SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the minister representing the Minister for Education about the implementation of SACE.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: In June this year the Industrial Relations Commission handed down its arbitration decision, stage 2. In that, the commission concluded:

Across the school sector, teachers and leaders are working unreasonable hours because of excessive workload.

In addition, it also indicated that teachers and leaders suffer poor job design where the tasks and demands outweigh the personal resources of the teaching staff and the financial resources of the school.

Into this environment, where teachers are already overworked and the limits of both their personal resources and the resources of their institutions are so stressed, we are trying to introduce a new SACE curriculum with new assessment measures and new performance standards. The new SACE program was, of course, announced in 2006, and the first students to embark on the new plan were year 10 students in 2009, with the new SACE curriculum taking effect from this year, 2010, for year 11 students.

There have been a number of problems with the implementation and rollout of the new SACE Stage 1, or year 11, particularly in relation to timetabling and advance readiness of curriculums. In 2009 the teachers surveyed with regard to this were incredibly concerned about the new SACE, including concerns with training and development, particularly in the areas of content, assessment, reporting and newly developed performance standards. These concerns have not gone away.

I note that, in particular, of serious concern is a new element, the research project, which requires students to conduct a six-month project in which they must achieve at least a C to pass. Not only is this process and its assessment—

The PRESIDENT: Order! I am getting fairly concerned about these long explanations. You must ask the question.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —almost virtually untested, but teachers remain in the dark and many think their students will be unlikely to succeed without their support and guidance. My question to the minister is: can the government now guarantee that teachers will be provided with adequate pupil-free time in the coming four months for the new program and that this new time will not eat into their annual leave?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for her question, and am pleased to refer those questions to the Minister for Education in another place and bring back a response.