Monday 25 September 2006

Tuesday 26 September

Wednesday 27 September

Thursday 28 September

Friday 29 September

Saturday – Sunday, 30 September – 1 October

 

Monday 25 September

• The Australian
  
  
  • National curriculum moves welcomed
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "High school principals have welcomed moves to define a national curriculum that would set core knowledge that students should learn.

    "President of the Secondary Schools Principals Association Andrew Blair said the introduction of national statements of learning from 2008, setting out key knowledge and skills to be taught to all students was the first step, and progress was also being made on a nationally consistent Year 12 certificate.

    "We are making some pretty significant steps to national equivalence, and I think that's a positive thing as long as there's the capacity for states and territories to deliver their own accreditation systems and to get the mix right in terms of their context," he said.

    "Mr Blair was responding to comments by the Australian representative on the executive board of the UN education body UNESCO, Ken Wiltshire, in The Weekend Australian that state governments had ceded control of curriculums to individual schools, with teachers left to decide what to teach instead of concentrating on the best way to deliver a curriculum.

    "Professor Wiltshire said the states had relinquished any effective system of measuring the standard of what was taught in schools, and the performance of teachers.

    "Meanwhile, in an article published in the current journal of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, The Australian is accused of mounting a political and ideological attack on critical literacy and of failing to properly understand the subject.

    "Association president Karren Philp yesterday rejected the idea that critical literacy did not belong in classrooms.

    "I reject that utterly. I've seen six-year-olds critically question representations in stories they've read," she said.

    "It's not a movement. We're trying to make our students critically literate."

    "Ms Philp said the association understood the push for a national curriculum and defining essentials. "We think we probably have (a core national English curriculum) and it simply needs to be written down or shared," she said."
    
    From The Australian at link

    
    
    
  • 'Naive' syllabus neglects basics
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "High school geography is being taught as a series of issues presented in a naive and unquestioning way, often by teachers with no relevant qualifications.

    "Associate professor John Lidstone of the Queensland University of Technology said much of what was taught was "naive environmentalism".

    "And amid calls for a government review, Professor Lidstone said high school students were often not presented with the fundamentals of geography, such as the formation of mountains or glaciers, or the science behind issues, such as the rainfall cycle in Australia when examining drought. "There's an unquestioned acceptance of issues like the greenhouse effect; they're not actually engaging in the debate," he said.

    "Dr Lidstone, secretary of the International Geographical Union's commission on geographical education for 10 years, said the biggest problem was the subject's integration into social studies courses.

    "Integrated social studies doesn't do history well, it doesn't do geography well, it doesn't do citizenship-type things well. It very quickly becomes a hodgepodge," he said. "The syllabus lacks coherence and tends to become issues-based. You're asking kids to solve problems that adults and politicians can't solve..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Brethren school kids 'brainwashed'
    by Matthew Denholm
    
    "Children at taxpayer-funded schools run by the Exclusive Brethren sect are brainwashed and their basic texts are crudely censored, say former teachers.

    "Several teachers have told The Australian they left Brethren schools in disgust at "excessive control" over what children were allowed to read and study.

    "And they said they were paid $10,000 a year less than teachers at comparable non-government schools because the sect did not allow enterprise bargaining.

    "The claims have prompted calls from teachers, unions and politicians for tighter conditions on taxpayer funding for Brethren schools, which receive $20.7 million a year in federal money.

    "A fundamentalist Christian sect, the Exclusive Brethren has created controversy in Australia and abroad for smear campaigns against liberal-minded politicians..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    

    MOST TALKED ABOUT: TEACHING ENGLISH

    • Students must learn to find core themes in literature
      
      "Your editorial on English teaching ("Deconstructing the loony fringe, 23-24/9) was another welcome contribution to this significant education debate. There is definitely merit in teaching children the classical texts of the English language. Plots, characters and core themes should be the core of all interpretations of great Western literature.

      "Although the texts chosen by curricula and teachers are important, there must be flexibility in interpretations. Students need to learn how to assess a piece of literature for its core themes and messages, and appreciate what its author wants to say.

      "There is nothing inherently wrong with feminist, Marxist or other frameworks when they’re used properly. For example, the feminist approach is particularly enlightening when studying Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Marxist analysis of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol is also intellectually stimulating. The problem is not the use of “postmodern” methods per se, it’s their blanket application to all texts without much regard for each text’s inherent intricacies.

      "Please do not use names such as “loony fringe” for those who teach this “postmodern theory”, as you are only damaging your own strong case. Refute the theories on their own strengths and weaknesses, and show why more traditional methods are often best.

      "Your claim that English teaching is not “inevitably ideological” is wrong. Of course it is, but there is nothing wrong with recognising this while still suggesting your otherwise sensible views. All stakeholders need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. There are a range of interpretive techniques taught to children. However, they first need a strong understanding of basic grammar, spelling and comprehension so they are able to seek out their own meanings rather than relying on teachers for interpretations."
      
      Brad Ruting, Castle Hill, NSW
      
      

    • "This is a fabulous time to be an English teacher. The range of texts I can teach, and am expected to teach, is vast and at no stage has this ever meant that the classics or Shakespeare would be diminished. In over 20 years in the classroom, I can’t think of a more stimulating period and that has to be good for students. More than that, the range of approaches is vast. If it sounds like we are academic and ideological at times, it is because the texts we are studying demand it.

      "It is about time media voices, if they truly want to represent English teaching, engage in some kind of discussion with the profession, otherwise there is a great danger the impression will be skewed. Yes, articles published for English teachers by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English will be academic and at times inflammatory – that is the role of a professional journal. Yes, postmodernism will pass. What needs to be made clear is that it won’t indicate a return to anything. I need only refer your editorial writers to other sections of your own newspaper to suggest the Judeo-Christian values they hold dear are not as universally understood as they might once have been."
      
      Paul Sommer, AATE past president, Osaka, Japan
      
      

    • "I applaud Professor Kenneth Wiltshire speaking out about our dumbed down politicised literacy system in Australian schools ("In defence of the true values of learning”, 23-24/9). He is a brave man though to be taking on the self-centred Australian education lobbies – unions, departmental leftist hacks, politically correct educationalists in our universities and sadly, the increasingly Labor-influenced public school P&Cs.

      "Here in the ACT we have an alarming exodus of students in high schools to the private system and a lobby-captive Labor government that says it does not know why the drift is occurring. Professor Wiltshire is right, it is the lack of academic standard, rigour and accountability. But there is something else driving this exodus. That is, public high schools lacking in “values education” and lacking discipline. The level of violence we informally hear about in ACT high schools is disturbing.

      "Surely, without values, discipline, pastoral care, respect and an orderly and safe learning environment you can forget about striving for literary excellence or anything else in our schools."
      
      Steve Pratt MLA, ACT Legislative Assembly, Canberra
      
      

    • "The great untold story about Australia’s failing schools is that they’re not failing at all. The most recent OECD figures show Australia is in the top five or 10 countries for every subject. We’re ninth in maths, seventh in science and fourth in literacy. (Source: OECD Program for International Student Assessment, 2003.) So instead of spreading doom and gloom stories, why don’t the panic-merchants take a good look at the international figures, and give our teachers and students a collective pat on the back?"
      
      Mercurius Goldstein, Ashfield, NSW
      
      
      
    • "While I commend Professor Wiltshire for his attempt to advance the debate on education in Australia, it is hard to forgive his misrepresentation of Queensland’s education system. Far from having absolutely no external assessment in the entire preparatory year to year 12 spectrum, each year every Queensland student in years three, five and seven undergoes external diagnostic testing in literacy and numeracy. This program of testing will soon be extended into year nine."
      
      David Madden, Corinda, Qld

     

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • University cash fear as courses left unfilled
    by Adam Morton
    
    "An Australia--wide fall in demand for university places might cost a Victorian campus up to $700,000, and has revived calls to abolish full-fee degrees for students..."
    
    "[The local] shortfall follows a 5 per cent decline in applications nationally since 2003, and precedes a predicted drop in the number of school leavers over the next decade.

    "Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said it suggested HECS rates were turning potential students away from study in regional areas.

    "Maximum annual HECS rates this year ranged from $3920 to $8170, depending on the course. "For students in country areas these fees are very high," Ms Macklin said.

    "The rise in unwanted places — also confirmed at Perth's Edith Cowan, Townsville's James Cook and Central Queensland universities — prompted Swinburne University vice-chancellor Ian Young to say it was illogical that some universities were charging full fees while cheaper HECS places were left unfilled..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Schools change name for prestige
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "... Across Victoria, more than 20 schools have dropped "secondary" from their title over the past 10 years — almost all preferring "college" on its own..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • School to offer 24-hour teaching
    by Katherine Demopoulos
    
    "A school in a deprived area on Hampshire's south coast is introducing 24-hour teaching that will be available to pupils every day of the year, except on Christmas Day.

    "Cheryl Heron, the headteacher of Bridgemary community sports college in the most deprived ward in Gosport, a community built around a naval base, said: "People need to get over the idea that school means a building."

    "She said that pupils did not necessarily learn best within traditional school hours and that teaching also needed to take account of the personal circumstances of pupils to ensure they received the required 380 school sessions a year.

    "The kind of kids and families we have here the only time they get holiday is when a voucher or an offer comes up," she said..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

  • School exam cheats turn to technology
    by James Meikle, education correspondent
    
    · Phoning a friend is not just a TV show gimmick
    · Mobiles and handheld organisers smuggled in
    
    "Exam cheats are moving with the times. Teenagers used to be happy to scribble "reminders" discreetly in the palms of their hands, or on their cuffs or scraps of paper. Now they are scrolling through a wealth of information sneaked in via their mobile phones or handheld organisers.

    "Exam regulators are already tightening up coursework elements of A-levels and GSCEs because of fears that the internet is helping pupils to pass off other people's work as their own. But now they are worried that technology is also helping determined cheats in the exam hall.

    "A report for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority this year will conclude that "phoning a friend" is not just a gimmick from TV quiz shows. An investigation for the exam regulator in England by Professor Jean Underwood, of Nottingham Trent University, has revealed growing concern that pupils are putting revision notes on digital aids and smuggling them into exams..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Jobs crisis for girls who quit school
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "Girls who leave school early face more disadvantages than boys and risk being locked out of the job market, an education researcher has found.

