NAPLAN RESULTS SHOW MUCH MORE WORK NEEDED ON EDUCATION POLICY

INDEPENDENT Lyne MP Robert Oakeshott says this week’s NAPLAN results confirm that Australia’s education policy has still not addressed inequity in results from rural, regional, Aboriginal and less affluent communities.
“Australia’s greatest moral challenge remains the gap between education results for students in rural, remote, Aboriginal and less affluent communities as compared to those in metropolitan, non-Aboriginal and affluent communities,” Mr Oakeshott said.
“The gap is a 25 per cent difference in results; a statistic that shows Australia has been failing, over a long period of time, to deliver an inclusive and equitable education policy.
“Clearly defined statistical groups continue to be left behind by policy-makers, and this has massive long-term implications for Australia.
“This gap is Australia’s greatest moral and economic challenge right now.”
Mr Oakeshott said education and innovation were Australia’s ‘meal-ticket’, now and into the future.
“We all know why this area of policy is critical, and it continues to be glaringly obvious in a changing international economy. Sadly though, Australia continues to leave certain groups behind in education policy, and this inequity has long-term implications for our nation,” he said.
“This is why the Bradley review of 2010/2011 was critical, as was the Youth Allowance changes. Both were welcome and important changes in 2011 and will lead to more pathways for more students from disadvantaged areas.
“This year, the focus swings to the Gonski funding review of secondary education, and the review must address these statistical groups being left behind, as well as providing as many seamless, collaborative pathways that link with the Bradley review work on vocational and tertiary education,” Mr Oakeshott said.
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