Page 1413 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 11 May 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
There is also, as Mr Cornwell mentioned - it was the only point he picked up, of course, because there is too much good news in it - the $3m for the national survey of Australian literacy. There is $38m, over four years, for more school and industry training programs - something the ACT has been doing very well at. With our share of that money, we will be doing even better on it. Education is a high priority for the ACT Government. It has also been a high priority for the Keating Government, especially in the area of vocational education and training. If you were to pay some attention to it, you would not dare ask a question.
MR CORNWELL: Madam Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Mr Wood has indicated that he does not know how much of the $3.2m for the literacy study will be provided to the Territory. In the Canberra Times of 30 September 1991, Mr Wood, you said that the ACT is the only public education system which does not have some form of uniform monitoring of literacy and numeracy, and there is no urgency. On 20 May 1992 you went on to say:
The ACT Government has not changed its general view about mass testing of pupils in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and so on. We still know very well what happens there; we still know that the Year 12 graduates we turn out are excellent by all criteria.
Mr Wood, do you now agree with your Federal colleagues that there is now an urgency for such testing here in the ACT, as you have indicated that we are getting some funding, and therefore does this indicate a deterioration in the standards of education in the ACT since 1991 under an ACT Labor Government?
MR WOOD: Why does he lead with his chin? First of all, Mr Cornwell said that he wanted to know exactly how much of that $3m was coming to the ACT following an announcement that was made in the Commonwealth budget last night. You can do your divisions if you like. If it is on a per capita basis, I think we get about 1.8 per cent of the national spending. In fact, I do not know whether we will get any money specifically here - - -
Mr Cornwell: Ha, ha!
MR WOOD: Do not be stupid. This clearly is a national program, with the Federal Government obviously working in cooperation with the States and the non-government sector, to implement a snapshot. They are the words that they have been using. Its organisation will be national and local. To the extent that we actually get some money into this system, who knows at this stage? We will be willing to cooperate. If all we have to do is to provide some input, as I would certainly expect, into the testing arrangements and into the nature of those tests - that is a very important aspect - we will willingly provide that advice and guidance at no cost to the Commonwealth. If it then comes down to a matter of providing the sampling that is probably necessary - it is certainly not going to be a test of every student in Australia; it is a sampling arrangement - we will provide our contribution and whatever information is required. On the day of the testing we will, with the non-government schools, I expect, fully support what is required. There may be
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .