Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased that we are all agreeing on that, because what we do with the funding is very important. It may well be that there are differences of opinion, but perhaps what the debate needs to turn to is what we can do with the money that we have available and how we can ensure that that is used wisely and provides the outcome that our students need into the future. Despite significant funding growth in the past decade, NAPLAN results and our international rankings show that there have not been sufficient improvements in student outcomes. So, whilst we are spending record amounts of money, we are not achieving the outcomes that we need into the future.

As I said, it is time that we focus on quality education, and that is exactly what this government is doing. Through our Quality Schools, Quality Outcomespaper we are focusing on five key areas. The first one is 'Boosting literacy, numeracy and STEM performance'. We are not just talking about it; we are actually doing it—and I will come back and talk a little bit more about STEM. The second one is 'Improving the quality of teaching and school leadership'—doing the things that actually make a difference. The third one is 'Preparing our students for a globalised world'—where they have to get a job and compete with students who are ahead of them globally. The fourth one is 'Focusing on what matters most and those who need it most'—genuine attention to needs. The fifth one is 'Increasing public accountability through improved transparency'—not the corruption that Ken Boston so accurately describes.

I will start by talking about STEM education—science, technology, engineering and maths. As many in this place would know, my background is as a mechanical engineer. So science, technology, engineering and maths are subjects that are very near and dear to my heart. I was actually trained as a problem-solver, as most engineers are. What we know about STEM and particularly the jobs of the future is that, whilst it is not possible to predict exactly what those jobs are going to be, we do know that 75 per cent of the jobs of the future are going to require skills in science, technology, engineering and maths. But our record in producing students with those skills and expertise is actually quite poor.

If we compare the number of students studying maths and science from 1992 to 2012—a 20-year period—there were 30,800 more students in year 12 in 2012 than in 1992 but there was a significant decrease in the number of students who were studying maths and science subjects. There were 8,000 fewer physics students, 4,000 fewer chemistry students and 12,000 fewer biology students. Action needs to be taken to make sure that we can increase the number of students who are studying science, technology, engineering and maths, particularly science and mathematics at school.

We in the government understand that we have to be producing a pipeline to make sure that graduates are coming through with the high-level science and mathematics skills that we need. Already we have taken some considerable action to make sure that we are introducing science and maths at almost the earliest possible level by funding two programs, including the Let's Count program at the kindergarten level and the Little Scientists program, which will look at supporting our youngest learners to develop a love for science and a love for maths. That is critical and is important as we take those students through school.

We also know that there are some other critical points to be focusing on as the students go through their education, certainly at year 5 but also further up, at years 8, 9 and 10, where we will be needing to focus on STEM skills for students. Year 10 is a critical year for our skill students. I had the opportunity to speak to a number of Australian Apprenticeships Ambassadors this morning, and they talked about their experiences at school. I think it is probably fair to say that they felt they were a little bit let down by their schooling system, because the support that was given by their career advisers was really aimed at getting students into university without focusing on the vocational educational needs of the future. That means we have a significant skills gap that we need to be filling in vocational education. This is one of the key areas that have been identified to us as what we should be doing in schools, which is providing additional support to the career advisers so they are in a better position to support students in the very important decisions that they are making about what their future should actually be. When talking to these students it is very clear that they have been let down by the current school system and that serious action needs to be taken in a number of areas.

There is very little time remaining, but I am sure that my colleagues will continue the debate along similar lines. One of the things that we need to focus on quite clearly is quality teaching and supporting our teachers to make sure that they are in the best possible position to impart the knowledge that our students will need into the future. There are a number of key areas, as I have identified, in which the government continues to take significant steps forward to improve education in our schools. I would encourage those opposite to take a proactive and positive approach and to work together with the government.

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