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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 3049 ..
Question
MR BERRY
Can the Minister tell the Assembly whether the information on student absences has been passed on to Centrelink without informing students, parents or even, originally, college welfarq officers? Can he confirm that the department was warned at a meeting in June that there were major flaws in the information it was passing on? Why did the department ignore those warnings?
Answer
MR STEFANIAK
No information on student absences was passed to Centrelink without first consulting colleges and high schools and, in particular, college student welfare officers; nor did the department ignore warnings that the information to be passed to Centrelink contained major flaws.A new reporting system was introduced at the beginning of the 2001 school year. Colleges were progressively involved from December 2000 onwards. A compatibility test of the new system was carried out with Centrelink in March 2001 (at which time no student data was passed to Centrelink). An internal review of the data to be provided was then carried out. The internal review included seeking advice from colleges and schools.
As a result of the review, revised procedures were introduced in June 2001. Data using the revised processes .were then forwarded to Centrelink using the new formulae.
Most colleges have advised their students/school community of the need to report attendance details to Centrelink through newsletters/assemblies and /or individual counselling. Action has been taken to ensure that tKis information is provided to the school community for high schools and any college that has not yet done so.
Currently, the Ministerial Advisory Council on Government Schooling is reviewing attendance monitoring processes in schools to better support students to complete their education. I expect the report to be completed shortly. The issue of the most accurate way of reporting attendance at college is being examined as part of this work, and I am advised that we may be able to improve the processes of monitoring and supporting student attendance as well as reporting to Centrelink.
Question
MR HARGREAVES
In relation to Centrelink information on student absences (partially answered satisfactorily):
Why the ACT is one of only three jurisdictions, ... ... , which has adopted the practice.
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