The Tasmanian Liberal Government continues to deliver on its long-term plan to do what matters in education, supporting our learners to have the best start in life and a bright future.
Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, said the latest release of the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services (RoGS) highlights continued progress in key areas and confirms that Tasmania has reported the highest increase in Government school expenditure in Australia.
“Our Government’s commitment to supporting our highly valued teaching and education workforce has seen a considerable increase in total active staff in our Government schools in 2022, all of whom are vitally important to improving educational outcomes for our students,” Minister Jaensch said.
“Tasmania has more staff to students than the Australian average, improving from one staff member per 14.0 students in 2014 to one staff member per 12.7 students in 2022.
“We’re proud to see Tasmania had the second highest proportion of children enrolled in a preschool program in the year before full-time schooling in 2022, because we know that a child’s experience of quality education in their early years significantly impacts their life outcomes.
“Attendance levels for Tasmanian schools improved between 2022 and 2023. We will continue to work with Education Ministers nationally to implement evidence based strategies to continue this upward trend.
“For those students at school, reading outcomes in NAPLAN 2023 were comparable with Australia, with various measures showing Tasmania performing above Australia when factors such as regionality are taken into account.
“We are implementing evidence-based structured literacy in all schools K-2 and undertaking the Year 1 Phonics Check in all schools. We have also established an Independent Outcomes Monitoring Group led by Dr Michele Bruniges to ensure our reforms are independently measured and reported on.
“While there is much to be proud of, we know there is always more to do to meet long-term challenges, and more to achieve for our Tasmanian learners – which is why our Government continues to invest in revitalising learning spaces across the State.
“It’s great to see improvements across a range of key measures, and I look forward to continuing to support our students by providing the best possible educational opportunities.”
