Position Paper effective from July 2008

1. Position Paper effective from July 2008

2. Position Statement 2008 APPA seeks recognition from governments and education authorities that Australian primary schools have been extraordinarily successful for many years in providing the educational foundation for our Australian society. This success must be protected if we are to meet the emerging challenges of the twenty-first century.

3. APPA Statements National Primary School Curriculum Staffing Schools that serve disadvantaged communities Student Behaviour in Primary Schools Funding Formulae Better Educational Outcomes

4. What is our Position? - Curriculum The primary curriculum Provisos are: NC must specify the minimum essential content must provide scope for considerable adaptation to suit local circumstances the needs of Primary rather than Secondary must be a starting point staffing of schools to teach mandated area of curriculum involvement from the beginning of leading teachers and principals in the process of design of a NC. In late July a Primary Curriculum Working Party will develop a Primary Curriculum Discussion Paper for broad consultation.

5. APPA Recommends Core Set of Learning Areas - APPA research (In the Balance) has shown that large numbers of schools have found that there is too much to teach within the available instructional time. APPA has adopted a Charter – Core Areas of Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Social Education. APPA recommends that the Charter become the basis for extended discussions with curriculum authorities.

6. Managing Changes in Primary Curriculum Decisions about form and content of PC are results of political process. Digital communications – increased rate of curriculum change. National meetings occur frequently without practising educators being involved. APPA believes there should be a moratorium on change until appropriate consultation with primary school educators occurs.

7. National sample testing APPA supports national sample testing on a cyclical basis undertaken by MCEETYA supports participation in TIMMS as a way of benchmarking students against international benchmarks urges caution when commenting on results of international testing programs - factors that contribute to differences among nations and among Australian jurisdictions are complex and explanations of them are largely speculative.

8. APPA is concerned about how Performance Data is used APPA opposes league tables because: they assign responsibility to school staff only league tables do not fairly report the performance of schools as they do not consider the multiplicity of factors contributing to school performance holding schools accountable can have a negative impact on the morale of schools. APPA encourages use of national data to monitor performance of groups such as indigenous children - has led to concerted efforts to redress problems related to literacy and numeracy.

9. Individual Learning Plans Prior to 2007 election, the Labor Party was committed to the development of individual learning plans (ILPs) for all students in the acquisition of reading, writing and numeracy skills. APPA has serious concerns about mandating ILP’s for ALL Students – resources needed could far outweigh benefits for many students.

10. Reporting to Parents • APPA supports the principle of reporting to parents in everyday language. • APPA does not support the adoption of a single mandatory method of reporting. Schools should have the autonomy to adapt the procedures suitable for their community.

11. Sustained Intervention • Early Intervention is a critical element of successful Primary Schooling. • Many of the problems that challenge students in their first year of school persist and are not amenable to a ‘quick fix’. Further, some children develop problems later in their primary years. The idea that all children should be competent learners by the time they complete Year 1 is an attractive prospect but unfortunately constitutes a widely held myth.

12. Specialist Support APPA knows that not every teacher is an expert in every subject area and not all schools can cover every key learning area as well as they would like. Policies that imply that one size fits all will not work across all of Australia’s primary schools. Communities served by schools are not all the same. Primary schools will have diverse curriculum strengths based on each school’s distinctive profile. Resourcing should allow each school to develop and specialise in at least one curriculum area in addition to Literacy & Numeracy – selected on basis of student need, staff availability, community support, school profile and tradition.

13. Staffing Schools that serve disadvantaged communities • Teacher Supply • Performance Pay • Leadership in Primary Schools • Student Behaviour • Funding Mechanisms

14. Performance Pay APPA is opposed to the development of performance pay system based principally on performance in test scores. Performance pay has the potential to undermine the teamwork that is the key factor of successful schools. APPA expects ample opportunity for trials and critique by members of the profession.

15. Leadership in Primary Schools Research shows that one third of primary principals have been unable to appoint suitable teachers to fill vacant positions – especially in schools with significant proportions of children with special needs and in less preferred locations.

