“Over the past two years we have raised with the Education Directorate the need for a better balance between school autonomy and a consistent foundation of system-wide principles, policies and expectations,” explains Council Vice President Kirsty McGovern-Hooley.

“There is too much variation, for example, in the way that music and languages are taught, particularly in primary schools, and the inconsistent access to teacher librarians.”

In an editorial last year, Council President John Haydon questioned whether ACT schools had gone too far down the autonomy route and discussed some of the problems. See: http://actparents.org.au/images/ParentActionT2_2016FINALforWeb.pdf#page=2

Prior to the last ACT election, Council spoke to candidates about the issue of better, more co-ordinated management of our schools and each party committed to holding an enquiry into school autonomy. Council looks forward to a specific enquiry on this issue.

“The report is an opportunity to look beyond ACT’s high NAPLAN scores to a clearer picture of the performance of our schools,” said Ms McGovern-Hooley.

Released May 31, 2017