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Breaking
News: Week of 29 May 2006
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Monday 29 May 2006
Tuesday 30 May
Wednesday 31 May
Thursday 1 June
Friday 2 June
Saturday - Sunday 3 - 4 June
- Teachers threaten walkout over OBE [front page, The West Australian]
"The State Government's outcomes-based education crisis deepened yesterday when teachers' unions warned that threats to force rebellious teachers into lower grades would see a mass walkout and a chronic shortage of teachers for Years 11 and 12.
"The State School Teachers Union and Independent Education Union said the Government could never make good its threat to ban teachers from upper-secondary school because there were insufficient qualified teachers to replace them."The SSTU has directed members to refuse to implement OBE unless they felt the courses were ready and were confident about how the scheme would be taught and assessed. The Independent Education Union has pledged to do the same. SSTU president Mike Keely said he did not believe Alan Carpenter or Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich would be stupid enough to sack teachers who refused to teach 17 new OBE courses to Year 11 students from next year.
""We would have them in the Industrial Relations Commission before you could say anything . . . can you imagine how other teachers are going to react if people are sacked for following a union directive?" he said.
"But the Premier and Ms Ravlich say they will not back down by delaying the introduction of OBE, meaning the Government will either have to watch while many teachers disobey its orders or sack them..."
"Yesterday, Mr Keely said parents would be outraged if the Government ordered principals to move experienced teachers out of upper school courses and replaced them with inexperienced ones.
""It's a baseless threat . . . there is a shortage of qualified, experienced teachers in Year 11 and 12 at the moment," he said. "If they take punitive action against a teacher, and moving them to lower school is a deliberate punitive action, then we would take further action.""
Full article in The West Australian at http://www.thewest.com.au/20060529/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto134283.html
- Pay rise offer not a 'bribe' for teachers: Carpenter
Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter denies an offer of a pay rise for teachers is aimed at settling the dispute over the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) system.The Government has offered teachers a pay rise of between nine and 13.5 per cent over two years, and the State School Teachers Union has recommended its members accept the offer...
Union president Mike Keely says just because the union is happy with the pay offer does not mean it will change its stance on OBE..."
Full article in ABC News Online at http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1650265.htm
- Differing seniors' curriculum "chaotic"
Catholic schools in Western Australia are warning there would be chaos in the education system under a union proposal for schools to teach different curriculums in years 11 and 12 next year.
The State Government is determined to start the outcomes-based education (OBE) system in senior levels next year.
The State School Teachers Union has directed its members to refuse to teach OBE unless they felt the courses were ready, meaning some schools could be teaching it in years 11 and 12 and others would not.
Director of Catholic education in WA Ron Dullard says it would be too chaotic if that were to happen.
"That's why it would be better to have subjects that are ready to be totally introduced, rather than a mish-mash of some introduced by some people and not introduced by others," he said.
Mr Dullard says parents should realise that OBE is a fantastic education system that has operated successfully in primary schools and lower secondary school since 1998
Full article in ABC News Online at http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1649644.htm
- TV evening news, all networks, 6 pm
Premier Alan Carpenter
- "I don't intend to be spooked by the concerns that people have."
Labor MLA Mick Murray (who urged delaying the new courses in today's West Australian)
- "I don't speak for my colleagues... They told me to SHUT UP !"
Follow-up article in 4 June Sunday Times: Don't gag us -- Labor MP
Director General of Education and Training Paul Albert
- [all will be well, we've fixed... we're fixing everything...]
- The West Australian front page "Wanted Poster" © The West Australian newspaper
- English teachers join growing OBE uproar
by Bethany Hiatt, Ben Spencer, Simon Penn and Robert Taylor, The West Australian, page 8
"English teachers who have been working under the outcomes-based education system for four months yesterday joined the uproar over the controversial scheme, saying they should not have to apply it next year... those who taught the OBE scheme this year said the Government should abandon its plan to apply it to all Year 12 English students next year.
"Thirteen members of Applecross Senior High School's English department voted unanimously to delay the Year 12 English course after encountering huge problems with the Year 11 course this year.
"Teachers from other schools have asked the State School Teachers Union and the Independent Education Union about similar delays.
"Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich refused to comment yesterday..."
"...English teachers warned that this year's experience showed Education Department support was of little use and said the union directive to boycott OBE should be extended to Year 12 English..."
Greg Williams, president of teachers' lobby group PLATO, said he could see no prospect of the courses being ready in time.
"It doesn't matter what they do, the system is fundamentally inoperable," he said.
"Yesterday, Collie-Wellington MLA Mick Murray became the first Labor MP to break ranks over OBE.
"Most Labor backbenchers refused to comment, but Mr Murray conceded the issue had been harmful.
"It certainly is tough and maybe it's time for all the parties to take a deep breath, go back to the table and say what are your major concerns and have a look at it again, but certainly don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," he said."[follow-up]
Full story in The West Australian
- 5 Letters to the Editor condemning OBE
The West Australian, page 16
- "So many teachers, concerned parents and students believe the outcomes-based education system is not appropriate for our younger generation, yet Ms Ravlich continues to endorse it. Maybe the education system needs a new minister."
Doug Hardman, Thornlie
- "The Director of Catholic Education, Ron Dullard, has been reported in various media outlets as saying that Catholic education fully supports the introduction of OBE, that it has been implemented in Catholic schools since 1998 and he even went so far as to say that is was a fantastic system.
"Ron Dullard has not set foot inside a classroom as a teacher for many years and he most certainly has not delivered a lesson under the OBE format. His organisation, since 1998, has never evaluated how successful the implementation of OBE has been. His organisation has never conducted a survey of teachers to assess their satisfaction with either the actual concept or the process of implementation.
"This person who speaks on behalf of teachers and who proclaims the benefits of OBE does so with no justification. It is time that people like Mr Dullard surveyed his schools to find out what is really happening to them."
Greg Williams, president, PLATO WA
- "An issue that has been overlooked in the battle against OBE in Years 11 and 12 is the impact on students when they get to university.
"The content of these new courses has been watered-down greatly. I fear most students will require an extra year to complete an arts or science degree, at an extra cost of around $5000 (not to mention starting their careers and earning wages a year later)."
Stephen Kessell, Willetton
- "Let me state what Basil Faulty would call "the bleeding obvious". It seems many politicians, including Alan Carpenter, Eric Ripper and Ljiljanna Ravlich, have this innate inability to reverse bad or controversial decisions. They all seem to suffer suffer from the ailment which confuses "strong leadership" with "intransigence", or what my late parents would call "cussedness"..."
"Mr Carpenter has one last chance to redeem himself, and he would be wise to listen to the public on this controversial issue. Yes, Mr Carpenter, remember the public? They're the people who put you in power."
Roy Stall, Mt Claremont
Full details in The West Australian
- Press release from Hon Paul Omodei, MLA and Leader of the Opposition, 30 May 2006
Alan Carpenter must make the hard political decision and delay the implementation of OBE in the best interests of Western Australia
Opposition Leader Paul Omodei said that as it stood, the implementation of OBE in years 11 and 12 next year was simply not going to work.
“Alan Carpenter must show some leadership and step in to delay the implementation of OBE before Ljiljanna Ravlich serves up a half-baked system to the detriment of WA teachers and students,” Mr Omodei said.
“With thousands of teachers and his own MPs raising serious concerns on the issue, Alan Carpenter must step in and delay the implementation.
“The Education Minister has treated teachers with contempt and her approach shows her lack of ability to work with stakeholders in the sector.
“The Premier must restore community confidence in the education system, which has been destroyed by the Labor Government’s OBE debacle.”
Mr Omodei said the introduction of OBE in senior high school was one of the biggest challenges facing the State in decades.
He said the State Government should not ride roughshod over the concerns of the people it would directly affect.
“If Labor botches the implementation of OBE with its full-steam ahead approach, it will have massive ramifications for students,” Mr Omodei said.
“The Education Minister had continually dismissed the genuine concerns of teachers, the State School Teachers Union, academics and parents about the introduction of OBE next year.
“The Premier must show some leadership and make the tough political decision to override his Minister’s flawed approach on this issue, in the best interests of Western Australia.
“The State School Teachers’ Union is saying teachers will simply not teach the OBE courses if they do not feel ready.
“This will result in the unacceptable situation where one school is using OBE and another one down the road is using the existing curriculum. It’s time for Alan Carpenter to act.”
Media Contact: Jason Marocchi - 0438 074 674
- relevant to OBE English which doesn't examine spelling, punctuation or grammar
It's wrong if you can't write
People who can string a sentence together grammatically could be forgiven for feeling like old fogeys, reports Kevin Donnelly
"THE British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill is considered one of the 20th century's greatest political orators. An important reason why Churchill was able to communicate so effectively was because, when at school, he was taught how to write."As observed in his autobiography: "I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence, which is a noble thing."
"Judging by a British report on undergraduate writing skills by the Royal Literary Fund, it would appear the ability to structure an essay and to master the basics of syntax and grammar are things of the past..."
Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19263907-12332,00.html
- on the lighter side...
Once we have a reading machine, school will be a breeze
The Wry Side, The Australian Newspaper, Louise Evans
THANK goodness those clever state high school boffins in Western Australia have worked out that forcing music students to learn to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on their recorders is a complete waste of time... Those geniuses who set WA's high school curriculum have worked this out. That's why they don't require music students to play an instrument or read music.
Their "outcomes-based course" allows students to write about music from a sociological perspective. Students can write about politics, racism and other aspects of society that influence music. Why did Mary have a lamb? Why did she let it follow her to school one day? Was she an attention-seeking child or a loner who adopted the lamb as a substitute friend? Discuss.The political and cultural background to Mary's dysfunction and her love of lamb are much more interesting than getting your fingers in the right position on your recorder...
But there's no getting around the other important R: reading. There's no technique or machine yet that will read text for you. So while you don't have to be able to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on your recorder or even write Mary Had a Little Lamb on your copybook, you still need to be able to read Mary Had a Little Lamb.But why was the lamb white? What reaction would a black or brown lamb have caused at Mary's predominantly Anglo-Saxon school? Would it have been a lamb to the slaughter? Discuss.
Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19297983-38940,00.html
- The West Australian
- Catholic schools say stop OBE plan
by Jessica Strutt and Simon Penn, The West Australian (front page)
"The Catholic Education Office has abandoned its support for the State Government's plan for outcomes based education - telling Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday that most of its schools wanted a one-year delay to its implementation."Director Ron Dullard, until now a staunch supporter of the OBE system and the State Government's timetable, told Ms Ravlich that most of the 40 to 50 Catholic secondary school principals preferred a delay of the 17 courses due to tart next year.
"His comments came as it emerged Catholic school teachers were organising a protest - dubbed "pray for delay" - for June 14 on the steps of State Parliament.
"One protest organiser said OBE had become a "highly moral issue" because it was unethical of the Carpenter Government to force the unworkable courses on to teachers and students..."
"... Ms Ravlich continued to insist yesterday that there would be no delay. Questioned as she entered Parliament House, she said: "They will be ready - teachers will be ready.""Asked how she could be so confident, Ms Ravlich said: "Because I have full confidence in the department and I have full confidence in Western Australian teachers."
"She said she would not sack teachers who were not ready to implement the new courses next year and also backed away from any moves to demote teachers to lower grades. "That's not a decision for me to make," she said.
"Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier again called for the government to delay the implementation of OBE.
"But Ms Ravlich left the Upper House during Mr Collier's address." [emphasis added]
Full article in The West Australian at http://www.thewest.com.au/20060531/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto134298.html
We have unconfirmed info that Mr Dullard now claims he was misquoted in this article. Or see the 1 June article in The West if you really want to be confused.
On the other hand, see the letter to the editor of The West Australian on this topic by Greg Williams
Clearly the principal of St Stephens School, Duncraig and Carramar [a Uniting Church school], does not agree with Mr Dullard. Here is their 31 May 2006 school newsletter.
- There is a great deal more coverage in the 31 May West Australian, including:
- We may opt out of system: elite schools
by Bethany Hiatt and Robert Taylor (page 8)
"The deepening crisis over outcomes-based education could force private schools to opt out of the WA education system, the principal of an elite private school warned yesterday.
"St Hilda's Anglican Girls School principal Joy Shepherd said that if the "current impasse" between teachers and the State Government continued then private schools would consider using another State's curriculum or introducing the International Baccalaureate.
"The West Australian understands that more than 20 heads of elite colleges and Catholic schools that make up the WA branch of the Australian Heads of Independent Schools Association have resolved to write to Alan Carpenter asking him to put the brakes on the troubled implementation of OBE in Years 11 and 12..."
"Mrs Shepherd said she was still hopeful the State Government would delay to resolve teachers' genuine concerns, but St Hilda's was considering its alternatives.
"We have been looking at NSW board courses," she said. "I think that if this current impasse continues then people might get more of an appetite to push some of the ideas to see what we can do."
+ much more
- Hired hands duck for cover in shootout at the OBE Corral
by Robert Taylor [Political Sketch] (page 8)
[backbench Labor members muzzled... + much more]
- Ravlich caned by Federal Minister for vetoing private secondary school
by Suellen Jerrard (page 8)
"Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has accused the WA Government of trying to force people into government schools by vetoing a private secondary school in Esperance..."
- Full Page Op Ed piece
by Tony Rutherford (page 23]
Here's why there will be no OBE backdown: Ministerial mishandling has characterised one of the biggest hot potatoes in the public arena in decades
[here are just a few short excerpts]
"It is hard to think of any matter that has come up over the past 20 years or so that has caused as much public controversy as the issue of outcomes-based education.
It is, after all, a fairly technical issue, whose workings are fairly well hidden from the public -- unlike the mortgage brokers issue, or public hospital waiting lists, to name just two. And it is not about money or funding. Indeed, it has to some extent served to obscure the pressing issue of the need for major capital expenditure in many of our ageing schools.
"It is also difficult to remember any issue that has been so woefully mishandled by the relevant ministers..."
"Much of the material which is at the heart of the controversies can be seen on the Curriculum Council's website. The first thing that strikes anyone visiting the site is the relatively small amount of material available. While there are quite a number of course outlines, there are still only a handful of sample examination papers. No wonder some teachers just want the whole thing delayed..."
