Minister for School Education Peter Garrett today welcomed 82,000 students back to 225 schools across Tasmania for the new school year.

Students starting their education journey this year will be part of a system that will be among the top five in the world by the time they leave year 12 by 2025.

“We are giving students the best possible start to their education following record investment and significant education reform that will continue through 2013,” Mr Garrett said.

“We are already seeing results across the country through our record investment in schools.

“Students starting school in Tasmania this year will be attending better equipped schools and have better trained teachers.

“Our National Plan for School Improvement will be implemented from 2014 delivering a fairer funding system and introducing measures that we know will deliver better results for our students.

“Under our plan, there will be higher entry standards for teachers, more power for school principals, more information for parents, and extra funding for schools and students that need more support.

“This Government believes every child in every school should have access to a great education, which is why in this financial year the Gillard Government will invest $13.6 billion in our schools.

“In 2013, we will continue to implement education reforms including ongoing development and implementation of the Australian Curriculum and updating the My School website.”

From this year every teacher in Tasmania will have an annual appraisal and receive constructive feedback on their performance, as well as opportunities for further professional development.

A new national partnership for Literacy and Numeracy will see $243 million extra for school literacy and numeracy programs nationally, with $6.8 million for local schools this year. This will help pay for things like homework centres and dedicated literacy and numeracy coaches.

Schools in Tasmania will benefit from other initiatives this year, including:

• The Australian Curriculum for English, mathematics, science and history will be taught in Tasmania’s schools from Foundation to Year 10.
• 30 schools will benefit from the Empowering Local Schools initiative, giving school principals greater decision making powers over things like staffing, budgets and school maintenance.
• $4.6 million under the More Support for Students with Disabilities initiative, including offering assistive technology for the classroom, and professional development for teachers in various disabilities and curriculum modifications.
• At least 40 parents/carers and 20 teachers, school leaders and other school staff in Tasmania will be supported through the Positive Partnerships program to build their understanding, skills and expertise in working with students with autism spectrum disorder.

An extra $400 million will be made available for Trade Training Centres in schools nationally, giving senior students access to state-of-the-art facilities to explore trade and vocational courses.

“We’ll be delivering almost $1.1 billion to the states and territories to help ensure every four year old in the country has access to 15 hours a week of kindergarten or pre-school,” Mr Garrett said.

“And we’re helping make every school a safe school with $4 million to develop new online anti-bullying resources for teachers, students and parents.

“All of this is happening thanks to the Gillard Government’s commitment to education reform. That’s why it’s vital for states and territories to sign up to the National Plan for School Improvement.

“The Opposition has said they want to stick to the current funding model which will see schools lose up to $5.4 billion nationally – our education system can’t afford that.

“They want to sack one in seven teachers, squeeze more kids into classrooms and slash funding to disadvantaged schools.

“Only a Federal Labor Government can be trusted to put the education of Tasmanian students first.

“Our commitment to education has already made a real difference to students and schools throughout Tasmania.”

For more information about the Gillard Government’s school improvement plans, visit http://www.betterschools.gov.au.