Monday 4 September 2006

Tuesday 5 September

Wednesday 6 September

Thursday 7 September

Friday 8 September

Saturday – Sunday, 9 – 10 September

 

Monday 4 September

• Hansard
  
  
  • Question by Shadow Education Minister to Education Minister [29 August but just published in Hansard]
    
    OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION - ADOPTION OF CURRICULUM FROM ANOTHER STATE

    641. Hon PETER COLLIER to the Minister for Education and Training:

    I refer the minister to her response to question on notice 3657 about the capacity of a school to adopt a curriculum from another state.

    (1) In order for a school to meet the requirements for registration derived from the School Education Act 1999, does the school have to adopt the Western Australian curriculum framework?

    (2) If no to (1), can that school adopt a curriculum from another state and still meet the requirements for registration derived from the School Education Act 1999?

    Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH replied:

    Before I respond, I hope that the member has put this question together himself. The reason I say that is the other morning I visited the People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes web site. It was interesting to read the material on that web site. The member opposite -

    The PRESIDENT: Order! The Minister for Education and Training has been asked a fairly specific question. In answering the question, it is inappropriate to go down the road the minister is proposing to go down.

    Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH: Once again, it is a matter of the member taking liberty with the truth - amazing!

    Several members interjected.

    Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH: Come on! Members opposite know that the member cannot lie straight in bed.

    Several members interjected.

    The PRESIDENT: Order, members! The Minister for Education and Training has been asked a question, and I trust that she is about to answer it without interruption.

    Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH: I thank the member for some notice of the question.

    (1) No. The Curriculum Council Act 1997 enables education providers to show how an education program provides opportunities for students to achieve curriculum framework outcomes. Providers can also seek exemption from the curriculum framework. That does not mean they will get it, but they can apply.

    (2) If a school were to adopt a curriculum from another state, the school would be subject to its registration assessment and moderation processes.

    Full transcript in Hansard at link
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Politics more important at school than English or maths, says Collier (page 13)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Politics should be a more important school subject than maths or English, shadow education minister Peter Collier said yesterday.
    
    "Weighing into the debate about young people's appalling lack of political awareness revealed in a recent survey commissioned by The West Australian and health insurer HBF, the former political and legal studies teacher said politics was the one subject that affected every aspect of people's lives.
    
    "The survey of nearly 470 people between 18 and 30, the iGeneration, found that 41 per cent failed to identify which political party was in power in WA. Only 46 per cent could identify Alan Carpenter as Premier and just 17 per cent could name Paul Omodei as Opposition Leader.
    
    "Mr Collier said he was disappointed but not surprised by the survey results. He did not think politics should be compulsory in upper school but the current lower school course should be restructured and made more relevant. [emphasis added]
    
    "Politics is a subject that matters," he said. "It's more important than maths or English because politics is with every child every day of their lives, they are part of the political process."
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said that while political and legal studies were optional for upper school students, learning about law and government was compulsory up to Year 10 in civics and citizenship classes, which taught students about democracy and responsible decisions.
    
    "But Mr Collier said teaching about civics and government was ad hoc and disjointed. Although there was a framework for the study of politics in primary and lower school, the actual content of what was taught was left up to individual teachers.
    
    "We're one of a handful of countries across the world that compels its citizens to vote," he said. "Students are coming out of school into their 18th year and being asked to make a decision on the future of the nation and they're not given sufficient grounding on that decision-making process."
    
    "State School Teachers Union president Mike Keely agreed young people needed to know about politics but said it was important to gather evidence before making statements about what should be taught in schools."
    
    
    
    
  • Main Editorial (page 18)
    Political history lessons a must for our schools
    
    "The appalling level of political ignorance revealed by the latest survey of young West Australian adults is an indictment of our State education system.
    
    "Nearly half of the 467 people surveyed from the 18-30 age group did not know that Alan Carpenter was Premier and 41 per cent did not even know that WA had a Labor Government.
    
    "The young women interviewed were even more apathetic than the men. Only 37 per cent of the women had any idea who was Premier: 11 per cent though Geoff Gallop was still at the helm and there were even some minor references to Kim Beazley, Colin Barnett, Richard Court, Jim McGinty and John Howard.
    
    "Just over half the women knew that WA had a Labor Government compared with 65 per cent of the men. At the Federal level, 29 per cent of the women and 16 per cent of the men had no idea which party was in government.
    
    "Four per cent of those surveyed said Australia had a Labor government but 70 per cent thought the Federal Government was Liberal, with only 3 per cent correctly stating that it was a Liberal-National coalition.
    
    "The survey of the group known as the iGeneration was commissioned by The West Australian and health insurer HBF and conduced in July by Patterson Market Research. Its results point to a disturbing lack of understanding and interest in our political system by this young generation of voters.
    
    "By law they are required to vote and yet they appear to be ill-prepared to take part in the political process. In a society where the living is easy, the ideals and struggles of those who fought for a democratic society and the right to vote are no longer remembered or appreciated.
    
    "The survey results underline the need for Australia's history – including its political history – to be a compulsory subject for all high school students."
    
    
    
    
  • Call for library porn controls (page 13)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Allegations that a primary school child downloaded pornography at a public library have triggered calls for stricter monitoring of library computers.
    
    "The West Australian understands that an 11-yearold Ellenbrook Primary School student told police he had downloaded pornography at his local library.

    "In a newsletter sent on Thursday, Ellenbrook principal Neil MacNeill told parents a child from the school claimed he had “accessed inappropriate sites on the Ellenbrook town library computers” and warned them to be vigilant because “there appeared to be a conflict of interest over supervision of library clients”.

    "State Library chief executive Margaret Allen said it was up to each local government to decide whether to install software to block online porn.

    "City of Swan acting chief executive Mike Foley confirmed it had no internet filters on its public computers. He said filters were not always reliable or effective and blocking sites that people might legitimately need to see, such as sites about breast or testicular cancer, would be unacceptable.

    "The computers were in public view, guidelines for internet use were clearly displayed and parents should take responsibility for their children.
    
    "But Swan’s stance was labelled a cop-out by a spokesman for NetAlert, a Commonwealth-funded internet safety advisory body. Rod Nockles said the allegation that a child had viewed online porn highlighted the need for libraries to develop better internet policies because parents should not always have to accompany their children to the library..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 20)
    
    
    • "I had to laugh at the chain of OBE-style weasel words assembled by acting deputy vice-chancellor Jane Long (Letters, 31/8). Was she trying to say that UWA has now effectively admitted that using WA's meaningless, convoluted and subjective level descriptors doesn't work for assessing students for entry into university and that they will have to return to using marks instead?
      
      "Of course, this was self-evident and made clear by teachers from the outset, but the State's self-serving career educrats, in their bloody-minded insistence that they could create gold out of OBE excrement, have wasted 10 years and up to $100 million trying – a good deal of which was spent on silencing the expression of exactly that criticism."
      
      Peter Fajdiga, Doubleview
      

    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Billions needed to help schools
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The public school system needs an extra $2.4 billion a year of government funding for students to meet the educational goals set seven years ago by the nation's education ministers.

    "A report by a multi-government taskforce set up by federal, state and territory education ministers estimates that government schools are underfunded by at least 13 per cent a year.

    "The Schools Resourcing Taskforce says state and federal governments need to spend an extra $835 a year on every public primary school student and $1385 a year on every public high school student for them to reach the minimum educational goals set in 1999.

    "The extra money is recurrent funding, which means it would not go towards capital works, such as improving buildings and school grounds. The funds would be spent on providing better education for students by allowing schools to hire better or more teachers and through improvements in teacher training and IT systems.

    "The taskforce is the first to attempt to measure the funding required by schools to ensure that students meet national benchmarks in areas including literacy, numeracy and retention rates.

    "The funding shortfall is based on minimum educational standards and does not take into account the cost of improving student results, teacher quality or educating disabled students.

    "The costings do not reflect the higher ambitions held by ministers and the educational community for all students," the report says.

    "They do not reflect the cost of improving the whole range of student learning outcomes."

    "The Australian Education Union argues that the funding shortfall is calculated on 2003 prices and is actually worth $2.9 billion today.

    "AEU national deputy president Angelo Gavrielatos said yesterday: "The taskforce, by its own admission, has grossly underestimated the funding shortfall.

    "The Government has an $11 billion surplus this year, and if they're not going to invest in the most important asset of all, education, where are they going to put the money? ..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Kevin Donnelly: Preserve a unique Australia
    
    What's so wrong with the idea that migrants should embrace Western liberal values
    
    "What does it mean to be Australian? Prime Minister John Howard's answer is simple: "It means accepting Australian values, it means learning as rapidly as you can the English language."

    "He is right, notwithstanding the cries of hysteria in response to his remarks last week. Cultural warriors of the Left argue for a kind of mushy multiculturalism: all cultures, you see, are equal, and there is nothing unique about the Australian experience..."
    
    "The cultural Left denies this heritage. Take education. As the curriculum for history shows, students are taught that Australian culture and society are characterised by inequality, social injustice, diversity and difference. Instead of celebrating Australia's Western tradition, students are told we have always been multicultural and that all cultures are of equal value. Feel guilty about the sins of the past, students are told..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Vouchers a form of welfare
      
      "Yes, Kevin Donnelly, choice and quality do naturally appear to go together ("Freedom of choice can only make it better”, Inquirer, 2-3/9). However, school vouchers are only another form of middle class welfare.

      "If a better education system is measured by improved learning outcomes, Donnelly is on shaky ground when he champions the provision of vouchers in the US. This initiative has been roundly criticised after the independent research arm of the US Department of Education issued a report showing that public schools are performing as well as or better than private schools. If middle class US parents are choosing private schools, it is obviously for reasons other than the quality of classroom instruction being delivered.

      "How much more subsidising of aspirational lifestyles do we need in this country? One of the defining characteristics of a democratic society is the leg-up it gives to the most disadvantaged and needy. Donnelly’s US data fails to convince that money directed to a voucher system should not instead be directly spent on government schools and those students who will lack real choice."
      
      Mark Howie, Lawson, NSW
      
      

      "Education vouchers seems like a capital idea. For starters, subsidising low income parents and students in their choice of education options is a brilliant move from a market perspective. It will encourage competition for private school places, thus raising demand and profitability prospects. It will also ensure a more accurately directed investment in students with demonstrable potential to match today’s sophisticated labour needs. At the same time it will save state education revenue because students whose demonstrable abilities are unmarketable will require a much less expensive education. It’s a win-win situation. Markets cannot afford ethics."
      
      Helen Raduntz, Belair, SA
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Victorian schools being 'closed by stealth'
    by David Rood
    
    "The Bracks Government has been accused of "closing schools by stealth", with more than 20 schools shutting their doors since it came to power in 1999.

    "As pressure builds on the Government's policy of requiring school communities to decide their own future when enrolments fall, Government figures show a total of 24 primary and secondary schools have closed.

    "Most of the schools were closed because of declining student numbers, the Government said. But teacher, parent and principal groups said the policy needed to provide earlier support for struggling schools..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Chief Proposes Year-Round Classes to Aid Ailing Programs
    by V. Dion Haynes
    
    "[District of Columbia (i.e., Washington, D.C.)] School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey is proposing year-round classes at five mainly low-achieving schools in an effort to give students more time in the classroom by shortening the long summer break.

    "The proposal, which is the school system's first attempt to adjust the traditional calendar, will probably ignite a local and nationwide debate: Education experts extol the benefits of a year-round calendar, citing studies that show significant knowledge loss over the summer, but many parents argue that children need downtime..."
    
    "Janey has proposed adding as many as 20 days to the 180-day calendar at the five schools, in part because he says he is running out of options to help students in low-performing schools..."
    
    "School system officials have said they will release data this month showing that a large number of District schools failed to meet academic benchmarks on a more rigorous student assessment introduced in the spring. Results will be worse than last year, officials said, when about 80 of 147 schools failed to reach academic goals under the previous exam.

    "The federal No Child Left Behind law gives students in low-performing schools the right to transfer to higher-achieving schools, but some say there will not be enough high-performing schools to accommodate the possible transfers..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Schools seek free fast food
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "Dozens of eastern suburbs schools are asking local McDonald's stores for free fast-food vouchers every week.

    "Schools are inundating the fast-food giant for free fries, hamburgers, soft drinks and sundaes to help with fundraising.

    "And at least one school has rewarded students with junk-food vouchers for good work.

    "Health experts have slammed schools using free McDonald's vouchers to raise money while the nation is in the grip of a child-obesity crisis..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    

  • Obesity, self-worth linked
    by Kate Jones
    
    "Obese children are four times more likely to have lower self-esteem than normal weight children, a study has found..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    

  • Off-topic: Victorians devastated that there will be no Finals footy in Victoria during Finals Weeks 2 and 3
    
    
    
    
• The Launceston Examiner
  
  
  • Uni students to fill role in NE schools
    by Emily Bryan
    
    "A position for a school guidance officer in the North-East has been filled by masters psychology students because the Education Department cannot attract a fully qualified counsellor..."
    
    "Education Department northern branch director Mike Willie said two masters university students would start at the end of this month under the supervision of the branch's senior guidance officer..."
    
    Full story in The Launceston Examiner at link
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Solution to lack of scientists: pay cash to top maths pupils
    by Alok Jha, science correspondent
    
    "Pupils who get top grades in maths A-levels should be given a £500 reward, according to the head of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The former economist and journalist, Frances Cairncross, is echoing the concerns of business leaders by expressing concerns that the supply of scientists in Britain is drying up..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

Tuesday 5 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Schools scrap rankings on report cards (page 14)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The Education Department has scrapped a requirement for school reports to rank students on whether they are at the top, middle or bottom of their class, forcing parents to contact the school of they want to find out how their children compare with classmates.
    
    "The controversial requirement to rank students from the top 25 per cent to the bottom 25 per cent was tied to a Federal Government national school funding agreement and was to be introduced by the end of this year.
    
    "After lobbying by teachers, parents and principals who feared the requirement would harm children's self-esteem, the Federal Government allowed other States an exemption from using the rankings.
    
    "Catholic and independent schools in WA also successfully sought exemptions earlier this year which allowed them to drop quartile rankings from student reports if they included a statement saying they were available from the school on request.
    
    "But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich at first refused to intercede with the Federal Government on behalf of parents and principals because she did not want to do anything to jeopardise $1 billion in school funding.
    
    "She finally agreed to adopt the same position as other States after Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop advised her that WA could use other options for reporting pupil' ranking in relation to their peers.
    
    "Education director-general Paul Albert told schools late on Friday that quartile rankings would not appear on reports. Instead, reports would include a paragraph telling parents they could ask their school for the number of students in each grade from A to E.
    
    "WA Secondary School Executives Association President Alison Woodman backed the move. "Parents whose children are failing know they are failing and they don't want the world to know," she said. "This notion of making public who is in the top, middle and bottom quartiles is very elitist and the only parents I think who want it are the ones whose children are likely to be at the top."
    
    "The State School Teachers Union said ranking students was educationally unacceptable. The WA Council of State School Organisations and the WA Primary Principals Association said they were pleased the rankings had been dropped."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News Online
  
  
  • Bishop taunts Beazley over 'Google Nation'
    
    "Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has come under fire in Parliament for praising the use of Internet search engines, such as Google, in the study of history.

    "In 2001, Labor's education policy came with a complex diagram which critics labelled the "Noodle Nation".

    "Education Minister Julie Bishop says the Opposition might unveil a policy based on "googling" for the next election.

    "We would support learning not googling and I know the Leader of the Opposition was committed to the Noodle Nation education policy," she said.

    "Please spare us from the 'Google Nation' education policy in the next election. No 'Google Nation' please."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    

  • Barr calls on union to compromise over teachers' pay

    The ACT's Education Minister Andrew Barr says he has compromised as far as he can to meet the demands of a pay dispute with public school teachers.

    Tomorrow's Territory-wide teachers strike will go ahead as planned despite a new pay offer from the government.

    The Government has reduced its pay offer to teachers to an increase of 10.8 per cent over three years, 12 per cent previously offered.

    Education Minister Andrew Barr says the Government will also reduce its demands for increased contact hours, with the loss of only 85 jobs compared to 145 in the previous offer.

    The Australian Education Union (AEU) has already expressed concern about the deal, describing it as crummy.

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • "If we really were the clever country, we wouldn’t think twice about investing our wealth in education ("Billions needed to help schools”, 4/9) rather than spending it on big houses, thirsty cars and luxurious holidays."
      
      Norm Neill, Leichhardt, NSW
      

    
    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    

• Melbourne Age
  
  
  • The [late-updating] Monday Education News Section, including
    
    
    • Quandary: School reports
      
      I received my child's grade 1 report. It makes her sound very average and in a sense, just like everyone else. It gives me no real understanding about her strengths, or how, what and why she is learning.
      
      
      
    • The great scramble to poach
      
      State schools are losing teachers to private ones, but isn't it just market forces at work? Caroline Milburn reports.
      
      
      
    • Winner takes the ball [Issues in the news: Student poaching]
      
      When students are lured to a new school, who wins.
      
      
      
    • Op Ed
      Don't show me the money
      
      There can be few more divisive issues in teaching than paying teachers on merit.
      
      
      
    • Classes in crisis at a bush uni
      
      Aborigines want a balance between their culture and Western learning, writes Louise Bellamy.
      
      
      
  • Kennett wrong to shut schools: Libs
    by David Rood
    
    "The Kennett government "got it wrong" by closing so many public schools, the Liberal Opposition says.

    "In a move intended to boost the party's education credentials and distance the Opposition before November's election from the Kennett "slash and burn" legacy, education spokesman Martin Dixon said some schools should have stayed open..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The New York Times
  
  
  • Back to School in a System Being Remade
    by Elissa Gootman
    
    "... For the first time this fall, 321 principals, more than a fifth of those in the system, will no longer answer to a superintendent and will have greater authority over their budgets, staff and instruction. In exchange, they have agreed to meet performance targets and could face dismissal in two years if they fail.

    "Partly to give those principals more money for their schools, the city has cut the number of jobs in the school bureaucracy by 328, worth $87.5 million in savings. Many of those jobs were in the 10 regional offices that Mr. Bloomberg himself created. Consultants are still looking for ways to make more than $100 million in additional cuts..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Chicago Principal Loses Battle on Overcrowding
    by Peter Slevin
    
    City Won't Cap Enrollment for Struggling School
    
    "CHICAGO -- Fed up with overcrowding at a Chicago public high school with too many problems and too little space, Principal Martin McGreal indulged a fantasy of overwhelmed school leaders everywhere: He declared enrollment closed.

    "McGreal gambled that Chicago school executives would stem the influx and spare the students at poorly performing Gage Park High School. He took a stand, McGreal later told parents, "because I would not compromise your children's educations."
    
    "School authorities responded by firing McGreal..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Schools facing heads crisis, warns survey
    by Rebecca Smithers, education editor
    
    · Women teachers losing out as many shun top job
    · Poll reveals deep hostility to academies and tables
    
    "Schools in England are facing a leadership crisis with only 4% of teachers wanting to become heads within the next five years, a survey reveals today. At the same time, just over a third of headteachers - 34% - say they are planning to retire by 2011, with some blaming the stress of the job, excessive paperwork and poor behaviour of children for wanting to stand down..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
  • Related stories in The Guardian
    
    
    • Miss misses out
      
      
    • Series: The teacher shortage

  
  

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Email silenced schools
    by Rosanne Barrett
    
    "Parents fighting for full-time teacher aides for Prep students have accused the Government of silencing teachers over the issue.
    
    "Last week a senior Education Queensland official, EDS Brisbane Central & West Pat Heenan, sent an email warning Brisbane principals against advertising a protest rally against Government policy.

    "I fully appreciate that people can get stuff into a newsletter by emailing it to the office and that the principal may not see this stuff," he said. "Can I alert you to this particular one! Keep an eye on it please.

    "I know that you will appreciate that it might appear to some people to be a breach of the Public Service Act and the Code of Conduct if it is thought that the school is advertising a protest against a government policy."

    "Prep Alert organiser Sandra Bolland said many teachers supported their campaign for full-time aides but were not allowed to discuss it with parents..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    

Wednesday 6 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Catholic teachers ban activities in pay push (page 18)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Catholic teachers have banned all before and after-schools activities in an attempt to force their employer to increase its pay offer.
    
    "The Independent Education Union said delegates from about 30 schools voted on Monday night for the ban, which included a boycott of all meetings, camps, socials and sport activities.
    
    "IEU secretary Theresa Howe said that unless an improved offer was received within two weeks the industrial action would increase to include a series of rolling stoppages.
    
    "Union members want the Catholic Education Office to increase teachers' pay 9.5 per cent in one year so it would equal that of NSW teachers. Teachers have also demanded a reduction in class sizes and workload limits.
    
    "The office argues that its proposed new enterprise bargaining agreement matches pay rates recently accepted by teachers at State schools.
    
    "Office director Ron Dullard said he had not received notice of the industrial action by last yesterday so was not prepared to comment.
    
    "The current EBA expires at the end of this month."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • Teachers to strike despite offer
    by Elizabeth Bellamy
    
    "Canberra teachers will press ahead with strike action today, despite a new wages offer that would mean fewer job losses but less pay.

    "Education Minister Andrew Barr put an 11th-hour offer to teachers yesterday afternoon, pruning the number of job cuts to 85 but offering staff a wages increase of 10.8 per cent over three years, less than the 12 per cent they are seeking.

    "But teachers rejected the proposal, claiming it was divisive and that job losses would create a massive burden for secondary school staff.

    "A territory-wide strike of the ACT's 3500 public school teachers will go ahead this morning..."

    Full story in The Canberra Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Educators call VCE system flawed
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "The VCE is flawed and aptitude tests and interviews should also be used to select students for university, say education experts.
    
    "Academics, teachers and principals say the tertiary entrance ranking system isn't the best predictor of university success.

    "They have called for additional measures to help select students for undergraduate degrees.

    "The comments come after the Herald Sun yesterday revealed Monash University would use aptitude tests instead of ENTER scores when selecting some students.

    "In a pilot scheme, almost 130 applicants from under-represented schools will sit the test on Saturday for entry to Monash's Berwick campus.

    "The uni decided to try the pilot amid concerns ENTER was not the greatest indicator of academic success for all students.

    "But the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre maintains it is the best selection tool available.

    "Deakin University education professor Jill Blackmore said the pilot raised questions about how students should be assessed for university.

    "Prof Blackmore said universities had problems selecting students from the "middle band" using the current system, as it was hard to differentiate potential in this group based solely on ENTER scores.
    
    "She said if Monash's program was successful, she would not be surprised if other universities used similar tests.

    "Other universities will probably follow as they share the same problems," Prof Blackmore said.

    "Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Mary Bluett said tertiary entrance rankings were not the best measure of academic success..."

    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    A worthy test
    
    "Monash University's innovation for selecting some students is an important development in tertiary education.
    
    "In a trial project, in place of using VCE scores Monash will subject some applicants to aptitude tests.

    "The commendable aim is to make university entrance a more level playing field by catering for deserving students who fall short in their VCE score simply because they have attended poorly resourced, under-achieving schools.

    "But students who are subjected to the Monash tests must also pass relevant VCE subjects to qualify and will be monitored.

    "There will be those who question the wisdom of the Monash move.

    "But the proposal comes from a respected educational institution and merits informed debate.

    "If disadvantaged young people are given an equal go at tertiary education without lowering standards, it will be worthwhile."

    From The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    
    
  • Schoolies peril warning
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "One of the state's top private schools has written to parents to warn them of the dangers of schoolies week.
    
    "Geelong Grammar School has urged parents to reconsider letting their children attend schoolies.

    "The school described it as "destructive and dangerous"...
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • School principals rank new grading system bottom of the class
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "School principals have withdrawn their support for the controversial A to E grading system in favour of more descriptive explanations of student achievement.

    "Primary principals have until now been supportive of the State Government plan to introduce A to E grades in all schools, with the understanding that Federal Government funding was at stake. However, that position will officially change later this week when the NSW Primary Principals' Association formalises its new position in a briefing paper for the State Government.

    "The association's president, Sue Ingram, said delegates met on Friday and voted in favour of changing the association's position on A to E grades.

    "We don't want to label children," she said. "Our preferred option is to have the descriptors."

    "This would mean that instead of a grade in their school report at the end of the year, pupils would receive a description of the equivalent achievement level..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Teachers know money isn't everything
    
    Most of us want much more from life than a pile of tidy numbers, writes Ross Gittins.
    
    "... When you think about it carefully, you see that the attempt to use "merit pay" - a euphemism for performance pay - to incentivate teachers is another instance of the creeping commercialisation that's a feature of our era of the Rationalist Ascendancy..."
    
    "And now, after a couple of decades of allowing the salaries of teachers (at universities as well as schools) to fall behind those of other professions, we want to fix things up by introducing monetary incentives - by paying on results. That'll get 'em off their backsides. Only a fool would imagine that money doesn't matter, or that you could continuously erode the relative pay of teachers without suffering a decline in the quality of candidates.

    "But it takes a specially educated fool to imagine the damage can be reversed on the cheap with a smattering of performance pay..."
    
    "So what can we do to raise teaching standards? Capitalise on the new teachers' high ideals. Do more to mentor and adequately induct new teachers to reduce the high number of resignations within the first three years.

    "And do more to reduce the classroom discipline problems that so disrupt the learning process and so demoralise some young teachers. Now that's a more rational way to spend the money..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Victim seeks damages from bullies [from late edition 5 Sept]
    by Leonie Lamont
    
    "A Sydney schoolboy who was bullied, threatened and attacked by fellow students is suing his tormenters for more than $100,000 in damages.

    "Jonar Lopez, a former student at De La Salle College, Ashfield, said the bullying included attempts to extort $100, and a threat made in an internet chat room that his family's home would be burnt down if he did not pay up. In June 2002 the year 10 student, who was 15 at the time, was punched and kicked in the head by the four young men he is now suing, in a railway underpass near the school..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link

    
    

• The Australian [from The Times]
  
  
  • French teachers plan strike as education goes back to basics
    by Charles Bremner, Paris
    
    "Discipline and the three Rs were the order of the day for French children as they began the school year with a new back-to-basics curriculum and marks for their conduct.

    "As with most attempts to revamp the centralised French school system, the Education Ministry's reforms have run into opposition from teachers' unions. They are planning a one-day strike later this month.

    "The reforms respond to declining standards, declining literacy and a breakdown in classroom discipline in a school system which, though still rigorous, has failed to adapt to the internet age.

    "Like Britain's Tony Blair in 1997, the two leading candidates for next year's presidential elections have put education at the top of their manifestos. Segolene Royal, of the Socialist Party, and Nicolas Sarkozy, of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, called last weekend for a return to old-fashioned effort and respect for schoolteachers.

    "Among the novelties this year is the Common Base of Knowledge, a list of basic skills that all school-leavers must master to qualify for a job or higher education..."
    
    "Teachers are also under orders to abandon the "global" or whole-language approach when teaching reading. They must stick now only to the old-fashioned phonics method, which teaches the consonants and vowels and the sound of their combination..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

• USA Today
  
  
  • Detroit teachers picket on first day of school
    Associated Press
    
    "DETROIT (AP) — Students returning from summer vacation in Michigan's largest school district were greeted Tuesday by teachers on picket lines instead of in classrooms.

    "District officials said the schools would open, despite the week-old strike by the 9,500-member Detroit Federation of Teachers. Some children entered their schools Tuesday morning, but it was unclear what they would do in the absence of teachers..."
    
    Full story in USA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Core skills put to test
    by Tess Livingstone
    
    "Could you produce two sentences to convey the correct meanings of "alternative" and "alternate"?

    "That's the calibre of questions confronting 30,000 Year 12 students across Queensland sitting the Core Skills test yesterday..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    Sample questions available at link [.pdf file]
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Enrolment high at new tech college
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "The State Government's revival of technical colleges has won early support, with enrolments at Wangaratta's technical education centre exceeding expectations..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

Thursday 7 September

• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • Barr denies plan to bypass teachers' union
    by Elizabeth Bellamy
    
    "ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr has denied accusations the Government was considering bypassing their union to nut out a new pay deal for teachers.

    "Speaking after a territory-wide strike yesterday which disrupted classes at most public schools, Mr Barr said he was "unaware" of widely rumoured Government plans to deal directly with teachers..."
    
    "The Government drew ire from teachers on Tuesday when it issued an 11th-hour pay offer on the eve of yesterday's strike.

    "The revised proposal eases or drops demands that teachers work extra contact hours, effectively reducing the number of job cuts from 145 to 85, all in the secondary sector.

    "Pre-school and primary school teachers would no longer have to work additional hours. And high school staff would work an extra hour and college teachers a further two, both down from the additional two hours and 40 minutes required by the last offer.

    "But it comes at a cost, with teachers to receive a 10.8 per cent pay increase over three years instead of the 12 per cent they are seeking.

    "If the new offer is agreed to, teachers will receive their first pay rise on December 14, more than five months after the July 1 start date of the previous offer..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Times at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Premier retreats on reports
    by Bruce McDougall
    
    "The Iemma Government is set to drop a controversial plan for primary school students to be graded on a scale from A to E.

    "However new "Plain English Reports" using a different set of descriptors marking students' achievement in class will go ahead.

    "Overwhelming opposition from principals and teachers, who claim the grading system could brand six-year-olds failures, is expected to force a Government back-down.

