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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-02 Daily Xml
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Education Infrastructure

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house on the government's investment in education and its importance to school communities and students' learning?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (15:06): I am delighted to be able to bring the house up to date with some of the investments that have occurred in our schools and preschools. In fact, I have now, come the end of next week, celebrated an entire school year of being the Minister for Education as I was appointed the Minister for Education in about week 1 of the school year. I have visited just on 100 schools and preschools in that time, and while there are many still to visit, it has given me a real sense of the breadth of the quality of our education system, and also the extent of the investment that has occurred and the extent of investment that is still required in the future.

I understand that the government has, since it first came to office in 2002, spent something like $2 billion on infrastructure in education and I have been the lucky minister to be present for the opening of several of those investments—new wings on schools, new buildings, refurbishments, and so on, many of which, of course, were initiated by my predecessor, but it is my good fortune to have my name on the plaque. I went to Salisbury East last week where over $7 million was put into establishing a new arts centre, both for performing arts and also visual arts and multimedia.

What is so important about these investments is not simply that, as any owners of property, you need to make sure that you are continuing to invest in keeping them well maintained and looking good, but that what we are doing is providing new environments for more appropriate teaching styles and methods. There have been enormous changes in the ways in which teaching is done across the world, as well as in this state, so that it is not simply a matter of having people sitting in rows of desks facing the teacher and essentially being the recipients of high content. What it is now is an interaction between teachers and students, and between students. While that is possible in almost any shaped room, it really comes alive when you are able to invest in the different styles of rooms and spaces.

As members will be aware, the most recent budget also included some $50 million extra in capital expenditure which will be used not only to add to our number of children's centres but also on a number of schools, such as the soon to be renamed Playford International, previously known as Fremont Elizabeth, which will, I think, really become an ornament for the north.

But there are other reasons why this infrastructure expenditure really matters. The pedagogy is an important one—how you teach and the environment in which you teach. It is also important for the community perception of our schools. For many people, their understanding of schools is limited to what they see when they go past the gate. If they do not have children attending that school, they form a view, and the more that we can give a sense of how good the quality is inside through what the school looks like from the outside, the better.

The final reason that it matters so much is that it gives very strong messages to the students themselves. What it does say is that they are worth having good quality infrastructure and also it sets a sense of expectation. I have seen that in schools where the infrastructure spend hasn't been big, but it's been aimed at bringing a level of standard to that school that those students will rise to—a standard that says that, 'You merit it, and we also expect high things of you.'

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