The policy priorities we highlighted during the previous election
Primary and Secondary Education
The Australian Progressives will:
- Legislate to improve teacher training and remuneration in a similar way to the successful Finnish model.
- Review the national curriculum in order to bring best practice education, with a particular focus on changing one-size-fits-all paradigms; instead encouraging each child’s agency and interests, supporting a thirst for knowledge and the teaching of research, mindfulness, and sound argument.
- Remove excessive testing and inappropriate pushing down of the curriculum and homework into early childhood.
- Work with the education departments and experts to provide improved PE/Health information/education in the curriculum.
- Work towards a system that recognises a range of achievement and types of capability.
- Place an emphasis on early intervention for children with special needs.
- Introduce policy to reduce class sizes, particularly in literacy and numeracy lessons, in lower socio-economic demographics and in those schools with significant percentage of special needs students.
- Ensure core skills are taught in a meaningful way.
- Push for a greater emphasis on play and creativity in the school week.
- Launch a curriculum which de-emphasises homework, standardised testing and academic league tables.
- Boost support for the creative arts as a valued part of society which contributes to mental health and problem solving.
- Introduce a curriculum which actively teaches mental health, social skills, civics and critical skills to support students’ assessment of evidence and use of the internet.
- Boost support for science, technology, engineering and Maths.
Tertiary
Australian Progressives support:
- Needs-based funding and world-leading public free tertiary education for all.
- Policies to stamp out predatory training organisations.
- An increase in the value and availability of Commonwealth postgraduate research scholarships.
- Transparency of finances and student body needs.
- Policies to wind back private tertiary funding and lift regulatory oversight conditions.
Australian Progressives oppose:
- The deregulation of university and TAFE fees.
- The sale, lease or other privatisation of tertiary education
Play
The Australian Progressives will:
- Develop policy to create more challenging play environments for children.
- Endorse an education campaign around health benefits vs risks of challenging play.
- Empower local communities to furnish play-based educational settings with open-ended toys and loose parts rather than single-purpose toys.
Early Childhood
The Australian Progressives want:
- Childcare and pre-school as part of the public education system.
- A curriculum of play based learning delivered by trained professional staff.
Funding
Australian Progressives will:
- Introduce needs-based funding and world-leading public free education for all.
- Ensure infrastructure and equipment funding will transition to being provided only for public education or retained public ownership.
- Transition private education to a fee-free and discrimination-free offering as a condition of full-public funding.
Educator Development and Conditions
Australian Progressives propose:
- That additional positions be created for qualified teachers.
- Raising entry requirements for teaching courses and aiming to improve public perception of teaching as an honourable, respected profession.
- Making all teacher education free and raising teaching salaries to a level commensurate with other professionals.
- Additional support for Indigenous applicants for teacher education.
Life-long Education
The Australian Progressives support policy that provides retraining support for older workers.