Statutes Amendment (Education, Training and Skills Portfolio) Bill
Tuesday 21 March 2023
Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:07): I rise today in support of the Statutes Amendment (Education, Training and Skills Portfolio) Bill 2022. It is a bill that seeks to amend the Education and Children's Services Act 2019, the Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011 and the History Trust of South Australia Act 1981.
I would like to thank our Minister for Education, Training and Skills—who is nice and close by and is a great minister—the staff in his office and the Department for Education and everyone else who has been involved in the process of bringing this bill to this place. Largely administrative bills such as this one might not be sexy enough to make it to the 6pm headlines, but they still require hours of dedicated work from passionate staff, so thank you.
Education is at the heart of our government's agenda for reform in South Australia. It is why we took policies to the election that were about more than just the next four (or now three) years: they were for the next generation, for the future.
Proposed in this bill is an amendment to section 75(2a) of the Education and Children's Services Act 2019, which clarifies that the head of an approved learning program has an obligation to notify the chief executive of the Department for Education of persistent non-attendance or non-participation. We know that not attending school can have large and lasting impacts on a child's development. Consistent non-attendance has been shown to be detrimental to students' academic and social development and can lead to social isolation and emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Reducing student truancy is absolutely a priority for the Malinauskas Labor government. Truancy, also known as chronic truancy or non-attendance, refers to the unauthorised non-attendance of more than 10 school days per term. This does not refer to approved student absences, such as family holidays, illness or family and cultural obligations.
The Australian Education Union suggests that principals have reported student truancy as a problem in almost 50 per cent of students at disadvantaged schools. That is compared to just three per cent at advantaged schools. When we have children not attending school at that rate in already disadvantaged communities, we see those gaps between the haves and the have-nots get bigger and bigger.
We tackle truancy not to punish parents but to give the best opportunities to our children. We understand just how difficult it can be for some parents to get their children to school. I have to drag miss six out of bed at eight o'clock, if I am lucky, just to wake her up. But while there is no excuse for parents preventing their children from going to school, we also want to ensure we are removing barriers and ensuring schools are a safe and secure environment for our children.
One little thing that helps with that is our government's support of the breakfast in schools program. At least if you can get them there, even if you could not feed them beforehand, they are able to be fed and nourished before they start their education.
This is part of the reason why we are funding an autism inclusion teacher in every public primary school, including reception to year 12 schools, area schools and special schools. It is why we are employing a central pool of 100 new mental health and learning support specialists for primary and secondary schools, and it is why we are banning mobile phones in secondary schools during school hours. This is a $50 million commitment that we have already started delivering in our first 12 months in government to keep children in the classroom learning, collaborating and succeeding together in a safe and aspirational environment.
Just last night at Springbank Secondary College's governing council meeting, there were conversations about the mobile phone ban and the way students are interacting with each other more and actually enjoying that connection with one another without their phones. As someone who got her dad's hand-me-down mobile phone in year 12, a phone that had no games, not even Snake, I can say I really enjoyed my years at school without one. I almost count year 12 in that because only about three other friends had mobile phones at that point and without Snake, let alone the internet, where is the joy?
I tend to think I am pretty good at leaving my phone alone when it is not needed, but even then I hate to think about how many times I have missed something because I have been distracted by it or how many hours I have spent scrolling or how often I have foregone sleep because of exciting messaging with someone like the member for Newland who is telling me about how great chocolate custard and M&Ms are and then that is all I can think about and I keep texting about it. It is a game changer. It is a fantastic dessert—highly recommend it—but I should have gone to sleep.
But you get the idea: phones are incredibly distracting. I could not have imagined trying to focus during school with a smartphone, let alone the instantaneous bullying behind a screen all day. We used to have to wait until we were home on MSN before that had to start.
The Malinauskas Labor government has also increased the number of workers at the Social Work Duty Line to over 30 full-time staff. The Social Work Duty Line assists schools to address wellbeing and attendance issues and plays an integral role in supporting our schools. We are also supporting a new partnership with Kornar Winmil Yunti to deliver a new program of intensive support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with children who are not attending school.
Education family conferences also provide additional support for students who are not attending school regularly. These conferences are an evidence-based engagement approach that provides voluntary independently facilitated meetings between families, schools and relevant staff from the Department for Education and other professionals. By bringing everyone together, education family conferences provide parents and families the opportunity to be actively involved in deciding on and actioning arrangements to improve their children's attendance at school.
This amendment to the Education and Children's Services Act 2019 also includes TAFE SA and universities, which will be obliged to report non-attendance and non-participation. It is of the utmost importance to our government that all students, from the time they are smaller than their backpacks to when they can responsibly enjoy a burger and pint between lectures, are supported in their dreams and aspirations. We have a duty to not only support the educational needs of our children but also their wellbeing needs. We know from experienced classroom teachers that the prevalence of poor mental health among students has increased dramatically.
