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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 3 Hansard (26 May) . . Page.. 574 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

We in the ACT have not merely been led by the national/Commonwealth agenda on literacy; our own firm beliefs about the immutability of every child's entitlement to acquisition of a full range of literacy skills are longstanding. These beliefs have made us proactive participants in the nationwide quest for improved literacy skills for all our young people. We are determined to recognise that the importance of literacy goes beyond rhetoric. We are determined to support teachers in ACT classrooms to improve learning outcomes for all students. The quality of our assessment materials allowed us to make some comparisons with the draft national benchmarks. In general, ACT students performed well in those comparisons. Information about the outcomes of the ACT assessment programs has been made publicly available. But we cannot afford to be complacent; there are students in all of our ACT schools who require support and targeted intervention programs to ensure their learning success. That, Mr Speaker, is what sustains this Government's commitment to literacy enhancement.

Last year I worked with my national colleagues, through the ministerial council, to achieve agreement on national literacy and numeracy goals. This agreement states:

... every child leaving primary school should be numerate and able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level ...

Further:

... every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a minimum acceptable literacy and numeracy standard within four years ...

In agreeing to this goal, we recognise that a very small proportion of children suffer from severe educational difficulties. As I have said, the literary achievements of our students compare very well with the national position. However, it is clear that requirements for literacy are increasing. The goals we have set to meet these increasing needs should be an accepted integral part of any education system, because literacy and numeracy outcomes for Australian students are not yet good enough to take them with confidence into the twenty-first century.

This Government has affirmed the goals of the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs - MCEETYA, as it is known as - and will continue to reiterate them until they are reached consistently and by every child. The key elements of the national plan specifically designed to achieve those fundamental goals are - and I am quoting here, Mr Speaker, from the MCEETYA resolution of March 1997:

(provide) a comprehensive assessment of all students by teachers as early as possible in the first years of schooling ... identifying those students at risk of not making adequate progress towards the national numeracy and literacy goals

intervene as early as possible to address the needs of all students identified as at risk

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