The National School Reform Agreement (NSRA) — a joint agreement between the Commonwealth, States and Territories — sets out the focus for collaborative reform efforts. The NSRA’s overarching objective is for Australian schooling to provide a high quality and equitable education for all students and it sets out long term national outcomes, along with targets and sub outcomes to track progress. To achieve these outcomes, the NSRA outlines three reform directions, supported by eight National Policy Initiatives (NPIs) and bilateral agreements specific to each State and Territory.
The National Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia (Measurement Framework), including the schedule of key performance measures, provides the basis for Australian Education Ministers to report to the community on the performance of schooling, in line with the Education Goals for Young Australians as expressed in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration.
Under section 77 (2A) of the Australian Education Act 2013 (Cth), non-government approved authorities (schools) are required to cooperate with their local State or Territory government in the implementation of this agreement and the relevant bilateral agreements that support it. The Commonwealth provides funding to approved non-government representative bodies (the independent school associations in each jurisdiction) to support non-government schools in the implementation of these agreements.
The Commission has been tasked with assessing, as required under section 29 of the National School Reform Agreement:
- the appropriateness of the National Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia in measuring progress towards achieving the outcomes of the NSRA.
- the effectiveness and appropriateness of the National Policy Initiatives outlined in Part 3 of the NSRA, recognising that national reform takes time to implement and mature, and for the effects of nationally coordinated reform efforts to materialise.
A Call for Submissions paper was released earlier today, with submissions closing on 17 June.
CSA will be looking at the paper and welcomes any feedback from schools.