Page 256 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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MR HANSON: Minister, what literacy testing is done in ACT schools, and what are the results showing?
MS BERRY: I can refer Mr Hanson to responses I provided and advice that was provided by Education Directorate officials during estimates hearings on the PIPS program within our primary schools, which is an assessment that is carried out by teachers of students on where their understanding of English and literacy is at the start of kindergarten, the first term of kindergarten, and in the fourth term of kindergarten, to see where their growth has been throughout the year. Once that assessment has occurred, there is a much better understanding of where a child is up to with regard to their learning and what extra supports they might need.
During those kindergarten years and years 1 and 2, the teachers are being supported through the English literacy program with expertise from people like Christine Topfer, whom I have referred to on a number of occasions. Google her; she is well known. Her training is about ensuring that teachers know how they can teach better using all of the tools that are available, which includes phonics and phonetic understanding, within our schools, particularly within those early years, much sooner than the phonics tests suggest, which is a year 1 test. Our assessment happens with the teachers in the classrooms, with the students, with the families, to have a very clear understanding of where a child starts in kindergarten, where their growth in the year has been, and then where those extra supports need to occur.
MS LEE: Why is it then, minister, that our students are falling behind in literacy and in reading?
MS BERRY: I dispute that our students are falling behind. I think that our students are achieving very well. We were third in the country in the OECD with regard to PISA in 2018. That is on an international scale, something that we should also pay credit to. But I believe that in every way our teaching profession is being supported by the ACT government, ensuring that they are paid appropriately and have professional development and support, that they are listened to very carefully about the kinds of things they need to ensure that every child gets a great education. I believe that progressive governments like this one make sure that teachers have professional development to ensure that every child gets an equal chance to a great education.
Children and young people—care and protection
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Children, Youth and Families. Minister, the Public Advocate has said that “in recent times, the Public Advocate’s team has also been challenged about their participation in care team matters with questions being raised about what their ‘value-add’ to the process would be”, an attempt “to control the way in which the Public Advocate provides oversight”. Minister, why is the Public Advocate’s team being challenged about their participation in child protection matters?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Kikkert for her question, and I would ask her in her supplementary to perhaps provide a source for that information. Obviously, the
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