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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4594 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

This is an extremely difficult and sensitive issue because this school has played an important part in the education system in the ACT for many years. It has a unique role. It has got almost to the extent now, in 1996, of having a unique role in the whole of Australia. It is unusual in the sense that you have an alternative school within the public education system. That should not be the only basis for why we should continue to have this school, but it is something to keep in mind. As I said, SWOW has been here for 23 years and it has been successfully providing alternative education in the ACT for all of those years. It has also been important in that it has allowed local decision-making. It has also recognised the need for diversity within the education system. I think this is something to keep in mind. It is a recognition that not all schools are the same, and that not all children attending the schools are the same. You cannot have one education system that is going to fit every child.

I think it was disappointing to see in the paper this morning that we are looking at our college system and going for uniformity there. I think "choice" is another word that is used so often. Diversity in our education system is important. One of the people who spoke to the inquiry was an alternative educator at the University of Canberra. He mentioned a number of positive parts of SWOW, and I think this is something to keep in mind. This is what Dr Tim Hardy said:

I think it is a reflection on the commitment and the quality of the educators who have been involved in the education in the School Without Walls. It also indicates that the system here in the ACT for 23 years has supported or, if not directly supported, has tolerated and has had flexibility in the way that it has operated to allow such an institution to exist. I think, thirdly, that the fact that it has existed for 23 years indicates that there has been a continuing need for this sort of education in the ACT. When you look at the enrolment numbers over that period of time, although they have gone up and down somewhat, it has been a continuing demonstration of need there. Fourthly, and most importantly, I think, the fact that it has survived has shown that the arrangements between the school and the system have worked; however, they have actually worked for that long period of time and allowed it to exist.

That is one of the things that are interesting - that it has been working. It has worked for a long time. You wonder why, now, there is this need to get rid of it. Some of the changes that are being suggested mean that SWOW will no longer exist.

Submissions that came from students, both past and present, spoke glowingly of their time at SWOW, or their current time at SWOW, and their various reasons for attending this school as opposed to the other schools within the system, the importance of self-directed learning, and the importance of the secure and supportive environment which is free from the harassment which is often a feature of the larger high schools in the ACT system. This is not saying that all the other schools should not be free of harassment, but children who have special needs and who have certain vulnerabilities often need the opportunities that are provided at schools such as SWOW.

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