1. What is your party's vision for science education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels?
2. What does your party think science is for?
3. What is the social purpose and significance of science and science education in Australia?
4. Given that 50% of the teaching population is within retirement age in the next 7 years, how would you encourage able recent graduates into science teaching?
5. How would you address declining enrolments in senior secondary and tertiary science studies?
6. Do you have any special plans for special programs targeting science education?
7. Should beginning science teachers pay a differential HECS to non-science teachers?
8. Given that 25% of beginning science teachers abandon plans to teach within 3 years of teacher training, how can we keep excellent teachers teaching?

The fundamental objective of science, technology and engineering policy is to advance the well-being and improve the quality of life of all Australians. Our standard of living is directly linked to productivity growth driven by technological innovation, which itself is the product of intellectual creativity, government support and private investment. Labor’s policy will strengthen the Australian science, technology and engineering base and recognise it as a fundamental cornerstone of economic and social growth. At the same time, our social policy objectives must take account of the significant impact of technological change on people and communities, and recognise that public support is a vital prior condition for legitimate scientific advancement.

Australia must capture a reasonable proportion of the intellectual property in those sectors in which we have an international comparative advantage. While innovation is the force that drives the spiral of research, investment, job creation and the formation of new wealth to fund further research, private sector firms depend on an appropriate level of public investment in basic research to provide the pool of qualified people and ideas which underpin that innovation. This requires a commitment by government to adequate funding for basic research, the infrastructure which supports it in universities and the funding of research grant bodies to ensure the opportunities are available for young people to consolidate their science-based research careers.

Labor’s Industry Policy for the New Century identifies target sectors such as biotechnology and communications as significant growth areas which build on our existing strengths. One of the most significant enabling technologies over the next decade will be biotechnology. The biotechnology revolution will be controlled by those who own the patents and who are able to licence the technology to others. A strong domestic base of leading edge research people, able to encourage new students and work with industry will be a critical component of our ability to capture a share of this economic and social benefit for Australia.

LABOR’S SCIENCE INITIATIVES

• A Science and Technology Policy Summit in the year 2000 to prepare a framework for policy into the new century. Further meetings will be held at 5 yearly intervals to ensure the national science policy focus is maintained in the context of social, economic and technological change. The Summit will also serve as a valuable means of securing public debate about science and raising public awareness of science as a cornerstone of economic and social policy as well as better informing the science community about public attitudes to science.
• A Molecular Biology Research Institute established in Adelaide. The establishment of this new research institute will ensure both a source of innovative basic research as well as opportunities for postgraduate training for young research staff.
• Labor will restore long term funding levels to the Australian Research Council (ARC). ARC funding is the lifeblood of basic research in Australia - it funds the acquisition of new knowledge through basic research across all major disciplines.
• Labor will lift the R&D tax concession to 150%.
• A Beazley Labor Government will earmark a fixed proportion of the taxpayers’ share of Telstra’s future yearly dividend to a dedicated Telstra Reward Fund, to be used for science and technology.

Education

Education needs to be valued, first and foremost, for its contribution to good citizenship and the ideals of a good society. Indeed, nothing matters more to Australia and its future than the education of its people. With the changing nature of work and production, education has become one of the dividing lines between the economic winners and the economic losers in our society. The labour market has moved decisively in favour of highly skilled workers, and away from those without skills. This gives the public sector a new role in the basic fairness of our society. Labor is determined to give all Australians access to the possibilities of new work and wealth in the new information-based economy— irrespective of their family background and income.

EDUCATION INITIATIVES

• $1.4 billion to be committed over the term of a Beazley Government to repair the damage caused to Australia’s education system by the Howard Government.
• Develop a new, needs-based schools funding system as part of Labor’s $755 million expansion of the schools sector.
• Provide an extra $90 million to the Schools Equity Program in disadvantaged areas, including new Parents as Educators and Homework Centre initiatives.
• Provide $50 million over 3 years to a Professional Development Program for Teachers, with an emphasis on the training of teachers in new learning technologies.
• Implement a literacy program which will require each classroom to spend no less than two hours a day on literacy and numeracy through the early years of primary school.

• Provide $110 million over 3 years in increased university operating grants which could fund up to 5,100 fully-funded student places.
• Abolish upfront undergraduate fees for Australian undergraduates.
• Progressively increase the HECS repayment threshold. Long-term alternatives to possibly replace HECS with a different students contribution scheme which might prove fairer, such as that suggested by the National Union of Students, will only be considered as part of Labor’s Inquiry into Life-long Learning.
• Commit $50 million over 3 years to establish an Innovation Fund to assist Australia’s post-secondary sector respond to the challenges of internationalisation of education services. The new National Innovation Fund will seek to secure international best practice in the development of new learning technologies in Australia. The focus will be on flexible forms of education delivery, especially the developments in software for interactive services.
• Provide additional funding to the Australian Research Council.

• Provide $60 million in the first term of a Beazley Government for new computer and Internet access terminals in Australia’s libraries, homework centres and other local community centres.

Labor will implement two specific programs:

1. Parents as Educators: —to help parents positively influence their children’s education. Parents can be effective educators at home. However, some parents do not have sufficient skills themselves to help their children with their schoolwork. Labor’s Parents as Educators Scheme will provide opportunities for interested parents to boost their literacy and numeracy skills and gain knowledge of their childrens’ curriculum. Where necessary, schools will be able to employ mentors, such as retired teachers, to assist families in the program.

2. Homework Centres: —to trial the use of local facilities, including sporting clubs, and local role models to encourage disadvantaged students to value and participa e in education. These centres will offer students a positive environment for study, as well as access to facilities, such as computers and the Internet.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS

Labor will provide $50 million over the next three years to a new Professional Development Program for Teachers. An essential part of improving teaching and learning in schools is the availability of professional learning opportunities for teachers to enhance and update their skills. Teachers need to constantly update their skills in both the theory and practice of teaching, especially during a period of rapid development of information technology. Labor’s Professional Development Program for Teachers will:

• focus on training teachers in new learning technologies; and
• introduce sabbatical leave for teachers who have accumulated 20 years of service.

The sabbatical leave will provide the opportunity for long serving teachers to renew their skills, enthusiasm and understanding of new learning methods. Further, Labor will work with the States and key stakeholders to develop a self-funded model for the national registration of teachers. This initiative will help protect the integrity of the profession, plus enhance public confidence in the schools system.

Responses are selections from the ALP policy statements on Education and on Science provided by Rob Wootton Chief of Staff For Kelvin Thompson MP (Wills)