Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In many respects, it does not give me any particular pleasure to speak on this motion. Indeed, if we had a government that displayed any degree of competence, then we would not have a need for this motion in the first place. But we all know that that would be wishful thinking and much too much to ask or expect when it comes to the Gillard government.

Whoever is responsible for the abolition of the PrimaryConnections and Science by Doing programs should hang their head in shame, because what they have done is axe programs that have proven highly effective. What they have done is axe programs that addressed genuine problems. What they have done is axe programs that identified and corrected flaws in previous approaches to science education. What they have also done is undercut past funding and compromise extraordinary amounts of work, time and effort that have been invested by the Academy of Science, schools and teachers and a host of other science bodies and figures over recent years to roll out, promote and optimise the considerable benefits of each of the two programs. And all this at a time when most experts in the field argue that Australia desperately needs programs like these that successfully tackle issues such as improving support and training for science teachers and addressing the declining levels of scientific literacy among our students compared to other countries.

Unfortunately, I am not completely sure how or why the government came to its decision to abolish the two programs, because, in typical Labor fashion, it has subsequently tried to silence all discussion about it and simply make the issue disappear from public view. There has been no serious explanation of the reasons for the decision. Indeed, my understanding is that it has not even been rationalised behind closed doors, by either Minister Garrett or Minister Carr, to any of the key stakeholders, let alone to the public. In fact, we even had the disarming sight at estimates in February of Senator Carr, the science minister and a former schoolteacher no less, belligerently arguing that this whole matter had absolutely nothing to do with him.

I can only assume the motivation is a misjudged and mean-spirited attempt at a budget saving. But it is not exactly as though the continuation of the programs would have been either a huge or unjustified drain on the public purse. In fact, the outlay is minimal in relative terms, especially when set against its impacts and contrasted with the billions of dollars that the government have splurged on all manner of wasteful projects, which they of course continue to do. We are talking about $11.5 million over the next five years for the two programs combined, and less than $5 million over the next two years. Let us also bear in mind that these programs would have both become self-sustaining in only a short time in any case if they were allowed to continue.

But, sadly, this government is so weak and unaccountable that it has not even bothered to explain itself at all. As a result, a trail of bewilderment, anger and frustration has been left in its wake, all the way from the Academy of Science, which was the architect of the programs, to the participating teachers and students, to former Prime Minister's Prizes for Science winners, to professional science and literacy associations, to the Australian Primary Principals Association, to the Australian Council of Deans of Education, right through to the many other Australians who were benefiting both directly and indirectly from the operation of these programs. In respect of the PrimaryConnections program alone, extensive analysis and evaluation of the initiative indicates that there have been significantly improved levels of confidence, engagement and competence amongst teachers. Similarly, there has been substantial field evidence pointing to increased interest, enthusiasm and knowledge among students, not to mention widespread uptake, with the program proving so popular that more than 55 per cent of all primary schools have ordered units. Likewise, Science by Doing, whilst at an earlier stage, not only has been allowing for more practical hands-on teaching of science to secondary students but also has been engaging those students more actively with science through an inquiry based approach.

These have all been great outcomes—indeed the kinds of outcomes for which educators, scientists and politicians have yearned for many years. But now these gains have been thrown down the drain. It is quite some irony that the Labor Party thinks it is perfectly acceptable to waste billions on overpriced school halls yet cannot even bother to find a tiny fraction of that amount to devote to successful programs for the teachers and children inside those halls. It is about as contradictory as making a lot of grand rhetorical flourishes about the importance of a new science curriculum but not even bothering to make sure that teachers are adequately trained and supported to be able to teach it. It makes about as much sense as bemoaning the poor state of Indigenous education but then discontinuing initiatives that have been widely praised for imparting noticeable improvements in the ways that many Indigenous children are learning and understanding the science lessons they are being taught. It is about as logical as touting the importance of the Inspiring Australia initiative to promote science in Australia on the one hand but then slashing support for crucial science education measures for the nation's children on the other hand.

Unfortunately such acts simply continue the tale of ongoing degradation of the importance of science by this government. To be sure, it professes an interest in science, particularly at moments when it waxes lyrical about climate change, and it does make a lot of grand claims about being determined to commit to evidence based decisions. But the reality is very different. In reality such interest is based purely on all of its usual political expediency. Regrettably, scientists, science agencies and organisations and science journalists have been shamefully mistreated by this government. Let us look at some of the examples. Whether you are, for instance, a Chief Scientist who never even gets to meet the Prime Minister, a science journalist personally denigrated under the cloak of Senate estimates, an individual scientist whose findings are censored and then rewritten just to make them politically palatable or a CSIRO scientist whose pay claims are ignored while the science minister is crowing about supposedly record funding to the organisation, the story is the same: you are valued by this government only so long as you do not get in the way by disagreeing with Labor Party lines.

