Ministerial Statement

SCHOOL RETENTION RATES

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development) (14:02): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I think you sought leave to make a ministerial statement; is that right, minister?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes, madam.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: A key focus of this state Labor government over the past eight years has been to improve school retention rates. We want every young South Australian to have the best opportunity for a successful future and that starts with staying at school until year 12. School retention rates plummeted under the previous Liberal government. Eleven years ago, the public school retention rate reached an all-time low of 67.2 per cent, meaning almost a third of students were leaving school early.

When we came to office in 2002, that figure had hardly improved, with just 69.5 per cent of students being retained in public schools from year 8 to year 12. Our first bill passed in this place raised the school leaving age to 16 from the start of the 2003 school year. From 2009 we made it compulsory for all young people to be either learning or earning until the age of 17. We backed those moves with significant reforms to senior secondary education to make high school more relevant to young people's lives.

Monsignor David Cappo and the Social Inclusion Board were charged with investigating the reasons for early school leaving and pioneering new initiatives. That work led to the start of ICANs, a hugely successful program that supports young people to keep up their studies while they deal with the challenges in their lives. I am delighted that the commonwealth has backed this initiative with more than $32 million to roll out ICANs across the state.

These networks will eventually support up to 8,000 young people each year to stay at school and are a constant reminder of the value to this state of Monsignor Cappo's work. We also reviewed and introduced a South Australian Certificate of Education which recognises the value of vocational education and training. The first students will graduate with the new SACE in 2011. Our $29.5 million Trade Schools for the Future initiative is giving more than 2,000 students a head start into a career through a school-based apprenticeship.

We also set about restoring pride in our public schools and made them vibrant places so that young people would have more reason than ever to stay at school, starting with our school pride program; our Education Works stage 1, with its $323 million investment to build six new schools; then Education Works stage 2, with its $82 million funding to remodel over 30 schools; and, partnering with the commonwealth Labor government in its massive BER and DER activities, we are transforming our public schools on a scale that has not been seen for decades. I can announce today that this huge reform and investment, in partnership with the state's secondary schools, has led to a further increase—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —in the apparent school retention rate. Retention figures for 2010 show that 84.2 per cent of students remained in state schools from year 8 to year 12. This is the best result since 1994, the best result in 16 years, and it is also 17 points higher than the lowest point under the Liberal government. This means that in 2010 almost 1,800 more young people were retained in the public school system to year 12 than would have been the case in 2002 if those retention rates had maintained. That is almost 1,800 real young people getting a better opportunity to realise their future.

The evidence is overwhelming that keeping young people engaged in education and training is fundamental to their future. Young people who drop out of school are at an increased risk of being unemployed, homeless, involved in criminal activities and drug use. Of course, these results are testament to the hard work being done by teachers, school leaders and school service officers in helping young people to realise their potential.

Today's figures unequivocally demonstrate the success of this government's approach to school retention. They show that we are committed to not leaving people behind, that we are committed to ensure that school is made relevant for all young people so that they do not lose interest or disengage, and that we are having success. I am determined that we will never again find ourselves in the situation, as we were under the Liberals—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is too much noise in the background.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We cannot allow ourselves to go back to a time when the Liberals presided over a situation where a third of our young people had disappeared from our schools by the time of year 12.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!