Mr KIELY - 2004-06-15
Given the government’s commitment to improving educational outcomes in the Territory, can the minister update the House on the work of attendance officers in Territory schools?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question, because I would be delighted to. The first two of the eight attendance officers commenced in March 2003 in Palmerston and Alice Springs. A position was provided to Thamarrurr Regional Council, Wadeye, and positions based at Sanderson High and Katherine commenced at the start of this school year, 2004. The officer based at Groote Eylandt commenced during Term 2, 2004, and the Tennant Creek officer commenced during Term 2, 2004. The last attendance officer position will be based at Yirrkala and is scheduled to commence at the beginning of Term 3, 2004. Therefore, by the beginning of Term 3, 2004, we will have fulfilled our election commitment on this issue.
The initial work for the attendance officers has been to identify students at risk - those not enrolled and not attending school - and to develop strategies to engage or re-engage them back into the school. These strategies, of course, involve coordination, in the first place with the student, the student’s family, the school, the school community overall, and government and non-government organisations. Cyndia Henty-Roberts, the Katherine attendance officer, has identified and engaged 175 school-aged students: 64 of those were new enrolments, 15 have been engaged in education and other training programs; 96 were re-engaged into the school system. A parent education program has been developed around this and will commence in Term 3 in Katherine.
The attendance officers, Evelyn Myatt in Palmerston and Jayne Thompson from Sanderson, are working closely with the alternative education teams in schools to provide the intensive support needed for these students and their families to reintegrate these students and support them back into school and school programs. Both attendance officers have developed very strong partnerships with officers from local indigenous and government organisations.
Last year, we know the Alice Springs attendance officer, Anita Kruger, identified 127 students and enrolled 109 into schools, and many of those students have since moved back to their communities. Some 40 are still attending schools in Alice Springs. This year, 51 students have been identified, 39 of those enrolled in our schools.
Leah Wyman at Tennant Creek and Jaqueline Amagula at Groote Eylandt have only recently been appointed, and I look forward to early reports of their activity on the ground and the results that they bring forward.
This program is yet another strong sign of our determination to effect real change in education across the board, and particularly indigenous education. To keep the Territory moving ahead, we have to improve those educational outcomes, as I said, particularly for indigenous Territorians where the situation has been seriously bad for very many years.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question, because I would be delighted to. The first two of the eight attendance officers commenced in March 2003 in Palmerston and Alice Springs. A position was provided to Thamarrurr Regional Council, Wadeye, and positions based at Sanderson High and Katherine commenced at the start of this school year, 2004. The officer based at Groote Eylandt commenced during Term 2, 2004, and the Tennant Creek officer commenced during Term 2, 2004. The last attendance officer position will be based at Yirrkala and is scheduled to commence at the beginning of Term 3, 2004. Therefore, by the beginning of Term 3, 2004, we will have fulfilled our election commitment on this issue.
The initial work for the attendance officers has been to identify students at risk - those not enrolled and not attending school - and to develop strategies to engage or re-engage them back into the school. These strategies, of course, involve coordination, in the first place with the student, the student’s family, the school, the school community overall, and government and non-government organisations. Cyndia Henty-Roberts, the Katherine attendance officer, has identified and engaged 175 school-aged students: 64 of those were new enrolments, 15 have been engaged in education and other training programs; 96 were re-engaged into the school system. A parent education program has been developed around this and will commence in Term 3 in Katherine.
The attendance officers, Evelyn Myatt in Palmerston and Jayne Thompson from Sanderson, are working closely with the alternative education teams in schools to provide the intensive support needed for these students and their families to reintegrate these students and support them back into school and school programs. Both attendance officers have developed very strong partnerships with officers from local indigenous and government organisations.
Last year, we know the Alice Springs attendance officer, Anita Kruger, identified 127 students and enrolled 109 into schools, and many of those students have since moved back to their communities. Some 40 are still attending schools in Alice Springs. This year, 51 students have been identified, 39 of those enrolled in our schools.
Leah Wyman at Tennant Creek and Jaqueline Amagula at Groote Eylandt have only recently been appointed, and I look forward to early reports of their activity on the ground and the results that they bring forward.
This program is yet another strong sign of our determination to effect real change in education across the board, and particularly indigenous education. To keep the Territory moving ahead, we have to improve those educational outcomes, as I said, particularly for indigenous Territorians where the situation has been seriously bad for very many years.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016