Page 3832 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
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While the future of education strategy has involved a detailed consultation process, I believe that there is still some uncertainty in the community about what the future of education will look like in practice. Therefore I am pleased that there is considerable work currently underway on consulting with schools and stakeholders to develop these implementation plans.
I am hopeful that the future of education implementation plans will include examples of decisive action to implement best practice educational approaches tailored to the unique needs of each of our schools. It will also be crucial that good data collection processes are in place to track the effectiveness of these new approaches and monitor their impact on performance outcomes.
That is why the Greens will be supporting the minister’s amendment, because the government has committed to addressing this issue by acting on the recommendations of the Auditor-General’s report, working through the current education committee inquiry to improve standardised testing, and consulting on and developing more detail on how the future of education strategy will be implemented, including detailed plans for each school, which I look forward to seeing early next year, post the consultation process.
Of course, I would like to acknowledge Minister Berry’s role in leading the charge on a national review of NAPLAN through the commonwealth Education Council. We will continue to monitor each of these processes to ensure they are producing the necessary improvements in school performance and student educational outcomes.
In summing up, the ultimate purpose of performance testing like NAPLAN is to support the provision of a high quality education for every student and in every school across the ACT. That should always be the goal, and the Greens acknowledge that these performance indicators can be a useful tool to help teachers and students when used in the right way.
The Greens understand that the nature of education is changing, both in substance and in style, and that performance reporting is one of a range of tools that we can use to measure the performance of our school system. As I have said, the results outlined in a number of reports about relative NAPLAN performance in ACT schools is concerning and indicates a need for improvement. We would be doing our education system a disservice if we were to dismiss any of those reports, and not take on board the work that has gone into them, in order to highlight important issues.
At the same time there is much that our schools, both government and non-government, can be proud of, and this should not be lost in this debate. Our schools are full of hardworking, dedicated teachers and principals who want the best for their students. Our school communities are made up of students, parents and carers who are actively engaged in decisions about their learning.
We have a vibrant and accessible education system in the territory. The work on the issues raised by the Auditor-General, other independent reports and through the future of education strategy is important for maintaining confidence in the system and
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