Page 3899 - Week 12 - Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Of course our schools do a great deal more for students than instruction in the three Rs. As Mrs Dunne has mentioned, initiatives such as the schools as communities program are worthy of support—a program that enhances educational and social outcomes for children and young people at risk by creating strong and effective working relationships between families, communities and their schools. The program assists schools and families to tap into the vast network of health and community services that exists in the ACT. This is made possible through a team of community outreach professionals who have a dual role, working with both families and the broader community as a whole.
I understand that in 2005-06 there were 350 separate community capacity-building events across 12 school communities under this program. In practice this means home visiting, providing information about parenting, local health and community services, arranging appointments and assisting with transport where necessary. These workers also engage with parent bodies and communities to develop local initiatives that care for children, reduce parental isolation and provide parents with new knowledge and skills. I am sure few would deny the value of this work in creating sustainable communities and building a cohesive society.
Yet the key focus of our education system is and must be on providing the best possible, highest quality education to all students and giving them the best possible pathways for the future. This is the purpose of the government’s education reforms and is the imperative of creating a truly sustainable education system—a system that helps students access the educational resources they need. To that end, schools are building educational networks—communities of learning that reach far beyond local streets.
In many ways these educational communities are made possible by the technological advances that we enjoy today. Students can use the internet to research their assignments in libraries, not just perhaps in Griffith but across the world, to share lessons with students in other continents or simply to learn about places, lives and opportunities far beyond what they experience in their local neighbourhood. As well as having access to other communities through technology, Canberrans enjoy the benefits of living in a diverse and modern city contained within a relatively small geographic area. This, of course, means that schools and families are able to make choices and access educational resources based on the needs of students, not simply physical location.
An example of this is the government’s partnership with the Australian National University, which has resulted in the establishment of the ANU Secondary College. This educational collaboration means that students from across the ACT—from government and non-government schools—can access mathematics, chemistry and physics courses that will give them the challenge and development that they need. It is just one example of a successful educational community that is based on maximising student outcomes regardless of where they live.
ACT families are also making their own choices according to their needs and aspirations. They choose the educational community best suited to their child or children, whether that community is based on a school’s spiritual instruction,
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