Department of Education

Strategic Focus
In 2010–11, the Department of Education has responsibility
for learners throughout all stages of life, from birth to
early adulthood and into adult life. This presents exciting
opportunities to further integrate and collaborate across the
department, and to provide comprehensive lifelong learning
for all Tasmanians.
Together, the department’s three output groups:
Pre-Compulsory and Compulsory Education (birth to 18
years), Post-Compulsory Education and Skills Development,
and LINC Tasmania, underpin the department’s strategic
priorities. The achievement of outcomes is supported
by business units providing corporate support, policy
development, regulation and reporting on educational
performance.
The department’s strategic priorities include the early years,
literacy and numeracy, and retention into post-Year 10
education and training. The work undertaken in the early
years, schools, colleges of the Tasmanian Academy and the
Tasmanian Polytechnic, and LINC Tasmania is critical in
helping us to achieve our two overarching goals of enabling
every Tasmanian to reach their potential at all stages of
life and nurturing a culturally rich, socially cohesive and
economically productive community.
Early years initiatives
The Launching into Learning (LiL) initiative continues to provide
significant advancement within the department’s early years
priority. In 2010, research revealed the significant and positive
influence that LiL is having on student performance from
all socioeconomic backgrounds, and particularly for the
most disadvantaged students. The department is increasing
its investment in LiL and the early years with an additional
$2 million – bringing total funding to $6.4 million.
LiL will continue to target support to areas of greatest need
in supporting parents as their child’s first and often most
influential teachers, and to provide a cooperative interface
between families, early years services and agencies in local
communities.
The early years priority is further supported through the
establishment of integrated child and family centres across
the state. The centres provide a local setting for families,
service providers, the local community, and government and
non-government organisations to work together to provide
quality, accessible and integrated programs and services.
In 2011–12, $25.4 million in capital funding will enable the
construction of 11 centres across the state, with one major
centre already open and six centres to be opened by the
end of 2011. This is a project of strategic importance for the
department and the Tasmanian Government.
Two centres in development are funded under the National
Partnership for Indigenous Early Childhood Development. The
process for their establishment is mirroring the process being
followed by state funded centres, and will feature strong
Aboriginal community engagement and the employment of
Aboriginal staff.
The Australian Government also has the early years at the
top of its educational agenda and, as such, the Council of
Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed the Australian
Early Development Index (AEDI) as a national progress
measure of young children’s early health and development in
the years before they start school. The Tasmanian results of
the AEDI confirm the value of the government’s focus on the
early years and the decision to locate child and family centres
in the most vulnerable communities.
The introduction of the national Early Years Learning
Framework provides a curriculum framework for Kindergarten
and child care services and programs throughout the state.
The framework is an essential part of the transition to the
National Quality Framework, which will be fully implemented
in 2012. There has been a significant level of action by the
department towards this transition through 2010–11.
Literacy and numeracy focus
The department is continuing its strong focus on literacy
and numeracy improvement through three Smarter School
National Partnerships: Literacy and Numeracy, Improving Teacher
Quality and Low Socio-economic Status School Communities. The
partnerships, which are co-investments with the Australian
Government, provide significant support for improving
literacy and numeracy in schools.
Schools are being further supported to improve literacy and
numeracy outcomes with the extension of the innovative
and successful Raising the Bar Closing the Gap (RTBCTG)
program into secondary schools. The RTBCTG 7 Up program
complements the existing program in primary schools,
which assists identified schools to develop a whole-of-school
approach to literacy and numeracy improvement.
Considerable focus has been given to the Adult Literacy
Action Plan, which aims to improve the core skills levels of
Tasmanians—to improve access to, and participation in,
further education, employment and training. This plan is being
jointly implemented by Skills Tasmania and LINC Tasmania
with the establishment of a community and workplace
network of adult literacy support, a statewide team of
coordinators and trained volunteers, the Employer Pledge
Program and the Adult Literacy Community Grants Program. This
plan forms part of an $11 million investment over four years.
Improving Aboriginal education
outcomes
The department has recently released the state’s Aboriginal
education strategy Closing the Gap on Aboriginal Education
Outcomes 2010–2014: a strategy for Aboriginal student
success through school improvement. This strategy outlines
initiatives to improve the success of Aboriginal students
in schools by supporting the particular needs of individual
schools, students and their families. Support is provided
for selected focus schools to ensure that intensive effort
is dedicated to those Aboriginal students with the highest
needs.
The strategy also includes initiatives for building the capacity
of the Tasmanian education system to deliver the quality,
inclusive teaching and leadership necessary to achieve the
targets set for improvement in Aboriginal student outcomes.
The department has been allocated a further $1.9 million
over two years by the Australian Government for an
extension literacy and numeracy program for Aboriginal
students. The implementation of this will be consistent with
the Raising the Bar Closing the Gap initiative, and funding is
being directed to five high Aboriginal enrolment and high
need schools.
Curriculum development
In 2011, the Tasmanian Curriculum continues as the required
curriculum for all government primary and secondary
schools. The first stage of the new Australian Curriculum will
be released in 2012, aligning teaching and learning with all
other Australian states and territories. This will mean some
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Department at a Glance – Strategic Focus