Monday 28 August 2006

Tuesday 29 August

Wednesday 30 August

Thursday 31 August

Friday 1 September

Saturday – Sunday, 2 – 3 September

 

Monday 28 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teaching standard 'lowered with pay' (page 13)
    by Keryn McKinnon
    
    Reports on the research findings of Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan. There are more complete stories from several other newspapers, plus a link to the full research report, below.
    
    
    
  • School picks only the best of WA's students (page 13)
    by Keryn McKinnon
    
    "If the past is any gauge, these three students could one day become prime minister, governor-general, governor or a Rhodes scholar after joining an elite group of scholars at Perth Modern School.
    
    "For the first time since 1958, the school will next year take only the top 2.5 per cent of students, returning to its roots as an academic selective school which boasts alumni of the calibre of former governor-general Sir Paul Hasluck, former prime minister Bob Hawke, WA Governor Ken Michael, businesswoman Janet Holmes a Court and Rolf Harris.
    
    "Yesterday, Woodlands Primary student Ashleigh Blechynden, 12, Rachel Harries, 11, from Canning Vale Primary, and Joseph Elliss, 12, from Brookman Primary in Langford, were named among the first 150 students to win the sought-after places for Year 8 in 2007. They competed against more than 600 others to gain entrance to the school, which will pit itself against flagship State school Rossmoyne SHS and nearby private schools to reclaim its position as a top secondary education institution.

    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich made no apologies for channelling the best and brightest WA students into one school and risking it being tagged elitist. “We expect the school to be highly competitive and produce outstanding academic results and future leaders for this State,” she said.
    
    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said he supported the program but did not want to see the focus on it detract from academic achievement in other State schools."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 20)
    
    
    • "So very pleasing to see the Premier has drawn up a new code of conduct for his Parliamentarians. Now he must draw up a new code of competence for the Ministry of duds he now leads."
      
      Mike Lloyd, Bull Creek
      
      
      
    • "In this current debate about the rights and wrongs of raising a generation of little "Googlers", have we paused to consider what sort of informed conversationalists we are simultaneously developing? Can one abruptly sever the process of spontaneous interpersonal communication by saying "Hold on, I'll need to Google that"?
      
      Stuart Hille, Heathridge
      
      
      
    • What a relief it was that The West Australian carried the 501 More Things You Should Know supplement (24/8). For a while I wondered if it might be replaced by "501 More Things You Could Google (if you knew they existed)".
      
      Martin Graville, Kallaroo
      
      

    
    Full stories in The West Australian
    

   

• The Australian
  
  
  • Teachers are not so clever any more
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "Teachers are not as smart as they were 20 years ago, an Australian-first study concludes in a finding that will reinforce concerns over declining classroom standards.

    "An analysis of literacy and numeracy tests confirms the standard of student teachers has fallen substantially and that dwindling numbers of the nation's brightest students are choosing teaching as a career.

    "The academic calibre of teachers has been shown to have a direct effect on students' results, with US research finding that a shift to smarter teachers raises student performance.

    "The Australian study by economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan from the Australian National University finds the failure of teachers' pay to keep pace with other professions and the fact that teachers are not paid on merit are key factors in the decline of standards.

    "The biggest change has been in the number of smart women becoming teachers. The study says the academic achievement of women entering teaching has declined substantially.

    "While 11 per cent of women who scored in the top 25 per cent of literacy and numeracy tests in 1983 chose to become a teacher, this had dropped to 6 per cent in 2003..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    Similar story in The Melbourne Age
    
    Similar story in The Sydney Morning Herald (blaming poor teacher salaries)
    
    Similar story in The Canberra Times (also blaming poor teacher salaries)
    
    Similar stories in ABC News Online:
    

    • Bright minds don't choose teaching: research
      
      
    • Low pay blamed for reported decline in teacher quality
      
      
    • Expert rejects teacher quality 'slide'
      
      
      
      
  • Op Ed [also in The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow]
    Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan: A failure to make the grade
    
    How the academic ability of new teachers has fallen substantially
    
    "Imagine you ran the economy and could choose between two options. You could allocate the brightest workers to school teaching, where they would spend six hours a day nurturing the intellectual development of the nation's children. Or you could assign the most intelligent workers to dentistry. Societies as diverse as ancient Greece and modern South Korea have attempted to take the former path. Some have said that Australia is choosing the latter.

    "Yet for all the anecdotes about cut-off scores for teacher education courses, surprisingly little has been written about how the academic aptitude of new Australian teachers has changed over time. Past studies on the teacher labour market have tended to focus on whether we will have enough teachers entering the profession. Instead, we look at whether the academic skills of new teachers make the grade.

    "To map the trends in teacher aptitude in Australia, we studied the career choices of six cohorts of young people, using surveys by the Australian Council of Educational Research. These surveys administered literacy and numeracy tests to students while they were at school, then followed them into their 20s.

    "The tests allow us to observe how new teachers compare with the rest of their age cohort, those who became plumbers, doctors, bricklayers and lawyers.

    "In most of the ACER cohorts, more than 100 respondents entered teacher education courses and many of these went on to become schoolteachers. But the academic make-up changed considerably. In 1983, the average person entering teacher education was at the 74th percentile of the aptitude distribution and the average new teacher was at the 70th percentile of the distribution. By 2003, the average percentile rank of those entering teacher education had fallen to 61, while the average rank of new teachers had slipped to 62.

    "The decline in the academic aptitude of new teachers has occurred at the top and bottom of the distribution. Focusing on women (who make up about three-quarters of new teachers), the probability of a woman in the top 20 per cent of the academic aptitude distribution entering teaching approximately halved from 1983 to 2003. Meanwhile, the probability of a woman in the bottom 50 per cent of the aptitude distribution entering teaching approximately doubled..."
    
    Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan are economists in the research school of social sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra.
    
    Their study is available at http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Monday Education Section including
    
    
    • If it ain't broke, why fix it?
      
      Stung by relentless barbs about falling standards, English teachers are biting back, writes Kevin Childs.
      
      
    • Building boon
      
      Discusses facilities at WA's Mindarie Senior College and Canning Vale College.
      
      
      
  • Op Ed
    Government schools secular with good reason
    by Cathy Sherry
    
    "One of my daughters recently said to me, "Mrs Jones told us today about the time God appeared to her father when he was a child."

    "Really," I said. "What else did she tell you?"

    "My daughter eyed me suspiciously for signs of parental, ulterior motive. She's no fool, this child.

    "Well, she also gave us some hand-outs on Christianity," she replied hesitantly.

    "Hmm," I said. "Could you bring those home for me?"

    "Now she was really suspicious. "OK," she said, "but only if you promise not to talk to her. You'll embarrass me."

    "The problem is, my daughters go to a government school. If they went to an independent Christian school, as I did, I wouldn't bat an eyelid at teachers discussing divine apparitions in class. But I have chosen to send them to a state school, which, by law, must provide only secular education..."
    
    "I do not object to my children receiving religious instruction during designated Scripture time. But on a number of occasions, at more than one government school, I have been surprised to discover that some teachers, who are Christians, see fit to weave faith - but only one faith - into ordinary lessons and school functions..."
    
    Cathy Sherry is a lecturer in law at the University of New South Wales.
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Haileybury is just the tip of the iceberg

      "Scholarships to private schools is no news to officials of sporting bodies within Victoria (The Age, 26/8), and Haileybury is probably being used as the scapegoat.

      "Private school poaching over many years has resulted in the decline in sporting standards of the once very competitive and highly regarded Victorian Secondary School Sports Association (VSSSA). It is not unusual for schools to have "scouts" at weekend sporting events to "spot" potential players for school teams.

      "Unfortunately the transition for some athletes to a private school is not always beneficial to the student's academic life, a factor that the poaching school often overlooks."
      
      Margaret Raffle, Keilor East
      
      

    • Student season

      "I teach at a smallish private school on the Mornington Peninsula. About six years ago, a year 7 student - let's call him "Tom" - who was a champion triathlete for his age, came to me asking for advice.

      "An all-boys school nearby, which had recently taken the plunge and included girls, had offered him a full-fee scholarship. His parents were separated, and the fees at my school - which his mother wanted him to attend - were causing tension. The school in question, finding that "Tom's" mother was not sympathetic, rang the father, and then obtained the boy's mobile phone number, and rang him directly.

      "In the end, "Tom" left my school. There is no doubt in my mind that he was placed in an untenable position by unscrupulous managers at the school he went to. There is equally no doubt in my mind that this practice is common.

      "That the school involved is not one named so far in The Age's coverage suggests that perhaps those protesting are concerned with the extent, rather than the practice itself."
      
      David Baxter, Mornington
      
      

    • Subsidising privilege

      "So, the anonymous Haileybury parent is "rankled" about her "hard-earned dollars subsidising other kids' tuition" (The Age, 26/8). Perhaps this will provide him or her with some empathy for the "rest" of the population whose hard-earned (tax) dollars buy rowing boats and improve gardens for private schools that should be ineligible for any form of public monies in the first instance."
      
      Andrew Banks, Mildura
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Melbourne Age at http://www.theage.com.au/letters/
    
    

  • Now for Star Trek's Enterprising thesis [a PhD thesis on Star Trek]
    
    
    
    
• ABC News Online
  
  
  • WA urged to test students for drugs
    
    
  • Bright minds don't choose teaching: research
    
    
  • Low pay blamed for reported decline in teacher quality
    
    
  • Expert rejects teacher quality 'slide'
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • C stands for confusing
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "Teachers are being forced to manipulate the state's controversial new reporting system to get fairer grades for their students.
    
    "Concerned that marks calculated by the A-to-E software do not reflect student ability, some teachers are going back into the computer system and changing marks to improve final grades.

    "Teachers, unions and parents have criticised the new standardised statewide grading scale, saying it marks most students as a C.

    "Pupils can only score an A if they are up to 18 months ahead of their class, with students achieving good progress only receiving a C.

    "The Victorian Independent Education Union has urged all Catholic schools to reconsider the software, saying it is detrimental to student development. They have also called on the State Government to change the A-to-E model.

    "But the Government stands by the new reports, saying it has received positive feedback from parents..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    

    
    
• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Lack of specialist teachers
    by Kathy Grube
    
    "Education standards are being compromised by school lessons being taught by staff with no expertise in the subject.
    
    "A survey of government high school principals has found that in half the state schools in Tasmania, up to five or more classes a day are taught by teachers who have no training in the subject they are teaching.

    "There were 47 per cent of schools with no specialist mathematics teacher for up to five maths classes, and in a further 3 per cent of schools between six and 10 classes were affected.

    "There is also a shortage of English teachers, with 42 per cent of schools having no specialist English teacher for between one and five English classes.

    "The survey of 38 (65 per cent) Tasmanian secondary and district high schools was conducted by the Australian Secondary Schools Principals Association in June.

    "It also found 26 per cent of schools offered science and computing classes taught by teachers who had not been formally trained in that area.

    "Surprisingly, teachers with no expertise in teaching Studies of Society and Environment are teaching 1-5 classes in 32 per cent of schools and 6-10 classes in 8 per cent of schools..."
    
