31 January 2007, 2:58pm
The announcement by the federal opposition once again displays a welcome sense of planning for the future and thoughtful direction from the federal opposition that has been all too absent from the current federal government.
“Today’s announcement by Mr Smith once again displays a welcome sense of planning for the future and thoughtful direction from the federal opposition that has been all too absent from the current federal government” said Ms Rolley, Secretary Independent Education Union
“Disturbingly, the current federal government has presided over a decline in educational attainment relative to other countries over the last decade” said Ms Rolley.
“While the federal government focused on flagpoles and posters of Simpson and his donkey, Australian school students and their teachers have been denied the necessary resources to ensure that every child has an opportunity to learn to their potential”, she said
“This decline in relative attainment is no surprise given the failure of the federal government to adequately invest in education, not only in schools but also universities which prepare teachers for the classroom and in early childhood learning” she said.
“Thankfully Australia is being shown a considered package of education policy over the last week from the federal opposition that looks to engage with education stakeholders from early childhood education, through schooling and on to higher education and training opportunities”
“What Australia has unfortunately seen since 1996 is a government more prepared to play politics about education than to deal with issues such as teacher attraction and retention issues which recent research AEU research indicates has led to around one third of teachers having to teach outside their area of qualification and expertise” said Ms Rolley.
“Indeed this government has dismissed union warnings about teacher supply and demand and predictions about shortfalls in the number of specialist teachers, including mathematics and science.”
“Equally critical has been the failure to address shortages in rural and remote areas, areas in which University of New England research last year showed that rural students were being disadvantaged in their mathematics learning compared to students in metropolitan areas” she said.
“These are significant areas in which the federal government for ten years has failed to plan.”
“The announcement by Mr Smith is a sensible approach in seeking to both attract and retain teachers in mathematics and science.”
“The IEU will certainly seek to further develop the proposals announced by Mr Smith today, including well-resourced and creative ways of assisting existing teachers to meet the current challenges in their classrooms around maths and science learning”, said Ms Rolley
Contact details
Lynne Rolley
Federal Secretary
Ph: 03 9254 1830
Fax: 03 9254 1835
ieu@ieu.org.au