Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to start by congratulating one of the teachers in a school in my constituency for a very special, significant award won this week. Ms Marjorie Colvill from Perth Primary School won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools, a prize with $50,000 attached to it. Perth Primary School, which is just across the road from my office, has a wonderful teaching body, wonderful students who wave to me—and I wave to them quite often—and a great supportive parent body.

The notification of an award suggested that it had been given on the basis that 30 years of science teaching had given Ms Colvill a clear idea of the perfect science class, one in which students set up their own investigations and make their own discoveries. It was truly a remarkable achievement when you think of all the primary school teachers around Australia who would have been considered for such a distinction. I am sure that the children she teaches will be very proud that they have also been part of this exciting award. After all, there are obviously generations of primary school children who have benefited from the interest Ms Colvill has given them. By motivating the children to undertake to solve problems they come up with themselves, they will remember the difficulties and the results much more easily.

I am particularly pleased for her, as I believe that science is not always readily available to primary school children. In fact, a quick look at the literature shows that there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence and some published studies which indicate that, in the majority of primary schools, science is taught infrequently and often not at all. It was noted in the study that primary teachers often are not confident in their ability to teach science and may tacitly avoid teaching it.

So I know that those children who have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to explore simple science in all its forms at a young age are likely to be the ones that make the breakthroughs in research in later years. So Ms Colvill is giving them something very precious, and her interest will start to help science to become a popular subject again in secondary schools, and onwards into the tertiary areas. I believe she is making an enormous contribution to our society while helping to further raise the profile of science and science teaching in Australia, so necessary to improve our skill levels. I know that the interest in science in all its fields is lacking in both primary and secondary schools. There are more exciting topics to study, such as IT and various arts subjects; science is seen as being too nerdy and kids are not relating to it. This is translating into shortages in our skill level once students get to the workforce.

This is being backed up by some of the tertiary institutions. There was a plea in June by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for more engineers, for greater emphasis on engineering education and for an overhaul of how engineering education is designed and delivered to maintain our international competitiveness and standard of living. They have criticised the low spending on science and engineering education and industry based research and development which they believe threatens the nation’s ability to achieve sustainable, internationally competitive positions in world markets. They believe that if we do not get into engineering and science studies we will continue to have a lack of professionals in these fields.

Dr Peter Farrell who is the Chairman and CEO of ResMed Inc said:

In essence, advanced societies require innovation to survive and prosper over the long term. Furthermore innovation is invariably based on technology and although the individuals who drive innovation are entrepreneurs, those who make the best entrepreneurs are people with a basic training in engineering.

So, if just one of those children from the classes of Ms Colvill comes up with an idea in later years that is innovative and marketable, I believe that it would be because of the interest and encouragement shown by a teacher whilst still in primary school.