Demand for schools ‘being met’ in FNQ
THE Far North appears to be keeping pace with demand for primary schools, despite an extra 697 new primary schools needed Australia-wide to cope with unexpected demand.
The nation has already seen a 5 per cent increase in enrolments – an extra 200,000 pupils – across 9477 primary and secondary schools from 2014 to 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Last year, there were nearly four million students enrolled.
A News Corp analysis of national data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority showed Feluga State School had not only the lowest ratio of teachers to students in the Far North, but also the country.
Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates suggested the data was incorrect, as there were three teachers at Feluga’s school. However he said there had been an overall steady increase in student/teacher ratios across the state in the past four years, suggesting the Far North was not experiencing a school or teacher shortage.
“We’re comfortable with the notion that the resources that need to be allocated are being allocated,” he said.
The Federal Department of Education and Training has identified the need for 697 new primary schools, with the Queensland Government having its own forecast.
Mr Bates said regions like the Far North needed to benefit from a statewide focused school building program, to ensure the current rate of demand was being met.
“We need about 7000-9000 additional teachers (statewide) to actually cater for enrolments that we see in our state schools,” he said.
“That will require, literally, dozens of new schools to be built. It’s a thing where the government will need to be building new schools, every year at their current rate of 8-10 per year, just to keep pace with what they need.
“It’s not a moment for government to sit back and relax.”
Social researcher and demographer Mark McCrindle said smaller class sizes were widely thought to contribute to a better learning environment, allowing teachers to focus on individual students, but teacher quality was also important.
“Smaller class sizes can impact learning if they enable teachers to teach differently and give more individualised feedback to students to help them understand the material,” Mr McCrindle said.
Westcourt father-of-three Rollie Agcalao, whose children attend Parramatta State School, did not believe Cairns needed any more schools.
Mr Agcalao said he was happy with the size of his children’s classes, and there appeared to be plenty of choice of where they went to school.