Maxine McKew (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me pleasure to speak in support of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Bill 2008, which the Minister for Education introduced in the House of Representatives on 23 October. The Australian government believes that a national high-quality education system is the foundation upon which this country’s prosperity rests. We need to ensure that all Australians, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, are equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge and capabilities to bring them personal satisfaction and allow them to succeed in a competitive global economy. This year, with an investment of $1.2 billion, we have commenced delivering world-class information and communications technology to schools throughout the country. The digital education revolution has well and truly begun. I am pleased to report that the government has made significant inroads towards building new trades training centres in secondary schools across the country through the $2½ billion Trades Training Centres in Schools Program. Then there is the $4.4 billion education tax refund that is helping parents meet the costs of providing their children with access to the resources they need to assist them with their learning.

In contrast to the previous government, this government believes that the early years are a crucial time in a child’s development, so this is where the education revolution begins—we hear almost nothing about this from the opposition—with fresh investment and a new approach. It is now universally recognised and accepted that the experiences and opportunities a child is given in the early years will have an impact on their learning, their physical and emotional wellbeing and their long-term ability to fully participate in society. As a result, the Australian government is providing $533.5 million over the next five years to ensure that all children have access to quality early learning programs for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks a year in the year before formal schooling commences. These programs will be delivered by four-year trained early childhood teachers. To assist with accessibility and affordability, we have committed $114.5 million towards establishing the first 38 of a total of 260 early learning and care centres in areas of unmet demand, preferably close to or collocated with schools and TAFEs and on other community sites.

Importantly, we know it is not just the number of centres that matters; it is the quality of the care and the learning provided by those centres that is paramount. So, to ensure that every child will have access to consistent, calm and stimulating early learning and care, the government has invested $22 million to develop a set of rigorous national quality standards that will apply across all early childhood settings and services, as well as an investment of $126 million to increase the numbers and enhance the qualifications of the early-years workforce. The government is working hard to create a high-quality early learning and care system for all young Australians. I am delighted to say that, when young children make the transition to school, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Bill 2008 will contribute significantly to ensuring that their education is world class.

This bill gives effect to the Council of Australian Governments’ historic decision of 2 October 2008 to establish a new national education authority that will be responsible for the management of curriculum, assessment and reporting at the national level. In keeping with our approach to collaborative federalism, this bill ensures that the states and territories and the Commonwealth will work in partnership to improve standards in education for all Australian students. The bill recognises state and territory ministers’ responsibilities for the curriculum in their own jurisdictions and mandates joint accountability for the authority between the Commonwealth and the states and territories.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority will deliver two of the Rudd government’s signature reforms: the development of a national curriculum and the transparency and reporting agenda announced in September of this year. The new authority will also develop Australia’s first national curriculum. This is an initiative which will ensure that all Australian students from kindergarten to year 12 have access to the best quality education available, regardless of their socioeconomic background, the type of school they attend or the location of that school. The previous government talked about the merits of a national curriculum but, despite a decade or more in office, they failed to deliver anything tangible in this area. This government realised that it was time to act, and we have done so. The new national curriculum will deliver clear and explicit agreement on the curriculum essentials that are fundamental to delivering a well-balanced, meaningful and useful education—English, mathematics, history and the sciences.

The interim national curriculum board, led by Professor Barry McGaw as its chair and Mr Tony Mackay as deputy chair, have been working very hard to engage the education community in developing Australia’s first national curriculum in English, mathematics, the sciences and history. They have been doing an excellent job and have developed framing papers for English, maths, the sciences and history after extensive consultation with the education sector. I would like to commend the interim board members for their efforts and energy in taking their work to this point. The work of the national curriculum board will now form part of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

It is our intention that the national curriculum help equip our young people with the skills, knowledge and capabilities that will enable them to compete in the global economy, because more and more Australians from every age and from every profession are living and working overseas for long periods of their professional life. That being the new reality, our graduates must be in a position to meet the challenges of and succeed in the global employment market.

