Australian Politics
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Private schools will pocket an extra $1.7 billion in federal grants next financial year; State-funded universities are the big losers
All schools will share in record spending of $24.4 billion next year, the federal budget papers show.
But a bigger share of spending will go to private schools, which charge parents up to $30,000 a year in tuition fees.
Private schools, including Catholic and elite grammar schools, will receive $14.7 billion in 2021/22 – up $1.7 billion, or 13 per cent from 2020/21.
Public schools, which educate two-thirds of Australian children and get most of their funding from state and territory governments, will receive $9.7 billion in federal funding – up $675 million, or just 7.5 per cent.
The spending gap closes over four years, with funding for private schools soaring 28 per cent to $16.7 billion by 2024/25.
Government school spending will rise 26 per cent to $11.4 billion.
Funding for private schools is artificially low in 2020/21 because the federal government let schools use $815m in advance, to pay for higher COVID-19 costs in 2019/20.
Boarding schools with a high proportion of Indigenous students will be handed $16.6 million in 2021/22 to “remain financially sustainable’’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Literacy and numeracy tests for would-be teachers will be expanded, at a cost of $1 million a year, to weed out graduates who cannot pass a basic maths and English test.
Universities, forced to shed thousands of staff after the financial blow of losing fee-paying foreign students due COVID-19 travel bans, received little extra assistance in the federal budget.
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Police hiring spree found to be discriminatory, 200 eligible men miss out
Police discriminated against men in a female-focused hiring spree that saw 200 men who should have been hired miss out on a job.
The bombshell finding is contained in a Crime and Corruption Commission report tabled in parliament today into a female recruitment strategy employed by the Queensland Police Service under then-Commissioner Ian Stewart between December 2015 to October 2018.
“The discriminatory practices saw different standards applied to female and male applicants, with females selected in preference to male applicants who had performed to a higher standard across entry assessments,” the corruption watchdog found.
“The investigation shows around 2000 male applicants were subject to discriminatory assessment practices which prevented them from progressing through the recruitment process over approximately an 18-month period from July 2016 to the end of 2017.
“If the various discriminatory practices had not been implemented, the CCC estimates approximately 200 more meritorious male applicants would have been successful in their attempt to join the QPS.”
The CCC found that while there was “insufficient evidence” to support criminal action, there was evidence that warranted disciplinary action.
“The CCC plans to take action in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) … against one or more of the (persons of interest) seeking a finding of corrupt conduct,” the report said.
The CCC alleges staff in the recruiting section were so intent on achieving the gender equity targets that they lowered standards and allowed female recruits to progress even though they had failed certain entry requirements.
“By late 2017, in order to achieve the target of 50 per cent female recruitment, some female applicants were approved for progression by methods including:
* lowering the required standard for female applicants on cognitive assessment (including for female applicants who had already previously been told they did not meet the required standard),
* allowing female applicants who had failed aspects of the physical assessment to progress and
* allowing female applicants who had previously been assessed as not suitable on psychological grounds to progress.”
The Courier-Mail broke the news in January 2020 that an investigation was under way after allegations were made of “irregularities” within the recruitment process.
At the time, a QPS spokesman confirmed a review had taken place and an investigation had begun.
“As a result, allegations of irregularities associated with some past police recruiting processes were identified,” the spokesman said.
“These allegations are now subject to investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission and QPS Ethical Standards Command
“In the meantime, the QPS has put mechanisms in place to ensure confidence in more recent and ongoing recruiting processes.”
A statement released by the Queensland Police Service said disciplinary action had been taken against three people and a fourth had since left the service.
“Two QPS employees and a Public Safety Business Agency employee have been suspended as part of an internal disciplinary process,” the statement said.
“Another person identified in the report has since left the QPS.”
Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the QPS accepted the CCC report and would implement all recommendations as a matter of priority.
“The QPS became aware of concerns around recruiting practices following a change of leadership at our executive level and the concerns were immediately reported to the CCC in November 2019,” Ms Carroll said.
“We have fully co-operated with the CCC investigation.
“The conduct alleged in this report is completely disappointing and can I reassure the public that this alleged behaviour does not meet the standards or expectation of our Queensland Police officers and dedicated staff.”
Ms Carroll said six women had been identified as having not met the minimum standards to enter the academy.
But she said all six graduated successfully having met all the required standards to become a police officer.
“While the CCC report identifies that this misconduct ceased in January 2018, I have asked Assistant Commissioner Charysse Pond to conduct a complete review of the QPS recruitment practices to strengthen transparency and to ensure this does not happen again,” Ms Carroll said.
“I am committed to independent, transparent and impartial entry testing for all prospective police recruits.
“When I was sworn in as Commissioner, I said that while it is important to be inclusive and diverse, we should always take the best possible applicants regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
“The public as well as our own police officers rightly expect no favours or preferential treatment for any applicant.”
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Teachers oppose state-wide educational assessment
They are afraid it will show them up as incompetent
Costing millions of dollars every year, education experts have told The Courier-Mail NAPLAN is outdated, misused, and causes undue angst to kids, parents and teachers.
Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said the majority of teachers “loathe” the test and most feel the testing method is “broken”.
”The message from members is clear – NAPLAN in its current form needs to go,” she said.
“It is the Union’s view that in the face of a federal government that, despite the views of the profession that standardised testing is an ill-informed practice that provides little educational value to students, is determined to keep some form of the test in place, the high stakes nature of the program needs to change.”
Ms Richardson said many teachers were pressured to “teach to the test”, with NAPLAN results even used for performance management of staff.
University of New South Wales Professor of Educational Policy Pasi Sahlbeg said his own young son, set to undertake NAPLAN for the first time this year, was “afraid and doesn’t want to go to school”.
“On his first day of school this year he heard about NAPLAN – it’s been such a traumatic experience already and it’s affecting his learning,” he said.
“Australia is the only country to hold onto a census high stakes assessment – we are a bit of an outlier.
“We need clarity on the aims and the purpose of NAPLAN. “The original intent of NAPLAN was to be a low stakes assessment – not anymore.”
Professor Sahlberg said a more effective way of taking the pulse of students’ literacy and numeracy skills would be a sample-based assessment – an idea the teachers’ union also backs.
“Parents should opt in for their students to participate in NAPLAN and the withdrawal form should be made more easily accessible for parents, not hidden behind firewalls as has been the practice this year,” Ms Richardson said.
University of Newcastle Associate Professor Jess Harris said students often felt anxious about the NAPLAN tests.
“It (has become) a high stakes test and it can have significant stress impact on teachers, members of the school and on individual students,” she said.
But the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting authority who oversee NAPLAN say this year’s test may be the most crucial one to date, given it was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief executive David de Carvalho said the test provided key information on how well students were learning the essential skills of reading, writing and mathematics.
“With the cancellation of NAPLAN last year and the interruption of schooling because of COVID the community is eager for information about the impact on learning in literacy and numeracy and the effectiveness of remote teaching and learning,” he said.
“Literacy and numeracy are critical elements of learning and it is important to understand how each student is progressing in establishing these foundations.
“The NAPLAN tests provide valuable information to all schools about the performance of their students, and support the ability of schools to focus teaching on areas of need.
Mr de Carvalho said it was up to the adults in children’s lives, including their parents and teachers, to ensure kids keep “NAPLAN in perspective”.
“The best way you can help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to reassure them that NAPLAN tests are just one part of their school program, and to urge them to simply do the best they can on the day,” he said.
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http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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