NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT FOR 
[LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS SCHOOL COMMUNITIES]
[LITERACY AND NUMERACY]
[TEACHER QUALITY]

BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Purpose

This Agreement is established pursuant to the National Partnership Agreement on Low Socio-economic Status School Communities, Literacy and Numeracy and Teacher Quality between the Commonwealth and the Australian Capital Territory. In entering into this Agreement, the parties recognise that they have a mutual interest in implementing these National Partnership Agreements and need to work together to support reform to deliver better education outcomes for all students.

These three National Partnerships (NPs) were agreed by all governments at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on 29 November 2008. At this meeting COAG agreed to a number of NPs to drive reform in particular areas targeting disadvantaged school communities, improving teacher quality, greater accountabilities and supporting improvement in literacy and numeracy outcomes.

It elaborates on a COAG commitment to work towards achieving improvement in high-level outcomes for schooling agreed by COAG and set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, launched in December 2008.

This Agreement updates the original Agreement signed in June 2009 as a result of the finalisation of ACT Implementation Plans.

KEY REFORM AREAS AND INDICATIVE ACTIONS

Low Socio-economic Status School Communities

No ACT schools in the Catholic or Independent sectors qualified for Australian Government funding under this National Partnership.  Four ACT public schools will participate as National Partnership schools under the Agreement.  They are Charnwood Dunlop Primary, Florey Primary, Kingsford Smith School (Primary) and Richardson Primary.

Key elements of the reform strategy in the ACT are:

•	Four Literacy and Numeracy Field Officers will be placed in the four Low SES schools to support targeted activities at the school level. Under this NP Agreement two of the four Field Officer positions will be funded, with the other positions funded by the ACT.

•	Individual Learning Plans will be developed for all educationally disadvantaged students to identify strategies for improvement. Personal Learning Plans will be developed for all Indigenous students in consultation with parents, Indigenous support workers and school staff.

•	By the end of 2009, each school will have a school plan which articulates the strategies and actions they intend to put in place for achieving sustained improvements in the literacy and numeracy outcomes of their students. The four schools will also receive the same support as schools participating in the Literacy and Numeracy NP.

•	Flexible school staffing allocation systems will be introduced to support innovation and to assist the Territory meet the goals of the Teacher Quality NP. Principals will be given increased flexibility in determining their staffing. The four schools will be priority schools for the [placement of Accomplished and Leading teacher positions based on national standards.. 
.
•	By the end of 2010 strategies to support greater parental engagement will be identified for introduction throughout the life of the agreement.
 
•	As part of the Universal Access strategy under the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood, the four schools identified in this plan will be priority sites for 15 hours of preschool implementation in 2010.

•	The four schools will be assisted by an academic partner from the University of Canberra who will provide ongoing advice and support in the development, review and implementation of school plans. 

Literacy and Numeracy 

Twelve public schools, seven Catholic schools and six Independent schools have been identified to receive support in the first two years of the Literacy and Numeracy NP. The ACT Department of Education and Training worked in collaboration with the Catholic and Independent sectors to develop the implementation plan for this NP and, where possible, collaborative activity will be undertaken in its implementation.  

Both the public and Catholic school sectors will use Count Me In Too and First Steps as the system-based teaching programs across all schools to improve literacy and numeracy achievement.

Key elements of the reform strategy in the public school sector are:

•	The ACT will set a target for public school improvement in mean NAPLAN scores of 8 points by 2012-13.

•	Literacy and numeracy teacher capacity will be supported by a team of 12 Literacy and Numeracy Field Officers to work in the 12 identified primary schools from 2010. Two of these officers will be funded from the NP.  

•	School Improvement Partners and school principals will work with school-level results to set sensible targets and monitor student progress against targets.  Two temporary School Data Analysts, funded by this NP, will support these positions and schools to analyse their individual school-level results over time and against different cohorts.
•	By the end of 2009, each school will have a school plan which articulates the strategies and actions they intend to put in place for achieving sustained improvements in the literacy and numeracy outcomes of their students.

