Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training, 17 June 2020

Supporting early learners to ‘bounce back’

The Tasmanian Government is supporting early years students to ‘Bounce Back to Learning at School’ after learning at home due to COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the program for students in Kindergarten to Year 2, additional classroom support will be provided by early learning educators, who will work in partnership with teachers to identify learner needs, provide resources and tailored learning opportunities.

The program also includes a Talk and Read Project which will provide almost 8000 families with materials to engage learners and their families at home.

It will provide information which encourages oral language interaction and storytelling between parents/carers and their children, addressing missed opportunities for families to experience face to face learning through our Launching into Learning sessions.

Oral language is the foundational skill on which all other learning occurs, and we know that by targeting the skills and strategies involved in speaking and listening we are supporting children to become confident learners.

Children learn to communicate by interacting with their family, school and community, which is why the program aims to make a huge difference to a child’s oral language skills and their ability to communicate effectively.

We recognise that investing in the first 1000 days of a child’s life can set them up for the brightest future possible, especially for those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable.

That’s why we have a strong focus on the early years and will continue to invest in the foundational years of a young child’s life to ensure all children in Tasmania have the best start possible.

One of our major investments in the early years includes developing six new Child and Family Learning Centres in partnership with local communities as part of our Rebuilding Tasmania Infrastructure Investment.

An additional $7 million of capital funding was announced last week, taking the total to $28 million, to ensure we deliver high quality facilities that meet the service needs.


Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Education Minister, 17 June 2020

Early learners support welcome but more needed

Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said resources should be extended to cover all students who require additional support to recover learning loss.

“During the COVID-19 crisis, our teachers and other school staff made an extraordinary effort to minimise the disruption to learning,” Mr Willie said.

“And, while they all did a wonderful job, remote learning has exposed many inequalities in our education system.

“Research released this week by the Grattan Institute highlighted inequalities that resulted in some students struggling during the period of remote learning, with some losing as much as a month of learning over the lockdown period.

“Some disadvantaged students who were already falling behind before the pandemic will now have fallen even further behind. This is especially the case for high school students who learnt from home for an extra two weeks.

“Students with a disability were also significantly impacted by the disruption as were their reasonable adjustments for education. They too will need targeted support as they re-engage with school based learning.

“Before the pandemic, data from the Productivity Commission showed Tasmanian school students had the worst post-school outcomes, lowest literacy and lowest attendance and retention rates in the country.

“If we are to improve on that, we must heed the Grattan Institute’s call for investment in ‘catch-up’ learning to ensure that learning disadvantage is not carried forward.

“I also again urge the government to adopt Labor’s Mental Health Workers in Schools policy, which we know will boost support staff in our schools. The increase in isolation and anxiety caused by COVID-19 is exacerbating existing problems and impacting student learning.

“Now is the time to invest in education, learn from this time and improve the system long term. Our kids deserve the best start in life. We owe it to them to help them through this anxious and disruptive time.”