Dr WOODRUFF – I’ll just make the point that being concerned is not the same thing as making a commitment, and that won’t cut it when it comes to the proper funding that’s needed for students. The government has received funding from the Better Schools funding agreement today. It’s contingent on initiatives that support wellbeing for learning, including students having greater access to mental health professionals and initiatives to strengthen teacher and school leader wellbeing. In your response to Estimates on Monday, we heard that there are 2217 students in Tasmania waiting, on average, more than a year for an intervention from a school psychologist. There’s not a cent that’s been budgeted to recruit and retain more allied health professionals in schools. How do you intend to meet the requirement of the ‘better schools’ funding agreement?
Ms PALMER – All government schools and child and family learning centres have access to professional support staff, which includes school psychologists, social workers and speech and language pathologists. These specialists play a vital role in our schools by helping students to learn, to join in at school and to build wellbeing and resilience for the best outcomes.
Over the last decade, our government has employed record numbers of staff across the education workforce and this includes increasing the overall number of professional support staff on the ground, providing direct support to children and young people by 59.85 FTE. Now, the way our professional support staff workforce is allocated and managed across the department is complex and I will pass to the acting secretary.
Ms BURGESS – Thank you, minister. The increase in the professional support staff and that increase that’s occurring over time and across the forward Estimates will help reduce those wait times for children and young people. But let’s be clear, we operate in a triage system, so when we have information around children and young people and what they need, our professional support staff work to ensure that those children have the supports that they need to engage in their learning.
Professional support staff are one element of that work. We have wellbeing teams in schools that make sure that the students in their school are triaged and that they have the supports that they need and that we broker in the need for those students so that they are well supported and can learn.
We have inclusive practice coaches, whose job it is to make sure that those children and young people are included in the learning, included in the classrooms and that they’ve got the behavioural sports that they might need. In addition to that, the levels of funding that have gone into trauma and students with a disability has meant that there are more staff in schools that are supporting our children and young people to make sure that they get what they need to be known and safe and well in the context of learning.
Dr WOODRUFF – Well, thank you, minister, for that explanation but the fact is that there are over 2200 students who are not getting those needs met because they are not able to access school psychologists. Waiting for more than a year on average is not support, so while the government has put more money in, you have not put a red cent more in this Budget into recruiting and retaining allied health professionals such as school psychologists. You haven’t, and you’re not meeting the need.
Do you accept that you’re not meeting the need and that you actually have done nothing in this Budget to shift the dial for those average 2200 students?
Ms PALMER – I disagree with the way that you have worded your question, which I think will just be probably repeated through much of the day. Can I just quickly correct the record on the opening comment that I made in answering your question? I think I said this includes increasing the overall number of professional support staff on the ground providing direct support to children and young people by 59.85 FTE. It’s 79. My apologies, I didn’t realise I had read that wrong.
There’s a couple of things here, we know that we have issues with workforce shortages, so recruitment of professional support staff certainly remains a challenge in an environment of national shortages, with Tasmanian recruitment campaigns ongoing and a number of selection processes recently finalised.
Through our 2024-25 State Budget, we are continuing to provide support for this workforce and funding of 20 new scholarships for the next generation of speech and language pathologists and psychologists in Tasmania. The funding is in addition to the nine scholarships already available for speech pathology for 2024.
I can confirm that our 2024-25 Budget includes funding of $9.76 million over 2024-25 and the forward Estimates to continue the investment in our 2023-24 Budget commitment for an additional 20 FTE professional support staff positions, the 2022 Allied Health Professionals Agreement, including additional recruitment and retention initiatives such as increased remuneration, enhanced career pathways and more flexible work arrangements. Further recruitment initiatives have included the creation of promotable positions between base-grade and senior levels and the development of graduate recruitment pathways.
In addition, a speech pathology qualification commenced at UTAS in July 2022, which will also boost the recruitment pipeline over the longer term.
The scholarships that we have put forward that are part of this current budget process are for students who are in their final year of an accredited speech pathology university course or who expect to complete all requirements of their course by mid 2025. Psychology students, they must be in their fifth year of an accredited 5+1 internship or in their second year of an accredited masters pathway to registration program at an Australian university and expect to complete their course in 2024.
Successful applicants will be provided with $25,000 across their scholarship term to contribute towards university course costs. They will be offered secure employment with the Tasmanian government for a minimum of three years. The scholarship placements are offered across Tasmania and we have a real focus on those regional areas.
I should also state the wellbeing and the learning needs of our students, it is our highest priority. We’re really aware that students have to be in a frame of mind where they’re in a good place that they are able to learn and, as has already been stated by the acting secretary, there’s that effective triaging that actually ensures that students with those serious or complex needs are actually able access student support services in a timely manner.