•	Resources related to First Steps and Count Me in Too will be rolled out to schools as the primary models for delivering literacy and numeracy learning across ACT public schools and tracking student progress. Intensive professional learning in the delivery of these programs will also be provided.  Quicksmart, which is being piloted in 2009, and the Mental Computation Program will provide additional support to teachers to assist them to reach the ACT numeracy targets. 

•	A leadership program will focus in developing a deep understanding of explicit literacy and numeracy teaching and the integration of data to support improved student outcomes.

•	All ACT public schools have started to develop plans to embed the Quality Teaching model in their schools.  Some of these NP funds will be used to produce a DVD for school leaders to help them introduce the Quality Teaching model into their schools and support their literacy and numeracy planning. 

•	A pilot program will be developed and trialled by the Department to provide explicit and focused literacy and numeracy professional learning for beginning teachers.  

Key elements of the reform strategy in participating Catholic system schools are:

•	Literacy and Numeracy have been identified as priority areas in the 2009-2011 Strategic Plan of the Catholic Education Office (CEO), Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. The appointment of Literacy and Numeracy Contact Officers for each school is a key component of the plan.

•	Resources related to First Steps and Count Me in Too will be provided to schools as the primary models for delivering literacy and numeracy learning and tracking student progress. 

•	The Numeracy Intervention Program (NIP) will target year 4 students in focused schools. The selected schools have Indigenous students who are under-performing and as a school have not performed in the external testing programs over a period of time.

•	Education officers from the Catholic Education Office are available to assist schools through the Focussed School Support Program. The aim of this support is to work with schools in a collaborative way to develop the literacy and numeracy skills of students. 

•	The Catholic Education Office has increased the staffing allocation for supporting Indigenous education in 2009. An ACT regional approach will be implemented so that high schools are linked with feeder primary schools. Each of the three regions is to be supported by Indigenous Assistants. This is an increase of two additional staff.

The six independent schools participating in this NP will each implement their own individual school-based plan based on their respective needs.  A number of the schools have strategic literacy and numeracy plans already in place and these will be tailored to meet the requirements of the Literacy and Numeracy NP.

Teacher Quality

The ACT Department of Education and Training has worked in collaboration with the Catholic and Independent sectors to develop the Teacher Quality Implementation Plan. A cross-sectoral Teacher Quality coordination group will manage the implementation of the Teacher Quality initiatives. Funding under the Agreement will implement agreed cross-sectoral activities in the first four years of the plan. 

The key cross-sectoral elements of the reform strategy in the ACT are:

•	Establishment of an ACT Teacher Quality Institute for pre-service teacher education accreditation, teacher registration and certification of teachers against the national standards. 

•	Implementation of nationally agreed teacher standards and certification processes in line with the National Teacher Professional Standards Framework for teachers and school leaders including at the competent, accomplished and leading teacher levels.

•	Establishment of a Teacher Education Committee to plan for improved pathways into teaching, improved practicum and a range of in-service education opportunities including targeted scholarships.

•	Creation of School Centres of Teacher Education Excellence initially established at the Department’s Early Childhood Schools, extending to other sectors during the life of the plan.

•	In line with the nationally agreed parameters for teacher workforce data collection, the ACT will develop and apply a set of tools to collect accurate data specific to the local workforce.  The ACT will also contribute to the development, population and maintenance of a national dataset and longitudinal teacher workforce study to improve both national and local workforce planning.  

•	Existing Department and Catholic School Leadership Frameworks will underpin an expanded program of mentoring and leadership training to support a rigorous performance and development culture in ACT schools.  

•	The Department and Catholic sectors will develop specific strategies to enhance the capacity if schools to deliver outcomes better tailored to the needs of their students.  Principals and senior staff will have greater responsibility in staffing and recruitment processes to increase school-based decision making. Due to the current autonomy of school-based decision making of Independent schools they will have a low level of participation in this initiative.    

BUDGET

Facilitation payments

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	TOTAL	
Australian Government									
Low SES NP	$22 500	$303 750	$410 000	$750 000	$727 500	$446 250	$340 000	$3 000 000	
Literacy & Numeracy NP	$850 000	$971 000	0	0				$1 821 000	
Teacher Quality NP	$107 000	$232 000	$608 000	$733 000				$1 680 000	
State Co-investment									
Low SES NP								$2 550 000	
Literacy & Numeracy NP								$3 610 000	
Teacher Quality NP								$ 887 000	
Total Facilitation Budget	$979 500	$1 506 750	$1 018 000	$1 483 000	$727 500	$446 250	$340 000	$13 548 000	

CO-INVESTMENT 

Low Socio-economic Status School Communities 
The following represent co-investment items by ACT Government over the first four years of the implementation plan. The ACT will review its plan by the end of 2012 in order to develop a new implementation plan for 2013-15, the remaining years of the NP. 
•	1 x Literacy and Numeracy Field Officer	(new money)		   $360 000
•	Increased ESL support (new money)				   $120 000
•	1 x School Equity Officer 						   $360 000
•	School equity funding (across 4 schools)				   $360 000
•	Indigenous officer support						   $150 000
•	Learner Assistance Program allocation		        		$1 200 000
Total  		$2 550 000

Literacy and Numeracy
The following represent co-investment items by ACT Government over the life of the implementation plan.
•	8 x Literacy and Numeracy Field Officers			$1 200 000
(six funded with new money)
•	Learner Assistance Program allocation				$1 830 000
Total		$3 030 000

The following represent co-investment items by the ACT Catholic sector over the life of the implementation plan. 
•	4 x Literacy and Numeracy Officers				  $440 000
Total		  $440 000

The following represent co-investment items by ACT independent schools over the life of the implementation plan. 
•	Program delivery in individual schools				 $140 000
Total		 $140 000

Teacher Quality
The following represent co-investment items by ACT Government over the first four years of the implementation plan.
•	Manager, Leadership Strategy					 $330 000
•	Principals’ Professional Learning fund				 $100 000
•	Teacher Scholarship Fund						 $100 000
•	Indigenous Student Scholarships					 $  35 000
Total		 $565 000

The following represent co-investment items by the ACT Catholic sector over the life of the implementation plan.
•	Project Officer, Catholic Education Office			 $282 000
•	Principals’ Professional Learning Fund				 $  40 000
Total		 $322 000

Independent schools will provide a co-investment contribution by hosting cross-sector activities.

FACILITATION PAYMENT MILESTONES

Low SES School Communities NP

Milestones	Milestone Due Date	Facilitation Payment	
Signing of bilateral agreement and acceptance of Preliminary Implementation Plan.	
July 2009	$22 500
(100% payment
2008-09)	
Acceptance of Final Implementation Plan.

School plans have been developed in consultation with the school community. 	
December 2009	
$151 875
(50% payment
2009-10)	
Acceptance of March 2010 Annual Report (due 31 March 2010)	March 2010	$151 875
(50% payment 2009-10)	
Acceptance of progress report on activities occurring over the period Jan-June 2010

School plans are being implemented and monitored in consultation with the school community.

A data bank is established to record activities such as parent education programs, and parent learning and engagement activities. 	

October  2010	

$205 000
(50% payment
2010-11)	
Acceptance of March 2011 Annual Report for the 2010 calendar year (due 31 March 2011)

Schools have reached their school-based literacy and numeracy targets for 2010.

Schools have developed a process for tracking student achievement against school-based literacy and numeracy programs.

Strategies for parent engagement and community partnerships have been developed.	

March 2011	

$205 000
(50% payment
2010-11)	
Acceptance of progress report on activities occurring over the period Jan-June 2011

After-care programs in place to meet school community needs.

October 2011	
$375 000
(50% payment
2011-12)	
Acceptance of March 2012 Annual Report for the 2011 calendar year (due 31 March 2012)

Schools have reached their school-based literacy and numeracy targets for 2011.

School plans have been reviewed and updated.	

March 2012	
$375 000
(50% payment
2011-12)	
Acceptance of progress report on activities occurring over the period Jan-June 2012.

Targeted implementation of nationally accredited teaching positions. 

Acceptance of Implementation Plan for 2013-2015 which will include facilitation payment milestones for the period 2013-15.	

October 2012

	
$363 750
(50% payment
2012-13)	
Acceptance of March 2013 Annual Report for the 2012 calendar year (due 31 March 2013)

Schools have reached their school-based literacy and numeracy targets for 2012.

March 2013	
$363 750
(50% payment
2012-13)	

Literacy and Numeracy NP

Milestones	Milestone Due Date	Facilitation Payment	
Signing of bilateral agreement and acceptance of Preliminary Implementation Plan.	
July 2009	$850 000
(100% payment
2008-09)	

Acceptance of Final Implementation Plan.

December 2009	
$245 000
(25% payment
2009-10)	
Acceptance of March 2010 Annual Report (due 31 March 2010)

School plans for 2010 reflect priorities for student improvement in literacy and numeracy.

Schools provided with literacy and numeracy resources and teachers access professional learning.

School-based data collection methods used to track student literacy and numeracy progress.

March 2010	

$726 000
(75% payment
2009-10)	

Teacher Quality NP

Milestones	Milestone Due Date	Facilitation Payment	
Bilateral agreement between the ACT and the Australian Government signed.

Cross-sector coordination committee established for development of ACT Implementation Plan and objectives.

Preliminary Implementation Plan submitted.	

June 2009	

$107,257
(100% payment 
2008-09)	
Final Implementation Plan submitted

Teacher Education Committee and its sub-committees established.

Model and program developed for initial School Centre of Teacher Education Excellence in an Early Childhood school.
	
December 2009	
$116,196
(50% payment
2009-10)

Acceptance of March 2010 Annual Report (due 31 March 2010)

Scoping of the Teacher Quality Institute.

Workforce data business analysis complete, with data collection and analysis tools implemented

Gap analysis of current ACT performance management practices complete.

Better Pathways training program developed.

March 2010	

$116,196
(50% payment 
2009-10)

Acceptance of progress report on activities occurring over the period Jan-June 2010

Arrangements for placement of participants in New Pathways program into ACT schools developed.

Initial School Centre of Teacher Education Excellence established and operational.

Increased number of pre-service teacher placements in ACT schools and course data collected through ACT system.

Model and program developed for additional School Centres of Teacher Education Excellence

Renewal strategy for performance management developed and implemented.

New Pathways graduate selection process completed.	

October 2010	

$303,896
(50% payment 
2010-11)
	
Acceptance of March 2011 Annual Report for the 2010 calendar year (due 31 March 2011)

Initial Better Pathways training program implemented.

Workforce data collection tool contributing data to national data sets.

Graduates allocated to the ACT from the second cohort of New Pathways program placed in ACT schools.

Mentor teachers taking part in University of Melbourne training and network developed.	

March 2011	

$303,896
(50% payment 
2010-11)
	
Acceptance of progress report on activities occurring over the period Jan-June 2011

Teacher Quality Institute established

ACT teacher education courses accredited through Teacher Quality Institute.

Additional School Centres of Teacher Education Excellence established and operational.

Placement of indigenous education worker graduates into ACT schools.	

October 2011	

$366,463
(50% payment 
2011-12)
	
Acceptance of March 2012 Annual Report for the 2011 calendar year (due 31 March 2012)

Accomplished and Leading Teachers placed in schools, including School Centres of Teacher Education Excellence.	
March 2012	$366,463
(50% payment 
2011-12)

REWARD PAYMENTS

Under the Literacy and Numeracy and Teacher Quality NPs reward funding is contingent on achievement of agreed targets and milestones through facilitation funding. 

The ACT will negotiate the development of a Literacy and Numeracy Implementation Plan for 2010-11 to 2011-2012 once the Australian Government has identified the ambit of reward payment to flow to the ACT after facilitation milestones have been reached.

The ACT will negotiate the development of a Teacher Quality Implementation Plan for 2011-12 to 2012-2013 once the Australian Government has identified the ambit of reward payment to flow to the ACT after facilitation milestones have been reached.

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	TOTAL	
Australian Government									
Literacy & Numeracy NP			2 124 000	2 124 000				4 248 000	
Teacher Quality NP				3 128 000	3 128 000			6 256 000	
									
Total Reward Budget			2 124 000	5 252 000	3 128 000			10 504 000	

In order to achieve the objectives of the National Education Agreement and to sustain the significant national reforms under the National Partnerships, the ACT agrees that reward funding received will be used for education purposes and agrees for the distribution of reward funding with any non-government sectors that are party to the agreement.

Reward Payment Milestones

Literacy and Numeracy NP

Australian Government funding for the last two years of the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership consists entirely of reward funding. The ACT is entitled to a total of $4.25 million of reward funding over the two years, 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The COAG Reform Council will review the achievement of reforms and determine the ambit of reward payments to the ACT. 

The measures and targets to be used to determine the reward funding to the ACT in 2011 and 2012 are detailed in the Literacy and Numeracy NP Final Implementation Plan. The reward measures for the ACT are broken down for each of the government, Catholic and Independent school sectors, and each sector will have to demonstrate achievement of the milestones to receive their full entitlement of reward funding. There will be an opportunity for the ACT to revise the targets for 2012, in consultation with the Australian Government, following a review of achievement against the 2011 targets.

Teacher Quality NP

Milestones	Due Date	Reward Payment	
Implementation of process for selection of Leading and Accomplished teachers.

Mentor programs and networks operational.	
October 2011	
50% payment 
2011-12	
Teacher transfer process implemented.

Accomplished Teachers placed in schools.	
March 2012	
50% payment 
2011-12	
Teacher vacancies being filled outside of the centralised process.	October 2012	50% payment
2012-13
	
Leading Teachers placed in schools.
	March 2013	50% payment
2012-13	

NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR PARTICIPATION
                                                                               
Engage the non-government sector
The ACT has a strong history of cooperation across the education sectors, particularly in the area of teacher professional learning. The ACT Department of Education and Training worked in collaboration with the Catholic and Independent Sectors to develop the Literacy and Numeracy and Teacher Quality Implementation Plans. 

Ongoing engagement with all key partners and stakeholders in the non-government sector will occur through the regular existing formal arrangements.

Low SES
No ACT schools in the catholic sector and no independent schools qualify for funding under the National Partnership Agreement on Low SES School Communities.

Literacy and Numeracy
Both the Department and the Catholic sector will introduce and support the same system-based teaching programs for use across all schools to improve literacy and numeracy. Where possible, collaborative activity will be undertaken in the implementation of the plans across all three sectors, and in particular in the provision of professional development. 

Teacher Quality
Close collaboration between government, catholic and independent sectors as well as with education unions, teacher education institutions and other strategic partners is a key aspect of the ACT Improving Teacher Quality implementation plan. Specific to the ACT strategy is engagement with the catholic systemic and independent schools on leadership development programs for principals, identifying School Centres of Excellence and development of a framework for a national teaching workforce data set. 

Distribute Commonwealth facilitation payments
Funding under the Agreements will be distributed to each ACT school sector based on the same funding distribution model used by the Commonwealth. 

For Literacy and Numeracy that is each sector’s share of students at or below the minimum standard in reading and numeracy for years 3, 5 and 7 (NAPLAN 2008). For Teacher Quality that is facilitation funding distributed on the share, of national FTE for teaching staff as available from ABS 4221.0 Schools, Australian 2007. The ACT share of Low SES funding has been determined with the Commonwealth in light of the ACT’s socio-economic circumstances.

Distribute Commonwealth co-investments to participating non-government schools
Any co-investment payments made to participating non-government schools will be made upon ACT Treasury receipt of Commonwealth funds as part of the normal non-government school grants payment process.

Co-investment contribution by participating non-government schools
These are detailed in the individual Implementation Plans. 

INDICATIVE ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

These are detailed in the individual Implementation Plans. 

MONITORING AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS 

The Parties agree that achievement of the Milestones, Deliverables or Performance Benchmarks as detailed in this Bilateral Agreement will be jointly monitored by all parties in accordance with the relevant provisions of the NP and the Implementation Plans.

Monitoring and reporting arrangements will reflect the requirements of Schedule C to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations.

Reporting 
The Territory Delegate is responsible for providing the Program Delegate with two hard copies and an electronic copy of Reports for each NP as follows:

Table 1: Low SES

Details of Report	Due Date*	
2009 Annual Report	31 March 2010	
2010 Annual Report	31 March 2011	
2011 Annual Report	31 March 2012	
2012 Annual Report	31 March 2013	
2013 Annual Report	31 March 2014	
2014 Annual Report	31 March 2015	
Final Report	30 September 2015	

Table 2: Literacy and Numeracy

Details of Report	Due Date*	
2009 Annual Report	31 March 2010	
2010 Annual Report	31 March 2011	
2011 Annual Report	31 March 2012	
Final Report	30 September 2012	

Table 3: Teacher Quality

Details of Report	Due Date*	
2009 Annual Report	31 March 2010	
2010 Annual Report	31 March 2011	
2011 Annual Report	31 March 2012	
2012 Annual Report	31 March 2013	
Final Report	30 September 2013	

* Where the due date falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the due date is taken to be the next business day.

Annual and Final Reports must contain the following details:
(a)	Title of the Program
(b)	Description of the Program
(c)	Program activities commenced in the reporting period
(d)	Program activities completed in the reporting period
(e)	Progress against:
i.	the Milestones, Deliverables and Performance Benchmarks
ii.	the national priorities, as outlined in the relevant NP
(f)	A statement of issues of concern that may impact on the achievement of any of the Milestones, Deliverables or Performance Benchmarks
(g)	Copies of all reports, evaluations, analysis and /or survey outcomes the Australian Capital Territory has undertaken or had commissioned in relation to achieving any of the Milestones, Deliverables or Performance Benchmarks
(h)	be signed by the Territory Delegate or the Delegate’s authorised representative.

As part of the Annual Report, Territory Delegate or authorised representative will attend a meeting with the Commonwealth to present and discuss the Annual Report.

The Final Report must contain the information to be included in Annual Reports except for the information described in paragraph (f).

NATIONAL REFORM 

The ACT will identify strategies and initiatives that provide potential linkages and synergies with current or planned activities in other jurisdictions that could be considered national reform opportunities. 

This will include the development and delivery of any joint national reform elements and strategies that identify how the other jurisdictions and the non-government sector will be involved.

PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Australian Capital Territory will acknowledge the Bilateral Agreement as a joint Commonwealth and ACT initiative in all publications, promotional and advertising materials, public announcements and activities or any products, processes or inventions developed as a result of the implementation of the Bilateral Agreement.

AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS

The ACT will provide Reports to the Commonwealth at the times and in the manner agreed in the Implementation Plans concerning progress in achieving the milestones, indicative actions and performance indicators.
The ACT agrees to be audited annually by the Australian Capital Territory Auditor-General or their authorised representative in relation to the Funding and provide the Commonwealth with a copy of the report of such audit.
GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

Engagement with all key partners and stakeholders will be ongoing for the duration of this Agreement.
In order to facilitate the collaborative implementation of this Bilateral Agreement, the Commonwealth will participate in the Australian Capital Territory implementation oversight or management forums.

The Parties have executed this agreement as follows:

Signed for and on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Australia by

……………………………………….
	
The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Date

Signed for and on behalf of the
Australian Capital Territory by

……………………………………………	

Andrew Barr MLA
Minister for Education and Training 

Date