Thank you Kerrie. It’s good to be back.
Last year we met at the High Court. This year, at the National Portrait Gallery. And it’s fitting we’re here. I think last year, a few in the sector thought Australia’s education ministers should be tried for treason. This year, some of you might prefer to frame us and nail us to a wall …
But seriously ladies and gentlemen, it is only early in the year, but we can already be sure how this year will be remembered.
2010 is the year of MySchool. I have no doubt about that.
You don’t need me to tell you how challenging and controversial the publication of school results has been.
When there’s consensus, leadership is easy… but then again, when it’s easy, it’s not really leadership.
True in education, as in every area of life.
That’s why I want to say how much I admire the passion for education that has been shown in the course of the MySchool debate.
There hasn’t always been agreement.
I certainly know there is still a healthy level of scepticism about the course of action governments are taking.
But I also know that principals, teachers, parents and governments all have the same goal in mind: better education for every child.
That’s why I’m confident we’ll move forward together as leaders.
Ladies and gentlemen, Amara’s law is the observation that: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
In this sense, I believe the MySchool website is a new technology in education policy.
Overnight, it will make less difference than many expected.
Over years, it will make more difference than many imagine.
Why? Because it’s evidence.
The old way was what I call the poker machine approach to education.
Put an extra dollar in and hope. With taxpayers as mug punters, gambling on our kids’ future.
The poker machine approach to education is over.
Now that we have the evidence, we can’t defend the old way.
Now, we will know. What works, what doesn’t. What needs to change.
What we should do more of. What we should do less of. Who needs help. Who deserves reward.
The challenge for governments? To make the changes which the evidence will tell us need to be made.
That’s what we’ve begun. That’s what I’d like to outline to you this morning.
Firstly, what the Government has done to deliver on the ambitions I described to you last year, including in our recent Budget.
Secondly, to outline the Government’s reform of school based management – our plans for more power for principals.
And finally to update you on the developing picture in higher and vocational education.
Since last year …
When I spoke to you last year, I said we would deliver on teacher quality, better classrooms, smaller class sizes, and new ways to teach and learn. Since then, we’ve been busy doing just that.
Delivering in teacher quality …
We have negotiated a fair Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for teachers during tough economic times. Performance review periods to enhance teacher professional development. A $3.9 million ACT Teacher Quality Institute starting next year. And we have begun establishing new Accomplished Teacher and Leading Teacher classifications.
Delivering classrooms to teach and learn in …
We are delivering over half a billion dollars worth of capital works – new libraries, halls, gyms, performing arts centres and classrooms.
New schools where they are needed most. Building Gungahlin College and Harrison High School.Extending Red Hill Primary School. Designing Molonglo Primary School, Bonner Primary School and Franklin Early Childhood School.
Delivering lower average class sizes …
We have recruited 70 extra teachers. And I am pleased to say today that for the first time, average class sizes in the ACT’s public primary schools are below 21.
Another way to think about this achievement is to look at teacher-student ratios. In ACT public primary schools, there is now one teacher for every fourteen children. Among the best in the country.
Delivering new ways to teach and learn …
We have ten ACT schools trialling the National Curriculum. Virtual Learning Environments and a $7.5 million investment in new technology are being rolled out across the Territory
It’s a strong record of achievement.
I believe the ACT is now the benchmark in Australia for investment in education.
But my firm rule of policy is this: no investment without reform.
So after a year of investment, let me turn to our plans for reform.
School autonomy – power for Principals
You probably know my view about what makes the greatest difference in education.
The evidence is compelling.
Teacher quality is the magic ingredient.
During 2006 and 2007, McKinsey and Company analysed the best performing school systems in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment.
These education experts found that despite substantially increased spending on education, very few OECD school systems experienced a measurable improvement in students’ reading, writing and maths.
McKinsey found that in the United States public spending per student increased by 73% between 1980 and 2005. Student-to-teacher ratios fell by 18%. And yet actual student outcomes – as measured by the Department of Education’s own assessment – stayed almost exactly the same.
