Page 1985 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
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As a Labor government, we are committed to our aim of not leaving any child behind, regardless of the challenge. We support this by initiating education programs to teach even the hardest to reach students in the ACT. Examples already in place include the hospital school, operating at the Canberra Hospital paediatrics ward. The hospital school caters for students from preschool to year 12 with short-term, long-term and chronic illnesses.
Madam Assistant Speaker, when I was a child I used to volunteer at a hospital in England which had a similar kind of arrangement. Children were given, unfortunately, at that time minimal education facilities. When I was a practising nursing sister in Wollongong I observed the education facilities they had at that school, so I know how important this is. Students at the Murrumbidgee education centre also have access to classes in literacy, numeracy, art, music, woodwork, metalwork, construction, hospitality and physical education—a proud list. This represents a blend of traditional classroom teaching and vocational education.
The ACT government also focuses on the best future for our detained citizens, renegotiating contracts with education providers to provide better targeted delivery of literacy and numeracy skills to detainees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. That change reflected the fact that, as a jurisdiction, we are still learning about how to enhance our prison system and we always want to be responsive to the learning needs of our students. Detainees are assessed pre training and after a short period of exposure to the educational program in order to identify strengths, weaknesses and general improvement.
Between July and December 2011, 228 detainees completed an individual learning plan and an Australian core skills framework assessment. This program is getting results. As of 13 December 2011, 36 students had been retested for foundation skills improvement. Of this number, 28 were found to have improved by at least one level in two or more skill indicators—a very positive result for detainees and a reflection of the quality of education programs at the AMC. The most recent figures confirm that almost 90 per cent of ACT detainees were undertaking some form of recognised vocational education. The national jurisdiction’s average is just 35 per cent. This is just one example of how the ACT government recognises the opportunities that education can provide and ensures that everyone can access education if they so wish.
The Gallagher Labor government is also responsive to local needs, successfully applying for federal funding for a trade centre to be located in Tuggeranong. The Tuggeranong trade centre will provide training and employment pathways in the areas of automotive, construction, horticulture and hospitality. These qualification areas are on the national skills shortage list and have been endorsed by local employers as skills in demand locally. I recently attended the opening of the north side national trade training centre at St Francis Xavier college in Florey. I was very impressed by the centre and the enthusiasm of the staff and the students in relation to its potential. The trade training centres are another initiative of the Gallagher Labor government, along with the federal government, to enable trainers and educators to be highly responsive to the dynamic commercial environment.
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