Page 3156 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 July 2010
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raised in the review, and those of concerned parents, are addressed as much as possible with the funding allocated in the budget. We are encouraged by responses by Dr Watterson and Dr Collis in estimates concerning improvements around the transparency of the SCAN funding model—and that they felt that the Shaddock recommendations on the process were timely.
The parents’ views of the individual learning plans—and their satisfaction with these—were another issue we focused on in estimates. Dr Collis acknowledged that it was an area that we need to do more work around. We certainly will be following up to see how that work progresses.
We look forward to seeing how the government respond to the Shaddock review recommendations. It is clear from the number of options put forward in the review—and the minister indicated in estimates about the growth in the number of children with special needs—that investment beyond the $1.6 million needs to be made in coming years to adequately support these students, parents and teachers. Professional development for teachers of students with a disability is something we have covered earlier, and it was a key issue that came up in that Shaddock review.
We welcome the allocation in the budget to ACT primary schools for the swim and survive program. This is something we have worked hard with the Royal Lifesaving Society and the ACT government and Minister Barr to progress, and we felt funding for this program was important. It is part of the ALP-Greens parliamentary agreement. The program will go a long way towards ensuring primary school students have access to vital swimming and water survival skills. Again, I do thank the minister, in a tight budget, for ensuring that this was progressed.
The major part of the education budget is taken up with new school operating costs in Harrison, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin, with almost $14.5 million over four years. This represents a significant investment in areas where demand will be high. Given some of the cost concerns raised around the building of the education revolution school building work, this work needs to be well monitored to ensure the ACT obtains best value for money.
I raised in estimates the issue of portable classrooms being used at Harrison. I accept the reasoning for this, as demand for places fluctuates, but it is important that use of these type of temporary arrangements is kept to a minimum and, if used, that they are properly equipped to support students and teachers and provide a satisfactory learning environment.
The ACT Greens will be supporting the education and training budget. There is a considerable amount of work to be done, with the major part of funding for the larger initiatives allocated for the next two years. The estimates committee had concerns around the lack of robust accountability indicators for the users of public education services—for students and parents and carers—and we note the government, in their response, are working towards the development of these as part of national measures of satisfaction.
We will be monitoring the education budget, progressed against these, when they are developed—and the existing indicators as well—to ensure that ACT students, parents
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