Advancing equity through public accountability

Mary Ann O’Loughlin

Executive Councillor & Head of Secretariat

Australian College of Educators National Conference

July 2011

Outline

• Reform of federal financial relations– National Agreements– National Partnerships– new accountability arrangements

• National Education Agreement• National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy• Value of public accountability for advancing equity

2

Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations

• ‘represents the most significant reform of Australia’s federal financial relations in decades’– governs all policy and financial relations between

the Commonwealth and the States.

3

National Agreements

• In specific areas of service delivery:– Education, Skills and Workforce Development, Healthcare,

Disability Services, Affordable Housing, Indigenous Reform

• Define the objectives, outcomes, outputs, and performance indicators

• Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and the States and Territories

• Ongoing financial contributions from the Commonwealth

4

National Partnerships

• New incentive payments to drive reform:– to support delivery of specified projects– to facilitate reforms– to reward jurisdictions that deliver on national reforms

• National Partnership Agreements define the objectives, outputs and performance benchmarks– generally time-limited

5

Role of the COAG Reform Council

• Independent organisation set up by COAG to assess and publicly report on the performance of governments

• For National Agreements– reports annually to COAG on a comparative analysis of

governments’ performance in meeting objectives and outcomes

• For National Partnerships– reports on performance as part of reports on National

Agreements– assesses achievement of performance benchmarks by States

before the Commonwealth makes reward payments

6

7

Structure of the National Education Agreement

Ou

tco

mes

Objective

All Australian school students acquire the knowledge and skills to participate effectively in society and employment in a globalised economy.

All children are engaged in and

benefitin g from schooling

Young people are meeting basic literacy and numeracy standards, and overall levels are improving

Australian students excel by international standards

Young people make a successful transition from school to work and further study

Schooling promotes the social inclusion and reduces the educational disadvantage of children, especially Indigenous children

Per

form

ance

In

dic

ato

rs

Proportion of children enrolled in and attending school, by Indigenous and SES status

Literacy and numeracy achievement of Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students in national testing, by Indigenous and SES status

Proportion of students in the bottom and top levels of performance in international testing

Proportion o f 20-24 year olds having attained at least Y ear 12 or equivalent, by Indigenous and SES status

The proportion of Indigenous students completing Year 10

Proportion of 18 -24 year olds engaged in full time employment, education or training at/ above Certificate III

Targ

ets

Lift the Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate to 90 per cent by 2015

Halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade

At least halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 or equivalent by 2020

Halve the gap in literacy and numeracy by 2018

• Analyse performance 3 ways:– compare progress with trajectories– highlight significant increases or decreases in results– map changes in the gap between Indigenous and

non-indigenous performance

8

Indigenous students at/above national minimum standard, Year 9 Reading: actual vs. trajectory

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 20180

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Per cent

National trajectory

Actual achievement

Significant improvement between 2008 and 2010

• In Reading, there was some significant progress in achievement for Indigenous children in Years 3 and 7

• In Writing, there was little significant change

• In Numeracy, there was no significant improvement in any jurisdiction in any year

10

Closing the gap: Students achieving at/above national minimum standard

50

60

70

80

90

100

2008 2009 2010

Per cent

Year 3

Indigenous Reading

Indigenous Writing

Indigenous Numeracy

Related National Partnerships

• Early Childhood Education

• Indigenous Early Childhood Development

• National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care

• Smarter Schools– Literacy and Numeracy*– Improving Teacher Quality*– Low Socio-economic Status School Communities

• Youth Attainment and Transitions* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Reward National Partnerships

National Partnership on Literacy & Numeracy

• Aims to deliver sustained improvements in literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students, especially those who are falling behind

• Total funding of $540 million from 2008-09 to 2011–12– reward payments of $350 million in last two years

• Priority areas for reform: – effective teaching of literacy and numeracy– strong school leadership– monitoring literacy and numeracy performance

Basis of assessment

• Mandated measures in reading and numeracy:– students at or above the national minimum standard – students above the national minimum standard – average score of students– Indigenous students at or above the national minimum

standard

• Optional local measures

Target groupBaseline

2009Target 2010

Result2010

Assessment

Target : Improvement of 3.8 percentage points in proportion at or above nationalminimum standard

Year 7 Reading 71.0% 74.8% 68.4% C

Target : A gain of 75 points in the average score

Year 3 to Year 5 Reading - 75 101.2 A

Target : An improvement of 9.0 percentage points in participation rates

Year 3 to Year 5

Reading and Numeracy85.5% 94.5% 90%

B

50.0%

Examples of targets for measures for Indigenous students,Northern Territory

Public accountability as an incentive for reform

• Are the levers strong enough?

The Australian June 2011Sydney Morning Herald June 2011

Catalyst data

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‘Following the woeful performance of Queensland primary school children in national testing last year, the Bligh Government turned to an expert for help. The state’s children need it, after being ranked second-last in the nation.’

The Australian, 4 May 2009

At the heart of the new accountability arrangements is the question of the extent to which governments will learn constructively from feedback about their own performance, and the performance of other governments.