Sunday 21 May 2006

Thursday - Friday 25 - 26 May

Saturday - Sunday 27 - 28 May


Sunday 21 May 2006

• The Sunday Times
  
  

  • An opinion from retired Associate Professor Steve Kessell, Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Curtin University
    

    Let's call a spade a spade
    
    "It is time for the curriculum council, the education department, the education minister and the premier to stop misleading the public. The teachers who oppose OBE are not a handful of trouble-makers and ratbags. As shown by votes (where they were allowed) at recent professional development sessions, the overwhelming majority of year 11 and 12 teachers believe the new courses are not ready. A great many believe they never will be ready. These new courses share (at least) two fatal flaws.

    "Firstly, there is no curriculum. Teachers are expected to develop their own to illustrate the listed outcomes. This will invite a least common denominator, one size fits all, approach. Learning about the sociology of the cosmetic industry is not real chemistry, discussing whether air bags should be mandatory is not real physics, and movie posters are not real literature. Students continuing on to university, TAFE or the workforce will be disadvantaged seriously. A “culturally-sensitive curriculum” borders on nonsense. Some cultures have no numbers larger than 20, and at least one recognises only “one, two and many”. Shall we teach mathematics on this basis?

    "Secondly, the “levels” proposed to measure student achievement are meaningless, edu-babble drivel. If you take a Level 5 descriptor, and add words such as “regularly, independently and fully”, you now have a Level 6 descriptor. Level 6 will get your daughter into university, but Level 5 won’t. No matter how conscientious the teacher, her subjective view of how regularly, independently and fully your daughter (one of her 120 students) performs can mean university acceptance or denial. This is totally unfair to the parent, the student and the teacher.
    

    "The minister and the curriculum council are disingenuous when they compare the proposed WA OBE courses to those in NSW. In NSW, every course has a detailed syllabus – the one for their equivalent of “maths, chance and data” is 83 pages long. The WA equivalent in 3 pages of notes for teachers – beyond that, teachers are expected to “wing it” as they go ! Furthermore, NSW uses traditional grades, not the Mickey-Mouse levels proposed here. There really is no comparison.

    "As a retired university professor and course coordinator, I appreciate how difficult it is to determine a university cut-off even with TEE results; with OBE, it will be impossible. I also anticipate university courses will need to be extended an extra year to compensate for students’ poor preparation. Is this what we want for our children?"
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times
    

Thursday - Friday, 25 - 26 May

• Turntable music 'equal' to violins
  
  "A DRAMA teacher who does not play a musical instrument and believes turntables and computers are musical instruments is the co-ordinator of Western Australia's new music course.

  "State Curriculum Council arts framework officer Christine Adams said yesterday that music-producing machines such as turntables and computers were equal to the piano or violin.

  "Sales of turntables are way outstripping sales of guitars," Ms Adams said.

  "In this course, the status of all instruments is equal and the turntable is one of them."
  
  "But the course for Years 11 and 12 students, revealed in The Australian yesterday, was condemned by one of Australia's leading music educators and conductors, Richard Gill, who described it as "educational double-speak and claptrap".

  "It could just as easily be the curriculum for cooking as music," said Mr Gill, a former dean of the West Australian Conservatorium of Music. "

  Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19248312-13881,00.html
  
  

• Music course a tragedy: expert
  
  "THE new music course to be introduced in Western Australia next year is "the most tragic and misguided approach to teaching music" that the dean of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has ever seen.

  "Kim Walker, who has worked in the US and Europe and is one of the world's most celebrated bassoonists, likened the course to expecting athletes to win Olympic gold without any training...

  "Music teachers in the state have criticised the course and two high school heads of music yesterday said they would quit if the course were implemented next year..."
  
  Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19259695-13881,00.html
  
  

• The Australian Newspaper Editorial
  Dum-dum-dum down: WA's new music curriculum hits all the wrong notes
  
  "MUSIC education is the latest casualty of Western Australia's misguided foray into the world of outcomes-based education. The state's new music curriculum will no longer require students to learn to play an instrument, and rap songs backed by downloaded music will be considered perfectly acceptable come exam time. Long-time music teachers are aghast at a plan that threatens to make Western Australia "a laughing stock". But as The Australian reports today, those involved with the new course admit that all instruments will be treated equally – even turntables and computers – and complain about the Western focus of the old curriculum. As with so much of outcomes-based education – which has become so controversial in Western Australia that the federal Government has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in funding if introduction of the new curriculum is not delayed – music lessons will now be more concerned with theory and sociology than actual skills.
  
  "Sadly for the state's students, music is not the only area to suffer under outcomes-based theory, which seeks to turn every subject into a subset of sociology. Under the proposed new curriculum, physics students will be asked to debate the ethics of airbags, while chemistry students will discuss the cosmetics industry. English students will not be required to read a book, spell, or demonstrate their ability to write continuous prose. Needless to say, failure is not an option under the new curriculum: in a system where everyone is allowed to achieve at their own pace, it is impossible not to pass. This will translate into terrible wake-up calls for many students whom outcomes-based education will allow to coast by, on the rationale that they are being prepared for the "real world". The fact is, the state's new curriculum does anything but. Musicians who can't play instruments, engineers who can't get complex maths problems right and just about anyone who can't string a sentence of correct, standard English together will find the job market a cruel place indeed. At the rate Western Australia is going, its music students will be lucky if they graduate knowing how to play anything more than an iPod."
  
  From The Australian Newspaper http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19245877-7583,00.html [scroll down a bit]
  
  
  

Saturday - Sunday, 27 - 28 May 2006

• Extracts from Liam Bartlett's comment piece
  The Sunday Times, 28 May 2006

  THE FANTASY'S OVER, RAVLICH

  "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich is looking dangerously like Shrek.

