Page 93 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 April 1992
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Mr Kaine: You do not need to spend money in TAFE if you have fixed it in primary school.
MR CORNWELL: Exactly, Mr Kaine. It is interesting that the Labor Party have opted out of this whole question of skills testing at the primary school level. Their own policy states that they will establish guidelines for the early identification and resolution of literacy and numeracy problems without recourse to standardised, systematic testing. Perhaps they have a deal going with OPSM and they are going to - - -
Mr De Domenico: Were they in the last Assembly as well?
MR CORNWELL: Maybe so. Maybe they are going to identify them through rose-coloured glasses. I will be very interested to see how they plan to establish these guidelines. The fact is that the Liberal Party is prepared to address this question where it is needed, and that is at the primary school level. We do accept, however, that, because this matter has been neglected for so many years, obviously there must be a catch-up opportunity presented, and that seems to be sensibly done in the TAFE system. We are happy to support Mr Moore's motion accordingly.
MR MOORE (11.30), in reply: As no-one else is going to address the question, I thought I would make a couple of comments. I am delighted that the Liberals are supportive, for their reasons. People made promises quite some time ago and this is an opportunity to draw attention to those promises, to raise the issue and to ensure that we have a consistent approach from people, where appropriate.
I really have difficulty in letting go some of the comments of Mr Cornwell on skills testing. I accept, and I agree with him, that the most important place to address literacy and numeracy is in the primary school. I have a difference of opinion with Mr Cornwell on the method of doing that. The notion that we can resolve all those problems by standardised skills testing across the schools is naive, to say the least. There are some suggestions that standardised skills testing would have the opposite effect. Standardised skills testing teaches children that they are really not very good.
I see Mr Humphries turning up his face. As a teacher of long standing, I believe that one of the most important factors in children, in particular young children, is their self-concept. Their self-concept reaches a stage where they think, "Well, having been tested and so forth, compared with the other kids, I am just one of the dumb bums", and that is the term they use. Then, in fact, it is almost impossible to motivate them. What we can rely on instead is what our professional teachers are doing. Some of the things that our professional - - -
Mr Humphries: Are they encouraging "smart bums"?
MR MOORE: Certainly. Mr Humphries says, "What about the smart bums?". That is the flip side of the coin. Some of them are going to consider themselves the dumb ones; the other ones consider themselves the smart ones. The smart ones will do very well under those circumstances because they feel better than everybody else, and that is very good for their self-concept. But the price you pay is that the others are going to have difficulty with literacy. That is what we are talking about - basic literacy and numeracy.
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