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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4597 ..

MR HIRD (12.07): Mr Speaker, the School Without Walls was established during 1974 following a meeting in 1973 - the year before - of an interested group of parents, students and teachers seeking to provide an alternative to the traditional education system that would cater for self-motivated senior secondary students whose preferred learning styles were not being provided for adequately in what were then Years 7 to 12 secondary schools. Since then the secondary college sector has evolved with considerable flexibility to meet student needs in this age group. The decreasing numbers of secondary college students seeking alternative education at SWOW is evidence of this.

In my dissenting report I say, in relation to the committee's recommendation 6.50:

School Without Walls is a government school which is being relocated. The name should move with the school as it did when the school moved locations in 1974 and 1981.

This school is not closing. Over time, Mr Speaker, student profiles have changed. The majority of SWOW enrolments are students of high school age who have a range of social, behavioural and learning needs quite different from earlier SWOW students of 23 years ago. A significant number have learning problems and lack the skills necessary for independent learning. Student enrolment was over 100 in the early 1990s, but the May 1996 enrolment audit indicated an enrolment of 46, made up of 32 high school students and 14 college students. The reduction in student numbers has meant a comparable reduction in staff, and with it the range of curriculum options available to students. The majority of students currently enrolled at SWOW are high school age students, many of whom were at risk of leaving school early, before Year 10, because mainstream schools could not cater for their needs.

Because of all these factors, a review was conducted in July of this year. The review found that the furniture and fittings at SWOW are very run down and there is a very limited range of educational resources and equipment. The physical environment does not appear to be conducive to learning. In relation to the curriculum, options are limited and do not cover the eight key learning areas. The review also found that there was a need for an alternative educational environment which caters more effectively for the needs of students, improves the viability of SWOW by increasing course options, provides a supportive administrative and professional structure for staff, and ensures the continuity of SWOW as an alternative learning environment, as it was set up to be many years ago, in 1974.

The review recommended that SWOW be relocated to Dickson College; that provision for Years 11 and 12 be phased out and the education program be refocused on the needs of students in Years 8 to 10; that students incurring extra travel be provided with bus passes to the end of the 1997 school year; that existing teaching positions be spilled and vacancies advertised so that the new direction and focus for SWOW can be recognised and staffed appropriately; that SWOW be administratively linked to Dickson College and the feasibility of establishing an alternative school facility on the south side be investigated. The review also made a number of recommendations designed to provide the staff and students of SWOW with a supportive and professional structure which will enhance the continuity of the school as an alternative learning environment.

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