[following his examples from the "sample" English exam] "It is, to start with, almost impossible to imagine being responsible for marking the students' papers. (It would be fascinating, indeed, to see some sample answers and assessments.)...It is hard to see why our children should be saddled with this rubbish."
[concluding paragraph] "But looking at all this material does at least serve one useful purpose: it explains why this Government refuses to back down on OBE. To start unpicking it would in the end bring the whole elaborate edifice down -- and that they, and their advisers, will never contemplate."
- Three excellent letters to the editor
[here is a very brief excerpt from each]
"...Even if OBE is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the method of implementation guarantees at least initial failure -- which is what is happening.
"If a salesman were to pitch OBE to WestSchools Ltd the CEO would probably say: Sounds great. Here's what we'll do. Pick two sets of 10 schools, as much alike as possible. We'll start OBE in one set and leave the other alone. After four years we will have the result. If it is as good as it looks, we will use the experience and people we develop in the pilot project to roll it out Statewide over three years."
Thomas A Lawson, Mt Lawley
[after suggesting that students will need either an extra year at university or a year 13 at secondary] "The most obvious answer is that this Government does not know what it is doing."
R J Higgins, Dianella
"... If, on the other hand, the teachers are right (and let's face it, they are the ones who will have to teach it), a delay is essential.
"Would this Government force pilots to fly planes if they did not think that the engines were working properly or force surgeons to undertake operations if they did not feel confident in the procedure? I doubt it. So why treat the opinion of educators do dismissively?"
Michelle Ewing, Eaton
- PLATOWA Press Release
PLATO Media Release
"International Testing"
Minister Ravlich uses the PISA test to suggest WA students are the best - she is wrong. Instead of using PISA, if the Minister had used the 2002/2003 TIMSS results then WA's position would be REVERESED.According to the results of the TIMSS test (a more respected and reputable international test in maths and science) WA students are going backwards - under the Labor Government standards are falling.
Quote from the ACER TIMSS report:
"The highest scoring 3 states in TIMSS 1994/1995 were Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia - in the TIMSS 2002/2003 assessment, these 3 states were near the bottom of the distribution."
The 2002/2003 year 4 maths results for TIMSS show WA underperforming and at the BOTTOM of the table when compared to other Australian states and territories.
In the year 8 maths results, WA is ranked SEVENTH in results.
In 2002/2003 year 4 science, WA is ranked at the BOTTOM of the table with an average of 502, just below NTR at 503.
IN 2002/2003 year 8 science, WA gets its best results but is still ranked behind NSW, ACT, South Australia and below the Australian average.
ALSO:
PISA is not a credible test for the following reasons:
(1) PISA is not designed to test what is taught in the curriculum. TIMSS is based on syllabuses and frameworks, PISA, instead of measuring specific knowledge, skills and concepts, addresses student ability to use generic skills to solve so-called 'real life' problems. Strictly speaking, PISA does not seek to measure the intended curriculum.
(2) Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands, countries that generally perform best in TIMSS and TIMSS-R were not involved in PISA Year 2000 test.
(3) Doubts have been expressed about the methodology employed by PISA , in particular, the validity of ranking country performance based on the PISA results, one UK paper argues: "…but the actual rankings are not meaningful in themselves. This is because the data presented in this report are obtained from samples, and sampling error must be taken into account when considering the results" (National Statistics, 2001).
(4) even though PISA 2000 and 2003 are supposed to test literacy, students were not corrected for spelling, punctuation and grammar. The ACER concludes that is Australian students had been corrected many would have failed.
- OBE Fight Flares
Channel 10 News Headlines
The Premier has come under fire as the debate over Outcomes Based Education continues to rage.The opposition claims Alan Carpenter has lost control of the issue, and has called for him to direct the Education Minister to delay the program.
Meanwhile, the Education Minister has broken her silence, accusing some sections of the media of waging a childish personal war against her.
The Minister also denies turning a blind eye to criticism of OBE and insists the program is viable.
- Wikinews http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Racist_scuffle_on_Anti-OBE_Teachers'_forum
"A Western Australian teachers’ website has come under fire by the Education and Training minister for publishing racist comments. Education and Training Minister, Ljiljanna Ravlich, today expressed concern about racist, abusive and offensive comments appearing on the anti-outcomes based education website PLATO.
"Minister Ravlich said she was disgusted by some of the highly offensive comments made by members belonging to the group, People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes.
'Some of the comments are obscene and, quite frankly, I worry that these people might be teaching our children,' she said.
"PLATO has since confirmed a teacher who is employed in the non-government education sector in Western Australia made the abusive comments.
"The PLATO website was established to express dissent about the controversial Outcome Based Education system after Minister Ravlich insisted it continue to be used despite claims it was ineffective.
"Last month the ongoing controversy even prompted a response from Prime Minister Howard who criticized the OBE method of teaching school children used in WA, describing it as 'gobbledegook' and that it could be 'dumbing down' the high school English syllabus.
"One member from the school teachers’ forum named, 'Fed up teacher,' launched a vicious and racist verbal attack on a member who posted a comment supporting the OBE system.
"When the member objected to being labelled a 'nazi' and the use of the term because her parents had suffered under the nazi regime, her response drew a further personal attack.
"The posting by Fed up teacher said, 'the nazis had the right idea, it is a pity they didn't get to your parents before you were conceived, you really are a pathetic piece of trash that somehow escaped the final solution.'
"Minister Ravlich condemned the attacks as disgusting and said it was just one of many offensive postings appearing on the website.
'The website is littered with insults, foul language and abusive and racist comments,' said Ms Ravlich.
"The minister said PLATO has only about sixty members and as such was not broadly representative of the 'thousands of dedicated and professional teachers in Western Australian schools."
- PLATO Media Release
PLATO Media Release
"Racism in the Education Debate"
It is a great pity that two of the leaders of education in Western Australia, The Minister, Ljiljana Ravlich, and the Director General, Paul Albert, have chosen the content of a single posting on the PLATO forum, from the conservatively 45,000 that exist, to accuse the founders of sponsoring racism in the education debate.
It is a bit like accusing the Manager of Transperth of sponsoring racism by letting buses with swastikas drawn on the back of seats run. What both the Manager of Transperth and I do, is accept that some vandalism occurs from time to time, but we don't close down the service because of it.
Between these two people, they collect from taxpayers nearly half a million dollars per annum to provide them with their salaries. One seriously wonders at the value of that expense if the most serious refuting of the informed and growing debate that is occurring on the PLATO site is reduced to this sort of bullying.
While it is somewhat irrelevant, the particular posting that the Minister referred to was directed at a person who intelligently and vigorously presents arguments for a clearly defined syllabus, and a workable assessment scheme, both of which appear to be absent from the current proposals.
The vast majority of Western Australians abhor racism in any form, and it is most certainly not espoused on the PLATO website.
Greg Williams
President PLATOWA INC.
- Today's West Australian
- Editorial - Key question is: Who would lose in OBE delay? (page 16)
"[The State Government] has exposed itself to a siege of mounting dissent over the OBE and its timetable for introduction, and has been unable to spin its way out of the political odium that now surrounds it.
"It's surely time for some straight thinking and honest appraisal by the Government. A good start would be candid acknowledgment that the degree of opposition to the current timetable for the introduction of 17 courses next year would make disruption and disharmony in schools all but inevitable. The continuing obduracy on this issue makes no political sense.
