Monday 16 October 2006

Tuesday 17 October

Wednesday 18 October

Thursday 19 October

Friday 20 October

Saturday – Sunday, 21 – 22 October

 

Monday 16 October

• ABC News
  
  
  • Minister recalls WA education chief over damning report

    "The Western Australian Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravilich, has recalled the Director General of Education, Paul Albert, from Paris to deal with a damning report into how his agency deals with allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers.

    "The report by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) found the Department puts the welfare of its teachers ahead of a safe and secure learning environment for students.

    "In one case, the department reprimanded a teacher convicted of indecently dealing with a 13-year-old girl and then transferred him to a new school.

    "Ms Ravilich says she has instructed the department to implement the six recommendations contained in the CCC's report.

    "I have to say that I am very disappointed in the way the department has handled this," she said.

    "Clearly parents have every right to expect that anyone employed in a school and working with children will be subject to the strongest checks and balances and clearly this has not occurred."

    "The CCC report says about 25 allegations of sexual abuse are made against state school teachers each year, but the Education Department lacks the will to investigate them properly.

    "It has investigated five cases of alleged sexual contact between teachers and students.

    "CCC investigator Roger Watson says the department failed to investigate allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps and outside school hours for a number of years.

    "The CCC says it hopes a recent commitment by the Education Department to establish a professional standards portfolio will improve the way it handles such cases."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Ravlich move on Halls Creek principal ‘penalises students’ [Front Page]
    by Anne Calverley
    
    "Forcing out the school principal behind the controversial Halls Creek no-school, no-welfare program showed the State Government had failed to recognise successful and innovative programs, the Opposition said yesterday.
    
    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said he was disturbed by the accusation by former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith’s father, Dave, that Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, a critic of the anti-truancy program, had forced out his son.

    "He was joined by Halls Creek school council member Helen O’Malley, who said most of the community supported Mr Smith and his departure was a big loss.

    “He acted with the best of intentions and he copped more than he should have copped,” she said. “The do-gooders were worried about people suffering but it’s the kids who will suffer because they’re not getting the education they need to break out of the poverty cycle.”

    "Pilbara Labor MP Tom Stephens refused to comment on the political stoush but described Mr Smith’s departure as “the loss of an educational giant”.

    “He is an incredibly rare breed of teacher whose creative solutions to difficult problems may have clashed with the formal policy of a government department,” Mr Stephens said.

    "On Friday, Dave Smith said that Ms Ravlich, Education Department director-general Paul Albert and Kimberley district director Kevin Gillan went to the school in July and his son was pushed out.

    "The West Australian understands that Garry Smith, who has had cancer for some time, went on sick leave about a month ago and told school staff he would not be returning.

    "Halls Creek DHS made national headlines in October last year after it was revealed in The West Australian that the principal was helping the Centrelink office try out a scheme in which welfare payments to Aboriginals were stopped if they failed to attend meetings to discuss their children’s truancy.

    "The scheme boosted school attendance from 54 per cent to 80 per cent in the two months it operated.

    "On Friday, a spokesman for Ms Ravlich confirmed a meeting was held but denied that she had told Mr Smith to take leave. Yesterday, the Minister’s spokesman claimed a Federal Government report had revealed attendance rates at the school had not improved under the truancy scheme.

    "Mr Collier said Ms Ravlich had failed to take into account the specific needs of schools in rural and remote regions. “If the allegations are true, then the Minister’s actions are entirely inappropriate,” he said. “You simply can’t heavy a principal because they don’t endorse your philosophy.”

    "Liberal Senator Ross Lightfoot said the time had come for the Federal Government to intervene by restricting Federal funding to tied grants.

    “Halls Creek is just a microcosm of the wider problems in WA’s education system,” Senator Lightfoot said.

    "Kimberley MLA Carol Martin urged political leaders to avoid victim-blaming and instead address underlying poverty problems that she said were not confined to Halls Creek."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • School’s in for summer as tutoring grows (page 11)
    by Lee-Anne Petchell
    
    Hundreds of WA schoolchildren will spend their summer holidays studying under private tutors to get the jump on their classmates in the new year.
    
    Parents worried about children struggling to cope with the move from primary to high school or younger children getting left behind in class are behind the growing trend of summer school.
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Teachers' sex shame in spotlight (page 10)
    by Amanda Banks
    
    "A damning report into the Department of Education and Training's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct against staff is expected to be tabled in State Parliament today.
    
    "It is understood the report by the Corruption and Crime Commission is highly critical of the department's procedures for dealing with complaints of sexual misconduct towards students..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Editorial
    Federal threat to HSC excellence
    
    "NSW can be justly proud of its world-class higher school certificate, which over the past six years has been fine-tuned into an academic credential recognised and accepted in countries all over the globe.
    
    "So the prospect of it being dismantled and folded into a proposed new national certificate of education will horrify educators, parents, students and even employers.

    "The Howard Government's call for a national curriculum and qualification has wide support in principle. There can be no argument Australia needs a more nationally consistent education regime – especially for those students and their families who cross state boundaries when they move around the nation.

    "Little or none of the criticism of state education regimes has been directed at NSW – with good reason. The core elements of the HSC – particularly its accommodation of high flyers doing its most demanding courses – are likely to form the template for any future national credential.

    "But Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt indicated yesterday she is prepared to fight hard to retain all parts of the HSC should it come under serious threat..."
    
    Full editorial in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Come on, teacher, light their fires [late update of 15/10]
    by Robin McKie, science editor
    
    "Drug companies have warned the government they face a manpower crisis. Numbers of gifted young scientists coming into the industry have plummeted, putting British pharmaceutical research in jeopardy.

    "The threat is the latest in a series of crises affecting science education, with most experts blaming schools for failing to excite pupils in chemistry, physics and biology, causing more and more young people to turn to arts and humanities.

    "Leading UK scientists say the output of talented science students is in worrying decline. 'If you have not got students excited about science by the time they are doing GCSEs, there is no chance you will engage them later on,' said physiologist Dr Douglas Corfield, of Keele University..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Editorial
    Classroom challenge
    
    "A comprehensive Education Queensland survey of the class of 2005 shows that 93 per cent of school leavers from last year are either studying or working, which is a positive sign of the education system and the strength of the economy.
    
    "The increasing emphasis on vocational education at school is a boost for many students at a time of skills shortages, but able students in disadvantaged areas must be given the chance to excel at the most challenging academic subjects and proceed to university if that is their goal. Too few are doing so – just half of those from the highest socio-economic areas. The survey gives Education Minister Rod Welford and his department wide scope to fine-tune the system to be the best it can be."
    
    From The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Unis 'beg for funding while stashing $7bn'
    by Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
    
    "Universities that cry poor over funding have been challenged to raid the $7 billion reserve of cash and investments hoarded by vice-chancellors..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Junk food bans at schools
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • ABC prepares to launch children's digital TV service
    
    
• Sydney Anglicans plan bigger role in schools
  
  
  
  
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • School repair shame files
    
    
    

Tuesday 17 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teacher sex row claims schools boss [Front Page Headline]
    by Robert Taylor and Bethany Hiatt
    
    "WA education and training chief Paul Albert was last night made the scapegoat for a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into his department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases when Alan Carpenter forced him out of the job.
    
    "But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, already under fire over the botched implementation of outcomes based education, will keep her job.

    "And it also emerged last night Mr Albert will walk away with $344,000 — equal to a year’s salary — as part of the deal with Mr Carpenter. It is understood that Mr Carpenter asked Mr Albert for his resignation when they met last night.

    "Mr Albert’s departure came just hours after Parliament was told the CCC found the Education Department had put its employees’ welfare ahead of a safe learning environment for WA’s schoolchildren.

    "Last night, Mr Albert said he had not been asked to sign any confidentiality agreements but he refused to say if he was being used as a scapegoat for Ms Ravlich, or to comment on whether she should also resign.

    “The buck stops with me and I have to accept responsibility,” Mr Albert said. “We had a meeting and it was agreed it was in our mutual interests that I leave.”

    "Mr Carpenter said it was “in the best interests of all parties” if Mr Albert took a “management initiated retirement”.

    "Mr Carpenter said he accepted that the CCC did not make any specific findings against Mr Albert but the pair agreed public confidence in the education system was paramount.

    "The department’s head of human resources, Alby Huts, would also leave under a MIR, Mr Carpenter said.

    Mr Carpenter’s dramatic intervention came after the CCC found the Education Department had mishandled its response to allegations of sexual contact between staff and students.

    "Ms Ravlich had ordered Mr Albert back from a conference in Paris when she got the CCC report last Thursday, but earlier yesterday had refused to sack him despite saying she was disappointed with his management of the issue. The CCC examined five case studies of sexual contact between children under the care of the Department of Education and Training, and staff. In the report, tabled in State Parliament yesterday, it found the DET had put the interests of employees accused of sexual misconduct ahead of its “safe and secure learning environment policy”.

    "The department failed to inform police of sexual misconduct allegations against teachers, had reemployed a teacher who had left under a cloud and had failed to fulfil requests from the CCC’s predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Commission, about the status of a teacher who had been acquitted on unlawful carnal knowledge charges through a lack of corroborative evidence.

    "It also allowed a teacher who had been counselled about sexual contact with a student during an overseas excursion to not only stay in the system but go on another school trip overseas where he engaged in misconduct with another 15-year-old female student.

    "In one case, given the opportunity to sack a teacher who had been found guilty in the courts of sexual misconduct towards a 12-year-old girl, the department instead reprimanded and re-assigned the teacher largely because the girl was a family friend, not a student of the teacher, and the contact had not happened at school.

    "The CCC also criticised the DET for being slow to act on its recommendations and for lacking the will to implement changes to its complaints processes.

    “We’ve been dealing with the department over the last couple of years. It’s correct to say that the department hasn’t moved in the direction we want them to move,” CCC investigating officer Roger Watson said yesterday.

    "Earlier, Mr Albert had said he was “puzzled” by the claims that there had been a lack of co-operation from his department.

    “The department set up an independent review of our complaints management processes, the CCC made a submission to that and was actually a party to that process which was completed in April, and we’ve proceeded with implementing those recommendations,” Mr Albert said.

    "Ms Ravlich had ordered Mr Albert to immediately implement the six multi-faceted recommendations in the CCC’s report.

    “Let me tell you I’m very, very angry. I’m really, really angry about what this report has found,” she said yesterday.

    “I’m particularly angry because I think parents have every right to expect children will be able to go to a safe learning environment.”

