Educational Outcomes for Boys

The Hon. S.L. GAME (14:53): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, representing the Minister for Education, Training and Skills, regarding educational support and related outcomes for boys.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: SA-centric data featured in the latest Australian Early Development Census shows that boys are considered at least twice as vulnerable as girls in all of the following categories: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, language and cognitive skills, communication and general skills, and emotional maturity.

A presentation compiled by the University of South Australia's Professor Leonie Segal summarising the AEDC data plus other published studies and Australian policy documents shows substantial inequities in workforce gender mix, particularly in health and social domains. For example, less than 5 per cent of the early childhood workforce are male, just 28 per cent of primary school teachers are male, only 13 per cent of social workers are male and only 19 per cent of registered psychologists are male.

My questions to the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, representing the Minister for Education, Training and Skills, are:

1. In view of the far higher levels of developmental vulnerability in boys at school start than girls and recognising the critical role of early childhood education and care for school preparedness, what is the government doing specifically to support our young boys?

2. Does the government, in fact, agree that it needs to target young boys in particular with funding and resourcing?

3. In addition, what is the government doing to bridge the gender imbalance in the early childhood education and care workforce in order to better nurture boys and would the government accept such an imbalance in favour of males in the same occupations?

4. Does the government concede that low male representation in these caring workforce roles is directly related to poorer outcomes for boys, including the worrying over-representation of those considered vulnerable?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for her questions. I know the Hon. Mr Boyer has been doing an incredible amount of work in this space regarding the ages of three right through to training and tech skills as well, so I will raise this with him and see if there is anything further that he can bring back.