Page 3558 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 12 October 1994
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MR WOOD: She has one little bit of an answer. There is a fundamental difference between us and the Opposition. School enrolments will always fluctuate while the city and suburbs are growing and young people grow up and move away from home. Newer suburbs traditionally have had larger school-age populations, while older suburbs have had declining enrolments in their schools. In particular, because of the nature of Canberra's development, suburb by suburb - in the past, at any rate - that has always been an exacerbating factor.
Because parents have the choice as to what school they send their children to, more popular schools will attract more students. Schools can become popular for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that some parents prefer the old-fashioned school design. They do not like the "open plan" design of some of our schools, if that term is still relevant. More frequently, a school is popular because the parents believe that it has a high-quality education program. Sometimes it might simply be as a result of good marketing. Evidence suggests that secondary colleges situated at a bus interchange adjacent to a town centre are more popular. You will note that some of these factors do not have a great deal to do with the quality of education being offered at the school. The fact is that school populations can fluctuate markedly.
The key issue is that governments should ensure that all students have access to quality education programs. That is what it is all about. That is what I said during question time today and it is what I have been saying all the time that I have been in this Assembly. Numbers do not count; it is what happens in that school that counts. The best way to ensure that all students have access to quality education programs is to maintain a pattern of schools across our city in such a way that each operating school is accessible to all those who want to come. It is also important that each school offer high-quality education programs which meet the needs of those students who do come. That is the real management question - managing schools so that students have access to quality programs; not managing enrolments to stop schools getting too large or too small. We should get the right focus. Managing quality education, while being mindful of resource constraints and shifting enrolments, is a priority for this Government.
You will recall that on 18 May this year I tabled in the Assembly the report of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Education. I sought the advice of the council on precisely this issue, and they have responded at length. The Government is currently considering that advice. The Government is addressing this issue and other planning issues at both macro and micro levels. Because schools are part of the fundamental infrastructure that governments provide for the community, the initiatives taken to control the urban sprawl of Canberra will have an influence on the demographics of school-age children. We have adopted a policy, in part, to use our existing infrastructure. I know that Ms Szuty has supported that 50 : 50 policy. We have all had some concerns about the way it is going; but that has been an important thing. Yet she stands up and says that we have not done anything. What more significant step than that could we take? Surely, we could take no more significant step.
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