Released 25/07/2017
Today’s audit report into performance information in ACT public schools gives added weight to the ACT Government’s work in taking our school system forward to improve its place as a national leader and a system where every child has access to an education which will set them up for a bright future.
As I said in launching the Future of Education conversation in February this year, improvements in other Australian school systems have in some ways brought them in line with or ahead of ours if you assess schools based on their NAPLAN performance – this is particularly the case for schools in less wealthy areas.
As parents, teachers, school principals and the education leaders contributing to the Future of Education process consistently tell me, there’s more to measuring the quality of school education than a school’s performance on a test at a point in time, so the government’s approach is deliberately broad.
What’s clear is that the highest quality education systems succeed by embracing equity and universality in their approach.
Children benefit throughout life when they learn as equals with others very different to themselves and where life circumstances are no barrier to anyone achieving their best.
I welcome the report and the information it contains about our system and where we can improve and in particular to achieve learning gains from year to year.
The report acknowledges the many initiatives underway in the ACT and the need for the government to implement them in ways which respond to the diverse needs of different schools and students, including:
- the Great Teaching By Design and Great Teachers By Design frameworks, released last year
- the School Measurement, Assessment and Reporting Toolkit (SMART) and School Data Tool resources
- the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT), implemented in 2016
- the impending rollout of a new school administration system which will consolidate a number of existing systems.
I also welcome the Auditor-General’s comments around some of the key policy issues the government is examining through the Future of Education process.
These include the fact that too strong a focus on NAPLAN scores does not present a full picture of the quality and effectiveness of educational support and teaching.
The report also articulates some of the challenges facing school principals and the Education Directorate’s Central Support Office in supporting them as school leaders.
Principals overwhelmingly agreed with the statement that school based assessment data is useful in supporting their school’s decision making, but there is significant variation in the approaches taken and the Future of Education process will also look at whether the current approach to school autonomy could be improved around issues such as this.
The community conversation around the Future of Education continues and I have offered briefings to the Liberal and Greens parties about the details of this program and the audit report.
- Statement ends -
Yvette Berry, MLA | Media Releases
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