Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Seven preschools attached to the Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges have recently undergone an assessment and rating, as part of the national quality framework for early childhood development. The results will make other education providers across the country green with envy.

Children's education and care services covered under the Education and Care Services National Law Act, a federal law enacted by the Labor government in 2010, are assessed and rated against the national quality standard. The process reflects a uniform approach to assessment and reporting across the entire range of education services in all of Australia. The relevant authority in each state and territory undertakes the assessment and rating process. So, in June this year, the Victorian department of education visited the Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah preschools.

The assessors determine how a school is performing according to seven quality areas. They include: education program and practice, children's health and safety, physical environment, staffing arrangements, relationships with children, collaborative partnerships with families and communities, and leadership and service management. Each quality area receives its own rating. The top possible rating for each quality area, and overall, is 'Exceeding national quality standard'. If a school receives an 'Exceeding' standard in the majority of quality areas, it receives an overall 'Exceeding' standard.

I am very pleased that the seven Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah preschools received an 'Exceeding national quality standard' rating in each and every one of the quality areas. This is an enormous achievement, deserving of recognition, and I want to pay tribute to Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, the principal of the Yeshiva-Beth Rivkah Colleges, and the head teacher, Morah Barbara Belfer, the preschools leaders, as well as the teachers and parents who have put so much care, time and energy into looking after the next generation at this outstanding school. Barbara Belfer is a religious woman. She sat in the seat in front of me at Mount Scopus College. Now, when I attend the school, I delight in telling the preschoolers and the young children there that we both used to get in trouble for being naughty and talking too much in class!

The idea behind the ratings and assessments, beyond simply making sure that the children at any particular centre are being adequately educated and protected, is to drive continuous improvement and consistency in services across the country. It is an excellent model, and entirely justified. In the case of Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges, their preschools are exemplars for all early childhood learning centres across this country. It might well happen that other schools will learn from them. But it is very satisfying—with the recent spate of unpleasant publicity about historic injustices faced by some older students at that school—that the new board and administration and the very satisfying work being done in the preschools are all adding up to a very good image, and I expect the colleges' education program to continue on its upward path.