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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-30 Daily Xml
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EDUCATION, ADULT RE-ENTRY

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:48): My question is for the Minister for Education. Did the minister obtain crown law advice regarding whether or not there was a breach of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 before announcing the government's policy to restrict public education to adults less than 21 years of age?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for his question—the Rumpole from Unley.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: What about the fact that young people can't get the old-age pension?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right, yes; it's a bit confusing. We do not generally ask for legal advice concerning questions where we are fairly certain about the answer. The truth is that our education system is set up for young people to complete their education to year 12. For those people who have missed out, we do give them another chance. What has happened with the adult re-entry system is that it has become used for something else, and in the days when it was set up there was only one pathway to university, for instance. Now there are many pathways to university: through TAFE—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. The member for Elder is a fine example of re-entry through a system other than through SACE into university. In fact, what a fine example he is of a successful—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Stow Prize, indeed, for law—and a fine example of somebody who re-entered the further education system without actually having to complete year 12. This is the option that is available for people if they want to re-enter. The member for Elder financed his own further education when he went back into it, but the pathway into further education was not year 12, which seems to be the misconception from which your questions proceed.

Year 12 (or matriculation or whatever you remember was the system) is not the only entry into further education. There are many other pathways into further education. We have a special tertiary admissions test coordinated by the South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre. Several times a year people can take that test and move into university or further education through that pathway or they can move into university through the TAFE pathway. These are all options that are available to people.

However, we have to make economies, and we are saying that this system should be reserved for those adults who are seeking to complete year 12 and who have, for some reason, been unable to complete it when it is ordinarily done at school. That is the system that is in place, I must say, across Australia.

Importantly, what we are doing now is modernising it so that we have a system of TAFE entry, a system of further education which is offering an extraordinary investment: $194 million creating 100,000 places. That is a fantastic opportunity over the next six years for those people who are seeking to upgrade their skills and move into satisfying jobs that also meet the needs of our economy.

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