    "Boys are far more likely than girls to enter apprenticeships, while girls who leave school early often drift out of the labour market entirely.

    "Margaret Vickers, from the University of Western Sydney's school of education, said although girls were more likely than boys to complete year 12, those who left early were more severely disadvantaged in the employment market than boys."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Getting by with or without a little help from parents

      "So, it is no longer considered desirable for parents to help children with their homework ("Stop doing homework, parents told", September 23-24). At least these parents have the ability to help their children. One should perhaps spare a thought for the migrant parents whose lack of English translates directly into total inability to help their children with their school work. How refreshing, then, that such a handicap has not thwarted these parents' support for their children, judging by the impressive number of students from migrant families who have made the campuses of our colleges and universities their second home."

      S. Nona Burradoo
      
      

    • "Surely there is little harm in parents working together with their children on assignments in primary and junior secondary grades. Parents and their children can work together with a common goal and develop special interests together.

      "However, in the senior years of high school, where students are measured, compared and ranked for competitive university places, the circumstances can verge on serious cheating.

      "There are thousands of parents and tutors "assisting", by researching and writing assignments and completing various design and technology projects.

      "Questions need to be asked and evaluations scrutinised before it is too late. The HSC is a valued experience, and we all want it to remain that way."

      Janice Creenaune Austinmer
      
      

    • "If parents have to back off, so, too, do schools. From the moment children enter public education in NSW they are tested, assessed, monitored and harassed as they get sucked into the modern-day measurement mania that masquerades as education. No wonder kids and parents are anxious about the future - their contemporary existences are dominated by an ever-growing range of irritating and irrelevant testing and assessment procedures."

      Barry McCarthy Caves Beach
      
      

    • "If parents assist beyond providing appropriate resources, quite apart from denying the child fair comment on his or her efforts, they are aiding and abetting the child in a rort of the system. In old-fashioned language, this is dishonesty."

      Basil Johnson Weston (ACT)
      
      

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

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Single-sex schools help girls
    
    "Single-sex schools improve girls' chances of landing well-paid jobs, according to a study.
    
    "Those who attend all-girl secondary schools end up earning up to 10 per cent more than those sent to mixed schools, it found.

    "Researchers found no earnings advantage for men who attended all-boys schools.

    "London's Institute of Education tracked 13,000 Britons born in 1958 to determine whether single-sex schooling influenced their later lives.

    "Academics said girls in single-sex schools were more likely to study traditionally male subjects such as physics."
    
    From The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

Tuesday 26 September

• SBS Television: Insight
  
  
  • The Teacher Test
    
    "A recent report found that the academic standards of young teachers have dropped, and schools are finding it hard to recruit talented staff. Teachers are leaving the system in droves, unhappy with increasing demands and decreasing salaries.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop believes the problem can be alleviated by the introduction of performance pay. Her proposal would see teachers who get the best results rewarded financially.

    "Teachers’ unions are opposed to the plan, and leading principals and educationalists around the country are dubious.

    "Next week on Insight, Julie Bishop unveils her plan in more detail and faces her critics. If performance pay is to be introduced, how will teachers be assessed? What’s the test of a good teacher?

    "At the same time the Minister is advocating a new national grading system for school report cards as a condition for funding. Students would be ranked from “A” to “E”, but this too has been widely condemned by the teachers’ union.

    "Joining the Minister in the studio are major players from the current education debate: Pat Byrne from the Australian Education Union, former principal Judith Wheeldon, economist Andrew Leigh and a lively bunch of school students, teachers and parents."

    “THE TEACHER TEST” will be broadcast on SBS TV’s Insight program with Jenny Brockie at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 26 September. Insight is repeated at 1.00pm on Fridays and 2.00pm on Mondays. [The online discussion was geared to eastern states' time, and closed at 8 pm Perth time.]
    
    From SBS Insight at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Relief crisis shows pool of teachers drying up (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Schools are facing a teaching crisis because of a lack of relief staff, a new teachers’ group claimed yesterday.
    
    "The WA College of Teaching, a professional association which all teachers must join if they want to teach in WA, said many schools had reported they were struggling daily to find relief teachers.

    "WACOT is surveying principals of State and private schools to find how widespread the problem has become. “We really need to find out if it’s just an annual problem or if it is an escalating problem that may be an early signal of teacher shortages,” director Janet Rodgers said. [emphasis added]

    "Survey results should be available next month.

    "A metropolitan primary school principal said the problem had worsened significantly in the past year.

    "He had to break up a class at least once every two weeks, farming children out to other classes because no relief teacher was available. This severely disrupted learning.

    "Sometimes classes exceeded 40 children, though departmental guidelines set 32 as the limit.

    "Employment agencies that supply relief teachers are being forced to close their books to new clients because they cannot keep up with demand.

    "Choice One spokeswoman Renee Woods said its pool of relief teachers had almost dried up in the past three months. She turned down 44 bookings last week, with most demand coming from State primary schools.

    "It was increasingly difficult to find teachers who had all the qualifications required by WACOT. “Basically we’re not getting the teachers in who have all the prerequisites to actually work,” Ms Woods said.

    "Ms Rodgers said it was unlikely that WACOT would ease its qualification requirements.

    "Class Professionals employment agency owner Sam Pintaudi said the problem was cyclical but shortages had been worse than usual this year.

    "State School Teachers Union vice-president Anne Gisborne said the lack of relief was a key indication of teacher shortages across the board.

    "Education Department directorgeneral Paul Albert said there was no evidence the use of relief teachers had increased in recent years. But the number of teachers available may have dwindled because people who had taken relief work in the past were opting for new part-time jobs delivering special literacy and numeracy programs.

    "The Catholic Education Office said the situation was no worse than usual at this time of year."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    

• ABC News Online
  
  
  • Teaching needs to be made attractive: WA Opposition

    "The Western Australian Opposition has joined the call for better pay and conditions for the state's school teachers.

    "The State School Teachers Union says a drop in the number of relief teachers in Western Australia is due to graduates heading into more lucrative professions.

    "The Opposition's education spokesman, Peter Collier, says it is a very serious issue.

    "We've got to make teaching a much more attractive career option," he said.

    "That is to get more people to enter the profession, but just as significantly to remain in the profession and make it a career.

    "At the moment they're not, people are coming into the profession of teaching and leaving very quickly."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Geography loses half its students
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Teaching geography as part of social studies courses alongside subjects such as history, economics and citizenship has overseen a halving in the past decade of the number of students selecting the discipline in their senior years.

    "Figures gathered by the Australian Geography Teachers Association show the extent of disenchantment with the subject among year 11 and 12 students brought up on a diet of Studies of Society and Environment.

    "Even in NSW, the only state to have maintained geography as a stand-alone and mandatory subject from years 7 to 10, students are eschewing the subject.

    "Teachers and professional geographers fear high school geography curriculums are failing to attract students, particularly in years 9 and 10.

    "Australian Geography Teachers Association president Nick Hutchinson and Sydney University lecturer Bill Pritchard argue for a re-energising of geography curriculums based on the principles of the International Charter for Geographic Education.

    "Under the charter, students should study among other things locations and places, to enable them to set national and international events in a geographical framework, and the major biophysical systems, such as landforms, soils and climate..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link [plus see follow-on Op Ed piece]
    
    

  • Op Ed
    A clarion call for the sake of our kids [late edition 25/9]
    by Paul Kelly
    
    "There is a sleeping issue at the next election for a political party with intellectual courage—the corruption of the social sciences curriculum in our schools.

    "The article published in The Weekend Australian by Professor Ken Wiltshire from the University of Queensland (In defence of the true values of learning) should become a clarion call for vigorous intervention by the national government on behalf of the interests of parents and children.

    "There is a golden lesson from the History Summit held in Canberra several weeks ago—once the truth of what is happening in our schools is documented and tabled on the bar of public opinion, the reform is irresistible. There is no substitute for transparency.

    "Most state governments surrendered this responsibility many years ago. In some cases this retreat assumes epic proportions. As Wiltshire says, Western Australia’s experiment in outcomes-based education has failed and Queensland has “absolutely no external assessment in the entire preparatory year to Year 12 spectrum”. This means they have “no way of knowing what standards their schools are achieving”... [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Medical schools chase fees
    by Matthew Franklin
    
    "University medical school deans have warned that financial pressure is forcing them to rely on full-fee students to augment funding. And they predict universities will be unable to properly cater for 600 new medical student positions announced by the Howard Government in July to respond to doctor shortages..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Made-to-order ideology for the moral charlatan
      
      "Thank you for your unabashed opposition to postmodernism and relativism. These ideologies would be comic if they weren’t so pernicious.

      "This is the doublethink at the heart of postmodernism and relativism: firstly, there is no such thing as objective truth or reality, and, lastly, here is the truth as to how things really are. To deny the concept of truth in one breath and assert some supposed truth in the next suggests these ideologies have been made to order for the intellectual pipsqueak and moral charlatan."
      
      C. J. Cooney, Gold Coast, Qld
      
      

    • "The distinguished British scholar and writer Raymond Williams wrote in his book The Long Revolution that “an educational curriculum . . . expresses a compromise between an inherited selection of interests and the emphasis of new interests”. Given the extensive coverage of various ideological curriculum positions by The Australian over the past few years, it would be very helpful if space could now be provided for protagonists, and the wider community, to debate what a compromise of competing positions should comprise to ensure that all students complete their schooling, educated."
      
      R. John Halsey, School of Education, Flinders University, Adelaide
      
      

    • "The problem is not in the study of English, or the acquisition of literacy. The problem remains that in Australia we do not attempt, at any level of education, a formal study of rhetoric. Every American high school student is compelled to study how language is, and has been, used as a persuasive instrument of truth and politics. And, if we must read Anne Frank to improve our souls, can we not read Lolita to improve our moral discernment?"
      
      Keith Russell, Mayfield West, NSW
      
      

    • "Teaching Shakespeare and advertising are not mutually exclusive, nor are critical and traditional teaching methods. Good English teachers are conversant in, and use, both of these approaches and others.

      "This is one of the many points I make in my article which The Australian unfortunately omitted in the highly selective extract ("Critics have loaded agenda”, Inquirer, 23-24/9) it presented as part of its beat-up of the critical literacy debate. Ironically, this sensationalised creation of news (my article was published over three months ago) on a day when there’s nothing much else to print except the footy, serves as an excellent example of the kind of text literate citizens need critical skills to be able to interpret with independence of mind."
      