16. Leadership in Primary Schools Research – In the Balance: The future of Australia’s primary schools, reported that principals were under pressure. Leadership model for Primary schools is lean and based on an outmoded view of primary education. Significantly fewer leadership positions are allocated to primary schools in comparison to secondary schools. Time spent on administrative tasks needs to be reduced and access to skilled and trained administrative personnel increased.

17. Student Behaviour Increase in numbers of students diagnosed with disabilities who are now in regular classrooms is impacting on everyone. - APPA believes there are not enough resources - takes too long to have children assessed - criteria are too restrictive. Extreme Behaviour APPA believes that there is a need to set up a dedicated fund to support schools. Problems with Socio–Economic origins Review SES funding so that allocations to disadvantaged schools enable their students to achieve.

18. APPA’s Response to Student Behaviour APPA believes that the resources allocated by governments for this purpose are plainly insufficient, unfair to the children and their teachers. A substantial increase in the level of funding is urgently needed. APPA urges governments to increase the recurrent grant of all primary schools.

19. Funding Mechanisms Discretionary Use of Funds Competitive, Submission–based Funds Funding Formulae – the importance of Resources Resource Standards Funding Anomaly for Government Primary Schools

20. Funding Formulae Discretionary use of funds APPA supports the adoption of funding mechanisms that maximize the discretionary use of the funds at school level. APPA is opposed to tied grants that restrict the use of funds to purposes that have been specified in funding agreements, except in exceptional circumstances.

21. Competitive submission-based funding APPA observes an increasing application by governments of limited pools of funding for which schools can compete by making written submissions. APPA believes that this form of funding should be restricted to non-essential activities and that application and acquittal processes should be kept as simple as possible.

22. Funding Formulae • APPA rejects claims that more resources will not address the challenges faced by schools. • Not all schools have the same need for additional government funding. • Some schools have strong community support, others are situated in communities with limited support and a high enrolment of children with special needs.

23. Resource Standards Average Government School Recurrent Cost (AGSRC) is used in various government funding formulae. APPA’s research has shown that current funding formulae do not adequately target school need with some schools enrolling students in low socio-economic communities receiving less per student than schools serving high socio-economic communities.

24. Resource Standards • Research has shown that schools with large numbers of students at risk of failing to perform satisfactorily at school for socio-economic reasons require approximately twice the per student level of funding for each student attending the school – in other words twice the AGSRC.

25. Funding Anomaly Commonwealth general recurrent grants for schools are calculated as proportions of the primary and secondary AGSRC, a mechanism which strongly favours secondary schooling. For Government primary schools, this bias is further compounded by the application of different per student rates – primary schools received 8.9% of the primary AGSRC whereas secondary schools received 10% of the secondary AGSRC.

26. Delivering Better Educational Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools Wherever possible, funding streams should be consolidated into a global general recurrent grant. Recurrent funding for primary schools in all sectors should be indexed to a common SES measure. The minimum recurrent grants to government school systems for primary education should be increased from 8.9 per cent to 10 per cent of the AGSRC to take effect in 2009.

27. Delivering Better Educational Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools • The weightings for the SES index should be adjusted so that government and non-government schools in the lowest quintile of the SES distribution receive a per student recurrent income twice the amount of that allocated to schools at the median. • The recurrent block grant for government primary schools should be composed of individual school grants, that are indexed according to the SES model used to calculate non-government recurrent school grants. • The individual amounts for each government school recurrent grant should be published using the same protocols as those currently in place for reporting non­government recurrent school grants.

28. Delivering Better Educational Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools • The Australian Government's primary general recurrent grant should be progressively increased so as to achieve parity with the secondary AGSRC by 2012. • All funding for infrastructure and capital works should be allocated on the basis of need so that the schools with the most inadequate facilities are able to reach a national standard. • Targeted programs should more adequately reflect the importance of primary education.

29. Delivering Better Educational Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools • The level of support for schools enrolling students with disabilities should be increased. • Targeted programs should address the problem of extreme student behaviour. • A new targeted program should provide for schools to develop their capacity to work collaboratively with other agencies and community groups in order to alleviate educational disadvantages.