State of Our Schools

Every year the Australian Education Union conducts a national survey of public school principals to get the latest information on school resources, staffing and student needs.

Here are the key highlights of the most recent survey which was completed by over 1,400 principals:

 

Class sizes are still too high. Across all primary schools the survey found 80 per cent of classes have more than 20 students.

That is still far too many. Almost one third (32 per cent) of all classes have 26 students or more in them.

 

The supply of teachers is a major issue. Almost 60 per cent of principals reported they had trouble getting the teachers they needed.

A total of 57 per cent said the problem was getting worse.

 

Schools have to rely heavily on fundraising. Principals in 89 per cent of schools said they had conducted fundraising activities in the past year.

A total of 58 per cent said fundraising was very important for their school.

The main things the money raised was used for are:

• Library resources/textbooks
• Sporting teams and equipment
• IT computer hardware and software

 

Principals say the Labor Government should focus on teachers. Principals were asked what they believed the top priorities of the Labor Government should be.

Their top four priorities were:

• Investing more in teachers
• Increasing the number of teachers
• Increasing administrative support in schools
• More specific resources to improve students literacy and numeracy skills

 

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