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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2409 ..
MS TUCKER
(continuing):tender in fact was that the existing fairly small-scale Belconnen Youth Centre lost out and the contract was awarded to the more professionalised Belconnen Community Service. I'm sure the process was conducted carefully and the selection panel's indicators would point very clearly to the winning organisation. I doubt, however, that the capacity for young people to enter into the structure of the organisation, the relative flatness of the structure, the capacity for teams to respond to new possibilities and the sense of ownership participants enjoy were criteria that the panel evaluated the applicants against.
While the larger, professionalised services can undoubtedly put a good tender together and can easily acquit every dollar and have no trouble negotiating with government at a high level should the occasion arise, it is the micro NGOs that really provide the oxygen for community development.
MS DUNDAS
(12.14 am): Just briefly on the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services: I welcome the money allocated to the upgrade of Quamby and the money allocated to a statutory response for children at risk of abuse and neglect. I think these are two very important initiatives and show a focus on youth outside of schools.A concern that I had with last year's budget was that in the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services there was a strong focus on what we were doing in our schools, at the education end of that department. We need to recognise that our young people just don't spend all of their time at schools, or the majority of their time there, but we do need to be focusing on youth services and what happens outside the school gate for our young people in our community.
I also welcome the funding for new youth workers in schools, in high schools specifically. But I believe that they should be employed by youth services rather than the education department, so that we can see a greater trust of these youth workers. We already have a number of programs throughout high schools where youth workers are working quite well in the school environment and are being well responded to by the students.
I had the privilege of attending a function last week with the Belconnen community about youth services in Belconnen, and one of the things that the young people there expressed was their great attachment to the people who came from outside the school to spend time with them and to work with them. That is something that they are desperate to see continue. So there is a lot of work that needs to be done into the implementation of what is a very welcome initiative.
But to move onto the education end of the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services: I'm still concerned that there is too little money going into support for primary school students with behavioural problems. I'm not convinced that the across-the-board cuts in class sizes, specifically the year 3 initiative, have yielded the best educational outcomes, because this costly policy has reduced the amount available for one-on-one assistance to kids who are struggling at school. It could even be argued that we need actual reduction in class sizes at the more senior end of our schooling, through high schools. That is something that hasn't really been looked at,
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