SA principals take fact finding trip to Queensland to investigate moving Year 7 to high school
SA PRINCIPALS have been told it would be “mad” not to move Year 7s into high school because of the opportunity it presents to radically improve middle school education. Have your say — VOTE NOW
SOUTH Australian principals have been told the state would be “mad” not to move Year 7s into high school because of the opportunity it presents to radically improve middle school education.
The heads of SA’s principal associations have met with their Queensland counterparts and senior bureaucrats from the northern state, which made the transition this year after many years of preparation.
SA Secondary Principals Association president Peter Mader said a comprehensive teacher training program based on specially commissioned research on the needs of adolescents was a key to the success of the transition in Queensland.
Mr Mader said Queensland educators were reporting a “tsunami shift” in middle schooling that included stronger pastoral care and a more “integrated” approach to curriculum where students investigated topics from the perspective of different subject areas.
“In crude terms they moved Year 7s into high school. In real terms they have got a significant investment improving Year 7, 8 and 9 personal development and learning achievement,” Mr Mader said.
“Queensland colleagues are telling us you’d be mad if you didn’t do it.”
Mr Mader, who will also travel to WA to investigate that state’s transition before SASPA comes to an official position, said Queensland’s long lead time, bipartisan support and extensive pilot program were other key factors.
The SA Opposition made shifting Year 7s an election promise last year but the State Government has consistently said there is a lack of evidence to justify the cost. About half the $620 million spent in Queensland went on infrastructure upgrades.
SA Primary Principals Association president Pam Kent praised the planning and resourcing of the Queensland project, but said SA could not afford the more than $300 million cost of following suit and there was a lack of evidence to suggest the investment would be worthwhile.
Ms Kent said primary principals were classified according to student numbers and feared most would be demoted by the enrolment drops that shifting Year 7s would cause.
She said middle school reform would likely come more gradually through the creation of more R-12 schools.
“It will change in time but it will be a slower process,” she said.
SA is the only state which retains Year 7 in primary schools.
Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni said the transition could be made for $150 million and the Liberal policy guaranteed that no primary principals would be worse off.
He said vacant space left in primary schools by the move could be used to create more school-based kindergartens.