In contrast, studies in Tennessee, Dallas, Boston and England showed that high performing teachers really did make a difference to individual student outcomes.
As the authors put it: ‘the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers’.
That’s why the Government is committed to deliver merit promotion and to paying our best classroom teachers $100 000 salaries.
That’s why I’ll keep working until we get there.
But it’s not enough just to reward individual teachers.
We must have a system of teaching which delivers quality in every class. This is where education leaders come in. Yes, teacher quality is the key.
I want to put that key in the hands of principals.
The link between teacher quality and power for principals?
We only get high performing students, with high performing teachers. And we only get high performing teachers, with high performing principals. Simple to say. Harder to achieve. So: how do we actually do this?
On Monday, Dr Ben Jensen of the Grattan Institute will release a report called What Teachers Want: Better Teacher Management.
According to Dr Jensen, teachers are reporting that teacher evaluation and development systems are broken in Australia.
I thought Gary Banks, the Chairman of the Productivity Commission, put this well in a recent speech when he said:
Good teaching and sound governance should not be seen merely as items on a list of reform areas, but as pre-conditions for attaining … improved foundation skills, higher school retention and more balanced socio-economic outcomes.
We need a culture of fair and honest feedback – for both teachers and principals.
But before educational leaders can coach and train their teachers to their full potential, these leaders must have greater autonomy and flexibility.
School principals must have the power to hire, develop and manage classroom teachers.
Principals must have the power to create high performing teaching teams, where one teacher’s weaknesses are complemented by another’s strengths.
Principals must be able to choose who teaches in their schools.
This is why I am proud to announce that starting in the coming school year, the ACT will introduce a new system of principal autonomy.
Within the framework of the current enterprise bargaining agreement and the Fair Work Act, principals will be able to interview and hire their own staff.
This is a very significant change to the traditional centralised model.
In conjunction with work under the Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership, we will also gradually devolve a number of human resources functions to schools.
This reform is a result of a key recommendation of Allen Consulting Group’s Review of School Based Management in the ACT, which I released yesterday.
The report recommended that principals of high performing schools should be given the opportunity to opt in to gain greater autonomy.
I can announce that our newest schools, Gungahlin College and Kambah P-10 will be the first ACT schools whose principals will have these new powers.
We are hiring principals for these brand new schools now. I hope they are looking forward to this challenge.
And these new principals will take responsibility for the performance of their staff – who in turn take responsibility for student learning.
It is time for high performing principals to have more autonomy and the ability to choose their own staff.
The real benefits of these new powers for principals will only be felt with the support of teachers, parents, school communities, and of course principals themselves.
Making it Work
This reform will not be easy.
Because it is fundamentally about cultural change – it is about changing the way teachers, parents, students and principals relate to each other.
Right down to the day-to-day operations of a school.
More power for principals will transform everyone’s expectations of education.
It will be difficult because it will raise the bar higher than it has been raised before.
It will be challenging because it is new – we haven’t done this before.
I understand that. It is complex, and we will take our time. We will listen and we will be flexible. We will gradually introduce this new school autonomy model in a number of new and high performing schools.
And we will take practical measures to help principals and teachers use these new powers well.
Freedom to design their workforce. Better IT support. Simpler budgeting. Less red tape.
School Workforce
I want to see principals not only choosing their teachers and creating successful teaching teams, but designing their own school workforce.
Developing executive and support structures that suit their own school’s needs. Increasingly schools are operating in a networked approach. They are sharing what works. And just as importantly they are scrapping what doesn’t.
We are also rolling out training for administrative staff in financial and contract management – and this will be extended to other areas, including staff resource management.
The 2010-11 Budget also provided $500 000 for an integrated school staff management system (SiMS). SiMS will cut red tape for schools. This will provide a single data source for principals. And it will provide a high level of support to schools. Training will accompany the rollout.
These new tools will help high performing principals develop innovative ways of managing schools. I am looking forward to hearing about principals’ plans.