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier and Churchlands Independent MLA Liz Constable had both earlier called for Ms Ravlich’s head.

    “As far as the Minister is concerned it’s been death by 1000 cuts,” Mr Collier said. “It’s crisis, after crisis, after crisis under this Minister. This is just testimony to the fact that she is completely oblivious to what’s going on in her department.”

    "Ms Ravlich conceded that she had only a general awareness that the CCC was working with the DET on its complaints processes and no specific knowledge of the cases involved.

    “In terms of the specific cases in this report, in relation to other cases which might relate to this whole area, they were not brought to my attention,” she said."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Main Editorial
    Ugly culture of self-interest stands exposed (page 20)
    
    "Another element of the ugly culture of ruthless self-interest in the State Government has been exposed. This time the Corruption and Crime Commission has, in effect, condemned the Department of Education and Training for the way in which it deals with allegations of sexual contact between staff and students. Its report reinforces the emerging public awareness of a prevailing pattern of official infamy: In essence, the weak and vulnerable are sacrificed, seemingly as a matter of course, to protect political hides.
    
    "This is a further revelation of the unconscionable culture of secrecy, oppression and persecution of those who dare to stand for what is right against prevailing orthodoxy.
    
    "The culture has been evident in the routine of cover-ups in the Department for Community Development when its hidebound ideology or neglect has exposed children to harm – no one is responsible for anything and the arrogant Government refuses the open and independent inquiry that offers the only chance of genuine reform.
    
    "It is evident at Halls Creek, where political self-interest has overridden the desperate needs of a dysfunctional community.
    
    "And now the CCC has found that the DET appears to give more weight to employee welfare than student safety. Until last night, it seemed that no one in authority would be held accountable by the Government.
    
    "In the end there was a scapegoat, and it would be to no one's surprise that it was the public servant, Education and Training director-general Paul Albert, rather than his political master, crisis-ridden Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, who took the fall."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Alston Cartoon (page 20)
    
    
  
  
  © The West Australian

   

  • Related stories
    
    
    • School sex cases action under fire (page 4)
      by Robert Taylor and Jessica Strutt
      
      "The Education Department will establish a parents advocacy unit and a professional standards branch in the wake of a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases.
      
      "The report, tabled in State Parliament yesterday, contained several recommendations aimed at strengthening the department’s methods in dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct between teachers and students..."
      
      Full story in The West Australian at link
      
      
      
    • Sidebar: Questional Behavious [details of the five cases] (page 4)
      
      
      
    • Action missing on sex shame (page 5)
      by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
      
      "Before the axe fell last night on Paul Albert, he and Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich had talked tough about zero tolerance of sexual contact between teachers and students but said nothing about those people in the system who had tolerated it for years.
      
      "The Corruption and Crime Commission report tabled in State Parliament exposed a culture within the Department of Education and Training which at its worst deliberately covered up criminal behaviour.

      "In the five cases highlighted by the CCC, supervisors, principals, bureaucrats and other teachers either through incompetence, laziness or old fashioned cover-ups failed their students and the community at large.

      "While those who were subject of the allegations are mostly gone, not one of them as far as we know is facing criminal charges and one who has been acquitted of numerous charges is still within the department fighting disciplinary action.

      "When given the opportunity to comment on his case, the department told the CCC that to report on his case was “premature and will possibly prejudice future disciplinary proceedings”.

      The CCC’s response was to point out that “after six and half years of inaction, it is not clear to the commission how including this case study in a tabled report could be regarded as premature, nor is it clear how it could prejudice future disciplinary proceedings”.

      "That neither Mr Albert nor Ms Ravlich were prepared to say yesterday that those people who failed the community through their inaction or worse would be thrown out of the department could hardly fill parents with confidence that the system will be fixed any time soon. There was plenty of talk about structural change and process but when it comes to actually removing the people who had made the bad judgments, who had turned the blind eyes, who had quietly tried to remove a colleague without involving police, they promised nothing.

      "Ms Ravlich claimed she did not have the power and handballed it to Mr Albert who wandered around the point before nestling comfortably behind a wall of restrictive legislation.

      "Premier Alan Carpenter, the Minister for Public Sector Management has the power to sack Ms Ravlich and Mr Albert, and it emerged last night that the latter was his target. “Parents have every right to expect that their children are in safe hands when they attend school and I fully support the Minister’s swift response to this CCC report,” he said earlier in the day.

      "But Mr Albert seemed to know that sooner or later, someone was going to pay a price.

      “I’m employed by the Government, the Minister and I’m happy to accept any decision that the Government makes in relation to this matter ... I bear ultimate responsibility for the findings in this report,” he said.

      "Perhaps what he did not realise was that it was going to happen so quickly."
      
      From The West Australian at link
      
      
      

    • The message was different in 2001 when Albert arrived to plaudits (page 5)
      by Bethany Hiatt
      
      "When Paul Albert was appointed education director-general in 2001 he came with glowing tributes from then education minister Alan Carpenter.
      
      "Mr Carpenter said at the time that Mr Albert was “one of the most experienced educators in the State and had worked at the highest level with the Government, TAFE, nongovernment and tertiary sectors”.

      "He had been acting chief executive of the Department of Education Services from 1999-2001, where he was responsible for the regulation of nongovernment schools. But critics say one of Mr Albert’s weaknesses was that he had limited experience in day-to-day school management, having spent his early career at TAFE after training as a history teacher.

      "One of the main architects of the outcomes-based education system, Mr Albert largely escaped blame for the way OBE ran off the rails earlier this year.

      "He helped establish the Curriculum Council in 1996 and was its first chief executive. But he shrugged off any responsibility for the onerous assessment demands which became the most contentious aspect of the new system for teachers, parents and students. He said the council approved the OBE concept while he was at the helm but none of the detail on the structure of new upper school courses or how they would be assessed had been decided. He blamed lack of resources and poor communication for the OBE debacle.

      "Mr Albert also accused teachers who campaigned against the new system of sabotaging OBE and intimidating those who were in favour of the changes."

      From The West Australian at link
      
      
      
      
  • Ravlich on attack in storm over truancy (page 6)
    by Jessica Strutt
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday went on the attack over claims that she forced the school principal behind the Halls Creek noschool, no-welfare program out of his job, saying the number of students absent the day she visited the school was not acceptable.
    
    "She also claimed that attendance did not improve during the trial of the controversial scheme, which former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith helped set up.

    "Centrelink has said the original scheme last year lifted attendance from 54 to 80 per cent in two months.

    "Ms Ravlich disputed this. “If you read the press release by Federal (Employment) Minister Kevin Andrews, the first thing that is apparent is that there has been no improvement in attendance as a result or during that pilot in Halls Creek,” she said.

    "But Mr Andrews’ comments related to a second, voluntary trial in February after the tougher antitruancy no-school, no-welfare scheme run last year was scrapped because of doubts about its legality.

    "Mr Smith’s father, Dave, claims that his son was forced out of his job by Ms Ravlich over his involvement in the original scheme.

    "Mr Smith had given Centrelink the names of absent children and Centrelink then stopped payments if parents did not attend a meeting to discuss their child’s truancy.

    "Dave Smith claimed that Ms Ravlich, a critic of the anti-truancy program, told his son at a heated meeting at the school in July that she did not want him there and he should take leave.

    "Ms Ravlich, who denies she told Mr Smith to take leave, said it was not acceptable that just 50 of 328 students were at school the day she visited Halls Creek. The students were on the streets and not in the classrooms, as she and Education director-general Paul Albert had seen.

    “My first priority is to the children of this State,” she said. “I am not going to be bludgeoned into not acting in their best interests because of media or any other pressure. The easiest thing for me to do is do nothing but I am not a do nothing sort of person. If I see a problem I try to address it.”

    "An Aboriginal former student of Mr Smith’s, Catherine Ridley, 31, said he was the best teacher she ever had.

    "Ms Ridley, a Department for Community Development child protection worker, said he was a dedicated and caring teacher who did everything he could to ensure she got a quality education in the remote community of Christmas Creek 25 years ago. “He’s got full knowledge of the issues that affect Aboriginal kids. Aboriginal people in the community really liked him. He was very well respected,” she said."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • ECU gives up 800 places as numbers dive (page 12)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Universities are under increasing pressure to slash minimum entry requirements after new figures revealed another drop in applications as students opt for jobs over study.
    
    "Edith Cowan University refuses to contemplate lowering entry scores further, but has agreed to give up about 800 full-time student places — worth $6 million — for the Commonwealth to distribute to other institutions as demand for university education plummets for the third consecutive year in WA.

    "Preliminary figures from the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre show the number of people applying for a university place has dropped again, falling 4 per cent from last year. This followed a plunge of 8 per cent in applications for 2006 entry and 7 per cent for 2005.

    "The trend is more evident among non-school leavers, with the number of mature applicants for 2007 places falling 8 per cent. The drop in school-leavers wanting to go to university is just one per cent.

    "The University of WA was the only institution to show an increase in applications from last year, up 3 per cent..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Three Letters, all highly critical of Ravlich’s handling of the Halls Creek fiasco.
      
      
      
      
• ABC News
  
  
  • Dept head 'scapegoat' for sex misconduct report
    
    "The Western Australian Opposition says departing director-general of Education, Paul Albert, has been made a scapegoat for allegations of sexual misconduct and the Minister should step down.

    "The CCC investigated five allegations of sexual misconduct and found the Education Department had put the welfare of teachers before students.

    "The Opposition's education spokesman Peter Collier says Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has a very common habit of shooting the messenger.

    "I've got to say we won't have any messengers left very shortly because quite frankly, every time there is a problem, it is someone else's fault," he said.

    "He says there has been one crisis after another within the Department of Education and Training and the Curriculum Council over the last 18 months.

    "Over that entire period Minister Ravlich has been on watch - she should be responsible and she should be removed from her position," he said.

    "In our system of government, there is a concept known as individual ministerial responsibility and that means that the minister herself is directly responsible for the functioning of her department." [emphasis added]

    "Mr Albert appeared to see the writing on the wall when he fronted the media yesterday afternoon.

    "I think anybody in any of these high pressured jobs always considers their options for the future," he said.
    Departure

    "Premier Alan Carpenter met Mr Albert last night to discuss the CCC's findings.

    "Mr Carpenter says the report had the potential to badly undermine public confidence in the education system.

    "We came to an agreement that it was in the best interest of everybody for Paul Albert to leave the public service," he said.

    "Mr Carpenter denied Mr Albert was forced to take early retirement, saying it was a mutual decision.

