Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On most international comparisons the education that our children receive in Australian schools is of a very high standard. But this is no reason for complacency or for inaction in the face of some clearly identified issues. The first of these is the need for national consistency in terms of curricula, starting and finishing ages, qualifications and tertiary entrance. It is ridiculous in a time of such geographic mobility, both real and virtual, that we have eight different sets of curricula, five different starting ages and nine different year 12 qualifications and standards. These create significant hardship for families who are required to move interstate. As I have a large RAAF base in my electorate, I am very familiar with the difficulties created for a number of families when unexpected postings severely disrupt their children’s education. It is not uncommon for the officer being relocated to leave his or her family behind because of the incompatibility of senior curricula and a reluctance to interrupt the final years of their son’s or daughter’s education. In a situation where each year the number of students transferring interstate is roughly equivalent to the entire Tasmanian school population, it is simply unacceptable that there is not a common curriculum and that this process of movement is not made as seamless as possible.

Secondly, there is a need to ensure that, in the process of bringing in some degree of standardisation or uniformity, there is a clear commitment to ensuring the highest possible standards to ensure that our young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills which best allow them to develop their potential and which best equip them to be productive participants in the life of our community. We need to make sure that the record level of resources that the federal government is putting into education is used effectively in this regard.

It seems to me that two things are required. The first is restoring a focus on the fundamentals of literacy, of numeracy, of science and of Australian history. We need to ensure that the highest possible standards are achieved in all disciplines. Secondly, we need to ensure that our curricula are not dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, as sadly happens at times, to make them more widely acceptable. We see this particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy, and perhaps also in the area of science. As the President of the Australian Science Teachers Association said recently, in supporting a national year-12 science curriculum, ‘In some states science our curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep.’

Too often as well we have a situation where the curriculum has been compromised to follow the latest ideological fashions. For example, the trendy deconstruction of classics in literature according to ideological issues, rather than through an examination of their literary merit, is far too common.

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