NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT ON
IMPROVING TEACHER QUALITY

BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND
NEW SOUTH WALES

Purpose

1.	This agreement sets out the role and responsibilities of the State of New South Wales (‘New South Wales’) and the Commonwealth of Australia (‘Commonwealth’) in relation to the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality (‘the Partnership’), signed on 29 November 2008.

2.	New South Wales (NSW) remains firmly committed to working with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to achieve the goals expressed in the National Education Agreement; to improve the educational outcomes of our students to ensure the continued prosperity and progress of Australia; and to encourage young people to pursue productive, fulfilling lives.

3.	New South Wales enters this National Partnership (NP) in the spirit of cooperation and commitment to work towards achieving improvement in high-level outcomes for schooling agreed by Council of Australian Governments and set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians.

4.	This Agreement outlines New South Wales’ financial, monitoring, reporting and auditing commitments regarding the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality. A detailed Implementation Plan for each of the three schools National Partnerships is provided at Attachment 1.

KEY REFORM AREAS AND INDICATIVE ACTIONS

5.	New South Wales’ Implementation Plan (at Attachment 1) details comprehensive indicative actions against the six reward reforms, in addition to the twelve mandatory facilitation reforms specified in the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Teacher Quality. The Implementation Plan indicates the scope of New South Wales’ reform agenda and outlines how the State’s reforms under the National Partnership reflect the teacher ‘lifecycle’ continuum. It also shows the interrelation of the three schools National Partnership agreements.

6.	Detailed information concerning the key reform areas and associated indicative actions is located in New South Wales’ Implementation Plan at Attachment 1.

7.	The Commonwealth and New South Wales agree the State Implementation Plan to be a ‘living’ document, subject to periodic review as agreed by both Parties.

BUDGET

Facilitation payments

8.	Commonwealth facilitation payments and State co-investments to be made in support of the Teacher Quality National Partnership reforms in New South Wales are agreed as follows:

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	
	($)	($)	($)	($)	($)	
Australian Government	1,921,009	4,162,187	10,885,719	13,126,897	0	
State Co-investment	786,705	2,052,008	3,425,722	3,200,184	0	
Total Facilitation Budget	2,707,714	6,214,195	14,311,441	16,327,081	0	

Facilitation Payment Milestones

Due date	Milestone	Facilitation Payment	
July 2009	Signing of bilateral agreement and State Implementation Plans	$1.92m (full payment 2008/09)	
December 2009 	Acceptance of NSW’s Final Implementation Plan.	$3.12m (75% payment 2009/10) 	
April 2010	State report on progress.	$1.04m (25% payment 2009/10)	
October 2010 	State report on progress.
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2011.	$8.16m (75% payment 2010/11)	
April 2011	State report on progress.	$2.72m (25% payment 2010/11)	
October 2011	State report on progress.
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2012.	$9.85m (75% payment 2011/12)	
April 2012	State report on progress.	$3.28m (25% payment 2011/12)	

Reward payments

9.	The following sets out the maximum allocation of reward funding available to New South Wales, subject to the achievement of agreed reward milestones:

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	
	($)	($)	($)	($)	($)	
Australian Government	0	0	0	56,029,437	56,029,437	
Total Reward Budget	0	0	0	56,029,437	56,029,437	

10.	In order to achieve the objectives of the National Education Agreement and to sustain the significant national reforms under the National Partnerships, states and territories that receive reward funding must use this funding for education purposes and must agree the distribution of reward funding with any non-government sectors that are party to the agreement.

Reward Payment Milestones

11.	The following table outlines the milestones that will trigger reward payments and NSW’s assessment of the proportion of reward funding that should be attributed to successful achievement of each of the Teacher Quality NP reward reforms:

Date	Triggers	Reward Payment and weighting	
July 2011	•	50 mentors appointed	20%	
	•	35 quality teacher positions created*	20%	
	•	35 paraprofessionals appointed	20%	
	•	15 enhanced decision-making schools in place	20%	
	•	50 schools participating in Indigenous community engagement programs	20%	
	TOTAL:	$56.03m	
July 2012	•	100 quality teacher positions created*	20%	
	•	100 paraprofessionals appointed	20%	
	•	30 enhanced decision-making schools in place	20%	
	•	65 payments provided to principals	20%	
	•	100 schools participating in Indigenous community engagement programs	20%	
	TOTAL	$56.03m	

* Highly Accomplished Teachers and Catholic and Independent sector equivalents.

NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR PARTICIPATION

12.	In developing this Agreement, the Catholic systemic sector was represented by the Catholic Education Commission NSW and independent schools were represented by the Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales.

13.	Participation of Catholic schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Catholic Education Commission NSW.

14.	Participation of independent schools in this Partnership will be managed by the 
Association of Independent Schools of NSW.

15.	Commonwealth funding for New South Wales schools will be received by the NSW Treasury on behalf of the State of New South Wales. Facilitation funds will then be disbursed to the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET). NSW DET will, in turn, distribute agreed funding allocations as follows:
o	To the Catholic Education Commission NSW for distribution to Catholic systemic schools;
o	To the Association of Independent Schools NSW for distribution to Independent schools; and
o	To government schools (i.e. from NSW Department of Education and Training’s allocation of total facilitation funding).

16.	Subject to approval by NSW Treasury, any reward payments received from the Commonwealth will be distributed to the education sector.

17.	A detailed breakdown of New South Wales’ co-investment contribution is provided in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1).

INDICATIVE ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

18.	An indicative set of performance measures is provided in the Implementation Plan (at Attachment 1).
MONITORING AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

19.	New South Wales will monitor and report on the progress made in this National Partnership as agreed with the Commonwealth and detailed in the Implementation Plan.

20.	New South Wales agrees to provide reports to the Commonwealth detailing progress against the agreed reform milestones and timelines, as set out in the Implementation Plan. New South Wales concedes that summaries of the state reports will be published.

21.	NSW agrees that the First Report in April 2010 will address the following:

o	Progress update on implementation of national facilitation reforms in NSW
o	Number of scholarships delivered 
o	Number of quality teacher positions created
o	Number of teacher mentors appointed
o	Number of Centres for Excellence established and the number of schools participating in the initiative
o	Names of universities partnering with Centres for Excellence
o	Detail from Centre for Excellence school plans illustrating a range of strategies being put in place
o	Number of principals provided with payments to lead School Centres for Excellence 
o	Number of paraprofessionals appointed
o	Number of schools participating in the enhanced decision-making trial

22.	New South Wales also agrees to share information of best practice arrangements and successful reform interventions with other States and Territories through the dissemination of National Partnership annual reports, on a yearly basis. New South Wales will periodically review the effectiveness of the reforms being undertaken in this Partnership, and will make these results available to States and Territories. For more detail on evaluation, refer to the Implementation Plan at Attachment 1.

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

24.	New South Wales notes that where agreed Performance Indicators under the NP agreement contribute to the objectives and outcomes of the National Education Agreement, the COAG Reform Council will assess these performance indicators in the context of its analysis and report on the National Education Agreement and its subsidiary National Partnership agreements.

25.	New South Wales agrees that where individual school data are provided and the NP agreements do not provide for that level of analysis to be published, standard privacy protocols should prevail.

PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

26.	The Commonwealth of Australia and the State of New South Wales will acknowledge the Bilateral Agreement as a joint Commonwealth and State 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

27.	During the term of this Agreement, New South Wales will, upon 7 days’ notice from the Commonwealth during normal business hours or as otherwise agreed, permit and provide persons ("Auditors") nominated by New South Wales supervised access to relevant information to verify compliance with the obligations under this Agreement. The Commonwealth is not entitled to use this right of access for purposes that are not related to this Agreement.

GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

28.	This National Partnership and its associated implementation, reporting, accountability and evaluation requirements will be monitored by a cross-sectoral steering committee which will provide advice to the NSW Minister for Education and Training on issues requiring action.

The Parties have executed this agreement as follows:

Signed for and on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Australia by

……………………………………….
The Hon. Julia Gillard MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Education	

Date:

Signed for and on behalf of the
State of New South Wales by

……………………………………………	
The Hon. Verity Firth MP
Minister for Education and Training 

Date:	

NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT FOR
LITERACY AND NUMERACY

BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND
NEW SOUTH WALES

Purpose

1.	This agreement sets out the role and responsibilities of the State of New South Wales (‘New South Wales) and the Commonwealth of Australia (‘Commonwealth) in relation to the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy, signed on 29 November 2008.

2.	New South Wales remains firmly committed to working with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to achieve the goals expressed in the National Education Agreement, to improve the educational outcomes of our students to ensure the continued prosperity and progress of Australia and to encourage young people to pursue productive, fulfilling lives. 

3.	New South Wales enters this Partnership in the spirit of cooperation and commitment to work towards achieving improvement in high-level outcomes for schooling agreed by the Council of Australian Governments and set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

4.	This Agreement outlines New South Wales financial, monitoring and reporting commitments regarding this National Partnership. A detailed Implementation Plan for the three schools National Partnerships is provided at Attachment 1.  

KEY REFORM AREAS AND INDICATIVE ACTIONS

5.	Detailed information concerning the key reform areas and associated indicative actions is located in the New South Wales Implementation Plan at Attachment 1. 

BUDGET

6.	The Commonwealth facilitation payments and State co-investments to be made in support of the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership reforms in New South Wales are agreed as follows:

Facilitation payments

Facilitation ($m)	2008/09	2009/10	
Australian Government	19.04	21.76	
State Co-investment	19.04	21.76	
Total Facilitation 	38.08	43.52	

Facilitation Payment Milestones

Due date	Milestone	Facilitation Payment	
May 2009	Signing of bilateral agreement and State Implementation Plans 	$19.04m (100% payment for 2009)	
December 2009	Acceptance of NSW Final Implementation Plan	$5.44m (25% payment for 2010)	
April 2010	State annual report on progress
o	Data Analysis Skills Survey (DASA) baseline data collection completed by all schools
o	Publication of school plans on school websites
o	Teachers in participating schools have ongoing access to e-learning modules SMART Data Analysis (By December 2009, SMART e-learning will be fully functional).
o	All students in Years 3, 4 and 5 in participating schools complete the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy March 2010 assessment	$16.32m (75% payment for 2010)	

Reward payments

7.	The following sets out the maximum allocation of reward funding available to New South Wales, subject to the achievement of agreed reward milestones:

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	
	($)	($)	($)	($m)	($m)	
Australian Government	0	0	0	47.6	47.6	
Total Reward Budget	0	0	0	47.6	47.6	

8.	In order to achieve the objectives of the National Education Agreement and to sustain the significant national reforms under the National Partnerships, states and territories that receive reward funding must use this funding for education purposes and must agree the distribution of reward funding with any non-government sectors that are party to the agreement.

Reward Payment Milestones
9.	Reward payment milestones are in the Implementation Plan at Appendix C.

NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR PARTICIPATION

10.	In making this Agreement, the Catholic systemic sector was represented by the Catholic Education Commission NSW and independent schools were represented by the Association of Independent Schools NSW. 

11.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of Catholic schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Catholic Education Commission NSW.

12.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of independent schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Association of Independent Schools NSW.

13.	Commonwealth funding for New South Wales schools will be received by the NSW Treasury on behalf of New South Wales. Funds will then be disbursed to:

•	Government schools through the NSW Department of Education and Training
•	Catholic systemic schools through the Catholic Education Commission NSW
•	Independent schools through the Association of Independent Schools NSW.

14.	A detailed breakdown of New South Wales’ co-investment contribution is provided in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1).

15.	Further detail regarding payment distribution to the non-government sectors and information regarding non-government sector co-investment is attached in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1). 

16.	New South Wales agrees that the Implementation Plan will be a ‘living document’ subject to periodic review as agreed by the Commonwealth and New South Wales.

INDICATIVE ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

17.	Detailed information regarding performance indicators and indicative actions can be found in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1).

MONITORING AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

18.	New South Wales will monitor and report on the progress made in this National Partnership as agreed with the Commonwealth and detailed in the Implementation Plan. 

19.	New South Wales agrees to provide reports to the Commonwealth detailing progress against the agreed reform milestones and timelines, as set out in the Implementation Plan. New South Wales concedes that summaries of the state reports will be published. 

20.	New South Wales agrees that the First Report in April 2010 will address the following:

o	Baseline data for the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy Assessment April 2009
o	Baseline data from the Data Analysis Skill Assessment (DASA)
o	Baseline data from the Analytical framework for effective leadership and school improvement in literacy and numeracy
o	Number of teachers implementing whole school/whole class reading and numeracy programs
o	Number of students who have individual learning plans in reading or numeracy
o	Number of teachers participating in the Cultural Immersion Program Term 1 2010

21.	New South Wales also agrees to share information of best practice arrangements and successful reform interventions with other States and Territories through the dissemination of National Partnership annual reports, on a yearly basis. New South Wales will periodically review the effectiveness of the reforms being undertaken in this Partnership, and will make these results available to States and Territories. For more detail on evaluation, refer to the Implementation Plan at Attachment 1. 

