Page 2163 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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No. In terms of the individual circumstances, it may well be that a teacher was called away to answer a phone call …
Mrs Dunne refuted that, saying:
No, no. The teacher was teaching two classes at once, by your own admission.
The minister then said:
I will have to investigate. It is not a standard practice within the system for teachers to teach two classes in separate rooms.
It continued:
MRS DUNNE: That is what was happening.
Mr Barr: Incorrect, Mrs Dunne.
MRS DUNNE: So the letter you wrote to me the other day is wrong?
Mr Barr: No. You have made an incorrect statement. I am advised that there was one teacher supervising a class that involved two year levels.
MRS DUNNE: Yes, in separate rooms.
Mr Barr: So there were year 11 students and year 12 students involved.
MRS DUNNE: In separate rooms.
Mr Barr: In separate rooms? All right, in separate rooms, but two year levels.
Here we have a minister trying to squirm out of this question with remarks that he knows do not accord with the facts. He initially tries to claim that the students might have been left unsupervised because a teacher may have had to answer a phone. He then refuses to confirm the allegation, saying that he will need to investigate, all the while clearly knowing full well that he is already well aware of the incident. Moments later, when Mrs Dunne points out his previous correspondence on the matter, he suddenly remembers.
Does the minister then admit the incident? No, not yet. Instead, in a desperate last ditch effort, he turns to hairsplitting. He tries to make out that Mrs Dunne has made the factual error, not he, because of course they are not really different classes. Apparently, they are the same class. They just happen to be split into two separate rooms for different year levels. This continues with the same elusive approach. They are probably the kindest words I can use. The people want better—they want a frank and open approach. Mrs Dunne in this exchange raises a serious issue in the ACT.
The other day I was approached by a teacher from a northern suburbs school. I did not know her. It was at the opening of an art exhibition. On the Friday before the weekend she had experienced an assault by a former student who had come back and got
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