Single line budgets and funding
As we implement this reform, we will phase-in principals having what are known as “single-line budgets”.
In practice, this means principals will manage their own cash budget, and be able to have their own plan for how best to use it.
We will also look at phasing out the system of staffing points. There are real advantages in having principals deal in money. They would operate with salaries and budgets, rather than with what has, frankly, become a confusing and sometimes unaccountable trading system of points.
This is a complex area with some quite detailed elements which need working through, but in principle I am keen to move away from the points system.
In the 2010-11 Budget, $600 000 has been invested over two years to support the reforms.
With this funding an expert support team will work with principals to implement the new approach. Not just advising, but helping principals, teachers and staff build the skills and knowledge they need to make this work.
They will also help schools who have areas of sustained low performance.
This means building the incentives – asking these schools whether they too would like greater autonomy, working with them so that they can improve performance and gain the reward.
The funding will also assist in developing a simplified global funding model.
Less red tape
As we devolve hiring, developing and managing staff to principals, we will also be cutting red tape for schools.
We will be encouraging schools to opt in to cluster based cleaning contracts. During the coming school year, a pilot cluster of cleaning contracts will be established between a number of primary schools, high schools and colleges.
We will be lifting the burden of maintenance management from schools. All scheduled maintenance and tree maintenance will be transferred from schools to central office.
Our principals should be education leaders … not senior janitors or tree surgeons.
We will also cut red tape in Information Communication Technology for schools. The new SchoolsNET model has been developed and will be introduced in Term 3 this year.
This network model will include:
· Network connectivity;
· Centralised storage and procurement;
· Centralised hosting of the Virtual Learning Environment; and
· A digital repository.
This will provide schools with more staffing flexibility.
Incentives and rewards in Schools
What is this reform really about? We know that it’s not just about money – it’s about people. It’s about schools as workplaces and learning spaces.
About how teachers, principals, students and parents relate to each other. The smiling face on the front desk welcoming a child by name in the morning. The teacher finding a lost lunch box and delivering it to its owner. The principal noticing a child who isn’t as outgoing as she used to be – and checking in with her to find out why.
The ACT’s most recent School Movement Survey has shown that quality of education was the most common response parents gave when moving their child from one school to another.
Peer relationships and school culture also continue to influence these decisions.
But fundamental to ‘quality of education’ is reading, writing, spelling, grammar and maths. These skills underpin everything that happens at a school.
I want to see incentives to do this well built in to the way we fund education.
The national partnerships show one way this can work. For instance, under the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership, reward payments of over $4 million are available for the ACT from next year for meeting literacy and numeracy targets.
It is a model of incentive and reward.
And one that I would like to see extended to other targeted education programs.
There are other models – incentives for partnerships where high performing schools team up with low performing schools.
Rewards for geographical clusters of schools that share resources more efficiently – and produce better student outcomes.
Innovative funding models to improve our return on investment in education.
Now is the time for incentive and reward.
To create a culture where ‘quality of teaching’ is broad enough to include not only reading and writing targets, but encompasses student relationships.
No investment without reform.
Commonwealth funding review
The Australian Government is adopting a similar approach through the release of draft terms of reference to review Australia’s school funding models. Julia Gillard has put it this way when announcing the review:
We must ask what does it cost to educate a young person in this country to a standard where each young person can contribute and develop their full potential for the future?
What does it cost to educate to a world class standard of educational performance?
They’re the right questions.
I strongly believe that we must fund schools, not school systems.
There is no point in pitting public against private, or Catholic against Anglican.
The old public/private debate is over.
And I can make the same guarantee as the Deputy Prime Minister.
This is not about taking money away from schools.
New funding in education should be targeted to those schools most in need.
New money for the initiatives that give us that educational return on investment.
Funding which has outcomes at its core.
I don’t want to be funding more maths teachers, when a school’s year 3 students can’t spell.
We have the information now – let’s use it to improve education where it is needed.
