SCHOOL RETENTION RATES

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:28): Something that amazes me in this place is the problem that members opposite have with history. They do not seem to remember anything that happened before 2002, and—

Mr PISONI: On a point of order, the member is reflecting on other members. I ask her to withdraw: 127.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Take your seat, please, member for Unley. I think you will find that there is no individual slur whatsoever. She was referring to a collective memory and, as such, she is not particularly choosing to reflect upon any member.

Ms THOMPSON: Thank you, ma'am. One of the points of history that I want to talk about and the consequences for today is the appalling decline in school retention which occurred immediately on the Liberal government's coming to office in 1992.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me, member for Reynell. Members on my left will respect the member for Reynell. She has the right to speak for five minutes on this matter and, at the moment, it is very hard to hear her. Thank you.

Ms THOMPSON: Madam Deputy Speaker, I know you are aware that the school retention rate in South Australia plummeted from 90 per cent in 1992 to below 60 per cent by about 1997—

Mr Williams: Because they changed the way they counted it, you know very well, Gay.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop, what I did I say?

Mr WILLIAMS: You said, 'Member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop, member for MacKillop.'

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I said it four times in an attempt to call you back into line. So now that I have said your name four times, let her carry on.

Ms THOMPSON: The members opposite fudge and suggest that this has to do with school counting methods. That was very clearly demonstrated not to be the case and the standard method has applied, we know, since 2002, and we have gradually clawed the retention rate back. If members opposite had been paying attention during question time, they would have heard that we have now recovered to a retention rate of 80 per cent. That is still not enough, as the retention rate now is quite disparate.

I would like to thank the Smith Family, the Adelaide university and the previous minister for education for the production of the social atlas, which shows us how the school retention rate and other school benefits, unfortunately, are poorly distributed in this state. It is a clear map for us to see that we need to focus special efforts in education on areas of greatest need, rather than just destroying everything as was done between 1993 and 2002.

Schools in my area are working with me to look at how we as a community can improve educational outcomes for children in our area. I want to thank the parents who joined me last week at a governing council's forum where we heard from the Smith Family about some of the issues in the inequities in education and the barriers that some children and their families have to face in being able to really engage in education.

We heard from the ICAN southern manager who told very heartfelt stories of the achievements that have been made during the time of this government to enable children who are struggling with education to re-engage and be successful. I was very pleased that so many parents were prepared to start thinking about how our schools can work differently to achieve success for all our children.

They pointed very clearly to the need to improve the NAPLAN scores. They are not satisfied with the fact that most schools in our electorate do not achieve state school average. I have long been dissatisfied with the fact that the education department even has something called 'alike school average', which means that children in my electorate are not expected to achieve to the state average. This is a very long held practice, which I hope is gradually diminishing.

Parents want to see excellence for their children. They want to see more support for teachers to develop their skills. They did recall that Malcolm Buckby, when he was minister for education, shortened the school year to save money on electricity, but provided no staff development for teachers.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Over the year, member for MacKillop, I have been quite generous during grievances—I have let people finish their sentences, you included. You are not here to make a call about when the member's time is up. Member for Norwood.