Page 4015 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 16 Sept 2009
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Labor government has made and continues to make a considerable and sustained investment in improving the capacity of our teachers—our early childhood teachers, teachers in primary schools and our high schools and college teachers as well as our school leaders.
The Department of Education and Training is using best practice standards in teacher recruitment and selection processes. A new support program for graduate teachers has been introduced. Teachers regularly attend challenging professional development and training sessions so that they can continue to create innovative lesson plans and review their teaching practices.
To attract and retain the best teachers in ACT classrooms, we will invest and deliver over $6 million for new specialist literacy and numeracy teachers. A total of 21 literacy and numeracy specialists will coach ACT teachers and assist Canberra’s schools to develop individual learning plans for students.
This government is also investing over half a million dollars to increase the number of Indigenous teachers and teacher assistants working in ACT public schools, over $3 million for more teachers to assist with English as a second language, and almost $2.5 million for additional professional support and expert support for schools to implement the quality teaching model. This is a record investment in ACT schools and will make sure that teachers are able to ensure that the students reach their full potential.
The ACT government is also working closely with the commonwealth to improve teacher quality—something that has only been possible with the election of a Labor federal government. The ACT’s draft implementation plan for the improving teacher quality national partnership was recently released. This government is listening and continues to listen to the community and school communities. Broader communities are encouraged to provide feedback on the draft to the Department of Education and Training.
This national partnership will drive reform and innovation to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in ACT schools and to sustain a quality teaching workforce. Through this partnership, school principals will be given increased flexibility to determine the most appropriate method of filling teaching vacancies in the executive structures of schools. The national partnership funds will be used to provide each school with an additional flexible starting allocation, and schools will be encouraged to use this allocation for innovative teaching arrangements. The new arrangements could include allowing staff to vary their teaching days and schools extending their hours to provide greater homework support, ICT activities, arts workshops and sporting activities.
Schools that lead the way under this national partnership will be priority schools for the introduction of ongoing placement of accomplished and leading teacher positions. These experienced teacher positions will be based on the national professional standards being developed across all jurisdictions. This national partnership, along with the literacy and numeracy and low socioeconomic national partnerships, is a significant step towards making sure that the ACT attracts and retains the best and
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