EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA

In 2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to a comprehensive education reform agenda for Australia. This reform impacts on education policy at all levels.

Inter-governmental agreements (IGAs) address key areas for economic and social growth. Three are of specific relevance to the Education and Training sector:

• National Education Agreement (NEA)
• National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD)
• National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA).

There are high level performance indicators and targets in each national agreement. The COAG Reform Council (CRC) is charged with reporting on these indicators to inform the general public about government performance in making progress towards the targets. The CRC published its first reports on the NEA and NASWD in November 2009.

A number of national partnership agreements have also been developed to fund specific projects and deliver on nationally-significant reforms. Agreements relating to the education and training sector include: Building the Education Revolution; Literacy and Numeracy; Improving Teacher Quality; TAFE Fee Waiver for Child-Care Places; Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities; Early Childhood Education; and Youth Attainment and Transitions. These agreements will require similar measurement of targets and progress towards meeting them. All these COAG agreements can be found on the COAG website <http://www.coag.gov.au>.

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