All governments must invest more in quality vocational education through TAFEs and apprenticeships, the Australian Education Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union said today.

Shocking new evidence of rorting and waste among for-profit private vocational training companies is more evidence to ban them from government funding and to properly fund TAFEs.

Today’s Senate Estimates hearing has once again shown that Education Minister Simon Birmingham cannot explain his funding plan, which will cut $3.9 billion in Gonski funding from schools, the AEU said today.

The AEU has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to scrap the disastrous VET FEE-HELP loans scheme, but has warned all governments now need to invest in TAFEs to ensure Australians have access to high quality vocational education.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham must abandon plans to scrap Gonski funding.

The Coalition’s calls to shift funding between States as part of their new schools funding system are an attempted distraction from their refusal to honour the full six years of the Gonski agreements.

A new OECD report has shown Australian teachers have bigger classes and more teaching hours than the OECD average and our school resourcing is less equitable than other nations.

A delegation of educators and parents from across Australia will visit Canberra today to tell MPs how Gonski funding is working and urge the Coalition not to cut needs-based funding after 2017.

A new analysis of schools funding, based on My School data, shows the Barnett Government has made huge cuts to schools funding across WA and has failed to pass on needs-based Gonski funding from the Federal Government to public schools.

Today’s Productivity Commission report into education which claims Australia’s student performance has not improved despite increased funding ignores the unfair distribution of resources prior to needs-based Gonski funding, the AEU said today.

The Turnbull Government’s claims it will deliver need-based funding to schools after 2017 have been exposed as completely false by a new analysis showing their funding plan would see 62% of extra federal funding go to private schools, which educate fewer disadvantaged students than the public system.

The Turnbull Government needs to give schools the Gonski resources they need for their students, not more tests, the AEU said today.

The Turnbull Government’s fourth ‘crack down’ on dodgy private VET providers in two years will do nothing to fix the huge rorts in the sector.

Today’s decision by the Victorian Government to terminate the contracts of 18 private Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, shows how far behind the Federal Government is in stopping the flow of taxpayer dollars to dodgy private operators.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham needs to act to properly fund disability in schools, after a new survey found two-thirds of parents said funded support for their child was inadequate, the AEU said today.

The Australian Education Union today said the latest NAPLAN results could not be used by the Turnbull Government as justification for its plan to abandon Gonski needs-based funding.

The AEU has called on Independent and minor party MPs to stand up for Gonski funding in any negotiations over forming government in the wake of Saturday’s election. AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said post-election polling showed strong public support for MPs to back Gonski and Malcolm Turnbull had no mandate to end Gonski after 2017.

The election results show voters have rejected Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to needs-based Gonski schools funding and want whoever forms Government to implement it in full. AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said that, regardless of the final outcome of the election, any future government needed to commit to the full six years of Gonski funding.

With just days to go before the Federal election, the Coalition has no vision for schools beyond cuts to needs-based Gonski funding after 2017.

Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to Gonski funding after 2017 will cost Queensland schools $735 in vital resources.

A major survey of economists has found that two-thirds say increased education spending is a better driver of economic growth than company tax cuts, in a criticism of Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to Gonski funding.

New marginal seat polling shows that voters are strongly opposed to Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to Gonski funding and that issue is of high concern to undecided and soft voters.

Today’s National TAFE Day sees public vocational education in Australia still under threat and emphasises the importance of guaranteeing TAFEs the 70 per cent share of VET funding they need.

WA students are set to miss out on vital support programs under Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to cut Gonski funding.

The AEU will launch a new Free-to-Air and Pay TV ad today slamming Malcom Turnbull’s cuts to Gonski funding for denying our children the skills they’ll need for the future.