Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2403 ..

MR PRATT

languages; and other performances in high schools relating to those core subject. Of course there's nothing new to show why we have this 9 per cent drop in government school enrolments since 1992. We need to find out why that's happening.

We on this side of the house are very keen to see the public sector, the government sector, viable. We want to see it enhanced so that that sector is there to ensure that we've got not only a safety net but in fact an excellent schooling sector which provides high standards of education for all families in the ACT if they so choose to go to that sector. We are concerned that some of those standards are beginning to slip.

Mr Speaker, there's no substantial attempt to address, for example, how a cultural change might be undertaken in schools because it's too much of a challenge. Parents do want cultural change in their schools; they do want their schools to be safer. Our schools are safe, our schools are respectful; but we want our schools to be safer, we want them to be more respectful and we want them to be respected places to learn. Parents would like to see their kids go to an uninterrupted learning environment where kids are able to understand and learn values and where schools are upholding positive values.

Mr Speaker, parents do not necessarily want to pay teachers more. This is the interesting feedback we get when we look at surveys, particularly interstate, which do say that parents don't necessarily want to pay teachers more, but they do want them to be unencumbered by violence, unencumbered by policing tasks, and by administration. Again, this is a case of the Stanhope government spending a lot of money for meagre results. Opportunities are being lost.

Mr Speaker, I would encourage government to strive to find the funding to pay teachers more money. We would strive to find the funding to pay teachers more money, but we would want to be trying to find that from efficiencies, from savings through efficiencies. We would also like to increase our teachers pay, but we would like to see that accompanied by substantial productivity increases.

Why are these initiatives not mentioned in the budget? Why do we not see these sorts of initiatives undertaken in this budget, Mr Speaker? We don't see any initiative in this budget; we don't see any vision; we don't see any bold steps by this government to try to lift the performance indicators in our schools. These are simple things. They might be a bit tough because they do involve cultural change; they involve leadership; they involve strong management. They don't necessarily always involve money either. But we don't see any signs of those sorts of initiatives.

Mr Speaker, more needs to be done to attract good role model teachers to the ACT. In the estimates process Mr James Coleborne, the executive director of school education, said that, in order to address the problem of boys education, recruiting the very best teachers was an important issue. He said that, and he's a man whom I greatly respect. Yet this budget shows no new initiatives to attract teachers of excellence to the ACT system.

Mr Speaker, in addition to attracting excellent teachers to the ACT we need to be looking at offering those teachers already working in our system the very best support

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .