Page 274 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 December 2004
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This government will continue to value public schools as a leading part of our strong and cohesive community.
The government believes that a quality education means recognising need and addressing inequality in terms of outcomes and ability to participate in a meaningful educative process. This government rejects generalised funding rationale for the education sector and instead promotes needs based funding to produce real improvement for students at school, in their communities and in learning environments in the home.
The ACT government is committed to provide fair funding and support to the entire education sector. We support non-government schools to continue their important role in the education community and to provide essential services and support to the sector to ensure that it remains vibrant and in touch with community expectations.
The ACT government is committed to building on the strengths of our public education system and the education system as a whole to ensure that we continue to have the highest quality education and training system in the ACT. We will do this through a realistic appraisal of our strengths.
As minister for education, I have the highest respect for the work that ACT teachers perform in their everyday roles and also in the extracurricular activities they perform in sustaining school communities. It has been the explicit policy of this government to see this hard work recognised in improved wages and fair conditions of employment. We value teacher professionalism and have provided the resources to support continuing professional development and innovation. We have done this particularly through the provision of quality ICT programs for teachers and through new teacher resources like the centre for teaching and learning.
The government has achieved many firsts in education in the territory and it has worked hard to restore needed funding and services to the sector. The largest ever increases in education funding have been achieved by this government. We intend to see this major investment in the education sector as a whole continue and be reinforced by specific initiatives.
One initiative, which the government has now presented to the people of Canberra, has been the expansion of preschool services for the families of Canberra, with an additional 1.5 hours per week, raising the level of preschool education to 12 hours per week. This major investment in early learning complements our investment in the first years of school learning, with lower class sizes now a reality across government schools. This investment in preschool education will continue to better effect a successful transition for children from preschool into primary school. It will be greatly facilitated by the development of the preschool strategic plan, which will reassess the delivery of preschool education in line with current pressures on families.
This government has committed to making high school education a priority over the next four years. Investment in new student support options will be at the heart of this renewal process, improving the resources available to steer students through what can be a difficult time for some. New teaching resources will be available and integrated to support the existing work of school counsellors and the new youth workers in ACT government high schools. We are also investing in vocational education and training in
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