Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools: How Australia failed its schools Tom Greenwell, Chris Bonnor

Why is education in Australia failing?

Where did we go wrong, and how do we fix it?

The Gonski Review seemed like a breakthrough. Commissioned by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and chaired by leading businessman David Gonski, the 2011 review made clear that school education policy wasn’t working, and placed a spotlight on the troubling and growing gap between the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children and their more privileged peers.

Gonski proposed a model that provided targeted funding to disadvantaged students based on need, a solution that promised to close the gaps and improve overall achievement.

And yet, over a decade later, the problems have only worsened. Educational outcomes for Australian schoolchildren continue to decline, and there is a growing correlation between social disadvantage and educational under-achievement. So why hasn’t Gonski worked, and what should we do now?

Written by teachers Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor, Waiting for Gonski examines how Australia has failed its schools and offers inspired solutions to help change education for the better.

’A forensic and gripping analysis of the power plays and vested interests that flipped Gonski from a needs-based, sector-blind funding scheme to its exact opposite. Greenwell and Bonnor even dare to float some ideas about how we might unravel the unholy mess that education funding has become.’ - Jane Caro, novelist, writer and social commentator

’School funding arguments cut straight to core questions of national identity and this book is a tremendous feat of history and economics which privileges understanding over judgment. Greenwell and Bonnor present a definitive and clear account of how we got into this mess, and they offer bold ideas for how we might get out of it.’ - Bri Lee, writer, journalist, activist and author of Who Gets to be Smart andEggshell Skull

’Rigorous research compellingly presented, a sharp account of the highs and lows of the Gonski rollercoaster. This book offers both a cautionary tale and some excellent advice: we can do better for the nation’s schoolchildren.’ - Helen Proctor, Professor in Education History and Policy, Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney

’Sometimes education systems need to choose a new way to address old problems. That remains Australia’s challenge. Waiting for Gonski is a must-read for all policymakers, educators, and parents who want to know why we ended up having one of the most unequal school systems today and how we can rebuild it so that all children will have a fair go in education that they deserve.’ - Pasi Sahlberg, Professor of Education, Gonski Institute for Education, University of New South Wales and author ofFinnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland

Chris Bonnor AM is a former teacher and secondary school principal. He was a previous head of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council and is co-author, with Jane Caro, of The Stupid Country and What makes a good school. He has served on the Board of Big Picture Education Australia and is a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development, jointly authoring six CPD papers on Australia’s schools. Tom Greenwell teaches History and Politics in the ACT public education system. He writes about Australian education policy for Inside Story and the Canberra Times. He has explored a wide range of topics including growing segregation in Australian schooling; the history of Australian education and contemporary trends and challenges. He has previously worked as a Research Officer with the Australian Education Union.