    Full story in The Hobart Mercury at link

    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Consumers and taxpayers hit by degree costs, too
      
      "Tanya Plibersek is right to be worried about university courses costing students more than $100,000, but her analysis misses some important economic points: increased professional fees, increased taxes and reduced international competitiveness ("A lot to learn about education", August 23).

      "By way of example, graduating in dentistry 23 years ago without debt, I could afford four more years of training to become a modestly paid academic. Some of my colleagues were interested in public dentistry and could afford to work for the government on wages lower than private practice.

      "University fees have undermined these career choices. Excepting children of the very rich, present students are all self-funding and accumulate debt either through HECS or from a bank.

      "Students graduating with these debts simply cannot afford to work for the salaries on offer in the public and academic sectors. Instead, new dental graduates need to earn sufficient money to pay back their student loans. The chronic shortage of public dentists and dental academics is widely acknowledged and can only worsen with growing university fees.

      "The question arises: will an inability to pay wages sufficient to attract public dentists or academics eventually cripple the dental service? This is unlikely, as in the end community demands will compel governments to simply pay more to attract the necessary workforce..."

      "Although I have a particular interest in the future of dentistry, the fact remains that the effect of university fees on dental economics is typical of the effect across all other areas. The wages of recently graduated doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, architects, librarians, engineers, linguists, town planners, ecologists, laboratory scientists and more must increase to accommodate training debts. The Government is a large employer of recent graduates in all these fields, but government won't cease because of insufficient funds to employ debt-ridden graduates. Instead, taxes will increase to make up the shortfall, while private industry will pass costs to the consumer. This must undermine our international competitiveness. [emphasis added]

      "Academic wages will also rise, and it seems ironic that student fees will increase university costs.

      "One way or another, we will all be paying more."

      Hans Zoellner, Thornleigh
      
      

    • Stigma of report cards

      "For a significant portion of my 40 years with the NSW Department of Education, I taught groups of students classified as mildly intellectually disabled. They were frustrated by their lack of learning expertise in the "mainstream", so programs were specifically designed to equip them for the world outside school. The majority took their place in society and paid taxes.

      "Under the proposed system, these young people would have received reports composed of "E". Why would society want to stigmatise such humans? For their efforts they generally deserved "A". There are sufficient external examinations to give parents an accurate assessment of their children's ranking in the state.

      "Please allow individual schools to peer rank their students according to effort, expertise shown, commitment to study and achievements."

      Tom Fenwick, Ashtonfield
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Sound sense for deaf children
    by Jill Pengelley
    
    "Sign language is being rejected by families of deaf children in favour of teaching them to talk.
    
    "With the advent of newborn hearing tests, digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, almost all children with hearing impairments now can learn to speak..."
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    
    
• The Northern Territory News
  
  
  • Uniform look is touted
    by Emma Gumbleton
    
    "Almost three quarters of Territory principals and assistant principals believe school uniforms should be made compulsory, a new survey shows..."
    
    "Education Minister Syd Stirling wants uniforms to become compulsory for all students from transition to Year 9 by 2008..."
    
    Full story in The Northern Territory News at link
    
    
    
    
• The New York Times
  
  
  • Detroit Teachers Vote to Not Report to Work
    by Bloombery News
    
    "Public school teachers in Detroit voted yesterday to reject a contract offer and to not report for their first day of work today.

    "School is scheduled to start Sept. 5 for the 129,000 students in the Detroit Public Schools..."
    
    "The union, which represents about 9,500 teachers and social workers, is seeking a contract that would raise the current $70,000 salary for top-level teachers by 16 percent over three years. The school district has offered a two-year contract with wage cuts of 5.5 percent and reductions to some benefits, the union said..."
    
    [Read in conjunction with the story of the US recruiting maths teachers from overseas, could Australia compete with a salary of US$70,000 + 16% = A$110,000    Web]
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    

• USA Today
  
  
  • Uni students "Wired for safety, late-night snacks"
    
    
  • Patent fight rattles academic computing
    [If allowed to stand, this could be a huge setback for online learning.   Web]
    
    
    
    
• Bernama.com: Malaysian National News Agency
  
  
  • MCA Urges Education Ministry To Overcome Mismatch Of Teachers
    
    "KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- The 53rd MCA annual general assembly Sunday unanimously passed a resolution that calls on the Education Ministry to overcome the problem of mismatch in the supply of teachers.

    "It urges the ministry to make a more comprehensive assessment and forecast in the plan to recruit and train sufficient teaching force in line with the Cabinet decision to achieve the teacher/classroom ratio from 1.5 to 1.7 in primary and secondary schools.

    "The matter was one of seven major resolutions covering the aspects of economy, social, education and politics passed by the party at this year's assembly..."
    
    Full story at Bernama.com at link
    
    
    

• Canada.com
  
  
  • Cuts to physical education feeding obesity epidemic in kids
    by Stu Cowan, CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette
    
    "MONTREAL -- A mind definitely is a terrible thing to waste E but so is a body.

    "That's why I wish sports and physical education played a bigger role in our public school system..."
    
    "But cutbacks over the years in physical education show that sports have almost become an afterthought in our public school system. When parents want more French, science or math classes, physical education usually takes the hit..."
    
    Full story at Canada.com at link
    
    
    

• TulsaWorld.com
  
  
  • Education group challenges planned '65 percent Solution'
    by Angel Riggs, World Capitol Bureau
    
    "OKLAHOMA CITY -- A controversial plan for raising the amount of money spent on classroom expenses resurfaced last week after an education organization filed a protest challenging the measure.

    "The 65 percent Solution," a campaign hot topic earlier this year, would require 65 percent of state education funds to be spent inside the classroom on things like supplies, textbooks or teachers' salaries..."

    "They... say it takes away both local control over spending and money that's needed for other important school services, such as transportation.

    "If we're not going to get kids to school, it won't make a difference what we put in the classroom," said Matt Livingood, Tulsa school board president and an OSSBA director who's listed as a protester..."
    
    Full story at TulsaWorld.com at link
    
    
    

Tuesday 29 August

• Hansard
  
  
  • Question by Shadow Education Minister to Education Minister [24 August but just published in Hansard]
    
    "Hon PETER COLLIER to the Minister for Education and Training:

    "Should a school decide to adopt a curriculum from another state, will the Minister confirm that the Government will continue its funding commitments for that school, at the current level both for this funding year and for future years?
    
    "Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH replied:

    "I confirm, schools that meet the requirements for registration derived from the School Education Act 1999 will continue to receive funding commitments."
    
    Full transcript in Hansard at link
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Pope takes a close look at intelligent design (page 5)
    
    "Philosophers, scientists and other intellectuals close to Pope Benedict XVI will gather at his summer palace outside Rome this week for intensive discussions that could herald a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution.
    
    "There have been growing signs the Pope is considering aligning his Church more closely with the theory of "intelligent design" taught in some US States.
    
    "The controversial theory has split education and religious authorities around the world.
    
    "It holds that some biological aspects of life are so complex that they could not have evolved randomly but must be the work of an unidentified, intelligent being. Critics say it is a disguise for creationism.
    
    "Catholic schools in WA do not teach intelligent design and have no plants to do so.
    
    "Catholic Education Office assistant director for religious education Debra Sayce said yesterday she would be surprised if the Pope was planning to adopt the theory.
    
    "Our Church tells us very clearly that God created the world and we don't need to use the word intelligent design," she said.
    
    "But the Catholic Education Office would review its stance if Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey directed schools to teach intelligent design," she said.
    
    "Archbishop Hickey is away but a spokesman said he had previously been quoted as saying intelligent design had a role to play in classrooms because students should understand they were a product of God, not of chance.
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich was unavailable for comment yesterday but she has previously said that intelligent design should not be taught in school science classes in government schools, although it could be discussed in some learning and teaching programs which included theories on the origins of life." [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Asian teacher wins case on discrimination (page 15)
    by Anne Calverley
    
    "The Education Department has been ordered to apologise to a foreign-born trainee teacher left humiliated after her mentor told her class she “speaks funny”.
    
    "The WA Equal Opportunity Tribunal ruled this month that comments made about Julianna Chew’s Malaysian accent by her supervising teacher had been demeaning and derogatory.
    
    "The 37-year-old mature-aged student failed the practical component of her teaching degree after Wattle Grove Primary School’s Year 1 teacher Maxine Castledine rated her performance poorly in June 2004.
    
    "The tribunal said accentuating Ms Chew’s accent in front of the students amounted to unlawful discrimination on racial grounds because it made her feel “small, insecure and very conscious of the way I speak and do things”.
    
    "But it disregarded other claims Ms Chew was forced to speak in an Australian accent, repeatedly criticised for her pronunciation and handwriting, and laughed at her when she read stories.
    
    "Ms Chew sought more than $30,000 in damages for lost income, general damages and costs but the tribunal said the case was not serious enough to warrant compensation.
    
    "In the first case of its kind, the Education Department has until the end of the month to apologise to Ms Chew in writing for Ms Castledine’s conduct.
    
    "A copy must also be sent to Edith Cowan University even though Ms Chew subsequently dropped out of the early childhood course.
    
    "The hearing was told Ms Castledine requested that Ms Chew did not return to school because her presence was a “detriment to the children’s education”. She said she had had to correct Ms Chew’s language so that the children would understand her.
    
    "But the tribunal found Ms Castledine would not have made the same comment about “a person with a very upper-class English accent, or a United States drawl or even a very broad Australian accent”.
    
    “We cannot see how that comment can be understood as anything other than demeaning and derogatory,” it said.
    
    "Education Department human resources executive director Alby Huts said staff were required to treat colleagues with courtesy and respect.
    
    “We do not tolerate racial discrimination in our schools and will respond quickly to any incidents that are brought to our attention,” he said.
    
    "He said any disciplinary action would depend on the individual circumstances of each case but would not say whether Ms Castledine had been disciplined."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (pages 20 - 21)
    
    
    • "I don't mind the State Government spending money on consultants (Consultants still high cost despite Labor vow 25/8) providing they are getting good advice.
      
      "Considering the stand taken by the Minister of Education over the past year and a half, I certainly think the Premier should ask for his money back from any educational consultants that have been used."
      
      Patrick F. Whalen, Newman
      
      
      
    • A good decision at last
      
      "Hurrah, Premier Carpenter has finally grabbed hold of his manhood and made a decision to get rid of John D'Orazio. He has been dumped from the Labor Party, but should also be kicked out of Parliament with the contempt he deserves.
      
      "But while the Premier is making tough decisions, he should dump Ljiljanna Ravlich before she succeeds in producing a generation of imbeciles who will ultimately not be in a position to read, write or add up. Employers are complaining about a skills shortage now – wait till those children who have been subjected to the OBE debacle graduate. [emphasis added]
      
      "And let's not forget Sheila McHale for her outstanding stewardship of the DCD. Her conduct in the Wade Scale matter is appalling and her silence on the subject is an indictment in itself. How the woman has the gall to put her hand out each week for her wages astounds me.
      
      "It has long been said that when peanuts are paid for politicians, you will get only monkeys. And in my view that is what the taxpayer is lumbered with in Parliament at the moment. This includes both sides of the House.
      
