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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2405 ..
MR PRATT
(continuing):We on this side of the house, Mr Speaker, would like to look at the possibility of performance-based pay. We totally support pay increases to teachers, but we think that's got to be tied to guarantees that teachers do self-develop, they do complete personal development courses and they are assessed through a performance appraisal system.
Ms MacDonald
: Professional development. The "P"stands for professional.MR SPEAKER
: Mr Pratt has the floor.MR PRATT
: Thank you, Mr Speaker.Mr Speaker, let's turn to the subject of male teachers. There's nothing in the budget which would indicate any form of affirmative recruitment of male teachers. We know from all the evidence available to us that there is a growing gap in the performance between boys and girls: 11.6 per cent is the gap between boys and girls getting through to and getting an appropriate UAI to enter university; 4 per cent is the gap between boys and girls attaining a year 12 certificate. These statistics have been constant for a number of years.
That gap is not a blip; it is a trend. So we know that there is a problem, and I do not see anything in this budget which seeks to address those sorts of deficiencies in the ACT schooling system. We know what the initiatives ought to be, and if this government had imagination, and if they had a drive and a force to push up those good levels that we currently have to excellent levels, then they would have strategies in place. But we can't look to these guys to exercise any imagination, because they're only bland managers-keeping it safe and keeping it straight, but not keeping it value-added.
Mr Speaker, we know from all the empirical evidence that it is very important to intervene in the early primary school years to assist boys who are disengaging before they do disengage. We know that the statistics in the ACT show that, on average, primary schools have only 15 per cent of male teachers. We know, Mr Speaker, these are facts. These are the facts that we would have thought the government would have seized upon, looked at, assessed and developed strategies as a result of.
We know that a significant number of little boys going into primary schools are from single-parent families, and we know that they do not-
Ms Gallagher
: Shock, horror!MR PRATT
: Fine. If it is shock, horror, do something about it, please.Mr Speaker, we know that those young boys do not have male role models. We also know, from all the evidence available, that little boys and little girls must have male and female role models; they must engage as they develop. Mr Speaker, our female teachers are fine; they are some of the best teachers in the country; and they are also important role models. But we know that our female teachers cannot represent the
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