    "Meanwhile, WA's peak parenting body has expressed shock at the departure of Mr Albert and says the move in itself will do little to solve the problems.

    "The WA Council of State School Organisations (WACSSO) president Rob Fry says Mr Albert phoned him last night to inform him of the decision.

    "He says Mr Albert has a close working relationship with parents and he is extremely disappointed by the move.

    "He's probably the person that could have made good the issues identified by the CCC," he said.

    "But State School Teachers Union (SSTU) president Mike Keely says he is not surprised by the decision.

    "Somebody had to take responsibility - it's simply a question of who's responsible," he said.

    "Mr Keely says it is now essential the CCC's recommendations are implemented to ensure the problems are addressed."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
  • Education Dept chief quits over sex report
    
    "The director general of the Western Australian Department of Education and Training, Paul Albert, has resigned from his position.

    "Premier Alan Carpenter has issued a statement, after the release of a Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) report into sexual contact between staff and students in WA schools.

    "The report was highly critical of the way allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers were handled.

    "The State Opposition says Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravilich should consider stepping down in light of the report that has criticised the way her department handles allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers.

    "The CCC reviewed five recent allegations of sexual misconduct and found the department put the welfare of teachers above students.

    "In once case, the department allowed a man convicted of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old to keep teaching because the victim was a family friend, not a student. In another, a high school principal and his deputy failed to notify authorities about a teacher who was romantically involved with a 15-year-old student.

    "Upon receiving the report, the Minister recalled Mr Albert from Paris and told him to implement the recommendations in full.

    "I certainly agree that we have to tighten up which is why I've announced the range of measures that I have today," she said.

    "She expressed her disappointment in Mr Albert after the CCC accused the department of lacking the will to investigate allegations of misconduct.

    "The Opposition's education spokesman, Peter Collier, says the report highlights systemic failures within the department and he is blaming the Minister.

    "If she's not prepared to step down, which I think she should seriously consider herself, I think ... it is incumbent upon the Premier to take steps," he said. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Albert says from today his department will take a zero tolerance approach to allegations of sexual misconduct.

    "He has apologised to any parents who feel let down.

    "All those who have behaved inappropriately, action has been taken against them or action is in the process of being taken against them," he said."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

  • ABC PM Program [broadcast on 16 October at 6:10 pm]
    
    Education department found to be 'mishandling' sexual misconduct in schools
    Reporter: David Weber [includes short interviews with Ljiljanna Ravlich and Paul Albert]
    
    PETER CAVE: The Corruption and Crime Commission in Western Australia has handed down a damning report on the way the Education Department deals with complaints of sexual contact.

    The Commission highlighted five cases of alleged sexual contact between teachers and students, and says it has serious concerns that greater weight has been given to the welfare of employees than to protecting children.

    The Education Minister says she's very disappointed with the Director-General of the Education Department.

    For his part, the Director-General says he's now introducing the strictest rules in the country to stop sexual contact.

    David Weber reports.

    DAVID WEBER: The Corruption and Crime Commission says the Education Department's system for dealing with sexual allegations doesn't do enough to reduce the risks.

    The Commission's Roger Watson says the failures are not always intentional.

    ROGER WATSON: The way they handle them tends to get to a position where employee welfare is given greater weight then safer security of the learning environments.

    Certainly it's our view that there is a lack of will associated with investigating these allegations. I would go so far as to say that I'm not sure that lack of will is intended.

    DAVID WEBER: The CCC has highlighted five matters in WA public schools.

    In one case, a teacher convicted of indecently dealing with a 13-year-old girl was reprimanded and then transferred to a new teaching position.

    A teacher with a known history of sexual contact with students on overseas excursions was allowed to attend another overseas trip. The department's supervisors failed to intervene when he was seen engaging in inappropriate conduct with a 15-year-old female student.

    And in another case, the department inquire into allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps.

    Roger Watson says the report does not lead to a finding that schools are unsafe.

    ROBERT WATSON: There's a risk of sexual contact in schools - that's existed since the beginning of time. There's nothing that we've said today that changes that equation.

    There are thousands and thousands of teachers out there doing a great job, who are well motivated, who are good people, who wouldn't dream of engaging in sexual contact and those teachers are all in the system.

    DAVID WEBER: The Corruption and Crime Commission has made six recommendations intended to improve reporting. The Commission also wants the Education Department to review cases of serious misconduct.

    The Education Minister says she's told the department to comply with all the recommendations immediately.

    Liljana Ravlich says she's disappointed with the way the Director-General has handled the issue.

    LILJANA RAVLICH: I am particularly angry because I think that parents have every right to expect that their children will be able to go to a safe learning environment.

    And what this report has demonstrated is that this has been a problem for quite some time in a small minority of cases.

    DAVID WEBER: The Department of Education is taking several new measures. It will establish a Parent Advocacy Unit to ensure there's representation for parents and students.

    A Professional Standards Branch will improve the department's capacity to deal with claims of misconduct. The Department will also look at whether employees can be suspended without pay while allegations are investigated.

    The Education Department's Director-General Paul Albert.

    PAUL ALBERT: From my personal point of view, and certainly from everybody in this department, sexual abuse of children in any form is totally intolerable and unacceptable.

    And I'm certainly determined that we will take every measure necessary to ensure that our schools have the strictest rules in place in Australia in relation to sexual contact between staff and students.

    DAVID WEBER: Mr Albert says none of the people mentioned in the five case studies are working in schools. He says they were removed from areas where they may have had student contact as soon as the Department was aware of a risk.

    PETER CAVE: David Weber.
    
    From ABC PM Program at link [audio broadcast also available for download from this link]
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Carpenter says Ravlich job safe
    AAP
    
    "The Premier is standing by Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich over a report that said allegations of sexual misconduct in WA schools had been handled poorly..."
    
    "Alan Carpenter said today he believed Ms Ravlich had acted promptly and appropriately when she found out what the report contained late last week.

    "I think in this circumstance Ljiljanna has done what she had to do," Mr Carpenter said on ABC radio.

    "If I didn't have confidence in Ljiljanna she wouldn't be the minister."

    "He said the issues outlined in the report should have been brought to Ms Ravlich's attention sooner.

    "Any minister needs full information at his or her fingertips to make informed decisions," Mr Carpenter later said on Southern Cross Broadcasting.

    "Now that's one of the failings that I think has happened here, that the minister wasn't kept sufficiently informed so that she could actually put into place the practices that needed to be put into place."

    "The WA opposition has called for Ms Ravlich to resign, saying it is the latest in a series of crises for the minister who has also come under fire over WA's controversial outcomes-based education system..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • School sex abuse claims 'cover-up'
    by Amanda O'Brien, West Australian political reporter
    
    "The West Australian Education Department repeatedly covered up allegations of sexual abuse of children by teachers, allowing one accused offender to transfer to another school and others to resign before investigations.

    "In a scathing report, the state's Corruption and Crime Commission said the Department of Education and Training was more concerned with protecting the welfare of staff than students.

    "And CCC spokesman Roger Watson said the department had resisted the efforts of the CCC to get them to improve procedures.

    "He indicated the report had been released publicly in a bid to force change, saying the commission had thought hard before taking that action.

    "The CCC revealed that in one case where a teacher was convicted of indecently dealing with a child under 13, the department had responded by transferring him to another school.

    "The department believed the facts that the child was not one of his students and the conduct did not occur in school hours were mitigating factors.

    "In another case, a school principal and deputy principal were found to have covered up a relationship between a teacher and student after the teacher agreed to resign.

    "The CCC said the deputy principal was aware the teacher had been investigated for inappropriate conduct with an under-age girl at another school five years earlier but he was allowed to resign before an investigation was conducted into the latest allegation.

    "The department also failed to investigate repeated allegations about a teacher engaging in sexual contact with female students at school camps over a number of years, and decided not to investigate allegations against a school gardener.

    "It also allowed a teacher with a history of sexual contact with students while on overseas excursions to attend another overseas trip where he was seen engaging in inappropriate conduct. State Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said yesterday she had no knowledge of the explosive allegations until she was briefed by the CCC on Thursday night and received the report on Friday.

    "Yesterday, she labelled it "extremely serious" and said she had immediately recalled the department's director-general Paul Albert from an overseas business trip in Paris to explain his knowledge of events. She said she was extremely angry.

    "There's no doubt about it, the department has got it wrong," she said. "I think it would be fair to say that the department probably does need a shake-up."

    "But Ms Ravlich would not sack Mr Albert despite being "very disappointed" in him and said she could not act against other staff exposed by the CCC because she had no capacity to do so under the Public Sector Management Act.

    "Mr Albert claimed he was unable to keep the minister informed because the CCC had instructed him not to disclose any information. Under pressure from the media, he later indicated the actions of staff involved in the incidents would be reviewed.

    "This included the decision by human resources executive director Alby Huts to return a convicted child abuser to the classroom. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Watson said the cases were not isolated examples of the department's handling of sexual misconduct matters.

    "Ms Ravlich said all six recommendations of the CCC would be implemented immediately."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Schools contract blowout
    by Ben Woodhead
    
    "The Queensland Government is bracing for a blowout in the cost of a $120 million project to replace systems used to run more than 1200 public schools..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Mao and maths don't mix
      
      "I'm a teacher, a maths and physics one for that matter and, try as I might, I have been unable to teach Maoism and physics/maths in harmony with each other ("Little red curriculum”, Editorial, 14-15/10).

      "For the past 17 years I’ve taught in 11 different schools: state, Catholic, independent, city, country, boys’, girls’ and co-educational. In this time and these places I have observed the following:

      "Occasionally I have run into the left-wing, fruit-loop teachers you speak of in your editorial “Little red curriculum” (14-15/10) but, seriously, they represent a bizarre anomaly and are not in significant numbers.

      "I have noted that over this time period that teenagers have become increasingly more conservative, more materialistic, less community-minded and certainly less left-wing. Most don’t even know what a communist is, even though the history teachers are supposed to be the most radical lefties of them all.
      If we, as a profession, are as keen to subvert young minds to left-wing, hippie ideas as is asserted in said editorial, then we have done an extraordinarily poor job.

      "There are many serious issues in education that require the attention of serious people. This “lefty, commie” political diversion is not one of them."
      
      Jonathan Chapman, Mansfield, Vic
      
      

    • HECS debts too high
      
      ""What on earth is happening to the education system in Australia? I’m not talking about curriculums or literacy or numeracy standards or nation-wide examinations but the exorbitant cost of obtaining a university degree.

