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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-24 Daily Xml
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Education Grants

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:03): My question is directed to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Minister, can you advise the house what measures the government is taking to support parents to be actively involved in their children's education?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (15:03): I'm delighted to answer this question because, as members may be aware, I am a very strong advocate for parental engagement in education. It is one of the few ways in which parents can influence their children's educational outcomes, as distinct from their income levels or their educational results themselves. In other words, it is one way we can counter translating disadvantage from generation to generation and, therefore, I am a very big advocate for it.

As you may well be aware, we have a program called PIE grants, which are grants to encourage and assist parents in being engaged in their children's education. We have for the first time extended those grants across the three sectors—not just public schools but into the independent and Catholic schools. We have been able to make 70 grants, and they are for programs generated by the sites on what they believe will be useful for engagement. Some are around numeracy (how do you talk to your kids about maths?), literacy (how do you encourage reading?) and specific work on, say, father groups for some where the community believes the fathers are not finding their way and becoming useful parents in their kids' education.

Just very briefly, a couple of examples: Kirinari Community School has the Green Time for Grown Ups program, which focuses on helping parents and carers understand the importance of nature play with an emphasis on green time as opposed to screen time, which I think every parent struggles with at times. St Mary MacKillop School at Wallaroo is going to run a program to help parents build their children's resilience so that they can better navigate the ups and downs of life and build positive behaviours, and also Glandore Community Kindergarten—which I know is within the member for Ashford's electorate and which she is a very strong advocate for—is running a program on numeracy in the early years. I am delighted that not only do we have such a good program but that we have been able to extend it across the three sectors.

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