Page 640 - Week 02 - Thursday, 18 February 2016
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To return to the regulation being discussed today, in December 2015 the Education Council agreed to make two jurisdiction-specific minor amendments to the education and care services national regulations which aim to improve the operation of the national quality framework for early childhood education and care. Section 4 of the amending regulation is specific to Victoria.
Section 5 of the amending regulation is specific to the ACT and commenced on 18 December 2015 to extend a provision that would have ceased at the end of 2015. The provision allows qualified educators to be replaced during non-contact time, breaks and unexpected absences of up to five consecutive days with a lesser qualified or unqualified educator. This provision has now been extended until 31 December 2017. This amendment responds to feedback from the education and care sector and will resolve an issue that has been raised since the introduction of the national quality framework. The amendment provides flexibility for staffing arrangements, for example during meal breaks, unexpected absences and probationary periods, without compromising children’s education or safety.
The ACT government is committed to the national quality framework as it delivers benefits to children, families and education and care services. I think we can be proud of the improvements we have seen in the standards for early childhood education and care in the territory, and I look forward to seeing those standards continue to be adopted by more and more services across the ACT.
Public Accounts—Standing Committee
Report 16—government response
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Multicultural and Youth Affairs, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (3.52): For the information of members I present the following paper:
Public Accounts—Standing Committee—Report 16—Review of Auditor-General’s Report No. 4 of 2013: National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness—Government response.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
Today I am pleased to table the ACT government’s response to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts report Review of Auditor-General’s Report No. 4 of 2013: National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. It should be noted that the national partnership agreement on homelessness reviewed in the Auditor-General’s report has since been superseded by the 2015-17 national partnership agreement on homelessness. As such the current 2015-17 national partnership agreement on homelessness includes priority areas that were not part of the previous audited national partnership agreement on homelessness.
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