      "A recent OECD report showed Australia as having the second highest cost (after the US) of university education among the developed countries. Then we top the list for the country which invests the least amount of funds towards university education for its youth ("Losing touch with the educated world”, Making The Boom Pay, 16/10). This is surely putting us on the road to disaster. I’m not necessarily proposing that universities be free (as anything given for nothing is often not valued by the receiver), but the cost should be bearable for the majority of students and not only those whose parents can afford to pay very high fees or students of wealthy families from other countries.

      "When the HECS scheme was introduced, the idea was that the students could take out a loan and repay it in a reasonable amount of time. However, at a cost on average of $6000 per annum or more, a four- to five-year full-time degree produces a debt of around $30,000 at the beginning of the individual’s working life. He/she is by then close to 30 years of age before he/she is free of the debt generated by educational preparation to enter the workforce. No wonder we are experiencing a shortage of doctors, engineers, etc, and have to import such professionals from other countries. Our young people are seeking out other means of getting on in this world; ways that do not burden them with unrealistic debts at the start of their working lives."
      
      V. M. Burns, Gold Coast, Qld
      
      

    Complete Letters to the Editor of The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Independent
  
  
  • MPs attack 'waste of children's potential' in sub-standard schools
    by Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
    
    "Nearly one million children are being taught in poorly performing schools, a committee of MPs has warned.

    "Pupils at 1,500 primary and secondary schools are being denied a proper education despite government investment of nearly £840m in initiatives designed to tackle sub-standard schools, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

    "The Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, said: "To waste so much human potential in this way is a tragedy. The consequences in the long term for the pupils and for our society will be severe."

    "The report coincided with the publication of data on failing schools from Ofsted, the schools watchdog. Although the number of failing institutions fell by 14 per cent over the past year to 208, the number judged to have serious problems short of failure rose by almost a third to 443..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Catholics and Jews attack controls on faith school intakes as veils row goes on
    by Stephen Bates and Tania Branigan
    
    * 'Quota' for pupils from other religions opposed
    * Kelly stands by criticisms of Muslim council
    
    "The Catholic church signalled its outright opposition last night to government proposals requiring new faith schools to admit as many as a quarter of their pupils from families of other faiths or no religions. The Board of Deputies of British Jews also expressed concern, saying the amendment to the education bill would be "nonsensical" if it prevented Jewish children from going to Jewish schools.

    "There was little sign of a dying down of the wider controversy over faith communities and their integration with other Britons, as the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, defended her criticisms of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and new voices joined the row over veils.

    "The amendment to the education bill is designed to encourage communities to mix. But the Catholic church's education service voiced strong opposition to the measure, which would require it to accept a substantial proportion of non-Catholic pupils in its 2,000 schools. Unlike Church of England schools , Catholic schools were set up specifically to educate members of the faith..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
  • Comment and Analysis on above story
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Minister fails the HSC test
    by Bruce McDougall, Education Reporter
    
    "The Federal Education Minister – champion of a national curriculum which could destroy NSW's HSC – has failed to produce one criticism of the state exam.
    Julie Bishop, invited by The Daily Telegraph yesterday to identify faults in the NSW Year 12 curriculum, backed away from criticising the HSC.

    "The minister did not nominate a single problem, instead issuing a statement saying: "We must aim for the highest educational standards across the country.

    "There is significant waste and duplication with each state and territory developing separate curriculum, and the standards vary considerably.

    "We need to pool available resources, identify the best practice that each state has to offer and develop a high quality and nationally consistent model curriculum, which would be then internationally benchmarked..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    The numbers just don't add up
    
    "You've got to hand it to the education mandarins at the NSW Board of Studies – at this time of year they always talk up a good story.
    
    "And since it was revamped in 2001 the Higher School Certificate has become an excellent story, both for the board and for the incumbent Government.

    "Rightly, board president Gordon Stanley and Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt point to a solid record of enrolments in core subjects and a plethora of high achievers.
    
    "Although the numbers have plateaued to some extent, NSW still has a large body of students taking on demanding courses in English, mathematics and the sciences.

    "What the board is not so keen to talk about, though, is the looming crisis in maths – a problem that very soon will have national implications. At least an inquiry into the effectiveness of the maths syllabus in NSW is under way. But while Stanley and Tebbutt trumpet the merits of the internationally acclaimed HSC, academics and employers are sounding a dire warning..."

    Full editorial in The Sydney Daily Teleraph at link

     

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • School funding 'linked to politics'
    by Laura Anderson
    
    "Labor has warned that federal funding of school infrastructure could be linked to political agendas.
    
    "Responding yesterday to an Advertiser report that South Australian public schools were increasingly requesting grants through the Investing in Our Schools program, Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the scheme was "open to politicisation".

    "Labor wants to make sure that these grants to schools respond to the needs in the schools, not to John Howard's political agenda," she said.

    "She said the program was skewed towards Liberal electorates, and did not allocate funding to the schools most in need.

    "But Education Minister Julie Bishop said projects were evaluated by an independent panel of parent and principal representatives. "Neither the Australian Government nor State Government has a vote," she said.

    "Claims of political bias are outrageous."
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    Squabbling over funds hurts pupils
    
    "Many parents with students at state schools would not be surprised by the revelation in yesterday's Advertiser that dilapidated schools are turning to the Commonwealth for help.
    
    "Nor would they have been surprised by examples of "disgusting toilets", unsafe play equipment and schools waiting 15 years for outdated chairs to be replaced.

    "They know many of the extras needed for schools are often paid for by the fundraising efforts of hard-working, dedicated parents.

    "In private schools, parents accept they will be asked to provide extra funds to cover building projects and activities such as sports.

    "But at public schools, parents feel the maintenance and upgrading of these institutions should sit squarely in the Government's court. Chook and meat tray raffles, cake stalls and lolly sales can only go so far. The money they raise is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount needed to really make some headway in fixing the backlog in this state alone..."
    
    Full editorial in The Adelaide Advertiser at link

    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Late-updating "Monday" Education Section [12 articles]
    
    
    
  • Educators call unhealthy food ban unworkable
    by Chee Chee Leung
    
    "Teachers, principals and school councils have described a State Government ban on unhealthy canteen food as unworkable, with some labelling the move a pre-election stunt..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Academics rule out spying on students
    
    
    

Wednesday 18 October

• Channel 7 News Poll: Do you have confidence in the Education Minister?
  
  95.4% of more than 5000 callers said they had no confidence in her !
  
  
  
• Channel 9 News Poll: Should the Education Minister be sacked?
  
  92.4 % of more than 2900 callers said she should be sacked !
  
  
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  "The Premier backs ministers who rip off their staff and refuse to take responsibility for their departments... top bureaucrats fail to protect our most vulnerable children... surgery is cancelled as emergency departments go into meltdown... and school students are told, 'Don't learn it, just Google it'... it's enough to make you ask..."
  
  
  • Who runs this mess?
    [Front Page Headline]
    by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor
    
    "Alan Carpenter refused to blame Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich yesterday over the latest scandal in the Education Department, effectively saying she could not be held accountable because she didn’t know what was going on in her department.
    
    "But Mr Carpenter is expected to come under scrutiny today after excerpts were aired last night of a 2004 television report into allegations of sexual misconduct against a teacher at Laverton, when the Premier was education minister.

    "Mr Carpenter yesterday defended his decision to oust long-serving education director-general Paul Albert over a damning Corruption and Crime Commission report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct cases, saying public confidence in the system had to be restored.

    "Mr Albert agreed to resign at a meeting with Mr Carpenter on Monday night, just hours after the CCC report tabled in Parliament found the Education Department had mishandled its response to allegations of sexual contact between staff and students.

    "But Mr Carpenter said Ms Ravlich was not kept informed of the issues by the department and couldn’t be blamed for its poor performance. “There is ministerial responsibility, we all have responsibilities as ministers. But ministers when they discover information or find out information are expected to act,” Mr Carpenter said.

    “It is pretty hard for ministers to act when they don’t know information which should have been provided to them.”

    "Mr Carpenter, who was forced to take control of the controversial outcomes-based education issue from Ms Ravlich earlier this year, said she had assured him that she was not aware of the specifics of the CCC investigation until handed the report last Thursday.

    "But the Opposition said that Ms Ravlich was asked a series of questions about the department’s approach to 16 staff facing misconduct charges last year and she had assured Parliament that it was handling the matters appropriately.

    “I can advise that the matters have been and will be dealt with in accordance with the normal procedures in dealing with such matters,” Ms Ravlich told Parliament on November 16 last year.

    "In March this year, Ms Ravlich told the Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council, Norman Moore, that “such matters are dealt with according to processes and procedures of the Department of Education and Training”.

    "In last night’s TV excerpt, Ombudsman Deirdre O’Donnell told Channel 7 in 2004 that, after investigating the sexual misconduct allegations, the complaint and others involving similar issues “indicate there may be an underlying systemic problem in the way the department approaches complaint investigations”.

    "Opposition Leader Paul Omodei said yesterday that Ms Ravlich had been given ample opportunity to check that the department was following proper procedures.

    “We asked questions in September, October and November of last year and as late as March this year. The Minister knew very well what was going on in the Education Department,” Mr Omodei said.

    "It was also revealed yesterday that Mr Albert wrote to the CCC commissioner, Kevin Hammond, in August urging him not to release the report publicly.

    “It appears that the commission formed a view on matters without all the relevant facts associated with the identified cases. As such, it is my view that there is nothing in the draft report to sustain a position that warrants the matters being reported to Parliament,” Mr Albert wrote."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial: State of disarray as arrogant Premier lowers standard again (page 22)
    
    "It could be said that Alan Carpenter has a talent for political catastrophe. That might be one explanation of how he manages to lead a Government riding a booming economy only to find himself constantly engulfed in crisis...
    
    "And in the case of incompetent but overbearing Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, he saw fit yesterday to redefine the Westminster system to save her hide. He said she wasn't kept sufficiently informed to act on the issues covered in the damning Corruption and Crime Commission report on sexual misconduct cases. It is a minister's obligation to know what happens in his or her portfolio – that's an ineradicable part of the job description. Under Mr Carpenter's surreal redefinition of ministerial responsibility, minister would be quarantined from accountability for anything other than what bureaucrats chose to tell them. That, of course, could be helpful to Mr Carpenter as questions arise about what he might have known about matters in the CCC report during his time as education minister.
    
    "A scapegoat was needed and Mr Carpenter settled on education bureaucrat Paul Albert, who pocketed $344,000 to get off the scene. His departure was clouded with the ambiguity that is characteristic of this Government: apparently neither sacked outright nor voluntarily resigning (in which case he would not have been entitled to the huge payout).
    
