Dr Bruce Flegg
Member for Moggill

Queensland teachers will need more support, training and resources if they are to be ready for the introduction of the national curriculum, LNP Shadow Education & Training Minister Dr Flegg said today.

Dr Flegg said the Bligh Labor Government had provided little detail about what resources and professional development it would provide teachers to help them in the change over.

"The science curriculum calls for use of equipment in year 7 when most of our primary schools do not have science labs," he said.

"The maths curriculum is written for specialist maths teachers at grade 7 but will be taught in Queensland by primary school teachers.

"Queensland schools are already focussed heavily on trying to catch up in literacy and numeracy but will now be refocussed on committing to the national curriculum."

Dr Flegg said the Bligh Labor Government’s Green Paper on education barely mentions national curriculum.

"The Bligh Labor Government should by now have detailed proposals about how we will meet these challenges but instead they are strangely silent about how they can help our schools cope," he said.

"The LNP are not opposed in principle to a national curriculum but it is fraught with danger in Queensland if it isn’t rolled out properly.

"Queensland’s old State based system will undergo much more change than most.

"Unless our teachers in schools are well prepared with resources and professional assistance Queensland students could be disadvantaged when these changes take effect in 2011."