Bill Shorten welcomes the funds of $876.5 million for six key education initiatives announced in the Gillard Government Budget.


MEDIA RELEASE
Making every Maribyrnong school a great school
11 May 2011

The Gillard Government Budget delivers quality education for our schools.

Member for Maribyrnong, the Hon. Bill Shorten, today welcomed the funds of $876.5 million for six key education initiatives: More Support for Students with Disabilities, Reward Payments for Great Teachers, an expansion of the National Schools Chaplaincy Program, Teach Next, the Australian Baccalaureate and the Indigenous Ranger Cadetships.

The Gillard Government is investing more that $64.9 billion in school education over four years.

“These initiatives will help to ensure that every child in Maribyrnong has access to a great education,” said Mr Shorten.

The Gillard Government is committed to quality teaching with a commitment of $425 million over the next four years for the Reward Payments for Great Teachers initiative, Australia’s first national system of pay bonuses for around 25,000 of our best teachers.

“This initiative recognises the important role that teachers have in the classroom and the impact that quality teaching has on student outcomes,” said Mr Shorten.

The $200 million More Support with Disabilities initiative will provide extra support for students with disability in our schools.

“This crucial initiative, with new funding, will benefit students, teachers and their families through new services, equipment, an adapted curriculum and access to expert advice designed to support kids in school with a disability,” said Mr Shorten.

The National School Chaplaincy Program will be extended to an additional 1,000 schools, including rural and regional areas with an increase of $222 million in funding. This is in addition to the 2,700 Chaplains already operating in our schools.

“In Maribyrnong 5 schools already employ Chaplains. They play a vital role in helping to support wellbeing of local students,” said Mr Shorten.

Teach Next will create a new pathway to a career in teaching targeting maths and science by allowing professionals to gain a postgraduate education qualification while working in some of the most challenging schools.

This initiative has received $18.1 million over four years, with the first group of Teach Next participants to begin school placements in 2012.

The Government is strongly committed to Closing the Gap on educational disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The Indigenous Ranger Cadetships is a trial program designed to give Indigenous students the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in nationally recognised qualifications to become natural resource management rangers.

“This $4.1 million initiative will operate across 12 pilot schools and provides another avenue through which students could become rangers and a pathway from cadetship within schools into further training,” said Mr Shorten.

The Gillard Government has also announced the development of the Australian Baccalaureate to enable Australian secondary students to acquire a credential of international standard.

“The $7.3 million Australian Baccalaureate initiative will be a new senior secondary qualification that will benchmark a student’s achievement nationally and will have international standing,” said Mr Shorten.

The Australian Baccalaureate will be offered to students following implementation by states and territories of the senior secondary Australian curriculum subjects.

Mr Shorten said the continuing and sustained commitment to education has already delivered the installation of 3,293 computers in Maribyrnong to ensure all students are getting skills they need to equip them for the future.

“As well as upgrading local schools under the largest school modernisation program in Australia’s history, 4 schools in Maribyrnong are benefiting from the Australian Government’s Trade Training Centres in Schools Program,” said Mr Shorten.

To date the Australian Government has awarded more than $1.03 billion to fund 288 projects benefiting 927 schools throughout Australia through the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program.

The Gillard Government through these and other initiatives including the Smarter Schools National Partnerships is committed to providing every student with world class education and making every school a great school.

For further information please visit: www.deewr.gov.au

Media Contact: Annette Hibberd (03)9326 1300