A new survey, released by the Australian Education Union on Wednesday, shows Tasmania has the highest percentage of principals in the country who feel their schools are “significantly under resourced”.
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The union is using the report to call attention again to Gonski funding, which is due in the next month.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the government was already investing more in Tasmanian schools “than ever before”.
“For the first time this financial year, Tasmania’s education budget has eclipsed $6 billion over the forward estimates - the third record investment in a row under the Hodgman government.”
The AEU report found nine out of 10 principals surveyed around the country said needs-based funding was making a “significant different” to their schools.
The union surveyed 9,741 members for the report, including 1,428 principals and 7,513 teachers.
Of the principals surveyed in Tasmania, more than half said they felt their schools were under resourced or significantly under resourced.
That broke down to 41 per cent responding “under resourced” and 15 per cent responding “significantly under resourced”, compared to 5 per cent in Queensland and NSW.
AEU Tasmanian branch president Helen Richardson said principals consistently reported a lack of resources as “hampering student learning”.
“That’s why full Gonski funding is critical for our state, but where is Will Hodgman in the fight to secure that funding from the federal government?”
“That is funding principals desperately need to provide more teacher assistants, smaller class sizes, more individual attention for students, and literacy and numeracy programs to meet the needs of all students.
“We know Will Hodgman wants to deliver quality education for all Tasmanian children but what is his plan to secure the $100 million in federal Gonski funding from Malcolm Turnbull to enable that to happen?”.
Mr Rockliff said the state government was a “strong supporter” of needs-based funding and the principals of Gonski.
“The Government has also invested in more teachers – with an additional 113 full-time teachers in our system last year than there were over the previous year.
“And to help principals perform their roles, we have increased leadership roles in primary schools by adding 97 advanced skills teachers and 25 assistant principals in 2016.
“In 2017, the leadership in district schools was increased by 15 advanced skills teachers.”
