Tasmania’s Education Minister says she is “excited” to start the new school year with a roadmap for the next generation of learners.
The comments come after the release of the Final Report of the Independent Review of Education in Tasmania, which found that improving the understanding of the value of education is part of the solution to increasing the success of Tasmanian students.
“From the Report, we have identified four areas where we can take immediate action to achieve improved outcomes,” Education Minister Jo Palmer said.
“These include supercharging our literacy strategy, improving school staff wellbeing, ensuring alignment between our education system and the University of Tasmania and getting ready to trial a multi-school organisation model.”
The report found that the government’s current approach to literacy is working and that positive results are already being seen from the investment.
It also found Tasmania’s Education System will need to follow the evidence and choose where to invest energy, effort and resources to make the greatest gains.
Minister Palmer says Tasmania does not have a “good narrative” around the definition of success in the education system, something she wants to change.
“Everyone learns differently. We do not get to say to our young people, if you don’t have this particular course, if you don’t go down this pathway, then we don’t see you as a success.”
“[We need] to ensure that our young people know, if you want to be a trainee, we are so delighted for you and we see you as an absolute success. If you want to complete your TCE and smash it out of the park, you are a success.”
“If you want to go to university, you are a success. And if you have an opportunity and you’re incredibly entrepreneurial and you want to go and you want to work in that space, you are a success as well,” she said.
Independent Reviewer Vicki Baylis said it had been a privilege to lead the review and to have had the opportunity to talk with Tasmania’s children, young people, educators and adults who care deeply about Tasmania’s future.
“I appreciated the frankness and honesty with which people shared their insights about what was working, what was possible and what was missing,” Baylis said.
“There is a strong sense of optimism and belief that Tasmania has a great opportunity to create a high-performing education system across all schooling sectors.”
David Genford, the Tasmanian Branch President of the Australian Education Union, said some changes proposed under the report had been put forward by teachers in the union but were rejected by the department during the last enterprise bargaining round.
“We’re keen to see some of these put in place. We’re also conscious that this is another day of announcements. What we’re keen on is action. We’ve got a workforce that’s struggling and that needs that support,” he said.
Labor have welcomed the release of the review, saying strong educational outcomes “are the key to securing Tasmania’s economic future”.
“When Labor first called on the government to conduct a review into Tasmania’s education, the Liberals were hesitant. It’s crucial that they take the report seriously and don’t just stick it in a drawer and forget about it,” Shadow Education Minister Sarah Lovell said.
“The report notes the importance of improving the wellbeing of school staff, including looking into issues surrounding high workloads.”
“Educators have been calling for this for years and it has to be a priority, but it shouldn’t have taken a review to see action.”
The review saw 96 submissions to the public consultation paper, 927 responses to the educator, family and Tasmanian community survey and 462 responses to the student survey.