This government always does merely what it thinks will garner it the most votes. It ditches the initiatives, policies and programs when it thinks that such actions will not cause significant political fallout. Presumably, it believes that a decision to cut the budget for science education will not receive much media coverage and will not have severe political repercussions. Of course it is perfectly prepared to risk damaging the quality of science teaching to our schools as a result. But, just because you do not hear loud voices of disapproval of, disappointment with and anger towards this government, does it mean they are not there? They add to the perception of a government that is desperate and out of touch and that has no vision for this nation. How can you have a vision when you gut something as important as science education by $11½ million dollars? It makes a mockery of the government's so-called education revolution.

There is at least a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, because it is not too late for the government to admit to its many failings in the area of science. Everyone knows it. Everyone out there has long crowed that the emperor has no clothes. The most sensible way for the government to begin would be to apologise for its error in axing these education programs, concede it is a decision it got badly wrong and reinstate the funding. Sadly, though, I will not be holding my breath, because one of the enduring features of this government is that not only does it have bad instincts and not only does it make bad decisions without consultation but, rather than repair the damage, it usually makes the situation worse by digging its heels in.

I strongly support the member for Sturt's motion and I condemn the government for its continued short-sightedness. As the shadow minister for, amongst other things, science, I am deeply disturbed by the anxiety it has caused in the broader science community and I ask the government to reconsider its position. It will not be front-page news that you have done another backflip, but you might just get some credit out there in the science community where it counts. And you might just be putting in place one of those very important educational building blocks. I commend the motion to the House.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to address the issues in the motion put before the House by the shadow minister on the broad issue of professional development support for teachers generally and, more specifically, for science teachers. I will address the broad issue first and then go to the specific issue of the continuation of the PrimaryConnections and Science by Doing programs. In doing so, I will address some of the issues raised by the member for Indi in her contribution to the debate, of which about half was related directly to the motion—the other half was the usual general diatribe against the government. We will ignore that bit and just deal with the part that was actually relevant to the motion before us.

We should firstly acknowledge that the primary responsibility for the professional development of teachers sits with their employing authorities, either state or private. However, the federal government works in partnership by providing substantial funding for teacher professional development through the National Education Agreement for government school teachers and through the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program for teachers in non-government schools.

As the challenges of improving our efficiency and competitiveness in the modern world continue to highlight the need for high standards of scientific literacy in the community, we should acknowledge that Australia's PISA 2009 results remained steady with those of the previous testing done in 2006. Australia's average score was 527, which was significantly above the OECD average of 501. These results are not bad results, but we should always be working to improve them, particularly as our regional neighbours, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong China, Singapore, Japan and Korea outperformed us in 2009.

I would also like to take the opportunity at this point to indicate how important, despite the comments of the member for Indi, the Digital Education Revolution and the rollout of the National Broadband Network are to the successful delivery of science in schools. They will be increasingly important in engaging young people in real world studies, particularly in areas of science.

In particular, I refer members to the case study that can be found on the NBN Co. website about St Peter Chanel Catholic School in Smithton in Tasmania, perhaps known to Mr Deputy Speaker Adams. The headmaster, Clynton Scharvi, says it feels like a whole new world has opened up to the students, teachers and parents since the school was connected to the NBN. He states:

Children are engaged and enthused and the NBN is outstanding in supporting discovery or inquiry-based learning … The fact that the kids are so engaged motivates our teachers which drives the whole learning process. Going back three or four years, having a teacher set up a data projector and screen was a big deal. Now we have teachers using iPads, Google applications online and seeking out new ways to enhance online learning through the NBN. For example, we used the NBN to host an astronomy night at the school. We synchronised an iPad application with our location to produce a view of the night sky. Using telescopes we could then chart the stars we were seeing and identify them through the iPad. Parents joined in too. Students have also had the opportunity to have live link-ups with a diver on the Great Barrier Reef and students in a remote community on the Tiwi Islands … We often take for granted that you can fly to Melbourne for a weekend. But some of our kids at Circular Head don't get the chance to leave Rocky Cape, just 40 kms away. The NBN increases the opportunities for every single child to experience and learn about people, environments and cultures from around the world.

This is a simply great story from a local school, and it is clear that these new tools and connections have enormous capacity to reconnect young people to the inspiration of scientific discovery and exploration. The principal went on further to talk about the professional development that is provided to teachers to enable them to make best use of these tools.