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

23.	New South Wales notes that where agreed Performance Indicators under the NP agreement contribute to the objectives and outcomes of the National Education Agreement, the COAG Reform Council will assess these performance indicators in the context of its analysis and report on the National Education Agreement and its subsidiary NP agreements.

24.	New South Wales agrees that where individual school data is provided, and the NP agreements do not provide for that level of analysis to be published, standard privacy protocols should prevail.

PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

25.	New South Wales will acknowledge the Bilateral Agreement as a joint Commonwealth and State initiative in all publications, promotional and advertising materials, public announcements, activities or any products, processes or inventions developed as a result of the implementation of the Bilateral Agreement.

AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS

26.	During the term of this Agreement, New South Wales will, upon 7 days’ notice from the Commonwealth during normal business hours or as otherwise agreed, permit and provide persons ("Auditors") nominated by New South Wales supervised access to relevant information to verify compliance with the obligations under this Agreement. The Commonwealth is not entitled to use this right of access for purposes that are not related to this Agreement. 

GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

27.	This National Partnership and its associated implementation, reporting, accountability and evaluation requirements will be monitored by a cross-sectoral steering committee which will provide advice to the NSW Minister for Education and Training on issues requiring action.

The Parties have executed this agreement as follows:

Signed for and on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Australia by

……………………………………….
The Hon. Julia Gillard MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Education	

Date:

Signed for and on behalf of the
State of New South Wales by

……………………………………………	
The Hon. Verity Firth MP
Minister for Education and Training 

Date:	

NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT FOR
LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS SCHOOL COMMUNITIES

BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND
NEW SOUTH WALES

Purpose

29.	This agreement sets out the role and responsibilities of the State of New South Wales (‘New South Wales’) and the Commonwealth of Australia (‘Commonwealth’) in relation to the National Partnership on Low Socioeconomic Status School Communities (‘the Partnership’), signed on 29 November 2008.

30.	New South Wales remains firmly committed to working with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to achieve the goals expressed in the National Education Agreement, to improve the educational outcomes of our students to ensure the continued prosperity and progress of Australia and to encourage young people to pursue productive, fulfilling lives. 

31.	New South Wales enters this Partnership in the spirit of cooperation and commitment to work towards achieving improvement in high-level outcomes for schooling agreed by the Council of Australian Governments and set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians.

32.	This Agreement outlines New South Wales’ financial, monitoring, reporting and auditing commitments regarding the National Partnership on Low Socioeconomic Status School Communities. A detailed Implementation Plan covering the three schools National Partnerships is provided at Attachment 1.  

KEY REFORM AREAS AND INDICATIVE ACTIONS

33.	Detailed information concerning the key reform areas and associated indicative actions is located in New South Wales’ Implementation Plan at Attachment 1.

34.	The Commonwealth and New South Wales agree the State Implementation Plan to be a ‘living’ document, subject to periodic review as agreed by both Parties.

BUDGET

Facilitation payments
	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	
Funding	($m)	($m)	($m)	($m)	($m)	($m)	($m)	
Australian Government	4.4	60.1	81.1	148.3	143.9	88.2	67.2	
State Co-investment	4.4	60.1	81.1	148.3	143.9	88.2	67.2	
Total Facilitation Budget	8.8	120.2	162.2	296.6	287.8	176.4	134.4	

