❓ The Minister for Education and Training outlines several initiatives to improve literacy skills in young students, including smaller class sizes, specialist teachers, a reading school of the year award, and a summer reading challenge.
AnsweredQoN 679Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Will the minister please explain the recent initiatives to improve the reading skills of our young students? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Roleystone for his question and for his lifelong interest in education. I told the Parliament yesterday about the teacher of the year award. Today I want to outline to the Parliament two other initiatives that we are putting into place to try to stimulate and improve literary skills among young students in our primary schools. A priority of this Government has been to target literacy and numeracy in early school years. Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Roleystone for his question and for his lifelong interest in education. I told the Parliament yesterday about the teacher of the year award. Today I want to outline to the Parliament two other initiatives that we are putting into place to try to stimulate and improve literary skills among young students in our primary schools. A priority of this Government has been to target literacy and numeracy in early school years. Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
I thank the member for Roleystone for his question and for his lifelong interest in education. I told the Parliament yesterday about the teacher of the year award. Today I want to outline to the Parliament two other initiatives that we are putting into place to try to stimulate and improve literary skills among young students in our primary schools. A priority of this Government has been to target literacy and numeracy in early school years. Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Roleystone for his question and for his lifelong interest in education. I told the Parliament yesterday about the teacher of the year award. Today I want to outline to the Parliament two other initiatives that we are putting into place to try to stimulate and improve literary skills among young students in our primary schools. A priority of this Government has been to target literacy and numeracy in early school years. Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
I thank the member for Roleystone for his question and for his lifelong interest in education. I told the Parliament yesterday about the teacher of the year award. Today I want to outline to the Parliament two other initiatives that we are putting into place to try to stimulate and improve literary skills among young students in our primary schools. A priority of this Government has been to target literacy and numeracy in early school years. Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: As it was under the previous Government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I did not say that it was not. Those skills are of particular importance to people who will be moving into the new work force and social environment. The first thing we did was to honour our commitment to smaller class sizes. We said we would employ 350 extra teachers for years 1 to 3, which has taken effect this year. When we came into government, we put into place a program called “Getting it Right” for literacy and numeracy skills for years 1 to 3. It cost $27 million and over the first term of government will see 200 extra teachers - specialist literacy and numeracy experts - in our primary schools targeting those children who need the most assistance and professionally developing all the teachers who work in that area. Currently 117 full-time equivalents are in the schools and another 40 FTEs will be employed next year to meet the 200 FTE commitment by the beginning of the year 2005. On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
On Monday, when we announced the teacher of the year award, we also announced an initiative that we are calling the reading school of the year award, which is a simple initiative but one which I think will be very effective. It will provide $5 000 in reading resources to the state government primary school that demonstrates the best efforts towards improving the reading skills of its students. Throughout the year, awards will be given to the reading school of the term for schools in all 14 education districts around Western Australia. It is an opportunity for all those schools in remote areas as well as those in metropolitan and larger regional centres in Western Australia to demonstrate what steps they are taking to improve literacy and numeracy skills for their young people and to engage in a process which will become visible, and which can be supported by the broader community. I am sure that all members of Parliament will grasp that opportunity at the local level. The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
The third initiative, after the teacher of the year award and the reading school of the year award, will be the summer reading challenge for young students in primary schools. It is basically to encourage students to read during the school holiday period rather than sit in front of a television playing video games. It is to encourage them to engage in reading and literacy development skills. The challenge will be for them to demonstrate in a small report, with a synopsis of what they have read, that they have read for at least 15 hours during the school holiday period. That comes down to about 100 minutes a week or five days at 20 minutes a day. It is a very simple challenge and one that will be recognised by the Premier with a prize for the student who is judged to have provided the best overall report on his or her reading attainments during the school holidays. All the children in Western Australia who take part in the program will receive a certificate. A range of other prizes will be available. It is simply to stimulate their interest in reading and to provide some initiative by which parents might be able to encourage their children to engage in reading during the school holidays. The combination of all the things that we are doing in the larger sense across government during the budget period plus these small initiatives work very well. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition the rhetorical question whether he supports the initiatives. Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: I support good literacy programs, which I supported when in government. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: Does he support these initiatives? The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he does not relate to the ordinary person. I was asked by a person whom I see frequently to ask the Leader of the Opposition what he makes of the human race, after 50 years as a complete outsider. Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: Grow up. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: He has had the chance to make a judgment, but he sits there unable to relate to the ordinary community. These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
These are very good initiatives and I am proud that we have been able to put them in place. Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
Mr C.J. Barnett: No longer are these lost years in education. We have a minister who speaks trivia. We need leadership for schools, not trivia like that. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time. That is the end of question time.
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