Page 1055 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994

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MS FOLLETT: Mr Kaine, indeed I said, when I mentioned this matter yesterday, that I was no expert on surveying; hence I do take advice on the matter. But the advice that I did take included the fact that the sample size which Mr Stevenson used was very small indeed and could not be taken as a reliable sample for the matters that he was surveying.

MR STEVENSON: May I ask a supplementary question, please, Madam Speaker? Firstly, is the Chief Minister aware - perhaps she is not - that the surveys were done not only within working hours but also outside working hours and on weekends? There was mention in the Canberra Times recently - - -

MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Stevenson, you are stretching the limits of a supplementary question. You asked about two things in the first place. A supplementary question must come as a consequence of those two things. Please focus your supplementary question.

MR STEVENSON: This is a direct consequence of those points and the answer that the Chief Minister gave. The Canberra Times mentioned something about my asking questions late at night in Belconnen. It was not so late at night. Is the Chief Minister also aware that not for this survey but for surveys in the past we have checked out our survey methodology and the results have not been significantly different?

MS FOLLETT: No, I am not.

School Curriculum Frameworks

MRS GRASSBY: My question is directed to the Minister for Education and Training. What progress is the Minister making in developing high-quality curriculum frameworks and outcomes for students in government schools?

MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, as question time in this Assembly reveals, news is made by contentious issues and political argument; yet there are a great number of other matters that are carried on within government that are not contentious but are a great deal more important than many of the issues that get expressed here, and this is one of them.

Over a long period the ACT Education Department and a great number of its teachers have been developing curriculum frameworks. They are joining the best of what we do locally with the national curriculum statements and the national curriculum profiles. This is the best work that is happening in Australia. Even the conservative States which in Perth last year faltered a little in their support of the national curriculum frameworks are now, to the best of my knowledge, mostly fully in support of them. We have picked up the national developments and we have adapted our frameworks to the nationally determined eight key learning areas, so that in the ACT we have developed curriculum frameworks across those eight major subject areas. I would expect in a month or two to be launching those in the ACT and to be advising the community, which of course is secondary to what happens within the schools. The schools will then have access to that completed material.


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