Fiona Mueller, Director of Research at the Page Research Centre, wrote a commentary article in the Australian:
Politicians are skilled at setting expensive policy targets that sit way beyond their terms of office – and for which they are unlikely ever to be held accountable.
In 2013, the nine federal, state and territory education ministers set a target for “Australia considered to be a high-quality and high-equity schooling system by international standards by 2025”.
Twelve years later, only a Christmas miracle could have made that happen.
As the end of the year looms, is anyone auditing that 2025 target? Taxpayers know all too well that massive increases in education funding (approaching $100bn a year) have had little impact on results.
The spending has not resolved concerns about Australian academic standards, curriculum content, teacher training, assessment and reporting practices, or education research.
National and international data, analysed in countless government reports and other papers, show too few Australian students demonstrating proficiency in English and Mathematics, Science, and Civics and Citizenship.
