❓ Premier Barnett addresses concerns about teacher numbers, stating that while the teacher-student ratio will slightly increase due to enrolment growth and redistribution, overall funding and teacher numbers remain stable, with historical comparisons made to Labor's education budget management.
AnsweredQoN 486Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EDUCATION
RESOURCES — TEESE REPORT
486. Mr C.D. HATTON to the Premier:
I refer to comments by the opposition and the State School
Teachers' Union of WA that teacher numbers will be cut next year. Can
the Premier please outline how the state government's reform of the way
we staff schools and an additional $300 million in the education budget this
year will affect students in the government school system?
RESOURCES — TEESE REPORT
486. Mr C.D. HATTON to the Premier:
I refer to comments by the opposition and the State School
Teachers' Union of WA that teacher numbers will be cut next year. Can
the Premier please outline how the state government's reform of the way
we staff schools and an additional $300 million in the education budget this
year will affect students in the government school system?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Balcatta for the question. It gives me
an opportunity to reiterate the funding and staffing arrangements for
government schools in the coming year. There are currently 21 000 full-time
equivalent teachers within our school system. We expect about 8 000 additional
students to be enrolled next year in accordance with the trend over the last
few years. That growth of 8 000 students is factored into the staffing formulas
for next year. Growth is implicit within the system. Next year, the total
number of FTE teachers will stay, essentially, the same at 21 000. But there
will be a redistribution across all schools according to the recommendations of
the Teese report. Projected growth has already been taken into account for
staffing next year. The result is that the teaching workforce will be spread a
little more thinly across schools. That is self-evident—a mathematical
truism—but it will not be a great change. In 2013, this current
financial year, there will be one teacher for every 13.15 students. In 2014, as
these changes are made, there will be one teacher for every 13.53 students. In
other words, there will be an increase of 0.38—just over a third of a
student per teacher—a very small adjustment across the system.
I make the point that these reforms need to be made. There
will be a high degree of change in enrolments next year. New schools will be
coming on. Makybe Rise Primary School—I am not sure whether it is a new
or recently opened school—will have an additional 371 new students next
year, whilst there will be 73 fewer students at Ocean Reef Primary School. All
those projections have been built into the staffing formula. That will
restructure and restaff schools at the right level. As another presumably 8 000
students come in in 2015, that will result in a further overall net growth in
teacher numbers. That is what is happening.
To the 29-per-centers opposite, I again make the observation
that since this government was elected in 2007–08, it has increased
education funding by 55 per cent from $2.8 billion to $4.4 billion. This coming
year—2014—an extra $300 million, or seven per cent, will be put
into the system. We could compare that, as members did last night and the day
before, with 2005–06, when the Labor government cut the education
budget by seven per cent in one year. That seven per cent cut in 2005–06
amounted to —
Mr
M. McGowan : Go back and drink more champagne.
The
SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Aren't we nasty today?
The
SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition and Premier! Premier, continue to answer
the question.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
In 2015–16, the Labor government cut seven per cent, or $197 million,
from the education budget. I remind members opposite that when the Leader of
the Opposition was the Minister for Education and Training, all 21 000 of our
teachers, or however many it was at that time, were the lowest paid in this
country. Under this government, they are the highest paid in Australia. To the
29-per-centers opposite, that is why they are where they are today.
an opportunity to reiterate the funding and staffing arrangements for
government schools in the coming year. There are currently 21 000 full-time
equivalent teachers within our school system. We expect about 8 000 additional
students to be enrolled next year in accordance with the trend over the last
few years. That growth of 8 000 students is factored into the staffing formulas
for next year. Growth is implicit within the system. Next year, the total
number of FTE teachers will stay, essentially, the same at 21 000. But there
will be a redistribution across all schools according to the recommendations of
the Teese report. Projected growth has already been taken into account for
staffing next year. The result is that the teaching workforce will be spread a
little more thinly across schools. That is self-evident—a mathematical
truism—but it will not be a great change. In 2013, this current
financial year, there will be one teacher for every 13.15 students. In 2014, as
these changes are made, there will be one teacher for every 13.53 students. In
other words, there will be an increase of 0.38—just over a third of a
student per teacher—a very small adjustment across the system.
I make the point that these reforms need to be made. There
will be a high degree of change in enrolments next year. New schools will be
coming on. Makybe Rise Primary School—I am not sure whether it is a new
or recently opened school—will have an additional 371 new students next
year, whilst there will be 73 fewer students at Ocean Reef Primary School. All
those projections have been built into the staffing formula. That will
restructure and restaff schools at the right level. As another presumably 8 000
students come in in 2015, that will result in a further overall net growth in
teacher numbers. That is what is happening.
To the 29-per-centers opposite, I again make the observation
that since this government was elected in 2007–08, it has increased
education funding by 55 per cent from $2.8 billion to $4.4 billion. This coming
year—2014—an extra $300 million, or seven per cent, will be put
into the system. We could compare that, as members did last night and the day
before, with 2005–06, when the Labor government cut the education
budget by seven per cent in one year. That seven per cent cut in 2005–06
amounted to —
Mr
M. McGowan : Go back and drink more champagne.
The
SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Aren't we nasty today?
The
SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition and Premier! Premier, continue to answer
the question.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
In 2015–16, the Labor government cut seven per cent, or $197 million,
from the education budget. I remind members opposite that when the Leader of
the Opposition was the Minister for Education and Training, all 21 000 of our
teachers, or however many it was at that time, were the lowest paid in this
country. Under this government, they are the highest paid in Australia. To the
29-per-centers opposite, that is why they are where they are today.
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