Gonski Background Information
"Gonski" refers to David Gonski, who was commissioned back in 2010 by the Minister of Education to be chairman of a committee to make recommendations regarding funding of education in Australia.
The findings and recommendations of the committee were presented to the government in November 2011, whereafter deliberations were entered into by the Federal and state governments to consider its content. The committee's report is known as the Gonski Report. Subsequently, the proposed reforms and funding model became known as "Gonski".
The Gonski Review stressed the need for an equitable school funding system. To address the current imbalances, the review recommended a national needs‑based and sector-blind school funding model. The new funding model would provide a level of base funding to all schools and additional targeted funding to disadvantaged students in order to remove inequities and minimise the identified performance gap. From this, the government adopted the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) which sets out how much it costs for every student to receive a good education.
In 2017, Gonski chaired an independent panel, the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools, commissioned to examine evidence and make recommendations on how school funding should be used to improve school performance and student outcomes. The second Gonski report, referred to as Gonski 2.0, was published on 30 April 2018.
The three priorities recommended in the report are:
- Deliver at least one year’s growth in learning for every student every year
- Equip every child to be a creative, connected and engaged learner in a rapidly changing world
- Cultivate an adaptive, innovative and continuously improving education system
It makes recommendations across the following five areas to address these:
- Laying the foundations for learning
- Equipping every student to grow and success in a changing world
- Creating, supporting and valuing a profession of expert educators
- Empowering and supporting school leaders
- Raising and achieving aspirations through innovation and continuous improvement
