School Funding Should be Better Directed at Reducing Disadvantage

Posted on Thursday February 2, 2012

A confidential report to the Gonski Review of School Funding says that the Australian school system has become segregated between rich and poor with government funding being spent on supporting school choice rather than reducing the achievement gap between rich and poor. >> Read on...

National Equity Funding Programs are too ‘Hit and Miss’

Posted on Saturday December 24, 2011

A study has identified significant problems with the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. The funding is small; it is not well targeted at students or schools and it is not being used in the most effective ways. >> Read on...

Education and Poverty: Confronting the Evidence and Policy Responses

Posted on Tuesday December 6, 2011

US scholar says that addressing the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children will require a broader and bolder approach to education policy than the recent efforts to improve education in the US.< >> Read on...

Reform Council Report Highlights Achievement Gaps

Posted on Wednesday November 16, 2011

A new report by the COAG Reform Council shows continuing large achievement gaps between rich and poor in Australia. >> Read on...

Economic Inequality is the Root Cause of Education Inequality

Posted on Saturday October 15, 2011

A groundbreaking new book shows that increasing economic inequality is fostering greater educational inequality. >> Read on...

Inequity, Disadvantage and Education Outcomes

Posted on Sunday October 9, 2011

There are shockingly large achievement and income gaps between the richest and poorest schools in Australia. Millions in government funding is wasted on the wealthiest private schools which achieve no better results than high socio-economic government schools even though they have double or more their resources. >> Read on...

Public Education and the Disadvantaged Let Down by Labor

Posted on Thursday October 6, 2011

There are shockingly large achievement and income gaps between the richest and poorest metropolitan schools in Australia. The key challenge for the Gonski review of school funding is to provide disadvantaged schools with the funding they need to reduce the achievement gap between rich and poor. >> Read on...

Disadvantaged Students Get Less Opportunities in Science

Posted on Friday June 24, 2011

A new international study shows that disadvantaged students in Australia are, on average, given less opportunity to learn science at school than students from more affluent families. However, some disadvantaged students achieve high results because they get more time on science in school. >> Read on...

Social Segregation in Sydney Schools

Posted on Sunday May 8, 2011

A study of Sydney secondary schools shows increasing ethnic segregation between public and private schools. It says this is a threat to the future of Australian multiculturism. >> Read on...

What is Equity in Education?

Posted on Wednesday March 2, 2011

Equity in education should be seen as a dual objective incorporating an adequate education for all students and similar average outcomes for students from different social groups. >> Read on...

Books at Home Matter

Posted on Saturday January 8, 2011

A study of international maths and science test results has found that the highest-scoring countries are those with the least inequality in test scores. It also found that countries in which the number of books in the home is strongly related to individual student test scores tend to have higher average test results and less variation in results. >> Read on...

Comprehensive School Systems Do Better Than Selective Systems

Posted on Thursday December 16, 2010

An OECD report shows that school systems which group students by ability tend to have lower overall average results and larger achievement gaps between rich and poor than those that provide for all students regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. >> Read on...

Parents' Effort Key to Child's Educational Performance

Posted on Sunday November 28, 2010

A new study has found that parents’ efforts towards their child’s educational achievement is crucial and plays a more significant role than that of the school or child. It found that socio-economic background is the critical factor in influencing the effort made by parents. >> Read on...

Speech on Achievement Gaps and School Funding in Australia

Posted on Saturday October 30, 2010

Speech to the Annual Conference of the Independent Scholars Association of Australia by Trevor Cobbold, National Convenor of Save Our Schools. >> Read on...

Students from Disadvantaged Schools do as well at University as Other Students

Posted on Wednesday September 22, 2010

Students from disadvantaged schools did as well as those from other government and private schools in first-year subjects at the University of Sydney last year. Nearly one in five students from government selective schools failed first-year. >> Read on...

Window of Opportunity to Improve Equity in Education

Posted on Friday September 10, 2010

The Greens and the independents supporting the new minority Gillard Government have an unprecedented opportunity to initiate a serious effort to close the massive achievement gaps between rich and poor, Indigenous and non-Indigenous and remote and metropolitan students. >> Read on...

Unlocking the Gates of School Segregation

Posted on Tuesday August 31, 2010

The children’s charity, Bernado’s, says that a complex and unfair school admissions system and school league tables are entrenching social segregation and education disadvantage in English schools. >> Read on...

Reducing the Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor is a National Priority

Posted on Tuesday August 3, 2010

The massive achievement gap between rich and poor is the biggest challenge facing Australian education today. A huge funding effort is needed to transform our high quality, low equity education system into a high quality, high equity system. >> Read on...

New Evidence of Massive Achievement Gaps Between Rich and Poor in Australia

Posted on Friday July 16, 2010

New studies show massive achievement gaps between rich and poor students in Australia. Students from low income families enrolled in low socio-economic status schools are nearly four years behind students from high income families in high socio-economic status schools in reading, mathematics and science. >> Read on...

Social Segregation in Schools Blights Children and Society

Posted on Tuesday July 13, 2010

Social segregation between schools is increasing in Australia. Its effect will be to reduce the results of students from disadvantaged families, increase the achievement gap between students from rich and poor families and undermine the potential for different social groups in Australia to learn, work and live together with tolerance and mutual understanding. >> Read on...

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