Page 557 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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The national agreement is a commitment by both the Australian government and the ACT government to school improvement and to school funding reform based on an individual student’s need. Madam Deputy Speaker, let us not be mistaken: this is a six-year agreement, a six-year commitment, including a commitment to implement needs-based funding for our schools and our students.
It is widely accepted that implementing reform is never easy. It affects many stakeholders and, in many cases, requires stakeholders to set aside their vested interests for the greater good. In such circumstances, especially when involving significant funding, all parties should take account of the need for the long-term and sustained commitment to the proposed reforms. The approach to needs-based funding set out in the agreement is essential if all children and young people in the ACT, and for that matter across Australia, are to be equipped with the education and skills required to lead fulfilling and productive lives. Through this motion today, I call on all parties to abide by the terms of the national education reform agreement.
The best way to make a statement of good faith in the investment in quality education for our children and young people is through continued actions. The ACT is already implementing the schools reform agenda, including the funding reform in ACT government and non-government schools. It is well known by all that this government, through the leadership of the Chief Minister, is committed to a high quality and appropriately funded school system in the ACT. That is why, on 2 November 2012, as part of the parliamentary agreement for the Eighth Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory—the agreement between ACT Labor and the ACT Greens—the ACT government committed to the Gonski reforms for education funding.
The best way to provide high-quality education of excellence in the ACT is through a high-quality and appropriately funded school system delivered by the nation’s best teachers in government schools, Catholic schools and independent schools. I note that the ACT government is committed to working collegiately with other school education sectors and jurisdictions, including the commonwealth, on the rollout of the national education reform agenda.
I look forward to Minister Burch speaking to the motion so that this parliament and, through this parliament, the community of the ACT can be reminded of why the implementation of the national plan for school improvement is so important and why all parties need to abide by the terms of the national education reform agreement for its full six years and understand the significant progress being made by the ACT for government and non-government schools in delivering quality education for our children and young people resourced through needs-based funding.
The national plan for school improvement, as agreed in August last year by the commonwealth and the ACT government, sets out a generational opportunity for a better and fairer schooling system. The plan focuses on five areas of reform: quality teaching, quality learning, empowered school leadership, meeting student needs, and transparency and accountability.
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