      David Freesmith, North Adelaide, SA
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • ANU to slash entry scores
    by Elizabeth Bellamy
    
    "The Australian National University will slash its minimum entry requirements next year, making it easier for Canberra students to gain a place.

    "ANU vice-chancellor Professor Ian Chubb will announce today a scheme to cut entry scores by eight points for eight general arts, business and science degrees, guaranteeing all applicants with a Universities Admission Index of 75 or above a spot..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Times at link
    
    
    

• The New York Times
  
  
  • School Principals Criticize Union Leaders
    by Elissa Gootman
    
    "In a sign of open rebellion against their union, whose contract expired more than three years ago, 31 New York City public school principals have written a scathing letter, citing “grave concerns” about the union’s “ineffectiveness,” and accusing its leaders of being increasingly “out of touch” with members..." [Sounds familiar!    Web]
    
    Full story in The New York TImes at link
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Brown call to raise school-leaving age [late edition]
    by Katherine Demopoulos
    
    "The chancellor, Gordon Brown, today said he wanted to raise the school-leaving age from 16 to 18.

    "In a speech to the Labour party conference the emphasised his party's desire to see "every child challenged and brought on and no child held back or left behind", Mr Brown said he wanted all children to have a nursery education from the age of three, and called for parity in vocational and traditional qualifications.

    "He went on to underline an earlier commitment to increase spending on state school education from £5,500 to £8,000 per pupil, to match that spent on pupils at private schools..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

• The Independent
  
  
  • Pupils can choose from 30 languages in online GCSEs
    by Richard Garner, Education Editor
    
    "Schools will be able to offer their pupils GCSEs in up to 30 languages under an initiative taken up by 50 schools. Pupils will be able to learn a language even if no one else in the school wants to study it and there is no one to teach them.

    "It consists of an online learning package which allows pupils to study a language in their own time and by themselves. Education experts believe that it could help halt the slide in the take-up of languages which has seen a drop of 13.2 per cent in French entries for GCSE this year and 14.2 per cent in German..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Age of terror scaring Australian children
    by Jill Stark
    
    "Bombs, burglars and terrorists are among the top 10 fears for today's children, replacing woes of 20 years ago when a trip to the school principal, catching germs and falling over occupied their thoughts.

    "Australian research to be released today shows the age of global terrorism has shattered the cocoon of childhood, with 58 per cent of six to 12-year-olds scared of bombs — number two on their list of fears.

    "Topping the list with 61 per cent of children is the fear of being hit by a car, while half are scared of terrorists, which came in at number six.

    "The figures reflect the impact of world events on children's sense of safety — 20 years ago bombs were at the bottom of the list and terrorism was not quoted..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Finding Nemo too scary, Christian groups call for ratings review
    by Linda Morris
    
    "Not content with a review of television and junk food advertising guidelines, Christian groups and children's advocates are calling for an overhaul of children's film content as well as R-rated material.

    "Questions about the content of Finding Nemo and the Cat in the Hat and R-rated movies have prompted the Australian Christian Lobby to approach every state government in an attempt to put film classification guidelines on the agenda when the attorneys-general meet in March.

    "Lobby groups such as the Festival of Light and the Australian Family Association are vocal critics of the film classification regime, saying graphic sexual violence is creeping into R-rated material and being justified as artistically meritorious..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Beware universities' quest for mediocrity
    
    The "big is best" brigade has succeeded in making many first degrees second rate, writes Harry Messel.
    
    "How many students do you have now?" This is the question that is inevitably asked as soon as one mentions university, with the stress on the word "many". The thrust of the question is usually obvious: only large numbers of students indicate success, while small numbers are equated with failure. The insinuation is that a university that does not have, and never will have, large numbers of students, 10 deputy vice-chancellors and 20 pro-vice-chancellors, lecture halls to hold 1000 disenchanted students and so on, must be a second-rate institution. The opposite is usually the case..."
    
    "It is accepted generally that mass education and quality are a contradiction in terms, especially in the tertiary field, and normally mass education and mediocrity appear to be natural bedfellows. Yet we see many educational practitioners arguing vehemently to the contrary, extolling the virtues of almost free mass tertiary education for all, with its lower standards and paying lip-service to excellence. Their motto seems to be equal opportunity for all to be mediocre rather than equal opportunity for all to strive for excellence..." [emphasis added]
    
    Harry Messel is emeritus professor of physics at the University of Sydney.
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

Wednesday 27 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Unis face returning $16m for empty seats (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Two WA universities could be forced to repay millions of dollars to the Federal Government after failing to attract enough students to fill Government subsidised places this year.
    
    "Official figures obtained by The West Australian reveal Edith Cowan and Murdoch universities will have to hand back up to $16 million between them unless Education Minister Julie Bishop uses her discretion to let them keep some of the money.

    "The Government gives universities a set amount for each subsidised student they enrol.

    "But under legislation which takes effect this year, the money has to be returned if enrolments fall short.

    "ECU faces paying back up to $14.5 million because it enrolled only 1278 students in 2006, 11 per cent short of its target. Though some universities in other States also failed to meet enrolment targets, ECU is likely to have the biggest shortfall.

    "Murdoch University fell 3 per cent, or 230 students, short of its targeted full-time student load, which equates to about $1.5 million in Government funding.

    "Deputy vice-chancellor (enterprise and international) Gary Martin said Murdoch was on target until last month when many students opted to switch to part-time study or take jobs in WA’s booming economy instead of continuing their studies.

    "The biggest shortfall was at its Rockingham campus in information technology courses.

    "The number of people wanting to attend university in WA plummeted nearly 8 per cent this year, mainly because of a drop in demand for places from mature applicants.

    "This is part of a nationwide trend which has seen demand for university places fall to its lowest level in decades..."

    "The University of WA said it met student targets and Curtin University said it was 150 students over."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link

    Similar stories in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age
    
    
    
    
  • Brethren schools to face IT probe (page 15)
    by Chris Johnson, Canberra
    
    "Exclusive Brethren schools in WA will be inspected by State Government authorities to determine if they are meeting the requirements of their accreditation after allegations students were not allowed to use computers or learn information technology..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Schools split on reports
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "A two-tiered school reporting system is destined for NSW following the State Government's backdown on compulsory A to E grading for all students.

    "The Premier, Morris Iemma, had endorsed mandatory A to E grades after declaring that he found his children's report cards confusing.

    "But his Minister for Education, Carmel Tebbutt, was yesterday forced to cave in to the demands of principals and teachers, who are opposed to the grades being imposed on all children.

    "Schools will now have a choice of using A to E grades or an equivalent five-band scale, which describes achievement levels as outstanding, high, sound, basic or limited.

    "All report cards will still be required to include a key which shows the A to E scale, alongside the descriptive scale..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    Editorial on this topic in today's Sydney Daily Telegraph
    
    
    

  • Unis told to pay back funding as enrolments fall
    by Harriet Alexander, Higher Education Reporter
    
    "One of Australia's top research universities may have to repay part of its funding to the Federal Government after falling short of its enrolment target, leading its vice-chancellor to attack the funding system.

    "The Australian National University's Ian Chubb said universities were unable to precisely determine their enrolment. "It all comes down to wet your finger, put it in the wind," Professor Chubb said.

    "The ANU expects to fall about 175 students short of its target this year, leading to an overpayment of about $1 million, according to Herald estimates based on the Government's published funding contributions.

    "The university plans to cut its entrance scores to as low as 75 for general degrees next year to bring in more students..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    Similar story in The Melbourne Age
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Military service is the answer to bad education

      "Harry Messel calls it like it is ("Beware universities' quest for mediocrity", September 26). Our high schools turn out undisciplined, sociopathic, functional illiterates who, instead of learning enough English to understand my words, dream only of earning enough money to buy a V8 "hoonmobile" to terrorise the community with loutish behaviour. Only one suggestion is missing from your commentary: compulsory, universal military service, which might instil respect for country and community."

      Brian King Bella Vista
      
      

    • "If you are to question the number of administrators in universities, should you not also wonder how a country of just 20 million can justify funding nearly 40 universities?"

      Adam Johnston Davidson
      
      

    • "Bravo, Harry Messel, for attacking mass mediocrity in education and also the nonsense dogma of "quality assurance". The latter has been inflicted on the health-care sector big time. Overstretched nurses, in particular, are weighed down with quality assurance paperwork of no proven value to patient care. There are only so many minutes in a nurse's shift. Each minute filling in complex forms is a minute lost by the patient."

      Dr Jim Wilkinson Eastwood
      
      

    • "As one who has been through Sydney University, I think I can agree with Harry Messel's suggestion that non-academic staff in universities be cut considerably. That would decrease costs and permit some increase in academic staff. In the process we could remove some non-subjects like women's and gender studies and concentrate on real subjects like geography and ancient Greek."

      David Morrison Springwood
      
      

    • "Harry Messel wonders whether we should fund a school system turning out "undisciplined, irresponsible, greedy, often near-illiterate, lawless individuals who don't give a tinker's curse for the country, their mates or anyone else". So that explains what has led to the policies of that mob in charge in Federal Parliament. The education system has made them the incredibly ruthless and uncaring bastards they are today. Funny that, and here I was thinking their religious beliefs were the problem."

      Maureen Dean Lane Cove
      
      

    • "Harry Messel is a brave man. To strive for excellence is elitist, the worst thing one can possibly be."

      Greta Recsei Warrawee

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

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Full-fee places at university benefit all
    Taxpayers should not be forced to fund educational advancement, writes John Roskam.
    
    "The debate about whether to allow students to pay for their place at university was reignited this week. On Monday it was revealed that some regional universities had unfilled vacancies, while other universities offering essentially the same course were charging students full fees. This provided the ammunition for critics of the Howard Government to attack on two fronts.

    "First, it was claimed that the finding that some universities had unwanted places was evidence that the level of HECS fees was driving students away.

    "Second, it was argued that the Government's policy on universities was "illogical" because some students were attending institutions that charged full fees when they could be undertaking similar courses at another institution and pay a fraction of the price. To some, including the Labor Party, this provides a further reason why universities should be forbidden from charging full fees.

    "On the first point, whether the level of HECS debt is discouraging potential applicants from tertiary study is unclear. A vacancy in a course might simply be the result of students deciding that better alternatives are available elsewhere.

