The Federal Government has announced a $97.7 million package for the education sector under the fifth round of funding under the National Partnerships scheme.

 

The payments are designed to assist schools keep student levels and improve teacher quality with the payments going towards the Smarter Schools National Partnerships for Improving Teacher Quality and Low Socio-economic Status School Communities schemes.

 

The funding is designed at promoting the following in schools;

  • equipping teachers to better identify and address student learning needs;
  • introducing learning programs that engage students, helping to improve literacy and numeracy levels;
  • increasing attendance by working with families; and
  • encouraging more Australians to consider a teaching career.

The breakdown by state of the funding is: New South Wales schools  - $23 million; Victoria  - $23 million; Queensland - $18 million; Western Australia - $8 million; South Australia - $6 million; Tasmania - $5 million.

 

The Smarter Schools National Partnerships for Improving Teacher Quality and Low Socio-economic Status School Communities will run until 2013 and 2015 respectively.  Over a quarter of all Australian schools (2,500) are participating in the National Partnerships for Low Socio-economic Status School Communities and Literacy and Numeracy, whilst all teachers and school leaders are targeted under the National Partnership for Improving Teacher Quality. Overall, more than 2,500 schools will receive up to $2.59 billion over the life of the partnerships.

 

More information, and the state and territory Smarter Schools Annual Reports for 2010 and information about the Smarter Schools National Partnerships can be found here.