Page 374 - Week 01 - Thursday, 16 February 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The list goes on. But, Mr Speaker, Labor’s commitment to students and staff is not just about refurbishing and upgrading. It is also about introducing innovative facilities, programs and infrastructure into these areas to support 21st century learning. All those children who had their first day at preschool last week across Canberra are our future. The ACT Labor government is committed to making sure that these children and all those who follow them have the best start in life.
We are committed to making sure Canberra’s younger students have access to the best quality preschool education. That is why we have invested in five dedicated early childhood schools and another is being built in Franklin to open next year. This has been a $20 million infrastructure investment that recognises the growing body of evidence that points to the important role education plays in the early years of childhood.
Built as community hubs within Canberra’s suburbs, these new schools are providing evidence-based learning programs to students during one of the most formative phases of child development. Moreover, education services will be backed up by a range of new family and child services.
With these schools we have invested in an integrated service model that places the needs of children and their families at the centre. Families have access to a comprehensive array of programs with services including education, childcare, health, parenting and early intervention programs all integrated into each school. It is part of our cradle-to-work approach to education. The early childhood schools showcase Labor’s whole-of-government approach to services. We are supporting children’s early learning, ensuring family engagement and, at the same time, building service capacity.
When it comes to education, we want to retain Canberra’s high global standing in reading, science and maths. From our perspective, the best way to do this is to continue to invest in our public high schools. That is why my predecessor, Andrew Barr, launched the excellence and enterprise framework. Excellence and enterprise is about building performance in every area of the curriculum across every public secondary high school. It is about giving every school the opportunity to build on their natural advantages to develop areas of subject specialisation and excellence. It is about giving parents choice within our public school system.
But, most importantly, it is about giving students the chance to capitalise on their natural abilities, giving them the tailored support and resources to ensure they succeed during secondary schooling. Of course, this cannot be done if schools do not have access to the facilities needed to teach specialist subjects. That is why Labor will continue to fund the necessary infrastructure in areas like languages, performing arts, numeracy, science and technical skills.
This is a system that will deliver a more distinctive secondary system, a system better suited to the needs of parents and students, a system better able to partner innovative schools within the community sector with business and with industry. Through investment in excellence and enterprise, students leaving our secondary system will
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video