Ministerial Statement to the Legislative Assembly - Tuesday 26 October 2010
The most important job for any government is making sure young people get the best possible start in life. This means ensuring every student gets the best possible education.
It means having the best facilities. It means having the best teachers in our classrooms.
This is what Labor has been – and will continue to work to deliver on.
The ACT’s education system is the best in Australia. Our students perform well in national testing.
However the world continues to change and we need to ensure our education system changes with it – that we prepare students for life in the 21st century.
This government has come a long way towards achieving this goal – and we will keep working to ensure our education system meets the needs of students.
This ACT Labor Government has invested more than any other since self government - in education.
Currently we’re investing more than half a billion dollars.
While much of this has been in bricks and mortar – which I described to the Assembly last week – much has also been invested in human capital – that of our students, that of our teachers.
Over recent years we’ve invested
- $421,000 to enhance professional development for teachers in leadership positions
- $984,000 to assist gifted and talented students through the In Pursuit of Excellence program;
- Nearly $700,000 to increase the number of Indigenous teachers and teachers’ assistants working in ACT public schools, through 10 scholarships for year 11 and 12 students who wish to pursue a career in teaching;
- More than $3 million to provide more support staff to assist students with English as a second language;
- $200,000 over four years to improve language education in the ACT by building closer relationships with embassies and cultural institutions to support language delivery in our schools
- Almost $1.5 million to allow students to undertake industry based training while remaining in school under the Australian School-Based Apprenticeships program and
- We’ve provided students at risk of dropping out with extra support through the SPICE Program which received more than $800,000.
Our investments in human capital in our schools continued in the most recent budget.
This has included:
- More than $9 million for Productivity Places and skills
- Nearly $4 million over four years to establish the ACT Quality Teacher Institute;
- $1.6 million over four years to support students with a disability;
- $1.1 million over four years to support our Earn or Learn policy;
- $600,000 over two years for the implementation of the School Based Management Review; and
- $300,000 over four years for swimming and survival skills in schools.
We’ve continued to invest in ICT – ensuring teachers and students have access to tools that are the basis of literacy in the 21st century.
This has supported the roll-out of the virtual learning environment.
This system will give students added and remote access to features such as pod cast lessons, homework requirements and video conferencing for language practice.
Through the parent portal it will also give parents and carers a convenient and effective way to further help their son or daughter to succeed at school.
We’ve invested in pastoral care coordinators – to help students through the challenges that can arise – to ensure as far as possible they do not derail their studies.
These are all massive investments in the people in our schools.
Naturally we are targeting investment and policy reform to help ensure the most important part of our education system is as effective as possible. In short we are investing to support our teachers.
We’ve placed an extra 70 teachers into our classrooms – to further reduce student to teacher ratios – already amongst the lowest in the country.
We’ve hired literacy and numeracy coordinators – to help our teachers better help those kids struggling with reading, writing and maths.
We’re establishing new Accomplished Teacher and Leading Teacher classifications.
These classifications will pave the way for career paths which encourage our top teachers to stay in the classroom.
We’re investing to free-up teachers – so they can spend less time on red tape and more time either in the classroom or preparing for the next day’s lessons.
We are giving principals more say over how they run their school – more say and clearer accountability.
That’s why we are moving away from ‘staffing points’ to introduce ‘real world’ single-line budgeting in ACT schools.
And beyond this we are fully engaging in the national education reforms being driven by Federal Labor.
Because of the work we’ve already done in developing our curriculum framework – Every Chance to learn – we’re well placed to start rolling out the Australian Curriculum next year.
I am also a strong supporter of the MySchool website – because it provides parents, students and teachers with the information they tell us they want.
And it helps make all of us involved in the education of young Canberrans more accountable.
There’s a lot going on in ACT public schools – there’s been a lot of change – and some people have found this change hard.
However, the change has been worth it.
Our students do outperform their counterparts in Australia.
And we have seen – for the first time in a decade – enrolments at ACT public schools growing again.
