Education policy is also about nation building, according to the Leader of the Opposition, Kevin Rudd.
Speaking in Melbourne, Rudd announced Labor’s directions in education by arguing that “education is the pathway to prosperity”. Rudd said: “OECD research shows that if the average education level of the working-age population was increased by one year, the growth rate of the economy would be up to 1 per cent higher. Another recent study found that countries able to achieve literacy scores 1 per cent higher than the international average will increase their living standards by a factor of 1.5 per cent of GDP per capita. So whether it is through focusing on literacy levels, or increasing the average number of years spent in education, the evidence invariably shows that more educated economies are wealthier economies.”
Rudd and the Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Stephen Smith, released a 30-page document titled “The Australian Economy Needs An Education Revolution”.
This is the transcript of Kevin Rudd’s Address to the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Labor is a party of reform. Labor is a party of economic reform. Labor is a party of social reform. Labor is also a party that has reformed Australia’s view of our place in the international order.