    "So Ms Ravlich survives politically, bereft of public confidence in her competence to run the education system or willingness to accept responsibility, but somehow not out of place in an arrogant administration prepared to tax people to the hilt but deaf to pleas for improved public services.
    
    "And Mr Carpenter, favoured by history in arriving at the leadership in boom conditions not of the Government's making, has again lowered the standard of political accountability. However long his premiership lasts, he risks the judgement of history that he was either not up to the job or rendered terminally ineffectual by Labor' factions."
    
    Full Editorial in The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Ravlich has left a trail of wreckage (page 6)
    Analysis by Jessica Strutt
    
    "It should come as no surprise to anyone that education has emerged as a battleground under Ljiljanna Ravlich.

    "She’s headstrong, gaffe-prone, has reeled from crisis to crisis and heads have rolled all around her.

    "Clues to what was about to unfold in education emerged in Ms Ravlich’s first in-depth interview after being made Education Minister.

    "She set the scene for her long and bloody battle with teachers by declaring she would be looking for ways to help “tired teachers” out of the system to make way for younger, more enthusiastic people.

    "Ms Ravlich mooted a fresh accountability regime in that March 2005 interview, saying teachers and principals would be held accountable for the performance of their students and schools.

    But it seems that in the 19 months since, the only person not held accountable is the Minister.

    "Under her reign, the heads of her departments, Curriculum Council chief executive Norma Jeffery — who oversaw the implementation of the controversial outcomes-based education system — and now longserving Education Department boss Paul Albert, have been pushed out.

    "Ms Jeffery was moved sideways into the Department of Premier and Cabinet as the Government tried to shift blame for the bungled implementation of OBE on to the Curriculum Council. She is now executive director of policy with the Education Department.

    "Ms Ravlich’s penchant for pushing people sideways was highlighted again last week by claims from the father of former Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith that she forced his son out of his job because of his involvement in the noschool, no-welfare scheme, which she opposes.

    "Ms Ravlich has also shown an undeniable ability to put her foot in it.

    "Last year she told a teacher nominated for the Premier’s Teacher of the Year Award that she could use her $1000 prize money to buy a new dress and some perfume.

    "When Governor-General Michael Jeffery raised concerns about Wiluna School in May, saying it was the worst he had seen, the Minister went on the attack.

    "Within hours she was forced into an embarrassing backdown, acknowledging the problems with the school, including its proximity to sewage ponds, should have been dealt with sooner.

    "In August, she said it was not important for students to know key historical dates, saying they could find the information using the internet search engine Google.

    "She added that lack of knowledge about Australian history was similar to students not knowing “the internal workings of a computer”.

    "But until the CCC’s damning report into the Education Department emerged on Monday, it has been in the OBE debate that Ms Ravlich has hit most trouble.

    "As the debate raged about the merits and implementation of OBE, the former teacher and deputy principal’s comments raised the ire of educators.

    "But she put her head down, denied widespread concern and refused to delay courses even in the face of mounting criticism and pressure from school groups.

    "She even declared OBE a “dead issue” before the findings of a parliamentary inquiry into the issue were handed down.

    "In the end, her handling of OBE became nothing short of farcical and Alan Carpenter was forced to take control of the debacle.

    "But still Ms Ravlich continues to have the support of the Premier and despite her woes appears untouchable.

    "However, in the end there is a truth that cannot be escaped. Ultimately, the buck stops with the Minister.

    "On the back of the CCC report, if Ms Ravlich is still unsure what the correct course of action to take is, maybe she should Google the answer on the internet."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  
  
  © The West Australian
  

  • See no evil, hear no evil and her job’s safe (page 7)
    by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
    
    "Alan Carpenter said yesterday Paul Albert had to go as director-general of education “in the best interests of public confidence in the education system”.

    "But most parents wouldn’t know Mr Albert from a hole in the ground. The public face of education in this State is clearly Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich and as long as she stays in the job confidence in the system will not be restored.

    "Ms Ravlich, however, is not going anywhere because — and this is the doozey — she didn’t know what was going on in her own department.

    "Apparently these days, that lets you keep your job, if you’re a politician that is. If you’re a high-level bureaucrat it gets you early retirement and a big send-off courtesy of the taxpayer.

    "Ms Ravlich is politics’ equivalent of Shultz — she knows nothing..." [emphasis added]

    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Labor pays $12m to buy public servants’ silence (page 7)
    by Amanda Banks and Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The Labor Government has spent nearly $12 million getting rid of 84 senior public servants who have been silenced under secrecy provisions attached to their payouts..."
    
    "Alan Carpenter has approved another eight so-called “golden gags” since he became Premier in February, including the package for Mr Albert and a deal believed to be worth $150,000 for the Education Department’s head of human resources, Alby Huts..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Three staff at centre of sex row still at work (page 7)
    by Jessica Strutt
    
    "Three school staff who are the subject of sexual misconduct investigations were still working in schools yesterday after Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich ordered the Education Department to conduct an urgent review and update her on pending cases..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Five Letters to the Editor (page 25)
    
    
    • Please, just go
      
      "Ms Ravlich, why on Earth are you still there? You are not representing the interests of our children. You cannot escape blame by claiming ignorance. You are not paid to be ignorant.
      
      "Just resign and let someone else who can do the job take over. You obviously can't. First OBE, which was a mess and your boss had to sort it out, now this. I see he had to do the firing this time as well.
      
      "Just do the right thing and go. The longer you stay in your portfolio the less you do the right thing, and the more our education system and students suffer."
      
      Andrew Edwards, Beeliar
      
      
      
    • Another teacher crushed
      
      "Well done The West Australian for the editorial (14/10) about the manner in which Ljiljanna Ravlich has conducted herself as Education Minister. Mr Smith senior's account of the way in which his son, the former principal of Halls Creek District High School, was chastised and coerced into vacating his position made frightening reading..."
      
      "Please do not publish my name because I am an employee of the WA Education Department and not in a position to speak out against the Government in this democratic country."
      
      Name and address supplied
      
      
      
    • Explode this bomb
      
      "At what point does Ljiljanna Ravlich's role as Minister for Education reach "critical mass"? The voting public agrees that the calamity and crises surrounding her botched implementation of OBE, new courses of study, abuse cover-ups and Halls Creek saga are more than enough to trigger her detonation as Minister.
      
      "We know it and I think the Premier knows it, but he retains this strange addiction to retaining the mediocre and claim it as quality. In this case, short of a few unpaid driving fines turning up, I think it is well and truly time that the Premier detonated this bomb."
      
      David Sargent, Joondalup
      
      
      
    • She should know
      
      "Our Premier defends Ljiljanna Ravlich in the school furore because she did not know what was going on. Surely that very fact damns her? She in the Minister and is entitled (some would say required) to ask whatever questions she wants and demand answers. A competent boss would insist of being kept informed, particularly of bad news, well in advance of any likely consequences.
      
      "The CCC inquiry has been going on for some time and must have been asking many questions of the Education Department. Was Ms Ravlich totally unaware of what was going on? A poor defence, Premier, and if you accept that then you are equally culpable."
      
      John Smith, Currambine
      
      
      
    • Don't blame Albert
      
      "I am incensed that a perfectly good chief, Paul Albert, has been made to resign. The department is admittedly an expansive and bureaucratic machine, but it is constantly hampered in its efforts to terminate the employment of staff who do not perform to expectation or "do the wrong" thing..."
      
      "There is no such thing as a simple and uncomplicated procedure. There are definitely things that need to change, but it is certainly no fault of Paul Albert. His position was really more of a figurehead.[An expensive one, at $344,000 pa.   Web] It's the employees at the lower levels who make the decisions and often don't inform him properly.
      
      "I word for the department and would appreciate my name not being published."
      
      Name and address supplied
      
      
      
      
  • Alston Cartoon (page 22)
    
    

  
  
  © The West Australian
  
  
  

  • Two stabbed at Bunbury school (page 15)
    by Suellen Jerrard
    
    "Two Bunbury high school students were stabbed yesterday, allegedly by a classmate, in a scene Education Department officials admitted was reminiscent of the fatal Churchlands attack 14 years ago and recent violence in the US..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Carpenter stands by Ravlich
    
    "The Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter is still defending his Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravilich, in the face of Opposition claims her explanations do not stack up.

    "The Minister has been under pressure since Monday, after a damning report by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) into her department's handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

    "The Minister insists she first became aware of the problem last Thursday, however the Opposition says that is not credible because her director-general, Paul Albert, was given a draft report in August.

    "Mr Carpenter says Mr Albert took the decision not to advise the Minister after receiving advice from the CCC.

    "If I had lost confidence in Ljiljanna, Ljiljanna would stop being the Minister," he said.

    "I know its a tough job and I know you go through some very tough times in the job you do and some issues that are incredibly difficult to deal with and they really, really get to you."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

  • Censure motion fails against Ravlich over abuse report
    
    "The Western Australian Opposition's moves to censure Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich have failed.

    "The Opposition has moved motions of no confidence in Ms Ravlich simultaneously in both houses of State Parliament.

    "The Minister has refused to stand down after a scathing report into her Department's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against teachers.

    "The report found the department put the welfare of teachers above students.

    "The Opposition says it raised concerns with the Minister last year and she did not take them seriously.

    "But Premier Alan Carpenter says the questions were general in nature and the Minister was not aware of the specific problems until last Thursday.

    "He says she then acted swiftly.

    "I reject the calls for her to be sacked on that basis," he said.

    "In the Upper House, the Greens supported debate on the no-confidence motion but it was blocked by the Government."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • For Math Students, Self-Esteem Might Not Equal High Scores
    by Jay Mathews
    
    U.S. Lags Behind Countries That Don't Emphasize Self-Regard
    
    "It is difficult to get through a day in an American school without hearing maxims such as these: "To succeed, you must believe in yourself," and "To teach, you must relate the subject to the lives of students."

    "But the Brookings Institution is reporting today that countries such as the United States that embrace self-esteem, joy and real-world relevance in learning mathematics are lagging behind others that don't promote all that self-regard.

    "Consider Korea and Japan.

    "According to the Washington think tank's annual Brown Center report on education, 6 percent of Korean eighth-graders surveyed expressed confidence in their math skills, compared with 39 percent of U.S. eighth-graders. But a respected international math assessment showed Koreans scoring far ahead of their peers in the United States, raising questions about the importance of self-esteem.

