‘Dissolution by design’: Gonski school funding and school autonomy reform impacts on English as an additional language/dialect programs in Australian schools

Abstract

In 2011, the Australian Government embarked on an equity-badged, ‘needs-based’ school funding reform accompanied by national school autonomy reforms devolving decisions about resourcing, staffing and service design and delivery to school principals. In the second of three articles examining national policy impacts on English as an additional language/dialect programs in Australian schools, this study examines the ‘enchanting’ policy designs of the Gonski funding and national school autonomy reforms that deregulated, devolved and ultimately dissipated tied-funded specialist EAL/D provision for English language learners. Analysis of data from ACTA’s 2016 State of EAL/D Education in Australia survey highlights direct ‘on the ground’ impacts of school autonomy policies in eroding the essential conditions for school EAL/D program provision and in intensifying school micro-political contestation around specialist expertise required for effective EAL/D program delivery. The article notes the national advocacy of the Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA) in linking possible EAL/D policy solutions to emergent education policy agendas. The article provides a reassessment of the Gonski funding reforms and contributes to a growing critique of school autonomy policies in Australian school education.