Uncertainty and chaos as public schools return in the midst of crisis

Guardian Australia | October 10, 2022 | Mary Mugwort

Today public schools across the country are returning to class for Term 4 in the midst of the unfolding Education Crisis, sparked after a controversial High Court decision stripped $35 billion in government funding for public schools. Over the past 7 months, public schools across the country have enjoyed massively increased funding provided under the Trask Education Reforms. Now, with that funding gone and little to no direction from the federal government, schools are faced with unprecedented uncertainty and chaos. The Guardian brings these reports from the frontlines of the Education Crisis, where our journalists spoke with principals and teachers at two public schools to get a grasp of the unfolding situation. As per Department of Education confidentiality guidelines, full names of staff and schools have been omitted.

At a high scoring independent public secondary school in a leafy green suburb in Melbourne, classes are empty. The school administration has decided to extend the mid-semester break rather than reopen. "This is the best thing we can do under the circumstances," the principal, Jemima, told us. "If we had some guarantee of continued funding, I could go back to staff and tell them that their jobs are secure, that there aren't going to be layoffs. 16 staff members have already submitted their resignations, and I dont blame them when they have just gotten a 25 percent wage cut. If we had opened today, we would not be able to guarantee that there is a staff member in every classroom. We wouldn't be able to uphold our duty of care. Its that simple." At their end of our interview, Jemima led us down to the partially built new school auditorium, funded by the increase in capital grants delivered by Trask Education Reform. The construction site stood silent and empty, with the school unable to afford future construction costs. "If you want to see what this High Court decision means, this is it in a nutshell," she said, standing sombrely amidst scaffolding and abandoned construction equipment.

In a public secondary school in a low socio-economic area in Perth's south, students are back in their classes, yet the schools assistant principal, Andrew, tells us he doesn't want us to get the wrong impression. "If we had a choice, we would be closed. The department guidelines say we were to return for Term 4 today, so that is what we are doing, for all the good it will do us." Andrew is angry, and struggled to maintain his composure throughout our interview. "Half the staff have called in sick, and I expect most of them are planning to resign. Most of them will be out of a [expletive] job by the end of the week anyway." Andrew led us to observe several joined classes, in which as many as 60 students were being taught by a single teacher, a stopgap measure implemented by the school to deal with the return of crippling staff shortages. We spoke to one math teacher, Henry, responsible for one of these joined classes. "Things were finally looking up before all this," he told us. "Now, we can barely teach at all. When you have 50 to 60 kids in a classroom, there is never going to be much learning going on. As teachers can try our best but when we dont have the resources and support we need, the system falls apart. That is what is happening here."