    "In any case, it isn't necessarily a cause for concern that students might be deterred by the size of their future HECS debt. The average HECS liability carried by graduates is $10,000. This represents their own contribution to the costs of the education they received. Given that HECS debts are not required to be paid back until a taxpayer's annual income reaches $38,000, it is difficult to claim that the costs of education are a deterrent to students applying for university entry.

    "The contribution of taxpayers to the cost of tertiary students' education, via the Commonwealth Government's funding of universities, is about three times the amount that the students themselves are required to pay through HECS..."
    
    John Roskam is executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link

    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Editorial
    Teachers' attitude misses the marks
    
    "In the arcane and exclusive language they have devised for themselves, teachers take perverse pride in their nonchalant mastery of the terms of their trade.

    "With studied superiority, they bandy acronyms and other impenetrable code words – terms such as TESOL (which is in fact, teaching English to speakers of other languages) ELLA, read English language and literacy assessment, LOTE, languages other than English – for no discernible reason other than that they seem to like to talk in tongues.

    "For whatever reason, teachers seem innately incapable of speaking in plain English, preferring to use a dozen words when one would suffice.

    "So don't expect to hear a teacher use words such as "unsatisfactory", or "sub-standard" or – perish the thought – "failure" any time soon, and especially not in a school report.

    "And now we have yet another change in the way our children's performances at school are to be reported.

    "Having decided this year that school pupils would be graded from A to E according to their standards of achievement, the State Government – following sustained pressure from the Teachers' Federation – has now overturned that policy.

    "Now, schools will have "the option" of providing A to E grades, or ranking them in five categories; Outstanding, High, Sound, Basic and Limited. But note, of course, that students ranked even in the "limited" category are not considered to have "failed" anything; it's just that their understanding is – well – limited. That's helpful, isn't it?..."
    
    Full editorial in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link

    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Most Charter Schools Miss Test Benchmarks
    Performance Echoes Traditional System's
    by Theola Labbé and V. Dion Haynes
    
    [Note: US "charter schools" are supposedly the "cream of the crop", receive additional resources and are supposed to rival private schools.   Web]
    
    "Thirty of 34 charter school campuses, representing thousands of District students, failed to meet reading and math benchmarks on a new test, according to data released yesterday by the D.C. Public Charter School Board.

    "The poor results on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment mirror the performance of students in traditional D.C. public schools reported weeks ago. Of the 146 government-run schools, 118 failed to meet academic targets, up from 81 last year. The charter board knew the results for the schools it oversees at the time but declined to release them, saying it would take more time to verify scores and notify parents.
    
    "Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, students from the underperforming schools have the right to transfer to schools that meet benchmarks for yearly academic progress. But with the vast majority of charter and government-run public schools failing to meet the standards, and with long waiting lists at many charter schools, parents have fewer choices. The latest test results provide a fuller picture of the paucity of high-achieving schools in the District, despite the expansion of charter schools in the past 10 years as an alternative to the low-performing traditional system..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Higher Education Supplement, includes:
    
    
    • OECD test to compare students
      by Catherine Armitage, Higher education editor
      
      "Australian universities could face their sharpest challenge yet in the race for international students with a comparative test of undergraduate abilities.

      "The OECD's education committee meets next week to discuss the next steps in a "major program of reform" to enhance higher education quality. It is seeking ways to compare international student competencies in a development that experts say has more potential than anything in the past 30 years to transform Australian higher education practice.

      "At an Athens meeting in June, OECD education ministers including federal Education Minister Julie Bishop agreed that the drive for quality measurement in higher education should build on the experience of the Program For International Student Assessment, in which secondary students nearing the end of school take a two-hour test to gauge their knowledge..."
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      

    • Pay up, pay up and play the game
      British universities must charge full-cost fees, writes Simon Jenkins
      
      "This year, in British higher education, the tables are turned. The number of students is fewer than the number of places and universities are chasing students. This is despite the fact the 300,000 confirmed in their initial choice of courses is one of the highest on record. A further 90,000, mostly with below the requisite qualifications, will be allocated places through the clearing house system, education's answer to eBay. A decrease in the latter group is partly the result of a 17,000 drop in overall applications with the start of the pound stg. 3000 ($7500) top-up fee this year (balancing the surge last year)..."
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      
      
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Students analyse texts before learning to love them
      
      
      • "As a teacher of English and history for some 13 years, I welcome the debate on critical literacy. Whilst the advent of postmodern analysis has been in some ways beneficial to student skill acquisition, it has also created problems in our approaches to learning.

        "Firstly, while its exponents imply that critical literacy is values neutral, it is clearly an extension of a fairly tired, Left-liberal academic establishment that only seems capable of viewing the world through its own ideological prism. Consequently, most of what we study must be filtered through the usual themes of power, economy, gender and race. Such a limited template too often ignores other valid social components such as ritual, family, sport or religion. The latter has been highlighted recently as a fatal flaw in the Western secular mindset that is reducing our perspective of other cultures.

        "Secondly, critical deconstruction of texts and sources inhibits genuine empathy with past authors because we are placing our own narrow labels upon people who seldom viewed the world in such terms. The implied heroes/villains dichotomy of the academic Left - rich v poor, men v women, imperialists v oppressed - prevents a true understanding of what motivated people in their own times. We are sketching them in our own terminologies that are limited and selective. Like the peasants in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, raging against a bemused King Arthur for the violence inherent in the system, we are creating caricatures of real people. For students who tend to read a limited number of contemporary sources, critical literacy is high on jargon and low on depth of understanding.

        "Finally, critical literacy sterilises student interest by often compelling them to analyse texts before they have learned to love or appreciate them. Thus the learning cart is placed before the horse, often leading to a confusion of terms which afflict less able students and sometimes destroys the simple aesthetic of a piece of writing for its own sake. Our schooling teaches us to continually look for sub-plots, symbols and hidden agendas, but is it possible that sometimes we are trying too hard? Do some authors just aim to create something beautiful or authentic without trying to convey some meaningful code?

        "Critical literacy is often selective, unbalanced and hypocritical and a tool that serves the ideological agendas of its creators. These academics have themselves imposed a form of thinking-colonialism through our school curriculums, rather than fostering balanced, deep and independent thinkers."
        
        James Gilchrist, Fairfield, Vic
        
        

      • "Concerning C.J. Cooney’s attack on postmodernism and relativism (Letters, 26/9), this question must be asked: if there is only one objective truth, then what place is there for opinion? If there is only one truth, why is there this continuing argument about what is good for education, or this conflict over religion, or the argument over whether or not a photograph shows children thrown overboard by their parents? For all of us, whoever we are, the “intellectual pipsqueak and moral charlatan” is, of course, always the person who does not agree with us."
        
        John Woodrow, Belair, SA
        
        

      Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
      
      

• WACOT Media Release [For those who missed it: dated 29 August]
  
  

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF TEACHING: TEACHER STANDARDS The Western Australian College of Teaching has urged the community to back its 39,000 committed teachers working in Government, Catholic and Independent schools around the State. "The current debate and media coverage about research into literacy and numeracy tests carried out on teachers when they were 15 years old casts a slur on today's professional educators", Ms Janet Rodgers, Director of the Western Australian College of Teaching said today. "There are serious flaws, including a possible 36% error rate, in the reported research and extrapolations into data gathered from standardised literacy and numeracy test results of teachers carried out when they were in Year 9. "We have very fine teachers working in our schools who should not be judged on such a narrow basis that has such a wide error margin. "Every teacher working in our schools is registered and that means they have met College standards of professional training and practice" Ms Rodgers stated. "More importantly, it means they have a vocation to teach and are committed to upholding high standards of professional practice and conduct. "Their skills development goes far beyond university graduation, in fact teachers are excellent examples of the concept of 'lifelong learning' at work - their program of professional development means they are constantly expanding their skills and techniques and bringing new teaching experiences into the classroom" Ms Rodgers emphasised. Media Contact: Janet Rodgers Director Ph: 6467 8600 Mob: 0439 699 502

Thursday 28 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Schools face four day week: union (page 6)
    by Amanda Banks
    
    "WA schools could be forced to consider drastic measures such as closing one day a week to beat the looming teacher crisis, the State School Teachers Union has warned.

    "SSTU president Mike Keely estimated yesterday that WA was short at least 300 teachers and said the State faced a growing crisis as the profession aged and staff were lured overseas and interstate by better wages.

    "But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said the State Government had been proactive towards future needs and the ageing teaching profession was no different to the trend in the broader workforce.

    "Education Department acting human resources executive director Kim Ward said there were 13 teacher vacancies across the WA last Friday. The State has 33,000 teachers employed in 770 schools.

    "But Mr Keely said the figures were impossible to reconcile with regular reports from schools.

    “There are a lot of secondary schools which are one or two teachers short of their full complement — that is quite widespread,” Mr Keely said. “There are schools all over WA, public and private, which simply can’t get staff. (Staff) are teaching way above their workloads.

    “It has been coming for some years and now it is very clear.

    "If it continues like this, we will be in the situation the UK was a couple of years back when there were some schools that were reduced to a four-day week because they simply did not have the teachers to staff them.”

    "Mr Keely said it would cost $200 million to bring WA teachers’ pay into line with their NSW counterparts.

    "Mr Keely’s concerns follow claims that schools are struggling to find relief staff, which the union says is a signal of the looming teacher shortage.

    "Catholic Education Office director Run Dullard said all teaching positions at Catholic schools were filled."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • TAFE plan to bring in unskilled migrants (page 3)
    by Rhianna King, Canberra
    
    "Thousands of unskilled migrants could be brought to Australia to learn trades and training centres would be set up in countries such as China, Africa and India under a bold TAFE plan aimed at tackling the skills shortage..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    Similar story in today's Melbourne Age
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Feature
    The geography wars
    
    Geography teaching is the latest victim of educational reform, replaced by naive environmentalism, writes Justine Ferrari
    
    "As part of a geography assignment studying the effects of pollution on the environment, a group of primary schoolchildren from Brisbane headed off to photograph the damage to Moreton Bay. But when they arrived, the waters of the bay were relatively pristine and there was no pollution to be seen.

    "Undeterred, the children carefully set about creating their own polluted part of Moreton Bay, photographed it and just as carefully cleaned up the mess they had made.

