NEWS
Getting to the real truth of NAPLAN
Walk together
A claim by education minister Simon Birmingham that increased schools funding had failed to produce improvements in results has been described as an “unscrupulous duplicity” by researcher and Save our Schools convenor Trevor Cobbold.
Tens of thousands of Australians are expected to participate in the annual Walk Together march, to be held in every capital city and many regional centres around the country on Saturday 22 October.
Cobbold says, while total funding per student has significantly increased in real terms for private schools, public schools have suffered cuts to funding despite serving the majority of disadvantaged students. “Cuts to public school funding have partly financed the significant increases in private school funding,” says Cobbold in a report. Funding by federal, state and territory governments has favoured private schools, he says, while state governments have cut funding to public schools.
“State governments have substituted federal funding for their own since 2009 and some have even transferred federal recurrent funding for capital expenditure instead of in the classroom.” “Birmingham’s unscrupulous duplicity about trends in school funding is designed to avoid further investment in reducing disadvantage in education. It ignores extensive research evidence demonstrating that increasing funding for disadvantaged students is critical to improving outcomes.”
Dyslexia Empowerment Week Now in its fourth year, Dyslexia Empowerment Week will be held 16–22 October. With as many as 20 per cent of the population estimated to have dyslexia, the week aims to increase awareness around the issue.
You can find suggestions for school activities at dyslexiaempowermentweek. com.au
The march, run by the Welcome to Australia organisation, aims to be “a huge celebration of diversity and a loud declaration that thousands of Australians believe we can become a nation known for our compassion, generosity and welcome”. The organisation also provides support and resources to schools planning Walk Together events. For more information, go to welcometoaustralia.org.au
Events 11–17 17 16–22 16–22 22 28
September Enviroweek (Cool Australia) October International Day for the Eradication of Poverty October Australian Anti-Poverty Week October Dyslexia Empowerment Week October Walk Together 2016 October World Teachers Day
AU STRA L IA N ED U CATO R 91 SP R I N G 2 01 6 5