ACT Greens Education spokesperson, Meredith Hunter MLA, described the Labor Liberal deal over school suspensions as a fruitless bidding war.

The Greens support the current regime of up to 20 day suspensions, with suspensions over 5 days requiring departmental approval.

“The bidding war between the Liberals and Labor has resulted in a disappointing compromise which passed without our support,” Ms Hunter said today.

“We are still waiting for either party to explain what improvement to the education system they have actually achieved.

“A key plank of the Greens education policy is to re-engage children at risk in order to address the growing achievement gap and give all children better future prospects.

“Longer suspensions, without any external oversight, is not consistent with Greens policy, and we could not back this bill.

There were 5 suspension requests over 5 days in the last school year.

“15 days is one-third of a school term, which is a significant time for a child to be disengaged with their education.

“We are aware that the Principals Association support the changes, but other stakeholders such as the P&C Association, foster carers, children’s advocates and parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have expressed concerns.

The Greens fully support the introduction of the Student Suspension Team pilot program which provides extra assistance for children who require suspension.

“We should be allowing the pilot to run for 12 months and be evaluated before changing the current legislation,” Ms Hunter said.

ACT Greens Education spokesperson, Meredith Hunter MLA, says Education Minister, Andrew Barr, gave false assurances that simplistic school league tables would not come as a result of publishing NAPLAN results on the MySchool website.

In March 2009, when the ACT Government signed up to the national framework, Mr Barr responded to a question without notice from Ms Hunter raising concerns about the potential for the policy to lead to simplistic league tables.  He replied:

I, like all of my state and territory education colleagues, have concerns in relation to the potential for the data that is available through the national testing process to be utilised in simplistic league tables. I would like to take this opportunity to make a clear statement that we do not support that. It was on the basis that that would not be possible through the arrangements that the commonwealth and the states and territories have entered into that we felt comfortable in entering into those agreements.*

“Mr Barr’s assurance took less than 24 hours to be exposed as either naïve or just plain wrong,” Ms Hunter said.

“Today’s rankings in the Canberra Times are quite clearly a league table.  There doesn’t appear to be any ‘arrangements’ that have stopped the tables appearing.

“Education experts, principals, teachers and unions have all expressed concerns, but have been largely ignored by the Government on this issue.

“The Government should be focusing on improving struggling schools rather than naming and shaming them.

“Some people support the publishing of simplistic League Tables, and if this is Mr Barr’s position, he should be upfront about it,” Ms Hunter said.

*Full transcript: http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/2009/week04/1196.htm

ACT Greens Education spokesperson, Meredith Hunter MLA, has described the Government response to the inquiry into school closures as a step forward.

“The Greens made it clear that the Government had to take on the concerns of the Hall and Tharwa communities and work genuinely with them for an outcome,” Ms Hunter said today.

“Our regular meetings with the communities led the ACT Greens to push for direct negotiations between the Government and community to be resumed.

“As a result the Hall and Tharwa communities have reached outcomes for the school sites.”

“As the Government remained immovable on the re-opening of K-6 schools at Hall and Tharwa, we lobbied for an increase in early education provision, a change of policy to allow a non-government education provider in Hall and a Master Plan for the two villages. 

“These Master Plans will focus on enhancing social capital, improved infrastructure, increasing tourism and opportunities for small business development.”

The negotiated have resulted in the following outcomes:

• Master Plans for both Hall and Tharwa villages
• Tharwa school site will provide an extra two years of early education that includes a new playgroup and extension of pre-school to 3 year olds
• Extended pre-school hours from 12 to 15 per week at Hall and Tharwa
• The restriction against a non-government education provider at Hall school will be removed
• All school sites will be kept in Government hands for community use.

“One of the clearest things to come out of the inquiry is that the process undertaken lacked sufficient consultation and the ACT Greens will bring on their Education Act Amendment Bill to reflect these findings in the new year,” Ms Hunter said.

ACT Greens Education spokesperson, Meredith Hunter MLA has successfully moved a motion to improve environmental health standards in Canberra’s public schools.

