Tom Alegounarias, former head of the NSW Education Standards Authority, said the importance of the issue could not be underestimated as the focus of students in need affects the work required of teachers, the expectations of students and teachers, and the support required of systems.
“The aggregation of advantages and disadvantages is the result of all sorts of issues including social, economic and policy. It creates demands that complicate current issues of accessibility and equality,” said Allegonarias, Head of the Center for Educational Measurement and Evaluation at the University of Sydney.
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One reason for this trend, he said, is that society is more mobile and families moving homes and schools have the overall effect of sorting people into more specific socio-economic classes. People seek to relocate to keep up with the economic level to which they aspire. The equity we seek from education is becoming more and more difficult.”
Bonheur said changes are also evident across sectors: The share of high achievers (students who score in the highest bracket) in public schools fell from 50 percent in 2005-2006 to 42 percent in 2021. In the Catholic sector, it declined and has remained steady over the same period (23 per cent), while the percentage of all outstanding achievers in the independent sector increased from 27 per cent to nearly 35 per cent. Most of this growth has occurred since 2016, he said.
Jordana Hunter, director of the education program at the Grattan Institute, said there are undoubtedly advantages to the education system that increase the likelihood of collecting outstanding and disadvantaged students in different schools.
“This is a real challenge for Australian education and leaders need to work even harder to overcome the negative impacts on students,” Hunter said.
“Families should be able to feel confident that their children will receive an excellent education at their local school, wherever that may be.
Funding can help, but there are other strategies to explore as well. With all we have learned about how to use technology effectively, there is no good reason why a public school student in a disadvantaged, regional or remote area cannot access the best education and excel in their HSC subjects. “
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said reducing the academic gap between low and high school SES students is a key goal for the government to ensure students have equal opportunities in their career, training or higher education path.
Students from a disadvantaged background receive more funding than those who do not. Schools then need to use this funding to deliver the best outcomes for their students. They said regional schools benefit from the Rural Access Gap Program, which invests more than $365 million in Internet and technology.
The HSC “Best in Class” program has also been established, where the state’s best teachers support high performance target high schools, with more than 6,000 teachers in 650 schools supported by the initiative.
High School Board of Directors Chairman Craig Petersen said equity must be addressed across schools and sectors to ensure national academic performance is up and there is no further decline, citing the deteriorating Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores.
“We can’t stand the students not realizing their potential,” he said.
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Originally published at Melbourne News Vine
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