BARR PRIORITISES EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS IN 2008

Minister for Education and Training, Andrew Barr, today marked the start of the 2008 academic year with the release of a discussion paper on educational standards.

The paper which is entitled High Standards in ACT school education – Discussion paper for an ACT School Standards Authority, is designed to build on the consultation undertaken in relation to teacher registration and instigate a community debate about how we establish and monitor standards in our education system.

“Maintaining high educational standards across ACT schools is a key priority for the ACT Government,” Mr Barr said.

“This paper explores how the Government might best provide objective evidence of student achievement and how it might support and strengthen standards in the teaching profession, the curriculum and schooling generally.

“This discussion paper proposes a School Standards Authority that would see the Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) be expanded so that it could establish and monitor educational standards from preschool to year 12. This would include teacher registration and could also cover curriculum frameworks, student achievement, standards registration of non-government schools and home education. Such an authority could also have some overarching responsibilities for monitoring the general standards of schooling in the ACT.”

Mr Barr said the BSSS currently has responsibility for all processes related to year 12 qualifications (the Year 12 Certificate, the Tertiary Entrance Statement and Vocational Certificates).

“The paper invites community views on this option and on functions that an expanded Board might undertake. These functions could include teacher registration, maintenance of curriculum frameworks, monitoring national assessment data, the registration of non-government schools and home education.”

The paper can be found at www.det.act.gov.au