"It can no longer be characterised as strong and resolute government without drawing horse laughs from much of the education community, particularly when the responsible minister has a way of going missing and no way of stringing together a coherent argument..."
"One of the questions the Government is probably asking itself now is whether it wants to be seen as an authoritarian bulldozer or a reasonable and responsive negociator capable of listening to and acting on informed criticism. It would not be surprising if it discovered the value of compromise fairly soon."
Also in The West Australian
by Jessica Strutt and Bethany Hiatt, The West Australian (front page)
Webmaster comments:
[Ron Dullard says Catholic schools will have OBE next year in year 11, or they won't?
They must, or maybe they need not?
He wants it but his principals don't?
I read the article twice and really have no idea what he wants... I wonder if he does...]
Alston cartoon (page 16) © The West Australian newspaper
Six Letters to the Editor (page 18) [here are three of the shorter ones, and excerpts from a fourth -- see The West Australian for the others]
- Wenzday, May 2026
"In 2006 I woz not dooin much good in my studees. Then in 2007 the Edyoocashun Minista bort in the OBE sistum. Bless her hart. Shee is now the staits Premeer and I are riting this leter to thanc her for the opatyoonitee she has give me in my life. I went on too yoonavirsitee an got my degree in Lor then joynd the Labor Partee an becum a polutishun. I woz sow well edyoocaited that I woz maid the Minista for Edyoocashum. Thanc yoo Premeer Ravlich (and the now reetiad Premeer, Alan Carpenter) for maykin my life such a suksess."
Lloyd Morey, Waroona
- "If WA secondary schools taught “driver education” (as they do in the US), the “test” would ask: Discuss the history of the automobile industry in Australia; discuss whether multinovas reduce accidents or simply raise revenue; discuss the pros and cons of using public transport; discuss how having a license will increase your self-esteem.
"There would be no questions about road rules, and no need to demonstrate practical driving skills."
Steve Kessell, Willetton
- "The Premier said that he doesn't intend to be "spooked by the concerns people have". Mr Carpenter, who are these people? They are a majority of classroom teachers. They are are many university academics. They are a host of concerned parents. Are we "spooking" you? Maybe we should be spooking the nameless, unseen bureaucrats in the Education Department and the Curriculum Council who are obviously pulling your Education Minister's strings."
Patrick F Whalen, Newman
- "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich and the WA Labor Party seem to be resorting to "truncheon politics" in the OBE debate.
"Perhaps Ms Ravlich should look up "democracy" in the dictionary and find out what it means..."
P Bryan, West Leederville
- The Australian Newspaper editorial
No good outcomes: WA's upper school curriculum must be delayed"SUPPORTERS of outcomes-based education are fond of saying this new educational method is the only way to properly equip students for the modern world. Yet as The Australian has reported over the past several months, the outcomes-based system being put forward for Western Australia's Year 11 and 12 classrooms does anything but. For one thing, it is based on a failed program Victoria implemented 12 years ago – and abandoned just two years later. For another, this particular curriculum looks like nothing more than a transparent attempt to replace skills with sociology and make it quite literally impossible for students to fail. In West Australian physics classrooms, tough calculations are to be replaced with discussions on "the ethics of making airbags compulsory". Maths students will no longer be penalised for incorrect calculations. This in a state which cannot field enough scientists and engineers to keep driving its resource boom. In English and media classes, meanwhile, poor spelling, grammar and punctuation will no longer count against test-takers.
"It is time for Western Australia to put the brakes on this curriculum before any more money is wasted or young minds jeopardised. The state Government has already committed nearly $15 million in extra funding over four years to extend outcomes-based education into Year 11 and 12 classrooms (it has been used in other grades since 1998). And this does not include the two-year, 12 per cent wage increase the Government dangled in front of teachers – a cynical, if unsuccessful, attempt to get the chalkies to drop their opposition to the plan. The curriculum's list of opponents is impressive. The State School Teachers Union says it should be delayed and has told its members to treat the 17 new courses being introduced next year as voluntary. Many members are privately concerned that the new system will destroy the teaching of subjects they love, and with parents have formed a lobby to fight the changes. Their concerns have been backed by a parliamentary inquiry. Private school teachers have also called for a delay. One of Western Australia's chief examiners has threatened to quit over the issue, and federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has suggested the state's federal education funding could be in jeopardy as a result of the curriculum. Even the Prime Minister has labelled the new system "gobble****ok". Yet state Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich remains firm, and her Government last week threatened to bust non-compliant teachers down to earlier grades.
"Educational faddism is not new, nor confined to Western Australia. But ideas billed as the next big thing in teaching often turn out to be disastrous experiments that use children as guinea pigs. How many kids' reading skills have been hurt by the overthrowing of phonics for the trendy "whole of language" approach, debunked by last year's national inquiry into the teaching of literacy? For the sake of Western Australia's children, this new curriculum must be delayed, re-examined and, if necessary, abandoned."
- New literature course 'too political'
by Paige Taylor, The Australian
"THE subject that would replace English literature in West Australian high schools encourages political and moral sermonising, according to a noted English professor who shares the concerns of teachers lobbying against the changes to the course."Poet Dennis Haskell, the University of Western Australia's acting head of English, Communication and Cultural Studies, said it was sad that the draft consultation exam for the course, called Texts, Traditions and Culture, was inherently political.
"The draft exam, obtained by The Australian, asks students to consider economic rationalism, redundancy and redeployment in a passage from an Australian play. Supporting documents from the course instruct Year 11 and Year 12 students to record their responses to "mainstream texts" such as video music clips and games, song lyrics and commercial television..."
"Some English teachers told The Australian this week that the draft exam could be passed by a student who had not even completed a literature course.
"It needs a great deal of rewriting so that it is clearly a literature-based course designed to extend those students who are interested in studying literary texts and being challenged intellectually," one teacher said.,,"
"Curriculum Council acting chief executive David Axworthy agreed a student who had not done a literature course could pass the draft exam, but was annoyed the document was facing media scrutiny. "It is getting past ridiculous that every piece of paper released by the Curriculum Council, in its consultations with teachers, has to go under the media microscope," he said." [emphasis added]
Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19324258-13881,00.htm
- From the New York Times, Thursday, 1 June 2006
The Fog of 'Math Wars'
by Jerry P. Becker, Southern Illinois University"I'm not used to being a cheerleader for the Bush administration. But when I saw recently that the president had convened a National Math Panel to study, in part, the effectiveness of teaching kids so-called "constructivist" math, I stood up, put my hand over my heart and shouted, "Amen."
"About six months ago, The New York Times published a fascinating article about a town of engineers and scientists in Penfield, N.Y., who were gradually waking up to the fact that their kids, educated in a constructivist or "inquiry" program, which emphasized pupils' "constructing their own knowledge" rather than learning math formulas or computational rules, were unable, by junior high school, to make change at McDonald's or multiply two-digit numbers."I came upon this article at precisely the time I was trying to get my own constructivist-schooled third-grader to stop adding and subtracting on her fingers, so I read it with great interest - and dismay.
