Statement 1: Budget Overview (Continued)
Education — delivering our reform agenda
The Government's ambitious education reform agenda has entered the implementation phase and benefits are beginning to flow to students from early childhood through to university.
Early childhood
Research shows that a child's first five years sets the course for the rest of their lives. The Australian Government, in partnership with state and territory governments, is making a record investment in early childhood, ensuring every child gets the best start in life.
Under these reforms, every child will have access to a quality early childhood education program, for at least 15 hours per week in the year before they start school. The new National Quality Agenda for early childhood education and care will also introduce improved, nationally‑consistent educator‑to‑child ratios and staff qualification requirements.
Schools
The Government has invested record amounts in schooling, almost doubling Commonwealth expenditure on schooling since coming to office. This investment has delivered a computer for every secondary student in the country, rejuvenated school buildings across Australia, and contributed to improving the quality of our school teachers.
This Budget includes extra funding of $17.0 million for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, to allow them to deliver on the national reform priorities agreed by Commonwealth, State and Territory education ministers.
The Government is currently working in a considered and collaborative way with the States and Territories, the non‑government school sector and other stakeholders to consider future funding arrangements following the Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report. The Budget includes $5.8 million to conduct further policy and technical work, as recommended in the Final Report. This work will inform future school funding arrangements.
Higher education
The Government is delivering on its substantial commitment to increasing funding to universities. Over the four years from 2012‑13, the Government will invest $38.8 billion in higher education teaching and learning. Additionally, Government funding to the university sector in 2011 was around 30 per cent higher than in 2007. This is as a result of the Government's response to the Bradley Review.
From 1 January 2012, the Government uncapped the number of Commonwealth supported places for undergraduate courses, resulting in a significant increase in university places. To implement this new demand‑driven funding system, the 2012‑13 Budget will provide an additional $1 billion for Commonwealth supported places at public universities. This brings the total additional demand‑driven funding provided by the Government to $5.2 billion.
In this Budget, the Government is introducing a $54.0 million package of measures that aims to encourage participation, improve quality and supply of mathematics and science teachers, and reward high performing students to encourage them to continue on with their studies and ultimately to consider a career in maths and science.
Training more students in these fields will help Australia meet emerging skills shortages and deliver a highly skilled, productive and innovative workforce.
The Government is also re‑affirming its commitment to helping disadvantaged students succeed at university, increasing investment for the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program and other equity measures to more than $1.0 billion over the forward estimates. In 2012, a record 40,000 university offers were made to disadvantaged students.
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