The Taskforce that will assist and advise on the extension of regional and rural high schools to Years 11 and 12 held its first meeting yesterday.
The Liberal Government is committed to getting on with the job and improving the educational, training and skills qualifications of our young people.
Extending high schools to Year 12 is the first important step in the Government's plan to increase student retention and create a job-ready generation of young Tasmanians with the education and skills needed to take their place in the workforce.
Rural and regional high schools and their communities have been invited to express their interest to be part of the first phase of this initiative. This phase will identify the first four schools to begin offering Year 11 Programs from 2015.
The Taskforce will meet as required over the next few months to oversee the implementation of this important initiative and provide me with opinion and advice on practical elements of the implementation process.
The Taskforce is made up of representatives from key stakeholder groups including:
* Colin Pettit, Secretary, Department of Education (Chair)
* Terry Polglase from the Australian Education Union
* David Raw from the Tasmanian Principals Association
* Jenny Eddington from the Tasmanian Association of School Support Organisations
* Stephen Conway from TasTAFE
* Katrena Stephenson from the Local Government Association of Tasmania
* Martin Grace, Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources
* Professor John Williamson from UTAS.
Yesterday's meeting established draft terms of reference, set timeframes for its work and established processes to support schools to consider the option of extending their school to Year 11 next year.
I have reaffirmed to the Taskforce that the school extension program initiative will be implemented steadily but purposefully over the next few years with four schools identified to begin offering Year 11 in 2015.
All schools which submit an expression of interest will be visited by Department of Education staff to discuss their plans for delivering Year 11 from 2015 and Year 12 from 2016.
The Taskforce plans to have recommendations of schools for consideration to me by late June.
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