I was reminded when repeating that story from the principal of my first term in this parliament on the education committee when we were looking at the issue of teacher training and the fact that a lot of our young new teachers did not last more than five years. Rod Sawford, a member of the House at the time, was on the committee with me and he was a very passionate advocate of science and maths, in particular, in our schools. An issue that became clear to us was the importance of providing up-to-date capacities for science to be delivered in schools. Kids were going home and they were watching the Discovery Channel on TV and they were engaging with science in really meaningful ways, yet somehow the curriculum and the school experience had become very dry and unengaging and they were losing their love of science in the school. It appears to me, from a story like this, that young people doing real-life experience with a class of kids from the Tiwi Islands, looking at a wetland area and working together on a science project, provides an outstanding opportunity for them to re-engage.

Further to those government initiatives, we have provided $550 million through the Smarter Schools—Improving Teacher Quality national partnership to implement a range of reforms to raise teacher quality and to help underpin the implementation of the national Australian curriculum, including through professional development for teachers. Additionally, in partnership with the states and territories, the government has established the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, as well as Education Services Australia. These organisations will also play a key role in supporting the augmentation of the Australian curriculum.

Part of the shadow minister's motion emphasises the importance of supporting teachers, allowing them, in his words, to 'access the support and training they need to teach the new national curriculum in science'. The government has been delivering and will continue to deliver this support. The opposition should stop deriding the Digital Education Revolution and the National Broadband Network as these initiatives will be increasingly important tools in engaging young people in the sciences and supporting teachers to provide meaningful and innovative teaching activities in the classroom.

The two specific programs identified by the shadow minister in the motion and described as axed by the member for Indi—the PrimaryConnections and the Science By Doing projects—were funded five-year projects. Both of these programs have in fact received a substantial investment by this government and, as a result, have generated valuable returns for the teaching and learning of science in Australian schools. Importantly, these returns will continue beyond the life of the projects themselves. The initiatives, as they were set up to do, have developed important and valuable resources for teachers in delivering curriculum units, and these resources will be available into the future both online and in other relevant formats when the projects are completed. In addition, hundreds of trainers in the PrimaryConnections approach have been trained. Over 8,000 professional learning workshops have been run, and these have been delivered in order to help the state and territory authorities take up the program.

The government extends its congratulations to the Australian Academy of Science for its commitment to the advancement of science education and its innovative work in developing these projects to foster quality in science teaching in Australian schools. Importantly, I acknowledge their ongoing work in that area, including that of other organisations in the science field. In particular I refer to some of the great partnerships that Questacon are developing to provide science lessons utilising the capacity of the NBN that will deliver to schools in engaging young people in experiences of the various projects and presentations at Questacon, making them available to classrooms with kids who may never get the opportunity themselves to visit Questacon.

There are lots of great initiatives out there. This government certainly values these projects and the work that they have done and remains committed to making sure, as was the intention when the projects were first established, that the resources and the skills that are being developed continue to be applied into classrooms into the future. I remain optimistic about the future of science learning in our schools, particularly supported by modern technology in its capacity to re-engage young people with a love for the sciences.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I support the motion of the member for Sturt on the science curriculum. When the Prime Minister addressed the US congress earlier this year she said:

… our societies share a deep commitment to the value of education. We understand education's transformative power. We know education is the future for every child who learns. We also know education is the future for our economies.

The Prime Minister also said:

We must work together to achieve an historic transition to high technology, high skill, clean energy economies.

But the Prime Minister did not tell the Americans that she was about to cut a highly successful science program which directly undermines the capacity and opportunity for Australian teachers to access the materials they need to assist them in teaching our children science.

In April, a number of previous winners of the Prime Minister's Science Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools wrote to the Prime Minister asking her not to cut funding to the PrimaryConnections program. In that letter some of our best and most dedicated science teachers in this country told the Prime Minister:

The Primary Connections program is such an outstanding success with classroom teachers because it gives support at differing levels, from complete step by step instruction, to supporting teachers in developing their own teaching modules using the background information given.

The teachers also told the Prime Minister that the program was so good that young graduates were buying the PrimaryConnections materials with their own money. What a resounding endorsement. The PrimaryConnections program was in the process of becoming self-funding and sustainable through sales to schools, but the government has axed it. This is a program that deserves support because it delivers real results.

The Australian Council of Deans of Science report Who's teaching science? of 2005 was prepared by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education. It highlighted that there was a shortage of teachers with strong science skills, especially in the tough science subjects of physics and chemistry. One of the reasons for this shortage was that teachers were leaving the profession to find employment elsewhere because of the lack of support for science teachers and that was in part driving the exodus. Cutting this support even further is really a national disgrace.

