Page 1690 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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A commitment to equality of opportunity and participation by all students, including women and girls, the disabled, the disadvantaged groups and those with a non-English speaking background.
The people from non-English speaking backgrounds thank the Government for returning to the ESL people the cuts it originally made. But what about those with a disadvantaged background? They miss out in the colleges; they miss out elsewhere. Over 65 teachers have been cut. Look at the impact of that. It says:
A commitment to excellence in all educational activities.
Measures to strengthen our schools and colleges include:
- development of a thoroughly cohesive structure uniting all sectors of education;
- ensuring that schools equip our children with the knowledge and skills they will need in life, along with the versatility to cope with changes -
And they are cutting teachers. It goes on:
- examining the performance of high schools -
And they are taking nine teachers out of high schools. What about examining the performance? What about realising the low morale in the high schools and what about making some attempt to reduce class sizes? The document says:
- recognising the needs of children who, in our mobile society, move in and out of Canberra.
That is fine. Let me quote further on preschool education:
- abolish the current pre-school fee guaranteeing that there is no loss to the education budget as a result.
Well, look at the loss to the education budget - millions and millions of dollars. Look at the loss to the preschool sector. Preschool is the greatest learning period that children go through, and here we have the decimation of the preschool structure. What we will have is resultant low morale there and a loss of positions in that sector.
One of the most important factors is this, and I quote once again from this very good education policy:
The size of classes at all levels is an important determinant of the quality of education. An ALP Government will aim to reduce class size, particularly in primary schools.
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