Survey says no sign of education revolution
5th September, 2012
Wide Bay residents are not convinced that Australia is doing all it should to deliver a better education system for our young people, Federal Member for Wide Bay, Warren Truss said today. Commenting on the results of Wide Bay’s Biggest Survey which canvassed local views on key community issues, Mr Truss said the questions on education produced some of the strongest responses to the survey.
“93% of participants in the survey said that greater emphasis should be placed in the school curriculum on basic skills, such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Only 4% disagreed.
“79% supported greater emphasis on the teaching of Australian history at school and 62% thought school students should complete compulsory community service as a part of their education, 22% said no.”
Mr Truss said he was worried by the survey finding that 76% of respondents were concerned about bullying in schools.
“This is an alarming statistic and one which education authorities must address as a priority,” Mr Truss said.
53% of those participating in the survey said that the details of the performance of schools should be made public, with 33% against.
Free university education for all was supported by 50% of the survey respondents with 35% against.
Mr Truss said overwhelmingly the survey respondents believe that the Federal Government has failed to deliver on its education revolution promise.
“The survey reveals that people think there is more to delivering a quality education experience than providing overpriced, debt funded assembly halls and broken promises to provide every school student with a computer.
“Only 5% of respondents believe that the government has delivered its education revolution promise with 68% saying it had not.
“Even though the Government will not connect any premises in the Wide Bay electorate for at least four years to NBN optic fibre cable, 50% of the respondents to the survey said they were satisfied with the internet speeds available in their home (38% were not). Interestingly, 65% said they were not prepared to pay anything extra to get high speed broadband. 31% were prepared to pay an extra $20 per month, 3% would pay $40 per month and only 1% would pay $60 per month.”
