Page 1942 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 June 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS BERRY: I am very happy that school parents in any school can raise those issues with their school and that they can be addressed by their school communities, not debated by politicians in this place.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, does Margaret Hendry School have a higher than average level of student suspensions?
MS BERRY: No, I do not believe so.
Education—teachers
MR DAVIS: My question is to the Minister for Education and relates to teacher attrition. Minister, as you have pointed out in this place previously, the ACT does have a lower than average rate of teacher retention. What are we doing to ensure that we retain great teachers, and are we conducting exit interviews with each and every teacher before they leave the system?
MS BERRY: It is always very important to understand how many teachers are leaving our schools and why they are making those decisions. Public schools conduct exit interviews and surveys to make sure that we collect that information on the experiences of all staff within our public schools, because that feeds into the continuous efforts to make sure our workplaces are good workplaces. We are committed to making sure that they continue to be good workplaces.
MR DAVIS: Minister, specifically, do we interview every single teacher when they resign from the directorate to identify why they have left teaching?
MS BERRY: We cannot compel teachers who are leaving the profession to participate in a survey. But my understanding is that those exit interviews do occur and that that information is valuable to ensuring the Education Directorate works closely with its workforce and with the Australian Education Union to make sure these workplaces meet the needs of teaching professionals.
MS CLAY: Can you outline the steps the government and directorate take to re-engage teachers once they have left the profession?
MS BERRY: I will have to take that on notice. That is not a job that I do specifically. I have to check what the Education Directorate does. I will take that on notice and bring that advice back to the Assembly, if it is available.
Schools—employment
DR PATERSON: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, how are public schools providing jobs for Canberrans?
MS BERRY: I thank Dr Paterson for her question. ACT public schools are growing and we are hiring more and more Canberrans to staff our public schools. In this term of government we are committed to hiring more than 400 teachers to support staff in
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video