"School officials in Penfield dismissed parents' complaints about the curriculum by saying that math scores had steadily increased since the late 1990's, when teaching constructivist math became the local norm. Yet there was evidence that this improvement had less to do with the school's instruction than the fact that parents were increasingly teaching their kids old-fashioned math methods themselves. Even the town math champion, who'd been paraded around as a poster boy for constructivist math when he'd become the top scorer on his high school math team and earned a perfect 5 on his advanced placement calculus exam, had, it turned out, been "covertly tutored" in traditional math by his parents.
"My whole experience in math the last few years has been a struggle against the [constructivist] program," he told the Times. "Whatever I've achieved, I've achieved in spite of it. Kids do not do better learning math themselves. There's a reason we go to school, which is that there's someone smarter than us with something to teach us..."
Full story in The New York Times, 1 June 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/ or http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/
Showdown !
by Bethany Hiatt and Simon Penn, The West Australian (front page)
"Students at high schools which refuse to teach new outcomes-based education courses will not qualify for university under new education rules revealed yesterday.
"A Curriculum Council spokesman said that non-OBE subjects taken by Year 11 students next year when an OBE alternative would be available, such as English, physics and history, would not count towards the WA Certificate of Education given to Year 12 graduates."And the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre says that without the certificate students will not be able to qualify for university under the new tertiary entrance rules that come into effect in 2009.
"The council's policy of denying accreditation to non-OBE courses means that schools which boycott OBE subjects, as their union has advised them to do if they are uncomfortable with the new courses, will put their students in grave jeopardy of not being able to undertake tertiary education. [emphasis added]
"The revelation came as Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said that the way the shift to OBE in upper schools in WA had been handled was an "absolute disgrace" and called on Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley to intervene to delay it.
"Last night, two senior educators said the council policy appeared to be a heavy blow for teachers who believed they could refuse to teach new OBE courses in upper school next year.
"Notre Dame University dean of education Michael O'Neill, who recently described the new English course as lacking emphasis on the study of literature, said it put enormous pressure on schools to fall into line and teach OBE.
"It puts schools who desire to stay with the old courses in an impossible position," he said.
"Scotch College principal Andrew Syme, who was one of several heads of big private schools calling for a year's delay of the new courses, also said schools appeared to be locked into OBE next year.
"I don't believe that refusing to teach the new courses of study is a viable option because the old courses will no longer exist," he said."...
+ much more
http://www.thewest.com.au/20060602/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto134325.html
The West Australian received no letters yesterday supporting Mr Carpenter's outburst.
Here are some sample snippets:
- "What a nerve Alan Carpenter has in abusing the editor of The West Australian.... I can well remember the time when our Premier was just another journalist who often took off the hush-puppies and donned the metal toe-caps to browbeat a hapless politician... How politics can change a person..."
"With regard to the OBE issue, both the Premier and Education Minister have made a rod for their own backs with their arrogant disregard for the concerns of parents and teachers alike. All they have left is to shoot the messenger (or themselves in the foot)..."
Tony Adams, Parkwood
- "I vividly remember during the days of WA Inc the daily reports by then ABC journalist Alan Carpenter, with LIam Bartlett, about the day's proceedings at the Royal Commission. It was compulsory viewing for all thinking people.
"For Mr Carpenter to now in some way blame The West Australian for the WA OBE debacle would be like Brian Burke blaming him for WA Inc. The West Australian did not write the Courses of Study, it did not introduce OBE in the first place and it had nothing to do with its implementation..."
Mark Vojkovic, Bayswater
- "Don't be put off by Mr Carpenter's attack on your coverage of OBE."
"You are only reflecting the true views of the vast majority of teachers and comprehending parents. Increasingly more and more teachers are coming out of the woodwork to express their true concerns about this very flawed system..."
Kate Dixon, Kallaroo
- "Perhaps our unelected Premier, Alan Carpenter, is correct when he accuses The West Australian's editor Paul Armstrong of "not being up to it".
"After all, Mr Carpenter is in charge of a complete Cabinet that is clearly "not up to it", so I guess he's talking from experience..."
D Fluellen, Alexander Heights
- "Premier, it is not for our top politicians to use the cloak of parliamentary privilege to vent petty personal feelings against a newspaper. For an ex-journalist to carry out this kind of attack smacks of hypocrisy and an attempt to deflect public opinion on issues the public feels deeply about..."
John Smith, Currambine
- Delay OBE madness: Bishop
by Rhianna King, The West Australian (page 9)
"Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said yesterday that the way the shift to outcomes-based education in upper school in WA had been handled was an "absolute disgrace" and called on Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley to intervene to delay it.
"In a blistering attack during question time in Federal Parliament, Ms Bishop said the "regime" had alienated the education sector. "Teachers, parents, students, academics and educators are calling on State Labor to stop this madness," Ms Bishop said.
"Through a lack of resources, a lack of time and a lack of preparation, students in Western Australia are facing English courses with no text, history courses with no dates and music courses with no instruments."
plus much more
Full story in The West Australian
- Fears for students a national concern
by Pam Casellas, The West Australian (page 9)
The article points out that it is not only The West Australian, but also The Sunday TImes, and two top national newspapers -- The Australian and The Australian Financial Review -- that have called for an end to Mickey-Mouse courses / OBE upper school madness. It quotes from The Sunday Times and The Australian editorials already quoted on this PLATOWA website. It also notes:
"... the national Australian Financial Review last week ran a satirical column by Peter Ruehl which also criticised OBE... Ruehl's column, based on the criticism of the OBE science courses, suggested that students "had about as much chance of running into any actual science in them as there is of running into Ljiljanna Ravlich at a Harvard Medical School faculty meeting". The OBE idea, he said, "came from a coterie of bong-brained ideologies who don't care any more about science or scientific method than they do about brake and clutch repairs"..."
The article included this box:
Education faddism is not new, nor confined to Western Australia. But ideas billed as the next big thing in teaching often turn out to be disastrous experiments that use children as guinea pigs. How many kids' reading skills have been hurt by the overthrowing of phonics for the trendy "whole of language" approach, debunked by last year's national inquiry into the teaching of literacy? For the sake of Western Australia's children, this new curriculum must be delayed, re-examined and, if necessary, abandoned.
Full story in The West Australian
- News Updates, on virtually all Perth radio stations, the TV networks' Evening News, and this morning's West Australian
Paul Omodei, the Leader of the Opposition, offered an "olive branch" to the Government if they delay the year 11 courses of study, promising a bipartisan approach and no political point-scoring. His offer was firmly rejected as a "political stunt", with the Education Minister saying "There will be no more delays." [What "more delays"??? Could she just once get her facts straight?]
- Channel 7 Evening News at 6pm
Premier Alan Carpenter held a secret two-hour meeting with teacher in his office last night, where they agreed on changes to the courses of study.An overwrought Education Minister slams The West Australian; in reference to the famous "Wanted Poster", she maintains that she "is not a common criminal".
- The Australian Newspaper, by Paige Taylor
Award-winning teacher slams maths course
"THE only West Australian high school teacher to receive a National Excellence in Teaching award this year has condemned the state's proposed new curriculum for making physical education equal to mathematics in the eyes of markers."Stephen Corcoran, honoured this week for innovative maths teaching at the Anglican school St Stephen's Carramar in Perth's northern suburbs, claims the proposed gradeless curriculum for years 11 and 12 - in which all subjects can lead to university entrance -- is flawed.
