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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-13 Daily Xml
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NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS

Mr PISONI (Unley) (16:35): This year's NAPLAN results are deeply disturbing and disappointing for South Australia. Under minister Weatherill, South Australia fell below the national average in all 20 categories of NAPLAN testing for years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The reality is that after nearly 10 years of Labor the so-called 'Education Premier' and his successor, the education minister, have taken South Australia's NAPLAN results backwards. If this is the best that minister Weatherill can deliver in education, what disasters are looming for him in becoming the puppet premier of the shoppies' union here in South Australia?

Instead of accepting responsibility and taking appropriate action, the L-plated premier-in-waiting has set out on a campaign of media spin and rhetoric. There is no change in leadership technique here; this is true to the old Labor Hawker Britton style; the style that Premier Mike Rann has mastered beautifully. Minister Weatherill, in common with the teachers' union, gives every appearance of being unsupportive of these important tests, and has appointed a new CE for the department of education who is on the record as being opposed to assessment and reporting programs such as NAPLAN.

In almost every category and year level tested South Australia performed badly. In many areas South Australia is going backwards. In year 3 reading, for example, 3.8 per cent fewer students in South Australia sat the test than in New South Wales, yet New South Wales still had a better score of 3.5 per cent of students sitting above the minimum standard. At the top performance end there were 48.1 per cent of New South Wales students at band 5 and 6 levels compared to just 39 per cent here in South Australia.

In year 3 writing there were only two jurisdictions with a mean score below 400: South Australia and the Northern Territory. These two also had fewer students in the high skills bands, and South Australia and the Northern Territory also had the second lowest percentage of students achieving high skill bands in grammar, punctuation and numeracy. The above patterns were replicated in year 5 grammar, punctuation and numeracy, year 7 numeracy and year 9 reading.

Other states that have been planning, reforming and doing the serious work needed to improve these results have had tremendous gains. For no good reason South Australia lags way behind jurisdictions such as New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT. Parents ought to be alarmed at not just the relative disparity in the performance results but also at the fact that so many South Australian students did not even sit the tests. NAPLAN participation rates in South Australia are a problem that the minister, the L-plated Premier, has simply not addressed.

It is well worth comparing the results of Queensland and South Australia, as they have much in common. Both states have the primary years finishing in year 7, and both have similar profiles, with many small remote schools and significant Indigenous populations. When national testing began and Queensland was shown to be performing badly, as was South Australia, the big difference was that Queensland took the result seriously and began concrete action to support teachers and schools in their attempts to raise outcomes for their students.

In Western Australia the Liberal government has moved to a system of greater self-management of public schools; what they call their independent public schools. These principals and school communities have a greater ability to manage targeted solutions to problems identified in their students' performance, not simply wear the responsibility for underperformance. That was proven with this year's results; when South Australia went backwards in 14 out of 20 categories, Western Australia went forward in 14 out of 20 categories.

South Australian Labor has done nothing of consequence and, alarmingly, there are no plans in place to suggest that the results in 2012 and 2013 will be any better. Mr Weatherill refused to commit to that on radio just the other day. Minister Weatherill has also stood by as a minister in the Rann cabinet when we have seen budgets cut by $8.1 million, with the cutting of the Basic Skills Test. Under the 'Education Premier', and under his reign as education minister, we have seen fewer and fewer students passing maths and science in year 12, despite the comments made by the minister earlier regarding higher retention rates.

It is obvious that we are not achieving the engagement rates; ten years ago 44 per cent of students gained a pass mark in maths and science in year 12 but now—after nearly 10 years of Labor—that figure is down to just 37 per cent. The education share of the state budget has remained stagnant in that same period, yet we are told by this government that there should be more money going to education. This government— the education minister—promised that there would be more money going to education. However, when we look at how the budget has grown, education has received no greater share, despite the fact that things like health have obviously received a lot more.

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