    "Major changes have already been made to the new-style school reports championed by Premier Morris Iemma.

    "In the face of fierce opposition from thousands of educators, the controversial A to E grades were dropped for Years 1 and 2 students in every subject except literacy and numeracy.

    "The reports have been further modified to include a column giving students a rating for effort.

    "Teachers have promised a campaign against the grades, threatening industrial action.

    "Some schools have told The Daily Telegraph they will refuse to prepare the reports, due by the end of this year..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Editorial
    A worthy test
    
    "Monash University's innovation for selecting some students is an important development in tertiary education.
    
    "In a trial project, in place of using VCE scores Monash will subject some applicants to aptitude tests.

    "The commendable aim is to make university entrance a more level playing field by catering for deserving students who fall short in their VCE score simply because they have attended poorly resourced, under-achieving schools.

    "But students who are subjected to the Monash tests must also pass relevant VCE subjects to qualify and will be monitored.

    "There will be those who question the wisdom of the Monash move.

    "But the proposal comes from a respected educational institution and merits informed debate.

    "If disadvantaged young people are given an equal go at tertiary education without lowering standards, it will be worthwhile."
    
    From The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    Dead end for FOI laws
    
    "The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, has won an ignominious victory in the High Court, with a majority of judges upholding his refusal to divulge important information sought under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The ruling is an effective death sentence for the ground-breaking FOI legislation introduced by the Fraser government in 1982 and later emulated by the states. Beyond that, it is an enormous setback to informed debate, and further tips the scales towards unaccountable ministerial power. Australia's democracy is diminished by the court's decision..."
    
    Full editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    • Related articles in The Sydney Morning Herald
      
      
      • High Court rejects appeal over freedom of information
        
        
      • Scrutinising our political masters just got harder
        
        
    • Article in The Australian: Labor vows FOI revamp
      
      
    • Editorial in The Australian: Hiding behind the law: A win for bureaucrats holds all Australians in contempt [scroll down a bit]
      
      
    • Similar story in The Melbourne Age
      
      
    • Editorial in The Brisbane Courier Mail
      
      
      
      
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Best results of good teachers are beyond measure
      
      "Ross Gittins must know some teachers ("Teachers know money isn't everything", September 6). He knows things about teaching that the federal Minister for Education apparently doesn't. The patent absurdity of paying teachers by "results" is obvious to anyone who knows what teaching is all about.

      "One little thing that seems to escape the notice of economic rationalists is that the true results of teaching often become apparent only years after the event."

      David Morrison, Springwood
      
      

    • "Now, Ross Gittins, while altruism certainly dominates the teaching profession by offering expertise and opportunities to children, it still fails to pay the mortgage or offer opportunities to our own children.

      "Recognition of the valuable service all teachers play in our community in service to children, by offering greater respect, public acknowledgement and increased remuneration across all classroom teachers, is long overdue. This is the only way to attract the best young teachers; and to keep them. And all our children deserve it."

      Janice Creenaune, Austinmer
      
      

    • "Hear, hear to Ross Gittins's column about teachers and pay. This sums up the exact problem of running everything by numbers: you only get what the numbers measure.

      "Any parent will tell you that it is the intangibles that make a child's education, that make the next generation members of society. Teachers are the guides on this path, and their reward cannot be calculated by a simplistic formula."

      Neville Brown, Croydon
      
      

    • "As Ross Gittins points out, money is only a fraction of the answer. Yesterday I taught a student with an intellectual disability to draw parallel lines using a ruler and a set square. "I can do it now," he said proudly.

      "Can I have an increase in my pay, please? Will Julie Bishop or Carmel Tebbutt give my school a bonus? Oink oink, flap flap."

      Bob Selinger, Eastwood

      
      
      
    • Don't just junk ads - teach children about food
      
      "At last, a definitive statement that the marketing of junk food is no different to that used for cigarettes ("Ads for junk food likened to pushing cigarettes", September 6).

      "Of course, marketing to children is nothing new to the tobacco industry. Fortunately, that industry's marketers have been curtailed in their "get 'em while they're young" strategies since they were notoriously exposed in many of the anti-tobacco legal battles of the past..."
      
      David Catchlove, Newport
      
      

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

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • D.C. Schools Fall Short of Test Goals, Superintendent Says
    by V. Dion Haynes
    
    "The number of District schools that failed to make academic benchmarks increased this year, according to test results D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey plans to release today. At the same time, he plans to cut the equivalent of almost five instructional days to accommodate more teacher training.

    "Last year, 81 of 147 schools failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. But this year, "there will be a larger number," said Bill Caritj, assistant superintendent for educational accountability and assessment.
    
    "A slide in student achievement, education experts say, is fairly typical for a school system that has introduced a new assessment.

    "In April, the school system switched from the Stanford 9 test, which had been in use for eight years, to the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System. The new exam incorporated short-answer responses, whereas the Stanford 9 used mainly multiple-choice questions. The test was administered in the spring to students in grades 3 through 8, as well as 10th grade.

    "The reading questions require students to make more inferences and understand the author's purpose," Caritj said yesterday. The math test placed "more emphasis on algebra and geometry."

    "Last year, students who scored in the 40th percentile, which means 60 percent of the students scored higher, were considered proficient. But today, Janey is expected to discuss plans to significantly raise that level. He also will discuss what the school system will do to boost achievement in low-performing schools..."

    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• USA Today
  
  
  • Higher education stats stir new concerns in USA
    by Mary Beth Marklein
    
    "The United States has made incremental improvements in preparing students for college in recent years, but it has made "no notable progress since the early 1990s" in increasing college participation rates, a report says. And, it says, degree-completion rates in the USA compare poorly with those of other countries.

    "Those and other findings "challenge the notion that the American higher education system is still the best in the world," says former North Carolina governor James Hunt, chairman of the board of the non-partisan National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, based in San Jose, Calif..."
    
    "The report also suggests that tuition increases, combined with dwindling financial aid, contributes to the flat growth in participation rates. "For most American families, college affordability has continued to deteriorate," Hunt says.

    "Since the early 1990s, it says:

    • The proportion of family income needed to pay net college costs (after accounting for all student financial aid except loans) at public four-year colleges has grown from 28% to 42% in Ohio; from 18% to 30% in Iowa; from 25% to 36% in Oregon; and from 20% to 31% in Washington state..."
    
    • Gaps in college participation between high- and low-income students persist. In Virginia, 58% of high-income and 14% of low-income young adults ages 18 to 24 are enrolled in college; in Illinois, the gap is 52% to 23%."

College [university] participation Korea 48% Greece 43% Finland 37% Belgium 37% USA 35% Ireland 35% Poland 34% Australia 31% France 31% Hungary 31% Spain 30% New Zealand 29% Netherlands 27% Norway 25% Portugal 25% Sweden 24% Czech Rep. 24% Germany 23% Austria 23% Denmark 20% Slovak Rep. 20% Iceland 19% Switzerland 18% Mexico 13% Turkey 11%

College [university] completion Japan 26% Portugal 25% U.K. 24% Australia 23% Switzerland 23% Denmark 23% Ireland 21% New Zealand 21% France 20% Iceland 19% Korea 18% Belgium 18% Sweden 18% Slovak Rep. 18% Poland 17% USA 17% Spain 17% Netherlands 16% Hungary 16% Czech Rep. 15% Mexico 14% Norway 14% Finland 13% Turkey 13% Austria 13% Germany 13% Italy 12% Source: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education



Full story in USA Today at link



• The Los Angeles Times
  
  
  • Study Faults the High Cost of Higher Education
    Associated Press
    
    WASHINGTON — An independent report on higher education flunks most states when it comes to affordability. It gives better but mixed grades in other areas, such as college participation and completion rates.

