Page 1171 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
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Mr Hanson; Mrs Jones; Ms Lawder; Mr Smyth; and Mr Wall—voted that down. So the Canberra Liberals do not support this government working towards continuing improvement of results for students. They do not support a motion that calls on this government to invest in education in the ACT to provide better opportunities for students. That was indeed a telling moment when the Canberra Liberals, with Mr Doszpot getting the first call, said no.
There has also been talk by those opposite about our children deserving access to a quality education and having parents and children at the centre of our school system. Indeed that is something that I have stood for since I took this position some 15, 16 or 18 months ago. Children and families should be at the centre of education. My goal is to recognise the importance of families’ involvement in their children’s education and to continue to improve engagement options with parents and carers.
That goes to a project that I announced earlier this year. The government is partnering with the non-profit Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, ARACY, in a two-year project progressing parental engagement in the ACT across our public, Catholic and independent schools. This project is a collaboration between the ACT Education and Training Directorate, the Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools.
It will be delivered in two phases—firstly, defining parental engagement and key indications of positive parental engagement and, secondly, testing across selected schools and coming up with some real tools, some real, live information and tools, to help families. So I do support choice made by families, and I again call on the Canberra Liberals to do the same and to support NERA.
There was mention of the issue of standards. I do not quite know where they are getting this information from because our standards are high. The ACT is the highest performing jurisdiction in the country and our performance continues to improve. We lead the nation and our NAPLAN results show that.
Also, there was much commentary around the culture in schools. The statistics for public schools regarding our approach to reducing suspensions, for example, show an improvement. In 2013, compared to 2012, the number of suspensions decreased by 8.5 per cent. The number of suspension days decreased by 13.7 per cent. The number of students suspended decreased by 12.7 per cent.
Just this week, in relation to our gifted and talented policy, the fact sheets were launched. The Gifted and Talented Support Group said:
This initiative combined with other initiatives under the … Gifted and Talented Policy will lead to improved learning outcomes for gifted students enrolled in ACT public schools.
The CEO of the Catholic Education Office, in terms of parental engagement, said that the project would “provide research and practical engagement strategies that will ultimately benefit all children—no matter where they go to school in the ACT”. In relation to the other announcement, about having the best teachers in our schools with the recruitment of teachers in the top 30 per cent, Glenn Fowler of the AEU said:
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