The successful reforms of 2006 – and since - were hard. But they were necessary to achieve the strong education system we have today.
And whilst change will always be hard - it’s a fact of life in education.
We must constantly look at how we ensure we get the best outcome for our students with the limited resources we have.
As I’ve outlined we’ve done a lot in education – investing in new facilities, more teachers, new curriculum.
And this investment is paying dividends – for students.
We need to keep improving our education system and the best way to do this is to ensure we have the very best teachers in our classrooms.
Like many other jurisdictions around the country, we face challenges in attracting and keeping the best teachers.
As we know from Sunday’s Canberra Times the Australian Education Union is concerned about this.
They rightly point out that after around 4 years many teachers are likely to pack it in for other jobs.
Although I note that their survey also revealed that as many as half of our teachers see themselves still teaching in ten years.
Nevertheless, I share the Union’s concerns because teacher quality is the key to a great education.
ACT public schools are still a great career option for the very best teachers.
For example - it takes less time for a new teacher to get to the top of the pay scale in the ACT than it does in NSW and Victoria.
Face to face teaching hours are the lowest in the country – apart from primary schools in Western Australia.
The number of teaching days are less than NSW and Victoria, and third lowest in the country.
And besides these conditions - ACT teachers also work in the best equipped classrooms in the country.
But the problem remains – teaching is still not a profession that appeals to the best and brightest university students.
And why is this?
Because pay is low compared to other professions.
Because from the day you start work, your pay increases are determined by the length of your service, not the quality of your teaching.
Because over the years the status of the teaching profession has been allowed to decline.
There’s no incentive for a young keen teacher to stick it out in the public school system.
Their friends doing law or commerce or economics earn good salaries from day one – and they have the potential to earn more if they work hard and deliver results.
Just as importantly – they get recognised for their hard work and achievements – a major motivator for anyone in their work.
But for those who become a teacher it’s different.
It doesn’t matter how hard you work.
It doesn’t matter how well you help students meet their potential.
You get paid the same as every other teacher who started when you did.
In fact I understand it can take up to 8 years for a graduate teacher to reach the top of the salary scale.
Just as under the old Soviet system - there’s no incentive to do anything more than simply turn up.
There’s no incentive to get better outcomes for the kids in your class – no incentive other than pure dedication to the profession and the joy of helping develop young minds.
In today’s world that’s often just not enough.
The ACT invests about 30 per cent more per student, than the national average.
This has bought us lower average class sizes and a student-teacher ratio of just over 12:1 – well below every other government system apart from the Northern Territory, and well below ACT non-government schools.
Yet as a look at MySchool shows us – we are not getting 30 per cent better results.
Why?
Because we are not able to use the most important resources – teachers – as effectively as we could.
Because we are not able to promote the best teachers sooner.
Because we are not able to attract the best graduates and because we cannot offer them the career path, pay and recognition that would make teaching a profession of choice again.
I am determined to change this.
I am determined that in ACT public schools there will be incentive for teachers who want to make a difference.
I am determined that ACT public schools will attract and retain the very best teachers – by recognising them sooner, promoting them faster, and paying them more.
I want to see our best teachers paid six-figure salaries.
I want to see them spending more time in front of classes rather than buried in paperwork.
I want to see them move faster up the pay scale – as a reward for their hard work, creativity, and determination to get better results for their students.
And I want our newest teachers facing a lighter load as they learn the craft, and being mentored by our best and brightest.
None of this comes cheap, but as I have already shown we are already investing heavily in our schools.
It’s a matter making sure the investment goes where it can make the most difference.
In summary - Reform is essential. It cannot be business as usual. More flexibility is required.
The ACT Government will be negotiating a new Teaching Staff Enterprise Agreement next year. We will be putting on the table an offer which takes ACT schooling and the teaching profession forward.
I look forward to working with teachers, their union representatives and our school principals to ensure that ACT students get an even better education, and that great teachers find their careers even more rewarding.
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