      "As a taxpayer I would gladly pay new, smarter and business-oriented politicians a salary of $500,000 a year for their services – but only on the condition that those sitting on the hill at present are all booted out first. In my view, the poor suffering taxpayers of WA are certainly not getting their money's worth at present. We certainly deserve better."
      
      Milke Chester, Waterford
      
      
      
    • Report cards
      
      "A major challenge that confronts parents and others today is the widespread dissatisfaction with the report card and the curriculum.
      
      "A copy of my report card (many years ago in Victoria) listed columns of subject, mark, class average, position in class and days absent. The only one I would query was the position in class.
      
      "If parents were presented with something along these lines they would be able to understand and interpret clearly the position of their child in relation to others in the class. Testing versus assessing becomes an issue. The report card is a guide but is never the final picture because other characteristics are involved in the making of a good school.
      
      "Are professional educators wise enough to make all the decisions?
      
      "The answer to most issues lies not in making things complicated but in winning the hearts and minds of the people involved."
      
      Ernest Gravenall, Brentwood
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Uni's top students choose teaching
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "More than half the students starting a teaching degree at one of the nation's leading universities chose a teaching career, despite having the marks to study engineering, arts, science or medicine.

    "A survey conducted by Sydney University's education faculty shows that more than half the students training as primary school teachers scored more than 90 out of a possible 100 in their university entrance score. Among those studying to be secondary school teachers, more than 30 per cent scored above 90.

    "The cut-offs for admission at Sydney University this year were 86.5 for primary teaching and about 83.5 for secondary.

    "John Hughes, pro-dean in the faculty of education and social work, said the large proportion of students with high marks and the rising entrance mark for teaching contradicted claims that teachers were not as smart as they were 20 years ago.

    "It's very difficult to get a high UAI (university admissions index) and be illiterate," he said.

    "Dr Hughes was responding to a study by economists at the Australian National University that analysed the literacy and numeracy results of new teachers and student teachers and found their academic achievement had declined substantially..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Judith Wheeldon: Why words fail us
    
    Good teachers need a good education and a worthwhile pay package
    
    "As a school head I have seen for myself that teachers are not as literate as they used to be. I have given up as teachers continually make errors in written communications to students and parents, and in school newsletters. In speech, fuzzy thinking results from their confusion of subject and verb, illogical prepositions and no longer amusing malapropisms. Vocabularies bled and logic was wounded. Now we have evidence I am not just a boring old pedant.

    "Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan's welcome research, which appeared in these pages yesterday, has done education a great service by providing an evidence base for what school heads and employers already know: the quality of teaching has seriously deteriorated in the most critical areas of literacy and numeracy, and therefore in primary education, science, technology and other subjects.

    "Let me defend teachers. They too are victims of deteriorating school systems. Only a handful remains whose school education predates the 1960s and '70s, when teaching was overcome by a fashion for coddling children. Don't correct errors: you might damage their little psyches and destroy their self-esteem. Don't tell them what to write about: it's undemocratic. Let them express themselves. We call their efforts creative.

    "The distinction between self-expression and communication was lost. Self-expression can take place without an audience. Communication requires compliance with the niceties of spelling, punctuation (including apostrophes) and diction that are also understood by the audience. The ability to structure a line of thought is gained through lots of writing practice to establish clear thinking: it requires knowledge about the subject. That is, communication requires discipline, academic and personal. Today's teachers cannot teach what they have not been taught.

    "Younger teachers also copped postmodernism. Before they had learned to read thoroughly and carefully and to love reading (whether fiction, history or science), they were taught to be sceptical of everything and wary of giving it value in their own lives. They were made to see literature, history and science through "frames" of feminism, Marxism, racism and who knows what else. The frame mattered but there was not much of a picture in it as syllabuses lost content and no longer required students to have substantial knowledge of facts, names, dates and events..."

    "And men? Men are a valuable but rare species in education; it takes courage to be a male teacher. A closed door can ruin a career. An adolescent girl might make allegations that will never wash away. Suspicion lurks. Can a male teacher comfort a crying child? How do you teach gymnastics or tennis without touching? It is difficult enough for women in this climate of lewd suspicion. Wouldn't you rather be an accountant? ..."
    
    Judith Wheeldon is a former head of two private girls schools in Sydney, Abbotsleigh and Queenwood.
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Jackie Huggins: Proud heritage
    
    A good, inclusive history lesson can help improve the prospects for reconciliation of all Australians
    
    "A good deal has been said and written about the recent federal history summit, but not of the landmark position that was taken about the teaching of indigenous history.

    "Nearly all summiteers were in firm agreement that the continuing story of indigenous Australians was a part of our nation's history that all students should be taught.

    "This may not seem like such a remarkable outcome but it is. These eminent historians have had, and used, their power to write indigenous people in and out of the Australian story. And, for the first time, they have formally declared as a group that the chronological sequence on which the development of history study will be based will span "indigenous presence to recent decades".

    "The scene was set when John Howard told the summit: "I don't think you can have a proper teaching and comprehension of Australian history without having a proper understanding of indigenous history and the contribution of the indigenous experience to Australia's development and the Australian story."

    "Federal Education, Science and Training Minister Julie Bishop described indigenous history as "part of the national inheritance", saying: "We need to think seriously and speak honestly about how we bring this inheritance to life and weave it into the national story..."

    Jackie Huggins is co-chairwoman of Reconciliation Australia and deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies unit at the University of Queensland.
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • MOST TALKED ABOUT
      QUALITY OF TEACHING
      
      "The findings by ANU economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan ("Teachers are not so clever any more”, 28/8) should, if even half right, surprise few and alarm most of us. Too many of today’s teachers are widely seen as knowing not very much about very little.

      "Part of the problem is the false dichotomy set up by the oft-quoted “We don’t stuff facts into kids, we teach them to think”, whereby teacher-scholars are derided as out-of-touch pedants. What we’re told we need now are facilitators, who can be wired into every IT-enabled classroom across the nation.

      "Connected to this is what seems to be inadequate teacher preparation: a three-year degree largely in proselytising, pseudo-subjects with “studies” in the title, plus a diploma of education long on psycho-babble and lacking the crafts of the classroom.

      "This recently retired teacher supports Australian Education Union national president Pat Byrne’s call to raise teachers’ salaries across the board. He also reckons there needs to be a concomitant drive to place in the nation’s classrooms scholars who are broadly and deeply educated in their subjects and thoroughly committed to student-focused classroom work as their number one career priority – oh, and school principals who also reckon that this is a good idea."
      
      Leonard Colquhoun, Invermay, Tas
      
      

    • "The nature of teaching has changed over the past 20 years. The sage on the stage has been replaced with the guide on the side. Thanks to a succession of policies which have systematically eroded the teaching role, what students get now is often someone with plenty of good intentions, with some working knowledge of their subject area, heaps of administrative tasks to ensure that they have a record of every decision, and flexibility to change their educational thinking and practice every couple of years. It has led to confusion about the profession of teaching and its status. [emphasis added]

      "Clever, energetic graduates are looking for careers that are free of bureaucracy, work that is cutting edge, professional and that gives them room to make big decisions. If educators had more say about their profession and the purpose of education, teachers, our schools and children would be much better off. This kind of autonomous professionalism, highly rewarded, would attract the best of the best.

      "Why not give those with the expertise more capacity to make decisions within a highly cohesive, fair and rigorous education system? But you will have to put that one to the politicians."
      
      Dr Athena Vongalis-Macrow, School of Educational Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne
      
      

    • "I was a senior high school teacher in the public education system for four years. I entered the profession with two bachelor degrees (education and arts, majoring in history) and completed a master of education degree while I was teaching.

      "I enjoyed classroom teaching very much and gained a lot of satisfaction from it. One of the contributing factors in my decision to leave teaching was the fact that, even though I had completed postgraduate studies in education, therefore updating my professional skills, there was no remuneration for doing so. Not only did I have to pay HECS but there was no increase in salary. I even had to take six days’ unpaid leave when I was writing up the final part of my thesis.

      "In many other professions, staff are paid to gain higher qualifications, yet the state education department for which I worked did not seem to see any value in rewarding or even encouraging teachers to further their education. Until this happens, teachers who are employable elsewhere will continue to leave the profession for higher pay and much better working conditions.

      "I now enjoy working as a lecturer in a faculty of education, where promotion will depend on the amount of research and associated work that I do, not on my years of service. The increase in salary from a teacher with four years’ experience to a first-year lecturer is quite remarkable.

      "While I’m not advocating merit-based pay in the formats that have been previously suggested (eg, based on student achievement), I do believe that hard work and effort need to be rewarded if education departments wish to retain quality teachers."
      
      Heather Sharp, Springfield, Qld
      
      

    • "It is true that pay and conditions affect recruitment into teaching, as is the case in all occupations. However, Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan may have neglected the importance of classroom morale in teacher recruitment. Over-boisterous classrooms and anxiety about classroom control deter many potential entrants from teaching. Young men and women who have in recent years seen their own teachers subjected to insult and discomfort may well turn away from teaching as a career."
      
      Geoffrey Partington, Malvern, SA
      
      

    • "Federal L Education Minister Julie Bishop wants the nation’s brightest to become teachers. Meanwhile, those struggling at the chalk face are paid peanuts while being excoriated in an unending torrent of politically driven public attack. Is it any wonder not even the monkeys are showing up?

      "When education matters more than flagpoles, overseas military follies, or the Government’s re-election, Ms Bishop may attract brighter people back to what was once a valued and respected profession."
      
      Garry Bickley, Elizabeth Downs, SA
      
      

    • "Western Australia now has something truly unique, something other states and, indeed, all Australian voters can only envy – a leader with the courage to sack an errant minister ("Premier kicks out disgraced D’Orazio”, 26-27/8)."
      
      Peter Lane, Margaret River, WA
      
      
      
    • "I was surprised when the sales assistant couldn’t deduct $40 from $89 in her head, and even more surprised when she explained this by saying she hadn’t “done maths” at school."
      
      Marion Kavanagh, Yeppoon, Qld

    
    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• More Reader Comments: PerthNorg story "UWA unhappy with OBE style levels" of 26/8
  
  
  
  
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Minister trumpets musical reforms
    by Michelle Grattan
    
    "First it was literacy and numeracy, then history. Now a federal minister is urging the Australian education system to lift its game on music teaching.

    "Arts Minister Rod Kemp has warned that many young people are missing out on an adequate musical education and that the subject needed a model teaching curriculum.

    "Unlike the Federal Government's push to make Australian history a mandatory subject, Senator Kemp does not believe music should be compulsory "at this stage", but says it should be far more extensively taught and at a higher standard.

    "The limited availability of musical education, standards, and the training of teachers are among the problems he identifies..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Schools need parents to play their part
    
    There is a limit to what teachers can achieve without backing, writes Roslyn Guy.
    
    "In the mid-1980s I taught at a vibrant state secondary school in the western suburbs. The staff was mostly young and energetic and in those days there was plenty of money from both federal and state governments for programs to redress the disadvantage experienced by many of our 1000 or so students.

