Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for her question. She knows the best start in life is a good education from child care through to university. This government is providing record funding for education, record funding for child care, record funding for schools and record funding for higher education. The government wants to deliver better results for students, greater support for teachers and clear advice to parents on how their child is performing. In short, we are providing record funding, but we will also target that funding to improve results and put in place measures to keep track of those results.

That is why we are providing more subsidised child care for families who work the hardest and more financial support for families who earn the least. It's why we believe that NAPLAN is necessary for parents as well as teachers. We want to see how students are progressing across their time at school. It's why we're working through the 23 recommendations provided by David Gonski to improve results in our classrooms for students and better support our teachers. It's why we will make sure that, if you decide to study at university, we will reward institutions that deliver better results for students.

Our record funding will be matched by a focus on results. We want to make sure that we get better grades, not abolish grades. Without grades, how would we mark a geography student who didn't know that Africa is a country, a nation? Without grades, how would we mark an English student who didn't know the meaning of the word 'aspiration'? Without grades, how would we mark a mathematics student who provided three figures over three days on their higher education policy? How would we do that without grades?

We want to make sure that we're looking after our children's future. We want to make sure that our education system means that they will get the results they need to go on and have proper, meaningful employment outcomes. We want to make sure that they will know how to spell, that they will know how to add up, that they will know how to ensure that they can have the best future possible. That is what we are about and that is what our education policies will deliver.

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