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A clear majority of Australians (69%) want the Federal Government to implement a national education curriculum, a special Roy Morgan telephone survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday night (October 9/10) finds. Twenty-six per cent oppose the idea and a small 5% can’t say.

Despite Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop receiving widespread criticism from the State Governments when she flagged the Federal Government’s intentions last week, majorities in all states and age groups say that there should be a national curriculum.

Residents of New South Wales (75%) and Queensland (73%) are the most likely to be in favour of a national curriculum, compared to 56% of West Australians, 61% of South Australians/Northern Territorians, 64% of Tasmanians, and 66% of Victorians.

Australians aged 18-24 are most likely (79%) to favour the proposed plan, which could in part be attributed to a disillusionment with the current structure of the secondary school education system. They are followed by 25-34 year olds (73%) and those aged 50 and over (70%). This is compared to just 51% of 14-17 year olds.

However, only two-in-five Australians (39%) say that schools that don’t adhere to the proposed national education curriculum should have their Federal Government funding withdrawn. A small majority (55%) say funding should not be withdrawn, while 6% can’t say.

Less than one-third of Australians (31%) say it should be compulsory for all Australian students to complete Year 12 compared to 69% who say it should not be compulsory.

The contentious issue of mandatory completion of secondary school education became news again last week when Federal Labor backbencher Craig Emerson argued that people who finish Year 12 have better jobs, higher wages and are less likely to end up in trouble with the law.

Gary Morgan says:

“Australians are clearly in favour of a standard national education curriculum being established, as was suggested by Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop last week. Although the plan has already been met with strong opposition from State Governments and education authorities, majorities in all states and age groups are supportive of the idea.

“However, only 39% of Australians say that schools that fail to adhere to a national curriculum should have their funding withdrawn, which partly contradicts the whole point of implementing a national system — a majority (55%) say that funding should not be linked.

“And despite Ms Bishop saying that forcing students to complete Year 12 was not the answer to improving education levels, 31% of Australians think the completion of Year 12 should be made compulsory for all Australian students. A majority (69%) say Year 12 should not be compulsory.”

This special telephone Roy Morgan survey was conducted on the evenings of October 9/10, 2006, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 672 men and women aged 14 and over.

1. Should Year 12 be compulsory?

Respondents were first asked: “Should it be compulsory for all Australian students to complete year 12?”

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	October 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	31	31	31	35	36	34	27	31
No	69	69	69	65	64	66	73	69
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Region and State
	October 9/10, 2006	Metro	Country	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	31	33	29	25	27	42	36	34	53
No	69	67	71	75	73	58	64	66	47
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

2. Should there be a national education curriculum?

Respondents were then told: “At present each State/Territory is responsible for the administration of its own education curriculum, resulting in eight separate education authorities. Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has made it clear that the Federal Government wants to overhaul the current education system into one body that would be responsible for creating a uniform national education curriculum.”

Respondents were then asked: “In your opinion, should the Federal Government implement a national education curriculum for all Australian students?”

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	October 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	69	68	70	51	79	73	66	70
No	26	29	24	45	19	20	30	25
Can’t say	5	3	6	4	2	7	4	5
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Region and State
	October 9/10, 2006	Metro	Country	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	69	69	69	75	66	73	61	56	64
No	26	27	25	21	29	24	30	38	27
Can’t say	5	4	6	4	5	3	9	6	9
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

3. Should funding be withdrawn if don’t adhere to national curriculum?

Finally, respondents were asked: “If a national education curriculum is implemented, do you think schools that fail to adhere to it should have their Federal Government funding withdrawn?”

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	October 9/10, 2006	Men	Women	14-17^	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	39	41	37	32	30	40	39	43
No	55	54	56	68	64	54	56	49
Can’t say	6	5	7	-	6	6	5	8
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Region and State
	October 9/10, 2006	Metro	Country	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA/NT	WA	Tas^
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	39	39	39	38	40	42	34	36	44
No	55	55	54	53	55	52	64	60	50
Can’t say	6	6	7	9	5	6	2	4	6
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

^ Sample sizes less than 50 should be treated with caution

	All Australian 14+	Analysis by Implementation of National Education Curriculum
	October 9/10, 2006	Yes	No	Can’t say
	%	%	%	%
Yes	39	49	13	30
No	55	44	83	60
Can’t say	6	7	4	10
Total	100	100	100	100

Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size	Percentage Estimate
	40%-60%	25% or 75%	10% or 90%	5% or 95%
500	±4.5	±3.9	±2.7	±1.9
1,000	±3.2	±2.7	±1.9	±1.4

Roy Morgan Research is the provider of the world’s most extensive and only true single source survey and owner of Asteroid, the leading market research survey analysis software.

For further information:
Gary Morgan: Office (03) 9224 5213 Mobile 0411 129 094 Home (03) 9419 3242
Michele Levine: Office (03) 9224 5215 Mobile 0411 129 093 Home (03) 9817 3066

The Morgan Poll is conducted by the ONLY Australian member of the Gallup International Association.
No Other public opinion poll taken in Australia has this qualification

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