William Light School

In reply to Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (4 August 2016).

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills): I have been advised:

(a) Curriculum development is focused on teaching 50% of the curriculum (Australian Curriculum) in Chinese and looking at which areas are best taught in Chinese rather than dividing the day into Chinese or English, with fixed hours for lessons. It is important to design an approach that best supports student learning.

Given the focus will be on implementing a strong biliteracy program into the bilingual program, Chinese and English will be used at different times and or in parallel to each other. This will ensure students have understood new concepts as well as support students to make cross-linguistic connections supporting proficiency from one language to another.

(b) One Chinese speaking teacher has already been employed and is working (along with other staff at the school) in collaboration with the Research Centre for Languages and Culture at the University of South Australia and DECD officers to develop a personalised Chinese bilingual program that meets the specific learning needs of students at the school.

(c) Plympton International College, formerly William Light R-12 School, will be looking to employ more teachers as the Chinese bilingual program expands. The number of teachers required to be employed is dependent on the number of students in the program.

(d) As Plympton International College transforms into a bilingual school they are receiving support through a broad range of activities which include:

Staffing support including:

Extra Chinese speaking teachers to work alongside the classroom teachers in the bilingual program.

A coordinator to oversee the programs at the school.

Release time for teachers to prepare for the bilingual and daily lesson programs.

Professional learning activities to further develop pedagogies, including bilingual pedagogies that support better student engagement and improve outcomes for students.

Additional administration support.

Additional funding for classroom refurbishments, ICT upgrades and the purchase of extra classroom resources to support the program.

The department has contracted the Research Centre for Languages and Culture at the University of South Australia for the development of the bilingual and daily lessons of curriculum materials referenced to the Australian Curriculum.

The support commenced in the 2016-17 financial year will continue until 2026 to assist Plympton International College in becoming a centre of excellence in teaching and learning and in particular of Chinese language and culture.