Page 1681 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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We do maintain that high priority for education, but we must look also at the way we administer services in education and see whether we can do things better, more sensibly, both in keeping with the current demands in schooling and in terms of the financial limitations placed on us. I would be much more interested in a speech from Ms Szuty that gave some innovative ideas about how to do this; one that came up with some positive suggestions on how to do things better, on where we might better focus, and not take the easy course of saying, "Spend more money". I conclude by saying that I am reassured by Ms Szuty's speech, in that she found no cause to criticise the education system.
MR MOORE (3.53): Twice early in Mr Wood's speech there was a slip of the tongue and he said that their highest priority is Labor. On the third occasion he got it right and said that the highest priority is education. That slip of the tongue tells more truth than the speech we have just heard from Mr Wood. He talked about how well the education system is going, and, for a large proportion of the students in our system, that is the case. They have very dedicated teachers who work very hard to ensure that that is the case. But, because of the way Labor has treated the system, there are those who are missing out. It is estimated that as many as 1,200 students are leaving primary school needing specialist assistance in high school. In other words, 1,200 students are leaving our primary schools not having had the appropriate assistance that they need. They are the ones who are being left behind.
Apart from a few comments on the Lanyon High School, which is in its planning stages, Mr Wood's speech was bereft of comments on the high schools. That is why I wanted to begin my speech today by saying, "A funny thing happened on the way to the forum". The forum I speak of is the high school forum. In June 1992 the high school development program was released. This document makes 17 recommendations and it was a product of the reference group seeking to improve the current situation of high schools. The reference group was strongly of the opinion that there was a need for major change to be made for the education of 12- to 15-year-olds. It appears that only one of these recommendations has been acted upon by the Government - recommendation 17. That recommendation was this:
The Department of Education and Training should facilitate and provide lead-up and post conference support for a special conference to be called The High School Forum to be organised and conducted in mid 1993.
My understanding is that the forum is scheduled for 29 July. That is over a year after the suggestion, and it was only one of the 17 recommendations. Yet Mr Wood can stand here in front of us and tell us what a good job he has been doing.
High schools have long been seen as the cinderella of the school system, with emphasis being placed on our primary system and our very successful college system. If it is a cinderella system, Mr Wood is certainly not the fairy godmother. High schools, by their very nature, accommodate youth at a very vulnerable and difficult age. These years are extremely important in terms of the development of self-confidence and mental, physical and emotional health, as well as providing the foundation for college, and ultimately entry into either work or tertiary education. We cannot afford to continually ignore the
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