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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (21 April) . . Page.. 1089 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

I am proud to say that 12 months before it was even mentioned by the current Federal Government we had placed a greater emphasis on vocational education and training. That is something that is terribly important as we go into the twenty-first century. From the 1970s through to about the mid-1980s there was great emphasis on preparing children to go to university and, in fact, only about a third did so. The other two-thirds entered the work force or went to the CIT or undertook other training. I think we had our system a little bit askew. There was not enough emphasis on preparing kids for the work force. I am very proud of the efforts we have made in enhancing vocational education and training. We have gone from a few hundred students in Years 11 and 12 in the government sector taking a vocational education and training course in 1995 - and there are about nine courses - to about 3,500 of the 6,800 kids in college now having options for vocational education and training courses. I think that is going to be shown to be more and more important as we go into the twenty-first century. We have done a lot of things and there are certainly a lot of challenges.

I am interested in some of the comments Ms Tucker made. I would correct one thing she said. Education is specifically excluded from competition policy. We have introduced school-based management. Ms Tucker touched on that. Schools are now starting to reap the benefits of having greater flexibility as a result of that. Obviously, more things need to be done in those areas and others as we go into the twenty-first century. We need to keep education current. We need to be at the forefront in adopting innovations that will assist our students to lead productive lives in the work force. I have raised at MCEETYA meetings such things as the need for more male teachers in primary schools, recruitment needs and the ageing teacher force which we face here, perhaps to a greater extent than in some other States and Territories. They are the challenges we face going into the twenty-first century.

Education is a very demanding area. I would agree with Mr Berry that it is a crucial area in terms of the wellbeing of our community. If you do not have an educated work force, you simply do not get anywhere. If you do not prepare your students for life and for the work force, you are not doing the right thing by society as a whole. So education is a crucial area of government. That does not mean that there are not things we can do better.

I think the points Mr Hird raised are valid. We are blessed with excellent schools. Most of them are relatively new, having been constructed in the last 30 years. We have a teacher cohort that is professional, well qualified and constantly renewing itself through professional development. We have all those good things I indicated earlier. We have a system which keeps up to date with curriculum development. Contrary to what Mr Berry says, we do spend a considerable amount on education. We have maintained education funding in real terms.

In fact, OFM has done a detailed study which indicates that we have gone past that. Over the last four years we have provided an increase in real terms of about $26m. To say that this Government has not put in the dollars is quite ludicrous. You just have to look at the budget papers since we have been in government to see that. You just have to look at the considerable investment we have made. It is above the national average, as Mr Hird said. In fact, it is the highest for anywhere except for the Northern Territory, which is higher for obvious reasons. That indicates the importance we place on education.

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