Page 3413 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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schooling model, with planning in place for an early childhood school at Franklin to serve the Gungahlin region. In fact, this year’s budget provided $1.4 million for the forward design of the Franklin early childhood school. Again, whilst the committee’s recommendations do seem to indicate growing support for the government’s policies, the fact remains that initiatives such as funding for the Franklin early childhood school were not supported by the Canberra Liberals.
The committee recommends that the government work with the Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools to ensure that early learning and school transition advantages can be extended to all ACT students. I have been advised that the department has established a universal access governance committee so that all sectors can work together to improve access to high-quality preschool education. The Australian early development index, or AEDI, data, collected across all communities, has been provided to public and non-government schools to support the transition of students into school.
The AEDI is a population measure of early childhood development and school entry, derived from teacher-completed check lists. The ACT AEDI coordinating committee has developed a comprehensive strategy for disseminating AEDI results across ACT government and non-government agencies, including schools. The evidence provided by the AEDI will inform policy and program development for all areas of early childhood development. Additionally, AEDI champions will work with communities to use the data to develop programs to meet identified needs.
The committee also recommends that the department facilitate forums on best practice in family engagement with student learning and to support teachers in this area of schooling. Just one way in which we are doing this is through the virtual learning environment. This new web-based system, currently being piloted in eight schools, will provide a portal allowing parents to better see what their child is doing at school.
Recommendation 19 is pleasing. In short, it seeks better data for better decision making. The department has already formalised an agreement with the University of Canberra to share research interests in education. A collaborative research group has been established between the Department of Education and Training and the University of Canberra. Through this group, a research program is being developed and is likely to include the development of indicators to measure the performance of the education system.
The government will also continue to use a range of data sources, including NAPLAN and the AEDI, to inform the efficacy of targeted programs for disadvantaged and at-risk students.
In conclusion, the government is committed to ongoing education reform. That is why, for example, we are investing $3.9 million to establish the Teacher Quality Institute. That is why we started to prepare the way, as part of our next enterprise bargaining agreement with the Australian Education Union, to deliver the best teachers with faster promotion and better pay. That is why we continue to work in cooperation with the commonwealth and other jurisdictions on national agreements that will deliver higher teacher quality in Australian classrooms.
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