"It's a recipe for disaster," he said. "I think everyone's hoping it will all go away."
..........
"Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop yesterday labelled the implementation of the West Australian curriculum as a debacle and a disgrace."Labor has managed to alienate virtually every stakeholder group," Ms Bishop told the federal parliament.
"Through a lack of resources, a lack of time and a lack of preparation, students in Western Australia are facing English courses with no text, history courses with no dates and music courses with no instruments."
"She called for the introduction of the courses to be delayed. "
Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19335571-13881,00.html
Saturday - Sunday, 3 - 4 June 2006
- The Sunday Times coverage includes the main editorial, two articles and two letters responding to Liam Bartlett's OBE blast last week
- Students' plight in OBE mess
The Sunday Times Editorial
"The refusal of Premier Alan Carpenter and Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich to delay the implementation of OBE courses for Year 11 students next year now smacks of a dangerous level of arrogance.
"This week, they continued to block their ears to genuine concerns of teachers and parents who want the new outcomes-based education courses delayed until the courses are ready and the teachers are confident of assessments under the new system.
"What, for heaven's sake, is wrong with listening to these pleas? Why not postpone the 17 OBE courses planned for Year 11 next year? Where's the problem?
"Mr Carpenter and Ms Ravlich have failed to give a convincing explanation of why it is so important to push on with this policy, rather than refining aspects of it before it is implemented.
"With the Government's obstinate stance on OBE, it wasn't surprising that Federal Education Minister Julie BIshop's latest plea to the State Government to delay fell on deaf ears.
"Teachers, parents, students, academics and educators are calling on State Labor to stop this madness," she said.
"Last week, The Sunday Times said delaying the OBE was sensible. But the Government refuses to accept the obvious.
"To make things worse, we have now learnt that students at high schools that refuse to teach OBE courses would be seriously disadvantaged because they would not qualify for an entrance to university.
"This is because non-OBE subjects taught to students instead of available OBE courses would no longer count towards the WA Certificate of Education for students at the end of Year 12.
"This is a crazy outcome for a system that has become messy. It would leave those students in no-man's land at the hardest time of their schooling.
"There is enough stress for students in their final years of schooling without having to be involved in the OBE controversy.
"There are good and bad points of OBE, but there is no reason to rush its implementation.
"Having an OBE system foisted on them at senior level when teachers are not ready for it will be as unsettling for them as it is for the teachers.
"And Mr Carpenter and Ms Ravlich should spend more time thinking about the welfare of the students who deserve better than this."
- Don't gag us -- Labor MP
by Joe Spagnolo, The Sunday Times, page 17
"Maverick Labor MP Mick Murray says many of his party colleagues are too frightened to speak their minds.
"In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, the Collie MP, a former coalminer who turned a safe National Party seat into a safe Labor seat, also dropped a political bombshell.
"He revealed he was contemplating retiring before the next election, saying the time spent away from his family, as well as the pressures of political life, were taking their toll.
"Mr Murray has been both a godsend and a thorn in the side of Labor since he wrested Collie from the Nationals by just 34 votes in 2001..."
"Last week, on the issue of outcomes-based education, he urged Labor and education representatives to "take a deep breath, go back to the table, say what are your major concerns and have a look at it again." [emphasis added]
"He said he appreciated the need for political parties to maintain internal discipline, but MPs had a duty to fight for what they believed in, and to promote the views of their electorates.
"Some of my colleagues... are letting both themselves and their electorates down," he said. "My electorate didn't vote me in to keep quiet..."Full story in The Sunday Times at
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,19353534%255E2761,00.html
- Responses to Liam Bartlett's "The Fantasy's Over, Ravlich" [The Sunday TImes, 28 May]
Liam Bartlett's column (page 15)
- Dear Liam,
You are so right -- the proposed OBE about to be thrust upon Years 11 and 12 in WA is a disaster. It makes one wonder if the Curriculum Council just doesn't sit down and think up ways in which it can justify its existence. Rather than OBE is should be called JJTDE -- "Just Join the Dots Education" -- because maybe that's all students will be good at come the completion of their studies if this system (heaven forbid) is allowed in our schools.
Diana Williams
Salter Point
- Liam,
As I am getting my kids ready for school this morning, I am wondering what I am sending my kids to learn. Everything has been about OBE in high school; what about the primary schools? We have had OBE in primary schools for a few years now. OBE cam in during the middle of my eldest child's primary school education, so I can see the difference between his education and my other two kids. I can tell that standards have fallen in primary school. It's very sad.
Debbie
- Iron lady will not back off
by Louise Pemble
"Embattled Ljiljanna Ravlich has cast herself as the iron lady in the fight to bring outcomes-based education to WA high schools."In an interview with The Sunday Times yesterday, the Education Minister admitted she was disappointed the teachers' union had jumped on the OBE-bashing bandwagon.
"And she conceded that the Curriculum Council could have shown more leadership in selling the changes to teachers.
"But Ms Ravlich said the attacks on the new OBE courses had only steeled her resolve.
"She said the successful introduction of outcomes-based education in kindergarten to Year 10 gave her unflinching confidence in extending OBE to upper schools.
"I see an education system that is so reformed in K to 10 that students enjoy their learning, they love learning," she said.
"It inspires me to keep going. I'm not going to just pack up because of some media pressure. I know we're heading in the right the direction."
"But Ms Ravlich's full-steam-ahead approach, including $15 million in extra funding to extend OBE into Years 11 and 12, has failed to impress teachers, who are calling for the changes to be delayed until concerns over course content and assessment are resolved.
"The State School Teachers Union of WA has told its members to treat the 17 new courses being introduced into Year 11 next year as voluntary.
"Private school teachers, including many Catholic school principals, have also backed calls for a one-year delay..."
"She denied criticism that she hadn't listened to teachers' concerns or that she had allowed the Curriculum Council to impose its will without consultation."There's a perception that the Curriculum Council are a group of 25 people who work in some sort of dark place coming up with funny ideas," she said..."
Full story in The Sunday TImes at
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,19354280%255E2761,00.html
- Teachers set up OBE business
by Louise Pemble, The Sunday Times, page 9
"THREE Perth teachers have launched a new business aimed at explaining OBE to confused parents – and translating their children's school reports."The OBEasy manager, who did not want to be named, said the new service, launched today, would give unbiased information to parents trying to make sense of the changes.
"It will be for parents to call up and we'll provide a service to explain what OBE is," she said. "At the end of the day, the end user is the student and a lot of students are starting to get very panicky about their future."
"She expected to charge $70-$90 for a 90-minute home visit, depending on travel times....
[Bringing ambulance-chasing to a new low??? OBE is so wonderful that parents have to pay moonlighting teachers to explain it to them??? Their advert appears on page 46 of The Sunday Times; they apparently don't realise that there is an apostrophe in "childrens education" (even my spelling checker caught it when I typed this message). Webmaster]
Full story in The Sunday Times at
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,19354279%255E2761,00.html
TV and radio coverage
Govt exaggerating OBE claims, teachers union says
ABC News Online
"The WA teachers union says the Government is exaggerating when it says students at schools which refuse to teach the new Outcomes Based Education (OBE) curriculum will not qualify for admission to university."The State School Teachers Union insists its members must be confident in teaching with the new system and the Government should be flexible in introducing it.