    The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education being released today evaluates how well higher education is serving the public — and leaves little doubt where the system is failing.

    Full story in The Los Angeles Times at link
  
  
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  
• History course essential for schools: Court (page 14)
  by Tiffany Laurie
  
  "Sir Charles Court has condemned a push to exclude compulsory Australian history units from high schools, saying the course would instil pride in young people..."
  
  "Of course, we have to talk about the rest of the world, but we have to put more emphasis in our role, and not just in times of war," he said. "They have to be taught, just like they are taught their ABCs, and if we just leave it to them to look it up on the internet then heaven help us. Our former generations built up a very special race of people and the spirit of Australian people, and it is important that people from a very young age are taught of it."...
  
  Full story in The West Australian
  
  
  

Friday 8 September

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Reporting system fails the grade
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "Close to half of NSW schools required to grade students from A to E have rejected the new reporting system.

    "The State Government, which faces growing opposition from teachers and principals to compulsory grading, was dealt a further blow yesterday when the Commonwealth rejected its plan to exempt year 1 and 2 students from the reporting system, for subjects other than maths and English.

    "The Government proposal failed to provide an equivalent five-band reporting system, such as descriptions of achievement levels, which is required as a condition of Commonwealth funding.

    "It is likely the Federal Government would have accepted an alternative model, such as that approved for use in South Australia, which uses descriptors.

    "Principals and teachers have been calling for a choice between A to E grades and descriptors, such as "outstanding" and "limited achievement".

    "But the State Government has decided on a consistent standard across the state, and adopted the A to E model in response to an edict from the former minister for education, Brendan Nelson.

    "His successor, Julie Bishop, yesterday said the NSW Government had failed to adequately progress its implementation of plain English school reports, putting $1.1 billion in funding at risk.

    "The State Government must now extend reporting of A to E grades, or an equivalent system, to all year 1 and 2 subjects by October 5 to avoid losing its funding.

    "The NSW State Government is the only education authority in Australia that has not demonstrated a commitment to the implementation of plain-English report cards to the parents of children in their schools," Mrs Bishop said..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Freedom from information in a climate of fear [One of three Letters on this topic.]

      "The decision by the High Court on the freedom-of-information laws should leave all Australians feeling uneasy about the state of democracy in this country ("Court rejects freedom of information appeal", September 7).

      "Should one man have the right to arbitrarily decide what information is in the public interest? Is it any comfort to know that the man with that power (in this case, the Treasurer) is the one who has a vested interest in keeping the information secret to avoid potential embarrassment?

      "Peter Costello claims this emasculation of the freedom of information laws is necessary so that public servants can prepare reports without fear or favour. Why should they have any such fears if they are merely reporting the truth?

      "Isn't this an admission that the Government has created an atmosphere in which public servants are afraid to speak their mind?"

      Peter Conigrave, Mount Colah
      

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

• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Editorial
    Eye on reading difficulties
    by Kathy Grube
    
    An innovative research project in southern Tasmania is drawing together health and educational research to help children with reading problems.
    
    "Over 500 schoolchildren identified as having poorer literacy than expected for their age, educational level and intelligence have been screened to assess the proportion of children with binocular vision variations.

    "Binocular vision refers to how well a person co-ordinates both eyes to read visual images. Some children with binocular vision variations may experience a range of problems. Their eyes may not be able to form a single image or the image may seem to wobble or move around.

    "Some studies have shown binocular vision variations may affect a child's ability to read, although the research is not conclusive; some results are contradictory.

    "The educational and clinical significance of minor variations in binocular vision is not known, which is why this study is being conducted..."
    
    Full editorial in The Hobart Mercury at link

    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Liberals promise second languages
    by Ashley Gardiner
    
    "All students up to year 10 will study a second language if Liberal leader Ted Baillieu wins the November election.
    
    "A Liberal government will train 200 teachers to boost the number of language classes available in Victorian schools.

    "Almost $6 million would be spent over four years on implementing the Liberal languages policy, released last night..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • "I notice that Kim Beazley is in favour of an open approch to FOI. I wonder if he has mentioned this to Alan Carpenter?"
      
      Russell Doughty, North Yunderup, WA
      
      
      
    • Legislation to reform FOI is already on Senate table [One of four Letters on this topic.]
      
      "The High Court’s 3-2 “narrow view” decision upholding the power of government to withhold sensitive documents again confirms the need for sweeping reform of the Freedom of Information Act, first flagged in 1996 by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Administrative Review Council in a joint report, and reconfirmed in March 2006 in the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report on FOI.

      "My own private senator’s bill used the ALRC and ARC recommendations, and was scrutinised by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee. In turn, I used its recommendations to update my bill in 2003.

      "The Ombudsman’s report pointed out that the FOI Act worked well in facilitating public access to personal information but not so well in providing access to policy-related information. I am sure that The Australian‘s FOI editor, Michael McKinnon, and other journalists, from personal experience, would support that view.

      "We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. My legislation is on the table. It requires those who favour open, accountable and transparent government to stand up and support it, so that the executive power of government is made truly accountable in the public interest."
      
      Senator Andrew Murray, Australian Democrats
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Few Schools Meet Goal on New Tests
    by V. Dion Haynes and Theola Labbé
    
    Problem Will Require Major Intervention to Solve, D.C. System Officials Say
    
    "Only 28 of the District of Columbia's 146 public schools [19 per cent] last year met academic benchmarks on a new city test, a situation that will require massive intervention efforts to reverse, school system officials said yesterday..."
    
    "The federal law requires school systems to have all students proficient in reading, math and other subjects by 2014. Each school system sets its own benchmarks, raising the scores every few years, to ensure that its students meet the requirement..." [And it's panic in the ranks!   Web]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Back to basics in maths at primary school
    by Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
    
    "Primary school children will have to master their times tables by the time they are eight - a year earlier than now - and there will be new rules on the use of calculators, ministers announced yesterday.

    "As part of a back-to-basics package outlined by the education secretary, Alan Johnson, primary school maths lessons will focus more on mental arithmetic, using calculators only for more complicated calculations.

    "Ministers also confirmed that pupils will be taught to read using the phonics system - learning the sounds of the letters rather than whole words.

    "Mr Johnson said the reforms, to be introduced in October, would help children master the basics of reading and maths more quickly and allow them to solve practical, everyday problems across the curriculum. The announcement came two weeks after figures showed the government had missed its key targets for maths and English results in primary schools..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    Similar story in The Independent
    
    
    

  • Unions blame government for headteacher shortage
    Press Association
    
    "Union leaders today blamed government initiatives for putting potential candidates off applying for headteacher vacancies.

    "One in four English primary schools with a vacancy failed to recruit a new head in the past year, according to the Education Data Surveys report published today.

    "A fifth of secondary schools and a third of special schools also failed to appoint heads after advertising vacancies, the report found.

    "John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "School leadership is a very rewarding job, but government micro-management and increasing job vulnerability are discouraging good candidates from taking on these roles."

    "Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "If the intention is to increase pressure on schools and to continue to introduce badly thought-out initiatives at breakneck speed, the situation will only deteriorate..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Campuses in the grip of student dishonesty (page 5)
    by Keryn McKinnon, FOI Editor
    
    "Hundreds of WA university students have been disciplined and some even expelled, for cheating and plagiarising in an epidemic which universities are struggling to control.
    
