Page 850 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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The ACT system has, in this area as in many others, led the way in this country. We have for some time been promoting teachers on merit. That has been the model used for teacher promotion in the ACT since its inception as a system in 1974, and the merit principle is fundamental to that approach. In 1986, the peer assessment and selection section was established with the primary function of ensuring that teachers were provided with high standard, equitable assessment in their quest for promotion. Members of the section are selected jointly by the ministry and the ACT Teachers Federation, thus ensuring a balanced and conclusive selection process which is not subject to appeal.
The section also provides continued support and advice for potential and unsuccessful applicants. Equal employment opportunity principles are adhered to closely, and are seen as a priority. No longer are women discriminated against due to shorter or broken periods of service. A measure of this is the continuing proportion of women achieving promotion positions, a figure more closely reflecting the percentage of women teachers in the service.
The ministry is also introducing a teacher review and development process to maintain and improve the quality of teaching and learning within the government school sector. Probationary procedures have also been recently improved. The ministry is currently reviewing promotional procedures with a view to making sure that that information is based on the best available data, and a range of data generating options, including the assessment centre method, are presently being considered. That is a quite exciting possibility. Discussions are being held with the Teachers Federation to ensure that promotion procedures remain at the cutting edge of contemporary personnel procedures and practices.
Hospital Services Budget
MR CONNOLLY: My question is also to Mr Humphries as Minister for Health. Minister, given the history of financial problems in the hospitals and given the fact that you had the Treasury report some 15 months ago, what actions did you take, on assuming office, to ensure that you were able to scrutinise the budget closely throughout the financial year?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I do not know what Mr Connolly was doing yesterday when we had a debate on the motion of censure, but all those things were set out in quite some detail then. Apparently he was not paying attention. I do not think Ms Follett was even here, so I do not know how she could comment on that. I will run through it again for his benefit, so that he can refresh his memory about these things.
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