Facilitation Payment Milestones

Due date	Milestone	Facilitation Payment	
July 2009	Signing of bilateral agreement and State Implementation Plans.	$4.45m (full payment July 2009)	
October 2009 	Acceptance of NSW Final Implementation Plan.
2009 and 2010 cohorts School Plans developed	$45.075m (75% payment 2009/10) 	
April 2010	State annual report on progress.	$15.025m (25% payment 2009/10)	
October 2010 	State milestone report on progress.
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2011.
2011 cohort School Plans developed	 $60.825m (75% payment 2010/11)	
April 2011	State annual report on progress.	$20.275m (25% payment 2010/11)	
October 2011	State milestone report on progress.
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2012.
2012 cohort School Plans developed	$111.225m (75% payment 2011/12)	
April 2012	State annual report on progress.	 $37.075m (25% payment 2011/12)	
October 2012	State milestone report on progress
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2013.	$107.925m (75% payment 2012/13)	
April 2013	State annual report on progress	$35.975m (25% payment 2012/13)	
October 2013	State milestone  report on progress
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2014.	$66.15m (75% payment 2013/14)	
April 2014	State annual report on progress	$22.05m (25% payment 2013/14)	
October 2014	State milestone report on progress
Revised implementation plan with priority actions for 2015.	$50.4m (75% payment for 2014/15)	
April 2015	State annual report on progress	$16.8m (25% payment for 2014/15)	

NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR PARTICIPATION

35.	In making this Agreement, the Catholic systemic sector was represented by the Catholic Education Commission NSW and independent schools were represented by the Association of Independent Schools NSW. 

36.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of Catholic schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Catholic Education Commission NSW.

37.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of independent schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Association of Independent Schools NSW.

38.	Commonwealth funding for New South Wales schools will be received by the NSW Treasury on behalf of New South Wales. Funds will then be disbursed to:

o	Government schools through the NSW Department of Education and Training 
o	Catholic systemic schools through the Catholic Education Commission NSW
o	Independent schools through the Association of Independent Schools NSW.
 
39.	Further detail regarding payment distribution to the non-government sectors and information regarding non-government sector co-investment is attached in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1). 

INDICATIVE ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

40.	Performance measures for the State’s involvement in this Partnership are detailed in the Implementation Plan (Attachment 1).

MONITORING AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

41.	New South Wales will monitor and report on the progress made in this National Partnership as agreed with the Commonwealth and detailed in the Implementation Plan. 

42.	New South Wales agrees to provide reports to the Commonwealth detailing progress against the agreed reform milestones and timelines, as set out in the Implementation Plan. New South Wales concedes that summaries of the state reports will be published. 

43.	NSW agrees that the First Report in April 2010 will include the following:

o	A statistical overview and discussion of the options selected by schools from the Reform Menu 

o	Details as to which cohorts of students have been targeted in schools and which strategies are being implemented to assist them

o	The breakdown of funding for each of the six Reform Options

o	Baseline data for Literacy and Numeracy performance in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 (NAPLAN) and school-based assessment and reporting mechanisms

o	Case studies from individual schools illustrating a range of scenarios operating within the partnership.

44.	New South Wales also agrees to share information of best practice arrangements and successful reform interventions with other States and Territories through the dissemination of National Partnership annual reports, on a yearly basis. New South Wales will periodically review the effectiveness of the reforms being undertaken in this Partnership, and will make these results available to States and Territories. For more detail on evaluation, refer to the Implementation Plan at Attachment 1. 

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

46.	New South Wales notes that where agreed Performance Indicators under the NP agreement contribute to the objectives and outcomes of the National Education Agreement, the COAG Reform Council will assess these performance indicators in the context of its analysis and report on the National Education Agreement and its subsidiary NP agreements.

47.	New South Wales agrees that where individual school data is provided, and the NP agreements do not provide for that level of analysis to be published, standard privacy protocols should prevail.

PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

48.	New South Wales will acknowledge the Bilateral Agreement as a joint Commonwealth and State initiative in all publications, promotional and advertising materials, public announcements, activities or any products, processes or inventions developed as a result of the implementation of the Bilateral Agreement.

AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS

49.	During the term of this Agreement, New South Wales will, upon 7 days’ notice from the Commonwealth during normal business hours or as otherwise agreed, permit and provide persons ("Auditors") nominated by New South Wales supervised access to relevant information to verify compliance with the obligations under this Agreement. The Commonwealth is not entitled to use this right of access for purposes that are not related to this Agreement. 

GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

50.	This National Partnership and its associated implementation, reporting, accountability and evaluation requirements will be monitored by a cross-sectoral steering committee which will provide advice to the NSW Minister for Education and Training on issues requiring action.

The Parties have executed this agreement as follows:

Signed for and on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Australia by

……………………………………….
The Hon. Julia Gillard MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Education 

Date

Signed for and on behalf of the
State of New South Wales by

……………………………………………	
The Hon. Verity Firth MP
Minister for Education and Training

Date