Budget 1999-2000

FACT SHEET

IMPROVING LITERACY AND NUMERACY AT SCHOOL

The Government will provide an additional $84 million over three years to 2001-02 through the Literacy and Numeracy Programme to continue its support for the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan. This additional funding was a part of the Government’s 1998 Election education commitments.

This measure will provide for continuity of funding for the existing National Literacy and Numeracy Plan. Funding will help schools to measurably improve the literacy and numeracy skills of school students who are at risk of not meeting the national benchmarks, including support for Indigenous students as a priority area. This funding combined with the additional funding for middle years’ literacy and numeracy initiatives will enhance the outcomes of the Literacy and Numeracy Programme bringing the total financial contribution of the Commonwealth under the Literacy and Numeracy Programme to almost $216 million in 2000.

In March 1997, Commonwealth, State and Territory Education Ministers agreed to National Literacy and Numeracy Goals, that would be achieved though the implementation of a National Literacy and Numeracy Plan focussed on the crucial early years of school.

The Commonwealth specifically supports the achievement of the National Literacy and Numeracy Goals through the provision of funding under the Literacy and Numeracy Programme - to assist schools to implement the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan. Over three years, this measure will provide an additional:

a) $69 million to government and non-government education authorities under the existing arrangements for the Grants to Schools to Foster Literacy and Numeracy strand; and

b) $15 million will be provided to support the National Strategies and Projects strand of the Literacy and Numeracy Programme. This will continue the existing successful programme of Commonwealth initiated research and innovative projects involving key stakeholders in the education community which support the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan.

Literacy and numeracy in the middle years of schooling

An additional $47 million will be provided over four years to 2002-03 for literacy and numeracy initiatives in the middle years of schooling. This initiative was part of the Government’s 1998 Election education commitments.

This measure will support innovative and nationally significant initiatives to assist students who have progressed to later primary and early secondary school without achieving a minimum acceptable standard of literacy and numeracy. This funding will assist in identifying and providing effective methods for improving literacy and numeracy skills for underachieving students in the middle years of schooling - Years 5 to 10. This funding combined with the additional funding for the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan brings the total financial contribution of the Commonwealth under the Literacy and Numeracy Programme to almost $216 million in 2000.

Funding for literacy and numeracy in the middle years of schooling will become available in January 2000. A large proportion of the funding will be available to education authorities through a submission process for sector based projects. The Commonwealth will develop supplementary Administrative Guidelines during 1999 to reflect the additional funding for literacy and numeracy initiatives in the middle years of schooling.

Funding will be tightly targeted to assist those students in the middle years of schooling who have not developed basic literacy and numeracy skills and who therefore have difficulty coping with the demands of the school curriculum. Funding will support initiatives to improve literacy and numeracy in the transition from primary to secondary school, intervention strategies and classroom based research into effective teaching practice in the middle years of schooling.

The remaining funding will be for strategic national projects. It is expected that specific national projects would be advertised for open tender as priorities arise. Education authorities and other stakeholders would also be eligible to submit proposals for this funding.

Media Release

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