    "In Japan, the report found, 14 percent of math teachers surveyed said they aim to connect lessons to students' lives, compared with 66 percent of U.S. math teachers. Yet the U.S. scores in eighth-grade math trail those of the Japanese, raising similar questions about the importance of practical relevance..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Education chief quits over sex cases
    by Amanda O'Brien, West Australian political reporter
    
    "The director-general of the West Australian Education and Training Department resigned last night after the state's Corruption and Crime Commission released a scathing report into his department and how it dealt with allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers.

    "Paul Albert told The Australian last night that he and Premier Alan Carpenter had come to a mutual agreement for him to step down as director-general after meeting Mr Carpenter earlier in the evening.

    "The Corruption and Crime Commission had identified several issues and as director-general, the buck stops with me," Mr Albert said.

    "Even though I was unaware of many of the allegations, I must take responsibility," the 57-year-old career public servant and former teacher said.

    "In a scathing report, the CCC said the education department repeatedly covered up allegations of sexual abuse of children by teachers, allowing one accused offender to transfer to another school and others to resign before investigations.

    "The report said the department was more concerned with protecting the welfare of staff than students.

    "And CCC spokesman Roger Watson said the department had resisted the efforts of the CCC to get them to improve procedures.

    "He indicated the report had been released publicly in a bid to force change, saying the commission had thought hard before taking that action...
    
    "State Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said yesterday she had no knowledge of the explosive allegations until she was briefed by the CCC on Thursday night and received the report on Friday. Yesterday, she labelled it "extremely serious" and said she had immediately recalled Mr Albert from an overseas business trip in Paris to explain his knowledge of events. She said she was extremely angry.

    "There's no doubt about it, the department has got it wrong," she said.

    "I think it would be fair to say that the department probably does need a shake-up."...
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • The Higher Education Supplement including:
    
    
    • Local fee earnings off to a slow start
      by Catherine Armitage, Higher education editor
      
      "The so-called Nelson reforms appear to have undershot their potential to fill university coffers, with local undergraduate fee-paying places earning universities just $103.7 million, or 0.7 per cent of revenue, in 2005, the first year in which looser regulation of local fee places took effect.

      "According to the new report, Finance 2005, which is the Department of Education, Science and Training's summary of university financial accounts, fee earnings from overseas students hit a record $2.2 billion in 2005.

      "This propelled universities' dependence on international fee income to an all-time high of 15.1 per cent, up from 14.5 per cent the year before, despite the feared softening in the international student market..."
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      
      

• Note: Most eastern states newspapers News.com carried the same DET / CCC / Albert resignation story. There was no new content, so I am not transcribing them. [For the "news-a-holics", here is a sample – from the NT News.]
  
  
  
  
• Channel 9 News
  
  
  • Higher Education changes are approved
    AAP
    
    "The federal government's changes to university funding have been passed amidst claims that the Opposition was using the race card in fighting the bill..."
    
    "The bill includes funding for increased places for medical students and nurses.

    "It would also raise the limit that students could borrow under the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)..."
    
    Full story at Channel 9 News Online at link
    
    
    

• Channel 10 News Headlines
  
  
  • Damning Education Department report
    
    "The Premier has once again stepped in on the troubled Education portfolio... Orchestrating the resignation of department chief Paul Albert.

    "With opposition calls for the minister to also resign, Alan Carpenter says he still has full confidence in Ljiljanna Ravlich's abilities.

    "The Corruption and Crime Commission released a damning report into the way the Department of Education and Training in WA manages allegations of sexual contact between staff and students. The report says greater weight appears to be given to employee welfare than to providing a safe and secure learning environment for students."

    From Channel 10 News Online [but no longer online!]
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Funding for schools at risk
    by Xanthe Kleinig, education reporter
    
    "One-third of federal education funding to South Australia is at risk, as the teachers' union rallies its members for an end-of-year showdown over report cards.
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop yesterday urged unions to support the new reporting requirements, a condition of $703 million in federal funding to SA schools.

    "To coincide with the first day of term, the Australian Education Union contacted all members urging them to maintain their opposition.

    "Reports in this format are damaging, not educationally sound and politically driven," union president Andrew Gohl said.

    "We will be providing advice to members in a fax out today to remind them this is a big issue and maintain their sub branch position on recording the A to E grades."

    "Members would "exercise their professional judgment" to use existing report cards agreed by school councils and parents, Mr Gohl said.

    "State Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith warned teachers over jeopardising funding. "We have given instructions to schools and we expect these to be supported by school councils and communities who would not want punitive measures taken by the Federal Government," she said..."
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    Squabbling over funds hurts pupils
    
    "Many parents with students at state schools would not be surprised by the revelation in yesterday's Advertiser that dilapidated schools are turning to the Commonwealth for help..."
    
    "The continuing squabbling between the states and the Commonwealth over funding for everything from hospitals to housing, transport to water, even the drought, is starting to wear a little thin.

    "The public wants an end to this perennial blame game and would like someone, anyone, to step up to the plate and say "we are going to fix this problem"...
    
    Full editorial in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

• WA Curriculum Council Media Release
  
  
  • 2007 World Conference on Science & Technology Education

    "Sustainable, responsible and global are the key themes of the 2007 World Conference on Science and Technology Education, which will be held in Western Australia next July.

    "Co-convenor Elaine Horne said the conference will bring together science and technology educators and professionals from around the world to share knowledge and build professional networks.

    "She said the conference will address serious global issues that teachers and other educators can use as springboards for action within their own countries or regions. There will also be a focus on topical issues relevant to all educators who work in policy, classroom, curriculum, research and external agencies.

    "Major themes will be education for sustainable development, world health, and science for life and citizenship..."
    
    Full media release at link

    
    
    
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Go outside and play
    by Steven Wardill
    
    "Premier Peter Beattie has warned parents against relying on schools to provide enough physical activity to combat their children's bulging waistlines..."
    
    "Instead of doing the normal exercise at school and then going home and kicking a ball around, often what happens is they go home and get on the computer or they spend a lot of time on the phone," he said.

    "I would encourage parents not just to rely on schools as a basis for their children to get physical exercise."...
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
    

Thursday 19 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Ravlich could not read writing on the wall (page 6)
    by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
    
    "Is Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich the only person in the entire Education Department who didn’t know the Corruption and Crime Commission was rifling through its dirty linen?
    
    "The CCC sure gave plenty of notice that it was taking a close look at how the department’s complaints management unit was operating.

    "It told Paul Albert on January 18 and again on February 15 this year that it had compiled a report entitled Sexual Contact with Children by Persons of Authority in the Department of Education and Training, Western Australia. That’s sort of like naming a movie Snakes on Planes, you know what you’re getting when you pay the price of admission.

    "Presumably before compiling his report, investigator Roger Watson was a fairly regular fixture down at Silver City, trawling through the records, interviewing relevant people, checking facts and actions, doing CCC investigator-type things.

    "Then, on June 30, Corruption Commissioner Kevin Hammond wrote to Mr Albert again just in case anyone down there had forgotten, to tell him that he would be sending him the draft report so the department could respond to “matters adverse to your department”.

    "He then warned him that under secret squirrel rules his department was “not at liberty to discuss the contents or substance of the draft report”. That last bit is why the Government is saying Ms Ravlich didn’t know about the report — because Mr Albert took it to mean that he wasn’t allowed to tell his Minister.

    "Yesterday, CCC executive director Mike Silverstone shot that down when he said that from the commission’s point of view there was “no restriction on the department informing the Minister about the report”. Not that Ms Ravlich ever asked to see the report, even when the CCC put out a press release on June 1, again telegraphing its moves.

    "That release announced that a 40-year-old teacher had been charged with two counts of indecent acts on a person under 16 and went on to say that the case had been picked up during a routine review by the CCC of the department’s internal investigation mechanism.

    “This and other cases have prompted the commission to look at the capacity of the Department of Education and Training to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct towards students by staff,” said CCC operations director Nick Antich.

    “The commission plans to table a report in Parliament on this important issue later this year.”

    "But not even that little hand grenade came to the attention of the Minister and she said so in Parliament yesterday.

    “I have to say that no officer in my office advised me that there would be the tabling of a report. Clearly no member of my staff, nor I was aware of that media statement,” she said."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • CCC denies secrecy ruling (page 6)
    by Robert Taylor and Jessica Strutt
    
    "The Corruption and Crime Commission yesterday cut the ground from under Government claims that secrecy rules prevented ousted education boss Paul Albert from showing Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich a damning report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations.
    
    "Commissioner Kevin Hammond wrote to Mr Albert last June 30 inviting him to respond to the CCC’s draft report and warning his department was not at liberty to disclose the report’s contents. Alan Carpenter claims that warning is why Ms Ravlich did not learn of the report until she got a copy last Thursday.

    “The CCC, as I understand it, does not allow people to reveal information about cases that are ongoing which was an issue during this last series of cases that were looked at and the level of knowledge that went out,” Mr Carpenter said yesterday.

    "But CCC executive director Mike Silverstone issued a statement that “there was no restriction on the department informing the Minister about the report”.

    "Mr Silverstone’s intervention in the scandal came as Mr Carpenter conceded he knew of systemic problems in the department’s handling of complaints during his time as education minister in the Gallop government from 2001 to 2004. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Carpenter said he established the complaints management unit and ordered that allegations of a serious nature be dealt with it rather than by local district officers, and established the WA College of Teaching, which could refuse to register teachers.

    “I believed that the issues had been addressed, had resulted in a change of practice, whether anything’s ever fixed, that’s another matter,” he said. “The results obviously didn’t end up perfect, but they were a hell of a lot better than they were when I took over.”

    "Ms Ravlich continued to insist yesterday she was never made aware of the details of three separate investigations into the department’s handling of complaints against staff.

    "These included an external review, a CCC investigation and a separate inquiry by the State Ombudsman Deirdre O’Donnell..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Alston Cartoon
    
    
  
  
  

  © The West Australian
  
  

  • Letters to the Editor (pages 20 – 21)
    
    There were TEN Letters to the Editor on education, stressing the incompetence of Ljiljanna Ravlich and the need to remove her from the education portfolio.
    
    Here are some excerpts:
    
    
    • Fall on your sword, Ms Ravlich
      
      "So, Ljiljanna Ravlich has used the last card in her deck to survive yet another education fiasco. This time, education director-general Paul Albert gets the chop. This is the same Paul Albert who was appointed to the position in 2001 with the reputation of being an education legend..."
      
      "What will it take for the so-called Education Minister to resign or be sacked? She has displayed her total incompetence for so long now. How much longer is she going to be allowed to preside over the education genocide of students in this State?
      
