PLANS to move Year 7 into secondary school would have enormous practical and financial implications for Catholic schools, the head of the Queensland Catholic Education Commission has warned.
QCEC executive director Mike Byrne said “it would simply not be possible to move year 7 into most Catholic secondary schools without significant government financial support, both capital and recurrent”.
“Virtually all Catholic secondary schools are operating at full capacity, so to accommodate an extra year level will require significantly more teaching spaces,” Mr Byrne said.
“The supply of specialist teachers, the additional operational costs of running a secondary model in year 7 with smaller classes and more subject options are just some of the other considerations.”
He said “only 26 of our 92 secondary colleges currently offer year 7 as part of their curriculum”.
Premier Anna Bligh recently announced the proposal as part of a new green paper titled A Flying Start for Queensland Children on proposed education reforms in Queensland.
Ms Bligh said in a February 2 radio interview complete implementation of the proposal was the government’s “preference and intention” by 2014 but that the government would invite feedback during a six-month consultation period.
The proposal, first flagged in 2003, would bring Queensland into line with most other states and territories ahead of the Federal Government’s plan to nationalise the curriculum and starting age of school children across the country.
Ms Bligh said now was the right time to make a decision.
“By 2014, because of the introduction of prep and the change to the entry age of schooling, children in our year 7 classrooms will have been in primary school for eight years and a number of them – the majority of them – will be turning 13 and on average they will be six months older than current year 7s,” she said.
Ms Bligh said for the plan to work it had to be taken up by all schools – “Catholic, independent and state” as had been done when prep year was introduced.
She estimated the cost of moving Year 7 to secondary school could be as much as $350 million.
Mr Byrne said it was too early to put a figure on the cost of the transition to the Catholic sector but “it would be significant”.
“Almost one in five Queensland children is educated in a Catholic school and we would be looking to the government to assist,” he said.
Mr Byrne said the Catholic sector was currently working through a detailed audit process to see exactly what work would need to be done at each school to cater for year 7.
“The sector also looks forward to discussion with government on the educational and social development rationale for moving year 7 into secondary or leaving it in primary,” he said.
“These should be the driving factors in any decision for change and there are a wide range of opinions on these issues.
“With changes afoot as the first prep cohort moves through the system and the national curriculum nears implementation, it is vital we continue to look at the different possibilities to best meet the needs of our students.
“We look forward to dialogue with government and our stakeholders in Catholic schools about all these issues.”
Around 132,000 or almost 1 in 5 Queensland children returned to one of 288 Catholic schools around the state for the 2010 school year.
