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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-28 Daily Xml
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EDUCATION

Mr O'BRIEN (Napier) (15:36): I rise to inform the house about the recent findings of Professor Alan Hayes, director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, relating to the 're-emergence of the great divide' in Australian society. Specifically, Professor Hayes points to a possible change in the equity of education in Australia.

This country has prided itself on the accessibility of its education system, which has ensured that progress is achieved through merit by providing everyone with the opportunity to aspire and succeed. However, in order for Australia to maintain equity in its education opportunities we need to remain aware of the system's current failings. According to the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results for 2006, Australian schools have dropped relative to those of other OECD countries. The PISA findings suggest that:

Australia has too long a 'tail' of underperformance linked to disadvantage. There has been no improvement in the last six years in the percentage of students who are less than proficient at reading or maths.

Although not registering an improvement in educational outcomes is of concern, more alarming are the PISA findings that suggest:

The difference between students from the lowest socio-economic quartile and those in the highest is also more than two full years of schooling in both reading literacy and math.

Such a significant gap between the educational attainment levels of the lowest and highest socio-economic groups seems to indicate that a level of social exclusion exists in our society. Social exclusion, according to the UK Social Exclusion Unit, is a:

shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown.

Many of the contributing factors to social exclusion are a direct, or possibly indirect, result of lower education outcomes that tend to thwart an individual's ability to further develop skills that are perceived as valuable in the workforce.

Returning to Professor Hayes, he suggests that although Australia's educational achievement is still above the OECD average, we are slipping on educational equity. OECD data shows that 5 per cent of Australian children had fewer than 11 books in their home in 2003, which increased to 7 per cent in 2006, with 19 per cent of indigenous children also falling into this category of having fewer than 11 books in their home. In a large number of homes it may actually be zero books.

In order for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to be empowered and given future employment opportunities, the provision of a quality education which promotes positive developmental outcomes is required. Crucial to attaining this, children at risk of social exclusion need to be identified early in their education lifecycle and given intensive early intervention.

The electorate of Napier will see the construction of two super schools that will offer children's services, including preschool education and child care. Getting children into the educational environment early is vital to developing a sense of familiarity with school, and to be getting them there at the age that they will with the super schools is a truly remarkable achievement. It will also allow them the opportunity to be taught in a state-of-the-art facility that will further facilitate their learning outcomes.

In the super school that is to be located at Playford North, the educational community have committed to the notion of a specialism for that school, which will be health and health sciences. So, all children attending that school will have the opportunity to consider any particular educational opportunity in the health and health sciences area.

Professor Hayes reminds us that although Australia ranks comparatively well in the OECD rankings for educational outcomes, he highlights the statistics that indicate that our level of educational equity is slipping.

Time expired.

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