The first progress report on the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (BFSA) has highlighted early improvements in student attendance, teacher numbers and Year 12 completion, as school leaders welcome the findings while calling for more detailed data on secondary education outcomes.
Released by Federal Education Minister Jason Clare, the report marks one year since all states and territories signed onto the national agreement, which aims to fully fund public schools and lift student outcomes through targeted reforms.
According to the report, national trends that had declined over the past decade are beginning to reverse. Attendance rates, which fell from 92.7 per cent in 2014 to 86.5 per cent in 2022, are now improving. Similarly, the proportion of students completing high school – down from a peak of 84.8 per cent in 2017 to 79.1 per cent in 2023 – has started to rise again.
Teacher workforce data also points to recovery, with the number of students commencing teaching degrees increasing by 20 per cent in recent years, following a significant decline between 2017 and 2023. Preliminary figures suggest a further 6.3 per cent increase in domestic undergraduate teaching offers this year.
The federal government has positioned the BFSA as the largest investment in public schools by an Australian Government, committing an additional $16.5 billion over the next decade, alongside a further $50 billion in the following ten years. The agreement ties funding to reforms including evidence-based teaching practices, phonics and numeracy checks, and targeted small-group tutoring.
Mr Clare said the early results were encouraging but emphasised that further work is needed.
“Attendance is going back up. Teacher numbers are going back up. The number of students finishing high school is going back up,” he said. “This is good news but it’s just the start. There’s a lot more work to do.”
The Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA) has welcomed the report, describing the early indicators as a reflection of the combined efforts of school leaders, teachers and education systems nationwide.
However, the association has cautioned that the headline figures do not yet provide sufficient insight into how the agreement is impacting secondary schools specifically.
ASPA noted that secondary schools face unique challenges, including the complexity of senior secondary delivery, the need to cater to diverse student pathways, and ongoing difficulties in recruiting specialist teachers in areas such as mathematics, science and the arts.
The association is calling for future BFSA reporting to include more detailed, disaggregated data on funding distribution, attendance, completion rates and workforce trends at the secondary level.
“Without this level of transparency, it is difficult for school leaders and the community to assess whether the Agreement’s full-funding promise is reaching the students and schools that need it most,” ASPA said in a statement.
The issue was also discussed at ASPA’s 2026 National Summit in Canberra, where Mr Clare briefed principals on the agreement’s progress and its alignment with national goals for equity and excellence.
At the summit, the Minister announced Commonwealth funding for a national pilot program focused on reflective supervision for principals, to be coordinated by Headspace. The initiative is designed to support school leaders’ wellbeing through structured, evidence-informed practices.
ASPA welcomed the pilot, noting that increasing pressures on principals make targeted support both timely and necessary.
Looking ahead, the association has emphasised the importance of ongoing collaboration between federal, state and territory governments to ensure transparent evaluation of how funding under the BFSA is being used to improve outcomes for students across Australia.
