Page 5249 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 29 November 2017
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MR WALL: Minister, do you hold any concern about the use of electronic devices in a classroom setting?
MS BERRY: Of course, technology is already being used in our classrooms as we speak, across all our schools. Gone are the days of interacting with computers in a separate computer lab or the library. Computers and technology are central to nearly every school subject and are required for most assignments now in our school system.
Schools have a policy, and the Education Directorate has a policy, on the appropriate use of technology within our schools. It is important that schools, students and parents are very clear on the understanding of the use of these devices within our school system. That information has been sent out—
Mr Wall: Point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Minister, resume your seat. A point of order.
Mr Wall: The point of order is on relevance. The question was very specific, as to whether the minister held any concern about the use of devices in a classroom setting, not about their application in the broader educational space.
MADAM SPEAKER: I do not believe there is a point of order. The minister has referred to them already existing, so they are there, and also some of the frameworks around protection and use, which would go to that point. Minister, did you have anything further to add? Thank you.
ACTION buses—school service
MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Minister, recent changes to the ACT bus timetable have impacted route 455, a school service that operates from Alfred Deakin High School to the Woden interchange. The changed timetable will result in route 455 not arriving at the school until 20 minutes after the school day has finished, leaving students unsupervised while they wait for this service. Minister, what consultation was undertaken with the Education Directorate and the affected school community prior to the release of the new ACT bus timetable?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Mr Wall for the question and note that there has been some more recent correspondence with the school. My understanding—I do not have the detail in front of me—is that there is a set period of time that school buses will service a school community after the final bell and that the changes in October are well and truly within that agreed time.
There will be ongoing consultation with the school. There will be ongoing discussions between Transport Canberra, the Education Directorate, individual schools and, indeed, independent schools across the territory. We will also open up early in 2018 more detailed consultation on the 2018 network to integrate with the new light rail service.
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