Page 2796 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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Support for students during their time at school, especially for later year students to help them to choose future employment or study pathways, has contributed to this result. These results show that investing in students is working. Our students can go on to study or employment in a wide range of fields that will help strengthen our economy and provide for a greater community.
Quality education can only occur when we empower our fantastic teachers. Our government believes that teachers play a formative role in childhood education and that they must be supported. Our teachers encourage students to develop a love of learning. This is what creates a great education system. Our teachers are the best paid in the country, in recognition of their fantastic work.
This budget has allocated $5.4 million, over four years for professional development, mentoring and coaching for these teaching professionals. This plan will include employing skilled teachers with expertise in helping students with learning difficulties, encouraging collaboration and sharing best practice between schools, staff training to better understand student requirements through data literacy development, funding for national and international education researchers to work alongside teachers, and training to support educators’ wellbeing and job satisfaction, in particular their mental health. Additionally there will be $4.5 million in funding for an affiliated schools partnership with the University of Canberra to further enhance teachers’ skills. These programs will ensure that our teachers are supported to continue their skills and support our teachers’ wellbeing.
This government is prioritising education in our city across a wide range of programs. We are investing in our education system. This means focusing on the individual needs of students to ensure that no student falls through the cracks. We are focusing on the full spectrum of the education system, from preschool to tertiary education.
The first stage of our equitable funding for early childhood schooling will make sure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not falling behind in these key development stages. We know that children do not start on a level playing field, so the government is targeting early childhood learning to address these gaps before they affect long-term learning outcomes.
Our government is committed to funding education infrastructure, especially in our growth corridors, so that we can keep up with our growing city. The government is investing in programs to encourage young people to enter vocational or tertiary programs and build their skills. We are investing in our teachers to support the people who are doing such a great job of educating Canberra and Canberrans. These programs together will ensure that our education system continues to go from strength to strength.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (3.57): As this is the second largest area of expenditure in the ACT budget and a very significant part of the ACT budget, there is obviously a great deal of material to be covered under this part of the Appropriation Bill.
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