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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-23 Daily Xml
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King Electorate

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:16): I would like to take a couple of moments to acknowledge the great teachers and schools in King. Teachers play such an important role in the development of our children in our community, and my community is so blessed to be able to have such a fantastic network of schools and choice across the electorate of King. Whether it is the public schools in One Tree Hill, Salisbury Heights, Salisbury Parks or the non-government schools in Golden Grove, Greenwith and Salisbury East, we are so blessed for choice.

Recently, I was pleased to be able to invite a number of school delegates, including principals, senior leadership and members of the governing councils, to join me for a special King networking dinner in Parliament House. The Minister for Education, the Minister for Industry and Skills and members of the Legislative Council the Hon. John Dawkins and the Hon. Dennis Hood were also gracious enough to join us for the night.

The night was a networking opportunity for school leaders in my electorate to come together and discuss the key challenges faced by teachers today in the electorate of King. I have to say that the points of discussion were quite thought-provoking and some even eye-opening. I was surprised to learn there was such an issue with younger children in primary schools and their access to mobile phones. My eight year old often tells me he is the only one without a mobile phone and I say, 'I'm sure that's not true,' but from what the principal had to say there might be more truth to it than I thought.

A very interesting point was raised on the night about the responsibilities of teachers, the responsibilities they have with the ever-changing technological landscape we live in today. One school leader raised how hard it has become to police the use of mobile phones at school. One of the major challenges discussed, which may go unnoticed by members of the wider community, is when there is an issue between two students that occurs online.

It does not matter whether it happens within or outside of school hours, or on or off the school premises, it was discussed that more and more the first point of contact for the concerned parents is to school, the teachers, the principals. This presents a challenge for members of the teaching fraternity as not only are they tasked with educating and providing a safe and positive learning environment for our children within a school's boundaries but more and more these days it is also what they are doing outside those boundaries. It puts further pressures on the school's policies and the teachers' capabilities in dealing with a student issue regardless of how it presents itself.

Also under discussion was bullying, the definition of bullying and parents' understanding of what is bullying. I shared that we have currently reviewed the policy on bullying at Golden Grove Primary School, where I am on the governing council, and that we had just redefined bullying, emphasising that it is a repeat pattern of behaviour.

I encourage any parents in King who have concerns about bullying to go directly to speak to the teachers and the governing council members. On the night of the dinner, one thing I found inspiring was the attitude of my local school dignitaries and parent representatives. They were not throwing their hands up, saying it was simply too hard and dusting their hands, because it did not happen during school time. They were using this opportunity to speak with the other schools and discuss how each school deals with the issues and they were working together to identify a solution that would be good for our community.

Social media, and the bullying that can unfortunately occur, was not an issue that teachers of yesteryear had to deal with. But I believe our schoolteachers and parents working together are up to the challenge these days. Thank you to my colleagues, ministers, principals and parent representatives for attending the forum. They came from across the Greenwith Primary, Our Lady of Hope, Golden Grove High School, Tyndale Christian School, Pedare Christian College and Gleeson College for this networking opportunity. I look forward to continuing the conversations with staff that started last week and with each of the schools in the future. Our children are precious and we need to do everything we can to ensure they are given every opportunity to strive, grow and become the best they can be.

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