The Morrison Government will invest $21.6 million in projects to assist school communities across Australia to respond to emerging priorities in school education and student outcomes, including recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acting Minister for Education and Youth Stuart Robert said 36 projects across all states and territories will receive funding through the Emerging Priorities Program.
‘The Emerging Priorities Program was established in the 2020-21 Budget to support flexible responses to school education priorities, such as the impacts to education and student wellbeing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,’ Minister Robert said.
‘The continuing impacts of COVID-19 on schools and students have been challenging.
‘Recognising this, the Morrison Government allocated additional funding in the 2022-23 Budget, bringing the total available for the Emerging Priorities Program to $28.7 million, with $21.6 million available in the current grant round.
‘The Morrison Government is committed to funding projects that assist school communities support the education and wellbeing needs of students, school leaders and teachers.’
Minister Robert visited Our Lady of the Way school in Petrie to make today’s announcement.
‘Schools such as Our Lady of the Way will benefit from an expansion to the Smiling Mind program, which is all about supporting healthy, resilient and thriving classrooms, students and school communities,’ Minister Robert said.
‘The Smiling Mind program currently only runs in rural and remote schools, however funding under the Emerging Priorities Program will allow it to expand to more schools, including Our Lady of the Way.
The Emerging Priorities Program provides support for projects in regional, remote and rural areas around Australia, including Indigenous communities.
‘People in regional, remote and rural communities have been incredibly resilient over the past couple of years. EPP-funded projects will continue to build that resilience, engage communities and create badly needed opportunities for those who don’t have access to the resources in cities,’ Minister Robert said.
‘A great example of this is funding going to the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in Western Australia and the Northern Territory to develop a collaborative research project will engage with remote schools and communities in WA and NT to address school attendance and participation with the outcomes of the research to make recommendations addressing the identified needs.
The Morrison Government has made record investments in all schools. We invested a record $23.4 billion for all Australian schools last year, up from $13 billion when we came to office. And will invest a further record $25.3 billion this year.
As confirmed in the 2022-23 Budget, and at Senate Estimates in April 2022, Commonwealth Quality Schools investment is growing fastest for government schools at around 4.7 per cent per student each year over the life of the agreement compared to per student growth of 3.8 per cent for the non-government sector over the same period.
All schools are funded according to the Australian Education Act 2013 and the Quality Schools Agreement (2018-2029). Under these agreements, the Commonwealth is the majority public funder for non-government schools. State and territory governments are the majority funder of the government sector.
More information on the Emerging Priorities Program can be found at: https://www.dese.gov.au/covid-19/schools/emerging-priorities-program.