Education

From early childhood learning to tertiary institutions all South Australian children deserve the highest standard of education to make them job-ready, and to ensure they can function as an adult and contribute to society in whatever productive and positive way they choose.

Our education sector is struggling despite a massive increase in investment through the so-called ‘Gonski 2.0’ reforms. Education outcomes are declining; more children are finishing school without functional literacy or numeracy. More teachers are graduating university courses and entering the profession without the tools and techniques they need to effectively manage classrooms and deliver a quality education. Teachers and schools are being forced to commit more time and resources to managing increasing disruption caused by anti-social and violent behaviour in classrooms.

Education curricula over-emphasise non-core learning and development rather than basic education needs like literacy and numeracy. Students are being indoctrinated into fringe political causes by activist teachers: they’re being told what to think, rather than being taught how to think.

One Nation considers that parents are primarily responsible for their children’s education and have the right to determine where their children attend school and what they are taught. We encourage parents to actively participate in school communities and engage with teachers about their children’s education. We also recognise that parents are ultimately responsible for any disruptive behaviour their children might display in the classroom, and must face consequences accordingly.

One Nation supports public funding of both government and non-government schools; competition ultimately leads to better standards for all students.

OUR POLICIES

Parental responsibility and engagement

One Nation considers that parents are primarily responsible for their children’s education, and will encourage greater parental responsibility and engagement by:

• establishing school boards, elected by students’ parents, with parents comprising a minimum 50% of board membership; school boards will be accountable to the school community; and
• introducing a school voucher system to give parents real choices about where their children are educated.

Curriculum reform

One Nation strongly supports a back-to-basics approach with education, with a focus on reversing the decline in literacy and numeracy outcomes. We oppose students being indoctrinated with political views. We’ll improve the curriculum by:

• removing subjects outside those traditionally taught in schools, and re-emphasising subjects such as English, mathematics and sciences to improve students’ literacy and numeracy;
• ensuring the delivery of social sciences education is balanced and evidence-based; and
• stripping the curriculum of any ideological or politically-biased material, such as trans/gender ideology or indigenous activism.

Better education outcomes

One of the key principles rarely applied to education outcomes and student behaviour is accountability, and One Nation considers this has contributed significantly to the decline in learning outcomes. One Nation will emphasise accountability in the delivery of education by:

• ensuring NAPLAN results are used for what they were intended: identifying problems and gaps, and moving immediately to address them;
• making schools responsible for ensuring students achieve all the requirements of their year level before being permitted to move to the next grade;
• working with universities to ensure better standards are required of teaching graduates so they are fully equipped to deliver high quality education;
• developing teacher contracts which recognise and reward those whose students achieve high academic results while imposing strict penalties – such as terminating employment – on those who seek to indoctrinate children with their personal political views; and
• empowering schools to enforce discipline in classrooms and on playgrounds – all schools will be required to develop strict policies and protocols for dealing effectively with disruptive or misbehaving students, including processes which allow students to be suspended and expelled.

Regarding the last point, many South Australian schools have ineffective or selectively applied ‘bullying’ policies that in many cases appear to punish victims more than they do perpetrators. One Nation will require a review of every South Australian public school’s bullying policies with perpetrators to face immediate suspension, or expulsion and referral to remedial schools. Bullying in our schools will not be reduced or stopped until perpetrators – and education staff who fail to enforce strict bullying policies, or parents who fail to apply discipline with their children or threaten education staff – face real consequences.