Page 557 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 1990
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The ACT public education system was built on principles of extensive community involvement. School boards embedded in legislation continue to represent this principle of self-management. Over the last two years the level of participation of school boards has been extended through regional associations to a central board forum which works closely with the senior executive of the department.
This Government believes that community participation is important in both the design and delivery of schooling. We accept that a local government type of structure would be inappropriate in the city state context of the ACT. We believe, however, that an independent body, responsible for decision making in areas of the major quality elements of education, must be a component of ACT government and non-government schooling. This level of cooperation has been achieved through the ACT Schools Accrediting Agency. A green paper canvassing options of this sort will be distributed to the community and adequate time will be allowed for responses before the Government makes any decisions in this matter.
The question of literacy and numeracy is one of great importance at the present time. The Alliance Government is committed to achieving high standards of literacy and numeracy for ACT students. This year, 1990, is the International Year of Literacy. A number of approaches for monitoring literacy and numeracy performance have been adopted by other States. The Government is committed, however, to establishing the approach which is best suited to the ACT. System-wide testing of students is one option. Testing the performance of students at selected year levels or of samples of students are others. Another possible approach is the development of literacy profiles which will enable the reporting of progress in reading and writing of all primary school students in a systematic and understandable way. The Government will shortly release a green paper on literacy and numeracy for discussion and comment as part of a community-wide consultation process.
The next subject I want to address is that of school review. The public school system is the largest educational undertaking in the ACT and enrols the majority of students. There are some 170 public schools and preschools, enrolling some 45,000 students. The continuing excellence of the public school system is vital to the future of Canberra.
As part of its commitment to ensuring high quality for its schools the Government will introduce a continuous review program for all ACT public schools, commencing in second term of this year. Twenty-one schools, including five high schools and their feeder primary schools, will be reviewed in 1990. Consultations with schools and their school boards have commenced. Each year a cluster of schools, that is high schools and their feeder primary schools, will be reviewed within each region. Clusters will be reviewed on a five-year cycle. A discussion paper called, "Proposal
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