      "It's way past time to fall on your sword, Ms Ravlich, not take the head of the fall-guy to preserve your own precarious position. You are out of your depth. Please find something else to destroy. The students of our State are too precious to endure your incompetence any longer."
      
      G R Simpson, Kingsley
      
      
      
    • Time to go
      
      "Ms Ravlich, you appear to be stumbling from crisis to crisis in the handling of your education portfolio. I am appalled at your reaction to the problems with school attendance of Aboriginal children in Halls Creek. At best, your handling of the situation was clumsy, at worst, blatantly political. Blaming someone else is a purely political reaction to a situation where you have been caught out not doing your job properly..."
      
      "Garry Smith is liked and well-respected in Halls Creek. Ms Ravlich, I think you are completely out of touch in this situation and it is probably time for you to go."
      
      D N James, Aveley
      
      
      
    • We're angry
      
      "Well, surprise, surprise, here we go again. Another scandal has been exposed, the minister is not responsible and the Premier has jumped to the defence of the minister and told us what a great job she is doing..."
      
      "Now we have Ljiljanna Ravlich, the Education Minister, claiming she is not responsible for the sexual abuse that has occurred in our schools and, you guessed it, the Premier stands by her. She tells us she is really very angry. Well, guess what, lady, the public is very angry at you for not doing the job you are paid to do and at Alan Carpenter for not having the guts to sack incompetent ministers and for running a Government that lurches from crisis to crisis.
      
      "I am disgusted. Paul Omodei, where the bloody hell are you?"
      
      Dennis Coxall, Bunbury
      
      
      
    • It's hogwash
      
      "It is difficult to recall any other minister who has caused as much controversy as Ms Ravlich..."
      
      "Have you ever heard so much hogwash?... This defence of "nobody told me" is just plain ridiculous and it is time Ms Ravlich went."
      
      Peter Roberts, Applecross
      
      
      
    • We're appalled
      
      "I was appalled to read the report in Saturday's The West Australian about the "forcing out" of Halls Creek District High School principal Garry Smith..."
      
      "I grieve for the future of education in WA with Ms Ravlich running amok and dedicated educators like Garry Smith thrown aside by ignorance and naked political ambition."
      
      Liz McKersey, Doubleview
      
      
      "I am appalled at the treatment meted out to dedicated staff at the Education Department while the apparent lack of accountability by the Education Minister continues to be excused by the Premier..."
      
      Heather Schokman, Bentley
      
      
      
    • Double standard
      
      "I can't believe how quickly the Premier swooped on Paul Albert. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying he didn't deserve to go..."
      
      "I wonder about the double standards, and I wonder how long it will be before the Government starts tells us again that child protection is, and always has been, number one on its agenda?"
      
      Michelle S Stubbs, WA spokesperson, Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse
      
      
      
    • In short
      
      "Shame, Ms Ravlich. What happened to the Westminster system? Pollies are easily replaced – not so good public servants. Remember that."
      
      Sue Kelly, Nedlands
      
      
      "Whoopie do! The penny has eventually dropped. Finally there is some official recognition that the education authority has been prejudiced in favour of teachers instead of protecting students."
      
      A Campbell, Beckenham
      
      
      "Can we please let go of Ljiljanna Ravlich, She is quite clearly out of her depth as Education Minister and I'm tired of hearing about her incompetence."
      
      P Williams, Koondoola
      
      
      
      
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Wales to scrap A-levels
    by Helen Mooney
    
    "The Welsh government is to scrap A-levels and roll out the Baccalaureate qualification for all students in post-16 education, it was announced today.

    "From next September, pupils who stay on at school past the age of 16 will begin the Welsh equivalent of the International Baccalaureate (IB), which ministers claim is a suitable substitute for A and AS-levels..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Premier rejects sex crisis blame
    by Amanda O'Brien, West Australian political reporter
    
    "West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has been forced to defend his own actions as a minister in the state's growing scandal over the mishandling of sexual misconduct complaints against school teachers.

    "Mr Carpenter, who was education minister for four years before current minister Ljiljanna Ravlich, admitted that he had serious concerns during most of that time about the state Education Department's handling of sexual misconduct complaints.

    "But he said he thought the major problems were resolved after he introduced a series of changes while minister, including a centralised complaints management system and police screening of teachers.

    "Yesterday, in the wake of this week's damning report into school sexual abuse allegations by the state's Corruption and Crime Commission, he conceded his confidence was misplaced. He said cases brought to light by the CCC proved the policy was not being pursued as it should have been.

    "But Mr Carpenter denied he should have done more to follow through his changes and ensure they had worked. "I wasn't going to expect, and nor would Ljiljanna, that in flagrant breach of every publicly uttered statement as well as policy, that the Education Department would allow a teacher who had a previous conviction to continue teaching," he said.

    "Ms Ravlich denies that as minister she knew the CCC was investigating her department's handling of sex complaints against teachers, or that she had any knowledge of specific cases being investigated..."
    
    "Yesterday, it emerged that state Ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell is also investigating the department's handling of complaints and intends releasing a report within weeks. It is understood the Ombudsman has received numerous complaints about the department's failure to investigate or respond to complaints..." [emphasis added]
    
    "Accused by the Opposition of a "giant cover-up" and of protecting Ms Ravlich to protect himself, Mr Carpenter again denied that Ms Ravlich had done anything wrong, saying the department had not informed her of the incidents investigated by the CCC."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Kit asks students to decide on Siev X
    by Cath Hart
    
    "A group that believes the Howard Government could have prevented the deaths of 353 asylum-seekers in the sinking of the Siev X in 2001 is on the verge of selling a case study to schools for use in modern history classes.

    "Year 11 students would be asked to answer whether the drownings were the result of the federal Government's policies as part of the case study, prompting allegations that students were being steered towards a "politically correct" conclusion..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Premier under fire
    by Adam Morton
    
    "The West Australian Government was under siege last night after Premier Alan Carpenter admitted he knew years ago about shortcomings with the Education Department's investigation of sexual misconduct by school teachers, revealed in a damning report this week.

    "Mr Carpenter stood by Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich after a Corruption and Crime Commission report said her department failed to investigate claims of misconduct.

    "Mr Carpenter said he knew of complaints about the department, but thought new processes he introduced had fixed the problem."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Big fees a major barrier to TAFE
    by Jewel Topsfield
    
    "An independent inquiry into TAFE colleges has painted a grim picture of a chronically underfunded system that has a critical shortage of teachers in some areas and students who are forced to drop out because of exorbitant fees..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • No hint of Mao: HSC English cleared of bias
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "The education research authority commissioned by the Federal Government to help shape a new national curriculum has found no evidence of political bias in the NSW Higher School Certificate.

    "A consultation paper, which provides a snapshot of English curriculums around the country, does not support the Federal Government's accusations of left-wing bias.

    "A copy of the Australian Council for Educational Research's paper obtained by the Herald identifies all common areas of study in the English syllabus.

    "The federal Minister for Education, Julie Bishop, has accused state curriculum boards of harbouring Maoists and left-wing ideologues, citing a Marxist critical reading of Othello at one private school in NSW as evidence.

    "The head of the Australian Council for Educational Research, Geoff Masters, said concerns about critical readings and postmodernist interpretations of literature, such as those at SCEGGS, had been overstated. "I wouldn't share a concern there is any deep problem," he said.

    "The Federal Government has asked Professor Masters to identify common parts of the curriculum in maths, physics, chemistry and Australian history across all states and territories.

    "He said the NSW HSC was not in any danger of being diluted.

    "The HSC is not under siege," he said. "You may find all essential elements are completely covered in the NSW HSC."

    "Professor George Cooney, from the School of Education at the Australian Centre for Educational Studies, said he had no concerns that political bias was present in the NSW HSC.

    "The criticisms about state and territory curricula made by the federal minister do not apply to NSW," he said.

    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    The following day, ACER released this Media Release claiming that the above story is incorrect.
    
    
    
    
  • Op Ed: Real test lies outside the HSC
    
    
  • Op Ed: HSC: horribly cruel system of education
    
    
    

Friday 20 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • More evidence Ravlich knew about sex abuse inquiry (page 6)
    by Jessica Strutt and Robert Taylor
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich answered an Opposition question in State Parliament on March 16 on a report she claimed this week to know nothing about.

    "The report by former Education Department boss Peter Browne raised serious concerns about the department’s controversial Complaints Management Unit, which deals with allegations of sexual misconduct by staff.

    "Then shadow education minister Simon O’Brien asked Ms Ravlich whether the report into the CMU would be tabled in Parliament and if not, why not.

    "Ms Ravlich said it would not be tabled because it was designed for internal purposes only.

    “I will not be tabling the report of complaints management in Parliament for the reason that it is an internal report designed for internal purposes,” she said. “The report was never designed or scoped as a public document and I do not see any reason for that to change.”

    "But on Wednesday at a press conference Ms Ravlich said she had never been made aware of the details of the Browne report. “I understood that Peter Browne was doing some work in the department, the nature of the details of the work were not conveyed to me,” she said.

    "But the report was released after a freedom of information request by The West Australian and featured in reports in the newspaper on March 11 and June 29.

    "It has also been revealed that the Government’s media monitoring unit distributed a transcript of a radio interview between shadow education minister Peter Collier and acting Education Department director-general Sharyn O’Neill on July 12 on the Browne report.

    "Ms Ravlich’s claim that she did not learn of an explosive Corruption and Crime Commission report into the department’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations before she received a copy last Thursday was also questioned when Upper House Liberal MP Norman Moore revealed the CCC’s report was referred to in the watchdog’s annual report tabled on September 27 in the Legislative Council.

    "It specified that the CCC would be shortly tabling its report into sexual contact between staff and students.

    "It also said the CCC was “not convinced” that the department had an adequate system for handling misconduct allegations.

    "Mr Collier said yesterday that Ms Ravlich must have been camped under a rock not to know about the CCC report into the department’s handling of misconduct allegations and the Browne report, given the widespread media coverage. [emphasis added]

    "Premier Alan Carpenter continued to back his Minister yesterday as the Opposition tried to tie her to an attempt to suppress the CCC report."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  The original

  The poor imitation

  
  With thanks to Alston and apologies to the late John Banner

  
  

  • Daylight savings can make issues fade (page 7)
    by Robert Taylor, Political Sketch
    
    "What is it about daylight saving that sees it re-emerge as an issue in State politics at times when Labor governments are in trouble?" ...
    
    "Each day Minister Ljiljanna Unravelich's claim that she didn't know about the goings-on within her department become more and more unbelievable.
    
