Page 4224 - Week 13 - Thursday, 25 November 1993

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION

QUESTION NO 1050

Government Schools and Colleges -

Sex Education

MR CORNWELL - asked the Minister for Education and Training on notice on 19 October 1993:

In relation to sex education in Government schools and colleges

(1) Who, formulates the curriculum and makes decisions about inclusion of material on

controversial issues in that curriculum.

(2) Has the curriculum been approved by parents and citizens bodies.

(3) With regard to complaints about content of courses (a) who handles these complaints;

(b) how many complaints have been received during 1993; and (c) what were the results

of investigations into those complaints.

(4) With regard to complaints about the methods of teaching these courses (a) who handles

these complaints; (b) how many complaints have been received during 1993; and (c)

what were the results of investigations into those complaints.

(5) How frequently is the curriculum pertaining to sex education reviewed.

MR WOOD - the answer to Mr Cornwells question is:

(1) In the ACT there is school based curriculum decision making whereby school boards

have the responsibility to determine the schools curriculum within the parameters of the

Departments policies and guidelines.

(2) The School Board is responsible for the development and approval of individual school

policies and the approval of the schools curriculum which would include guidelines on

the inclusion of material on sensitive and controversial issues.

(3)& With regard to complaints:

(4)

(a) Complaints about any aspect of the curriculum are handled initially by the principal: If the matter cannot be resolved at the school level, the Executive Director (Schools) for the relevant district will take appropriate action.

(b) There have been no complaints received about the teaching of sex education in Government s&-ols and colleges in 1993.

(5) Teachers review their .programs each year before they are taught. Thus includes sex education. The Department has a School Performance and Review process whereby each school is completely reviewed every five years. Part of this process is to review the curriculum, survey the parents and have community involvement into the assessment of the school.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .