Page 5643 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010
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management and disease control responsibilities appropriately. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Dunne) adjourned to the next sitting.
ACT Teacher Quality Institute Bill 2010
Mr Barr, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (10.41): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am introducing the Teacher Quality Institute Bill 2010. The Assembly will recall that in September last year I announced that the government would be creating the Teacher Quality Institute. We will, through this institute, establish a merit-based career path for teachers and reward effort and excellence in classrooms. I want to see accelerated career progression for our most enthusiastic young teachers and I want to see our best classroom teachers paid six-figure salaries. The Teacher Quality Institute will assist in these reforms and enhance the standards of professional development amongst ACT teachers.
Before speaking about the role and importance of the Teacher Quality Institute, it is important that I place this bill and the institute into the national perspective. The Council of Australian Governments and the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs have a national reform agenda for teacher quality.
Improving the effectiveness and productivity of our teachers will not only improve Australia’s economic growth, it will make Australians richer. A recent report by the Grattan Institute found that a 10 per cent increase in teacher effectiveness would improve student performance and in the long term the productivity of our labour force. Increased productivity could increase long-term economic growth by $90 billion by 2050, making Australians 12 per cent richer by the turn of the century.
The ACT Teacher Quality Institute will become part of a national network of registration agencies providing input into teaching reforms at the national level and enhancing teacher quality across Australia. The ACT’s teacher quality implementation plan articulates our reform strategies to improve teacher effectiveness and quality in all schools. Improving teacher effectiveness will in turn improve student outcomes.
Under the government’s plan, the ACT will establish a teacher education advisory committee. The committee will consider new pathways into teaching, improved
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