Page 2069 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 25 October 1989
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It is the view of this Government that schools are quite free to use a form of accreditation or assessment other than the ACT year 12 certificate. There is no compulsion upon them to use the system which is available here in the ACT, but the important point is that, if they choose to use an alternative system, then it is up to them to pay for it.
Dickson College
MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education. I understand that Dickson College is to lose six teachers. I also understand that, because of this, they will be unable to continue their very effective driver training education. I ask the Minister what he proposes to do about this, as it seems to be contrary to the government proposals in the budget papers which include funds for driver training.
MR WHALAN: In relation to Dickson College, I cannot give the exact details of the number of teachers. There will be fewer next year than this year. One must avoid confusing the reason why there is a reduction in teacher numbers. Generally, as you would be aware, student numbers in the ACT are virtually stable now; there is effectively no growth. It is virtually zero growth in terms of enrolments, and we can probably anticipate a period in the not too distant future when there will be a net decline in the number of students.
But, at the same time as the student numbers are stable, the education system is physically expanding. We will see the opening next year of the latest of the secondary colleges at Lake Tuggeranong College. You find as a result of these sorts of developments and movements in population that enrolments decline, so there is automatically a reduction in staff based on those declining enrolments.
There has been some productivity reduction of staffing in relation to the secondary colleges, and there has been also a further factor affecting staffing reductions, and that relates to the change in the census date for purposes of assessing the enrolments in the colleges. We do find in the colleges generally a pattern of sharp decline in enrolments after the school year commences in February. So there probably will be a reduction. I do not dispute the figure that you have quoted but I do not know that it is the exact figure.
We do know that there has been quite an element of self-management within schools, and that is the reason why the school boards are such important instruments in the management process in our schools. The school board plays a very active role in relation to the determination of curriculum within the school system. In relation to the driver training education program at Dickson College, any decision in relation to continuing or discontinuing that
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