"Education Minister Ljiljana Ravlich says she will not back down on the timeframe for the implementation of the new OBE curriculum, which is to commence next year.
"The union's Mike Keely says that more than half of the teachers in the state want more time and he does not believe the Government would want to affect the futures of half of the state's students.
"I do not believe that anybody in this state would agree that 50 per cent of students are going to be wiped off the map as far as certification is concerned," he said.
"That is simply not acceptable."
ABC News online http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1654466.htm
A spokesperson for Curtin University of Technology contradicted the Education Minister, saying that the WA Certificate of Education (WACE) is desirable but not essential for admission to Curtin. She said that Curtin looks at students' overall record of achievement to determine offers of admission, and could admit students who did not study the new OBE courses of study. She also noted that universities are self-regulating bodies who admit students according to their own criteria, although WACE and TER make it an easier process.
[Editorial note: This is not surprising: universities admit students from all Australian states and territories, and dozens of overseas countries, and are accustomed to evaluating a very wide range of educational backgrounds.]Channel 9 Evening News, 6 pm Saturday 3 June
Referring to the Curriculum Council refusing to accredit the current TEE courses, Curtin University Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander said "It's a high risk game - totally unacceptable… Curtin can change its admission policy so that the Certificate of Education is not a requirement for entry, but that is unlikely…"
A Murdoch University spokesperson agreed that a standard moderated system is needed, but along with Edith Cowan University and The University of Notre Dame Australia, says Murdoch "will act in the best interest of students".
Teachers union president Mike Keely said "It's a nonsense" that the TEE courses would not be accredited, and that the union position on the boycott is unchanged.
- A scathing main editorial
OPINION: POWER POLITICS CRUSHES PUBLIC INTEREST ON OBE
"The State Government has turned the debate about outcomes-based education into political warfare. The prime issue for it clearly is to enforce its will on schools, no matter what this would take. This is now about political victory, not what's best for education." [emphasis added]
"If this were not the case, surely it would heed the call from representatives of just about all interested parties for a delay in the introduction of courses. The people concerned are not impetuous rebels or thoughtless opponents of change; they are responsible professionals who should be respected for their credentials and experience in education, not ignored.
"Not even the Government would dare to suggest that many of the groups or individuals who have supported the call are motivated by anything other than the interests of students. And many of them base their view on professional assessment and experience of what goes on in classrooms.
"Can the Government claim the same purity of motive or validity of educational experience? That is much to be doubted, to say the least.
"Indeed, it has been more interested in playing politics. Instead of seeking sensible solutions to OBE problems, it has made itself central to them through its mindless intransigence.
"It has allowed itself to be party to a contemptible bureaucratic effort to gag teachers who have misgivings about OBE by threatening them with disciplinary action, including the sack. This is the action of a dictatorship that cannot tolerate criticism or even questioning and no democratic government should condone stifling the professional opinions of teachers, or of anyone else for that matter." [emphasis added]
"And as dissent from various sections of the education sector grew towards overwhelming proportions, the Government -- rather than dealing rationally and responsibly with the substance of the objections -- decided to blame the news media which reported on them and which it can't gag, particularly this newspaper.
"Its disregard for teachers, parents, students and others with an interest in this issue was underscored by its failure to point out publicly that students who were not taught the new outcomes-based education courses would not qualify for university. Enforcement of this rule in the face of a planned teacher boycott would be grossly unfair to students and teachers. It would be the equivalent of using the industrial tactic of making strikes illegal." [But unlikely to be effective: see the ABC and Channel 9 news reports above]
"If teachers abandoned their stance, they would accept, in effect, that their view on what should happen in he classroom does not count.
"The Government can use its naked power to enforce its will on schools. But it will be left counting the political cost of victory -- a botched education system with alienated teachers and betrayed students and parents."
- Double-page spread "OBE FURORE" (pages 8 - 9) including
- Why OBE must be delayed for the sake of our children
by Joy Shepherd (Principal, St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls
A well-balanced view by a highly respected educator, the article notes:
"Our children's education is in danger of being sacrificed to political expediency. We need to rise about the political posturing surrounding changes to Year 11 and 12 courses and return to the educational issues. Implementation must be delayed while educators reclaim the agenda and resolve their genuine concerns..."
"The problem with the proposed courses of study is the inflexibility with which outcomes have been imposed and the failure of statutory bodies to respond to feedback from experienced professionals. [emphasis added]
"Teachers have served on subject committees and assessment, review and moderation panels. They have critiqued proposals, considered implications and suggested modifications. They have worked tirelessly through appropriate professional avenues and they have been ignored. They are now disheartened and desperately concerned about the educational future of young people. [emphasis added]
"Fundamental to teachers' concerns is the imposition of an inflexible, non-negociable design on different disciplines. A model which appropriately captures what we want students to know, understand and be able to do in media is unlikely to suit outcomes in music, physics or maths..."
"Teachers find assigning levels to be arbitrary because performance indicators are confused. It is unproductive for experienced teachers to spend a morning reaching agreement on a level for one piece of work, only to be told by the facilitator that they were out by two levels. Teachers have solutions, but their capacity to fight the bureaucracy is diminishing. Further implementation must be delayed immediately to allow solutions to be developed which suit the needs of all our students." [emphasis added]
- Teachers stand by plan to shun OBE
by Bethany Hiatt and Graham Mason
"The teachers' union yesterday hit back at the Curriculum Council's claims that only students who study outcomes-based education courses will qualify for university, saying it believed the existing TEE subjects would remain valid.
"In a clear sign that the hostility surrounding the implementation of OBE is far from over, State School Teachers Union president Mike Keely said the union was still advising Year 11 teachers to boycott OBE next year unless they were comfortable with it..."
"But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday maintained her insistence that the OBE courses would be introduced to Year 11 next year and that the subjects they replaced would no longer be counted as part of the graduation certificate..."
"Mr Keely denied the council's interpretation of its rules had stymied teachers' strategy to combat OBE by refusing to teach it, saying the council's regulations should be able to accommodate existing TEE subjects, OBE subjects and the International Baccalaureate.
"He said the prospect of teachers being forced to deliver courses in which they ad no confidence was far worse than the "very remote" possibility that the council could discount students' results"
- insert overview 'The ABC of OBE'
A brief "what's it all about"
- It's not like we weren't warned of Captain Grumpy
by Robert Taylor - Political Sketch
A political piece focussed on Alan Carpenter's style in handling OBE issues in recent days
See The West Australian for complete coverage
- 9 letters to the editor under the heading "Government must listen to concerns":
7 anti-OBE, one ambivalent, one defending the Minister from the "media attack" (page 21)
Here are some excerpts:
- "As a secondary teacher for 11 years I have been involved at the front line of the OBE implementation process. I have been to all manner of professional development days, liaised for any number of hours with countless colleagues, read all the circulars and listened to the arguments both for and against. I've attended seminars and conferences at the department's expense across the State. Yet, despite my best intentions, the bottom line is that I could fit all I know about OBE on the back of a postage stamp.
"Sorry, Ms Ravlich, I just don't get it."
