Average class sizes information secret

What is the government covering up on class sizes? asks JENNIFER LEETE.

In November 2002 the Department of Education and Training (DET) produced for the then Minister John Watkins a 12 page report on the 2002 class sizes audit. This was the first official report on class sizes in NSW public schools to be published since 1997. The report provided a lot of detail, including a breakdown of average class sizes across K-6 in PP6 schools through to PP1 schools.

The report was produced while Federation's campaign, as part of the Public Education Alliance, to achieve smaller class sizes K-3 was at full swing. Federation had an important victory when both major political parties went to the electorate with policies to reduce class sizes, albeit neither of them strictly in accordance with the union's policy.

One seemingly significant part of the ALP policy commitment was that they would "conduct an annual audit of class sizes to be reported in the Department of Education and Training's annual report".

After the election, DET established a Class Sizes Advisory Committee, including representatives of Federation, Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations and primary principal organisations to provide advice on the implementation of the class size reduction program. Federation is represented on this committee by Federation Vice President Chris Goudkamp, of Murwillumbah Public School, and myself.

Federation's committee representatives asked that the results of the 2003 audit and the 2004 audit be provided to the committee. They were eventually provided with copies of a page from DET's 2003 annual report. The detail is scant. It shows only average class size K-6 across all NSW government schools.

Federation's committee representatives then asked for the same breakdown that was provided in 2002 of average class sizes across K-6 in PP6--PP1 schools. They expected the information would be provided at the June 8 meeting, but instead were told by a poker faced DET officer "that information is Cabinet-in-Confidence".

What does this mean? Theoretically, that the documents were prepared for the consideration of the Cabinet of the NSW Government. In practical terms it means that a practice which is widely used in Carr Government ministries has been applied. You see, Cabinet-in-Confidence documents cannot be obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) provisions. Journalists from both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph frequently seek government documents under FOI provisions, and this is the Carr Government's way of obstructing them.

It's widely said by journalists that the Carr Government is one of the most secretive NSW has had. But what is there to be kept secret about class sizes in NSW?

One must assume the information is detrimental to the Government's interests. Perhaps it shows the folly of focussing on "average" class sizes. Perhaps it shows that while average class sizes in PP5-6 schools have dropped, averages in PP1s have increased? Perhaps it shows that while averages in K-2 have dropped, averages in 3-6 have increased? We can't know unless Federation conducts its own audit.

Jennifer Leete is the Deputy President.

For further information

June 2004 contents