Answers to Questions

Public Schools

51 Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (2 June 2020). Can the minister provide:

(a) a list of public schools that have doctors, nurses or psychologists available to students?

(b) a list of public secondary and R-12 schools that offer specialist maths, physics and chemistry in year 12 on their campus?

(c) a list of public secondary and R-12 schools that offer more than one language in year 8?

(d) the number of schools in each of the school improvement model categories, and their index of educational disadvantage?

(e) how much it costs the Department for Education to administer NAPLAN testing each year?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education): I have been advised of the following:

(a) All schools have access to a statewide service of psychologists, noting that timing of access can be challenging at times in light of regional workforce shortages.

Regarding doctors and nurses, there is no central data held by the Department for Education, as general health services are not a standard part of the education service model. However, individual students may have access to medical professionals for individual needs.

(b) The number of government schools with students registered with the SACE Board to undertake stage 2 specialist maths, physics and chemistry in 2019 is provided in table 1. That is the number of schools where the learning took place. Also provided is the number of home schools these students came from. All students have access to these subjects, either through local partnership arrangements between schools, or through Open Access College. The list of teaching sites with students registered is attached.

Table 1

Number of schools with active enrolments in stage 2 chemistry, physics and specialist maths in 2019

* N.B. Open Access College is included in school count. Students from any school can enrol in stage 2 chemistry, physics and specialist maths through Open Access College.

(c) The Department for Education's languages data collection concluded on 2 August 2019. The data collected describes the languages taught at public schools during 2019.

The data is self-reported by schools. The list of schools with year 8 students studying languages is provided below in table 2.

Table 2

List of schools with more than one language studied at the school among enrolled Year 8 students

(d) In 2018, each school received a report on their 'stage of improvement'. Schools were assigned a stage based on overall academic performance and school level changes in performance over time.

The stages of improvement information enabled schools to receive more tailored advice, support, and resources from central office and local education teams based on their needs and context.

The stages were produced to inform the start of the three-year school improvement cycle and have not been updated since 2018.

The department made a commitment to school leaders not to make the stage of improvement reports publicly available and has not done so to date. Releasing the information would allow the creation of school performance tables or 'league tables' which would be contrary to the public interest in ensuring high quality schooling.

(e) NAPLAN administrative costs can fluctuate year on year. This is due to CPI, increases in paper prices, the number of students undertaking NAPLAN testing, the duration of the NAPLAN Marking Centre and the number of markers engaged to mark the writing assessments. The NAPLAN administrative costs (excluding transition costs) are approximately $3 million.

Attachment 1

Government schools in 2019 with students registered with the SACE Board in stage 2 chemistry, physics, and specialist mathematics