Achieving equity requires additional resourcing
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 128 , 21 July 2023, page no.16
Achieving equity has never meant resourcing all schools in the same way. The challenge, of course, lies in identifying recurrent elements, emerging contextual differences, and allocating funding to enable all students to thrive and to achieve. This is going to require additional resourcing.
The department’s two-year Comprehensive Review of School Resourcing (CRoSR) is in its first quarter, with the initial phase focusing on working with key stakeholders to understand the detailed recurrent educational parameters, contextual factors and associated financial elements of school resourcing that are seen as essential in defining any new model design.
As Semester 2 commences, QTU member consultation meetings gather pace and coverage extends statewide so your voice can continue to be heard. Concerns are already evident from all sectors and roles relating to the significant disparities in current resourcing allocations, in comparison to what is actually required to enable schools to operate effectively and for students to thrive and to achieve in 21st Century educational environments.
Initial feedback indicates that members are united in support of the potential for a bespoke Queensland model design and see this as a critical opportunity to address longstanding deficits in the current resourcing model. However, school communities are also clearly communicating that they cannot sustain any losses of resourcing, as they are already under intense pressure with increasingly complex expectations and limited associated resources to meet these emerging needs.
Additional resourcing is required, and you will see an active campaign in this regard. At the recent 2023 QTU Biennial Conference, delegates voted unanimously to demand that no school experiences a loss of resourcing in achieving equity in a new school funding model. This view is shared by cross-sectoral stakeholders, who join with us in having concerns over the lack of departmental commitment to increasing the quantum of resourcing to fund a new model.
While there is some hope on the horizon, with the federal and state Ministers for Education both signing an agreement to work towards achieving 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard at the Biennial Conference, this is only the first step in a long road.
Yes, we need a new model that responds to the diversity of educational offerings and models across Queensland, encompassing all sectors and modes of educational services and the growing complexity of managing student and staff welfare/wellbeing, student engagement, inclusion, and achievement.
And yes, we are also seeking a departmental commitment that any new model will have the necessary incremental resourcing to enable us to genuinely achieve equity and excellence for state school students, while attracting and retaining quality teachers and leaders.