Schools Code of Conduct

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:12): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: Mr Speaker, one of the great strengths of our nation is that we have largely succeeded in combining genuine religious diversity with a strong set of shared values. Our shared commitment to democratic values, to valuing all people, rejecting discrimination and promoting freedom within the bounds of doing no harm to others in many ways defines the best of Australia.

Central to how we express both these shared values and our profound commitment to treasuring diversity is our education system. How we treat our children and what we teach them is the manifestation of our ethos as a nation. For these reasons, I believe that it would be useful to have a set of shared values expressed as a code of conduct for our schools. That code would express how we manage the equally important goals of encouraging diversity and safeguarding the shared values in our school system.

The Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011 allows the Education and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board to endorse such a code and hereafter hold schools to account for it. As minister, as allowed under the act, I recently wrote to the board suggesting that such a code be developed. Following my letter, the board met last week to consider the request. I attended that meeting and conveyed my views about the way this code could strengthen our school system. The board has agreed to pursue this and will now work with representatives from all three schooling sectors to develop the content of the code.

I wish to stress that, while my consideration of the idea of the code has been sparked by recent matters raised at a school in South Australia, in no way does this imply that there is a settled view about events at that school nor whether any such code would have particular relevance. These events have simply prompted my reflection on the importance of safeguarding our school system so that it remains what it has always set out to be: a place where parents can make choices about the schools they send their children to, where cultural and religious identity can form a part of that choice, but that schools reflect, teach and celebrate the values that make our country strong, democratic and tolerant. I believe that a code of conduct would be a useful tool in ensuring that this is the case in all schools in South Australia.