ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr said it was inevitable that shining a light on Australia's education performance would ''highlight some confronting data in dark corners''.
Responding to the Council of Australian Government Reform Group report on education, issued today, which warns Australia's performance is stalling and the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students is widening, Mr Barr conceded he and other state and territory education ministers were facing some entrenched problems.
''High school performance has been a concern for us for quite a period and the current focus of additional teaching resources, with 50 of 70 extra teachers we have recently put into the system going into high schools.''
Additional pastoral care coordinators had also been located in all high schools.
Mr Barr said ACT high schools had a high concentration of disadvantaged students which required a concerted response.
He also noted the gap between the educational achievement of low socio-economic status students and their classmates was lower in the ACT than anywhere else in Australia, after Victoria.
''So disadvantaged students are doing better here than in the other states, but still not as well.
''The question from a policy sense is to what extent are our interventions making a difference and what reforms are necessary to bridge the gap - we know that we can't do more of the same.''
The director of the Australian National University's Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre, Peter Radoll, said the indigenous engagement problems identified in the report were no surprise.
''At the school level we know there are huge dropout rates, we see that when we travel, particularly in Years 9 and 11.
''Part of the problem is that the curriculum is not exciting for the kids, it's not engaging.''
But he said some jurisdictions were better than others - including the ACT, which ran sophisticated programs and had a system small enough to cater for individual student needs.
News By:
canberratimes.com.au
Responding to the Council of Australian Government Reform Group report on education, issued today, which warns Australia's performance is stalling and the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students is widening, Mr Barr conceded he and other state and territory education ministers were facing some entrenched problems.
''High school performance has been a concern for us for quite a period and the current focus of additional teaching resources, with 50 of 70 extra teachers we have recently put into the system going into high schools.''
Additional pastoral care coordinators had also been located in all high schools.
Mr Barr said ACT high schools had a high concentration of disadvantaged students which required a concerted response.
He also noted the gap between the educational achievement of low socio-economic status students and their classmates was lower in the ACT than anywhere else in Australia, after Victoria.
''So disadvantaged students are doing better here than in the other states, but still not as well.
''The question from a policy sense is to what extent are our interventions making a difference and what reforms are necessary to bridge the gap - we know that we can't do more of the same.''
The director of the Australian National University's Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre, Peter Radoll, said the indigenous engagement problems identified in the report were no surprise.
''At the school level we know there are huge dropout rates, we see that when we travel, particularly in Years 9 and 11.
''Part of the problem is that the curriculum is not exciting for the kids, it's not engaging.''
But he said some jurisdictions were better than others - including the ACT, which ran sophisticated programs and had a system small enough to cater for individual student needs.
News By:
canberratimes.com.au
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