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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Wednesday, 30 June 2004) . . Page.. 3089 ..

It is clear to me that the teaching and learning environment in many schools in the ACT is not as harmonious, peaceful and conducive to good learning and the development of good values as it ought to be. The figures to which I have referred and the evidence that I have presented as a result of broad discussions that I have had with teachers and families show that discipline and student behavioural problems are leading to disruptions in the classroom, which is a major concern.

A significant number of students believe that they are being disrupted or bullied in schools. Student surveys similar to the one to which I referred earlier underpin that feeling and reflect alarming levels of dissatisfaction, despite the programs that have been put in place by the government and by the department to tackle bullying, discipline and the growing trend of violence and vandalism. It is evident from the budgetary appropriations that a number of programs have been put in place, but what results are they achieving?

When I have been at shopping centres or I have been out doorknocking, parents have told me that they are sympathetic as schools are trying to improve those aspects of school life. However, they lament that the results are mixed and that there are too many disruptive situations. In recent years those parents have either wanted to move or they have moved their children into non-government schools because the atmosphere is considered by them to be dramatically different and because of the oft-quoted phrase, considered by many in the education debate to be a dirty phrase, that those schools have discipline.

Schools that have a disciplined teaching and learning environment really do worry about values. So we are seeing a movement from one government school to another. Some schools in the Tuggeranong Valley have a good reputation, so there is a movement to them. It is clearly the view amongst families that children at schools that teach, support and practice values will grow up developing a sense of self-discipline. They will be able to learn better, pull their weight at home and in the community, and be part of a collectively disciplined but happy gaggle of school students.

Most importantly, parents see this investment in the development of discipline—underpinned by the teaching of values and the practising of valued behaviour—as fire-walling their children and preventing them from falling by the wayside as they grow older and, in particular, in their adolescent years when they are confronted with the attractions of drugs and alternative culture and they later fail to achieve acceptable educational outcomes. I am aware of a number of celebrated cases of parents complaining to schools because the schools dared to discipline their children. However, that is the flipside of the coin.

Most people have said that they would prefer their schools to be a little stronger in the discipline department. That issue and the more broad grab bag of issues surrounding academic concentration, generally decent behaviour, respect and tolerance, underpinned by the inculcation of values, are of paramount importance to families that are struggling or facing the challenge of getting their kids through school. It is important to make the point that a healthy environment in which values play a large role in everyday schooling minimises the need for overt disciplinary measures.

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