Page 2814 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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Other recommendations include an increase in the number of courses studied to meet the minimum requirement for the award of an ACT year 12 certificate, and this is a welcome change that will enhance the breadth and depth of students’ knowledge, skills and understanding and aligns with the government’s commitment to lift the attainment of year 12 graduates in the ACT.
To streamline course structures for repeat, mature and older students, the review committee recommended that a number of different courses, packages, be collapsed into a single, abridged package. The simplification of these packages has the potential to enable more students from diverse backgrounds to obtain a year 12 certificate.
Other recommendations made by the committee include further investigations of online, adaptive literacy and numeracy testing in the senior secondary years and processes by which vocational education and training is included in the year 12 certificate.
The final recommendation of the committee is that the BSSS will implement a practice of year 12 review on a regular basis. This recommendation will ensure the integrity of our year 12 certificate is maintained, and that it is responsive to the needs of the future.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Wall.
MR WALL: Minister, will senior secondary students be required to pass English in order to receive their year 12 certificates?
MS BURCH: What we have now in the year 12 certificate is a streamed approach—those that want to seek tertiary studies and those that seek a competence level. The BSSS will make the requirements known to schools in preparedness for the first cohort of next year. All that documentation will be clearly outlined for schools, parents and students.
Education—teacher concerns
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, the ACT branch of the Australian Education Union recently published results of a survey it conducted amongst ACT school teachers. The results indicate a high level of dissatisfaction across a wide number of areas. Ninety-eight per cent of teachers believe their overall workload has increased over the last five years, that there has been an increase in the number of tasks they are required to complete and that there has been an increase in the number of bureaucratic and compliance tasks. What is the government doing to address teachers’ concerns about the level of administrative workload that they have?
MS BURCH: I thank Mr Doszpot for his question. Yes, the survey you are referring to was a survey by the Australian Education Union and coincided very nicely with discussions on EBA arrangements. So it should be no surprise that the union are doing their bit to position themselves for these negotiations. Certainly, when you look at our
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