Page 1346 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 April 2019
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Similarly, the Education Directorate’s complaints and liaison unit have only seen a small number of people raising the issue with them, even after all the public attention the issue has received and the repeated promotion of the complaints and liaison contact information. As I raised in debate on Ms Lee’s motion a few weeks ago, the government needs better information on what is happening in schools. We are investing in gaining what we can through a new school administration project that has been underway for several years; this cannot be rushed.
Madam Speaker, there is no place for bullying and violence in schools, and the government is working to make sure that this issue is managed well and incidents are minimised. As I have said several times in this place, and again in debate today, my action on this issue was not in response to media or those opposite. I have been acting on these matters all along, because I take my responsibility to all members of our school community seriously: victims, perpetrators, staff, students and parents.
Last year, in response to a joint letter from a group of parents from Theodore school, my office, on my behalf, escalated this letter to senior executives in the Education Directorate for their intervention. I reiterated my expectation that this school receive additional support and asked for a wider assessment of the issue as it became clear that this was necessary.
As I received further advice from the directorate about how they were managing and minimising bullying and violence in schools, it became clear that I also required external advice about how this work was going. For this reason I established, as I am empowered to do under the Education Act, a school education advisory committee. This is the appropriate way for me to receive independent, expert, third-party assurances about issues relating to the management of government schools. Broadly, the committee will provide advice to me on opportunities for strengthening safe and supportive school culture in every ACT government school and opportunities to strengthen practices in schools and the education support office that give effect to the safe and supportive schools policy.
The purpose of this committee is to ensure that the government is doing all it can to manage bullying and violence in schools and to minimise its occurrence wherever possible. The committee is independent of the directorate and, within its terms of reference, will provide independent advice to me and the government. It may, within its terms of reference, conduct its proceedings as it considers appropriate, including hearing from individuals. Despite the dismissiveness of some people in this place, members should realise that this is not simply a mock committee. It is a group of prominent people who have considerable experience and knowledge to bring to this issue. I encourage members to look at the bios of the members, which are now posted on the Education Directorate’s website.
Throughout debate on this issue I have also willingly acknowledged the need for transparency and accountability in the government’s management of schools. I have always been willing to make myself and the Education Directorate available for this purpose. My concern all along has been how our debate in this place and the politics of what we do were affecting the treatment of students, teachers, families and school communities, and possibly subjecting them to further public humiliation.
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