Science By Doing is a national initiative which aims to actively engage junior secondary school students in learning science through an inquiry based approach. The project is managed by the Australian Academy of Science in conjunction with CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association and state education departments. The purpose of Science By Doing is described by the Australian Academy of Science as to improve science learning by engaging secondary students through an inquiry based approach and supporting school based learning communities that acknowledge and build upon teacher expertise.

Support for both these programs is widespread. Quite simply, they are very good programs. Individual teachers have contacted me. They are profoundly disappointed by this decision by the government. How will teachers now keep up with the rapid pace of developments in technologies without the resources of PrimaryConnections? The Australian Science Teachers Association and the Australian Primary Principals Association have also expressed their shock that the government would contemplate dumping these programs and are opposed to the proposed cuts. If education is the future of our economy, as the Prime Minister told the American congress, it looks like that economy will not be relying on the government to support science education for our students or in supporting our science teachers. We certainly face many challenges as a nation. Providing and provoking both an interest and an education in science is integral not only to understanding nature and life but to continuous cutting-edge research and to development and technology, and essentially it is our future. I note that Cheryl Capra, a Queensland science teacher who studied astronomy and now helps train other teachers, was quoted as saying that PrimaryConnections has been a tremendous boost to science learning throughout Australia in primary schools but its job is not finished even with the national curriculum on the doorstep. I note that Australian Academy of Science president Suzanne Cory says PrimaryConnections needs another $1.5 million over two years to make it self-sustaining and that the program will not be able to update and keep teachers abreast of rapid developments in technology, and what they really need is improved and inspirational science teaching such as that that has been available through this science program.

So I support the PrimaryConnections program. I strongly support the motion by the member for Sturt.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like everyone else in this place, I am very supportive of those that inspire and teach science and for those scientists who go about their profession which is absolutely essential to our world. It just reminds me of a statement some time ago that young people are inspired more by those who give to the world than by those who take from it. Science, through experiment, observation and analysis, looks at new solutions, new techniques and new opportunities to further humanity's goals. I think it was Isidor Rabi, the Nobel prize winner for physics, who said in 1944, 'Science is a great game where the playing field is the universe itself.' I think that is fantastic, and the great achievement of humanity is indeed science and is the definition of its promise.

Like many in this place on both sides and particularly you, Mr Deputy Speaker Adams, from the excellent electorate of Lyons, I have had the privilege of opening a number of school science centres funded by this government, science centres that would not have been funded under the former government or any other government for that matter and certainly not by many of our state government colleagues. Reece High School, Devonport High School, Penguin High School, St Brendan Shaw and the Circular Head Christian School and the Marist Regional College are but some of them. To see their eyes light up like a test tube going into their brand-new laboratories brought back terrible memories of my science classes where everyone rushed in to turn the gas on in order to eliminate their colleagues, their enemies and even their friends.

I want to congratulate the government on its record in the funding of science and its support for science itself. There is not enough, there will not be enough, we have got to have more. I have already written to the minister complaining about a few programs that I think we could spur on a little bit more. The previous speaker was mentioning some of these programs, but the important thing we have got to remember about those programs is that they were discrete programs fully funded by the Commonwealth in conjunction with the states, and we expect the states not to handball this but to do their bit and to continue these science programs as the agreement stipulated. What is fantastic is that a lot of this material now is on the internet, is available to all schools, is available to science teachers, is available to parents and indeed is available to the community. Those programs are ready to be rolled out and updated, as was part of the program. So I congratulate the government on the funding of those science programs. I also congratulate the government on its attempts to support professional development of teachers and particularly in the development of science and of the science curriculum.

Tasmania is renowned for lots of excellent things and just one more to add to the list is that it is the home of the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education, PICSE, led by the University of Tasmania. I was really happy to see that it was Dr David Russell, who was a colleague of mine at the Don College and who is now at the Cradle Coast campus of the University of Tasmania, who initiated this program which is now nationwide. What it does essentially is it supports science teachers to encourage their students to go and have scientific experiences within primary industries, to keep people interested in the most dynamic industries in Australia—the primary industries. This program is now nationwide and has a tremendous reach. Information has been presented to something like 44,000 students in over 2,000 year 11 and 12 science classes. It has informed year 11 and 12 students about study and career opportunities in the sciences and particularly in selected primary industries to demonstrate the relevance of science. It has supported 3,336 secondary school students and their teachers in the participation of science investigation awards, just to name some of what has now grown into a $12 million value-added program in the sciences. Congratulations to Dr David Russell and his team, which has now spread throughout Tasmania, and to PICSE, a world leader.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.