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Commonwealth must not water down key national responsibilities in education in response to Commission of Audit

01 May 2014

The Smith Family has called on the Federal Government not to water down its key national responsibilities in education as it weighs up its response to the Commission of Audit’s report released today.

The Commission’s recommendations include:

  • Significantly reducing the size of the Commonwealth Department of Education.
  • Transferring all policy and funding responsibility for government and non-government schools to the States.
  • Transferring policy and funding responsibility for vocational education and training to the States.
  • Abolishing all Commonwealth vocational education and training programs.

The national children’s education charity – which supports more than 110,000 low income children and their parents with school costs, access to learning programs and creating a pathway to post-school study and employment – said the Commonwealth must continue to play the role of the nation’s chief leader in education.

“Whatever actions it pursues in response to the Commission’s recommendations, there are some fundamental responsibilities in education that the Commonwealth must not walk away from,” said The Smith Family’s CEO, Dr Lisa O’Brien.

“Given the critical role education plays in the nation’s wellbeing and productivity, the Commonwealth must retain its leadership role in both improving educational outcomes for all young people, as well as ensuring disadvantaged children and young people are able to realise their full potential.

“That includes maintaining oversight to ensure the effectiveness of our education system, shape and monitor our national curriculum, and collect and report education data.

“We need ongoing national data analysis for different groups of students, such as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students or those from low socio-economic backgrounds, so we know if we’re ‘moving the dial’ in terms of improving educational outcomes.

“They must not compromise these fundamental responsibilities which will put at risk the strides we need to take in improving the education of our children – particularly those from financially disadvantaged backgrounds who are already well behind their more advantaged peers across key education indicators.

“We’re encouraged that the Commonwealth has previously signalled the importance of maintaining its role in terms of national education reporting and the national curriculum.

“However, we’d like to see the Commonwealth acknowledge its responsibility in terms of maintaining the effectiveness of our education system. Particularly, that it’s best placed to identify successful and efficient initiatives that improve educational outcomes and for sharing that knowledge.

“We’ll be watching the Commonwealth’s response to the Commission’s recommendations in this area very closely. It’s important that any changes the Commonwealth makes in education it strengthens its leadership role, not waters it down,” said Dr O’Brien.