Page 1886 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development
Motion of censure
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (6.01), by leave: I move:
That this Assembly censure Ms Berry (Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development) for the offence she caused by her use of the words “dumb students” in a media report about NAPLAN.
It is very important that we in the Assembly uphold the standards expected by members of the public. It is absolutely clear from Ms Berry’s words this week that she has let down many people in our community. That is why the Assembly needs to censure Ms Berry for the offence she caused by her use of the words “dumb students” in a media report about NAPLAN.
This week was a trying time for many teachers, students and families in the ACT as they underwent NAPLAN testing. We as a community need to support all these people as they go through this testing time. What was apparent in the media reports on Tuesday night, which I gather were based on comments the minister made last month, is that she does not respect the role teachers and students and school communities play in the ACT.
NAPLAN is quite controversial; there is no doubt there are mixed views in the community about NAPLAN testing and how it should be interpreted. Whilst there is definitely a fair degree of debate about how good it is to compare school communities, there is relatively little debate about its effectiveness in being able to guide teachers in how they teach students in their class in their school.
The nature of testing is that you get a spectrum; you get a continuum of results. To say that some kids in years 3 and 5 at one end of the spectrum are dumb is a bitter insult to many Canberra families. It is not the kind of professionalism we expect from the education minister in the ACT.
Teachers at the front line are working often in tough conditions, taking their work home with them and thinking about how they are going to tailor their lessons and their education of students, especially those who are struggling. When Ms Berry dismisses these kids as being dumb it is an insult to everyone involved. I think it is very important that everybody here stand up with a united voice and say that we do not tolerate this language. We owe it to all the students in the system. We owe it to the parents and families, and we certainly owe it to the teachers.
We often hear from those opposite that words have consequences. Well, let’s see if words have consequences for the education minister, because her words certainly had a consequence in the community. We have chatted to many teachers and many families that have been astounded by her lack of professionalism. I am just grateful that our teachers are far more professional than this education minister. Those in the Education Directorate and in both our public and private schools do a wonderful job for our community. It is a shame that is not being matched by their minister.
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