Page 1977 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 June 2021
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It is worth my going through some of this because it builds the case for that change. I have broken it into five key areas; that is, the failing literacy and numeracy standards, equity issues that are limiting opportunity, too much bullying and violence—we touched on that in question time—unbalanced school governance, and overcrowded and poorly maintained schools. I will give you some key quotes from each of those areas so that you can listen to what the experts are saying.
The ACT Auditor-General said:
… after taking account of intake and context differences, ACT government schools on average achieve negative results on every measure.
Victoria University said, “At primary school level, year 5 students in the ACT are almost six months behind students in comparable schools.”
The Grattan Institute said that the ACT is the worst performer:
On this like-for-like basis, students in the ACT make two to three months less progress than the national average in both primary school (between Year 3 and Year 5) and secondary school (between Year 7 and Year 9).
The Australia Institute has said that the results of analysis suggest that there is a systemic problem with the relative performance. The Australian National University has said that, with regard to economic standards, there is “systemic underperformance in government primary and high schools”.
We have outlined some things that we think could happen in terms of the curriculum, support for teachers and teacher excellence, and pedagogy. With regard to equity, I will quote from the ACT Council for Social Services and the ACT Youth Coalition:
… relying on the ACT’s comparative ‘average’ rank in national and international testing hides the significant inequity in the ACT’s education system.
They say:
Educational disadvantage in the ACT is hidden and we need to be taking steps to address the inequities in the system.
Roberts and Leonard, from the University of Canberra, talk about equity:
… a close examination of the PISA report shows that the ACT quickly falls to near the bottom of the nation when it comes to equity in education.
A report by the ABC has said:
… the ACT still has a significant gap in NAPLAN results between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
The Canberra Times has said that the ACT has failed to halve the learning gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.
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