    "Those kids knew what answer they were supposed to come up with," says geographer John Lidstone, associate professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. "And when kids know what answers they're supposed to reach, they stop thinking."

    "Students in geography classrooms across the nation are being asked to devise strategies to manage scarce water resources, for sustainable use of resources, to minimise the degradation of our coastline or environment from farming, mining or other human activities. Often, the answer is in the politicisation of the topic or with the data they are provided, and time pressure precludes them making their own investigations.

    "Geographers are concerned that missing in the examination of some of society's most intractable issues is fundamental teaching of the basic processes behind these problems: the rainfall cycle, the theory of longshore drift of sand along the coastline, the formation of physical landforms and resources..."
    
    

    * Geography teachers critical of merging the subject into the new-vogue "studies of society and environment" argue that it undermines the integrity of geography and does not serve the interests of social studies, either. * SOSE becomes a mish-mash and makes it harder for syllabus consistency between states. * The SOSE syllabus encourages state parochialism instead of encouraging understanding of global trends. * Underplaying physical geography robs children of interesting inquiry into how volcanoes, mountains, rivers and glaciers are formed. * Teachers lose confidence when teaching SOSE because they studied to specialise. * The mish-mash of SOSE is less likely to inspire enthusiasm in teachers, a key to passing on passion to students. * The argument is whether the focus should be on developing a disciplinary understanding or whether it should be an integrated studies approach based on contemporary issues. * Eventually, the rise of SOSE in schools will remove teaching expertise in geography. * Geography is fundamental to understanding the society in which we live and issues from water usage and environmental sustainability to population trends, migration and Australia's links with the world.

    "Adding to the pressure to integrate geography into one colossal course with history, economics, civics and citizenship and legal studies were timetabling pressures. School curriculums are overcrowded, forced to include an ever-expanding list of topics from sex education to vocational subjects. So teaching a little bit of geography, with a little bit of this and that, seemed a good compromise, as well as providing a way of trying to make the curriculum more relevant to students.

    "And so the phenomenon of what high school geography teacher Steve Cranby, a member of the Australian Academy of Science's national committee on geography, calls SOSE-ification of geography.

    "Only NSW stood alone, continuing to teach geography and history as separate, compulsory subjects in years 7 to 10. Victoria in recent years reintroduced an identifiable geography course, with a new one taught this year under its humanities umbrella..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Politics infiltrate school geography
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "School geography courses have become politicised, with educators pushing environmental and social messages that in some cases contain factual errors.

    "The geography course to be taught in years 11 and 12 in South Australia schools next year asserts that "water is a finite resource" - which some geographers yesterday described as "just plain wrong"...

    "The document requires students to study water as a resource, to examine the ways population and consumption affect the environment and consider issues of resource use and sustainability.

    "Students develop an understanding that water is a finite resource and that pressure on fresh-water supplies is increasing due to rising human population, consumption and demand."

    "But Queensland University of Technology associate professor John Lidstone said water was recycled on the earth and it was "just plain wrong" to describe it as a finite resource.

    "There's a water cycle. Water is neither created nor destroyed on the earth's surface," he said.

    "The amount of water we have today is more or less what we had 2000 years ago. There can be a shortage of the processing of water, often it's in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it's a problem of distribution rather than a shortage of water, and it's not about a finite resource."

    "A spokeswoman for the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia declined to comment on the proposed curriculum, saying it was a draft..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Kevin Donnelly: Geography has lost perspective
    Political correctness has hijacked another core school subject
    
    "Should geography centre on teaching students about the water cycle, topography and different types of land use? Or should the subject, as the creators of the Queensland curriculum believe, deal with sentiments such as "active participation and stewardship by applying the values of democratic process, social justice, ecological and economic sustainability and peace"?

    "That's right: geography, following the example of the critical literacy assault on English and the black-armband attack on history teaching, has been captured by the cultural Left and those committed to the much-maligned outcomes-based approach to curriculum.

    "Members of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the Australian Geography Teachers Association list the following complaints: a vague and superficial curriculum based on issues; geography, as a subject, disappearing into the blancmange represented by studies of society and the environment; and students leaving school without the basics in terms of essential knowledge and skills. [emphasis added]

    "Geography once existed as a discrete subject and focused on teaching students about the world's physical features. As a result of outcomes-based education, however, the subject disappears to be replaced by "place and space".

    "Given the resources boom in Western Australia and its effect on the economy, one might think the minerals, mining and related industries would be applauded. Not so, according the WA draft geography examination paper set earlier this year.

    "When asked to write about sustainable development, students are given the usual doomsday scenario of global warming, acid rain and pollution from an over-reliance on fossil fuels caused by the "powerful position of large companies that produce fossil fuels and motor vehicles".

    "The proposed West Australian years 11 and 12 course also espouses an Age of Aquarius sentiment.

    "Teaching geography, it argues, must focus on "the core value clusters of environmental responsibility, respect and concern for others, social and civic responsibility, self-acceptance and respect of self while also developing the skills for a pursuit of knowledge and a commitment to achievement of potential". [emphasis added[

    "Never mind the rigorous work of environmental sceptics such as Bjorn Lomborg. And never mind that companies such as Rio Tinto do so much to support isolated Aboriginal communities. One wonders when students will be taught how Australia's prosperity and wealth relies on our land-based primary industries.

    "The recently discarded Tasmanian Essential Learnings also adopts a politically correct approach to geography. Not only does the subject no longer exist - to be replaced by World Futures: Creating Sustainable Futures - but the emphasis is on acting at the local level to preserve biodiversity, conserve endangered species and investigate the effect of environmental change.

    "Not to be outdone, the South Australian "place, space and environment" strand goes one step further and suggests that middle school students in geography classes should be taught to be "critical of others, curriculum, school environments and society in general" and that they also should be involved in "decision-making, often challenging authority".

    "Of course, education should promote a certain amount of scepticism and students need to think independently. But the reality is the cultural Left's commitment to students being autonomous is simply code for imposing its politically correct view of the world on the classroom.

    "Since the release of the Keating government's national curriculum statements and profiles, as a general rule all state and territory documents force the curriculum to be interpreted through a rainbow alliance of perspectives including gender, multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and futures.

    "The New Wave geography textbooks produced by the Victorian Geography Teachers Association during the early 1990s provide some of the more extreme examples of bias. Members of the Australian Defence Force are described as "harm workers", students are asked to analyse the effect of a nuclear attack on Melbourne and transnational corporations such as BHP are condemned for contributing to global poverty and famine..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Australian at link

    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • It's killing the roots of our cultural inheritance
      

      "Well done for taking an unashamedly conservative stance on the education debate ("In defence of the true values of learning”, Inquirer, 23-24/9). There are, however, two points to be made if the debate is to be relevant to the majority of students.

      "First, the argument so far has been to do with what and how to teach the top 15 per cent of students (your future readers). Certainly, the classics are appropriate for those who can understand and appreciate them, but for the large majority of students reading and comprehending extended texts with challenging language and themes is, for whatever reason, impossible. Many of these students will never read The Australian, or any other newspaper, to be better informed. I suspect this has always been the case, but, traditionally, non-academic students left school at 15 or 16 to become tradespeople. The legislated raising of the school-leaving age forces teachers to adapt curricula to the increased proportion of non-academic students. Not to recognise student preferences and limitations leads to a disruptive learning environment.

      "Second, the reasons for teaching critical thinking are practical, not ideological. If English was simply about traditional texts, you would have a sound argument for your back-to-basics approach. However, a sound modern, relevant, education requires students to be literate with advertising, a range of television genres, contracts and, most recently, internet research. Exposure to the plethora of marketing, propaganda and unregulated electronic media make critical thinking essential, particularly for young people, who, as a consumer group, have access to more products – and more money – than any previous generation.

      "The concept can, of course, be taken to ridiculous extremes, such as asking teenagers to interpret texts through various “ism” prisms. Such assessments are more suitable for assessing a grasp of the “ism” or for creative writing than for the given text.

      "The works of the great authors bind our language and provide deep cultural reference points, but the inevitable result of a modern, education is that those texts are effectively crowded out of the curriculum. This will kill the roots of our cultural heritage, but I suspect the current generation of students don’t and won’t care."
      
      Jason Joyner, Geraldton, WA
      
      

    • "I'm sad to see the decline in geography education ("Geography loses half its students”, 26/9).

      "Over the years, I have run several organisations that required social scientists, and whenever geographers applied, they fared well. This is not because they had any special knowledge of the substantive field in which they were to work, but because geography graduates were literate and numerate, they could understand the way in which our society is spatially organised, and there was also an understanding of people and place. They were always able to examine how people and place fitted together and, as a result, contributed enormously to policy development and analysis."
      
      Adam Graycar, Adelaide, SA
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teachers 'in fear of scrutiny'
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "The Federal Minister for Education, Julie Bishop, has accused the NSW teachers' union of campaigning against new school reports to avoid scrutiny of their performance.

    "The NSW Teachers Federation is against the mandatory grading of children from A to E on the basis that it could unfairly label many as failures. But Ms Bishop yesterday said teachers were using this argument to hide a broader agenda of protecting their interests.

    "It is almost beyond belief that the Teachers Federation wants to withhold information from parents about the performance of their children at school," she said.

    "Public school teacher Noreen Navin, who is one of 300 state councillors on the Teachers Federation executive, has posted an online report accusing the Federal Government of hijacking the student report issue.

    "It blackmailed the states into adhering to its ideologically driven agenda of labelling students as either failures or successes in tandem with the resurrection of performance pay for teachers based on student achievement," she said..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Commercial imperative comes first at university
      
      "Harry Messel's comment piece on the decline in the quality of tertiary education ("Beware universities' quest for mediocrity", September 26) most definitely struck a chord with me. I have drawn similar conclusions after looking back on my experiences as a student in higher education.

      "I began my bachelor degree in 1994, about the time when the number of tertiary places was beginning to grow rapidly. When I started the course, students needed to be in the top 10 per cent of school leavers to be accepted. By the time I graduated in 1997, the number of places had expanded so much that the cut-off point had dropped to the 25th percentile. This represents a significant difference in academic ability.

