The Liberal State Government is not getting the basics right on education. Student outcomes have suffered because of a decade of weak leadership, lack of foresight and a lack of reform.
The results speak for themselves. Last year the state received its worst ever NAPLAN results.
Today’s Productivity Commission interim report highlights an underperforming education system and Tasmania is one of the worst performing states.
Teachers need time to teach in order to improve the quality of teaching. Teacher shortages, workload, non-teaching related duties, non-competitive pay and a lack of support from the government are making this difficult.
Student wellbeing is important to support learning. The Government has failed to support students and schools with enough well-trained support staff. The Tasmanian Labor Party has consistently called this out and has long advocated for putting mental health workers in all schools.
A lack of equity in student outcomes also points to systemic problems.
Minister Jaensch has been in the job for a year now and has not outlined anything new to address this comprehensive failure of government.
Our future economic and social development are linked to education performance and the Rockliff Liberal Government is not getting the basics right.
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education
