The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to improvements to the Education Act that will give equity to all Tasmanians and the prospects of a brighter future for our students. This includes the addition of compulsory conferencing to work with families to resolve issues of non-attendance.
The current Education Act has been in existence for more than 20 years, and both this current Act and the new draft Education Bill include clauses to enable authorised persons to investigate unauthorised absences. The old clause and the new clause are very similar in wording and certainly have the same intent.
This is typical of Labor scaremongering and a cheap shot from Ms O’Byrne who seems happy to play on the fear of Tasmanians rather than address fundamental education issues.
Labor and Ms O’Byrne should be totally embarrassed as they have obviously not done their research first – they clearly have no knowledge of the current Education Act which can be seen from the comparison of wording, (bolded) below.
As can be seen, the two sections are essentially identical; with the only substantive difference being to add a section (in italics) also allowing parents to be asked to explain their child’s absence, as is appropriate.
The CURRENT Act states:
Section 14. Authorized persons
(1) The Secretary may authorize a person to investigate any unauthorized absence of a school-aged child from a school, the Academy or TasTAFE.
(2) The Secretary is to issue a person authorized under subsection (1) with an identity card bearing the photograph of that person.
(3) A person authorized under subsection (1) may –
(a) approach any child who appears to the person to be of school age and is apparently not in attendance at a school, the Academy or TasTAFE; and
(b) request the child to provide –
(i) his or her name and address; and
(ii) the name and address of the school or the campus of the Academy or TasTAFE normally attended by the child; and
(iii) the reason for being absent from school, the Academy or TasTAFE; and
(c) accompany the child to his or her home or school or to the relevant campus of the Academy or TasTAFE to verify the information provided by the child under paragraph (b).
(4) Before taking any action under subsection (3)(b) or (c) in respect of a child, a person authorized under subsection (1) must show the child his or her identification card.
The draft act released in March this year states:
33. Investigation of unauthorised absence
(1) In this section –
authorised personmeans a person authorised under subsection (2) to investigate any unauthorised absence.
(2) The Secretary may authorise a person to investigate any unauthorised absence of a school-aged child or youth from a school or approved learning program.
(3) The Secretary is to issue an authorised person with an identity card bearing the photograph of that person.
(4) An authorised person may investigate any unauthorised absence, or suspected unauthorised absence, of a school-aged child or youth from a school or an approved learning program.
(5) An authorised person may –
(a) approach any person who appears to him or her to be under the age of 19 years and is apparently not in attendance at a school or an approved learning program; and
(b) request the person approached to provide –
(i) his or her name and address; and
(ii) the name and address of the school or the provider of the approved learning program normally attended by the person approached; and
(iii) the reason for being absent from school or the approved learning program; and
(c) accompany the person approached to his or her home, or to the school or the relevant provider of the approved learning program, to verify the
information provided by the person approached under paragraph (b).
(6) Before taking any action under subsection (5)(b) or (c) in respect of a person, an authorised person must show the person his or her identification card.
(7) In investigating an unauthorised absence, or suspected unauthorised absence, of a school-aged child or youth under subsection (4), an authorised person may –
(a) approach the parent of the child or youth; and
(b) require the parent to explain the reason that the child or youth is, or was, absent from school or an approved learning program.
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Education and Training