    "More than 640 students have been caught trying to pass off someone else’s work as their own since January 2004. This includes 111 students at a Curtin University offshore campus, who were all given a mark of zero for plagiarising.

    "At least four students have been expelled after blatant plagiarism, after many warnings and counselling.

    "Academics say there is no way of knowing how many more are plagiarising their assignments and assessments, and getting away with it.

    "Documents released under Freedom of Information laws show in the past 2 1 /2 years 219 students have been caught plagiarising at Murdoch University, 168 at Curtin University, 138 at the University of WA, three of whom were dismissed, and 117 at Edith Cowan University.

    "Curtin also caught 144 students using unauthorised material and cheating in exams, including one who was expelled after being referred to the institution’s Board of Discipline.

    "Fifteen students have been caught cheating in exams at Murdoch, eight at UWA and 27 at ECU. Penalties include a zero mark, counselling and instant dismissal.

    "Murdoch’s deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Jan Thomas said as long as assessments had been in place there was dishonest behaviour.

    "Murdoch has a software program which can identify plagiarised assignments and students are required to submit their work on a disc so it can be checked.

    "But Professor Thomas and UWA student services director Jon Stubbs said universities still relied on staff to know their students’ abilities and to identify work which clearly wasn’t their own.

    “If you see unusual sentence construction or unusual language construction, it is relatively easy to detect through a change in style,” Mr Stubbs said.

    "Curtin pro-vice-chancellor academic services Jane den Hollander said cheats eventually get caught."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Back to Bible?
    by Michael Madigan
    
    "Jesus Christ, Judas, biblical stories and Australia's religious divisions may soon be classroom topics to help students understand our past.
    

    "Aboriginal history may have caused angst at last month's History Summit in Canberra, but it was the thorny question of religion which had educators most perplexed.

    "Transcripts from the summit obtained last night show delegates struggled with religion in the national curriculum.

    "It was Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey who told delegates much of society could not be explained to students without religion.

    "Many of the great statements and parliamentary debates, be it about Judas, 13 pieces of silver or touching the hem of government, mean nothing now," he said.

    "Yet to that (previous) generation they were made powerful because they were metaphors chosen from the Bible."

    "He said he believed the history curriculum needed to include religious knowledge, "irrespective of the vehicle used"...

    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    Full transcript of the history summit proceedings [91 page .pdf file]
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    A basis for law reform
    
    "Two inevitable consequences will arise from the High Court's majority ruling yesterday in the landmark case between The Australian newspaper and Treasurer Peter Costello.
    
    "The first is that the blow to accountability in favour of the culture of secrecy pervading governments in Australia will give rise to demands for a review of the 1982 federal Freedom of Information Act. The second, as the Australian Press Council has already pointed out, will be to give governments fresh impetus to suppress information that is simply embarrassing or politically inconvenient..."
    
    Full editorial in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Get Prep right
    
    "Early childhood teachers and most parents agree that Queensland's new Prep year is a strong positive and that the play-based model being used is the ideal way to ease children into school life.
    
    "A classroom of 25 four and five-year-old children, however, is a major challenge for any teacher, no matter how skilled. The allocation of full-time teachers' aides, rather than part-time, as the Government is proposing would enhance the experience for the children as well as the staff. While generally successful, the Prep trials did find concern about teacher aide time. Given the state's prosperity, the Government should at least re-think the issue."
    
    From The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
  • Textbooks to be rewritten
    by Glenis Green
    
    "Scientific research by Steve Irwin is set to revolutionise the management of crocodiles around the world.
    
    "Irwin had completed a month-long north Queensland research expedition only days before his sudden death, and was armed with data that was set to rewrite the textbooks about crocodile research and management.

    "Queensland University professor Craig Franklin, who was part of the team that accompanied Irwin to Cape York Peninsula, said Irwin had taken the lead in important research with his findings already contained in international journals..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    

  • Home and hosed
    by Steven Wardill
    
    "Premier Peter Beattie will coast to an easy election victory and a historic fourth term in Government at tomorrow's state election..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Northern Territory News [Similar stories in other News.com newspapers]
  
  
  • Elders molest young boys in bogus initiations
    by Caroline Overington
    
    "Aboriginal elders are sexually abusing young boys during bogus "initiation" ceremonies and mothers are too frightened to intervene because the abusers hold positions of great power in their communities..."
    
    Full story in The Northern Territory News at link
    
    
    

Saturday – Sunday, 9 – 10 September

• The Sunday Sydney Telegraph
  
  
  • Teachers forced back to school
    
    "Teachers will be made to undergo rigorous training on issues from bullying to obesity under a Federal Government plan to dramatically lift classroom standards.

    "To be implemented by the states, the plan entails teachers taking time off from the classroom to undertake professional development courses in technology and teaching techniques.

    "States refusing to adopt the plan would risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, while teachers failing to participate would lose their teaching certificates.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said the move was part of a drive to improve standards in the classroom..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Sydney Telegraph at link
    
    Similar story in The Brisbane Sunday Mail [and other News.com papers]

  
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  
  • OBE cuts demand for humanities (page 2)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "High school students are dropping academic subjects such as history and geography and choosing easier courses like physical education in the first signs that the introduction of outcomes-based education is eroding standards in Years 11 and 12.
    
    "Educators believe the drop-off in humanities is due to Curriculum Council changes which increase the number of subjects that count towards university entrance and scrap a requirement that scores in at least one humanities subject must be included in university entrance calculations.
    
    Under the new system, results from the best four subjects will be used to calculate tertiary entrance scores.
    
    "Heads of geography, history and economics teachers’ associations say it is too early to see a Statewide pattern but top State and private schools are reporting a sharp drop in the number of Year 10 students choosing to study humanities subjects, particularly geography, next year.
    
    "Applecross Senior High School will not run any Year 11 geography classes next year.
    
    "Rossmoyne SHS principal Leila Bothams said geography numbers had fallen because more students were choosing physical education and science.
    
    "Penrhos College principal Graham Rixon said the school would run just one Year 11 geography class in 2007, down from three this year.
    
    "Catholic schools are also hit hard. Emmanuel Catholic College will not run a Year 11 history class and will cut geography and economics classes from two each to one per subject.
    
    "At Mazenod College, a boys’ school, the number choosing physical education has doubled while the number opting for humanities has halved in Year 11.
    
    "Some teachers fear they could lose their jobs as fewer students opt for humanities. Other ramifications, such as fewer students developing analysis and essay-writing skills, will not be known for years.
    
    "Association of Independent Schools deputy director Valerie Gould said there was no way of telling whether the lack of a humanities background would be a problem until the current crop of students started university.
    
    "Independent Education Union secretary Theresa Howe said humanities teachers held genuine concerns they could lose their jobs.
    
    "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said enrolment patterns would be closely monitored."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Fobbed-off parents gang up on bullying teachers (page 51)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Parents unhappy at poor handling of complaints about teachers bullying students are forming a support group to take on the Education Department.
    
    "Parent Bronwyn James said two of her four children had been badly affected by a primary school teacher who frightened and belittled students by screaming criticism at them.
    
    "But her complaints over more than a year had been dismissed by the department’s complaints management unit.
    
    "The Health Consumers Council of WA hosted a meeting of about 10 parents last week which decided to form an advocacy group to help other parents experiencing similar problems.
    
