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Supporting Students Package

25th May, 2017

Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training

The Hodgman Liberal Government’s long term Plan for education is working with more students staying in school longer and achieving more.

The 2017-18 State Budget is all about Building Tasmania’s Future which is why we are making a $17.8 million investment in supporting students to get the best education possible.

We want to create a job ready generation of young Tasmanians. By getting the Budget back into balance we can continue to invest in the most significant improvements to our education system in decades, and this package of initiatives will assist teachers and other professionals who work with students to further improve education and employment opportunities for students.

The $17.8 million Supporting Students package includes:

  • $4 million over four years to extend the School Health Nurses initiative to Government District Schools, which will bring the total staffing to 29.7 FTE. School nurses help students in a number of areas, from mental health, to body image and healthy relationships, as well as the delivery of local, state and national health initiatives.
  • $6.9 million over four years for an additional 14.8 FTE professional support staff including speech pathologists, psychologists and social workers, to work with students who might not otherwise reach their full potential at school, which in turn improves their future education and employment prospects.
  • $5 million over four years to build on and extend successful student re-engagement programs being delivered, to keep our students engaged in learning and to help overcome any barriers preventing them from staying in the school system.
  • $1.6 million over four years to establish a Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy, to support students whose health may be impacting their learning.
  • $250,000 to help young people Speak Up Stay ChatTy for suicide prevention and mental health awareness.

Education is, and will always be, a priority of this Government. The additional literacy and numeracy specialist teachers we added to schools in our first year in Government are already delivering positive results.

While the 2016 NAPLAN results show we are on track to be at, or above the national average in all NAPLAN measurements, we know we have a long way to go.

There is no better foundation to Build Tasmania’s Future on, than education.