Dr LIM - 2004-08-26
The minister said earlier that uppermost in his mind is the greatest outcome he can possibly achieve in educational terms for our children. Your Priority Education Implementation Group has heard clearly that it will be detrimental to have Year 10 students move to the Casuarina Senior College. Students, parents and teachers alike have voiced their objection to the recommendation. The CLP will not transfer Year 10 to the Casuarina Senior College. Will you assure staff, students and their families that you will support them and not transfer Year 10 to the college?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question, because he has put his foot in it a little with this question. If we go to the transcript of an interview with the Leader of the Opposition, on Friday, 16 April, on ABC radio:
I would say, ‘we must move to a middle school structure’, begs the question of what you would do if you are going to have Years 7, 8, 9 - are you going to have year 10 in total isolation, somewhere buried away on their own? I think not. I believe the Leader of the Opposition, in his support for middle schools, was, de facto - are you going to have senior schools with Years 10, 11 and 12?
The question of Casuarina Senior College, and the opposition from within that institution to this question, does not mean that the whole lot could not be achieved, or you still would not go with a junior/middle/senior school structure. Initially, at least, if the decision was made to break these into three stages of schooling for Casuarina Senior College, the logistics and costs alone to get your Year 10s over there would be something that would be a process of time. The fact that you still have Year 11 and 12 – and it could always remain simply Year 11 and 12 - would not change what you might do in other schools. The opposition coming with ‘Casuarina Senior College over our dead body’ type of attitude, does not convince this government that it could not be done, notwithstanding leaving them out of the equation, at least in the initial stages, and maybe forever.
Again, though, I do stress that we have not made decisions on this. We will be taking into account the weight of opinion coming out of Casuarina Senior College, along with all the feedback from mums and dads and stakeholders within the education community.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question, because he has put his foot in it a little with this question. If we go to the transcript of an interview with the Leader of the Opposition, on Friday, 16 April, on ABC radio:
- The Territory opposition has voiced its support for the introduction of middle schools. The government released the 52 recommendations of the long-awaited report on the Territory’s high school system and is now beginning a process of public consultation. It calls for the introduction of middle schools covering Years 7 to 9, which would incorporate dedicated support for students in their early teens.
- We must move to a middle school structure, with the senior secondary and the primary structure, but we must not rush into it. We must make sure that teachers are adequately prepared to deliver that kind of curriculum in that sort of structure.
The CLP says it is concerned that curriculum issues have not been adequately addressed.
I would say, ‘we must move to a middle school structure’, begs the question of what you would do if you are going to have Years 7, 8, 9 - are you going to have year 10 in total isolation, somewhere buried away on their own? I think not. I believe the Leader of the Opposition, in his support for middle schools, was, de facto - are you going to have senior schools with Years 10, 11 and 12?
The question of Casuarina Senior College, and the opposition from within that institution to this question, does not mean that the whole lot could not be achieved, or you still would not go with a junior/middle/senior school structure. Initially, at least, if the decision was made to break these into three stages of schooling for Casuarina Senior College, the logistics and costs alone to get your Year 10s over there would be something that would be a process of time. The fact that you still have Year 11 and 12 – and it could always remain simply Year 11 and 12 - would not change what you might do in other schools. The opposition coming with ‘Casuarina Senior College over our dead body’ type of attitude, does not convince this government that it could not be done, notwithstanding leaving them out of the equation, at least in the initial stages, and maybe forever.
Again, though, I do stress that we have not made decisions on this. We will be taking into account the weight of opinion coming out of Casuarina Senior College, along with all the feedback from mums and dads and stakeholders within the education community.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016