NSW Jewish education review proposes six ‘big ideas’ for the future

The committee, chaired by David Gonski, said the aim of its report, released last week, was to ‘ensure sustainability and innovation in the education space in the future’

THE EDUCATION REVIEW Committee examining the future of Jewish education in NSW has generated six ‘Big Ideas’ to address soaring fees and enrolment pressures.

In its report released last week, the committee proposed:

Centralising Fee Assistance which will ensure consistency and equity for all parents – the process will be more efficient and will enable a greater number of families to be assisted.

Centre for Education Excellence (Secular and Jewish) – this will offer world class programs for teacher development thereby attracting and retaining teachers who are engaging and innovative.

Resource Collaboration Working Group – this group will look for opportunities for shared resourcing, delivering better financial outcomes for schools which are then passed on to the community

School Grants – a capped voucher will assist families into primary schools at Jewish Day Schools thereby building and improving affordability

A scorecard for Jewish Day Schools – an internal scorecard will allow schools to review their performance and continually improve while an external scorecard will allow the schools to fully communicate their excellence and promote themselves to community (not based solely on HSC results)

A Jewish Education Alliance – this will deliver greater coordination and efficiency between schools and all Jewish Education providers, ensuring Jewish education remains a top priority at all times.

“The intention overall was to ensure sustainability and innovation in the education space in the future,” the committee said in a media statement.