There must be more money for the initiatives that work.
The ACT will follow the Australian Government’s review closely.
We are in a unique position in many ways – our pockets of disadvantage are often not well represented nationally. The data sets are often not sophisticated enough.
So we will contribute to the national debate – but we will reserve the right to develop our own funding models for the ACT’s share of schools funding.
This is about making sure that every child has a chance. And we have the opportunity to show that socio-economic background is not destiny.
This reform summed up
Last year, I spoke about teacher quality, better classrooms and smaller class sizes. This year, I have spoken again about teacher quality, and about principal autonomy and cutting red tape for schools.
Our classroom teachers won’t reach their full potential, without outstanding educational leaders.
Of course, with new power comes new responsibility.
I have said high performing principals will gain greater autonomy under our reforms.
I also want to make clear that greater autonomy means greater accountability as well.
So where we are allowing principals to hire their own staff, manage their own budget, and cutting red tape, we expect principals to perform.
The opportunity to lead also means that there are no excuses.
I know that principals will embrace that responsibility.
I want more principals in classrooms – teaching shoulder to shoulder with our Accomplished and first year graduate teachers.
This is what true school based management looks like.
Innovative, driven by strong leaders, and completely student focused.
Quality teachers. Powerful principals.
Principals who can put the right people in the right places doing the right things – with the right support.
I’m looking forward to the challenge.
And I hope you are too.
Higher and vocational education Reform
If all that wasn’t enough change for one year, there’s change afoot in higher and vocational education as well.
The Bradley Review has foreshadowed a new era. And in Canberra we have a unique opportunity to create a truly connected and integrated education environment which gives students what they want and need.
So the discussion paper I released earlier this week, and the discussions which I hope will follow, are an essential step forward.
The federal policy landscape is changing quickly around us. The Bradley Review, national regulators for higher and vocational education, combined with new skills shortages, mean we have to act now.
We need new and bold ideas to make Canberra Australia’s lifelong learning capital.
This is a unique opportunity for the ACT.
On the supply side, our skills shortages and federal targets for degrees and certificates mean that we need more students to come and study in Canberra.
On the demand side, we must give students what they want and need. If a student wants to create a new combination of courses, across institutions, I don’t want funding and red tape to get in the way.
And we also have industry demand. We can improve how we match up workforce and labour supply with industry needs.
I recognise the opportunity before us, and we won’t let it slip. But I remain genuinely open to new ideas and solutions in this area and am genuinely open to new models which may emerge from the discussions over coming months.
The public debate has included a variety of new structures and teaching models:
· an online portal where students mix and match courses across institutions;
· making training funding more contestable and easier for more providers to access;
· greater independence for the Canberra Institute of Technology;
· partnerships between schools and higher and vocational education providers;
· a polytechnic at the University of Canberra;
· foundation degrees, a vocational qualification designed in partnership with industry.
And I’m sure we’ll hear even more good ideas over coming months. It’s an exciting time.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’ve now been Minister for Education in Canberra for just over four years.
It is a huge privilege to be one of this city’s education leaders.
A privilege I am lucky to share with people like you here today.
In education, more than in many areas of life, every day matters.
I think about this way. The students who were in year nine the day I took office have finished school already. Probably fifteen thousand students.
Whatever opportunity we have had to make a difference in their schooling has already passed. I hope we seized our chance.
And the children who were in Kindergarten the day I made my first visit to a school sat NAPLAN this year.
I look at those tests and I think … those are results on my watch. Results on our watch…
And I ask myself: How did we do?
That’s what drives me on.
From the conversations I’ve had over the past years with Canberra’s education leaders, I know it’s what drives you on as well.
Because fundamentally I believe we share a vision for education.
Hard decisions. Change for the better.
The poor kid keeps up. The bright kid is challenged.
Every kid becomes their best.
Big reforms to teacher quality. $100 000 pay for our best classroom teachers.
Big reforms to school autonomy. New powers for high performing principals.
There is much good work to do.
But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
