NSW's strategy to close Indigenous education gap

30 May 2012, 4:31 pm   -   Source: AAP

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says paying a $200,000 salary to a select group of school principals will benefit indigenous communities.

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Salaries over $200,000 are needed to attract the very best principals to run schools in troubled indigenous communities, NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says.

The government has unveiled a plan for 15 executive principals to be paid $55,000 more than what is presently paid to the heads of the state's largest high schools.

They would be put on five-year contracts with performance benchmarks, and be directly answerable to the director-general of the Department of Education.

Mr Piccoli said the strategy would be an Australian first.

"We recognise that to get the leaders that we want in that school, we have to pay a salary higher than would otherwise be determined by the number of students," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"We do need bold action when it comes to improving the performance of Aboriginal students across schools in NSW."

Cindy Berwick, the president of the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, said remote communities wanted the most talented principal who could overhaul a troubled school.

"It's actually not about the money either," she told reporters.

"It's about the skills, their knowledge and their understanding that a leader of a school has to be able to make change for the betterment of Aboriginal people."

Brian Debus, the principal of Menindee Central School in western NSW, said a higher salary wouldn't necessarily stop principals leaving after a short time.

"I don't think there's any guarantees but I would hope that the process would find the very best people who want to be there," he told reporters.

"I didn't go for the money and there are a lot of people within our system and beyond who would relish the challenge and it's a great, great opportunity."

Watch Katrina Yu's report on YouTube:

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