House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Education and Child Development Department EDUCATION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT Ms BEDFORD House of Assembly Florey EDUCATION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister inform the house about how the state government is working with schools to encourage parents to get involved in the education of their children? The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly Hartley Minister for Education and Child Development EDUCATION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:02): I thank the member for Florey for this important question. We know that parents play a pivotal role in their children's education and, together with teachers and principals, they do hold the key to a better future for their children in work and their community life. Parents are a child's first teacher, and it is important that mums, dads and carers are encouraged and supported to be partners in the ongoing education of their children. For some years now, the state government has supported local school initiatives to involve parents in their schools. For example, last week I was pleased to announce the new Early Literacy Learning Strategy which is designed to encourage parents of young children to work with teachers to improve literacy skills in those important early years; in fact, our Premier spoke about it earlier. This important program, which involves ongoing funding of $12 million a year, will include providing parents with information about the importance of reading at an early age and support them to read at home with their children. In addition, the strategy supports children in the classroom with 260 specially trained reading support teachers who will work with classroom teachers to improve reading skills and encourage parents to take part in their children's learning. The government also strongly supports and encourages parents to become more involved in their school community by providing a number of grants to help connect parents and schools. Grants of up to $2,500 are being provided to 56 public schools and 15 Catholic schools across our state. The grants are modest, but they do provide important support that fosters real connections and participation by parents in their school. This can include anything from assisting Vietnamese parents at Adelaide High to run their local school parent group, to a program that supports parents at the Elizabeth O'Grady Kindergarten to help preschoolers have a better start with developing their maths and numeracy skills. This builds on South Australia's long history of parent participation and engagement in our schools, and it also supports the evidence and practical experience of teachers and parents that we should be investing in and engaging early.