Bills

Education and Children's Services Bill

Second Reading

Debate resumed.

Mr Gardner: This must be exceptional television.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (17:58): It is exceptional TV, I can assure you, because I have had someone respond to me on Facebook during your Fidelian efforts. This person asked me, 'How long can he speak?' I said, 'On some occasions, people have a lot of latitude.' Certainly, you use your latitude. I did explain to him that on other occasions it is 20 minutes, 10 minutes or five minutes, depending upon the circumstances.

I rise in support of the Education and Children's Services Bill. When it comes to education, we all have perspectives. We all have opinions, and that is because we have all been through the process, some a lot longer ago than others. Many of us have children who are either currently attending school or have done in the recent past or the distant past. Of course, those experiences colour the way we approach and the way we see the education system. It is one of those complex systems, like health. It is probably not quite as complex as health. It is not quite as life and death, but it has it own particular challenges.

When I look at my electorate, I see the number of public education facilities in the seat of Giles. There is a total of 53 sites scattered throughout my electorate: 21 preschool or child parent centres; three integrated children's centres; 10 predominantly Aboriginal schools, mainly on the APY lands; seven area schools, which are a combination of primary and second schools; eight primary schools, nearly all of those in Whyalla, so they are stand-alone primary schools; and three secondary schools, all in Whyalla.

This is something that obviously needs to be addressed, given that we have two junior high schools in Whyalla feeding a senior high school. That model is a model that is not the best for students and there are all sorts of transition issues. Given that we have fewer than 1,000 children scattered over those three separate sites, it provides a number of real constraints when it comes to the resources available in order to maximise the opportunities in education for children in Whyalla, so I hope that is something that is going to be addressed in the near future.

Also, in Whyalla itself there is one special education centre, and that special education centre, in common with a number of others in the state, is an indication of the quality of the investment that has taken place in the material assets and infrastructure to support education. It is a brand-new, purpose-built facility and all the feedback since it has been opened has been excellent, so the quality of the facilities does contribute to the quality of the education. There are also three private schools in my electorate: St Barbara's at Roxby Downs, which is a primary and secondary school; Samaritan, which has two primary sites and one secondary site in Whyalla; and Sunrise, a private primary school in Whyalla.

Just as my communities are disparate and different, so are the schools that serve the students in this vast electorate. I will not dwell on my high school years as that was far too long ago, but as a father of young adult children who not all that long ago went through the public education system in Whyalla, what I can say is that overwhelmingly the teachers you come across who provide education and guidance have been excellent. I have always found nearly all of them to be conscientious in their approach with a real desire to do the best by their students.

Occasionally, you get a person who maybe does not fit and we need mechanisms to ensure that those people, if support cannot get them through the challenges they are facing, can exit the system. Our teachers are the backbone of our education system and thousands of South Australians dedicate themselves to giving our children a future. Whether it is supporting our youngest develop a curiosity for learning and the foundational skills they will need throughout their lives or helping older students turn their interest in language, maths, science, technology or the arts into a career, our teachers are vital.

It is not just about turning that into a career. It goes deeper than that. You hope that by going through the education system some of the subjects you are exposed to will become a love or a passion for life. I know that school, in addition to my parents, gave me my passion and love of reading which has stayed with me for all those years to good effect and good entertainment.

The research backs up the importance of teachers. It tells us the most important in-school factor that affects the quality of education of our children is the quality of our teachers. Of course, there are a whole range of other factors, such as socio-economic factors, and we do know that there is a difference in educational outcomes between the metropolitan area and regional areas. The more remote you become, the greater the difference in outcome. Those are the things that a decent education system can go some way to addressing.

It is always interesting to compare the outcomes in different countries around the world with different approaches. I am one of those people who is a bit of a fan of the Finnish approach, but other people prefer other systems. I prefer an approach that gives kids the opportunity to be kids; not all systems do that. There is a direct link between how well our teachers perform and the results of children. It therefore follows that the best thing we can do to support our students is to support our teachers.

I am very proud to say that supporting our teachers is central to the new Education and Children's Services Bill 2017 the government has put before the parliament. The bill expressly acknowledges the efforts and dedication of all teachers and educators and their importance to the successful development of our children. In addition to acknowledging their very important role, it also offers greater support through the changes that are being introduced.

The bill brings employment arrangements together into a single piece of legislation for teachers and early childhood workers in schools, preschools and other children's services. Each school must provide the environment and resources its students and community needs. This means building a great team with the required skills, specialisations and leadership. These requirements can be different for each school, and they are certainly different in the schools in my electorate and in other electorates.

Principals and directors need the autonomy and the ability to build their teams and shape them as needs change. Maybe if we also gave them greater autonomy when it came to dealing with DPTI and the investments in our community, we might actually get some better results. I do compare the outcomes in some of the builds in the private education sector with the public education sector. When it is the same amount of money, the outcome in a number of private schools have been significantly better. One of the issues that we need to deal with is DPTI and procurement policies in the public education system.

Mr Gardner: Well said!

Mr HUGHES: Thank you.

The Hon. S.E. Close: You might say so; I couldn't possibly comment.

Mr HUGHES: The minister couldn't possibly comment, but I think as a government it is something that we need to return to—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HUGHES: Our principals and directors need to be able to offer the encouragement, professional development and employment opportunities that staff need to become and stay great teachers. I asked some of the experienced teachers in the country. I put to them, what is the one that you think, above a whole of other actions—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Colton! Sit down. Both of you up here now. Schubert, up here, and Colton.

Mr Knoll: To the principal's office.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am afraid it is not acceptable behaviour, so you are going to have to be spoken to, aren't you. You are on a couple of warnings already—

Mr Knoll: I am.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: —and I will send you out if you keep it up. And don't be cheeky and smart. Back on your feet; you can keep going.

The Hon. P. Caica: I was just provoked, ma'am; my apologies.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Go and sit down. You keep going, member for Giles.

Mr HUGHES: Isn't he going into the corner?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Don't take any notice of what I am up to you; you continue.

Mr HUGHES: You need to be able to offer the encouragement, professional development and employment opportunities that staff need to become and stay great teachers. As I was saying, when I asked some of the teachers in country schools what is the one thing we could do to improve what happens at country schools the answer I got from a couple of teachers with a lot of experience was that the country incentive cuts out at five years but they want to retain them for longer. What often happens in country schools when that incentive runs out, there can be a very significant turnover in staff.

You often find in country schools that you get relatively inexperienced teachers coming out on their first job—and you learn on the job and you make a contribution—but you need that mix of experience and fresh blood, and you need continuity. Sometimes the incentives and the way they are structured can act against getting that outcome. This government recognises that supporting teachers at all stages of their career supports our schools and our students.

Earlier this year, a program for our newest teachers was introduced. A $12.5 million early career teacher development program was introduced in January to help set up our recent graduates for long-term success. It offers learning opportunities, resources and mentoring support from experienced teachers. Furthermore, this government is committed to ensuring our teachers have the modern facilities they need to give students a modern quality education. It is clear when you wander around the schools in your electorate that some are of a high standard, but there are a lot of schools that were built in the 1960s and earlier that leave a lot to be desired.

We have invested $2.2 billion in infrastructure since 2002, including the new STEM facilities at 139 schools and the new outdoor learning facilities at 20 preschools. I was pleased that in my electorate of Giles we received five STEM facilities: one at Roxby Downs and the other four in Whyalla. We are now introducing a bill that will give schools a greater ability to attract and retain the teachers they need. It will give principals the ability to convert temporary teachers to ongoing appointments without having to go through an arduous formal process. Furthermore, the bill provides for the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers by those public schools facing particular challenges in recruiting or keeping high-quality staff, and that is a challenge that a lot of country schools face.

The bill will make it easier for a school to engage allied healthcare professionals and other specialist support staff. This will ensure that students get timely access to the services they need the most. I think the emphasis has to be on 'timely' because I know that there is a shortage of a whole range of allied health professionals out there. There are very long waiting lists, so that is something that needs to be seriously addressed, especially for some of those students who, if you do not address it, will fall through further and further behind.

The bill will also offer more protection for teachers. We expect a lot of our teachers. They are charged with the education of our future generations. This means a lot for this state but also of course a lot for families. Working with children requires working with families. While the vast majority of interactions go extremely well, we must ensure teachers are always treated in the respectful manner they deserve.

This is probably becoming increasingly challenging in the era of social media, Facebook and other media where some of the stuff that goes on is absolutely disgraceful. You almost get a pack mentality at work that can have an impact on a school. Families have to take more responsibility for what their kids are doing. It is not necessarily the responsibility of the school, but the consequences can flow into the school, and when teachers are targeted in this way it is absolutely disgraceful.

This bill enhances the potential for teachers, staff and students in all schools, preschools and children's services in South Australia. It updates existing provisions aimed at ensuring safe environments in schools to introduce new powers and increased penalties and to extend this protection to staff in all schools, preschools and children's services in South Australia.

The bill modernises provisions for prosecuting individuals who behave in an offensive manner towards teachers and extends such protection to all schools, preschools and children's services staff. This includes significantly increased penalties from $500 to $2,500, and extends it to cover a broader range of behaviour, including the use of abusive, threatening or insulting language, or offensive or threatening behaviour. The offence covers any incident of abuse against a staff member acting in the course of their duties and captures incidents such as abusive or threatening behaviour towards a teacher or staff member perpetrated over the phone or via email, and I assume also on Facebook.

