Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, and former Premier, Will Hodgman, today travelled to Huon High School to reflect on today’s 10 year anniversary of the election of the Liberals in 2014.
“Today marks 10 years since we were elected to Government,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said.
“As I reflect on how far Tasmanian has come under Liberal Governments, there is one policy that I am most proud of – and that’s our extension of all Tasmanian high schools.
“This is the single biggest improvement to education this generation, and as the Minister and now Premier who led the charge on this reform, it is by far my proudest achievement.
“As a result of this policy, in the past decade more than 7,500 young Tasmanians have studied year 11 and 12 at their local high school, who otherwise may not have done so.
“At one of the first extension schools in 2015, at Huonville High the percentage of students who achieved a TCE was 48 per cent a decade ago, and that’s at 67 per cent in the most recent stats.
“Across the board, retention from year 10 to year 12 has increased by six per cent and we’re now doing better than the national average, with 76.1 per cent compared with Australia at 73.5 per cent.
“This is not only transforming this generation of Tasmanians, it will continue to be transformative for generations to come.
“We have broken a generational cycle that entrenched disadvantage and unlocked all the opportunities that come with a good education.”
Former Premier, Will Hodgman, said that when the Liberals came to Government in 2014, Tasmania was the only State in the nation that didn’t offer years 11 and 12 in our high schools.
“It created a huge cultural misconception that when you finished year 10 that your education was done, and that was a huge disservice and disadvantage to Tasmanians,” Mr Hodgman said.
“It was worse still in regional Tasmania where even more young Tasmanians fell through the cracks, because distance or disadvantage were seemingly insurmountable barriers.
“We knew that Tasmanians deserved so much more. Tasmanians deserved every opportunity in the world, no matter where they lived or what their parent’s income was.
“So, over a decade ago we laid out a clear plan to extend very Tasmanian high school to year 11 and 12 by 2022 – and we delivered exactly that, 58 high schools extended.
“Now, every young Tasmanian – no matter where they live – can stay and study in their community, with more choice than ever before.”
