The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes the State Government’s proposed changes to primary school starting age, as recommended by TCCI’s Tasmania Report.
‘The 2015 Tasmania Report called for Tasmania’s Education Act to be updated to align with mainland Australian states,’ TCCI Chair Susan Parr said.
Tasmania has the highest school starting age of all the Australian States. This results in a larger proportion of Tasmanian students reaching the age at which they can legally leave school at a lower grade than in other parts of Australia.
‘By changing the Prep starting age to four years and six months, instead of five years, this will enable students to stay in school longer allowing them to learn more, and be more willing and able to acquire post-school qualifications,’ Ms Parr said.
The TCCI Tasmania Report states: a Tasmania where people learned more, worked more and earned more would still face economic and social problems and challenges, but it would be a Tasmania that had fewer problems and challenges than it does today—and it would have more resources to deal with the problems and challenges that it still faced.
Contact: TCCI Chair Susan Parr – 0417 563 405
Download a copy of the TCCI Tasmania Report here