IMPROVING THE SYSTEM FOR CHILDREN, STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND PARENTS

• Your first tertiary degree is free
• Re-funding the state school system
• Education should begin earlier, and later
• Re-engineering HECS to attract more teachers
• Helping teachers to “go bush”
• Ending “poverty placement”
• Raising apprenticeship salaries

And in more detail...

The Good Party believes the first tertiary degree or diploma for an Australian Citizen should be free. Why? Because a more highly educated and trained workforce would add billions to the nation's bottom line.

Making tertiary education more accessible and attainable should be a national priority. As the OECD says, "Higher levels of educational attainment tend to translate into higher earnings, which in turn generate higher income taxes and social contributions for governments." In short, higher education generates national wealth.

And this initiative doesn’t have to be a burden on Australia’s taxpayers. In Norway, royalties are imposed on the country's gas industry, and part of the revenue raised is used to provide free education. Australia should do the same, or at the very least, a version of it.

Re-funding public secondary school education

For decades, the federal government prioritised the funding of private schools over the public system.

The Labor government has moved to at least partially redress that imbalance, increasing funding for public schools from 20% to 25% (the states and territories fund the remaining 75%). However, many privately-run schools still receive substantial funding, thereby perpetuating the gap between the two systems – public and private.

Parents who can’t afford a private school for their children shouldn’t feel that they have to settle for second best.

The Good Party will lobby hard to provide public school funding with the boost it needs to eliminate the disparity.

 Education should begin earlier, and later

In Australia, formal schooling begins at age five, but not all children are ready. In contrast, top-performing countries like Denmark, Finland, and Japan start formal education later, at ages six or seven, when children are more socially and emotionally prepared to learn. These nations also prioritise play-based learning from age three, with a strong focus on social skills and problem-solving, which continues through to high school.

The Good Party believes Australia should follow this lead: introduce structured play earlier and delay formal schooling. It proposes lowering the compulsory kindergarten age to four, then three, over six years. This would ease the transition for families and provide earlier support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

...top-performing countries like Denmark, Finland, and Japan start formal education later, at ages six or seven, when children are more socially and emotionally prepared to learn. These nations also prioritise play-based learning from age three, with a strong focus on social skills and problem-solving, which continues through to high school

Additional funding for before-school and after-school care

The federal government could usher in this change by underwriting the cost of additional before-school and after-school childcare for these younger Australians. The benefit to the nation would be generations of young Australians who are more adept at accessing their imaginations and have better “people skills.”

It's a widely accepted fact that the cost to the economy of paying for additional childcare would be offset by the stay-at-home parents now freed up to re-enter the workforce.

Re-engineering HECS to attract more teachers

Australia needs more teachers. Work needs to be done to elevate the teaching profession as a career choice. Currently, the fees incurred at university for a bachelor’s degree in teaching (secondary schools) can be north of $70,000. The maximum HECS debt currently allowable is around $127,000.00, which, as a secondary school teacher in your first year of employment, you would immediately have to start repaying.

Choosing to study for a career in teaching could be made far more attractive by waiving the balance of a HECS debt should a university graduate take up a teaching position and remain in the profession for four years.

An inducement for teachers to "go bush"

If urban schools struggle to staff their classrooms, it's almost impossible for schools in regional centres and townships. Here again, a financial incentive might overcome resistance. If you’re a university graduate, whether you teach in the city or the country, you’ll begin repaying your HECS debt from your first pay packet. But what if taking up a position teaching in the bush for four years resulted in your HECS debt being fully reimbursed?

Talented, committed teachers in country schools are key to keeping regional centres and smaller towns viable communities. Innovative strategies are required to make teaching in region more attractive to a wider pool

Talented, committed teachers in country schools are key to keeping regional centres and smaller towns viable communities. Innovative strategies are required to make teaching in region more attractive to a wider pool.

An end to "placement poverty"

Many university courses — education, medicine, social work, et cetera — require students to put in hundreds of hours of practical on-the-job training. Given that students often pay course fees and many accumulate a HECS debt, this is essentially paying to work. Student teachers, for example, may find themselves managing classes, marking homework, performing playground duties, and more because the school is understaffed. And paying out of their own pocket to do so.

This is unfair and unreasonable. Working for free is bad enough. Paying to work is downright wrong. The Good Party would ensure that students are paid at least the minimum wage for placement hours worked, supplementing Youth Allowance and Rent Assistance.

Working for free is bad enough. Paying to work is downright wrong. The Good Party would ensure that students are paid at least the minimum wage for placement hours worked, supplementing Youth Allowance and Rent Assistance

Building resources for teachers

Teachers are crying out for easy access to teaching aides. The Good Party would support the establishment of a national resource that incorporates elements such as videos demonstrating high-quality teaching methods for all subjects, ages, and curricula, as well as rosters of university students available for paid in-class tutoring. Additionally, the resource would include a variety of learning and teaching tool modules to assist teachers in the classroom. With such a resource, teachers won’t have to create every lesson from scratch, and consistency will be brought to what and how our children are taught.

Boost the wages of 1st and 2nd-year apprentices

The minimum hourly wage for a 1st-year electrician's apprentice can be as low as $14.62 per hour. It’s little wonder that 40% of apprentices consider dropping out, and this is in the face of a national skills shortage in the building industry.

Apprentices need to be paid a living wage. The minimum wage in Australia is $21.38, and the Good Party sees no reason why this wage shouldn't be applied to first-year apprentices. The cost to the government budget of subsidising the wages of 1st-year apprentices to $21.38 per hour would be around $75 million, a rounding error. Second-year apprentices should also receive an appropriate rise, the amount adjudicated by the Fair Work Ombudsman. 

[1] (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/private-school-funding-has-increased-at-five-times-rate-of-public-schools-analysis-shows)