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Below average
Australia falls behind in public education funding as inequity gap widens .
By Wade Zaglas
The latest Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) report highlights that Australia ’ s public spending on education is shrouded by private investment and is below the OECD average .
Dr Emma Rowe , an expert in school funding and education policy at Deakin University , says the report highlights how Australia ’ s education system “ depends on an unusual degree of private spending , concealing the true public investment ”.
“ The OECD report shows that Australia stands out for its over-reliance on private expenditure – that is , expenditure by households and other private entities ,” Rowe said .
“ When it comes to total expenditure on education , Australia spends more than the OECD average – but if you look at how this is broken down , our public expenditure is lower than the OECD average .
“ Public expenditure refers to spending by public authorities , such as central , regional and local governments . Our public expenditure is lower than the OECD average .”
The school funding and education policy expert also pointed out that comparable countries such as Canada and Finland provide more public funding that us , and the UK ’ s public expenditure is comparable to Australia ’ s .
“ Our expenditure is high when omitting differences between private and public expenditures – but when these differences are highlighted , it shows that a higher proportion comes from private sources . This points to higher levels of privatisation within Australia ’ s education system , in that our system relies on a greater proportion of private expenditure ,” Rowe concluded .
The Australian Education Union ( AEU ) also confirmed the difference in public and private expenditure and the fact that “ public investment into Australia ’ s public education system is below the OECD average ”.
Notably , the OECD ’ s Education at a
Glance report stated that Australia “ boasts the highest rates of return on investment in the OECD in terms of increased lifetime earnings , increased taxation revenues and lower social costs ”.
However , despite the benefits of increasing public investment in education , Australia ranks 19th out of 37 countries , “ well below the OECD funding average per student ”.
In terms of private expenditure on school funding , however , Australia registers as the third-highest of OECD countries , equating to more than 2.6 times the OECD average . The AEU also highlighted several key comparisons from the report :
• Australia spends “ significantly ” less than the US , UK , Canada and the EU on public education , per student .
• Australia is behind only Columbia and Turkey in the level of “ public investment as a percentage of total education educational expenditure in the OECD ”.
• Australia ’ s private expenditure on educational institutions is the thirdhighest across the OECD countries , trailing only the US and the UK at $ US4,505 per student .
• When it comes to vocational education spending per student , Australia is fourthlast in the OECD , above only the Russian Federation , Mexico , Lithuania and Turkey .
• Australia spends on average 36 per cent less per student in vocational education than the OECD average .
• By far , Australia has the highest return per public dollar invested in upper secondary education , “ with $ US4.90 return per dollar invested for men ( more than double the OECD average of $ US2.20 ) and $ US1.90 return per dollar invested for women ( above the OECD average of $ US1.40 )”. AEU federal president Correna
Haythorpe said the report only reinforced evidence of inequity in Australia ’ s education funding model , an “ inequity which has a deep impact on preschools , schools and TAFE ”.
“ The Education at a Glance report confirms what we know about the national economic and lifelong personal benefits of fully funding public education in terms of increased earnings for workers , increased tax revenues and lower social costs for governments ,” Haythorpe said .
“ The report also confirms that Australia continues to fall behind its OECD peers when it comes to investment into public education .
“ This is a clear demonstration of the inequity in education funding in Australia . Under the Morrison Government , Australia currently languishes behind most other wealthy countries in terms of expenditure on public education , at a time when investment into education should be a crucial source of economic stimulus .”
Haythorpe went on to say that Commonwealth investment in capital works programs at public schools would be one of the most effective ways of providing much-needed economic stimulus across a range of sectors right now .
She added that bringing public schools up to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard ( SRS ) is “ essential ” in schools being able to afford more teachers , support staff and learning programs for students .
“ Public education is the bedrock on which we can build Australia ’ s economic recovery to secure a better future for all Australians .
“ The Morrison Government must prioritise public education in the Federal Budget 20-21 to help lift Australia out of its post-COVID recession and ensure that every child has access to a high quality education ,” Haythorpe said . ■
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