Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a parent who knows the utter joy of hearing one's child read their first tentative words from the page of a book, I also very much understand the importance of catching early those children who take a bit longer to get the hang of reading. That is why the Reading Recovery program has been such a success in so many of our primary schools in Victoria. It gives grade one children who need extra help with reading highly skilled one-on-one tuition for up to 16 weeks. Because it is so intensive, it helps these children catch up to their classmates before their reading difficulties erode their confidence in other areas of their schoolwork.

But in my electorate and those electorates that make young people the Barwon south-west region, the reading recovery program is under threat. Funding cuts by the Baillieu Liberal government meant the Barwon south-west region is being forced to consider scrapping its reading recovery tutor. This will impact nearly 80 primary schools across the region. Without a tutor working with reading recovery teachers in each school, there will be no training for new reading recovery teachers. Without a tutor, and with reading recovery teachers in each school, the intensive skills set required among the current batch of teachers will not be maintained. Over time there will be fewer qualified to teach reading recovery, and schools will be in the unenviable position of competing with each other for a dwindling pool of teachers. It will be a slow, but inevitable erosion of a highly effective program. There will be a real risk that reading recovery will be no more.

I know from talking to teachers and principals in my electorate how much the program is valued. Currently, nearly three quarters of the schools in the Barwon south-west region use the reading recovery program. It boasts a success rate of around 80 per cent. A lot of students starting grade 1 are struggling readers, but finishing the year as confident readers. Without the program, there will be many students in the future not getting the help they need. Many students are being let down by Victorian Liberal government.

Since coming to office, the Baillieu government has cut a swathe through the school support programs. The school start bonus, the student support officers, education maintenance allowance, the Victorian Schools Plan and VCAL, are all programs that have been cut back or scrapped altogether. That is not to mention the devastating cutbacks to the TAFE sector, which has been experienced by the Gordon in Geelong.

To add reading recovery to this list in this, the National Year of Reading, is indeed alarming. In recent days, we have seen how Liberal governments are taking the axe to education services in New South Wales and Queensland. It is a frightening glimpse into what we would face under an Abbot-led federal government.