E&OE…
*Check Against Delivery*
- Mr Peter Garrigan, President, Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO)
- Ms Caz Bosch, President, Australian Parents Council (APC)
It’s a pleasure to be with you today for this Symposium, representing the Minister for Education Christopher Pyne.
Christopher sends his best wishes to everyone here.
Thank you to the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau for hosting the Symposium.
A diverse group of people is gathered here this morning, but we all share a common interest in seeing Australia’s children and communities benefit from high-quality school education that offers choice and opportunity for students and parents.
It may be prudent to give you a quick overview of my role within the Education portfolio. As Parliamentary Secretary for Education, I have national responsibility for school infrastructure, curriculum, online safety in schools and youth affairs.
I must mention my mother was a teacher for more than four decades in the Catholic school system. You don’t get away with much when your teacher is also your mother, so I think I have a unique perspective on the importance of parental engagement in schools.
As a father myself, I can understand why the parents here today are so engaged in the policies around schooling and the future of education in Australia.
Parents play a crucial role in guiding our children through some of the most important learning experiences in their early years. We don’t stop being involved in our children’s learning the moment we wave them off at the school gate.
I understand this was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Australian Council of State School Organisations and the Australian Parents Council — who proudly and effectively represent the parents of school students.
I acknowledge the leadership of Caz Bosch, President of the APC and Peter Garrigan, President of ACSSO, and the organisations they represent, for the important work they undertake in championing parent engagement.
I’m aware both bodies have been working closely with Minister Pyne over a number of years, as Minister for Education and previously as Shadow Minister for Education.
And of course, both ACSSO and the APC have been active partners with the Australian Government in the establishment and operation of the Family-Schools & Community Partnerships Bureau, which is hosting this symposium.
The Bureau is a key player in the Australian education landscape and recognised for its advocacy towards strengthened parental engagement in education to improve student learning outcomes.
I know there are many people here today who have contributed to raising the profile of this most important issue in education policy. These people are not just parents themselves, but dedicated teachers, principals, expert researchers in the field and members of stakeholder associations.
This symposium is a welcome opportunity for everyone here to learn more about parent engagement from both national and international researchers, as well as to build networks, exchange ideas and explore innovative practices.
As many of you may already be aware, parental engagement is one of the four pillars of the Australian Government’s Students First approach to school education. I will expand on this a little bit later.
I believe we are at an exciting time in the development of policy and practice for parent engagement as we understand the immense value of this for the child, and explore better practices.
I understand you heard from Dr Karen Mapp from the Harvard graduate School of Education yesterday and will hear from Anne Henderson from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform today. Together they provided a powerful rationale, written in 2002, about why a focus on parent engagement is imperative in supporting children’s schooling. While they wrote the following 12 years ago, it remains relevant today:
“The evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing: families have a major influence on their children’s achievement in school and through life.
When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more.
Supporting more involvement from all parents may be an important strategy for addressing the achievement gap.”
This message was echoed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in a 2012 report that children benefit from parent involvement at each and every stage of their lives.
Here in Australia, the Bureau published a pivotal piece of research in 2012 entitled ‘Parental engagement in learning and schooling: Lessons from research’.
This research and analysis was undertaken by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, known as ARACY, established in 2001, to lead national progress in advancing wellbeing for children and young people through evidence, collaboration and prevention.
ARACY reviewed key international and Australian research on parent engagement in children’s learning, finding clear benefits in academic outcomes, including improved grades, increased school attendance and higher graduation rates.
The report’s authors also noted non-academic outcomes, such as improved behaviour and a greater sense of achievement and competence for young people.
It’s no surprise that improvements in behaviour or attendance have a positive impact on learning.
With this background, let me emphasise the importance of moving beyond the traditional practices of parent involvement, such as participation in school meetings, to encompass the attitudes and behaviours that have been shown to help students succeed.
From the research we know that a crucial area we need to focus on is supporting parents and families to engage with their child’s learning at home.