John Foeken, Derby
- " If Mr Carpenter and Ms Ravlich are so sure of OBE, let's have an election and put it on the agenda. If they win, they can say it is the democratic will of the electorate."
Stuart Smith, Maida Vale
- "As a parent, it is worrying for me to see the lack of apparent concern of the State Government for the "dumbing down" of educational standards. OBE is merely an excuse to create equality where none exists. However, I hold grave fears for the future of education in this State now that our universities are accepting students who have failed the TEE into courses to become teachers themselves. So failed students now become the next generation of teachers? It's bizarre."
Sarah White, Joondalup
- "I confess that outcomes-based education will have no bearing on me whatsoever. However, my life-long education in the school of hard knocks has taught me that rarely, if ever, are so few right and so many wrong, and vice-versa as appears to be the case according to your news reports and letters page. This free advice could well be considered by the Premier and his Education Minister, although I am open to a consultancy offer."
R L Pass, Upper Swan
- "I have watched and listened to the OBE debate over many months and I appreciate that there are two sides to every story with its proponents and opponents. My concern is that if there is so much disquiet about OBE, whether based on merit, hearsay or otherwise, the Government needs to take heed of the concerns..."
"If the parents are concerned and the concerns seem to be growing ever louder, and if some teachers also have significant concerns, what harm is there to delay implementation of OBE? A delay would allow time to clarify and to educate further about OBE, to refine, to ponder, to listen to various views, which I would have thought are the essence of good decision making.
"It should not be about what side of politics you are on, it should not be about whose educational ideology is right or wrong. It's about the welfare of the children. The parents and other educators have significant concerns about the proposed OBE changes, concerns which the Government has not adequately addressed.
"The Government needs to remember it is the parents and the educators and the concerned others who have put it in power in the first place. It should represent the people and not impose change if such significant opposition exists. Something is amiss. It needs to investigate this further.
"The balanced position is to postpone the further implementation of OBE until the issues of concern are addressed."
F Ng, Dalkeith
- The Curriculum Council's decree that to go to university you must qualify with OBE courses is just another attempt by the Labor Party to ignore the opinion of the majority of West Australians. Since day one of the "discussion" on the introduction of the OBE system the most vociferous proponent, apart from the Government, has been the Curriculum Council.
It has supported the introduction even though members of the council have quit over it. It has supported it against all reasoned argument from teachers and parents. It appears as though, in this case, it is just the lackey of the Government. It will be used as a scapegoat so that the Premier and the Minister for Education can come away from this debacle with, in their opinion, no responsibility for students who can't read or add up.
Even the teachers' union, usually a Labor Party stronghold, is calling for a delay in its introduction. If the rank and file of the Labor Party is not being listened to, what hope for the rest of us? ..."
Ross Hawes, Clarkson
- PLATO Media Release
PLATO Media Release
OBE MYTHS AND FACTS
Myth number 1
Minister Ravlich is quoted in today's Western Australian as follows: "Yet she argued that the curriculum - developed on the principles of outcomes-based education - was the way of the future.Fact number 1
Australia's first attempt at OBE is represented by the Keating Government's national statements and profiles that were developed during the early to mid 90s. Such were the flaws in the national curriculum and the intensity of the public criticism that the meeting of Australian education ministers, held in Perth, July 2, 1993, refused to endorse the OBE based curriculum and each state and territory agreed to go back to the drawing board.As a result of the Eltis Report in NSW, that could find little evidence in support of OBE or evidence that it had been successfully implemented elsewhere, the NSW Government decided not to implement the OBE based national approach and, instead, developed a curriculum based on a 'syllabus' model. Late last year the head of the NSW Board of Studies, Gordon Stanley, argued that teachers needed a clear and succinct 'road map', represented by a syllabus, of what is to be taught and, especially in primary school, teachers need the right tools to do the job to focus on the basics.
Bruce Wilson, the previous CEO of Australia's leading curriculum body, the Curriculum Corporation, describes OBE as an: "unsatisfactory political and intellectual exercise" (2002, Curriculum Corporation national conference).
Myth number 2
Minister Ravlich is also quoted as saying: "I know it's the right thing to do and I know it's for the right reason, and I can tell you it's a view that is shared by 30 other OECD nations, all of whom are moving towards an outcomes-based education," she said.Fact number 2
Gita Steiner-Khamsi, an academic at Columbia University and a consultant to the World Bank, argues that OBE has only been adopted by a handful of countries, she states: "During OBE's phase of slow growth in the late 1980s and early 1990s only a few educational systems adopted the reform, notably New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales, Canada and the United States". (South Africa is also attempting to implement OBE.)OBE was such a failure in America that the expression is no longer in use and all states have moved to what is called a 'standards' approach to curriculum. Compared to OBE, a standards approach: relates to each year level, has a strong academic focus, is succinct and easy to follow, is teacher friendly and has a more traditional approach to teaching and assessment. OBE is the opposite to a standards approach, it is not year level specific, academic content is dumbed down, learning outcomes are wordy and vague, it is not teacher friendly and OBE adopts a new-age approach to teaching and assessment. The father of OBE, the American academic William Spady, acknowledges that OBE failed in the USA.
The adoption of OBE in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Canada has also been open to criticism and public debate. Last year, such were the flaws in the NZ National Certificate of Educational Achievement (very similar to the OBE inspired WACE) that a number of inquires were commissioned as parents, teachers and employers lost faith in the system. Many South African teachers and schools have attacked OBE as it is so difficult and time consuming to implement.
Research associated with the Third International Mathematics and Science Study shows that stronger performing countries in international mathematics and science tests eschew OBE in favour of a 'syllabus' approach to curriculum. Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, for example, give teachers syllabuses that are: year level specific, have strong academic content, are succinct and focused on essential learning, use more testing and are teacher friendly - the opposite to an OBE approach.
Unlike OBE, that adopts educational fads like whole language, where children are taught to look and guess, and fuzzy maths, where mental arithmetic, times tables and rote learning are ignored, a syllabus approach adopts a more structured and teacher directed approach to learning.
- The Australian Newspaper, by Paige Taylor
Courses not perfect, 'but the future'
"THE Education Minister in charge of implementing a gradeless curriculum in West Australian schools has come out fighting in defence of the new courses.
"Ljiljanna Ravlich conceded that the courses - described by John Howard as gobbledegook - "could have been more clear".
"She admitted it was wrong to name the new literature course Texts, Traditions and Cultures.
"And she said she did not agree with the Curriculum Council that a turntable was a musical instrument of equal merit to a violin.
"Yet she argued that the curriculum - developed on the principles of outcomes-based education - was the way of the future.
"I know it's the right thing to do and I know it's for the right reason, and I can tell you it's a view that is shared by 30 other OECD nations, all of whom are moving towards an outcomes-based education," she said.
"Under the new curriculum, all subjects are equal, meaning a top performance in cooking and dance could help a student into a university law degree, ahead of those who studied physics and chemistry.
"Ms Ravlich admitted to problems in how the curriculum had been presented. "I do agree that (the language) could have been more simple and to the point," she said. "It is probably partly responsible for, I guess, feeding some of the misconceptions..."
Full article in The Australian newspaper at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19346465-13881,00.html
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This page last updated 17 April, 2009 10:42 PM
