NSW plan to close ‘significant’ gap between city and country school students flawed, watchdog finds

NSW auditor general Margaret Crawford found the education department was ‘unlikely to achieve its vision’ for education equality. Photograph: Sydney Bourne/Getty Images/Image Source

The “significant gaps” between the education and wellbeing outcomes of students in regional and remote parts of New South Wales and their city counterparts are unlikely to close, according to an audit of the education department’s strategy.

The scathing report handed down by the state’s auditor general, Margaret Crawford, found the department was “unlikely to achieve its vision” for education equality across the state due to shortcomings in its own strategy’s design and implementation.