Furthermore, the bill helps ensure schools are a safe place for all teachers, students and parents. It significantly increases the penalties for trespassing on the premises of a school or preschool and, if necessary, strengthens powers to bar individuals from these premises. This includes the power to bar people for up to three months for behaving in a threatening manner or using abusive, threatening or insulting language to a teacher or school staff member doing their job. This behaviour cannot be tolerated towards our teachers or students, or on or near our schools; the legislation ensures it will not be.

I am very proud of the backing this government gives our education system; it is fundamental for our future. This bill lays a foundation of continued quality education in South Australia for years to come. Education has always been, dating way back, an incredibly important building block. As other speakers have said, it is becoming even more important, given the nature of the labour market and how dynamic that labour market is now with all sorts of competitive pressures. Our education system does help prepare our students for life in general but more specifically for the jobs of the future.

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (18:17): I rise to contribute to the Education and Children's Services Bill 2017 in a respectful and mature way. The education of our young people, and what this bill seeks to do in helping to improve the governance arrangements and the structure of our public and private education, is extremely important. I want to discuss for a minute the fantastic education that is provided on both a public and private level in my electorate.

The Lutherans who settled the Barossa had a focus on education since they first came to settle there. One of the first things they did was to actually set up Lutheran schools in the Barossa. That focus and that real homing in on the importance of education has stayed with the Barossa more generally throughout its entire time. We are really privileged to have the standard of education in the Barossa that we have.

I have looked very closely into the standard of education in the Barossa because I have a five-year-old daughter who we are looking to send to school in the Barossa, obviously. The choices that we had were phenomenal. We genuinely were able to pick from the smallest of schools, like Light Pass Primary School, which only has about 60 students, to give her a real individualised education, to our local primary school, Angaston Primary School, which has seen significant growth over the past five or six years and now has a cohort of about 320—minister, they may be coming up on a bit of a capacity issue up there in Angaston—and everything in between.

We also have some extremely strong private education, whether that be Redeemer Lutheran, Tanunda Lutheran, Good Shepherd primary or Saint Jakobi. We really do feel quite blessed and the choice that we had was overwhelming. We also have extremely good high school education, whether that be Faith Lutheran down in Tanunda or Nuriootpa High School over in Nuriootpa. Nuriootpa High School has also seen some extremely significant growth.

When the shadow minister for education and I visited a couple of weeks ago, we were told that they now have an enrolment that is somewhere around 1,050 students, which is phenomenal. Again, minister, they may also be running up against a bit of a capacity issue. It is a fantastic school. Can I thank the two high school captains, Isabella and Mitchell, for taking us around. They are such proud ambassadors for their school, as well as being stars in the recent school musical. I commend the bravery shown by all the kids who were involved in getting up. The standard of performance was really something to behold and something that everybody involved should be extremely proud of, especially one grandparent, Carol Farley, who was especially vocal in the audience during the night's performance when I was there.

I also want to congratulate Nuriootpa High School on a very important and very recent state debating championship win, I think just last weekend, involving year 11 students Erin Schrapel, Rachael Golder, Harriette Rudiger, Cassie Taylor, Jess Dickinson and Georgia Thomas. This is the first time that Nuriootpa High School has entered a team in quite a long time—I think it could be 10 or 15 years—and they were one of the few public schools that actually entered and they managed to knock off St Peter's College year 12 students with their affirmative take on the Charlie Gard case at Parliament House, which was actually in this chamber last Saturday.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I let you go on, this is beginning to sound more like a grievance than a debate about the bill. I am sure you are going to come right back to—

Mr KNOLL: I am going to circle back very quickly.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: —your discussion on the bill before the house. That would be great.

Mr KNOLL: I just want to take this quick opportunity to congratulate them. It is obviously the standard of education that we seek to improve as part of these bill changes that has led to the debate win that our students had on Saturday. In doing so, I also want to single out Georgia Thomas, who has been extremely involved in Youth Parliament and who is a great advocate for the public education system. I look forward to her going further and doing more into the future.

To sum up, in the Barossa we know firsthand, and we reinvest in it every day, our public and private education system. I am extremely proud of it and I know that all of us in the community are extremely proud of it. I look forward to the passage of the bill so that we can further enhance that which we provide to our students and to our children so that when they do graduate they can go on to lead full and successful lives and take advantage of all the opportunities that are afforded to them.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (18:22): I rise to speak to the Education and Children's Services Bill 2017. In doing so, I want to acknowledge the hardworking principals, teachers and support staff in the wonderful public, Catholic and independent schools in my electorate of Torrens.

