Gillard doesn't trust Principals to make decisions
16 Dec 2009
Media release The Myschool website will be merely window dressing unless the Government increases the decision making power of principals and school governing councils to act on that information, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.
The Opposition supports calls for increased local autonomy from Leonie Trimper and Andrew Blair, representing the Primary and Secondary Principals Associations,"" said Mr Pyne.
Despite the Minister for Education's claims in the media that she supports increased autonomy for principals, this hasn't been reflected in her actions. The programs in her so-called Education Revolution have shown a distinct lack of faith in the decision making ability of those at the chalkface.
Ms Gillard poured billions into State Government coffers rather than giving funding directly to schools which resulted in what has become known as the schools stimulus debacle.
Principals were ignored and Governing Councils treated with contempt. The waste and mismanagement in the schools stimulus debacle is well documented, and the program is still under investigation by the auditor-general.
The Labor Government's new website Myschool will just be a source of further frustration for parents and principals who remain largely hamstrung by their State Education Departments from being able to initiate effective reforms in their own schools.
So long as principals and Governing Councils are unable to make decisions in their own schools, increased transparency about school performance is pointless. The Coalition supports transparency in as much as it can assist local school authorities develop responses to those areas where their school is not achieving the results that its students deserve.
In October the Government released the 'Principal Autonomy Research Project', which made 16 recommendations for increasing local autonomy for schools. Despite claims by Julia Gillard that this report was a fundamental part of the so-called 'Education Revolution', this has proven to be all talk - with 15 of those 16 recommendations falling by the wayside.
The Coalition will work to increase principals' and governing councils' autonomy if elected, to complement school transparency measures. Anything less is like asking a boxer to fight with one arm tied behind his back.
December 16, 2009
Media contact:
Adam Howard
0400 414 833