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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-11 Daily Xml
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SCHOOL RETENTION RATES

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (14:16): Will the Premier provide the house with an update on school retention rates, as well as the international education industry in South Australia?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:16): What a difference this government makes compared with our predecessors. We saw under the Liberals the biggest freefall in school retention this state had seen—the biggest freefall, right? So, I am delighted today to announce—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Because the first act of this government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left will come to order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I want to praise the member for Taylor, because, when we introduced legislation, our first act in government was to raise the school-leaving age from 15 to 16 after 42 years at 15. Even Mississippi does not have it at 15. It is hard to think of places around the world that have a school-leaving age of 15. I do not know what it is in Kazakhstan and elsewhere, but the fact is that our first act in 42 years was to raise the school-leaving age. Then we went about engaging with young people through the Social Inclusion Initiative, the 'I can' networks and the work done by both the previous and present ministers for education to engage with the most disadvantaged students—those most likely to drop out of school.

I am very pleased today to announce a 13-year high in school retention in South Australia. It went down under you, and went up under us. That 13-year high is before next year's lifting of the school-leaving age for the second time to 17, when students must either be learning or earning. The Labor government remains strongly committed to ensuring that all young people are actively engaged in education or training. As we know, young people who regularly attend school have the best possible chances of future success.

Since 2002 this government has significantly invested in and worked towards senior secondary school reform in collaboration with all school sectors to give young people more relevant and flexible opportunities to learn and gain skills. This includes our 10 new Trade Schools for the Future, the new South Australian Certificate of Education and the raising of compulsory education to 17 from 2009, as well as our school retention initiatives. We are now seeing great results from our investment. I am delighted to confirm to the house that South Australia's school retention rate has reached its highest level in 13 years.

Some 75.3 per cent of students who started year 8 in state high schools in 2004 were retained in the public school system to year 12 in 2008. This is a significant improvement from the low retention rate of 67.2 per cent recorded in 1999 when the Liberals were in power. These improvements clearly show that this government is making significant progress in its commitment to improve retention of students, offering flexibility and educational opportunities. I take this opportunity to commend all schools, school leavers, school teachers and support officers who have worked hard to keep young people in school longer in order to give them a chance of reaching their full potential.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I just heard the interjection. Yesterday we made an offer amounting to about $526 million, which would bring the vast majority of teachers over the threshold of $75,500. One thing I can tell members is that teachers will be allowed to run our classrooms, principals will be allowed to run our schools and the Minister for Education in this state—not the union—will run the education department. I remain strongly committed to ensuring that all young people develop the skills they need to reach their full potential, because the bottom line is that the kids who complete their schooling and go onto either TAFE or university, or some other form of training—the ones who get the qualifications—are the ones who will get skills for the future.

The new figures released just last week by the ABS show that South Australia's international education industry is now worth more than $741 million. It is now one of our biggest export earners, with increasingly large numbers of overseas students choosing Adelaide as their study destination. This new total represents a rise of 16.5 per cent over last year's figure, and this growing industry now supports more than 3,200 local jobs.

International education now ranks as this state's largest service export and the fourth largest export earner overall behind wine and alcoholic beverages, motor vehicles and copper. This year alone Adelaide will host more than 26,000 overseas students. This is an especially superb result when viewed historically. Less than a decade ago, in 1998, our international student total was 5,584. So under the Liberals there were fewer than 6,000 overseas students and under this government there are 26,000 overseas students—which is expected to rise to 28,000 next year.

Since 2002 our state's international student numbers have grown from 11,000. These noteworthy results stem from this government's commitment to grow the state's international education industry and position Adelaide as Australia's learning city.

I am delighted with those results. The state's top 10 markets for international students are now (in order): China, India (where we are putting in a huge amount of work), Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. I have been leading a mission every year and I am pleased India is up 67 per cent—which is a massive rise. It is now No. 2, behind China.

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