Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Universities and Research) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 7137 together:

(1)   Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (lines 8 to 11), omit all the words from and including "require" to the end of subsection 22(1), substitute:

  : (a)   require the relevant authority for the school or system to ensure that the school, or each school in the system, implements the national curriculum prescribed by the regulations in accordance with the regulations; and

  (b)   provide such funding as is necessary to ensure that each teacher in the school or system has received professional development in the implementation of the national curriculum in accordance with a nationally consistent professional development program.

[national curriculum—professional development for teachers]

(2)   Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (after line 11), after subsection 22(1), insert:

(1A)   The national curriculum must not be prescribed unless the non-government school sector has had input into its development through membership and/or observer status on the Australian Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs Senior Officials Committee.

[national curriculum—non-government school sector input]

The first amendment relates to professional development for teachers. You will recall that in my contribution to the debate on the second reading I touched on the fact that school teachers did not have sufficient background or training to make the most of the national curriculum; this has been a criticism that I have heard a lot about and I know Mr Pyne, as the minister in the House of Representatives, has also heard much about this. This is a fairly modest amendment. What it seeks to do is simply to ask the government to provide such funding as is necessary to ensure that each teacher in a school or the system has received professional development in the implementation of the national curriculum. It is a big change to schooling in this country, and the coalition wants to ensure that it is done correctly. The second point is to do with non-government school sector input. The coalition believes that the non-government sector should have input into the timing of the implementation of the national curriculum and that it should be done formally. So there should be formal powers in legislation for the non-government sector to participate in developing the time lines for implementation.

These are two quite simple amendments. There is nothing particularly complicated about them at all. I should add that both these opposition amendments have now been endorsed by the Independent Schools Council of Australia, the National Catholic Education Commission and the Independent Education Union. So the endorsement for both amendments is broad, right across the independent school sector.