NT: NT turning around poor reading standards - Stirling
Northern Territory Education Minister SYD STIRLING says the territory is turning aroundAustralia's worst literacy rates among primary school students.
Only 65.3 per cent of year three students in the territory achieved reading benchmarksin 2000, trailing the rest of Australia which averaged 92.5 per cent.
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Mr STIRLING says the results reflect a high level of non-English speaking backgroundsof students in the territory plus long-standing problems in remote Aboriginal schools.
Mt STIRLING says the government doesn't shy away from the results of the report onliteracy and numeracy by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training andYouth Affairs.
se results; in fact we welcome them as disappointing as they appear to be because theydo give us a benchmark by which we can measure improvements and performance in the future."
Mr Stirling said implementing recommendations of former senator Bob Collins' 1999 report,which found remote Aboriginal education standards were falling, would reap measurableimprovements within three years.
Mr Collins blamed poor school attendance rates for literacy falling behind.
"Particularly in remote communities, environmental health and kids being continuouslysick with gastro-intestinal and ear infections is one of the primary reasons why kidsaren't attending school as often as they should," Mr Collins told ABC radio.
The Australian Education Union NT branch president Robert Laird said the eight-month-oldLabor government had yet to introduce incentives to keep teachers in the bush.
"When you have one, two or three or more teachers in a year, that's going to make adifference to your results because of the continuity in learning," Mr Laird said.
AAP RTV rmg
KEYWORD: LITERACY (DARWIN)
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