SCHOOL-TO-WORK PROGRAM

Ms PORTOLESI (Hartley) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Education and Children's Services. With the new SACE being introduced into schools next year, how will schools be supported so that young people will develop the skills they need for better jobs and careers?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education and Children's Services, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:36): I thank the member for that question. It was somewhat unexpected, I might say, but I am delighted to hear about it. The changes that will occur over the next year are very substantial. In particular, we are introducing a range of school-to-work initiatives as a response to the need to make sure that the new agenda in the SACE is up to date.

Of course, next year we will lift the age of compulsory education to 17 which means that there have to be different programs within our schools, because those young people who are currently voting with their feet will need additional resources. Part of that will be the programs we are rolling out through the public and private schools, both Catholic and independent schools, to develop programs that will engage young people and produce the capacity to take them into meaningful employment.

Of course we do know that our new SACE will also include vocational training, and that vocational training will give a wider opportunity to younger people who have been disengaged in the past to link in with job opportunities in their regions. One of the reasons that we have been very uneasy about a national curriculum has been that the problem with senior secondary education is that many of the opportunities need to link into local businesses.

Those linkages from school to work can only really be employed if the local schools form relationships with local employers, and those local employers can then say what skills are needed. The school-to-work initiatives will be developed through a range of local opportunities and options for children in secondary schools. Those grants are going out now to the three sectors and will be used to inform the programs that are in place next year.

The other initiative that is extremely important is the year 9 testing. Members will be aware of testing in years 3, 5 and 7, but our state was the first state to agree to and take up trials of year 9 testing. Rather than collecting data with which one could beat up children or teachers by saying that they have not reached a benchmark, the whole reason for these tests is actually to allow remedial intervention, because year 9 is perhaps the last chance you have before a child goes on to senior secondary education.

That opportunity has been embraced over the last year. The results from last year were used in a range of programs and from now will be incorporated in the personal learning plan. Those year 9 tests, as with those in years 7, 5 and 3, were traditionally in August. This year for the first time those tests will be held in May which produces some significant difficulties. The advantage for our schools is that, by having the tests in May, the results will be back sooner and therefore remedial intervention can occur sooner. The disadvantage, of course, will be that the students who take the tests in South Australia will have had several months less schooling. So, one of the risks that we should expect is that there is a chance that the results will be poorer than previous years.

I understand that will be a difficult issue for us to address, because everyone would like results to improve year on year. But it is quite clear that, for a year 3 child particularly, having those tests three months earlier will have a significant impact on the numbers reaching benchmarks. We imagine there will be some difficulty across the nation in managing what might well appear to be a reduction in those achievements, but the advantage will be: sooner results, sooner intervention and sooner help for those children who are struggling.

For children in year 9 particularly, that will be useful, because we want their personal learning plans and their senior secondary education to take off, informed by not only where they struggle but where they have had intervention. Those changes will be occurring over this year, and further work will be done next year when we introduce our compulsory education up to the age of 17, as well as further trials on the work on the SACE certificate.