    "It was a difficult school but, as well as daily battles with teenagers whose honour depended on being able to rile teachers, there were memorable successes. Young people whose parents spoke no English, or who had left school at 14, became the first in their families to go to university; others won sporting acclaim or showed musical or artistic talent..."

    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Teacher troubles

      "NO! Teachers S are not getting dumber (The Age, 28/8). And there is no quick fix to be had by throwing money to attract "better quality" people to the profession.

      "The decline in education can be tracked by the following:

      • The introduction of university-based training as opposed to the teachers' college model.
        
        
      • The crowded curriculum — "bike ed", "life ed", swimming etc, all of which in the past were taken care of by parents.
        
        
      • The ever-increasing burden of unnecessary administrative tasks performed by class teachers.
        
        
      • The almost total reliance on photocopied sheets, used by many teachers."
        
        

      Helen Richards (retired principal), Mentone
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teachers motivated by passion, not money
    by Anna Patty
    
    "With many lucrative career options to choose from, Amanda Freeborn traded her university admissions index of 98.6 for a place at the University of Sydney to study teaching..."
    
    "University of Sydney research supports those views as typical among the majority of teaching students.

    "Dr John Hughes, Pro Dean of Education and Social Work at the university, yesterday challenged the findings of researchers from the Australian National University, who suggest that low salaries are to blame for the decreasing academic standards of teachers..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Run this up the flagpole, Ms Bishop

      "Isn't it about time that teachers were paid a little more respect by Julie Bishop and her cohorts ("Teacher literacy falls with salaries", August 28)? Every doctor, lawyer and politician today has every teacher to thank for what they are, for without them they wouldn't be there.

      "Every teacher helps a child throughout their school years and if Ms Bishop feels that teachers are not up to standard she had better look at what they receive - you get what you give.

      "The continual running down of teachers and conditions will only lead to them leaving for greener pastures where they are wanted for the job they do."

      Sue Harris, Goulburn
      
      

    • "Julie Bishop wants the nation's brightest to become teachers. Meanwhile, those struggling at the chalk-face are paid peanuts while being excoriated in an unending torrent of politically driven public attack. Is it any wonder not even the monkeys are showing up?

      "When education matters more than flagpoles, overseas military follies or re-election, Ms Bishop may attract brighter people back to what was once a valued and respected profession.

      "As for rewarding merit, why not run a trial and pay our oh-so-clever politicians on that basis and see how it works?"
      
      Garry Bickley, Elizabeth Downs (SA)
      
      

    • "Our daughter taught for two years in NSW after training, before going overseas where she taught for 15 years in Britain and Greece. During this time she also got MA and PhD degrees. On returning home, she found the NSW public education system only recognised the two years, not her degrees nor her years of experience.

      "Little surprise then that her only option was to teach in the private system, which recognised all of these and paid her accordingly, and not at the two-year-out level - a difference of many thousands of dollars."

      Mary Lou Cook, Lindfield
      
      

    • "The Federal Government has just pledged $10 billion for defence but somehow cannot find the money to increase teachers' salaries to maintain the high standards we expect of them.

      "Although this Government loves to raise criticisms of how history or English is taught, this so-called concern rings hollow when the optimal solution suggested by the Australian National University report - which is to pay all teachers a professional salary - is not met.

      "It is a sad indictment of how this Government views our children."

      Deborah Hurst, Lindfield
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald at link

    
    
    
• ABC News Online [ACT]
  
  
  • Boost pay for quality teachers, urges Opposition
    
    "The ACT Liberal Party says new research on the numeracy and literacy of teachers adds weight to the Education Union's pay claim.

    "An Australian National University study has revealed there has been a drop in the literacy and numeracy standards of young people who become teachers over the past two decades.

    "Public school teachers and the Territory Government are locked in a bitter battle over a pay rise, with teachers refusing the Government's proposed trade-offs..."
    
    Full story at ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Ruling out school violence
    by Bruce McDougall
    
    "The Iemma Government will legislate to give itself the power to remove violent students from school when they put the safety of other children or teachers at risk.

    "Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt today will announce plans to amend the Education Act to give special power to Director-General Andrew Cappie-Wood to deal with "severely disruptive or violent'' students.

    "The Daily Telegraph has learned that, under the changes aimed at reducing assault in the state's classrooms and playgrounds, Mr Cappie-Wood will have the right to send the student directly to a behaviour school.

    "At present violent students are not removed without agreement between parents and the school..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Performance-based pay rejected
    by Tess Livingstone and David Crawshaw
    
    "Parents and teachers in Queensland have rejected performance-based pay as a solution to the problem of falling entry standards in the teaching profession..."
    
    "While the Federal Government has gained Opposition backing for its push to link teachers' pay to their performance, Australia's largest parents' group and teachers do not agree..."
    
    "Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said Labor supported moves towards performance-based pay for teachers, as it would reward initiative.

    "We need to build rewards and incentives to attract the best people to our schools, especially in the tough areas," Ms Macklin said.

    "The Opposition wanted to establish a new standards body in higher education to set out minimum standards for qualifications in each field, she said..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    

  • Scientists 'being censored'
    by Brendan O'Malley
    
    "The Howard Government has politicised research so much that the nation's best scientists are forced to resign, work overseas or censor their findings, a leading Queensland academic claims.
    
    "Griffith University emeritus professor Ian Lowe, who received an Order of Australia in 2001, said CSIRO scientists, in particular, were "doing a pre-emptive crumble" because of management interference.
    
    "He accused federal Health Minister Tony Abbott of stacking the board of the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia's peak medical science body, to enforce his "peculiar view of the world".

    "And he said former federal education minister Brendan Nelson had done the same with the Australian Research Council, the biggest source of funding for the nation's scientists.

    "I think the Howard Government does not want independent science and there's been a strong message to scientists that they can talk about their work but not its policy implications," Professor Lowe said in a comment piece in Australasian Science magazine.

    "The concern is scientists are doing a pre-emptive crumble and staying away from areas that are likely to cause any embarrassment.

    "Either that or they are resigning or going overseas..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link

    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Editorial
    Schools must be more accountable
    
    "Government schools should be as accountable as any other public service. Parents and other interested groups have a right to know the satisfaction levels of teachers and students.
    
    "They should be aware of the absentee rate of teachers and staff turnover rates.

    "The increased levels of reporting will be required from next year, together with information about comparative academic achievement..."
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link

    
    
    
• USA Today
  
  
  • Study: Teacher's gender affects learning
    by Ben Feller, AP Education Writer
    
    "WASHINGTON — For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.

    "That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University. His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal published by the Hoover Institution.

    "Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the way in which he reached them.

    "But Dee says his research supports his point, that gender matters when it comes to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex hurts a student's academic progress..."
    
    Full story in USA Today at link
    
    
    

  • Detroit teachers go on strike, wait out better contract but could face fines
    
    "DETROIT (AP) — Teachers frustrated by failed efforts to reach a contract agreement with the city's public school district went on strike Monday and said they were prepared to stand their ground for as long as it takes.

    "The Detroit Federation of Teachers overwhelmingly rejected a two-year contract proposal by the district on Sunday.

    "The proposal included a 5.5% wage reduction and copays for health care benefits of up to 20%. Only two teachers out of nearly 6,000 voted to accept the district's proposal, the union said. The teachers are seeking a pay increase..."
    
    Full story in USA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • 'When are they going to teach us how to teach?'
    by Oenone Crossley-Holland
    
    "Standing in front of a class of teenagers - and a G&T with colleagues - can be the best training of all.."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Homophobic bullying on the rise in schools, says charity
    by Rebecca Smithers, education editor
    
    "Homophobic bullying is an "effective and powerful" form of abuse and a growing cause of concern for youngsters, according to research due to be published this week by the NSPCC children's charity..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Pittsburg Post-Gazette [28 August their time]
  
• No Child Left Behind [NCLB] has altered the face of Education
  by Joe Smydo
  
  "... NCLB, rolled out in 2002, has changed the face of the American education system. States have restructured curriculums, increased training requirements for teachers and implemented standardized tests, all to boost reading and math performance as required by the law.

  "Studies have offered conflicting assessments of NCLB's effectiveness, however, with some portraying recent years' test scores as stagnant or so mixed as to defy generalization. Critics claim that the focus on reading and math has taken time away from other important subjects and that current tests are a high-pressure but incomplete measure of student achievement..."
  
  "Pennsylvania State Education Association vice president Jim Testerman said it's one thing to ask students a test question about the steps of the scientific method and another to have them demonstrate their knowledge by organizing and performing an experiment.

  "Now that's an authentic assessment you can't do with a high-stakes test taken on a single day," he said.

  "Next to the Iraq war, NCLB may be President Bush's most controversial and far-reaching initiative. With Congress set to consider reauthorization next year, supporters and critics alike are lining up to propose changes.

  "Accountability is NCLB's defining feature..."
  
  "The national goal is 100 percent student proficiency in math and reading by 2014, with districts facing intermediate proficiency targets along the way. With failure comes consequences, ranging from letting students transfer from low-performing schools to elimination of locally elected school boards.

  "I think it's a nice goal, but it's unrealistic. Nobody's going to be 100 percent at anything," said Linda Clautti, chief executive officer of Northside Urban Pathways Charter School, Downtown. [emphasis added]

  "School districts have expanded early childhood programs, which teach building blocks of reading and math, to prepare students for elementary school..."
  
  Full story in the The Pittsburg Post-Gazette at link [a fairly long exposé but well worth reading   Web]
  
  

• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • Govt attacks teacher pay plan
    by Brad Watts
    
    "The ACT Government has attacked the Federal Government's plan to offer performance pay to reward and recruit smarter teachers in Australia.

    "Spurred by an Australian National University report that highlighted teacher literacy and numeracy had slumped, Education Minister Julie Bishop proposed yesterday a merit pay system based on skills and effort, rather than tenure in the job.

    "However, ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr criticised Ms Bishop's performance-based plan for oversimplifying the issue, particularly in the ACT, which has high retention rates and attracted many of the nation's top teachers..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Times at link
    
    
    

Wednesday 30 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Lift teacher pay to raise standards: Lib (page 36)
    by Bethany Hiatt, Sam Riley and Rhianna King
    
    "All teachers should get a pay rise of at least 20 per cent to attract better-quality graduates into the profession, prominent Liberal frontbencher Peter Collier said yesterday.
    
    "The shadow education minister said teachers were seriously underpaid, which was reducing the number and quality of students choosing to enter teaching.
    
    "He will present a proposal to boost the salaries of the State's 35,000 teachers for consideration as part of the platform the State Liberal Party will take to the next election. [emphasis added]
    
    "News of the Opposition plan emerged after the release of ANU research showing that teachers' literacy and numeracy standards had fallen significantly in the past 20 years, at the same time that average teacher pay had dropped more than 10 per cent relative to other jobs.
    
    "Mr Collier said he would also provide more funding to Catholic and independent schools so they would not have to increase fees to keep pace with teacher salaries. [emphasis added] Though he does not yet have solid budget figures, he was basing his proposed increase of about 20 per cent on a NSW independent school proposal that would see teachers at the top of the pay scale paid more than $87,000 annually in 2010.
    