      "In 2001, I began a master's degree on a part-time basis at one of Sydney's leading business universities. I naively expected that a higher-degree course would be an extension of my bachelor degree but it was, for the most part, an overlapping facsimile that, if anything, was easier than my previous studies. Furthermore, it was evident from being involved in the never-ending and, I'm sure, cost-effective, group assignment work that many of my fellow students were inadequately equipped in language and other skills to be enrolled in the course.

      "It was clear that commercial factors were at work and that student, or rather customer, satisfaction was paramount. Much like any other large service organisation, the university was intent on retaining customers and its focus had shifted from academic excellence to a "bums-on-seats" mentality.

      "I sympathise with dedicated educators such as Professor Messel being forced to compromise their standards, but I feel even more sorry for students who are paying tens of thousands of dollars to be awarded second-rate qualifications. A degree really has become just a piece of paper."

      Scott Nichols, Pyrmont
      
      

    • Everything from A to E for new reports
      
      "What's that maxim - "You have to be cruel to be kind"? School is preparation for the big, hard world and no-frills honesty, such as grading from A to E, will serve students far better than clouding their results with words such as "sound", "basic" or "limited" ("Schools split on reports revamp", September 27).

      "It would seem the Primary Principals Association has a limited understanding of the real world."

      Wendy Crew, Lane Cove
      
      

    • "There is only one thing more important than a sound education for children and that is their self-esteem. If a child is slow because of severe dyslexia or for any other reason, the last thing needed is a belittling mark."

      Yvonne Jones, Pennant Hills
      
      

    • "Perhaps the federal Education Minister would gain more acceptance for a national grading system if she chose one that better represented Australian values. Instead of A to E, it could be something like Beaut! Pretty good! Not too bad! So-so! and Bloody awful! "

      Richard Slade Quakers Hill
      

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

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Sweeping TAFE plan tackles skills drought
    by Tim Colebatch, Canberra
    
    "Australia's TAFE institutes have proposed sweeping reforms to attract more people into trades, including specialist technical colleges for year 11 and 12 students, and a new trade diploma offering skills training to people of all ages without apprenticeships.

    "In a 10-point submission delivered yesterday to the Federal Government, TAFE Directors Australia warned that student numbers had fallen by 67,000 in the past five years, while business suffered from serious skills shortages.

    "The submission points out that Federal and State Governments have cut funding of the sector that they expect to produce skilled workers. It urges a fresh start, with a wide range of reforms to offer new and better pathways to skills training for all ages.

    "They include:

    • Reintroducing specialist technical schools, this time as colleges at Year 11 and 12, and linking them to TAFEs as a pathway to skills certificates.
    • Creating a new pathway for adults and others unable to get apprenticeships, through trade diplomas comprising initial full-time training at TAFE, followed by on-the-job training.
    • Allowing foreigners to come here as TAFE students, gain skills qualifications and ultimately residency, just as they can now do through universities.
    • Increasing financial incentives for students to become apprentices, and for firms to train them.
    • Allowing TAFEs to negotiate joint ventures with private firms, allowing them to be self-governing and to retain their earnings..."

    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Reducing our universities to degree factories
      "John Roskam ("Full-fee places at university benefit all", Opinion, 27/9) refers several times to universities being "stopped" or "forbidden" from charging full fees — which creates the impression that it was universities that spearheaded the move to introduce them in the first place, and now it is the ideologically driven left (mainly the ALP) that wants to take this hard-won freedom away. The truth, of course, is the exact opposite: it was the Howard Government that forced universities to introduce full-fee-paying students by progressively stripping them of Government funding.

      "Roskam also states that "graduates gain the opportunity to earn substantially higher incomes than those without tertiary qualifications". But while doctors and lawyers no doubt can earn very good salaries, your average plumber would earn significantly more than your average arts graduate.

      "However, the main point that Roskam either misses or deliberately fails to mention is that allowing students who don't make the grade to buy their way into university placements has driven standards down. Relying on these full-fee-paying students to make ends meet puts enormous pressure on universities to pass these students regardless of performance. Most academics would agree that standards have fallen significantly over the past decade or so.

      "By arguing that taxpayers should not fund educational advancement, Roskam is merely mouthing the Government's ideologically driven line on full-fee placements."

      Paul Tyndale-Biscoe, Flemington
      
      

    • Disturbing assumptions
      "John Roskam offers some reassuringly staid arguments in favour of full-fee university places — but he also offers some disturbing assumptions about incomes and education. Yes, the exact ratio of rapidly increasing HECS debt to potential students forgoing education is unknown, but it could be estimated and is unlikely to be negligible.

      "But not to worry — the average HECS debt of $10,000 and rising is but a "token financial sacrifice", so discouragement is unlikely. I am unsure for which teenager a $10,000 debt is token, but it's not for any I know. That it does not cover the full cost of education does not make $10,000 any less of a burden to repay.

      "Roskam's final argument is that full-fee places should be there for those who choose to make the investment in their future. Ah, freedom to choose. The choice of making a $200,000 investment in a degree could only be made by the wealthy, which is fundamentally inequitable for the rest of our children."

      Kym Whiteoak, South Melbourne
      
      

    • Bad medicine
      "John Roskam rightly points out that some medical degrees cost in excess of $200,000. This cost is prohibitive for most students, with the FEE-HELP loans of $100,000 falling well under the mark. The fact is that our bright and capable students are being turned away from studying medicine because of their lack of access to financial capital or commercial loans. Those few students who choose to take on enormous debts in order to fulfil their dream of entering medicine suffer serious financial hardship during their studies and after graduation.

      "A recent New Zealand study of medical students and graduates showed that debt serves as a disincentive for graduates to enter areas of workforce shortage, such as rural and outer-metropolitan areas. At a time when Australia is experiencing a serious shortage of doctors in these areas, why would this country want to entrench this further?

      "The rationale for abolishing full-fee medical places does not represent an idealistic position designed to punish the rich; we are simply acknowledging the negative impact of debt on the future health-care landscape of Australia."

      Teresa Cosgriff, president, Australian Medical Students Association

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Melbourne Age at link

 

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Schools poor at teaching citizenship, says Ofsted
    by James Meikle, education correspondent
    
    "Schools are failing to ensure their pupils are politically and socially literate despite the government's determination to make citizenship lessons a key weapon in the fight against extremism, the education watchdog Ofsted warns today.

    "Progress is slow in helping pupils understand issues such as legal and human rights, central and local government, the electoral system and diversity, it says.

    "The subject has been compulsory in secondary schools in England since 2002 but only a minority of schools have embraced the subject with enthusiasm, while a quarter of schools inspected in the past year were judged "inadequate" for the quality of their lessons in citizenship..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    Related story in The Independent: "Teach pupils to challenge authority"
    
    Related editorial in The Independent: "Citizenship and criticism do mix"
    
    
    

  • Johnson to scrap GCSE maths coursework
    by Hélène Mulholland
    
    "The education secretary, Alan Johnson, today announced plans to scrap GCSE coursework in maths and introduce supervision in other subjects in a bid to curb cheating.

    "In his address to the Labour party conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson admitted that the government had been forced to revise pupil coursework in light of modern technology, which saw students seeking to gain an unfair advantage by lifting material from the internet.

    "We will remove all GCSE coursework from maths and, in other subjects, coursework will be supervised," said the minister widely tipped to stand for the deputy or possible leadership post of the Labour party.

    "We have one of the most rigorous exam systems in the world - we can not have it devalued and undermined by the few who cheat by copying from the internet."..
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

• The Canberra Times
  
  
  • Save Our Schools says poor hit hardest
    by Megan Doherty
    
    "Save Our Schools Canberra says it has unearthed new information which proves the Stanhope Government's school-closure plan will hit more low-income families than those who are well-off.

    "In another salvo against the controversial proposal to close 39 schools and partially close others, SOS Canberra said the Education Department's own data showed some of the most socially and economically disadvantaged schools in the ACT were on the hit list..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Times at link

    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • New world at their fingertips
    by Bruce McDougall
    
    "Public school experts in NSW are at the forefront of an international revolution overhauling the Braille system – one of the biggest changes in almost 100 years.

    "Sydney specialists are leading the world in developing a plan to unify the English Braille code into a single system available to all countries..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    

 

Friday 29 September

• ABC News Online
  
  
  • WA Govt's approval rating rises

    "A government-commissioned survey has revealed a small jump in the number of people who think the Western Australia Government is performing well.

    "The survey shows that 41 per cent of the community thinks the Government is doing a good job overall - 6 per cent more than earlier in the year.

    "The jump is across both the metropolitan and regional areas, but women are less impressed with the Government than men.

    "The general opinion of its performance on health has also improved since earlier in the year.

    "Almost 60 per cent of people now consider the Government is doing a good job in the sector.

    "However, the majority of people believe there is a problem with mental health services, emergency departments, elective surgery waiting lists, and staffing levels. [Not education:    Web]

    "Roughly half of the community thinks the Government's performance on controlling the use of drugs is poor or very poor.

    "Overall 85 per cent of the people surveyed consider the outlook for Western Australia to be positive."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    

    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • More Clout Sought for Social Studies in U.S. Law
    by Ian Shapira
    
    "RICHMOND [Virginia] -- With unprecedented requirements for annual testing in reading and math, a 2002 federal law put a premium on student achievement in those subjects. But some Virginia educators contend that No Child Left Behind has left a vital field behind: social studies.

    "This week, the Virginia Consortium of Social Studies Specialists and College Educators launched a campaign here to get its educational niche a more prominent place in the law as Congress begins to consider revisions in the coming year. The group aims to include social studies test scores in federal formulas used to rate schools.
    
    "As the law now stands, the group said Tuesday, subjects such as history, government and geography sometimes get short shrift while schools increase time spent on reading and math.

    "[We] feel that it's time to speak out to emphasize the role that social studies plays in the education of the total student," said Terry LaRocco, a social studies curriculum coordinator for a Roanoke Valley school system who is president of the consortium. "Our society is neglecting skills and content that teach students about how they have been shaped by their past and their social environment, and how their history and society will impact their future."...
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

  • Scores Improve Across State In English Test's Second Year
    by Lori Aratani
    
    "The number of Maryland high school students passing a statewide reading and writing exam rose in 2006, and educators say they expect the trend to continue in coming years as the test becomes required for graduation.

