Education Outcomes

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (17:13): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges the significance of improving the quality of learner outcomes across the state;

2. Pays tribute to those whose teaching and learning practices lead to improved student engagement and achievement; and

3. Highlights the outstanding success of innovative teachings, such as those of Mr Eddy Woo— teacher and YouTube sensation.

Today, I rise to move the private members' motion standing in my name about the significant impact innovative teaching can have on the quality of learning experiences in South Australia. Education plays such an important role in today's society. It is about more than learning facts, it is about building interest in positive learning dispositions. It is about encouraging the youth of today to help them find their passion to make their mark on the world, and inspiring them to become creative and critical thinkers through our education system.

There could not be a more crucial time to inspire creative and critical thinkers than now, as South Australia embarks on its innovative future based on knowledge-intensive industries. We will require a highly skilled workforce, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Ideally, these jobs will be made by South Australians for South Australians. Our future societal and economic prosperity relies on the measures we put in place today for the workforce of the future. To ensure this is the case, we need to invest today across sectors such as schools, tertiary institutions, government, industry and the community.

To encourage a highly skilled workforce, as a government we need to support our education sector to implement methods that excite the imagination of students for effective learning and engagement. Take, for example, space. As many can appreciate, space is an area that interests students at an early age. Many schools teach aeronautics to engage with students and encourage early engagement with STEM.

Hamilton Secondary College goes the extra step and is the only school in South Australia with a designated facility and specialist curriculum, taking the lead in space education. Their space centre has been designed to provide an immersive, hands-on learning experience, providing students with an exciting and unique educational experience. It sparks relevance in their learnings whilst encouraging the students' interests. It supports the students' abilities to become adaptive with problem-solving and builds upon their capabilities to learn.

If students are happy and feel good about themselves while learning, we are encouraging positive relations between their interests and education. Positive relations between interests and education assist youth to approach their life without the conceptions that are stereotypically in place both in the workforce or in the sense of their everyday living. Breaking down those misconceptions allows us to become creative thinkers and contribute in an innovative manner. The absence of a strong state education system places everything at risk.

Currently, the Marshall Liberal government is focusing on the transfer of year 7 students from primary school to high school. We know that this will accrue $40 million to $50 million a year of ongoing costs. We know that this will lead to more time when teachers are away from the classroom. At the same time, we are hearing of cuts to wellbeing practitioners and support services in public schools. It is important to question what impact these changes will have on the learning outcomes of the students.

A teacher's effectiveness has a powerful impact on students. Not only is the government removing time with teachers, it is not placing the importance of their critically important support service provided in schools that encourages the quality of learner outcomes across the state. The government should be supporting the education system with the resources they need to deliver the inspiration that our students deserve. Our education system requires resources that enables educators to work in a supportive and safe environment.

Now is the time to acknowledge that whilst NAPLAN is a way of measuring a particular set of skills, there are other effective methods to measure the quality of our education system. We need to be able to measure both how students are going in learning the facts, but also their ability to adapt what they are learning into creative and innovative skill sets. We need this so that as a government we can provide the supports to the education system that the educators, students and community are asking for.

Last month, I was fortunate enough to attend a forum led by Mr Eddie Woo. Many people know Mr Woo for his innovation and vitality in the classroom and particularly in relation to his maths teaching methodologies. In 2012, Mr Woo began posting videos online for a student who was sick with cancer and missing a lot of school. He did this because, for him, teaching is more than a source of joy: it is also a source of moral purpose. His postings quickly gathered a following and his Wootube channel now boasts more than 100,000 subscribers and has attracted more than nine million views worldwide and counting.

Mr Woo is a teacher whose innovative approach has managed to break the misconception that mathematics is an inaccessible and difficult subject. His approach brings mathematics back to its core, to highlight that it is about imagining new ways to see problems so that they can be solved with creative and unexpected techniques.

His impact has benefited so many, yet recognition of his approach and influence is unable to be measured through NAPLAN. None would argue that he is not an efficient teacher. However, there need to be methods implemented that take into account influences such as Mr Woo's so that the government can support educators to bring out the best in our students.

I note that the New South Wales government recognises the impact of innovative teaching. Just this year, Mr Woo was appointed as a New South Wales super teacher, which will see him train other educators to inspire students across their state. Put simply, the New South Wales government has recognised that not all things can be taught through a textbook alone and that his teaching methods are a type of resource that money simply cannot buy. During his forum Mr Woo raised that the last 18 months have been a powerful reminder of how important education truly is.

South Australia has always had a rich methodology in creative teaching. The Labor government recognised this and established a system of awards in 2011, which included the STEM Educators and Public Education Awards, just to mention two. We have our own Eddy Woos, we just need them to flourish and we must continue to recognise and acknowledge their endeavours.

Thierry Herman was the 2017 winner of the South Australian STEM Educator of the Year Award. His innovative methods with naval engineering allowed students to comprehend difficult physics and mathematical tasks in a way that applies them to their practical problems. His aim was to work alongside the students and teach them why they needed to learn these complex methodologies.

Another of our own is Tammy Cane, who won the latest award for Secondary Teacher of the Year. Her work at the Naracoorte High School aims to benefit the health and wellbeing of students, which has seen a great deal of success, more so than some other mainstream pathways, leading to higher attendance rates and SACE success. We currently live in an age where we receive more information than ever and yet we still have not learnt to appreciate our own points of view in comparison to those around us.

I have been reminded about the point I made earlier, that school is about so much more than learning facts. It is about encouraging the youth of today to help them find their passion to make their mark on the world and inspiring them to become creative and critical thinkers. Effective teachers are a source of inspiration and equally provide a dependable foundation for students as they grow to make choices about further education, work and life.

Many of our best practitioners are being overwhelmed and disenfranchised by the increased bureaucracy in teaching. We should recognise and pay tribute to those whose teaching and learning practices lead to improved student engagement and achievement, and acknowledge that to be able to improve the quality of learner outcomes across the state we need to support innovative teaching and our teachers.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.