Page 4251 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The matter of public importance put forward is a fairly broad and sweeping assertion. It does not, of itself, contain much to support it. It does not contain much argument or the germ of much argument. I think we need to look at what the facts are and establish some criteria on which one could measure the sorts of allegations that are being hurled around by the Opposition. Opposition members say that the decisions made by this Government have been driven by political imperatives, that we have not consulted adequately, that we have not taken the time to find out the background and the details of what issues are driving the education system, and that generally the issues have been handled ineptly. I have to say that as far as the ACT school system is concerned there are several indicators which I believe show that a very clear and positive direction has been established for that system under the ACT Alliance Government. We inherited the finest public education system in Australia, and that system remains as strong as it ever was. The fact is - - -
Mr Duby: Even better, it has been improved.
MR HUMPHRIES: I stand corrected by Mr Duby; it has actually been improved. It is actually a better system because of the efforts of this Government, and I want to look at the indicia of support and satisfaction. I will use two criteria to make such an assessment. Firstly, as members opposite know, the Government regularly engages in a process called school review. School review is presently a feature of the ACT public education system. It is a process of assessing all features of the performance of our public education system. This has been undertaken during this year and it has produced some interesting results. More than 90 per cent of parents in the primary area are either satisfied or highly satisfied with the primary education their children receive.
Apparently the Opposition wants to separate the Government that administers this system, the bureaucrats who administer this system and all the other people who run and provide that kind of service from the outcome, but it cannot do that. The fact of the matter is that confidence in the capacity of our system to provide services is still very high, and I believe that as a result of the changes we have brought about it will be higher still. But that is not the only thing that goes into making up an effective school system. There are other ways of measuring satisfaction within the system.
Another way - a very good way, I expect - would be to measure the satisfaction of the workers in the system. Teachers are, of course, a very important part of the ACT education system - a vital component, one might say - and they are capable of expressing their dissatisfaction with what they see in a number of ways. I would like to compare the number of teaching days lost under the Labor Government run by Ms Follett - who has just returned to this debate - with the number of days lost under the Alliance Government.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .