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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-04-13 Daily Xml
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School SoundField Technology Systems

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:20): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister advise the house on how the government is supporting children with hearing impairment to achieve in the classroom?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:20): I thank the member for Little Para for his question and note his support not only for children with a disability but also for public schooling in general. Obviously, achieving in the classroom is much harder when students struggle to hear their teacher. I would like to answer this question not just for what is commonly understood to be a hearing challenge in a deficit of capacity to hear, but also auditory processing, which is a deficit in the capacity to make sense of what is heard and equally benefits from the amplification of sound and the minimisation of distracting, competing noises, which, of course, in many classrooms is a feature of the sound environment for students.

I am very pleased to announce that more than 48 schools and preschools across the state are about to receive government grants to install cutting-edge technology to better support students to listen clearly to their teacher. This technology, I should add, is not new to schooling in general. There are many schools that already have these soundfield systems installed, but we were able to identify some money to ensure that another 48 schools are able to install them.

The recipients of the minister's specialist technology grants for 2016 are 38 schools and 10 preschools, and they will receive a share of more than $428,000 to purchase and install these soundfield technology systems in their classrooms. The grants are just another way of making sure that kids don't get left behind. It's particularly important in the early years when the sounds, the phonics, are being laid down in children's brains that they hear them clearly and they are able to use them to build both literacy in terms of being able to read but also literacy in terms of being able to spell.

These grants are being awarded to both government and independent schools. As well as a total of four schools and preschools being grant recipients in the Little Para electorate, I note a significant portion of the successful schools are from regional areas, such as the APY lands and the Upper Spencer Gulf. We were very careful in making the decisions over which schools would be chosen, to look at a percentage of Aboriginal students, being very cognisant of the limitations in hearing for far too many Aboriginal children and also lower SES schools, where unfortunately some problems such as auditory processing disorder, which can be quite easily masked and obscured for some years, have lower levels of diagnosis. With the support in classrooms being better for all students it means that those kids are going to get picked up whether they are diagnosed or not.

The soundfield systems are essentially a surround sound in the classroom. They amplify the teacher's voice via a wireless microphone. The teacher wears a microphone and there are speakers all around the room, and it also means that the teacher isn't having to constantly project his or her voice for students to be able to hear. It means that more of the space of the classroom is able to be used because children are able to hear the teacher from wherever they are sitting rather than needing to come in close if they going to be taking instruction or information from the teacher.

Clearly, as I've stated, the benefits flow to kids with auditory processing disorder and also kids with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, who benefit from a quieter classroom and clearer and more directed information being provided to them. There is no harm done to any child by having these in their classroom but a great deal of benefit for children who really need them and, importantly, with or without diagnosis, every child in these classrooms is able to hear clearly and understand the instructions that they are being given.

The SPEAKER: I meant earlier to warn the member for Kavel for an interjection. The leader.

Members interjecting:

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