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Canberra schools face regular external audits

Friday, 1 Apr 2016 06:26:39

The changes aim to improve consistency in Canberra's education system. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

A new accountability framework will see Canberra schools audited every five years to ensure their performance meets ACT Government standards.

Education Minister Shane Rattenbury launched the new framework in a bid to provide more consistency in education across the territory.

He said schools would be reviewed at least every five years.

Targeted reviews would also be conducted when a school appeared to need extra support, when a school program performed well or to provide a "health check" with the appointment of a new principal.

Performance would be assessed against the nine key areas outlined by the National School Improvement Tool: analysis of data, school culture, use of resources, the teaching team, curriculum delivery, addressing the needs of individual students, pedagogy and community partnerships.

The reviews would also include a survey of parents, students and staff.

Spotlight on treatment of children with disabilities

Mr Rattenbury said the system provided more guidelines for treatment of children with a disability following an incident in which a boy with autism was placed in a cage at a Canberra school.

"It will certainly put a spotlight on that," he told 666 ABC Canberra.

A cage in which a boy with autism was kept at a Canberra school Photo: There will be more guidelines for treatment of children with disabilities after a boy with autism was placed in a cage. (Supplied)

"I think one of the real strengths of this approach is it has potential to provide a better measure of a school's performance than the NAPLAN performance.

"NAPLAN is a point in time measure of numeracy and literacy.

"But these sort of examinations of a school's performance will offer a much deeper analysis right across the board."

Audits not designed to create a 'league table' of schools

Mr Rattenbury said the move would help parents stay informed about their school's performance but was not about finding which was the best school.

"I don't want to get into some sort of league table in schools," he said.

"With a rolling program of around 20 schools being assessed a year, you're not going to sort of produce an annual table in that sense.

"What it will do is provide a clear framework in which a school will report against its own action plan."

But he said the changes would not increase bureaucracy in the education system.

"They are designed to streamline the process and make it simpler and more efficient for schools but also to give greater consistency," he said.

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