Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I am going to assume, despite his conduct, that the member for La Trobe is actually interested in education. I know it is a big assumption, but I will assume that. I have been asked about the empowerment of school principals and I am referring the member for La Trobe to our education revolution reforms, particularly the reforms we are delivering through our national partnerships that are delivering more money for disadvantaged schools, more money for literacy and numeracy and more money to improve teacher quality. In those reforms we are working to empower principals in their schools to make decisions about their schools for whole school improvement. Indeed, the very essence of these reforms is that schools that need to lift standards will be empowered locally, working through whole school improvement plans to make decisions on what would make the biggest difference for their school. It might be more teachers, teachers aides, literacy and numeracy coaches, breakfast clubs or after school hours care. There is a suite of reforms working on questions of principal empowerment.

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