“Environmental health is often overlooked as a priority and with an increasing number of children developing asthma and anaphylaxis it is vital that we look at how we can improve the environment that they spend 30 hours a week in during the school year,” Ms Hunter said.

“Issues that can arise in the short term include allergies, eczema and other auto-immune diseases, but there is also a growing acknowledgement of the health impacts in the longer term.

The Greens motion will:

- Call on the Minister to commit to improved environmental health practices in School cleaning contracts

- Move to include international best practice models in the development of the review of the Statement of Requirements of school cleaning contracts

- Create an education guide for contractors and staff to influence their cleaning and purchasing practices

“Industrial strength cleaning products can be less toxic and alternatives that are more conducive to children’s health are being developed for the market.

“The ACT Greens expect this motion will begin a cultural shift around the way we purchase and use chemicals in one of the environments that children spend a significant time of their lives in – schools,” Ms Hunter said.

The ACT Greens today voted against the Government Bill to change the process for suspending students from school.

“At the moment the act allows a suspension for up to 20 days, but this cannot be done without having to re-assess the situation after the first 5 days.  So longer suspension, when necessary, is already possible under the current legislation,” ACT Greens Education spokesperson Meredith Hunter said today.

“We believe that checks and balances should be required for something as serious as a second or third week of suspension.

“Missing a week of schooling can put a student behind.  A whole month is potentially very destructive to the child’s education.

“What is the harm, after 5 days suspension, of having a structure in place to assist and assess the need for further days?  This process also allows monitoring of the actions that have been taken to resolve the situation.

The Greens also didn’t support the Liberals heavy handed and ill considered amendments to allow 20 day suspensions without any reassessment during this time.

“We should be focused on what we’re doing to re-engage these students in their education rather than how best to send them home,” Ms Hunter said.

Greens Education Spokesperson, Meredith Hunter has called on Education Minister Andrew Barr to address concerns raised about league tables by education expert Professor Brian Caldwell.

“We expect the Education Minister to address concerns about the potential negative effects of the introduction of new testing and reporting systems that will make compiling league tables possible – a policy that the Minister has already signed the ACT up to.” Ms Hunter said today.

“It’s important for Minister Barr to explain why he backs these radical changes to our education system, and how he will make sure that we won’t get league tables and an unfair attack on individual schools and teachers as a result.”

Mr Caldwell has suggested that the policy leads to a test focus and that the British Government appeared to be backing away from the policy.

“Mr Barr needs to address these concerns to give parents and teachers assurance that we are not making a big mistake.” Ms Hunter said.

ACT Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan has described Education Minister Barr’s proclaimed commitment to Sustainability Education policy as disingenuous.

“In the Assembly, the Greens asked why Birrigai, the ACT’s highly regarded outdoor school, now costs students at least $15 a visit. The Minister suggested that was simply the price of a top quality program” Ms Bresnan said today.

“By taking a cost recovery approach to the Birrigai Outdoor School, the Minister is making sustainability education an optional extra”

“It is worth noting that the environmental education facilities of other States are not required to cover their operational costs.”

“In our view, all students of ACT public schools should have access to these programs, particularly given the importance of sustainability education to our future.”

“Whatever weasel words the Minister might have used about funds available for excursions, he cannot guarantee that students in the ACT will not miss out on attending an education program at Birrigai because their families can’t afford the charges” Ms Bresnan said.

ACT Greens Parliamentary Convenor Meredith Hunter has submitted a Bill to the Legislative Assembly which will amend the Education Act 2004 to ensure that any decision to close, amalgamate, or consider closing a government school are made in a rigorous, thoughtful and transparent manner.

“This Bill will address issues in the act, to make sure that the sham consultation of 2006 can not be repeated,” Ms Hunter said today.

“There will be clear timeframes outlined which will allow better consultation and assessment of the facts, which will lead to better process and decisions being made.

“To begin with, this Bill will go to the Education Committee to incorporate community advice on how to best consult with school communities.