    "Under the enterprise bargaining agreement that State school teachers accepted last month, teachers at the top of the WA pay scale will receive $69,132 by 2008.
    
    "Until we make salaries more attractive, teaching is not going to be seen as a viable career option by a lot of students," Mr Collier said. "This is especially pertinent in the country and remote schools, where young teachers find that they can earn two to three times as much by driving a truck."
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said the ANU research backed her push for merit-based pay. She said she would use negotiations with State ministers for the next round of Federal funding, worth $13 billion, to push for an overhaul of teachers' salaries to reward teachers on performance. "It's not a big stick approach, it's all about collaboration," she said.
    
    "WA Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said she had not yet read the report and did not want to comment.
    
    "The State School Teachers Union dismissed the relevance of the ANU research, saying young people had a much broader education than 20 years ago. General secretary David Kelly said the failure by Government to realise that teachers were overworked and underpaid was the main reason many graduates turned their back on the profession." [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Boom adds to queue for private schools (front page)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "WA’s powerhouse economy has fuelled a mini-boom among Perth’s most prestigious private schools as cashed-up parents rush to buy their children a top education.
    
    "Some are enrolling their children before they are born to be sure of getting a place as most elite private schools report a rise in applications. Waiting lists at some schools stretch to 2020 and beyond.

    "The increase in demand at schools that charge annual fees of $12,000 or more has contributed to big building programs, with St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls opening a junior campus in Mosman Park next month and Methodist Ladies College embarking on a new middle school project.

    "St Hilda’s principal Joy Shepherd said enrolments had increased dramatically in the past two years. One family had registered a newborn to start Year 11 in 2023 and the school had rejected requests to enrol children still in the womb.

    "The resource boom had forced up enrolments from students wanting to start immediately because their families had transferred to Perth from overseas or interstate, with 22 new students joining the school at the beginning of the current school term.

    "The opening of our new Chidley Junior School campus next month is in response to increasing demand for places,” Ms Shepherd said.

    "Methodist Ladies College said more students were enrolling from interstate but demand was also up among local parents.

    "Trinity College, which charges about $5000 a year, has just taken its first enrolment application for an unborn child to attend in 2020. St Mary’s Anglican Girls School said its waiting lists extended to 2021.

    "The trend is not just confined to schools in the western suburbs, with Guildford Grammar School reporting booming enrolments after several years of dwindling numbers. Principal Robert Zordan said the school had 860 students three years ago but next year it expected to have more than 1000.

    "Association of Independent Schools head Audrey Jackson said long waiting lists showed a sustained demand that gave schools confidence to plan for the future.

    "Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that WA parents have turned to private schools at a rate far greater than the national average, with a 40 per cent jump in non-government school numbers in the past decade."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 24)
    
    
    • "I can just imagine teachers lining up to do their literacy test to set their pay scale. Why not try the same things on Centrelink officers, DCD case managers, or better still, politicians?"
      
      John Clapton, Greenwood
      
      
    
    
    
• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Classes back to basics
    by Phillipa Duncan
    
    "Traditional subjects including history and the arts will be compulsory for all students in state high schools in Tasmania from next year.

    "Education Minister David Bartlett has released his proposed curriculum to replace the complicated Essential Learnings framework.

    "The jargon-rich and confusing ELs was introduced only two years ago at a cost of about $20 million.

    "It earned criticism from every quarter -- teachers, parents, students, the Australian Education Union, education experts and business.

    "The Tasmanian Curriculum entrenches the traditional subjects of maths, English, science and technology.

    "History, personal development and information and communications technology make up the seven compulsory subjects.

    "Mr Bartlett said the simpler, new curriculum would reduce the workload of teachers and give them more time to teach.

    "The 18 key elements of ELs that included acting democratically, maintaining wellbeing and building social capital, have been axed.

    "Thinking, which will be taught across the seven new subjects, is one of the few visible remnants of ELs.

    "Teachers and parents, who have complained bitterly about ELs, welcomed the proposed curriculum yesterday as a balance between old and new teaching methods.Australian Education Union state president Jean Walker said the proposed curriculum would retain the best bits of ELs and reduce workload.

    "State School Parents and Friends Association president Jenny Branch said the curriculum would give teachers more time in the classroom.

    "But she was concerned some schools would return to 19th century methods of teaching. Mr Bartlett said the user-friendly curriculum would be easier to assess.

    "He promised reports in clear language and a syllabus to guide teachers.

    "Opposition Leader Will Hodgman said the road from ELs back to "square one" had been "long, tortuous and expensive".

    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Gutwein applauded the "return to basics" but warned the implementation into schools needed to be carefully managed.

    "Mr Bartlett said parents and teachers would be invited to comment on the proposal and the new curriculum would enter schools next year.

    "He said teachers would continue to use the best bits of ELs such as teaching students to think critically.

    "It's about evolution, not again starting from scratch," he said."
    
    From The Hobart Mercury at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • [Tasmania's] New Age curriculum axed
    by Simon Kearney and Justine Ferrari
    
    "Tasmania's New Age school curriculum - widely criticised for being vague and meaningless - has been thrown away in favour of an old-fashioned syllabus in traditional subject areas.

    "The curriculum has seven new syllabuses covering mathematics, science, English, literacy, arts, history and information technology.

    "Education Minister David Bartlett acted last night, following criticism from teachers that the Essential Learnings curriculum told them very little about what they were to teach.

    "Mr Bartlett said the new curriculum would keep the values-based approach of Essential Learnings.

    "It takes the best of the Essential Learnings, including the values and purposes and the explicit teaching of thinking, and makes clear the continuing importance of maths, English, science and history," he said.

    "The detail of the changes, where 18 subject areas will be replaced by seven in high schools and four in primary schools by 2008, were not spelt out.

    "However they fail to separate history into a separate subject as recommended in the recent history summit.

    "Critic Kevin Donnelly said the use of the word syllabus was a capitulation on the part of the Tasmanian Government.

    "They're going to simplify it, make it more easy to understand for parents and get rid of the jargon," he said. "The devil will be in the detail."

    "Former education minister Paula Wriedt lost her portfolio over the curriculum and Mr Bartlett has spent his first months in the job talking to parents and teachers about what they wanted from the curriculum. "Since I became Education Minister I have visited more than 80 schools and listened to as many people in the education community as possible including teachers, school staff, principals, parents and students," he said."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • Students' repeating is 'futile'
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Repeating a year of school offers no academic or social benefits to students, and is an "educational malpractice" that encourages delinquency.

    "An analysis of more than 20 years of research by Helen McGrath, a psychologist and lecturer in education at Deakin University, found that students who repeat were more likely to drop out of school and less likely to pursue tertiary education.

    "Dr McGrath says that repeating a year's schooling increases low self-esteem and anti-social behaviour among students, and is "an exercise in futility".

    "There is probably no other educational issue on which the research evidence is so unequivocal," her study concludes.

    "There is also no other educational issue where there is such a huge gap between what the research says and the practices that schools continue to adopt..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • The Higher Education Supplement including
    
    
    • History not a morals course
      by Avan Stallard
      
      "As the discussion about teaching history continues, the most important question remains on the sidelines. Why is the study of Australian history important?

      "Rather than discussing what we should study, the first step is reaching consensus on why history should become a core subject in schools.

      "The Prime Minister, the Education Minister and other commentators earlier hinted at their answers to this question, but no more. In her history summit address, Education Minister Julie Bishop declared a need to "rediscover the unifying national narratives". This is essentially a bid to reposition the study of history as an instrument of nation-building.

      "By this rationale, children should study history because it helps them identify with their communities and guides their development of morals and other characteristics. History can bring us together as a people.

      "But what if our national history isn't up to the task? As Ann Curthoys says, history can no longer be relied on to yield unifying national narratives. Not, that is, unless you approach our history with a big ideological stick..."
      
      Avan Stallard is a PhD student in history at the University of Queensland.
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      

  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Courage of her conviction
      

      "Judith Wheeldon ("Why words fail us”, Opinion, 29/8) is right – high-achieving young people aspiring to be teachers are defending their career choice and apologising that they did not become a doctor, lawyer or an economist. There is an inherent, unspoken “only” in front of “teaching” when high achievers announce what they are doing at university.

      "I speak from personal experience. Despite feeling the pull towards teaching after gaining a UAI of 98.95, I was swayed by the notion that teaching is a second-rate option, taken by those who can’t hack it in a real career. This is grossly unfair, but it took me two very long, difficult years to realise it while pursuing a prestigious, highly-paid but unsatisfactory scientific career, before I had the courage to pack it in and enrol in a graduate diploma of education for 2007.

      "And I do mean courage – workmates raised eyebrows, bosses warned against it, and family members threw their hands up in horror. But I have a genuine passion for introducing young adults to how exciting and interesting science can be, and now I have the conviction to act upon it, no matter how naff that sounds!

      "Please don’t make it this hard for the next crop of teaching students – help to raise the level of respect for the profession by raising teachers’ pay."
      
      Catherine King, Stawell, Vic
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The New York Times
  
  
  • SAT Reading and Math Scores Show a Significant Decline
    [Note: The US SAT is essentially equivalent to the Australian TEE...   Web]
    by Karen W Arenson
    
    "The average score on the reading and math portions of the newly expanded SAT showed the largest decline in 31 years, according to a report released yesterday by the College Board on the performance of the high school class of 2006..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    Similar story in The Washington Post
    
    Similar story in USA Today
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Focus on subject is music to ears of teachers
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "Tune, tone and tempo sit alongside reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic at Beaumaris Primary School. The school, whose students are in rehearsals for the end-of-term musical, prides itself on running a strong music program for its 500-plus students..."
    
    "A Federal Government-commissioned review last year found one in 10 schools did not have a music program — an estimate described as conservative. "It's fairly poor in some areas," said Mr Hall. "Every child in the education system should have the opportunity to have music … but they don't, and it's left up to the lady who plays the organ at church on Sunday to come in."

    "[Performing arts teacher Adrian] Hall is just one of many musicians and educators nationwide calling for increased funding and recognition for music education, including improvements to teacher training. The subject came under renewed scrutiny during a federal Education Department-sponsored music workshop in Melbourne this week, where Arts Minister Rod Kemp called for a lift in teaching standards..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • A regurgitated rip-off for teachers and students
      
      "I see merit-based pay for teachers is doing the media rounds again ("Teacher literacy falls with salaries", August 28). Sigh. And how do "they" decide who or what is a "good" teacher? I've got it! Exam results and value-added statistics. Oh, and CVs.

      "Sorry, but a good CV does not necessarily make a good teacher, but it can look awfully good on paper while that person is chasing promotion. Value-added scores can be helpful, but are easily skewed by unaccounted factors such as pupil absence, and don't tell us much in the short term. Real improvement in learning takes time and effort.

      "The really disheartening thing, though, is that teachers in "bad" schools are often classed as "bad" teachers. And what is a "bad" school? Why, one that doesn't get good results. Any fool knows the socio-economic circumstances of students greatly affects the culture and results of any school. This is not to say children from a less advantaged background can't do well, but let's give them the credit to admit it is much harder for them rather than pretending it is only other factors, such as all those "bad" teachers, that prevents their success.