The available research reveals how parents can be more actively engaged in their children’s learning.
The actions that make the biggest difference are straight forward and can be applied by all parents regardless of education or income levels, and do not take much time.
For example, parents give children the greatest chance of success if they hold high — but reasonable — expectations for their children and provide a home that encourages and supports education and a healthy lifestyle.
Through parents, children can learn to value education, be interested in books and reading, and develop healthy eating and sleeping patterns.
They also discover by example how to learn and succeed.
The attitudes and behaviours of parents demonstrate to children how to organise themselves, solve problems, persist to achieve outcomes, remain motivated and have confidence in their abilities.
The Government will support schools and early childhood providers to engage with parents. We need families to have the skills and confidence to engage with their children’s school, teachers and carers.
The Government also supports the Safe Schools Hub and ‘Bullying No Way!’ websites, both of which feature dedicated parent portals to help parents talk to their children bullying and harassment.
As I mentioned earlier, the Government has developed the Students First approach to improving school education, working on the issues that make a difference to a student’s education outcomes.
For many years, public commentary and analysis of school education in Australia has been dominated by discussions of spending and money, but this has not led to marked improvements in outcomes.
Minister Pyne said recently, “quality should be the prime goal of education policy” and this is the driving focus of the Australian Government’s approach to schools.
Between 1987-88 and 2011-12 total government spending on schools doubled in real terms – yes, a 100% increase. During the same period, student numbers rose considerably less – by only 18 per cent. In other words we spent considerably more per student.
And to clarify, the Abbott Government over the next four years is providing $64.5 billion in recurrent funding to ALL schools and sectors. That is a 37 per cent growth in funding across the government sector, and a 29 per cent growth in funding across the independent sector.
0.However, PISA research has indicated that despite more money being available for school education than ever before, performance has not kept pace.
This Government has therefore adopted a new approach; one which focusses on quality and improving outcomes.
Parent engagement is one of the four pillars of this approach, along with school autonomy, improving teacher quality, and strengthening the curriculum.
At the heart of the Students First approach is lifting the quality, professionalism and status of the teaching profession.
We have established an expert panel, led by Professor Greg Craven to provide advice on how teacher education programmes could be improved to better prepare new teachers with the practical skills needed for modern classrooms.
Using an evidence-based approach, the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group is identifying world’s best practice in teacher education.
Under our Independent Public Schools initiative, we want to help schools work with parents and their communities to make local decisions and respond to issues that affect the learning outcomes of their students.
This means giving selected government schools more control of local decision making and encouraging stronger links between schools, parents and the local community.
One measure under this initiative is the Australian Government’s ‘Guide for Parents on School Boards and School Councils’, which brings together information on school board participation in every state and territory to assist interested parents to easily find out how they can be involved in the governance of their child’s school.
The fourth pillar in our approach to school education is strengthening the curriculum.
A robust, relevant and up-to-date Australian Curriculum is essential to improve the quality of education for all school students.
As promised in the election we have established a Review of the Curriculum and its report has been delivered to the Minister.
I should mention that in the May Budget we provided $4 million over four years for ARACY to undertake research in parent engagement.
We will be seeking the input of stakeholders including ACSSO and the APC for advice on work that ARACY should undertake.
We’ve also supported Education Services Australia with $5 million to develop high-quality online tools and resources for parents of primary school children.
The project will provide nationally consistent online tools and resources for parents, aligned to the Australian Curriculum
These will focus on fun and interactive activities that parents and children can do together at home, and this will complement the teaching that takes place in schools.
Minister Pyne and I are looking forward to continuing to work with you all to raise awareness of the value of parent engagement and develop further practical initiatives to support parents and students.
I hope this symposium is a success and I note that one of your objectives is to “move from rhetoric to action, from ad-hoc to systemic”. Achieving those objectives will empower parents and lead to greater learning success for Australian students. I commend your work and wish you luck for the remainder of this event.
*Ends*