What to give a child who can’t read?
The results from the latest NAPLAN show that large numbers of students in Years 3 to 9 in Victoria have profound problems with literacy and numeracy. Jennifer Buckingham says Victorian families deserve much better than what both the Labor and Liberal parties have promised.
In the state of Victoria, there are approximately 40,000 students in Years 3 to 9 whose reading and numeracy skills are either at or below the minimum standard that will allow them to learn and achieve at school.
These numbers are calculated using the latest results from the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and school statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That there are large numbers of students either barely literate or illiterate – lacking the fundamental skill for educational success, secure employment, and quality of life – is common knowledge and has been evident for some time.
What did the education policy platforms from the Labor and Liberal parties promise Victorian families in response to this enduring and profound problem with literacy and numeracy?
The Labor party promised to build 10 new ‘tech’ schools, and provide $680 million dollars for building upgrades, plus hundreds of millions of dollars for breakfast clubs, school uniforms, eye-tests and glasses, camps and excursions, and driver training. Only one policy announcement from Labor actually pertained to the core work of schools – teaching and learning – the requirement for all new registered teachers to have completed a course in teaching students with disabilities.
The Liberal party policy platform was even worse in this respect. It expressly acknowledged the lack of improvement in literacy and numeracy results in the state at least since NAPLAN started in 2008, yet proposed no solutions. Instead, it promised $1.2 billion for building upgrades on top of a whopping $4.5 billion in funding for unspecified ‘Gonski’ funding, plus further millions for first aid training for students, 3D printers, foreign languages, student leadership, school safety grants, and mental health initiatives. Not one concrete policy proposal for improving outcomes for students in literacy and numeracy.
There is no doubt that the quality of school facilities is important, and it is a defensible use of public money, within limits. Some of the other programs, such as breakfast clubs, are also good things but most schools where breakfast clubs are needed are already providing them with community support.
Many of the programs dreamt up by the two major political parties, however, would be difficult to justify for inclusion in a school education budget even if schools were excelling at their core function – education. And clearly they are not. Families in Victoria deserve much better. Let’s hope that the Andrews Labor government delivers much more than it promised.
Jennifer Buckingham is Research Fellow, Social Foundations Program at the Centre of Independent Studies. Jennifer’s main area of work is school education, and she has published papers on issues including school funding, boys’ education, teacher training and employment, class size, school performance reporting, and educational disadvantage. She is the author of the policy monographs Boy Troubles (2000), Families, Freedom and Education (2001), Schools in the Spotlight (2003), and Schools of Thought: A Collection of Articles on Education (2009). Her other publications have been on child care, female labour force participation, and NSW trains. She also edited the Centre’s State of the Nation series from 1999 to 2004. Jennifer has been at the forefront of debate on education matters, with more than a hundred articles in major newspapers and regular radio appearances. Jennifer was schools editor at The Australian newspaper from May 2004 to June 2005.
