The majority of direct government funding to the education sector is from state governments, which in real terms has increased by 32 per cent between 2012 and 2022, from $40.6 billion to $53.6 billion.5 However, the federal government has been responsible for most of the growth in spending: between 2012 and 2022, financial assistance from the federal government increased in real terms by 75 per ce. [...] Spending was budgeted to rise from $26.74 billion in 2023 to $31.24 billion by 2027.7 However, this can be expected to rise even further: following the publication of research by the Australian Education Union in 2023 alleging public schools were underfunded, the federal government has announced a plan to increase federal government funding by up to $3 billion per year, with states to increase fun. [...] 8 This $3 billion estimate is subject to the outcome of the federal government’s funding agreements with each of the states, that will be negotiated throughout 2024. [...] The 2023 report Who Teachers the Teachers? An Audit of Teaching Degrees at Australian Universities found that: • The equivalent of just 10 weeks of classes across a four-year Bachelor of Education degree—less than one semester— is dedicated to the teaching of core literacy and numeracy skills. [...] The focus on school funding will fail to improve student outcomes as it fails to address what the critical issues of student teacher training and teaching degrees at universities, and the ideological fixations embedded in the National Curriculum.
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