Digital Sister School Language Partnerships

Ms COOK (Fisher) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister advise the house on new initiatives the Department of Education and Child Development is undertaking following the recent delegation visit to China?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:58): I thank the member for her question and her ongoing interest in education, particularly public education.

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport and the member for Mount Gambier are both warned. The minister hadn't even commenced her answer when they were interjecting. Minister.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: As members would be aware, the Premier recently led the largest ever South Australian delegation to China to further develop our connections with one of the world's fastest growing economies, and to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of our sister city relationship with Shandong. As part of this delegation, I am pleased to advise the house that a number of exciting initiatives will be implemented in South Australian schools to support and enhance connections with China.

These include the digital sister school languages partnerships, which will partner six South Australian public schools with six Chinese schools. The partnerships will help to establish virtual relationships between South Australian students learning Chinese and their peers in China. This is a wonderful opportunity for students in both countries to build connections with each other, to share their lives and learn about each other's cultures, and, of course, it gives students the opportunity to practise their language skills in a purposeful way.

Through this program, parts of our state's popular Premier's Reading Challenge will be introduced into Chinese schools to enhance literacy engagement in Chinese and in English. SA students will be able to recommend and share books with Chinese sister schools, supporting their learning of English. These six schools will join the 28 SA government schools that have already established digital sister school languages partnerships with schools in Indonesia, Japan, Spain, Italy, Greece and France.

The teaching of Mandarin in SA schools will also receive a significant boost with the launch of our first Chinese bilingual school, William Light R-12. Further, we are looking to appoint a number of Chinese language assistants to work across 33 government schools with a Chinese language program to support the teaching of Mandarin and strengthen students' authentic engagement with Chinese language and culture. These assistants would support more than 6,000 students from reception to year 12.

Our education system already has strong international links, with more kids learning languages, more international students in our schools, and our network of ethnic schools teaching children and young people languages and culture. Strengthening our connections with China through programs like the digital sister school language partnerships will give our kids even more opportunities to succeed in an increasingly globalised world.