Big questions still to answer over education reform

• Education reforms set to be debated in the Legislative Council
• Labor still has many concerns following marathon lower house debate
• Government has failed to outline implementation plan

Significant questions remain over the Liberal Government’s education reforms as the Bill moves to the Legislative Council this week.

Shadow Minister for Youth, Skills & Training Josh Willie said the Minister will need to be armed with more answers than he was able to provide during the lower house debate.

“There are so many crucial questions that remain unanswered,” Mr Willie said.

“The Government has no implementation plan for its reform. The Minister has failed to explain how key elements will be rolled out and funded.

“The Government has confirmed the childcare sector will be under pressure. It needs to identify childcare centres that will become unviable, develop a transition plan and assist them with the change.

“Nobody disputes that quality play-based learning is advantageous to child development, but there is a big difference between theory and practice.

“Last week the Minister was unable to guarantee that a practitioner trained in early-years learning would be in every prep and kindergarten classroom.

“Play-based learning has been reduced to a slogan and the Government needs a plan to equip teachers and teacher assistants with the skills and qualifications needed to deal with younger students.

“Labor is not opposed to reform and will back ideas that are supported by evidence and proper planning. The Government plans to implement this in 2020 so there is time to get it right.

“But the Government has so far been unable to demonstrate that it’s ready to implement such significant reform.”
Josh Willie MLC Shadow Minister for Youth, Skills & Training