Age editorial

A fair and prosperous nation can only be built on and sustained by equality of opportunity, an unassailable principle that compels, above all, universal access to quality education from early childhood. It is, then, profoundly alarming that many students from rural and regional areas are being denied the educational opportunities available to their city-dwelling contemporaries.

Extensive research by The Age’s education editor, Henrietta Cook, and our data expert, Craig Butt, has revealed a widening achievement gap between city and country students. The performance of regional and rural schools is as much as 20 points behind that of city schools, according to NAPLAN data. Victorian year 9 regional students are a full year behind city students, and lag by almost as much in reading. Following their finding, published in recent days, that the VCE results of more than half of all regional and rural schools have declined over the past decade, Education Minister James Merlino has commissioned an inquiry. That is not necessarily a bad move, but it is an insufficient response to a fundamental flaw and must not be allowed to merely lead to yet another expensive report. Calling an inquiry is not enough in itself. The state government risks a bush backlash should it not demonstrate it is fixing the issues.

The impediments faced by rural and regional schools include: a lack of incentives to attract teachers to the regions; declining populations in about a quarter of regional areas as farms are forced to consolidate to survive; and the demoralising disincentive of the prohibitive cost of leaving home to go to university

The Age’s investigation not only ventilated the problem, but found clear elements of a solution; while there has been a general decline in rural and regional results, some schools – although fewer than one in 10 – are improving.

So, what might be done to reverse such an unacceptable situation? Increasing financial and housing incentives for teachers is crucial. The state government allocated more money in the budget to build regional schools, but it needs to buttress this with an investment in the skills and quality of the teachers outside of cities.

Mr Merlino argues schools in regional and rural Victoria have received almost double the increase in funding per student compared to city students since 2015. His advisory panel will examine how this might be better deployed. Areas for consideration should include not only enhanced staffing, but access to early childhood education and co-ordination between state and independent schools, which is providing some great results, our research found. Other parts of the solution include providing more curriculum opportunities, which would help students’ aspirations and motivation, as would financial assistance with attending university.

A recent end to a multi-year stand-off between the federal government and Spring Street will provide an extra $7 billion under the Gonski 2.0 reforms, which are designed to allocate funds on the basis of need. This adds to the state government’s record funding of schools through its ambitious Education State agenda. So, the money is there, but needs to be properly targeted. Change shouldn’t be delayed for the results of an inquiry.