Page 3831 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
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additional learning and support needs. This is not a problem we can solve through NAPLAN or more performance reporting, but it is one that government needs to take into account when responding to these issues.
The principle of equity is fundamentally important in education, in addition to the issues of quality that we have discussed today. The Greens want to ensure that every student, no matter which school they go to, can get the help they need and can achieve their potential. This is one of the reasons why the Greens have supported the government’s policy on priority enrolment areas. It is important that, in looking to solve issues of quality, we do not simply worsen the equity divide, where improvements for some areas and schools are associated with struggles around enrolments and performance for others.
It is also important to recognise that the Auditor-General did acknowledge the work that is already underway to respond to issues of underperformance. She found:
… the Education Directorate has commenced initiatives to improve governance and administrative arrangements for the use of student performance information in schools. These include developing sound principles for school improvement, identifying better ways to manage and use student performance information and developing systems and tools to support student performance information collection and analysis.
This suggests that while these are significant issues, they are not without solutions, and with work already underway we should expect to see these results start to change. The Auditor-General’s report has provided a clear set of recommendations around how schools can better use data to improve student performance to get better educational outcomes, and I understand work on these recommendations is underway.
The government has also recently engaged in an extensive process involving schools, teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders on the future of education, which the minister has referred to, and a strategy has been developed that sets out three key phases over the next 10 years.
What we need to see as the next step is the detail that sits under this strategy, including clear and detailed actions and time frames for implementation, as well as regular reporting, so that the Assembly and the ACT community can see what progress is being made and whether it is having an impact on school performance.
Noting the extensive process that already has been undertaken, and the education committee inquiry into standardised testing in ACT schools which is currently underway, the Greens do not intend to support Ms Lee’s calls for an independent inquiry today. We believe that it is appropriate to let the current inquiry process run its course before starting on another one.
At the same time, schools and the Education Directorate are working to develop individual implementation plans as part of the future of education strategy. These plans will provide clearer examples of how each school is working to improve its performance for its students and school community.
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