Mike Baird | Member for Manly - Education Amendment (Publication of School Results) Bill 2009

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Education Amendment (Publication of School Results) Bill 2009

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [12.49 p.m.]: I speak on the Education Amendment (Publication of School Results) Bill 2009 and acknowledge the contribution of the member for Wyong. It is terrific to have in this place people with different experiences, and certainly his experience in education and his contribution to the debate are appreciated. He has far more understanding of the issue than I could ever have, and I acknowledge his contribution and the benefit to educational outcomes that some of his information could provide. I speak from a personal and a passionate point of view, but certainly not from a technical point of view. Our shadow Minister, the member for Murrumbidgee, argued vehemently about the damage that simplistic league tables can cause. That remains a concern and I will get to that. We support him on this issue and put the onus on the Labor Government for what happens in the future.

I acknowledge the experience on our side of the House. The member for South Coast, Shelley Hancock, is a teacher who has taught thousands of kids. League tables fail to tell the real story. Shelley knows the story of Wes Smith, a young manwho did not enjoy school and who left school early. Shelley Hancock put a twinkle in his eye. She made school interesting for him and enabled him to leave at a level sufficient for him to get into the Navy. He remembers fondly his time in her class and the lessons she gave him. He is now moving to Canberra with his wife, Kristie Morgan. who did an outstanding job working for me and who will be dreadfully missed. He is on a career path that may well take him to the United Nations. Someone like Wes would not feature on a league table, but the power of education is there for all to see in his story and where he is going in the future. I understand the premise of the bill. As the member for Wyong said, getting information, applying it diagnostically and improving educational outcomes across the State and the countrycomes with a heavy responsibility. The Minister said in her speech:

The provision of school information to the community should be done in such a way as to enhance community engagement and understanding of the educational enterprise.

The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs agreed with that statement. I understand that premise but we point out that we are passionately concerned about league tables. In her speech the Minister talked also about a well-known example and the damage that it had caused. I share a personal example. A league table on Higher School Certificate results was published for a local school. Not surprisingly, when that school was at the bottom of the list, it caused considerable damage to the community. It was not just a one-off event. The implications of that remain with the school. A new headmaster who was vibrant, energetic and passionate about educational outcomes was doing an outstanding job at the school and the wind was taken out of his sails. The wind was taken out of the sails of teachers who were trying to provide a future for these students and they and the broader school community were impacted. There was a collective mourning�a whole group of people in the school community that was working hard to change the lives and futures of these kids was dismissed with a single box on a league table, which is not right. It is not a reflection of that collective effort.

One of the things I have done in this job is to learn to love my schools passionately. I cannot believe the work that they do, and I cannot believe the work that principals and teachers do day in and day out. The Minister has agreed to visit one of my schools at the end of the year to see the incredible outpouring of emotion in a new generation. Most importantly, in Manly Vale Primary School she will acknowledge the parents, the teachers and the principal and thank them for what they are doing for this new generation. We are connected in a real and tangible way with our schools and communities, which is why there is so much emotion on this side of the House. We are giving the Minister significant responsibility: we are asking her to ensure that league tables are not published. She said in her speech that there was agreement between State and Territory Ministers that governments would not publish simplistic league tables and rankings, and that they would put in place strategies to manage the risk that would emanate as a result of third parties seeking to produce such tables or rankings. We cannot underestimate the importance of those comments. We are giving the Minister responsibility to protect our schools and communities and to drive educational outcomes and provide the resources where they are needed the most.

The member for Murrumbidgee and shadow Minister is a strong advocate for getting resources to those across the State who need them most. We support him in that 110 per cent. We ask the Minister to fight for funding and for a constructive use of the data. Under no circumstances can we entertain the pain that might be engendered in a school and in the broader community as a result of simplistic league tables. We ask the Minister to take on that responsibility and we will be holding her to account. She has our support in achieving what she is trying to achieve with the bill, that is, improving educational outcomes by ensuring that simplistic league tables do not see the light of day.

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