It’s
clear that our education system needs more than a shiny advertising campaign to
start delivering the results Tasmanians deserve.
After
yesterday’s Australian
Government Productivity Commission data revealed that Tasmania has
the worst student attendance rates from Years 1-10 except the Northern
Territory – a figure which has been in steady decline since 2015 – the
Government today launched a new campaign titled ‘Every school day matters’.
While
its management of the education system has been appalling, the Government is
right on one thing – every school day does matter.
Unfortunately,
Tasmanian kids are being left behind under this government, with yesterday’s
figures also showing our state has the lowest proportion of students at or
above the minimum standard for reading and numeracy across all age groups, except
the Northern Territory.
Attainment
rates for Year 12 students in Tasmania are just 58 per cent – 20 per cent lower
that the national average of 78.4 per cent – that figure remains the same as
2008.
The
Liberals no longer talk about education attainment because it is in decline and
they don’t talk about education outcomes because their performance has been
poor.
Instead,
they have spent a stack of dollars on slick advertising to paper over the
cracks.
A future Labor Government would do the hard work and make sure our schools are supported, purposeful, safe and engaging.
That way, Tasmanian kids might even start showing up, and start receiving the education they are missing out on under this Government.
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years
