The Australian Education Union has used a state government-commissioned report to implore for an urgent audit on the rollout of year 11 and 12 in state high schools.
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The union said the Australian Council for Educational Research review of the program stated the move was not value for money.
Peta-Maree Revell-Cook called on the Liberals to rethink their blanket policy of extending college course to all state-run high schools, saying an audit would ensure there was no duplication on services offer in established state colleges
“The ACER review concluded that turning every high school into an extension school was not viable in Tasmania, incurring huge cost with little benefit,” she said.
The report pointed out in some high schools with extensions, there seemed to be a misalignment between course offerings and local employment opportunities.
It said there was a low proportion of high school teachers who believed they had the necessarily qualifications to teach year 11 and 12 classes.
The report said it should be noted that more Tasmanian teenagers were transitioning to college from high school that had been in the past.
“The introduction of Extension High Schools in the government sector, as a way of broadening curriculum offerings and to therefore improve the attendance … is a resource-intensive option, that may have low impact,” the report read.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff accused the union of fighting Labor’s political battles on the extension program rather than fighting for the best interests of students.
"Over the last four years, we have seen stronger partnerships develop between colleges and high schools and this positive collaboration will continue,” he said.
If re-elected, the government has committed to funding the extension of 19 more high schools to year 12 to add to the 38 schools that offer extended courses.
Labor opposes further extensions, claiming they would crippled the state’s college system, and supports an audit of the extension program.