Page 159 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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been a really important initiative which commenced last year and is providing every public secondary school student with access to a fast, robust, ACER Spin 11 Chromebook.
In addition to the 14,886 devices that were issued to year 7 to year 11 public high school students last year, the government expects to provide a further 4,200 Chromebooks to students in 2019 to students who enter year 7 in 2019 as well as students entering years 8 to 12 who are new to the ACT public secondary system.
In 2016, the ACT government went to the election with a commitment to increase access to technology to all public secondary school students by providing them with their own computer. We have been getting those devices out into the hands of students. In 2017-18 in the budget, the ACT government provisioned $17.2 million to deliver these devices to students over four years.
The government’s implementation of this initiative has been highly successful. I thank the Education Directorate for their work on it.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, why is this initiative so important?
MS BERRY: The government fundamentally believes in education equity, for every child and young person to have the equal opportunity to access a great education. The ACT government is committed to pulling down the barriers that occur and to ensure that our modern world technology is an unavoidable and vital part of a student’s learning environment.
These devices are the textbooks of today. The government is making sure that every public secondary student has the learning tools they need to access their education. In today’s schools, a significant part of learning happens digitally, especially in the secondary school context. Students use these devices to develop the capacity to analyse information, solve problems and communicate in a high digital society in line with the objectives of the Australian curriculum, which requires students to understand how to operate effectively in a digital world.
ACT government schools are also responsible for helping students to develop into responsible, literate and knowledgeable digital citizens. The government’s nation-leading investment in public school IT infrastructure is making sure that this occurs. Family circumstances should not matter. Students should have equal access to technology-based learning. Because of this government, in public schools this is the case.
MS CODY: Minister, what is this initiative achieving?
MS BERRY: It is clear that this initiative is making a contribution to the ACT’s high quality public education system. From the beginning of this year every public secondary student was provided with a Chromebook at no cost to their family. I have had parents remark to me how important this is in helping them meet back-to-school costs. I cannot understate how much this matters. Family circumstances should never get in the way of life-changing educational equity. Just as they need text books,
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