    "Across the state, 60.1 percent of students passed the English 2 exam, up from 57.3 percent in 2005. This is the second year the exam, which tests 10th-grade English skills, has been given..." [But still only 60 per cent passed!    Web]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

• USA Today
  
  
  • Baltimore experiment curbs dropout rate
    by Greg Toppo
    
    "... The school, better known as Baltimore Talent Development High School, is on the cutting edge of a decade-long experiment to stem the nation's dropout crisis. In a city where an estimated four in 10 students graduate, principal Jeffrey Robinson counts just half a dozen students who have dropped out in the school's first two years..."
    
    "Dropout rates are alarmingly high in the nation's urban schools. A recent study sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation concluded that half of students in many cities don't graduate on time.

    "The problem is especially acute in a few cities, such as Baltimore, New York and Detroit, the study found. Detroit's dropout rate is the nation's worst. Baltimore is nearly as bad: only 39% graduate within four years. The city disputes the figure, saying it's closer to 60%..."
    
    Full story in USA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Research shows benefits of Montessori education
    by Staff and agencies
    
    "A method of schooling that focuses on personal development rather than exams produces more mature, creative and socially adept children, scientists have found.

    "Psychologists in the US found that across a range of abilities, children at Montessori schools out-performed those given a traditional education.

    "Five-year-old Montessori pupils were better prepared for reading and maths, and 12-year-olds wrote "significantly more creative" essays using more sophisticated sentence structures.

    "Some of the biggest differences were seen in social skills and behaviour..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link

    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • School repairs to cost $268m [lead story]
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "Victoria's state schools have accumulated a $268 million maintenance bill, with 14 schools needing repairs worth more than $1 million..."
    
    "The 2005-06 audit was conducted for the Education Department. The audit documents, obtained by The Age, also reveal more than 90 schools had a repair bill of more than $500,000..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Students are being taught to be sceptical of everything
      

      "There has been some very heated discussion in these pages, and elsewhere, on the state of our education system. I have been mystified as to why those who so ardently support the watering down of English, science, maths, history and now geography curriculums cannot see what they are doing.

      "I have even wondered whether there is some conspiracy to destroy our culture via a “dumbing down” of education. I have considered this notion as possible but improbable and have searched for another explanation.

      "I contend that those who so vigorously support the various outcomes-based curricula do not know any better. They themselves are products of a politically correct education system and are, effectively, uneducated. They have been politicised, propagandised and brainwashed into believing that they are superior thinkers via an education system with no standards and no benchmarks other than a suite of politically correct “positions”. There is no real intellectual scepticism, only scepticism of everything that doesn’t fit the preconceived “position”. [emphasis added]

      "There are now a very large number of graduates who are convinced that they know the “truth” about a large number of subjects. Sadly, they have been taught what to think, not how to think. This generation is now teaching the next generation the same error and are absolutely convinced of its merit. They have no idea what they are doing. We are about to lose our understanding of what constitutes genuine education and have it replaced with a psuedo-intellectual cultism based upon myths and colourful opinions."
      
      Chris Squelch, Beaudesert, Qld
      
      

    • "Enough! Our children have been short-changed (though they wouldn’t know by how much, unless they used a calculator) in just about every aspect of their education.
      
      "When I was a secondary school student in the mid-to-late 1960s, committed and dedicated teachers gave me a love for literature, history and geography that still fuels my interest. I’ve no doubt there are many equally committed and dedicated teachers today. How are they able to effectively practise their craft with what they are given to teach?

      "The times are a changin’, but surely it is time for a good, hard, long look at what we offer our future adults and give them a solid foundation for life-long learning."
      
      Hilary Scarce, Geebung, Qld
      
      

    • "So the Victorian New Wave geography textbooks produced by the Victorian Geography Teachers Association consider members of the ADF to be “harm workers” ("Geography has lost perspective”, Opinion 28/9). George Orwell was right when he said that “men can only be highly civilised while other men, inevitably less civilised, are there to guard and feed them”.
      
      Anand Menon, Neutral Bay, NSW
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Comments count most

      "Senator Julie Bishop is mistaken in stating that teachers are trying to escape accountability by resisting A-E in student reports ("Teachers 'in fear of scrutiny' ", September 28).

      "In my many years of teaching, I have found that the parts of student reports that parents most value and understand are the teacher's comments. An A-E marking can have a complexity of meanings. Teachers' comments are the clarifier and the accountability mechanism. The most valuable feedback I receive from parents is the comment "You certainly know my child". A-E doesn't meet that criteria."

      S. Napthali, Roseville
      
      

    • "Self-esteem doesn't have to be damaged by "belittling marks", Yvonne Jones (Letters, September 28). There are ways around the awful truth. My lift from last in the class to slightly above the bottom got me a wonderful certificate from the teacher at the end of year 5. It said "Most improved student".

      Barrie Smillie, Duffy (ACT)
      
      

    • "I hope I never read one of my grandchildren's public school report cards and find the words "basic" or "limited" on it. Whatever my grandchildren might be, they will never be basic or limited. They are like 99.9 per cent of other children in schools: trying hard at whatever they do, unless they get the stuffing knocked out of them at an early age.

      "How dare government dictate to professional people what to write on a report card. It would be better off trying to improve the conditions under which my grandchildren are learning. That's why I pay my taxes.

      "Basic" and "limited" would be more constructively used to describe the buildings and resources in most public schools. Never the children."

      Valerie Little, Tathra
      
      

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

Saturday – Sunday, 30 September – 1 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Our hunt for teachers turns to NZ and Britain (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Just days after denying there was a teacher shortage in WA, it has emerged that the State Government was planning to recruit teachers from Britain and New Zealand.
    
    "The Education Department confirmed yesterday that it would attend Immigration Department expos in London, Manchester and Dublin next month. It is the first time the department has targeted teachers at overseas expos..."
    
    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said the strategy was a tacit admission the State was facing a serious teacher shortage..."
    
    "Earlier this week, State School Teachers Union president Mike Keely estimated that WA was short at least 300 teachers and that the State faced a growing crisis as the profession aged and staff were lured overseas and interstate by better wages..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Principal took school from rock bottom (page 11)
    by Susan Hewitt
    
    "Retiring Balga Senior High School principal Merv Hammond has been recognised as a Principal of the Year and credited with opening up education for hundreds of students.
    
    "But along the way he has stirred up controversy and been accused of depriving disadvantaged kids and encouraging them to have sex.

    "Under Mr Hammond’s 12-year tenure, the school has changed from a traditional educational program to vocational studies only, opened the first on-site day-care centre for teenage mothers and introduced football and netball scholarship programs for Aboriginal students.

    “I’ve been accused of offering free sex on school grounds, that took up a lot of talk-back time,” he said of the day-care centre. “But it has always solely been an education service.

    “It doesn’t worry me, you just shake your head and keep on doing what you know is right.”

    "When Mr Hammond arrived at Balga, student behaviour and the school’s reputation were so bad he knew change had to be dramatic. Physics and chemistry classes had four or five students while other classes had 35, the students were out of control and the teachers could not cope.

    “Everyone wanted to change the behaviour because it was so bad, that’s one of the things about hitting rock bottom,” he said. “There had to be a catalyst to make things happen.”
    
    "He cancelled TEE courses and switched to vocational programs. Years 11 and 12 students spend two or three days a week at school and the rest in a job. “We got lots of flak for that with people saying we were not allowing our kids to go to university,” he said. “So we designed an alternative entry course to sit alongside the vocational ones and now we have more kids going to university than we ever did.” ...

    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Montessori method gives students a better chance to excel: US study (page 11)
    
    Based on international wire services story: See yesterday's Guardian for more
    
    
    
    
  • Concern over decline in uni demand (page 53)
    by Anne Buggins
    
    "Falling demand for university places is a major concern because it can lead to lower entrance requirements and the devaluation of tertiary degrees, according to the National Union of Students.
    
    "One of our major concerns is that some universities are dropping their entry requirements to allow people who have got TERs of less than 50 to enter university," WA NUS president Ricki Hendon said on Wednesday.
    
    “Students really feel that brings down the perceived quality of their degree. If anybody can rock up and get one because the university is so desperate to fill their quotas, it reflects poorly.”
    
    "She said that Edith Cowan University, which lowered its TER to 55 in July, was one of several universities which had lowered its entrance requirements in recent times.
    
    "Her comments came after revelations by The West Australian that Edith Cowan and Murdoch universities had failed to fill their target number of full-time student places for the year. ECU’s enrolments fell short by 11 per cent, or 1278 students, and Murdoch’s shortfall was 3 per cent, or 230 places. This means ECU may be asked to repay the Federal Government up to $14.5 million under new legislation on government-subsidised places. Murdoch may be asked to repay $1.5 million.
    
    "Ms Hendon said the main reason for falling demand for places was a 25 per cent increase in HECS fees two years ago. If students were already struggling financially, leaving university to take up a job in WA’s booming economy would gain more appeal.
    
    "ECU would not comment because its vice-chancellor was overseas.
    
    "Murdoch University deputy vice-chancellor (enterprise and international) Gary Martin said the shortfall of only 230 students was not particularly significant and would not lessen the university’s attraction to prospective students.
    
    "It had been caused by some full-time students electing to study part-time. Overall student numbers at Murdoch had in fact increased by 5 per cent this year, from 9337 to 9799.
    
    "Professor Martin said it seemed many mature-age students were now working full time, possibly in the mining and building industries, and continuing to study part-time.
    
    “I would not knock the part-time mode at all, in fact we are delighted the students are continuing their study while working,“ he said."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    See earlier related stories in The West Australian and The Australian on Wednesday, 27 September
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Gifts keep kids in school (page 21)
    by Nicole Cox
    
    "Teachers in WA's Mid-West are giving students canteen vouchers and taking them on trips to the local swimming pool to cut truancy and youth crime.
    
    "Meekatharra District High School deputy principal Rebecca Smyth said the school had been forced to target habitual truants – some as young as six – with incentives to get them back to their school desks..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times
    
    
    
    
• The Canberra Sunday Times
  
  
  • Muslims expose uni racial taunts
    by Robyn Powell
    
    "Female Muslims dressed in traditional hijab say they are being subjected to racial taunts and verbal abuse by fellow university students.

    "University of Canberra Muslim Student Association president Ahsan Tehsin said many of the 40 student members of the association had experienced some form of discrimination..."
    
