Page 1202 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016
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I mentioned at the beginning that the Canberra Times has recently published data comparing student scores in 2015 to scores two years earlier. It tells some interesting facts. I am not in a position to make any connection between overcrowding and school results, but it is does demonstrate that a number of our schools, including some that are often identified as some of our shining stars, are not making improvements in learning at or above the national average rate gain. That could be for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they are already at the top of their game, but it does make you wonder what impact overcrowding might have on learning and quality teaching.
In celebrating all that is good about our public schools, we need to be mindful that our schools are under pressure. Do we know or understand what impact overcrowded schools have on overall education outcomes? I can only presume that a school with space for students to learn and play is obviously a more pleasant place than one that is overcrowded with no playing areas or classroom space.
In this motion we are calling on the government to let us know what projections they have for 2017, 2018 and 2019, how they are responding to those projections and what assurances they can provide that future projections are going to be a lot closer to reality than those for this year and next. But are the experts to blame? Is the modelling so imperfect? I suspect not. Is it a case of the experts not being listened to? I suspect that political expediency has more to do with the capacity crisis than flawed modelling.
That said, who is going to fix it and when and how? No longer can the government hide behind the claim that it is inaccurate reporting, as the previous minister did. The schools census data is very clear and the numbers, especially in preschool, are significant. If it is additional transportable buildings that are needed, that takes pre-planning. Have they been contracted? Have they been factored into the budget? Is it a case of refiguring the priority enrolment areas? Is that an option? I am obviously not suggesting that we move students from, say, the inner north to Tuggeranong, but what are the available options and what work is being done to consult with the non-government sector about planning for new schools in some of our pressure areas, and not just in new suburbs?
Indeed, what conversations are being had within government to consider new public schools or the reopening of previously closed schools, such as Hall or others with suitable infrastructure? We want to know what parents are being told and what they need to do to plan for their child’s enrolment next year or the year after, because we already know some preschoolers are being denied access to their local public preschool. For many families, enrolment in a non-government school is not an affordable option; so what is to happen to their child? Do they sell up and move to another suburb or interstate?
I go back to what the former education minister claimed only 17 months ago:
… in each of the four school networks, school capacity will remain comfortably above projected enrolment growth;
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