“One of the greatest frustrations of the 2006 process was Government, with their minds already made up, heading out to listen to concerns, only to ignore them.

“To address this, the Bill states that the Minister must explain to the school community how the school community’s views have been taken into account in making the final decision.

“Communities form around schools, and we need to think long-term about how to maintain the education services that communities want and develop better processes for when demographics change,” Ms Hunter said.

Meredith Hunter ACT Greens candidate for Ginninderra today launched the ACT Greens education policy for the 2008 Assembly election.

“Most ACT students do very well out of our school systems but there is a growing achievement gap for some” Meredith Hunter ACT said today.

“Our first priority for the ACT Greens is to make sure education resources get to the schools and the students that need them most.

“That includes students with disabilities, some from low-income families, and others struggling to keep up or reach their potential.

“We are delighted that the ACT Government has finally acknowledged this growing achievement gap and committed resources to address it.

“Programs the Greens will initiate will include parent involvement programs to support literacy learning at home, and home/school liaison officers to encourage family participation in schools and student learning.

“ACT Greens will review and reassess all school and preschool closures using criteria that include community impact, climate change impact and parent attitudes. We also support amending the Education Act to ensure that inclusive and transparent consultation is undertaken before a school can be closed.

“In the area of early childhood, the ACT Greens Policy is to introduce free preschool from the age of 3 years. In the short term we would look to ensure that existing preschools can accommodate playschools for 3 year olds. We will also ensure that the governance of preschools in primary school settings is shared between preschool societies and the Education department.

“At the other end of the spectrum, the ACT Greens proposes a fresh look at secondary education. We would free up resources to enable school communities to provide targeted, relevant, engaging programs fro their students. An across the board reduction in class sizes at the high school level does not allow schools to do this.

“We commit to reinstating the teaching staff cut from high schools and colleges in the 2006 ACT Government horror budget.

“Finally, the ACT Greens will commission extensive research into the drift away from Government schools and then devise and implement plan to reverse that trend.

“The ACT Greens believe that a strong viable public education system is a cornerstone of our democracy. It is important to inform any initiatives that strengthen the Government system, with high quality research and wide community engagement” Meredith Hunter said.

Meredith Hunter ACT Greens candidate for Ginninderra today launched the ACT Greens education policy for the 2008 Assembly election.

“Most ACT students do very well out of our school systems but there is a growing achievement gap for some” Meredith Hunter ACT said today.

“Our first priority for the ACT Greens is to make sure education resources get to the schools and the students that need them most.

“That includes students with disabilities, some from low-income families, and others struggling to keep up or reach their potential.

“We are delighted that the ACT Government has finally acknowledged this growing achievement gap and committed resources to address it.

“Programs the Greens will initiate will include parent involvement programs to support literacy learning at home, and home/school liaison officers to encourage family participation in schools and student learning.

“ACT Greens will review and reassess all school and preschool closures using criteria that include community impact, climate change impact and parent attitudes. We also support amending the Education Act to ensure that inclusive and transparent consultation is undertaken before a school can be closed.

“In the area of early childhood, the ACT Greens Policy is to introduce free preschool from the age of 3 years. In the short term we would look to ensure that existing preschools can accommodate playschools for 3 year olds. We will also ensure that the governance of preschools in primary school settings is shared between preschool societies and the Education department.

“At the other end of the spectrum, the ACT Greens proposes a fresh look at secondary education. We would free up resources to enable school communities to provide targeted, relevant, engaging programs fro their students. An across the board reduction in class sizes at the high school level does not allow schools to do this.

“We commit to reinstating the teaching staff cut from high schools and colleges in the 2006 ACT Government horror budget.

“Finally, the ACT Greens will commission extensive research into the drift away from Government schools and then devise and implement plan to reverse that trend.

“The ACT Greens believe that a strong viable public education system is a cornerstone of our democracy. It is important to inform any initiatives that strengthen the Government system, with high quality research and wide community engagement” Meredith Hunter said.