Rufus Black
One of the least talked about issues during the Tasmania election is the most important thing an incoming government will need to tackle: education. The State’s economic and social future depends on education, and we have a crisis on our hands.
The Australian Government recently released its report, The Accord, on the future of higher education, which said by 2050 80% of all jobs will require tertiary education qualifications from a university or TAFE. That means 90% of school students will need to go to university or TAFE.
In Tasmania we are a shockingly long way from that goal.
Today only 55% of young Tasmanians are getting a TCE, and only 31% get an ATAR. These statistics are drastically lower than those across Bass Strait.
What is more troubling is that these numbers are going backwards and badly. In the last 5 years while we have seen our potential year 12 population shrink by 5.8%, the number of students completing their TCE has fallen by 11.8%, and the number getting an ATAR by 11.9%. The number of students completing the subjects needed for university admission has fallen by 10.4%.
Numbers this low imperil the state’s economic future. People will not be able to access better paid jobs to help meet cost of living challenges and our average incomes will fall even further behind the mainland. Lower Tasmanian incomes will only accelerate the departure of young and skilled people from the island.
The education attainment numbers are a handbrake on productivity, which is critical to real wages and quality of life improving and the state being competitive. Without higher productivity we cannot grow the economy fast enough to enable the government to fund health care for our rapidly aging population or provide adequate levels of the services we need.
Low and declining school completion rates are preventing us making progress on severe inequality in Tasmania, an inequality that life expectancy data brings into sharp relief. Within Hobart alone, extraordinary inequality exists between the wealthiest suburbs and the least advantaged. In Sandy Bay, life expectancy is 86 years; in Bridgewater and Gagebrook, life expectancy is 67 years. There are hundreds of years less life being lived in these places in our own city.
Education correlates highly with health, income, and life-expectancy. The educational attainment levels in these areas are very low. Education is the single most powerful lever we have to turn this picture around.
We can change things but it will take a whole of community effort because it is a whole of community challenge not just a school one.
We need to start by valuing education. It is critical to creating a fair society where people can still buy a house and get a job and yet people still talk it down. We need community ambassadors for education. All of our great sporting teams should be promoting it to kids. Sport is a complement to education not an alternative. We need to remember trades need the tertiary education provided by TAFE and that will only increase over time as technology becomes central to our trades. Sometimes it sounds like it is education vs the trades. These false divides are so unhelpful to our future.
We should look to systems around the world where they have seen real gains in education.
They all start by valuing teachers and teaching. Too often when things aren’t working in schools we blame teachers. We have so many outstanding teachers working in very difficult circumstances. You can’t transform education without placing the highest value on teachers and teaching. We need to be champions of our teachers and make it such a valued role it attracts the best people.
Improving school systems support teachers’ ongoing professional growth. Great systems see teachers actively observing and coaching each other and working together in teams.
They have rigorous evidence-based curriculum and outstanding materials prepared for teachers to use in the classroom so they can focus on the students. We know how important this is for maths and literacy teaching. In Tasmania it is even more critical when we have so many teachers teaching subjects like maths, science and languages for which they don’t have the academic background.
School systems that improve quickly provide targeted teaching so no child falls behind and becomes disengaged. Student progress is monitored carefully and if they fall behind they get immediate small group teaching to ensure they catch-up. Systems do this not with more teachers but by reorganising how teachers and classes work.
Improving the school system matters but that alone won’t be enough. We need to tackle the barriers to getting kids to school. We can’t leave it to schools to get the kids there. We need a community wide effort. So many families are struggling. They need help.
We need a summit of our community sector organisations, government agencies, city councils, TAFE and University to develop a collaborative and comprehensive plan.
An incoming government will face a challenging budget but the sort of approach mapped here doesn’t require massive funding. It is about a choice to make education the first priority. It is a choice not just for the government but one that we all need to make. Tasmania’s future depends on it.
Professor Rufus Black is the Vice-Chancellor the University of Tasmania. Previously he was strategic advisor to the Secretary of Education in Victoria and the Founding Chair of the Board of Teach for Australia.