To improve education now and for generations to come, the Tasmanian Government is making structural change, targeted investments and prioritising students with the greatest need.
As a result of some difficult decisions we took to get the budget back on track, we are now reinvesting the dividends in the core services of Government, including education.
This has enabled us to begin significant structural changes, with more to be announced later today, and make targeted investments, particularly in students with the greatest need.
As a result of these initiatives, there is resourcing for more teachers in our schools, and we are delivering targeted investments and structural changes.
In fact, there is resourcing for more teachers in Tasmanian schools today than under the Labor Government. As a result of our targeted investments, there is a resource allocation for 213 more teachers in our education system this year.
On a same enrolment basis, the resourcing for teachers under our Government this year, compared to under Labor in 2014, has resulted in resourcing for 33 more full-time equivalent teachers than when Labor was in Government.
However, I can’t stress enough that improving education is about a lot more than money and staff numbers. If it were that simple, Tasmania’s record would be better than it is.
The national picture reflects this too; funding and teachers has gone up, but relative student performance has declined.
That’s why it is so important that we continue to deliver on our commitment to make structural change, targeted investments and prioritising students with the greatest need.
We are accelerating the roll-out of our successful $45.5 million Year 11 and 12 high school extension program and extending it to urban high schools from 2017, because of demand.
We are investing in new initiatives including $17.75 million Learning in Families Together, to improve the literacy and numeracy of 8,500 students with the greatest need across 80 schools.
There are new maths and science specialists at our primary and high schools, we have 25 new literacy and numeracy specialists in classrooms across the state too, and 10 new school nurses, with another five to come by July this year.
We have committed to the full $134m over six years of Gonski, which this year means an additional $21 million flowing to schools, including $11 million for more teachers in schools with greatest need.
Tasmania still has a long way to go to lift its educational outcomes to match the rest of the country. We can’t expect better by doing the same, that’s why we are changing how we approach education.
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