  "Under the pretence of the "brave knight" routine, she continues to ride headlong through a fireball of discontent in order to supposedly rescue a hapless princess, which turns out to be an unpopular school system that nobody in control of their faculties wants to see saved.

  "By the time she is unmasked as a mercenary ogre, it is too late. Her kingdom is full of history students who don't know what happened at Gallipoli, English students who know more about Eminem than Shakespeare, and music students who can't play a tune on a tin whistle.

  "How can she possibly fix this fantasy gone wrong?

  "Well she could start by paying back from her own pocket the $ 19,896.78 that taxpayers have already been forced to spend on full-page advertisements that totally misrepresent how well outcomes-based education has served WA students.

  "This propaganda is based on data that is statistically unsuitable for its use in comparing WA with other countries and states and is, in many examples, factually incorrect.

  "In attempting to defend its position, the minister's department has placed some countries behind WA's performance when they should be ahead, and put others below when there is no real, discernible difference.

  "Associate Prof Richard Berlach, who heads the school of education at Notre Dame University, put it best when he said the ads 'cause me, as an educator, considerable national and international embarrassment'...

  "Still, the minster and the Premier ride on, unbowed by the criticism, or the ranks of anguished teachers, or the concerned parents who, in some instances, are reduced to attending their local primary school for "comprehension sessions" to hear an explanation of their child's Year 1 report card.

  "Are these the signs of a sane system?

  "The Premier counters by claiming that every other state has OBE. Superficially, he's right, but the reality is quite different.

  "In real terms, it is applied in WA schools in a manner unique to this state. Indeed, the anti-OBE teachers' lobby PLATO claims this is the only place in the world that uses a "level" system, exclusively for Years 1-10.

  "It's all part of the confusion, the double-speak and nebulous mish-mash that have been a hallmark of OBE since the beginning.

  "The public spotlight is now focused on the act of trying to apply its vague meanderings to a more rigid upper-school curriculum.

  "That is why we are now hearing of Year 12 physics students who are required to comment on the 'ethics of making airbags compulsory' or chemistry students who are asked to analyse 'the relationship between attitudes, values, beliefs and chemical knowledge to account for the development of the cosmetics industry over time'.

  "Not to mention the English exam that contains no mention of books and allows students to answer in dot points and diagrams.

  "It's all terrific if you want to graduate in existential sociology and live in a Tibetan monastery, but as some scientists and engineers in the real world have observed, some answers need to be either right or wrong, lest bridges collapse or planes fall out of the sky...."

  "As Prof Berlach puts it: "The death of knowledge occurs when the evidence of learning becomes more important than the learning itself."
  
  

• Delaying OBE is the best course
  The Sunday Times Editorial
  
  "Whatever the rights or wrongs of outcomes-based education, the State Government deserves a bad fail mark for its efforts to sell the controversial changes to teachers and parents.
  
  "This major dispute has now reached ludicrous proportions, with students, the ones who matter most, caught in the middle. They must wonder if their education bosses know what they're doing.
  
  "To her discredit, Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich's refusal to compromise on her decision to fast-track 17 OBE courses for Year 11 students next year has brought the education system to the cusp of chaos..."
  
  "For months, teachers and parents have voiced their anger and frustration about the extension of OBE to Years 11 and 12 – the most crucial years for students.

  "But Ms Ravlich continues to reject calls, including those from federal Education Minister Julie Bishop to slow down the process... [Ravlich's] shameless politicking is nothing more than an attempt to deflect genuine criticism of her proposals and the way she wants to bring them in...."
  
  "Ms Ravlich should show some real leadership by swallowing her pride... If she doesn't, her stubbornness could seriously undermine the confidence of parents and students in what, in general terms, has been an effective public and private schools education system."
  
  Full article in The Sunday Times at http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,19279234%255E15470,00.html
  
  

• Parents pleased with OBE delay call

"Parent groups have welcomed a directive from the State School Teachers Union of Western Australia that teachers who are not ready to implement the new OBE courses next year should not..."

"The Western Australian Council of State School Organisations (WACSSO), which represents parents, says OBE should not be introduced if it creates problems.

"WACSSO acting president Kylie Catto says parents want to know that students will get the best deal and she believes teachers are delaying the courses in the interest of their pupils."

Full article in ABC News Online at http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1648834.htm

• Teachers in line of fire over boycott
  

  "The West Australian Government has threatened to empty entire high school departments of rebellious teachers who are refusing to implement its new-age gradeless curriculum.

"The State School Teachers Union yesterday made good its threat to boycott the 17 new subjects in a range of government high schools next year, issuing a directive to faculties to treat the new courses as voluntary.

"The union representing private school teachers pledged to do the same, creating a dilemma for the Carpenter Government as it attempts to roll out the controversial new courses in all high schools next year."

Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19270493-13881,00.html

• Article on the front page of The West Australian also notes:
  

  "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier applauded the union for standing up to Ms Ravlich but said it should call for a total ban. "To have one or two doing a course of study and another set of schools doing another course . . . you've got different assessment procedures, different syllabus, it just doesn't work," he said."
  
  Full article in the West Australian newspaper at http://www.thewest.com.au/20060527/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto134281.html
  
  

• A Failure of Curriculum Development
  A retired university lecturer in curriculum development examines the flaws in the proposed WA year 11-12 OBE courses.
  
  "To this observer (a retired university lecturer), it appears that these courses were developed by a bunch of trendy, politically-correct pseudo-academics, with inadequate knowledge of teaching, learning, assessment and course development..."
  
  "If a trainee teacher developed such a course for her university "curriculum development" assignment, she would flunk."
  
  Click here for the full article
  

 

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This page last updated 14 August, 2008 1:01 AM