Page 4792 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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involves an active consideration of an application and discretion about whether the conditions of registration will be complied with, the government is providing reassurance, through the government amendments, that these are the only matters that are relevant.
The government has taken the opportunity through the bill and government amendments to allow the director-general to make guidelines for home education. During consultation, some parents raised that they felt unsure about the Education Directorate’s expectations of them related to things like home education reports or how to document their education approach. I also saw it as useful that greater clarity and certainty of expectations about the home base for home education, for example, be available. Guidelines issued by the director-general are a convenient way to support home education parents in this area, and the director-general has already begun developing them.
In concluding the in-principle debate on the bill, I would like to acknowledge the commitment and dedication of parents who home educate. Their investment and sacrifice in doing what they consider is right for their child’s learning and development should never be underestimated. I also extend my thanks to the representative associations and parents that provided detailed and useful feedback on the bill, regulation and draft government amendments.
The government amendments I will shortly move are the result of extensive consultation with community stakeholders. The number of parents who home educate is relatively small but among them there are quite broad views and a desire that they be heard individually.
I acknowledge the really positive engagement between my office and the offices of Mr Rattenbury and Ms Lee in bring parent views together. I would like to thank those members and their staff for their constructive approach to working with my office to reach an agreed position on the bill that accommodates the concerns of the community and still results in a robust framework. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (4.38): Pursuant to standing order 182A(b), I seek leave to move amendment No 11 as it is minor and technical in nature and to move amendments Nos 1 to 15 circulated in my name together.
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