I found the schools I visited in Finland to be much more relaxed than those I am familiar with in Australia. But this was not the lazy feeling of relaxation one feels on a holiday, rather it was a relaxed ...

As the Gillard government begins trialling its Locally Empowered Schools initiative this year, Western Australia continues with its own version of principal autonomy. Independent Public Schools (IPS) has been touted as a means of providing power to principals. However, a ...

We’ve had reviews and reports before but the Review of Funding for Schooling has changed the debate maybe forever, which is about the same length of time it might take to implement its recommendations. The Gonski review already represents something ...

The Gonski report exemplifies the adage that one should not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. The report demonstrates that it is possible to create a school funding system that is acceptable to most, even if ...

The Australian Parents Council (APC) has given in-principle support to the proposed future directions outlined in the Gonski report. That said, there is a huge amount of detail to be worked through as the concepts and proposed structures contained in ...

The Gonski report has fostered much discussion, clarification and awareness of the financing of schools in Australia – and this is to be welcomed. Unfortunately, however, the report is deficient in a number of key areas. The panel’s task has ...

First, a declaration. I made a submission to the Gonski review’s Emerging Issues Paper. I argued that funding for rural schooling should include an amount for community sustainability. Why? Because vibrant, productive rural communities are integral to the long term ...

The Gonksi review has attempted to address two long-standing and intensifying sets of issues in the funding and governance of Australian schooling. Its innovative and well researched report that includes numerous recommendations to address these issues now confronts another set ...

A former director general of the NSW Department of education, Ken Boston arrived back in Australia after 10 years in England and declared he was pleased with the introduction of vocational options into school education in NSW. He used the ...

It has become a cliche to respond to the recently released Gonski report on school funding by saying “the devil’s in the detail”. On the face of it, the main directions of the report’s recommendations – new shared funding arrangements ...