Page 1615 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 May 1990
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arrangements. I believe this is something that the community has long called for; that they should have far greater involvement and a far greater say in the way their schools are run. It is a point that Mr Wood talked about and I think that it is consistent with the Government's approach to education.
Mr Humphries advised us that, in the interests of the maintenance and indeed improvement of the quality of education, continuing reviews are progressing at the preschool level, the primary level and the secondary level. In other words, we do not regard it as a static subject. It is a very dynamic one, and we are constantly reviewing where the system is at each of those three levels and to see how we can better define the system and deliver a better standard of education.
Mr Humphries spoke of the need for change in the system, in the continuing search for excellence, to take place within the context of the major financial adjustments that we must make, particularly over the next two years or so. I believe that those are not incompatible objectives. You can change and change for the better, and you can do it at less cost, which is the dilemma that we have been set.
Mr Speaker, over the last few weeks I have had discussions with senior management of the Education Department and also with representatives of the Teachers Federation. With respect to the departmental officers, I have to say that I am most impressed with their innovative approach to the major problems which emerge from the need for change in this dynamic system. My impression is that they are at the forefront of national thinking on educational change. They outlined to me the kinds of changes that are being confronted by education systems all over Australia. They demonstrated an awareness of the problems and they demonstrated that they had devised or were devising solutions to some of these current problems which in a dynamic system constantly come up for consideration. They are not thinking in terms of last year or last decade or last century; they are talking in terms of the next decade. I believe that they are very innovative, they are very sensitive to the needs of the education system for which they are responsible, and they have no hesitation in putting forward their ideas to Government.
I have every confidence that those officers, under the policy guidance of this Government, will ensure the management of the necessary change in the education system to achieve a more efficient system, delivering better educational opportunities at a considerably reduced cost to the taxpayer over the next few years.
Similarly, the Teachers Federation representatives have shown themselves to be responsible people who are prepared to be involved in the decision making processes with the Government. At the same time we recognise that they have a duty to represent the interests of their members, and we in the Government respect that duty.
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