Country Education Strategy

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:46): I am delighted to update the house today on the Marshall Liberal government's Country Education Strategy. It is how our government is looking to support our regions to be the best they can be, particularly to support the aspirations and ambitions of our young South Australians living in country South Australia.

We want to remove barriers to success and broaden access to support services. If our ambition and purpose is for every child and young person in our state to be supported to fulfil their potential, whatever classroom or kindy they are in, as I have said many times, whatever town or suburb they are in, we have to apply ourselves to meeting the specific and sometimes particular regional challenges that those students may face and some of those challenges applied inconsistently or consistently across country South Australia.

We extensively consulted and developed three particular goals. First, to deliver quality leadership and expert teaching in every preschool and every school; secondly, to ensure that country schools and preschools have access to the systems and support they need to be effective; and thirdly, to provide country children and young people with access to quality learning and pathways opportunities. All of these things we want for all our children and young people. We are developing a 10-year strategy with work plans over three years and then there will be further iterations to particularly address those three goals.

The strategy will deliver better services in country areas. We are ensuring students can reach their full potential by boosting the availability of quality relief teachers, broadening speech pathology and pathology services in country locations, expanding the range of subjects that country students can access, and improving awareness of and access to career pathways that will support the transition to further education and employment.

Our Country Education Strategy has been informed by extensive consultation over a reasonable period of time so we can get it right, with nearly three dozen country schools and preschools; principals; students; parents and stakeholders, including a reference group from a range of country schools; Aboriginal community education team leaders; the Isolated Children's Parents Association—and I have been pleased to increase the support going to students from very remote areas since we have come to government through the ICPA—the Open Access College; and Rural Youth Ambassadors.

I am also pleased that our 2021 Rural Youth Ambassadors are here in Adelaide right now, working directly with our policymakers on things like curriculum delivery. The Rural Youth Ambassadors are Maddy Taylor from Burra, Georgia Hasting and Annabelle Whittaker from Maitland, Emily Sinclair and Brock Lawrie from Cleve, Kayley Kemp from Coomandook, Lilliana Crettenden from Cowell, Hayden Kupke and Jessica McKay from Jamestown, Hanna Biezaite from Kangaroo Inn, Charlotte Deramore from Mannum, Olivia Gill from Moonta, Amber Rice and Caleb Van Zyl from Mount Compass, Marni Black from Mount Gambier, Tailah Galloway from Streaky Bay, William Sampson from Wudinna, and Mitchell Patterson and Nelle Cane from Port Lincoln. I thank all of them for engaging with us.

We are working with South Australian universities also to ensure that student teachers who want to undertake their placement in our regions can do so and have incentives to do so. Our strategy will encourage more teachers to move to regional areas by connecting them with the local community and colleagues so they can feel comfortable and can picture a future in the country before they take a job. Also following from our $80 million delivery of our investment in SWiFT internet, fibre-optic cable to every public school and preschool in South Australia, and pretty much all the non-government schools that were not already connected as well.

We are now working very hard to upgrade the ICT infrastructure in country schools, providing better business support to ensure that principals and preschool directors can focus more of their time on improving learning outcomes. We have improved the infrastructure out of sight and now we are making sure that it is fully utilised by all those schools.

I want to thank the team from the Department for Education who have worked so hard to deliver this comprehensive Country Education Strategy, which is going to make such a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of young South Australians in country South Australia right now and indeed tens of thousands more in the years ahead. Thank you to Luke Fraser, Natalie Cullen, Lian Coyles, Claire Moffatt, Sarah Mavrikis, Lauren Aikins, Rachel Crees, Sarah Rooke, Nigel Huxtable and Libby Hill, who have all been engaged in that body of work, along with the very many country teachers, leaders, education staff and families from Ceduna to Mount Gambier who have shared their concerns, experiences and ideas during the consultation period.

This is a government that listens to educators, to families and to young people in the country. I believe our Country Education Strategy will go a long way towards improving outcomes for country education, meeting that ambition for every child and young person in this state to be supported to fulfil their potential.