    "HCC advocate Maxine Drake said poor complaints handling could cause psychological health problems for children and parents.
    
    “Distress and uncertainty from waiting for the Education Department’s unwieldy complaints process is clearly a big problem,” she said.
    
    "The department recently commissioned a review of the complaints management unit which found the unit was severely under-resourced and its staff not adequately trained."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • STANDARDIZED TESTING
    Some Highly Touted Schools Land on Failure List
    by V. Dion Haynes
    
    "The D.C. school system's list of 118 schools that failed to meet academic goals on a new standardized test includes 12 that had a reputation for being high-performing..."
    
    "Some experts say the results of the new test, which is supposed to more accurately gauge performance, show that achievement levels are worse than previously known. The 118 schools account for more than 80 percent of the 146 schools in the system last year.
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
• The Sunday Washington Post
  
  
  • Schools Address Lower SAT [TEE] Scores
    by William Wan
    
    This time it's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) results that have dropped.
    
    Full story in The Sunday Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Schools to revolt on federal report plan
    by Deborah Gough
    
    "The Federal Government's controversial A to E school report card system is facing a revolt as Victorian schools seek to opt [out].

    "Nearly 1000 schools in NSW are planning to reject the new system saying they "cannot and will not implement the Governments' unacceptable reporting requirements", the NSW Teachers Federation says. Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill has formally requested an exemption and more than a dozen other Victorian schools are looking for ways to avoid it..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Textbook links US, Israel to 'state terrorism'
    by Paul Heinrichs
    
    "A high school textbook that teaches Victorian VCE students that the United States and Israel have been linked to "state terrorism" has sparked outrage and a demand from the Federal Government that it be immediately withdrawn from classrooms.

    "The book, used by about half of Victoria's 700 politics students, is being criticised for playing down the threat of terrorism and containing flawed thinking and ideology.

    "A furious federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, has called on the Victorian Government to withdraw the book..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Independent
  
  
  • Special Report: State And Religion
    
    An Islamic school is raided by anti-terror police. A fresh intake of middle-class children fills the classrooms at high-performing C of E schools. Are religious schools an unfair anachronism? Are they threatening our society? Sarah Cassidy, education correspondent, investigates
    
    Full story in The Sunday Independent at link
    
    
    
    
  • Bilingual school is a lesson in the entente cordiale
    by Geneviève Roberts
    
    "Au revoir, à lundi," one four-year-old tells her new friend in the playground, as the opening week at Britain's first bilingual state school draws to an end..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Independent at link
    
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday New York Times
  
  
  • Outsourcing Homework: At $9.95 a Page, You Expected Poetry?
    by Charles McGrath
    
    "The Web site for an outfit called Term Paper Relief features a picture of a young college student chewing her lip.
    
    “Damn!” a little comic-strip balloon says. “I’ll have to cancel my Saturday night date to finish my term paper before the Monday deadline.”

    "Well, no, she won’t — not if she’s enterprising enough to enlist Term Paper Relief to write it for her. For $9.95 a page she can obtain an “A-grade” paper that is fashioned to order and “completely non-plagiarized.” This last detail is important. Thanks to search engines like Google, college instructors have become adept at spotting those shop-worn, downloadable papers that circulate freely on the Web, and can even finger passages that have been ripped off from standard texts and reference works..."
    
    "The Times decided to undertake an experiment in quality control of the current offerings. Using her own name and her personal e-mail address, an editor ordered three English literature papers from three different sites on standard, often-assigned topics: one comparing and contrasting Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Orwell’s “1984”; one discussing the nature of Ophelia’s madness in “Hamlet”; and one exploring the theme of colonialism in Conrad’s “Lord Jim.” ...
    
    Full story in The Sunday New York Times at link

    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • New language qualifications help put 10,000 students on 'ladder of learning'
    by Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
    
    "Ten thousand students - including children as young as eight - have taken innovative new courses which aim to reverse the decline in language learning.

    "The qualifications - called Asset Languages and run by the Oxford and Cambridge exam board OCR - aim to make language learning accessible by offering a "ladder" of bite-sized courses similar to music grades..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Sunday Mail
  
  
  • Beattie romps in
    by Darrell Giles, political editor
    
    "The Peter Beattie juggernaut last night stormed to a stunning fourth consecutive election victory in Queensland..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Sunday Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Sydney Telegraph
  
  
  • Smacking ban urged
    by Mary Papadakis
    
    "A child welfare group is pushing for laws to ban parents from smacking their children after being shocked by the findings of a national survey.

    "The Australian Childhood Foundation's poll of 750 adults found almost 70 per cent support smacking and 45 per cent believe it is reasonable to leave a mark on a child..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Sydney Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times / PerthNow
  
  
  • Lawyers 'don't get' science
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    "People may be wrongly convicted and acquitted of crimes because lawyers don't understand science, says a top WA criminal lawyer..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The New York Times
  
  
  • An Age of Tainted Admissions and Too Much Homework
    by Janet Maslin
    
    Are wealthy students buying their way into Ivy League American universities? “Having a building named after your family on our campus would be a plus factor” says the former Director of Admissions at Brown University.
    
    Full story in The New York TImes at link
    
    
    
    
• CNN
  
  
  • Education Department eases stand on teacher quality
    
    "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Changing course, the Education Department will allow states to count teachers as highly qualified even under standards that may do little to ensure quality.

    "Federal law allows veteran teachers to be considered highly qualified under factors that states choose, such as job evaluations, teaching awards or service on school committees.

    "The department in May ordered states to phase out that system for most teachers. Watchdog groups and the department itself say many states were using this system to set weak, improper standards.

    "Yet Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has pulled back, telling states this week in a letter that they now are "strongly encouraged," though not required, to stop using the method to rate teachers.

    "The change could affect tens of thousands of teachers who have not met the conditions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Otherwise, teachers would have to demonstrate competence by holding academic majors or passing tests in every subject they teach..."
    
    Full story at CNN.com at link
    
    

  • Windows HS: Microsoft designs a school system
    
    "PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has famously called high schools "obsolete" and warned about their effect on U.S. competitiveness. Now, his company has a chance to prove that it can help fix the woes of public education.

    "After three years of planning, the Microsoft Corp.-designed "School of the Future" opened its doors Thursday, a gleaming white modern facility looking out of place amid rows of ramshackle homes in a working-class West Philadelphia neighborhood.

    "The school is being touted as unlike any in the world, with not only a high-tech building -- students have digital lockers and teachers use interactive "smart boards" -- but also a learning process modeled on Microsoft's management techniques.

    "Philadelphia came to us ... and asked us to design a school," said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. "We're going to take our best shot."..
    
    Full story at CNN.com at link
    
    
    

• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • NZ says our FOI laws are arcane
    by Fran O'Sullivan, Wellington
    
    "The type of information that the Australian Government fought for four years to keep secret - ultimately winning a High Court case to stop its release - is available in New Zealand within 24 hours..."
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Told to learn, denied the right
    by Adele Horin
    
    "When the Prime Minister complained recently that a "small section" of Muslims resisted integration and failed to learn English, jaws dropped in all the unfashionable suburbs where community workers are helping refugees fit into our way of life.
    
    "From the charitable "Is it possible he has forgotten?" to the furious "He's an outrageous hypocrite", the workers recalled how the Howard Government deliberately denied English lessons to at least 8900 mainly Muslim refugees who arrived here by boat from 1999 onwards.

    "That was the year the Government changed its policy to block these refugees from the free English classes that have been the cornerstone of our multicultural society for decades..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link

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All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers

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