      "No one enters teaching to make a lot of money, but merit-based pay is just an excuse for the Government to spend less on teacher salaries than it ought. Merit-based pay will not "encourage the best teachers to work in the most challenging schools", because in a tough school you simply have to focus on so much more than your advancement.

      "I hope the union does not fold on this, because teachers need support, not division, for themselves and for the students they are trying to teach. No wonder no one wants to do the job anymore.

      "After 10 years in a challenging school where I saw wonderful teachers bring out the best they could in students every day, despite little support from anyone, I, too, have left to teach overseas. The money's about the same, but you get a little more respect and the papers aren't telling you you're rubbish.

      Leona Jenkins, London

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Parents must reveal kids' faults
    by Bruce McDougall
    
    "Schools could face a test case when the first child is refused enrolment because their parents lied about their violent background.

    "In a sweeping crackdown on violent and disruptive students, the Iemma Government is forcing parents to reveal whether their child is a danger to others.

    "From next year it will be compulsory for all parents to state whether their child has been suspended, expelled or involved in violent incidents.

    "Failure to answer the questions on violence on a new 12-page enrolment form or giving false information will result in their child being denied entry..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

Thursday 31 August

• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Science teacher lure
    by Kathy Grube
    
    "Education Minister David Bartlett hopes to lure maths and science graduates into schools by offering them permanent teaching jobs worth up to $60,000 and scholarships to pay off their HECS debt from next year.
    
    "Mr Bartlett said the incentives would help fill the gap of science and maths-trained teachers in government high schools.

    "It was revealed in the Mercury last week that 47 per cent of schools had no specialist mathematics teacher for up to five maths classes. Also, 26 per cent of schools offered science classes taught by teachers who had not been formally trained in that area.

    "Mr Bartlett said all science teachers graduating this year would be offered permanent jobs, with a $60,394 salary, $13,000 more than a starting teacher's $47,000 wage.

    "Also from next year, science students will be able to apply for one of five scholarships to pay for up to two years of the teaching part of their degree.

    "Both the jobs and scholarships will be offered to students in all science disciplines, including those studying biological sciences..."
    
    Full story in The Hobart Mercury at link
    
    Ministerial Media Release on this topic
    
    
    

• Further reader feedback on the PerthNorg OBE article
  
  

  • The problem is not the CONCEPT of OBE, but the half-baked, third-rate implementation that is being foisted on WA students, parents and teachers.

    If you go to the PLATOWA website http://platowa.com/ you'll see they don't object to a decent implementation of OBE, only to the shonky non-content and Mickey-Mouse "Levels" being shoved down everyone's throats. At the top of their home page, it says:

    "We support, and have always supported, the practice of adopting outcomes that set quantifiable standards in academic skills and subjects, whose accomplishment by students can be verified through objective testing.

    We absolutely condemn the setting of pseudo-standards that are vague, not academic or practical in nature, and therefore cannot be verified through objective testing.

    We also condemn the installation of overclaimed and unproved educational­ methods, whose only merits are their novelty and the evangelism by which powerful, bureaucratic non-practitoners seek to impose them."
    
    Steve Kessell, Willetton
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Kirsten Storry: Setting readers to rights
    
    Traditional approaches to education service delivery have failed
    
    "In 1997, federal, state and territory education ministers agreed that "every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a minimum acceptable literacy and numeracy standard within four years".

    "Yet by 2004, four out of five children in years 3 and 5 in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory were still not achieving the minimum literacy benchmark, let alone the literacy they need to prosper.

    "The gap in literacy between remote and urban Aboriginal children was even bigger than the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

    "It is time to acknowledge that traditional education service delivery is not working, particularly in the smaller remote communities. It is time to trial innovative solutions..."
    
    Kirsten Storry is a policy analyst with the Centre for Independent Studies. Her report, Tackling Literacy in Remote Aboriginal Communities, is released today and available at: http://www.cis.org.au
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    Similar story in The Melbourne Age
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Education unions protect the incompetent teachers
      

      "It's high time that federal and state governments faced up to the dramatically declining quality of schoolteachers.

      "This process started in the late 1960s and 70s, when politicians and education bureaucrats allowed power in state schools to shift from principals and senior teachers to pupils, their parents and education unions.

      "Today, in state schools, children commonly spit on teachers, swear at them and threaten to damage their cars with impunity. And if a teacher attempts to physically stop a child bullying another the parents will be in the principal’s office the next day threatening to charge the teacher with assault. On top of all that, education unions are so powerful that not even grossly incompetent teachers can be sacked. What teacher of any quality would want to work in that environment?

      "In the 1970s, I considered becoming a teacher but was so appalled by the conditions in state schools even then that I became a university lecturer instead. Over the next two decades, I taught many students who were intending to become teachers and watched their academic quality steadily decline."
      
      David Lewis, Clifton Hill, Vic
      
      

    • "I read the article by Judith Wheeldon ("Why words fail us”, Opinion, 29/8) and was astounded that you had the courage to print it in this politically-correct age. It’s the truth, as I see it, and has been a source of grief to me over two generations.

      "When my youngest two daughters were at school, they were not taught multiplication tables, so my wife and I taught them at home, which brought down the fury of the teaching establishment on our heads. We also corrected their grammar and spelling, which was deemed likely to crush their spirits and curb their intellectual development. It hasn’t.

      "There is much I don’t care for about John Howard, but his stand on education is long overdue and desperately needed. As for The Australian, keep your nerve and publish more articles like Wheeldon’s."
      
      Alan Logan, Ringwood, Vic
      
      

    • "Judith Wheeldon’s article on uneducated teachers was excellent. But she left unanswered the question of what we should do with these teachers who cannot teach because they have never been taught. Instantly raising their pay will not solve the problem. Perhaps pay could be raised on the condition that they attend classes and pass tests in basic grammar and mental arithmetic. Teachers’ holidays are long enough to accommodate this. This would be a tough regime but it could also be personally rewarding, as they would end up better-educated people."
      
      Jocelyn Maxwell, Mittagong, NSW
      
      
    • "Bravo, Judith Wheeldon. As a retired mathematics teacher, I confirm and support everything you have said. I can only hope that those in authority, from the Prime Minister down, will read, take note of and implement all of your suggestions, especially as they relate to the training of our teachers."
      
      P. A. Ford, Toowoomba, Qld
      

    
    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    New formula needed to solve problems in schools
    by Stephen Dinham
    
    "In the early 1970s, fewer than 30 per cent of secondary students went through to year 12. For many who did, teaching and a teacher's scholarship offered the only viable opportunity to obtain a tertiary education. This was particularly the case for women and those from less well-off backgrounds and country areas.

    "Today, the proportion of students completing year 12 has more than doubled and there are increased opportunities for HSC graduates, including more universities and university courses to choose from.

    "There has been a drop in the quality of those entering teacher training as measured by the minimum entry requirements over the past 20 years or so.

    "In the mid-1990s, minimum entry standards for teaching bottomed and then began to rise, with this increase accelerating from around 2000, to the extent that most primary teaching courses now require a minimum score of 80 and some require more than 90. More than this, however, is that an increasing proportion of entrants to teaching easily exceed these minimum entry scores.

    "It seems that many of those being attracted to teaching have rejected the "greed is good" ethos of the 1980s and '90s to study for a career that makes a difference. They have rejected the pressure to "spend" all their HSC marks to take on teaching at a time when it has never been more politicised or criticised.

    "This new wave is now moving into teaching and already the feedback from schools is positive.

    "If concerns over the literacy and numeracy of new teachers remain, then we need to ask why high school graduates with university entry scores of 80 and more have these deficiencies and whether it is the role of universities to offer remediation. The danger with this is that "dumbing down" university courses to accommodate those with such deficiencies frustrates more able students..."
    
    Stephen Dinham is professor of education at Wollongong University.
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Teachers should look to AFL for a level field

      "Your editorial, "For love and money", worries about teachers' standards dropping. When in doubt, turn to sport for the answers.

      "Why not introduce an Australian football-style draft for teachers, whereby the worst-performing schools in the state get first pick of the new crop of graduating teachers? This should ensure the schools that need the most work get the best and brightest of the new teachers for a specified period (say, two or three years). And schools that have enough young teachers could swap their draft picks with other schools for cash or for senior teachers, just like clubs do in Australian football.

      "If the end benefit is to increase the standard of teaching across the board, surely it's worth a try. It might also give the school "league" tables proposed by the NSW Government a valid purpose."

      Scott Doman, Wollstonecraft
      
      

    • "I hope Julie Bishop has more luck identifying teachers of "merit" than our four children. All went through the same public schools and have had excellent, inspiring and dedicated teachers.

      "Trouble is, they cannot agree on which teachers these were, and which, if any, were the duds.

      "Teaching and learning is a relationship in the real world, and the evaluation of teachers can only be subjective."

      Di Pearton, Cootamundra
      
      

    • "Many academics, too, believe that (university) teaching is worthwhile, and that it is a source of motivation for them ("Teachers motivated by passion, not money", August 29).

      "As a casual academic I am certainly not motivated by money. However, I see from the article next to the one that I have just referred to ("Vice-chancellors top of the class") that my vice-chancellor earns more that 100 times my salary. Should I infer that he works only for money and, accordingly, feel sorry for him as he requires so much of it to compensate for what he does?"

      John Forge, Balmain
      
      

    • "Your story "Teachers motivated by passion, not money" may be a little misleading. As a student teacher, I, too, felt that salary was less important than the chance to make a difference.

      "It was only after starting a family and trying to pay off the mortgage that I realised my pay packet was grossly inadequate. I'm sure a survey of older teachers would show this."

      M. Andrew Borland Berowra Heights
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 20)
    
    
    • "Your headline (UWA delivers vote of no confidence in OBE, 26/8) needs correcting. UWA has long supported the broad intention and direction of reforms to secondary education in this State, including its focus on student outcomes, and continues to do so. A recent letter from UWA vice-chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, to school principals was not a vote of no confidence: it was a clarification of details concerning the definition of university entry requirements within the new system for prospective students, pending development of further data on the equivalence between levels and scaled marks."
      
      Jane Long, acting deputy vice-chancellor (education), UWA
      
      
      
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Demand for more aides
    by Rosanne Barrett
    
    "Mothers, teachers and children marched on George Street yesterday demanding full-time teacher aides for the start of Prep next year.
    
    "About 100 protesters called on the Government to match the Coalition's commitment to providing a full-time teacher aide alongside teachers in every play-based Prep class..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Tweaking of 'No Child [Left Behind (NCLB) Program]' Seen
    by Lois Romano
    
    Education Chief Urges Bigger Role for States in Initiative
    
    "... [Federal Education Secretary Margaret] Spellings said she believes NCLB -- a law that requires annual student assessments -- simply needs tweaking, and she emphasized that it is time to take it to the next level of development. Critics have long complained that the compliance requirements for NCLB puts too much stress on state resources and educators, many of whom say they must teach to the test at the expense of other learning..."
    
    "Let's ask ourselves not how many are barely getting over the bar, but how many are acing the test. . . . Now that we have the infrastructure in place, we can ask ourselves a fuller range of questions about kids and how they are doing."

