenditure
13.18 In emphasising measures involving recurrent funding, the Committee is giving recognition to the absence of growth in total school enrolments, at least until the early 1990s (see Table 4.5) and the consequent decline in the demand for new capital facilities due to enrolment growth. Demographic trends are quite different from those which obtained when the Commonwealth first entered the direct funding of school capital facilities. The total school population is stable and the pressure for new capital facilities is coming from changes in geographic location and in the distribution between primary and secondary schools, as well as, the shift in population between the sectors. Nevertheless, pressures for additional places from population growth are, and will be, much less than during the big growth period of the 1960s and 1970s.
175
13. 19 The separation of demand generated by changes in population distribution and by inter-sectoral change is not always possible. Since both the government and non- government sectors are experiencing demand for new places generated by enrolment shifts, the Committee believes that, to the extent that the Commonwealth is providing capital funds for new places, there should be a reasonable balance (in terms of community needs) in Commonwealth provisions for the two sectors. Nonetheless, there is a danger that provision of facilities to meet inter-sectoral changes of distribution within the school population will lead to duplication of effort and, in some cases, the creation of new places in schools unable to offer either satisfactory physical facilities or a comprehensive educational program. In this connection, it should be noted that the Commonwealth has recently modified its funding arrangements to reduce the possibility of duplication.
13.20 Another source of demand for capital funds is the physical state of present facilities and their aptness for present uses. While the worst deficiencies of the 1960s have been overcome, there remains a continuing demand for upgrading. Many schools are old and have had inadequate maintenance programs.
13.21 Upgrading is likely to be required to support the increased participation in senior secondary schooling. Senior classes tend to be smaller than junior secondary classes and some require complex and expensive equipment. As well, new technology and new teaching practices render some existing facilities obsolete.
13.22 There is also the need to modify facilities for handicapped students. As one of the effects of Commonwealth involvement in special education has been the encourage- ment of these children to pursue their studies, there is a residual demand for the upgrading of facilities to cater for them.
13.23 Funds for the construction of libraries have been provided by the Common- wealth since 1969. Libraries remain as an earmarked element in the Capital Grants Program. The recent review of the Capital Program observed that most school libraries were now housed in buildings approximating the standards the Commonwealth had set (I). Special provision for library buildings and major equipment may no longer be necessary.
I3.24 The Committee has not included the Capital Grants Program among its highest priorities. Overall, school enrolments will not grow. Increasingly, the demand for places generated by population mobility should be able to be met by education authorities. Some transfer of resources from the Capital Grants Program to higher priority recurrent needs seems appropriate. The Capital Grants Program might then give priority to upgrading of school buildings to accommodate new teaching technologies, increased participation in Years II and 12 and the modification of facilities for handicapped students.
RECOMMENDA nONS
General Recurrent Grants
13.25 Since the Commonwealth is not directly engaged in school administration, except in the Australian Capital Territory, and is not in a position to determine'the precise ways in which the prime goal set out in paragraph 13.13 will be pursued, the Committee 176
believes that general recurrent funding should be provided through formal agreements negotiated with government and non-government school authorities. Under such agree- ments, school authorities would undertake to apply the funds for defined purposes and to enter into reporting arrangements which would meet Commonwealth requirements.
13.26 Recommendation J
Commonwealth general recurrent grants to government and non-government schools should be directed, by way of negotiated agreements, towards the priority areas of:
• improving among students in primary. and particularly junior primary, schools, the development of the general competences of"
- acquiring information;
- conveying information;
- applying logical processes;
- performing practical tasks as individuals; and - performing practical tasks as members of a group.
• improving the attainment of competences among disadvantaged groups as a basis for raising their participation in Years 11 and 12;
• obtaining approximately equal representation and attainment of girls in major subject areas; and
• enhancing the competence of teachers in bringing about the necessary improve- ments.
13.27 To complement the clarification of Commonwealth objectives and the introduction of negotiated agreements, the Committee believes that reporting require- ments should be altered considerably. Certification of expenditure must, of course, be required and, in order to be placed within the present subsidy scheme, non-government schools must continue to provide income and expenditure details. Beyond these requirements, the Committee proposes that information requirements be more closely tied to Commonwealth objectives than they have in the past.
13.28 If the prime goal is raising the general competences of all students, reporting should be of progress towards this goal in terms of indicators identified as relevant by the Commonwealth. The Committee has considered whether reporting requirements under negotiated agreements might be satisfied by a national testing scheme. In the light of the discussion in Chapter 8, it has concluded that the balance of advantage is against such a scheme. Instead it proposes that the Commonwealth identify a limiteq range of indicators relevant to the improvement of the general competences and the raising of participation.
13.29 These indicators should relate both to attainment and to participation.
Attainment measures should be criterion referenced. Emphasis on their use should be on incremental change within school systems rather than on comparisons across systems. In these circumstances a limited amount of periodic testing, with results cross classified by student characteristics, should suffice.
13.30 The Committee recognises that the attainment of all the general competences is not easily measured; for instance, the assessment of competences in the performance of practical tasks, individually or in groups, is more likely to be effected through classroom observation than through any written test. It suggests that the.Commonwealth confine its requirements to a limited range of attainment measures in recognition of school and school 177
authorities' responsibilities for reporting on the broader achievements of schools and of the impracticability of the Commonwealth's becoming involved in detail. The Committee also recognizes that new tests may need to be developed in some areas and by some authorities, This will take time and funds. It may not be unreasonable for the Commonwealth to assist by permitting its general recurrent funds to be used for this purpose.
13.31 Recommendation 2
Recipients of Commonwealth general recurrent funds should be required to provide every three years:
• evidence of levels of student attainment in areas of skill associated with the general competences, as measured by criterion referenced tests and cross class(fied by principal social group, that is, socio-economic status, gender, rurallurban location, English speaking background and Aboriginality;
• post-compulsory participation rates by socio-economic status, gender, urbanI rural location, English speaking background and Aboriginality; and
• statistics on post-compulsory subject choice by girls and on the number and proportions presenting for major examinations or certificates in each major subject.
Capital Grants
13.32 To support the main thrusts of Commonwealth policy in respect of school level education, some capital expenditure will be necessary. The discussion of capital funding in paragraphs 13.18 to 13.24, indicated that such expenditure should be dIrected to specific purposes.
13.33 Recommendation 3
In continuing to provide capital funds, the Commonwealth should increasingly afford priority to:
• upgrading school buildings to accommodate new teaching technologies;
• upgrading existing schools to support increased participation in Years 11 and 12;
and
• modifying existing schools to meet the needs of handicapped students.
Transfer of Specific Purpose Programs
13.34 The Committee believes it appropriate that funds currently applied through some specific purpose programs be added to those provided for general recurrent purposes and form part of negotiated agreements extended to cover the principal aims of these programs. The following programs and part programs lend themselves to combination with the General Recurrent Grants Program and coverage under formal agreements:
178
English as a Second Language - General Support Element Multicultural Education
Ethnic Schools Program - proportion currently devoted to insertion classes Country Areas Program