Page 3074 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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(b) the recommendations and directions coming out of the review of Atelier Learning Solutions Pty Ltd of the ACT secondary colleges which was published in December 2005;
(c) the failure of the Stanhope Government to implement those recommendations so far; and
(d) the reduction in staffing of at least 21 teachers from the ACT college system as a result of 2006-2007 Budget; and
(2) calls on the Stanhope Government to immediately:
(a) implement the recommendations of the review of ACT secondary colleges;
(b) reinstate the 21 staff cut from the ACT college system; and
(c) desist from moving self-congratulatory motions as a substitute for actions.”.
Ms Porter should be on her minister’s case and saying, “In my electorate, minister, in the electorate of Ginninderra, there are colleges that are doing it tough because you have cut teachers out of it.” There are colleges out there that have lost substantial numbers of teachers, and it is having an impact on a daily basis on the teaching and learning environment. It is having a daily impact on the learning capacity of students; it is having a daily impact on the quality of the teaching that goes on in our senior secondary colleges.
All the extra bits have been taken away because these teachers are working so hard. They are taking on an extra load; they are taking on extra lines. As a result of this, they do not have the time to stop in the corridor or remain behind in a classroom and talk with a student and value add to that student’s learning. All the extra bits—all the bits that are intangible and cannot be measured by some time and motion expert with a stopwatch—have been taken out of the ACT college system by this minister stripping the staff out of the system.
The teachers union, the college principals and the students told him what would happen if he cut the staff. He went ahead and he cut the staff, and, as a result of that, today there are students in our college system who are doing it tougher than they need to. There are teachers in our college system who are doing it tougher than they need to, and the proud tradition of 30 years of an exemplary college system—probably the best in the country, the one that, by the minister’s own admission, other states want to emulate—has been undermined in just over a year by this minister with his parsimonious cutting of teacher numbers and his lack of attention to the policy.
Look at some of the recommendations in the report. The recommendations are about ensuring that when kids leave year 10, they transition smoothly and without disruption to their learning and unnecessary repetition in their learning. These things are not happening because this minister and this Chief Minister and this government collectively have cut the heart out of every ACT college by taking out any excess staff
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