    "Saying that the federal government has "done about as much" as it can in many ways, Spellings noted that states need to do much of the remaining work on NCLB in order to meet the goal of reading proficiency by 2014..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

Friday 1 September

• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • More talk of teacher wage strikes
    by Elizabeth Bellamy
    
    "Teachers have refused to rule out the prospect of further industrial action as staff walked off the job yesterday for the fifth time this year.

    "But parents, who have supported teachers in their campaign for better pay and in their opposition to job cuts, say strikes are hurting families.

    "ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations president Jane Gorrie said school disruptions had hidden costs for parents, whether it be paying for child care or taking unpaid leave from work.

    "We want both sides to get together and resolve the situation," she said of the wages dispute which has dragged on since last September.

    "I think people are just appalled that it's taken this long."

    "About 400 teachers from the north Canberra electorate of Ginninderra rallied yesterday outside the Assembly, their fifth stop-work meeting this year and the last of three this month..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Times at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Difficult accent
      
      I refer to your report (Asian teacher wins case on discrimination, 29/8). While I do not have an argument with the finding, because the supervising teacher should not have made any comments about performance in front of the students in class, I believe that any teacher with a difficult to understand accent has a detrimental effect on the students.
      
      "My daughter did well in maths and chemistry until she was taught by Asian teachers whose accents were difficult to follow. She immediately went backwards in both subjects. My only alternative (a costly one) was to get her a tutor because any complaint to the school was frowned on as being discriminatory.
      
      "While it is important not to be racist, it is equally important that we do not dismiss out of hand legitimate concerns on this basis.
      
      "We have enough issues with the education system as it is without adding teachers who cannot be understood to the mix."
      
      Mary Davis, Morley
      
      
      
      
• The New York Times
  
  
  • Many in City Summer School Won’t Go on to Next Grade
    by David M. Herszenhorn
    
    "More than half of the public school students urged to attend summer school for failing to meet Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s stiff promotion criteria will be forced to repeat a grade this coming year because they were unable to raise their scores enough on exams..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
  • Where’s Mao? Chinese Revise History Books
    by Joseph Kahn
    
    "BEIJING — When high school students in Shanghai crack their history textbooks this fall they may be in for a surprise. The new standard world history text drops wars, dynasties and Communist revolutions in favor of colorful tutorials on economics, technology, social customs and globalization..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Famed archeologist digs in on history in schools
    by Corrie Perkin
    
    "The debate about history's place in the school curriculum is a global one, says famed Italian historian and archeologist Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

    "The important thing for schools and universities is to find the right mix between humanities and modern studies like technology and commerce," said Manfredi, a guest at this week's Melbourne Writers Festival.

    "In Italy, we try to get this balance right every day. We need modern structures, we need railways, we need airports, we need technology.

    "But underneath our feet we have a very deep layer of the past. Every time we dig a line for computer optical fibre cables we hit our past - literally - in the ground underneath. Each day we face a choice: should we maintain the area and preserve history, or should we let the demands of modern life take over?"

    "Educational institutions faced the same kind of dilemma when deciding how to allocate resources, Manfredi said.

    "The economy is so fundamental to the future of our societies, many would argue we cannot afford the luxury of studying subjects like music or history or poetry," he said. "But they are absolutely necessary..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Behaviour experts to help in schools [late edition, 31/8]
    AAP
    
    "Behaviour management experts will be called in to help schools in South Australia deal with disruptive and difficult students.

    "Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said teachers would get additional training to help them deal with problem behaviour under a $10 million program to be funded over three years..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Vow to rein in unruly students
    by Philippa Duncan
    
    "Education Minister David Bartlett has promised better support for teachers to deal with unruly students.
    
    "He said schools would also try to work more closely with the parents of children with special needs to improve behaviour.

    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Gutwein said Mr Bartlett must review the support schools are given to deal with "difficult to manage" students..."
    
    Full story in The Hobart Mercury at link

    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Inquiry into use of time-out room in special needs school
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "The Department of Education is investigating a complaint against a school principal over the use of a "time-out" room to isolate a student in a school for children with emotional and behavioural problems..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
  • Devil in the detail: Vatican exorcises Harry Potter
    by Linda Morris, Religious Affairs Writer
    
    "The Vatican has never been a fan of Harry Potter, but its chief exorcist has gone one step further and condemned J. K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard as downright evil.

    "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil," says Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope's "caster-out of demons"...
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link

    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Historians dig into darker days of the Australian story
    by Gabriella Coslovich, Senior Arts Writer
    
    "When two of Australia's most provocative historians [Geoffrey Blainey and John Hirst] are on the bill at the Melbourne Writers' Festival one might expect a certain intellectual frisson..."
    
    "Then a question from the floor. "The Prime Minister wants Australians to feel more relaxed about their history. Do you think either or both of you are making a contribution towards that?" one man cheekily asked, to audience laughter.

    "Half and half," said Hirst, referring the audience to his essay "How sorry can we be?" in which he discusses the historical treatment of Aborigines.

    "What I say there is that I don't think we can honestly be sorry about the European conquest, and I am very happy to call it a conquest, an invasion, and all the hard terms.."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • School hours reduced
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "A Melbourne secondary school has shortened its day to allow teachers to improve their skills.
    Mordialloc College students finish 50 minutes early at 2.15pm on Tuesdays so teachers can do professional development..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    
  • Fury over plans for addict high school
    by Jane Metlikovec and Milanda Rout
    
    "Australia's first specialist high school for teenage drug and alcohol addicts could open in Victoria next year.
    
    "The boarding school will take up to 40 teenagers with serious drug problems for an intensive one-year program..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    
  • Schools dispense with condom plan
    by Jane Metlikovec
    
    "No Victorian secondary school has installed a condom vending machine, despite being given the green light by the Bracks Government seven years ago..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    
    
• 6CBS Television, Albany, New York
  
  
  • Governor proposes bonuses for Math and science teachers
    AP
    
    
  • Albany, Oregon Democrat-Herald
    Oregon candidate for Governor also proposes higher teacher salaries, performance pay

 

Saturday – Sunday, 2 – 3 September

The following two articles, taken together, suggest that a massive dumbing-down has occurred in US K-12 education over the past decade, either as part of OBE-style curricula and/or a general attitude of “make it relevant, make it fun, and let students direct their own learning”.

• The [Saturday] New York Times [also article in Sunday NYT]
  
  
  • At 2-Year Colleges, Students Eager but Unready
    by Diana Jean Schemo
    
    "DUNDALK, Md. — At first, Michael Walton, starting at community college here, was sure that there was some mistake. Having done so well in high school in West Virginia that he graduated a year and a half early, how could he need remedial math?... "
    
    "Because he had no trouble balancing his checkbook, he took himself for a math wiz. But he could barely remember the Pythagorean theorem and had trouble applying sine, cosine and tangent to figure out angles on the geometry questions.
    
    "Mr. Walton is not unusual. As the new school year begins, the nation’s 1,200 community colleges are being deluged with hundreds of thousands of students unprepared for college-level work.
    
    "Though higher education is now a near-universal aspiration, researchers suggest that close to half the students who enter college need remedial courses..."
    
    "The shortfalls persist despite high-profile efforts by public universities to crack down on ill-prepared students.

    "Since the City University of New York, the largest urban public university, barred students who need remediation from attending its four-year colleges in 1999, others have followed with similar steps... at least 12 [other] states explicitly bar state universities from providing remedial courses or take other steps like deferred admissions to steer students needing helping toward technical or community colleges..."
    
    "Michael W. Kirst, a Stanford professor who was a co-author of a report on the gap between aspirations and college attainment, said that 73 percent of students entering community colleges hoped to earn four-year degrees, but that only 22 percent had done so after six years... The deficiencies turn up not just in math, science and engineering, areas in which a growing chorus warns of difficulties in the face of global competition, but also in the basics of reading and writing..."
    
    "The unyielding statistics showcase a deep disconnection between what high school teachers think that their students need to know and what professors, even at two-year colleges, expect them to know..."
    
    "Across the nation, federal and state education officials are pressing for a K-16 vision of education that runs from kindergarten through college graduation. Such an approach, they say, would help high schools better prepare students for college... More than one in four remedial students work on elementary and middle school arithmetic. Math is where students often lose confidence and give up..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post [also articles in Sunday Washington Post]
  
  
  • Reeling From Test Results, N.Va. Educators Regroup
    by Ian Shapira
    
    "... After state test results released Thursday showed that just 51 percent of sixth-graders and 44 percent of seventh-graders passed in math, several educators in Northern Virginia schools said they will spend the next academic year figuring out how to make a better showing next year..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Freedom of choice can only make it better
    
    Research reveals that parents across the income divide are keen on education vouchers, writes Kevin Donnelly
    
    "Imagine shopping at a supermarket, buying a car or choosing a holiday and being told that the only option you have is government-funded, designed and controlled, that you must choose from what the state makes available. Forget freedom of choice, the power of the market in successfully meeting personal needs and tastes, and the failure - as evidenced by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union - of the state monopoly represented by communism.

    "Going by a recent paper from the Australia Institute arguing against parental choice represented by school vouchers - whereby parents receive a government-funded voucher and are free to choose between government and non-government schools - it is clear there are still those who are committed to state control.

    "The authors of the report School Vouchers: An Evaluation of their Impact on Education Outcomes are in no doubt that what they describe as a "radical change" represented by vouchers is unacceptable. They conclude: "On the basis of the available evidence, universal voucher schemes do not appear to be a cost-effective policy option because they are likely to be expensive, pose a significant risk to social cohesion and equality of opportunity, and are unlikely to significantly improve academic outcomes. They could further erode the separation between church and state."

    "Far from being radical, Australia's education system already has a de facto voucher system. The cost to parents of sending their children to non-government schools is subsidised to varying degrees by state and federal governments.

    "Conveniently, the report also ignores how much money parents who send their children to non-government schools are saving governments. Based on the Productivity Commission's 2005 Report on Government Services, the average recurrent cost of educating a student in a government school is about $10,000. On average, non-government school students receive about $5595 in government funding, a saving to government of about $4400 a child. The Productivity Commission estimates that the financial sacrifice of parents who send their children to independent schools (excluding Catholic schools) amounts to a saving of $2.2 billion for state governments.

    "While those on the cultural Left, such as teacher educators and the Australian Education Union, are opposed to choice in education, it is also the case that parents are voting with their feet and picking non-government schools in greater numbers.

    "According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics publication Australian Social Trends 2006, in 1995 about 29 per cent of students were in non-government schools. By 2005 the figure had grown to 33 per cent and, notwithstanding declining overall enrolments, projections place the figure at 35 per cent by 2010. The figure at years 11 and 12 for non-government schools increases to about 40 per cent.

    "Contrary to claims that private schools are the preserve of supposedly wealthy elites, the greatest increase in the non-government sector has been in relatively low-cost, non-denominational schools, and many parents from poorer backgrounds are choosing non-government schools. As noted in the recent ABS publication, according to the 2003-04 figures, 17 per cent of parents who send their children to Catholic schools and 16 per cent of parents who send their children to independent schools are from low-income households, compared with a figure of 26 per cent for government schools.

    "Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach to education, governments should ensure more parents, especially those least able to afford it, are in a better position to choose what's best for their children. Instead of imposing a state-mandated monopoly on education, with all its inefficiencies and flaws, governments should be freeing up the system and ensuring the focus is on improving learning outcomes and raising standards.

    "Such is the case in the US, where the Bush administration recently announced a $US100million ($131 million) plan to offer vouchers to low-income students at under-performing public schools to attend private schools.

    "Since the mid-1990s, several US states and cities have introduced state and privately funded voucher schemes directed at disadvantaged groups. Contrary to the Australia Institute report's argument that there is little evidence of benefits from vouchers, a survey of results from voucher experiments by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research argues there is a "positive consensus" in relation to vouchers.

    "In Milwaukee and Cleveland, surveys show parents expressing greater satisfaction with schools. To quote from the Cleveland research: "Nearly 50 per cent of 'choice' parents reported being very satisfied with the academic program, safety, discipline and teaching of moral values in their private school." The equivalent figure for state schools was 30 per cent.

    "Although acknowledging that not all agree on the academic benefits of vouchers, the Manhattan paper concludes that parental choice leads to improved academic standards, especially for disadvantaged children, and that there is some evidence that competition and fear of losing students forces government schools to improve.

    "One argument put forward in Australia against vouchers is that if more students attend non-government schools there will be increased social instability and a loss of social capital. The US research proves otherwise.

    "Based on several surveys evaluating tolerance, the Manhattan paper concludes: "Rather than being the bastions of intolerance they are sometimes imagined to be, private schools appear to be more successful than public schools at instilling tolerance in their students." Studies of inner-urban black communities also show that school choice increases parental involvement in education.

    "One of the defining characteristics of an open and free society is the belief that individuals should be allowed to choose. It's ironic that those on the cultural Left - often the most vocal about empowerment and local decision-making - are the ones most hostile to parental choice when it comes to schools."

    From The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Quality childcare luck of the draw
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Most childcare workers are trained in a system that lacks rigour and accountability, with no monitoring of the quality of the courses offered.

    "At a time when the federal Government is pushing for a greater educational focus in childcare, early childhood expert Alison Elliott describes the industry as a shambles, with huge variations in the quality of care provided and the quality of carer..."

    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Saving children must come first
    Abusive parents have no right to keep their kids
    
    Full editorial in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Science tempers fears on climate change
    by Matthew Warren
    
    "The world's top climate scientists have cut their worst-case forecast for global warming over the next 100 years.

    "A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained exclusively by The Weekend Australian, offers a more certain projection of climate change than the body's forecasts five years ago.

    "For the first time, scientists are confident enough to project a 3C rise on the average global daily temperature by the end of this century if no action is taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions..."
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Vote of no confidence in political schooling (page 9)
    by Amanda Banks
    
    "Damning evidence of young adults' political ignorance has prompted calls for compulsory politics courses in upper high school and a review of the compulsory voting system.
    
    "Apathetic 18 to 30-year-olds have been labelled the "I could not give a stuff generation" by political analyst Greg Craven, who says the findings of a survey by The West Australian and health insurer HBF reflect the selfishness of today;s young adults and a lack of education..."
    
    "Professor Craven said the survey findings provided clear support for mandatory politics education in high school, but it would be a slow process..."
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said learning about law and governance was compulsory from kindergarten to Year 10 in civics and citizenship classes, which taught students about democracy and responsible decision. She said upper high school students could opt to study political and legal studies.
    
    "But Edith Cowan University politics lecturer Peter van Onselen said the survey highlighted a lack of education in the crucial upper years of high school when young people were forming their opinions and able to grasp the preferential voting system..."
    
    "Political analyst David Black said the survey findings were an obvious concern and there was a case for some form of mandatory education in upper high school.."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 21)
    
    
    • The two Carpenters
      
      "I don't know why all the fuss about human cloning – I'm sure it has already been done. I saw a man on television a few years ago whose name was Alan Carpenter and I saw a man on television the other night who looked just like him. His name was also Alan Carpenter, but there were huge differences between the two.
      
      "The first had courage, dignity and stood up for what he believed in. He was out link to the political system and asked the hard questions and fought until he got the answers and made sure the public was informed of all the goings on in Parliament.
      
      "He was our hero, we trusted him, we knew that if there was a scandal and a minister was incompetent, he would reveal all the facts to the public and make the premier answer to the people. After all, it is the people paying the wages. He was a pleasure to watch. We had faith in him.
      
      "Now, the second Alan Carpenter, which he looks like the first, has none of the above qualities. He seems to lurch from one disaster to another. He defends the indefensible. He hides information from the public that we ought to know. He has a bunch of fools working for him and he tells us what a great job they are doing..."
      
      "And he would remind a treasurer that when the State is flooded with money, then police, nurses, teachers and first homebuyers deserve a better deal than they are getting now.
      
      "And most of all, he would tell his ministers to abide by the code of conduct that they all promised solemnly to uphold. Oh well, I guess they can always clone another one."
      
      Dennis Coxall, Bunbury
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor in The West Australian

   

• The Independent
  
  
  • Half of independent schools are now shunning the GCSE
    by Richard Garner, Education Editor
    
    "The headteacher of the school with the best GCSE results in the country warned yesterday that the exam was "in crisis".

    "Martin Stephen, of St Paul's Boys' School in Barnes, London, which has fees of up to £20,895 a year, was speaking as it emerged that 250 of the best-known independent schools had ditched the exam in favour of the international GCSE.

    "The figure amounts to a boycott of the main exam by half the independent sector because heads do not believe it stretches pupils..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    

  • Related articles in The Guardian:

    • What is the International GCSE?
      
      
    • Ministers urged to recognise 'harder' [International] GCSE
      

      
      

• The Sunday New York Times
  
  
  • A Teacher’s Year, a C.E.O.’s Day: The Pay’s Similar
    by Hubert B Herring
    
    "Enough already on how many millions this or that chief executive earns, how many stock options are tossed around to keep the Champagne flowing, the McMansion dusted, the Bentley polished.
    
    "As a little back-to-school thought, let’s shift gears to a group of workers who earn pennies in comparison but who, it could be argued, play at least as vital a role in society. It is teachers, after all, who try to make sure that those captains of industry have educated workers.

   

  
  © The New York Times
  
  

  "According to the American Federation of Teachers, the state with the highest average pay for teachers in 2003-04 was Connecticut, at $56,516 [A$76,370]; the lowest was South Dakota, at $33,236 [A$44,900].

  "Or look at it this way: Pick a corporate chieftain — say, Jeffrey R. Immelt of General Electric. He earns $15.4 million a year. Every single day — including Thanksgiving and Christmas — he makes almost what the average teacher does for a year of taming wild children, staying up nights planning lessons, and, really, helping to shape a generation."

  From The Sunday New York Times at link
  
  

• The Sunday Washington Post
  
  
  • State Set an Unclear Bar for Math, Schools Chief Says
    by Michael Alison Chandler
    
    Tests Exceeded Level Of Instruction, He Says
    
    "The low scores of Loudoun County's sixth- and seventh-graders on new state math tests may stem partly from the state's failure to set clear expectations about middle school math instruction, Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said last week..."
    
    "Loudoun school officials said they would look into whether changes should be made in the curriculum..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
  • National School Testing Urged
    by Jay Mathews
    
    Gaps Between State, Federal Assessments Fuel Call for Change
    
    "Many states, including Maryland and Virginia, are reporting student proficiency rates so much higher than what the most respected national measure has found that several influential education experts are calling for a move toward a national testing system.

    "The growing talk of national testing and standards comes in the fifth year of the No Child Left Behind era. That federal law sought to hold public schools accountable for academic performance but left it up to states to design their own assessments. So the definition of proficiency -- what it means for a student to perform at grade level -- varies from coast to coast..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    

• Sunday USA Today
  
  
  • Evangelicals intensify calls for parents to pull kids from public schools
    
    "NEW YORK (AP) — Public schools take a lot of criticism, but a growing, loosely organized movement is now moving from harsh words to action — with parents taking their own children out of public schools and exhorting other families to do the same.

    "Led mainly by evangelical Christians, the movement depicts public education as hostile to religious faith and claims to be behind a surge in the number of students being schooled at home.

    "The courts say no creationism, no prayer in public schools," said Roger Moran, a Winfield, Mo., businessman and member of the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee. "Humanism and evolution can be taught, but everything I believe is disallowed..."
    
    Full story in Sunday USA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Anger at divided school
    by Mary Papadakis
    
    "A state school has banned award presentations and discos because of opposition from an alternative education stream, parents say.
    
    "Footscray City Primary School has been accused of turning its back on the parents of pupils studying the normal curriculum in favour of those enrolled in a controversial Steiner school program.

    "Parents said the mainstream curriculum had been "hijacked" by the Steiner philosophy, which did not support recorded music or competitiveness..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Sunday Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Sunday Telegraph
  
  
  • Exclusive school expels cyber bullies
    by Sharri Markson and Linda Silmalis
    
    "Five students at an exclusive Sydney boys' school have been suspended or expelled in the past month for cyber-bullying other students on the internet.
    
    "Computer technicians were called in to track down the perpetrators.

    "The King's School headmaster, Timothy Hawkes, said police and computer technicians could track down students who bullied their peers anonymously on the internet.

    "Those who continue to bully, intimidate or harass will be removed from the school," Dr Hawkes said.

    "The internet and text messages were new weapons being used to denigrate victims, he said..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Sunday Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Sunday Mail
  
  
  • Gang culture in our schools
    by Edmund Burke
    
    "Education officials have launched an inquiry into gang culture in Brisbane schools.
    
    "The move comes after a Sunday Mail investigation found that teenage students across the city are styling themselves on violent US street gangs..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Sunday Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Editorial
    Weighing costs of child obesity
    
    "The Medical Journal of Australia rates obesity as the most prevalent preventable child health issue in Australia ahead of dental disease, emotional and behavioural problems, bullying and learning delays..."
    
    Full editorial in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    
    
  • Teacher wanted to bomb office
    by Michael Owen and Xanthe Klenig
    
    "A teacher who wanted to bomb the head office of the Education Department and gun down teachers at the school where he worked has been counselled over his threats, documents reveal.
    
    "The Education Department last night refused to confirm whether the male teacher remained in his position at a school in the South-East.

    "The incident, investigated by police and the Education Department last year, was only revealed after a successful Freedom of Information application made by The Advertiser..."
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

• The Northern Territory News
  
  
  • Syd folds schools in Cabinet reshuffle
    by Nigel Adlam
    
    "Deputy Chief Minister Syd Stirling dropped his education portfolio in the biggest surprise of a Cabinet reshuffle yesterday.
    
    "He is leaving in the middle of the most radical school shake-up in Territory history...."

    "The former teacher denied he had left the job before it was finished.

    "He said the hard decisions on middle schooling had been taken by him and now the program just had to be implemented properly.

    "Mr Stirling said he was proud of the Government's education reforms -- "but there's an awful long way to go"...
    
    Full story in The Northern Territory News at link

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This page last updated 29 May, 2008 9:33 PM