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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3311 ..

MR STEFANIAK: Mr Moore, in answer to the last part first, I will check on question No. 411 and chase that up for you. I will check that out and I will get back to you on that. Mr Moore, the 10-point literacy plan quite clearly shows the commitment by State and Territory Ministers to improving literacy in this country. That is something I think we are all very keen to pursue. As you are well aware, too, I think, the steps taken by this Government, especially the testing of Years 3 and 5, have shown that generally our results are better than average, but there is still room for us to improve. That is exactly what we are doing. That is why we have adopted a number of strategies, including development of a literacy strategy. The discussion we had yesterday, in terms of - - -

Mr Moore: You were talking about abolishing the assessments of Years 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8.

MR STEFANIAK: Mr Moore, you have also talked about the learning assistance program. We have initiated, I think at the request of agencies such as the P and C, a review of our learning assistance program. We are assessing our total approach in relation to literacy. As you are well aware, Mr Moore, too, in terms of our school system, we do look at every child entering primary school. Every child who leaves kindergarten is looked at. Indeed, a significant number who are assessed as being in trouble are looked at by the teachers, and steps are taken in Year 1 to try to rectify the situation in terms of literacy.

I saw a very good program which is run in our schools. Teachers occasionally go to the Canberra University, where they have a child from Year 1 who is at any stage between one and 16 stages in a 20-week program for literacy and Reading Recovery. They assess the methods there. That is something that happens in Year 1 as a result of actions taken in our schools at the end of kindergarten, Mr Moore. We currently spend, as you are well aware, $10m over and above normal classroom teaching in terms of assisting students who have these problems in their schooling. Now, Mr Moore, after we have the results from the Year 3 and Year 5 assessments, we are looking at better ways to target our not inconsiderable resources to further improve literacy in the early years of schooling.

MR MOORE: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Minister, will your Government inject any more funds into literacy improvement if the Commonwealth Government maintains its stance of refusing to invest any funds into the national literacy action plan drawn up by the State and Territory Education Ministers? What do we get a choice of - a Liberal government or a Liberal government?

MR STEFANIAK: Mr Moore, quite clearly, since we have been in government we have injected further funds into the program. In the 1995-96 budget we injected further funds. Initially, it was a once-off, but it was then confirmed. In terms of the track record of this Government, not only have we injected more funds than the previous Government, we also have developed programs such as testing for Years 3 and 5. We are developing a comprehensive reassessment of all aspects of literacy in our schools so that we can further advance the needs of our students.

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