Affirming and supporting the primary role of parents in education.

Parents are the primary educators of their children.

The early years can be challenging to new parents but these pre-school years are universally recognised as vital years in the optimal development of the child. Government should assist these parents by giving them choices and opportunities:

 Giving real choice to parents who want to stay home and look after their children by providing a home-maker allowance.

 The provision of welcoming ‘parenting centres’ in main shopping centres (and virtual parenting centres via the Internet), with appropriate information available to parents and the opportunity for parents to meet with one another and discuss good parenting techniques, healthy lifestyles, early literacy and numeracy.

 The provision of free parenting classes for new parents. The subsidy of community parenting courses and services, run by community volunteers, churches or other organisations (eg: MOPS – Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers).

 A national phone help-line for parents in distress.

The school years:

Choice and fairness:

All parents must have the right to choose the school for their children that supports the beliefs, traditions and values of their home life. The feasibility of an education voucher system should be investigated.

The CDP will strongly resist any attempt to prevent religious schools from discriminating in the selection of staff or students according to their school ethos.

Governments need to maintain a fair and equitable funding system between private and public schools. An independent evaluation review of the current funding system is needed to answer current criticisms on the allocation of funding to schools.

Home-school-community partnerships:

Education is a life-long, community enterprise. Most learning happens outside of the classroom and is influenced by outside factors. Research has shown that effective partnerships between home, school and community improve the educational and social outcomes of all students, irrespective of socio-economic background or ethnicity. Moreover, these partnerships contribute to the optimal use of social capital and the development of collaborative effort and creative solutions to local challenges.

We are committed to the improvement of indigenous educational outcomes and will press for substantial improvement in the educational achievement of indigenous Australians including the need for academic scholarships for Aboriginal and low socio-economic families. Governments should invest in the research and development of effective educational partnerships between home, school and community as one of the national priorities in education.

Curriculum development and Educational standards:

We support the selection, implementation and evaluation of a national curriculum selected by an independent panel of judges (representing the main stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, universities & TAFE, employers, and government). Curriculum development must be accountable to the main stakeholders in education. It should not be led predominantly by academics, politicians and bureaucrats. The curriculum should reflect a holistic view of education which includes the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of development. It should be flexible enough to accommodate the special needs of local schools and communities.

A curriculum should value every child and encourage all children to do their very best and develop their particular talents and gifts. This can be done without sacrificing the need to raise standards in literacy or numeracy. Monitoring and evaluating the education outcomes for boys and girls should be on going in order to avoid disadvantaging one group at the expense of the other.

Literacy and numeracy support throughout primary school is essential so that no child misses out on these foundational steps in learning. Governments should fund mentoring programs in every school, using the services of trained volunteers from the community.

The funding of chaplains in all schools is required to help schools in their pastoral roles towards students and families, to serve as liaison between home, school and community and to help in the application of Australian core values in schools.

The development of social responsibility, caring for our environment and our neighbours, protecting and caring for all human life, are important values to uphold in our schools. Developing educational links with the local community gives opportunities to students to value the people in their communities. Community service programs should be integrated in the curriculum.

Schools, families and the community have a role to play in the fostering of healthy lifestyles. This is an area where cooperation between home, school and community is important.The teaching of skills in developing healthy and respectful relationships with others is an important life skill.

Schools should not be used as propaganda ground for social engineering experiments such as the promotion of alternative lifestyles such as homosexuality.

Expanding the number of training opportunities for young people and the provision of additional funding for new apprenticeships and work programs are important objectives for CDP.

Remuneration Levels:

The recognition of the professionalism and dedication of classroom teachers and administrators has sufferedin recent years through unreasonable demands being placedby a top-heavy bureaucratic system. Demands of accountability need to be reasonable but should also fall upon the leaders of educational reforms who are responsible for major shifts in education which at times prove to be unworkable.

Extra support and remuneration should be given to teachers and administrators in rural areas and in districts where teaching conditions are more challenging.

Teachers should be encouraged and rewarded for extra curricular educational activities outside normal school hours for the benefit of students. Similarly, the undertaking of collegial staff development in addressing particular issues of concern in a school should be encouraged and rewarded.

More male teachers should be encouraged to teach in primary schools.

Tertiary Education:

Every student should have the opportunity to pursue tertiary level education at colleges of TAFE or universities. The HECS system should continue and be evaluated regularly to improve its fairness and effectiveness.

CDP supports government funding of university independent academic research.