Bourke has “four clear goals” for the future of the ACT education system.

“First, I want not just to have the best system in Australia, but the best in the world,” he says.

“Secondly, I want more high-performance maths students, because we know these are students who will be going on to things like engineering, information technology, medicine and science, which are real growth areas for us as a community and economy.

“Thirdly, I want better vocation into educational training. Not just because we have skills shortages in those traditional areas, but also in that late high school area, which would be better with a focused vocational training pathway… than still floundering in that national obsession about Year 12 being completed and going off to university.

“Finally, to close the gap in indigenous education. Each one of those goals directly relates to the policies we put out… and that’s an articulation of a vision.”

So far, Labor has committed $70 million for school infrastructure in the ACT, with other key promises including $1.7 million for a student-focused Mt Stromlo Science Centre and Planetarium, $45 million for a new primary school at Coombs in the Molonglo Valley and $4 million for professional development for teachers.

Bourke says the party will push for a funding model that takes into account not only the initial recommendations of the Gonski Review, but also the need for a funding metric that goes beyond standardised testing for students.

However, the Liberal education spokesman, Steve Doszpot, says there isn’t enough focus on special-needs students, parents and “undervalued” teachers in today’s education system.

“In the special-needs area, we’ve got a lot of very good teachers who come through the system, but they get to the classroom situation and they find they are really challenged by what they face,” he says.

“I think it would help our overall success rate in schools if we were able to develop a professional plan for these teachers in schools to understand all the areas they have to contend with once they get to class, so that’s one of our priorities.

“Secondly, in terms of professional development overall, it’s very important we give teachers who have been working in the system for quite a while, more opportunity for professional development so they can gain skills, retrain in some areas, and it’s very important we do that.”

Doszpot says one of the party’s policies is to “double the amount of money that’s available for teachers for professional development.”

“I think we need to value our teachers more – they do a very dedicated job,” he says.

“The other thing I think we need to address – and how we can make our education system better overall – is to try and engage with the parents more as well.

“I think it’s very important for us to show parents that while the schools are there to educate their children, parents have a part to play as well.”

The Canberra Liberals have promised to spend an extra $36 million to fund government school upgrades and have pledged to expand teacher training, introduce an independent education commissioner and increase school counsellors to target bullying.

The party has also promised to build Canberra’s first autism school, for up to 40 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) aged between two and a half and six years.

Doszpot remains concerned with the Gonski Review, saying there is a lack of funding for non-government schools in the ACT.

“We want to bring non-government school funding in the ACT on par with NSW funding levels,” he says.

“At the moment, just 40 per cent of funds go to non-government schools. Our jurisdiction is the lowest funding to the non-government sector. So that just doesn’t seem to make sense.

“If Gonski was to be instituted, it would affect a lot of non-government schools, it would also affect government schools, I think 77 per cent would be affected, and there is a possibility of school closures.”

Bourke has denied that there will be any school closures, saying he “won’t be signing up for any agreement that disadvantages ACT schools.”