Page 1875 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 22 August 2007
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proposed is a little uncertain, but it has always been characterised by those opposite as a return to an HSC style examination. No-one has said that what they want in this territory is an HSC style examination, and the jury is out on whether the community would be comfortable with reverting to some form of external assessment. When I say “some form of external assessment” I am not talking about a large proportion.
New South Wales has the higher school certificate, which is now 50 per cent continuous assessment and 50 per cent external examination—a change from what it was when I went to school, when it was 75 per cent external examination, and a few years before that when it was 100 per cent external examination. Most states and territories have a much lower level of moderation and assessment based on an external examination, but two states and territories have none. In Queensland, where the system has been disastrous for over 30 years, the continuous assessment model has been a disaster, and generations of young Queenslanders have suffered under it. In the ACT, as Ms MacDonald says, there is a generally highly regarded acceptance of the situation that we currently have.
But it is not absolutely and utterly the case that there is no dissent from the view that we have a perfect education system, and the report that Ms MacDonald referred to, Government secondary colleges in the Australian Capital Territory: challenges, opportunities and renewal, says just this. The thing about this is the ignorance that we see from Ms MacDonald, who says that we have a system and it is absolutely perfect; we have nothing to learn and we must not change it. This system has been in operation for more than 30 years, which is why the previous minister undertook a review of the secondary college system. It was supported by the opposition because problems can arise in any system that has been operating for 30 years and has not been reviewed.
This fairly substantial report, which unfortunately Ms MacDonald does not seem to have read, points out the need for some changes. I will refer to the recommendations because I think there are some very important recommendations. Probably the most important sentiment in this report comes just before the recommendations. It is:
Some 30 years ago a unique system of educational provision was created in a spirit of very considerable innovation and risk taking.
Amen—everyone agrees with that. It went on:
They were, as many said over the course of the Review, extraordinarily exciting times. The courage and intellectual edge that characterised the genesis of the model should now characterise its renewal.
I say amen to that. It went on further:
While the challenges are great, so are the opportunities. Meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities will be critical if the college model is to fully and effectively meet the 21st Century educational needs of all young people in the Australian Capital Territory.
Then the college review went on to make about 14 recommendations, one of which, No 10, says:
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