Page 3156 - Week 10 - Thursday, 18 October 2007
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What we are seeing in education since the Howard government came to power in 1996 is the attempted removal of student support networks from universities, hundred-thousand dollar university degrees, and threats of funding cuts to TAFE if they do not implement the federal government’s IR agenda. That is right; if you do not offer AWAs at TAFE you now miss out on your education funding. It is clear this is more about installing the Liberal government’s social engineering program than any effort on the education front.
The commonwealth are also intent on using the threat of funding cuts to implement their version of the Liberal education utopia—a utopia which includes student assessed performance pay, isolated principals, a universally declared national curriculum which educates young Australians about the things that the government wants them to know, an external high-intensity assessment process which does little more than put extreme amounts of pressure on our young students, and a funding precedent which allows the commonwealth to unilaterally change the direction of education whenever they feel like it.
The states and territories have rejected this approach and they should be commended for that. Instead, they are pursuing a cooperative model of federalism which is based on jurisdictional flexibility so that student outcomes can be optimised. They are seeking to reduce the administrative burden by supporting cooperatively negotiated initiatives at both the jurisdictional and national levels. They are supporting the need for national consistency where net benefits can be demonstrated and they are seeking to protect state and territory control over matters for which they have primary responsibility.
The contrast in these positions highlights how out of touch and arrogant the federal government has become. The latest incarnation of this arrogance in the education policy area is the Prime Minister’s and Minister Bishop’s desire for all schools to compulsorily teach their version of Australia’s history, and I will talk about that a bit further later. Again, that is attached to the threat of withholding funding if states and territories do not comply.
The ACT has a strong history curriculum. The guide to history teaching recently released by the federal government has been developed due to the Prime Minister’s desire for one style of teaching history. The ACT government is convinced of the high importance of learning Australian history for all students. Students do need to understand and learn from the past and know about significant events in Australia’s history. Our students in schools today are the future of Australia. Learning from the achievements and mistakes of the past can inspire them and assist them to make good decisions for Australia’s future.
It is not just students in years 9 and 10 who will study Australian history in ACT schools. It is mandated that all ACT students will study Australian history throughout their schooling until year 10. Students will begin their study in early childhood and it will culminate in later adolescence. Students will undertake the learning of history in the context of historical inquiry.
So students in the ACT will have not only a depth of knowledge of Australian history built up over 12 years but also the skills to allow them to develop further knowledge
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