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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-07-01 Daily Xml
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Education System

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister update the house about negotiations with the commonwealth regarding independent public schools?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:10): I thank the member for Reynell for her question. Let me start by being very clear with the house: this government will never introduce an unfair two-tiered system in our public schools, nor will we badge any of our schools as 'independent public schools'. That is a complete oxymoron.

Members would know that South Australian public schools already enjoy a high degree of delegated authority. David Gonski acknowledged that South Australia had one of the most autonomous school systems in Australia, and it was only last week that Peter Mader, Acting President of the Secondary Principals' Association, said:

…the reality is that in South Australia Christopher Pyne's 13 years too late, we've actually achieved all of the autonomies that he has been talking about in this program.

I can confirm that we are considering participating in this scheme, but in a uniquely South Australian way.

Again, I make the point that we will not badge schools as independent public schools. We will not have an unfair two-tiered system; we will roll out reforms across the whole system, and I understand that Victoria has taken up exactly the same position as South Australia, and I expect New South Wales is doing the same.

We have put a proposal to the federal government which includes streamlining performance management processes and providing governance training to school governing councils. Principals already have the ability to employ the teachers they want after the permanent teachers in temporary positions are placed. What we will do is make sure the performance management process is clear, that it has a time limit, and that principals are supported by the performance management specialists with an education background through the process.

The training for governing councils will be informed by the recommendations from the Pike review. We are still waiting for Mr Pyne's approval. We will need whatever funding we can find, given Christopher Pyne's cuts to education—in South Australia, $335 million in 2018 and 2019.

The independent public schools funding of $5.5 million over four years is dwarfed by the Gonski cuts. In the meantime, we are focusing on improving educational outcomes for students and empowering school communities. We are providing $50,000 specialisation grants to local partnerships which will help them develop specialisations that reflect the aspirations of the local community and link in with local businesses and industry. This could include science, sport, languages, or even entrepreneurialism. We are building specialist schools to create the skilled workforce of the future: Seaview High School will have an advanced manufacturing specialisation, The Heights High School will specialise in defence industries, and Hamilton College will have a STEM specialisation.

Members opposite might be interested to hear that schools in the electorates of Adelaide, Bright, Chaffey, Flinders, MacKillop, Mount Gambier and Stuart all stand to lose more funding, resources and support from the cuts to the last two years of the Gonski agreement than the entire system will receive for the independent public schools program over four years.

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