Of course the national curriculum will help teachers and parents as well. It will provide them with a clear understanding of what needs to be covered in each subject through each year level, and it will give teachers the flexibility to design their courses in a creative and inspiring way around the curriculum essentials. The national curriculum will also assist with student and teacher mobility. Every year some 340,000 Australians, including 80,000 school students, move interstate. From the time of its implementation, those students will have certainty and consistency about continuing their educational program with the minimum disruption. The national curriculum will be a powerful mechanism through which to sustain Australia’s economic growth. The development of that curriculum is a fundamental reform of the Australian government’s education revolution, which will lift standards and help Australian students and Australian schools compete internationally.

Improving the transparency and accountability of schools and, indeed, the education system at every level is a top priority for the government. We know that parents support this priority. A major survey of parents’ attitudes about the information that they want from schools, conducted by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, with input from the Australian Council of State School Organisations, found that 96 per cent of parents agreed that important information relating to school activities should be made available to parents. Furthermore, 83 per cent thought that such information should be made publicly available, with the highest proportion of positive respondents being from government schools.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority will also play a key role in managing and analysing schools data at a national level as well as publishing information about the education system, including information on comparative school performance. The authority will play a key role in the new nationally agreed reporting framework to identify school needs and achievements. This framework will include the publication of information on individual schools and provide greater transparency of school capacity and student outcomes for parents, the community and governments.

To achieve reforms in schooling that have a real impact, governments and the community require better information than we now have about what is happening in our schools. The Australian government is committed to providing comprehensive information about what is happening in schools, including what kinds of students are in schools and the outcomes schools are achieving. It is incumbent on all Australian schools, both public and private, to demonstrate that the outcomes they and their students achieve justify the resources provided by the broader community.

There is currently no national accurate or comprehensive information allowing any worthwhile analysis of student and school performance to inform principals, parents and governments. This information is needed for a number of reasons. Firstly, for public accountability purposes schools should be accountable for the funding they receive. Such accountability provides parents and the community with a more accurate picture of a school’s performance. It can also encourage greater parental engagement and promote school improvement. Secondly, for more effective resource allocation school level information is essential if we are to identify where resources are most needed and would be best allocated to improve achievement. We want to ensure that resources are effectively delivered to those schools and communities in the greatest need. Thirdly, for the identification of school performance it is vital that students who need help to reach their full potential are supported to achieve better outcomes and are not left behind.

Greater transparency and accountability at a national level about school characteristics and performance are necessary if we are to improve our school system. Action can be taken for poor performing schools by providing them with long-term assistance to achieve the kinds of student outcomes delivered by similarly placed schools in the community. Best practice can also be promoted by identifying high-performing schools which can serve as models for continuous improvement in education. The authority will assist with this by providing information on student characteristics, including their socioeconomic status; the numbers of Indigenous children, children with disabilities and children from non-English-speaking backgrounds; and national literacy and numeracy attainment.

As I said at the beginning of my address, the work of the new authority aligns perfectly with the Australian government’s plans for early childhood education and child care. The Australian government recognises the importance of the early years in laying the foundation for children’s subsequent achievement in schooling and for satisfaction and success later in life. That is why we are committed to working with the states and territories to develop a national quality framework for early childhood education and care. This framework will include stronger national quality standards, a consistent and transparent quality rating system and an early years learning framework. The development of the national early years learning framework is an integral component of the Australian government’s early childhood quality reforms. It will describe the broad parameters and the principles and outcomes required to support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years of age.

In conclusion, education is the key to each and every individual’s success and our collective success as a nation. As part of this government’s education revolution, this new authority, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, will develop unprecedented educational standards for our children and our schools. It is a significant and historic change and a necessary one if we are to be at the forefront of change in an ever-changing world. The government believes, without qualification or exception, that all young Australians are entitled to the very best start in life, and that means the right to a first-rate education. Despite the current economic maelstrom, I think all members would agree that we are still a very prosperous nation and nothing deserves to be the beneficiary of that good fortune more than our children and our education system.

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