Significant research, thought and consultation have gone into the bill, including public consultation with, and feedback from, educators in the state, Catholic and independent sectors, and parents and education unions. It supports the involvement of parents, carers and local communities in education and children's services. Importantly, it acknowledges the valuable contribution of teachers and support staff in the successful development of children.

The state government has been progressively reforming our education system to ensure that children get the best start in life and this bill will contribute towards that outcome. The bill will replace the Education Act 1972 and the Children's Services Act 1985, bringing together relevant provisions of those acts into a single piece of legislation to reflect a system and department that supports the development and education of children, from birth until the end of formal schooling.

The bill sets out a contemporary framework for the compulsory education of all children in South Australia and specifically provides for the establishment, governance, operation and closure of government schools, preschools and children's services and the employment of teachers and support staff in those schools and services.

The majority of the provisions in the bill only apply to government schools, preschools and children's services. However, a small number also apply to the non-government sector, including those related to compulsory enrolment and attendance at school and protections for students, teachers and other staff at schools, preschools and children's services. Some of the more significant reforms the bill will implement include increased powers to address non-attendance at school, including provision for formal family conferences, modification to relevant offences to improve the prospect of successful prosecutions and significant increases in the associated maximum penalties.

We know the importance of schooling in a child's life. In South Australia, children must attend school from the age of six through to 16 years. It is imperative that we put in place provisions that ensure everything is done to make this happen. Why do I highlight this point? I do so because research tells us that poor participation and engagement with school is clearly linked to adverse outcomes throughout the course of a person's life. While the overwhelming majority of our parents ensure attendance of their children at school, there are still some students who miss out on the benefit of a complete education because of unauthorised absences.

There is and will continue to be support for families to see that they are connected with services provided by other agencies, non-government organisations and community partners to resolve the issues of these absences. Unfortunately, with all the best intentions, this cannot always be achieved, so this bill goes some way to addressing this issue, with new and strengthened legislative provisions in the form of a number of points that will be highlighted further on.

A further reform implemented in the bill is the enhanced protections for teachers, staff and students in all schools, preschools and children's services in South Australia. This includes provisions to deal with offensive and threatening behaviour by adults, particularly behaviour directed towards staff acting in the course of their duties. The bill also addresses improved sharing of information between schools, parents, the department and other state government authorities to support the education, health, safety and welfare of children.

The bill addresses modernised employment arrangements for teachers and other staff in government schools, preschools and children's services. Research demonstrates the most important in-school factor that affects the quality of education of our children is the quality of our teachers, and I will speak further to this tomorrow, when we speak on the motion on World Teachers' Day.

The point that I want to go back to in relation to strengthened legislative provisions is that the bill includes new provisions for family conferencing to address persistent non-attendance at school; improved provisions for the prosecution of parents who do not take reasonable steps to ensure their child or children attend school, including a significant increase in the maximum penalty for this offence; requiring that parents of a child provide within five business days a valid reason for the child's failure to attend school; and improved provision for obtaining information relevant to persistent non-attendance of a child at school.

The bill before us also provides for the attraction and, importantly, the retention of high-quality teachers by those public schools that are faced with challenges in these areas. It also makes it easier for a school to engage allied health professionals and other specialist support staff. As a teacher, I am proud to be a member of a government that understands the value of education and knows that investing in education is investing in our children, their future and the future of South Australia. That is why we have the bill before us in this parliament. It is a bill that brings together the legislative provisions that underpin South Australia's system of public schools and children's services.

It goes some way to adding to improvements the government has already made to education in South Australia, including the more than $2.2 billion investment in infrastructure since coming to government, the current upgrading and building of the STEM facilities in our schools—and I have had the opportunity to visit some of my schools that are benefiting from this—along with the modernising of the South Australian Certificate of Education.

The Education and Children's Services Bill 2017 is clear in that the paramount consideration in the operation, administration and enforcement of the act is ultimately the best interests of the children of this state. I look forward to participating in the committee stage of the bill, as we consider amendments that may further strengthen its contribution to the education of our children.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (18:29): I would like to start my response and closing debate on the second reading by simply thanking everybody who has contributed. While we may have occasional differences in emphasis, and we may well have some amendments to this bill that we ultimately do not agree on, or some clauses that we do not agree on unanimously, it is evident that we share genuinely a desire to see a constant improvement in the education offerings for our children.

I thank people, particularly my shadow, the member for Morialta, for a very thoughtful, considered and, admittedly, lengthy contribution. I do not say that to mock because actually it was an incredibly thoughtful analysis of a very long and detailed bill, and it was impressive to listen to. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted: debate adjourned.