New plan to bolster schooling as graduation rate dips

Australian students will receive more support to finish year 12 as the federal government attempts to stem the growing drop-out rate at public schools.

The number of Australian children finishing high school has gone backwards, dropping from 85 per cent to 79 per cent in seven years.

The fall is even more pronounced at public schools which have decreased from 83 per cent to 73.6 per cent.

Education Minister Jason Clare said this had to change, and over the next ten years, the federal government will try to turn the tide by introducing a new  funding agreement called Better and Fairer Schools.

“We have a good education (find more information) system, but it can be a lot better and fairer,” he said.

“There are no blank cheques here. I want to invest billions into our public schools and I want to make sure that money makes a difference to the kids who really need it.”

New targets will be introduced to increase the number of students finishing year 12 by 7.5 per cent from 2022 results to 83.8 per cent by 2030.

If achieved, this would be the highest rate of Year 12 certification ever.

To meet this goal, the government will provide support such as catch-up tutoring to help those falling behind and fund wellbeing resources including counsellors and mental health workers.

It will also focus on students from rural and regional Australia, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

In order to maintain the necessary workforce, initiatives will be introduced to attract and retain teachers and provide them with professional learning resources. 

The government also aims to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification, boost student attendance rates to pre-pandemic levels and improve students’ reading and numeracy proficiency.

The NT government will sign the agreement on Wednesday while WA will sign on in the coming months.

However, other states are holding out as negotiations continue over the level of funding each government is expected to provide to reach the Schooling Resource Standard.

The standard is an estimate of how much total public funding a school needs to meet its students’ needs.

The Commonwealth has committed to raising its funding to 40 per cent of the standard in its deal with the NT government, and 22.5 per cent for WA schools.

NSW is hoping the government will lift its contribution to 25 per cent for the state’s public schools from its offer of 22.5 per cent.

The hold outs will have until the end of September to confirm whether they will sign on to the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement or continue with current arrangements.