Schools Urged to Implement Pledge for Disadvantaged Students
Urgent action is needed to dismantle a failed education policy as new data reveals NSW’s most disadvantaged students are falling further behind while a discredited system continues to waste millions in funding.
Local Schools, Local Decisions devolved major financial and staffing decisions from the NSW Department of Education to individual schools, untethered to student need. The policy has proven particularly damaging for disadvantaged communities, where schools lack the resources, staffing and expertise to effectively manage complex funding decisions in response to student need.
The NSW Teachers Federation annual conference will today hear alarming evidence that the policy continues to fragment the public education system and waste valuable teaching time on administration, despite promises to wind it back.
Former state and Commonwealth education department head Michele Bruniges will present new analysis revealing that 25% of NSW schools are now classified as “high concentration disadvantaged” – up from 22% in 2017. The data shows 9% of NSW students now attend these schools – nearly double the proportion since 2017 – with NSW over-represented nationally among high-disadvantage schools.
“This policy has created a two-tier education system where disadvantaged students are denied the support they need,” NSW Teachers Federation President Henry Rajendra said. “Every day we delay dismantling Local Schools, Local Decisions is another day millions in funding flows through a system that is failing students and burning out teachers.”
“We’re seeing teachers and principals handling a threefold increase in students with disabilities while grappling with 1950s-era support systems,” Mr Rajendra said.
Mr Rajendra will move a motion at the Federation’s annual conference calling for the complete dismantling of Local Schools, Local Decisions and its replacement with a centralised response focused forensically on the needs of all students including those from disadvantaged communities. The motion demands immediate conversion of flexible funding into permanent staffing entitlements, centralised allocation based on student need, additional support for schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students, two hours additional release time per week for all teachers, and systematic reduction in class sizes.
Ms Bruniges, who served as Secretary of both the NSW Department of Education (2011-2016) and Commonwealth Department of Education (2016-2023), will detail how the current fragmented approach undermines efforts to address educational disadvantage.
“The evidence is clear – allowing schools to operate as individual islands has failed our most vulnerable students,” Mr Rajendra said. “It’s time for the Minns Government to deliver on its promise and rebuild a public education system that works for every child.”