Page 3631 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019
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We currently see this occur with students leaving for private schools from public schools. I am also aware that in certain circumstances this has occurred between public schools. But in regard to public schools, it is under-utilised and not readily available as a choice. I think it would be best if students and their families did not need to leave the public system and that this was better utilised.
With respect to recommendation 9, the work of learning support units is incredible, and I have really enjoyed, over the past couple of months, getting to understand the finer detail of their work. What has become clear to me and to several other committee members is that not all of these learning support units are the same. They are incredibly different between schools, with certain specialisations benefiting certain students more. Allowing students who need certain learning support units to have better access to those units is a good thing. That means giving some flexibility when it comes to priority enrolment areas for those students.
With respect to recommendation 11, the flexible offsite program is a very new initiative and it is not something that I had much detail on before venturing into this inquiry. It stems from some previous programs that existed at schools. It is not located at a single school; it is now on its own standalone site, and it is absolutely incredible. I hope that this program is expanded and that it will open on the north side, sooner rather than later. But I do completely understand that this is a very new program.
Finally, recommendations 18 and 19 relate to self-reporting portals for bullying and violence. A recurring theme that pained me was the communication breakdowns that led to certain incidents being responded to poorly. Allowing direct reporting of these incidents will mean that they are responded to better.
In closing, I would like to thank my fellow committee members, Mr Parton and Mrs Kikkert. They were productive and made it easy to work through a very serious topic. I would also like to thank our committee secretary, Ms Harkins, for her hard work and attention to detail. This committee inquiry was unlike any other that I have been a part of, and she showed great mastery of the Assembly’s proceedings to allow us to navigate it. I am very pleased to provide the Assembly with a copy of the report.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (11.38): This was a tough inquiry, as was highlighted by the chair. I, like you, Madam Assistant Speaker, enjoy most of my work here, but there were large chunks of this inquiry that I did not enjoy because it was harrowing. Those of us who have children know that feeling that you get when your children are hurting, when your children are in pain, but you feel powerless to do anything about it. Particularly when they are younger, your kids look to you in the belief that you can fix it and sometimes you cannot. We heard from so many people who were in that situation, and it certainly tugged at my heartstrings. When you pack your children off to school in the morning, you should do so in the belief that they will be safe. In too many cases, that has not been the case.
Please understand, Madam Assistant Speaker, that I am a temporary member of this committee, standing in for my colleague Elizabeth Lee, so I have not dealt a great deal with the education portfolio in my time here. I must say that, through this inquiry,
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