2024 in review: Biggest education stories in the Northern Territory
This year has been marked by significant societal change in the NT – none moreso than a change of government – but nowhere has it been seen more than in education. These are the most significant milestones.
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This year has been marked by significant societal change in the Territory – none moreso than a change of government – but nowhere has it been seen more than in education, with several major milestones and reforms making 2024 a year to remember.
Read the snapshots of the year’s biggest education stories.
Who’s who: 2024 kicks off with fresh faces in education portfolio
The year began with newly-minted Education Minister Mark Monaghan to counterbalance the CLP’s then education spokesperson Jo Hersey.
The pair had big plans for the sector going forward – Labor wanted to focus on classroom engagement and boosting resources, while the CLP said bums in seats was the biggest problem.
Ultimately, the election saw Territorians prioritise attendance over engagement and Jo Hersey was named Minister for Education and Training in September.
Teacher vacancies lead to corporate redeployments
As the school year rapidly approached, educators and families began to worry about the “bottlenecks” keeping teachers out of schools.
Just days out from the first day of school for 2024, there were still 134 classroom vacancies – but the Education Department planned to redeploy corporate staff into schools to plug the gaps.
The movement from corporate to classroom was met with concerns by Australian Education Union NT branch president Michelle Ayres, who at the time said it was a “‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ situation”.
Budget mismanagement could mean ‘death of remote schools’
NT schools have long faced resourcing issues – but the true extent of what that looks like in a remote context was revealed, with some teachers claiming prisoners received better treatment than students.
Stories of a single toilet for one student or mattresses crammed onto the floors of boarding schools shocked empathetic Territorians.
AEU NT branch president Michelle Ayres at the time said the department needed to be “listening from the ground up, rather than directing from the top down”.
“We’ve got everything set up to succeed, we just need the department to believe and invest in the quality of our people.”
Billion-dollar boost makes NT schools best resourced, teachers highest paid
The Territory was one of the first states to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement proposed by the federal government.
Signed in July, the bilateral agreement means public school students would be fully resourced by 2029 for the first time in NT history.
Previously, a report found every NT public school student’s education was underfunded by $8436 in 2024 and was projected to worsen each year.
The agreement was signed at the same time a new teacher pay deal was put forward by Territory Labor, which the CLP chose to uphold after the August election.
Education boss Karen Weston replaced post-election
As the CLP’s new ministry trickled in post-election, so did the new heads of departments.
Karen Weston – who served as the Education Department’s chief executive – was replaced by Susan Bowden in the reshuffle that saw the health and treasury bosses booted as well.
Ms Weston oversaw a number of major eduction reforms such as securing funding for NT public schools, scrapping the effective enrolment funding model, and phasing out middle schools.
CDU’s city campus opens its doors
CDU opened the doors to its city campus in October after more than five years of meticulous planning and construction.
Named Danala – the Larrakia word for dillybag, or a place to collect and store knowledge – the campus represented a new chapter for university life in the Territory.
It featured dozens of high-tech classrooms and booths, Library and Archives NT, as well as a mock court for would-be lawyers.
The campus welcomed it first intake of summer semester students on November 18.
Top 20 Territory students ATARs announced
As students finished up in the classroom for 2024, the Northern Territory’s top performing graduates were revealed in mid December.
This year 1447 Territory students received their Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET) – 78 more than last year.
This year’s top student was Samuel Ricketts of The Essington School. Samuel received an ATAR of 99.90.
Ramona Joan Dooley of St Philip’s College was the top performing Indigenous student.
She scored an ATAR of 92.30.
Paddy van der Geest-Hester of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was the highest scoring student from Alice Springs, with an ATAR of 99.40.
More Coverage
Originally published as 2024 in review: Biggest education stories in the Northern Territory
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