Page 4140 - Week 13 - Thursday, 25 November 1993
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students to do so if old concepts, an old structure and old ways generally continue to dominate our declining expenditures. That would be ruinous, fundamental asymmetry - a teaching system out of kilter with the times and, therefore, with the demands which society is making upon our students.
There are, accordingly, new prospects for not just maintaining but improving the quality of ACT schooling, and they do not depend upon a mode of teaching and learning essentially unchanged since the last century. Our opponents would have Canberra people believe that quality is conditional upon the preservation of a certain industrial configuration that serves those who are paid to serve the system. As I have shown, that is not necessarily so. Quality does not need to suffer because there will be about 80 fewer positions in a teaching force of more than 3,000. On the one hand, our funding from the Commonwealth will continue to shrink. On the other, we are determined to maintain and raise quality. The people of the ACT know that our opponents will see the necessity for the reconciliation of those two imperatives. I trust that they will do that today. In the end, goodwill and intelligence should prevail.
The strong sense of social justice will determine the continuity of programs sustaining our drive for quality. Preschools will feel no effects at all. Another strength of the ACT government schooling system is the top quality special services for students who need them. Students who have a disability or have learning difficulties or behavioural problems receive special support. This might take the form of a special school or special setting. It might involve an itinerant teacher working with the student in a mainstream setting. Increasingly, these services focus on supported integration into mainstream classes.
We also recognise that some groups may be disadvantaged because of their gender or race or socioeconomic circumstances, and it is for this reason that special programs are developed and offered. Many great initiatives are under way. Our introductory English centres are the envy of other States and Territories. Our English as a second language program is being enhanced by the language for understanding program, which is training mainstream teachers better to support the learning of students of non-English-speaking backgrounds. (Extension of time granted) These and other supportive programs such as reading recovery will remain. The budget will also provide funds to undertake special projects to enhance the quality of educational delivery, including money to integrate more students with special needs into mainstream schooling.
As more young families continue to move into Gungahlin and Tuggeranong we shall continue to build new schools to meet their needs. The budget particularly provides for high quality in buildings and facilities on which quality in education relies. Design is being undertaken with a high consciousness of energy efficiency, low maintenance and environmental awareness. The budget will provide regular improvement programs for science and technology areas. It will take older schools up to advancing building standards and bring them into line with delivery of the changing curriculum. It is a building budget for the future shape of our schooling.
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