Page 1978 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
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statistically higher than the OECD average. ACT students achieved a similar result in reading, performing better than the OECD average and on a par with Shanghai, Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada.
These excellent national and international results are reflected in the achievements of students completing year 12 in 2011. Of the 4,214 year 12 certificates awarded in the ACT in 2011, nearly two-thirds of recipients received an ATAR, with 77 per cent of these students achieving an ATAR of at least 65, the cut-off for admission to a local university. The ACT continues to have the nation’s highest retention rate to year 12. We also have the highest proportion of 20 to 24-year-olds who have achieved a year 12 or equivalent qualification. These results are important to all of us because of the clear link that exists between educational achievement and individual prosperity.
In the post-school education sector the ACT is consistently the highest performing state or territory in the nation across a range of indicators. In the vocational education and training sector, for example, the ACT has the highest proportion of VET course completions at certificate III or higher and the highest proportion of VET graduates employed after completing training. Notwithstanding this success, the ACT government remains committed to reform of the ACT tertiary education sector. The ACT government has entered into the national partnership agreement on skills reform. It will reform the quality, transparency, efficiency and equality of the VET system. Through this partnership the ACT will receive $28 million over the next five years. This will support the ACT government’s strong historical investment in VET, which has paid off with excellent performance.
The ACT government has also established the Learning Capital Council to advise on education reform to serve the ACT and our region. The Learning Capital Council will support greater integration at institutional, government, industry and community level in the region.
The ACT community can be confident that the future of the education sector in the ACT is indeed bright. Anyone looking for evidence for this confidence need look no further than the performance of our school and post-school education sectors. The ACT government’s investment in education has paid off in excellent outcomes.
Our commitments to future investment and reform, however, show that we are not content to rest on our laurels. The future, in terms of quality teaching and excellent student outcomes regardless of what sector the school belongs to, is assured. The investment in reforms in the tertiary education sector means bright career futures for young Canberrans and a sustainable workforce for the ACT.
The future is so bright that we will have to wear shades.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (4.01): Thank you to Mr Coe for bringing on this matter of public importance today.
We have this week seen the Canberra Institute of Technology, our CIT, feature heavily with some news—some good, some bad and some ugly. We finally had some fresh news, some old news and some “no news is good news” delivered by the
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