No need to reject competition as a driving force in schooling outcomes

· Requirement for new mechanisms and processes for the improved delivery of education services.

A good education system is best concerned first and foremost with quality. Evidence strongly suggests that is the best means to achieve a wide variety of education and social goals.

To enhance the quality of Queensland schooling over the next thirty years, there should be strong support for:

· Promoting choice for parents/children and considering ways to enhance it;

· Increasing the responsiveness of schooling to parent and community needs;

· Decentralisation through reducing central education bureaucracy and increasing local school autonomy;

· Improving teacher quality; and

· Promoting competitive neutrality and ending current conflicts of interest in government provision.

Research has clearly identified a number of school and system characteristics associated with better outcomes. It shows successful systems prioritise teacher quality and therefore a key focus for the future will be attracting the right people into the teaching profession, training them to deliver the best education, and having the right incentives and environment to keep them teaching and developing.

But most importantly, the vision for the future should embrace a more deregulated schooling model as the strongest means to improve quality and student outcomes. A deregulated model means:

· Separating policy development and advice from direct service delivery so that the best suppliers are chosen to provide specified services at defined quality;

· Offering greater diversity in the range of education services;