Education Minister Mark Monaghan welcomes Families as First Teachers milestone

The Territory’s newly-minted education minister has touched on his plans for NT schools on his first day in the role and welcomed a major early learning milestone.

The Families as First Teachers program has marked a major milestone as the NT welcomes its newest education minister.

Mark Monaghan said the program marked its most successful year on record since launching in 2009.

Across 55 centres in the NT, 2647 students were enrolled in the program, and 52 per cent of the FaFT workforce were Aboriginal employees.

Education Minister Mark Monaghan talks about the impressive year the Families As First Teachers (FaFT) program had in 2023 on his first day in the portfolio. Picture: Sierra Haigh

Mr Monaghan said the FaFT programs focused on building relationship between children, their families, and education.

“(That is) why we see more families and more communities’ involved each year,” he said.

“Delivering quality early learning for children and parent support programs across our regions provides the basis for a good start to life.

“The results announced today are a testament to the hard work of the Territory Labor Government, the Department of Education and all school staff – together we will change lives through the FaFT program.”

Mark Monaghan at the swear-in ceremony with the Chief Administrator Honourable Hugh Heggie at Government House, December 2023. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

It comes as Mr Monaghan prepares to tackle a range of issues in the education sector, including underfunding.

The NT is currently underresourced by about $8000 per student in public schools, but Mr Monaghan said he would continue leaning on the NT government’s relationship with federal Education Minister Jason Clare to rectify the problem.

“We’ve got a very sound argument and they agree with us around needs-based (funding),” he said.

“I’ll be able to argue intimately about that because I’ve seen it first-hand and I see the benefit of it... it’s about getting families out of poverty.”