Page 1975 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 June 2021
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Leave granted.
MR HANSON: Thank you. I table the following paper:
Bringing out the best in every child: An Education strategy for the ACT—Canberra Liberals, dated June 2021.
I am really proud of this strategy. At the outset I would like to thank Dr Karen Macpherson, who is the principal author. I am so impressed with the work that she put together. I wanted an analytical, evidence-based, non-ideological look at our education system. I wanted to look at where it can be improved and how it can be improved. I am delighted with what we have released. Sometimes it is difficult for an opposition to do that level of work without the support of the directorate, and I would not have been able to do that without all of Dr Macpherson’s good work. I thank her for what she has done.
In the foreword I say:
The education of school aged children to prepare them for their lives ahead is in my view the most important area of government policy and service delivery that the ACT government has responsibility for. We have a workforce of dedicated teachers who are passionate about students’ learning and wellbeing. We need to support them by improving the system in which they work.
The government education system is complex including varied levels of parental interaction and choice, politically charged funding debates, philosophical arguments about curriculum and pedagogy, significant infrastructure investment decisions and equity challenges.
At its core however is the very simple question of whether the ACT system is delivering the best education for every child, regardless of their background or ability?
My conclusion after collaborating with Dr Karen Macpherson for the development of this paper is that no, it isn’t.
This paper lays out the issues that are holding our system back from achieving its full potential, and outlines a way ahead to make the improvements that are needed across the key areas of academic standards; equity; bullying and violence; school funding and governance; and overcrowded schools and ageing infrastructure.
An independent systemic review of the ACT Education system is needed to address these issues and a terms of reference for such a review is provided as part of this paper.
I concluded the foreword by saying that I invite feedback and consultation on the issues raised in the paper. I said that I look forward to hearing from people. Indeed, I have heard lots of commentary. Some of it is private, because I have heard from schoolteachers in the ACT and, indeed, from members of the union—people working on the front line of our education system—and they say that they are not going to say
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