September 2015 guest speaker Kelly Bowman

I give a Gonski

There was a lot to talk about this morning, after yesterday’s demolition of the former prime minister Tony Abbott and his replacement by Malcolm Turnbull. But Vintage Reds managed nonetheless to pay attention to a very good presentation by Kelly Bowman from theĀ Teachers’ Federation, on the Gonski campaign now ramping up, “I give a Gonski”. Kelly is a teacher at Karabar High School in Queanbeyan.

The Abbott government’s back-down on funding for the last two years of the six-year Gonski funding model will cost schools in NSW alone over a billion dollars, of which over $900 million was to flow to state schools. Gonski aims to lift students out of educational disadvantage, whether they are students from low-income families or from rural and remote areas, students with a disability, Aboriginal students, or those from non-English speaking backgrounds. “It’s what Australians call a fair go”.
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