Page 1984 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
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schools. In the end they closed nine preschools, 11 primary schools and one high school, and four other primary schools were partially closed.
The government may wonder why there is such a high percentage of families supporting non-government education, but why wouldn’t they when parents can have no assurance that their public school of choice will stay open for the duration of their child’s education? Why would they when they see bullying and other serious behavioural issues continuing at schools, and principals and teachers unable to deal with it because of restrictive policies that lack professional development, and far too few counsellors?
Governments should not be about picking winners and losers. We should ensure that all schools have access to the latest technology, that all students have the opportunity to do the best they can, for teachers to know they work in a vocation that is well respected and well supported by parents. And parents should have real choice. Our non-government schools need to know they are an important part of the education partnership in the ACT and funding that acknowledges their role. (Time expired.)
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.21): The Gallagher Labor government is committed to the future of education in the ACT. And not only is this Labor government committed; I would like to put on the record my personal commitment and ongoing interest in the future of the greatest resource in our community—our children. As the mother of five, a grandmother of 10 and, as of Tuesday lunchtime, the great grandmother of Ava Louise, I have a significant and vested interest in ensuring that only the best education system is made available to our children and they are enabled to reach their full potential.
But I digress, Madam Assistant Speaker. Globally, education continues to evolve at an ever increasing rate. As a territory we need to remain responsive to this evolution to ensure we sustain our top level educational results, both nationally and internationally. My colleague Minister Bourke has spoken about the ACT government’s investment in both the public and non-government sectors and the positive results being achieved, which make this huge investment all the more worth while.
The ACT, as the minister said, can be very proud of its results. We are proud of those who work in education in the ACT in the public and the non-public sector. We are very proud of our students who achieve so much. We are proud of the people who work in the directorates, we are proud of the staff and we are proud of the teachers. We should not be talking down our education system here in the ACT. We should be talking up what great achievements we have and letting people know that, right across all sectors, we are achieving well.
The ACT government seeks to provide a variety of educational opportunities, which we have all been talking about here this afternoon, in a number of ways, focusing on the best future for each student. We all want students in the ACT to have access to all the educational support they need to pursue the careers they wish to do. However, we also recognise that not every student is able to attend one of our excellent schools in person. Therefore, our aim for the future is to assist our students to continue leading the nation academically, as shown in the recent NAPLAN testing.
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