    Full story in The Canberra Sunday Times at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Web offers cheats tailor-made assignments
    by Adam Morton and Elisabeth Tarica
    
    "A new wave of websites selling made-to-order university assignments for the Australian market is making cheating harder to detect and could devalue degrees, academics warn.

    "The sites pledge to answer culturally specific essay questions for Australian students using local writers, challenging the power of universities to stop cheating with anti-plagiarism computer software. Sites such as masterpapers.com claim to provide ghost-written undergraduate essays overnight for $32 a page and PhD theses - up to 100,000 words - in five days at $40 a page.

    "In a sign of the global nature of the problem, British research has found that Australian students are cheating on computing assignments, using an American website designed for small businesses to put software programming out to tender.

    "University of Central England academics Robert Clarke and Thomas Lancaster yesterday told The Age that they had found Australian students "contract cheating" in information technology, humanities and health subjects.

    "Despite 30 Australian universities using anti-plagiarism software turnitin.com to try to catch students who copy from the internet, academics said the reach of the sites was impossible to measure..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    See related story from CNN below
    
    
    

• CNN
  
  
  • U.S. homework outsourced as 'e-tutoring' grows
    
    "BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour -- in India.

    "It's made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before," said Robison, a single mother from Modesto.

    "Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 "e-tutors," mostly in India, with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.

    "Taylor took two-hour sessions each day for five days a week in math and English -- a cost that tallies to $2.50 an hour, a fraction of the $40 an hour charged by U.S.-based online tutors such as market leader Tutor.com that draw on North American teachers, or the usual $100 an hour for face-to-face sessions..."
    
    Full story at CNN at link
    
    
    

  • Study: Students struggling to finish homework
    
    "WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Even though they get help from their parents, teachers and the Internet, middle school students struggle daily to finish their homework, according to a study released Friday by the National Education Association..."
    
    "In the study of 500 parents and 200 middle school children, half of the students said they have been unable to finish homework because an assignment was too difficult or they could not find anyone to help.

    "Four in 10 of the parents surveyed said their children have too much homework to finish in one night, and a quarter said they could not help students because the work was too hard..."
    
    Full story at CNN at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • More Poor Results For Charter Schools; Janey to Intervene
    by V. Dion Haynes
    
    "... Data released yesterday showed generally dismal results for charter school students. Only the Kamit Institute for Magnificent Achievers Public Charter School in Northwest Washington made adequate yearly progress in reading and math on the April assessment. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Northwest made adequate progress in reading. The 11 other campuses overseen by the school board made adequate progress in neither subject.
    
    "The results are similar to scores posted recently by the traditional public school system and schools under the second chartering agency, a shortfall some school officials attribute in part to a new, more rigorous exam. In the traditional system, 118 of 146 schools failed to make adequate progress, as did 30 of 34 campuses overseen by the D.C. Public Charter School Board..."
    
    [US "Charter Schools" are publicly funded but managed independently.   Web]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The New York Times
  
  
  • In Many Public Schools, the Paddle Is No Relic
    by Rick Lyman
    
    "EVERMAN, Tex. — Anthony Price does not mince words when talking about corporal punishment — which he refers to as taking pops — a practice he recently reinstated at the suburban Fort Worth middle school where he is principal.
    
    “I’m a big fan,” Mr. Price said. “I know it can be abused. But if used properly, along with other punishments, a few pops can help turn a school around. It’s had a huge effect here.”...
    
    "Over most of the country and in all but a few major metropolitan areas, corporal punishment has been on a gradual but steady decline since the 1970’s, and 28 states have banned it. But the practice remains alive, particularly in rural parts of the South and the lower Midwest, where it is not only legal, but also widely practiced..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Nelson leans on uni over 'Left bias'
    by Dorothy Illing, Higher education writer
    
    "An extraordinary intervention by a senior federal minister has forced Sydney's Macquarie University to publicly defend the academic freedom of its staff.

    "Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has written to Macquarie vice-chancellor Steven Schwartz after one of his constituents complained of "left-wing" bias in a history subject.

    "A spokesman for Dr Nelson said yesterday that the Defence Minister was just passing on a complaint from a constituent.

    "But in a copy of the letter, obtained by The Weekend Australian, Dr Nelson has penned a note at the bottom of the letter that says: "I am very concerned about this and would appreciate your personal attention to these issues which I find disturbing."

    "The move comes after another senior minister, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, recently warned a South Australian academic that his research could breach new terrorism laws.

    "The situation is awkward for Julie Bishop, who, since succeeding Dr Nelson as Education Minister in January, has been outspoken about her desire to ease government intervention in universities.

    "In a veiled swipe at her colleague, Ms Bishop told The Weekend Australian yesterday: "It is not feasible for university courses to be designed to match the personal biases of individual students.

    "Students should argue all course content and argue alternative points of view." ...
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    

  • Ex-school head jailed for abuse
    by Verity Edwards
    
    "A former Catholic school principal will probably die in jail after receiving a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing five of his students..."
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Heat competes with light in education debate
      
      "In our democratic society, The Australian‘s campaign to scrutinise our education system is right and proper, especially since teachers themselves are the loudest advocates of critical thinking.

      "However the pace, tone and severity of this criticism has now intensified to the point where it is generating more heat than light. An egregious example is typified by Chris Squelch (Letters, 29/9), who believes that the current generation of teachers and students are effectively uneducated.

      "We are all entitled to our opinion, but the evidence of Australia’s recent performance in OECD literacy and numeracy rankings, and the superb performance of the economy generally, does not support the view that we have raised a generation who have no idea what they are doing.

      "As public confidence in education wanes under the relentless drumbeat of such hyperbole, Australian education policy is fast becoming the plaything of populism. This year alone, curricula have been overturned in Western Australia and Tasmania, not in response to evidence-based research and formal policy review, as is proper, but in reaction to hysteria whipped up by strident voices prevailing in the nation’s press.

      "By all means, bring on education reform. But for the sake of our children, let it be guided by evidence and reason, not wild and unsubstantiated claims."
      
      Mercurius Goldstein, Ashfield, NSW
      
      

    • "David Freesmith ("Critics have loaded agenda”, Inquirer, 23-24/9) objects to the traditional curriculum and pedagogy for the teaching of literature on the grounds that it promotes “conservative” and “Eurocentric” ideologies. But he seems not to realise that this is exactly what we should be doing, for Eurocentric is exactly what we are.

      "The whole of our cultural heritage in Australia, apart from Aboriginal culture and apart from more recent influences from Asia and elsewhere which have not yet penetrated our consciousness to any substantial extent, is suffused, informed and created by the images, meanings and values of the twin strands of Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman civilisation and history.

      "The last 2800 years, from Sophocles to Freud, from Homer to James Joyce and beyond, have seen a constant retelling, reshaping and reinterpreting of these images, and it is this that keeps a culture and a civilisation alive. These stories are our Dreaming; they constitute our identity, and as they are passed from one generation to the next, they tell us who we are and how we relate to the world. We wouldn’t expect others to give up their culture and we must not give up our own, for if we do, we will find ourselves, as I fear may be already happening, adrift in a void of meaninglessness."
      
      Arthur McDevitt, West Brunswick, Vic
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • History in a class of its own
    [yet another long teaching history Op Ed]
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Tell children the truth and you can't fail

      "Valerie Little (Letters, September 29), what did your report card say back when you went to school? Did it have a mark out of 100? A pass or fail? I have two children at high school. They don't "fail" anything, and you know what? I wish they were told in more detail where they stand. I'm very tired of all the "princesses" and "princes" not being able to handle the truth."

      Kate Andersen, Springwood
      
      

    • "Wendy Crew (Letters, September 28) stated that we must be cruel to be kind to prepare for the big, hard world, but it is children we are talking about. To belittle them after they have tried their hardest is not appropriate. All children need encouragement as they are growing up for them to continue to do their best.

      "Simply placing a D or an E does nothing. However, to be told you are doing well in this area but could improve in that area is much better for clarifying the child's needs and for the character building to prepare for the future."

      Sue Harris, Goulburn
      
      

    • "When my children were at school from the early 1980s, the reports were based on the A-E system with comments not unlike those recommended at present. There was never any debate and parents seemed happy. The truth is everyone knew who was performing well in the classroom, just as everyone knew who was the fastest on the athletics track or in the swimming pool."

      Robyn Lewis, Raglan
      
      

    • "My pay slip from the NSW Department of Education and Training this week says that the department "has launched it's statement of business ethnics…". Two spelling mistakes in half a sentence. Could this be why the NSW Government continues to resist the national standardisation of school grades?"

      Jack Clegg, Balmain
      
      

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

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Primary students lose $8m in funds
    by Xanthe Kleinig
    
    "Primary schools are underfunded by $8 million every year in South Australia – enough to put a counsellor in every school – according to the Australian Primary Principals Association.

    "The association has written to state and federal Education Ministers to complain government primary schools are being short-changed.

    "Under the Federal Government's formula, primary schools receive less funding than high schools. No differentiation is made between primary and high school students for independent schools.

    "It's just plain unfair given there's no difference in funding in the private sector," Australian Primary Principals Association president Leonie Trimper said.."
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    

    
    
• The Telegraph
  
  
  • Electronic book opens new chapter for readers
    by David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor
    
    "It's been described as the gadget that will do for reading what the iPod did for listening to music.

    "This week sees the American launch of the Sony Reader, a device capable of storing hundreds of books in electronic form and displaying them with the same clarity as real ink and paper.

    "Unlike previous attempts at creating "e-books", the Reader's screen has no flicker and no back light, allowing bibliophiles to read for hours at a time without eyestrain.

    "Its electronic paper and ink also require little power, so battery life should not be a problem.

    "To accompany the launch of the Reader, Sony has created an online book store selling 10,000 electronic books from six leading publishers..."
    
    Full story in The Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Kids' drug tips anger
    by Matt Cunningham
    
    "A State Government website for schoolies offers advice on how to take illicit drugs "safely".
    
    "The website, which the Herald Sun has chosen not to name, lists 15 drug-taking tips under its "safe partying" link.

    "Schoolies taking drugs are advised to sip water and wear light clothing to avoid overheating and dehydration.

    "The website also advises them to "take a small amount first to see how it affects you", and "tell someone else what you are taking in case you become sick or unconscious"...
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link

All Alston cartoons are © The West Australian Newspaper
All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers

This page last updated 29 May, 2008 9:34 PM