As the Premier's Advocate for Suicide Prevention, I am particularly concerned by the growing rate of reports of students experiencing anxiety and depression-related mental illness, including students as young as primary school age reported to have experienced thoughts of suicide. We can and we must be better at recognising the patterns of non-attendance that are having such a damaging impact on our students.
This bill also seeks to amend section 130 of the Education and Children's Services Act 2019 to provide the chief executive of the Department for Education with the discretion to waive, reduce or refund a charge, allow it to be paid by instalments or require a person to give security for payment of a charge under section 130. Such a change would only relate to full fee paying overseas students, enrolled students who are not South Australian residents and enrolled students who are the dependant of someone who is the subject of a visa of a kind prescribed by the regulations.
We know that diversity in the classroom is just as important as diversity in the workplace, and as important as diversity in this place. The presence of international students in our classrooms only enhances the education experience of all students by bringing together knowledge, culture and language to forge new ways of learning about our globally interconnected communities. This is especially true at the Clovelly Park Primary School in my electorate, a school in which diversity and culture are so beautifully celebrated every single day.
I understand that currently fee discretion sits with our principals; however, in practice the practical administration of fee discretion sits with the Department for Education. It simply makes sense to align the legislation with the practice.
Since Vladimir Putin's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we have welcomed 400 Ukrainian refugees to South Australia, waiving their fees for schooling and providing guidance for families in job-seeking services. This year, over 40 Ukrainian families enrolled in public schools have continued to have their school fees waived, with similar support being provided to Afghani refugees, since the occupation of their home by the Taliban. I am really proud to stand here today, and every day, as a member of the Malinauskas Labor government, a compassionate state government committed to providing support and relief for those in need.
This bill also seeks to amend section 22 of the Education and Early Childhood Services (Registration and Standards) Act 2011. Such an amendment would allow a deputy member of the Education Standards Board to fill a vacancy in the office of the member for whom they are a deputy. Introduced by the Rann-Weatherill Labor government in 2012, the Education and Early Childhood Services Registration and Standards Board, known more commonly as the Education Standards Board, is an independent statutory authority responsible for the registration and regulation of early childhood services and registration of schools for domestic and overseas students.
The board's priority is to minimise any risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of children. They respond with regulatory action that is responsive and proportionate to the risks and harms being addressed. As it currently stands, if a vacancy on the board occurs before the current term of the appointment ends, the deputy member cannot act in the place of the member. It would certainly appear to me that the role of a deputy—as in your case, Mr Deputy Speaker—would be to step up in the absence of the member for whom they are a deputy.
The Malinauskas Labor government strongly supports the Education Standards Board. After all, it was a Labor government that established the board and I am sure the current Minister for Education in his role in that government probably played a very important part in it. It is why we are introducing such a simple adjustment to provide for a more efficient and effective board. An efficient and effective Education Standards Board is key to ensuring an education system of the highest quality for the students of South Australia.
Since our election, the Malinauskas Labor government has appointed Alana Girvin as the new presiding member of the board. I understand Ms Girvin has been involved with the Department for Education for 39 years, holding roles in the principalship of several schools and having worked executively within the department. Alana Girvin was convenor of the early years portfolio and the early years reform agenda, the regional literacy improvement priority and the regional office leadership team planning group. Ms Girvin also established the department's incident management directorate to respond to critical incidents.
The Malinauskas Labor government has also supported the Education Standards Board by offsetting reductions in their commonwealth funding with additional funding to the tune of $2 million across two financial years. By keeping existing students in school, bringing more international students into our schools, and strengthening the Education Standards Board, this bill goes a long way to improving the education and welfare of our students.
The Malinauskas Labor government is steadfast in its commitment to legislate, not just for our first term of government but to legislate for the future in the best interests of the next generation. Our agenda is unapologetically progressive, evidence-based and in the best interests of our students, our teachers, parents, families and caregivers.
Finally, this bill seeks to amend the History Trust of South Australia Act 1981. The History Trust of South Australia is a unique state government agency established to promote the history of South Australia. The trust is responsible for the dissemination of historically relevant objects and information in South Australia and to encourage the preservation of objects of historical significance to our state. They also manage and are responsible for the operations of the Migration Museum, the National Motor Museum, the South Australian Maritime Museum—I can almost smell that Maritime Museum just hearing the name of it; it reminds me of every primary school excursion—and The Centre of Democracy.
By amending section 2 of the History Trust of South Australia Act 1981, we seek to broaden the definition of a premise to include premises used by the trust to conduct activities and events. This is an important change for the trust so that they can be empowered to deal with any potential inappropriate behaviour at their events. Such an amendment will also help to manage parking, bringing animals to events, and prevent the reproduction of exhibits. This is an important amendment to protect exhibitions and our history, and to make sure that all South Australians can access the fantastic activities of the History Trust. I commend the bill to the house.