    "Yesterday, it was revealed that she answered questions in March in Parliament about a report into the department's controversial Complaints Management Unit, a report which on Wednesday she didn't know anything about.
    
    "Minister Unravelich should resign for what she didn't know rather than what she did know.
    
    "The Government is scrambling around trying to defend a minister for being deaf, dumb and blind to the failings of her department.
    
    "It's an incredible situation and while Premier Alan Carpenter is making a reasonable fist of sticking by his Minister, the body language screams: Get me out of here..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    
    Minister Schultz [as IC now refers to her] scored three hits today, including:
    
    
    • "Teachers at a suburban State high school are running a sweep on what date Education Minister Ljiljanna "Schultz" Ravlich will finally fall on her sword or when Alan Carpenter will sack her.
      
      "A popular choice, at least from a historical perspective, is November 11.
      
      "Even without having to Google it, good history students will recall it's the same date as Gough Whitlam's dismissal and the hanging of bushranger Ned Kelly."
      
      
      
      
  • Alston Cartoon
    
    



© The West Australian



• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • "If Alan Carpenter has to keep Ljiljanna Ravlich in his Cabinet, he should move her to another portfolio. What about health? It is already such a mess that even her ineptitude would probably go unnoticed."
    
    Bernard Williams, South Fremantle
    
    
    
  • "When is the obstinate Premier Carpenter going to unload Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich? Students and parents deserve a far better education service than this mobile catastrophe is providing."
    
    J G Warrick, Mt Lawley
    
    
    
  • Flawed system
    
    "The fact that education director-general Paul Albert went so easily might suggest that the Education Department is in turmoil. Usually department heads put up some sort of fight. I am a teacher and see many of my colleagues browbeaten, tired and looking for alternative employment. Many of them have no idea in what direction the department is heading. They see outcomes education as just another way of dumbing down education.
    
    "The episode with the Halls Creek principal demonstrates another huge problem within the system where the only way you get somewhere is by being a yes-person and not daring to question current methods or develop your own initiatives.
    
    "My current principal, in a school that boasts a 23 per cent indigenous population, has stated that "the problem with Aboriginal people is that we (non-Aboriginal) piss in their pockets".
    
    "Another classic example was when a deputy pointed out that a poster they had designed was their next promotion out of their current school. Forget the good results in attendance, lowered suspension rates, excellent academic results and processes that you would expect schools to be involved with; promotion can be gained on the back of a $10 poster.
    
    "The process of appointing people like this into such important positions is obviously flawed and allows for those with friends in high places to gain the important promotional positions. They gain the position and the students suffer.
    
    "The Education Department is littered with stories like this and until there is a serious clean-out, nothing will improve, teachers will continue to be in short supply and students will suffer. If Ms Ravlich is serious, she needs to pull up her sleeves and put a broom through the department, but that takes a great deal of strength and vision. Instead, she'll more than likely buy herself a new dress and some perfume. Parents and the community need to be worried. Things are not going to get better." [emphasis added]
    
    Name and address supplied
    
    
    
    
• Copying CDs no longer a crime (page 11)
  by Rhianna King, Canberra
  
  "TV fans and music junkies who record their favourite shows or download songs on to their iPods have up until now been committing a crime, thanks to Australia's archaic copyright laws.
  
  "But that is about to change as the Federal Government catches up with the 21st century by legalising what has been common practice for years.
  
  "Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday introduced the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 into Parliament, saying consumers should not be treated like copyright pirates.
  
  "The bill will make it legal to record TV or radio for private use and to download songs from a CD on to an MP3 player. It will also allow for copyright material to be used for comedy or satire.
  
  "Mr Ruddock said schools, universities and libraries would also be able to use copyright material without breaking the law. [emphasis added]
  
  "We want to make sure that ordinary consumers are not infringing the law through everyday use of copyright products they have legitimately purchased," he said.
  
  "The law will also give police additional powers to tackle large-scale internet piracy."
  
  From The West Australian
  
  
  
  
• ABC News
  
  
  • Opposition cites more evidence Ravlich knew of CCC inquiry
    
    "The Western Australian Opposition has produced another document it says is proof Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich knew about a Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) inquiry into her department.

    "Ms Ravlich maintains she did not know until last week about the investigation into the handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

    "But the Opposition says she must have known and has cited media reports and questions in Parliament as evidence the issue was brought to her attention before last week.

    "Last night, Ms Ravlich was questioned about the CCC's annual report, which was tabled in Parliament two weeks ago and revealed the concerns.

    "Ms Ravlich told Parliament she had not read the report, but senior Liberal MP Norman Moore says she should have been informed of it.

    "The report says there are some serious problems in your agency, and [any] CEO worth his salt would report that to the Minister, but more importantly any minister sitting in the legislative council when this report is tabled would grab a copy immediately to make sure they're not in it," he said.

    "For her to say she didn't know about this is inconceivable, it belies belief. I think the Minister needs to seriously consider her position on these matters, everybody else seems to have known about this inquiry except her."
    

    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    
• The New York TImes
  
  
  • No Test Tubes? Debate on Virtual Science Classes
    by Sam Dillon
    
    "When the Internet was just beginning to shake up American education, a chemistry professor photographed thousands of test tubes holding molecular solutions and, working with video game designers, created a simulated laboratory that allowed students to mix chemicals in virtual beakers and watch the reactions.
    
    "In the years since, that virtual chemistry laboratory — as well as other simulations allowing students to dissect virtual animals or to peer into tidal pools in search of virtual anemone — has become a widely used science teaching tool. The virtual chemistry laboratory alone has some 150,000 students seated at computer terminals around the country to try experiments that would be too costly or dangerous to do at their local high schools. “Some kids figure out how to blow things up in half an hour,” said the professor, Brian F. Woodfield of Brigham Young University..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Half fail GCSE maths and English
    by Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
    
    "A record number of pupils in England have achieved five good GCSE passes, but more than half are still failing to master basic English and maths, according to official figures published yesterday..."
    
    "But the proportion who scored five good passes including English and maths rose to just 45.1 per cent, up 0.8 percentage points..."
    
    Full story in The Independent at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  

• Op Ed
  Kevin Donnelly: The long march back to reason
  
  No ideological agenda? Just who are the education unions kidding
  
  "Education Minister Julie Bishop's call for a national curriculum and her criticism of ideologues in the education bureaucracies met a predictable wave of outrage. How dare she, cried the teachers unions and their friends. Concerns about curriculum being politically correct, the argument goes, are simply a ploy used by conservative governments to maintain power.

  "Pat Byrne, the head of the Australian Education Union, reflected this view when she argued last year: "The challenge for us is to frame our position in a way that can successfully counter the culture war that is currently being fought ... This is not a good time to be progressive in Australia; or for that matter anywhere else in the world!"

  "Never mind students being made to deconstruct the classics in terms of "theory". Never mind Australian history being taught from a black-armband view. And never mind geography being redefined in terms of deep environmentalism and multiculturalism. The late 1960s and early '70s was not only about Woodstock and moratoriums. That period was also about the Left's decision, drawing on the works of Marxists Antonio Gramsci and Pierre Bourdieu, to take control of society by taking "the long march through the institutions".

  "Bourdieu argues that education is a powerful tool used by those more privileged in society to consolidate their position. Based on the concept of cultural capital, the argument is that there is nothing inherently worthwhile about academic studies or the Western tradition.

  "The Left's belief that the education system is simply a tool used by the capitalist class to reproduce itself explains much of what has happened since the early '70s. The much-criticised Victorian Certificate of Education developed during the '80s was based on premier Joan Kirner's belief that schools must be transformed as "part of the socialist struggle for equality, participation and social change, rather than an instrument of the capitalist system"...
  
  "Over the past 30 or so years schools have been pressured to adopt a leftist stance on issues as diverse as multiculturalism, the environment, the class war, peace studies, feminism and gender studies.

  "Worse, the idea that education can be disinterested and that teachers should be impartial has given way to the argument that everything is ideological. Meanwhile, the teachers unions deny any agenda."

  Kevin Donnelly is author of Why Our Schools are Failing.

  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• Students of maths add up commas
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "Maths students in Victorian high schools are being asked to count the number of punctuation marks used in newspaper articles as part of teaching resources prepared by the state's curriculum authority.

  "Sample assignments prepared for students in Years 8 to 10 also included a study of the greenhouse effect and asked them to research solar water heaters.

  "The units are provided by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority as part of a series of resources designed to provide teachers with ideas of "contextual and practical approaches" to engage students.

  "While there was a danger a focus on relevant, real-world issues took away from the teaching of basic skills, Barry McCrae, the head of maths and science test development at the Australian Council for Educational Research, said the units on the greenhouse effect and solar-powered houses required the use of sophisticated maths..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link

  
  
  
• Nelson attacks school on textbook's Siev X claims
  by Kath Hart
  
  "Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has branded accusations in a secondary school history text that the Government could have been involved in the drowning deaths of 353 asylum-seekers aboard the Siev X as offensive to the Royal Australian Navy.

  "Dr Nelson yesterday condemned the controversial case study about the Siev X, which asks Year 11 students to consider whether the Government was involved in sabotaging the boat before it left Indonesia.

  "Launched in Canberra yesterday, the study raises questions about the navy's efforts to find the boat after it sank in 2001..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Education failing to engage young people, report warns
    by Debbie Andalo
    
    "An influential group of academics today accused the government of failing to tackle the "deep-seated problems" behind the education and training of 14 to 19-year-olds..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Students slow to take up free help with reading
    
    
  • Pupils find books challenge a real page-turner
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Uni funding for top students
    
    "Adelaide University has moved aggressively to attract the state's best students, announcing $1 million in scholarship for undergraduates.
    
    "School principals will be asked to nominate candidates for a $5000 first-year scholarship. Another $10,000 scholarship for high-achieving students will be introduced from next year.

    "University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Professor James McWha said the scheme would build on the university's history of educating high achievers and encouraging them to stay in South Australia."
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    

Saturday – Sunday, 21 – 22 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Political analysts tip Ravlich to face inquiry, lose portfolio (page 16)
    by Amanda Banks
    
    "Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich could face a parliamentary inquiry and lose her portfolio by Christmas over the scandal of the poor handling of sexual misconduct cases against teachers, according to political analysts.

    "Commentators are predicting Ms Ravlich will retain the support of Alan Carpenter but is likely to be shifted out of the portfolio in the next Cabinet reshuffle.

    "Public policy expert Alan Peachment yesterday called for a parliamentary inquiry into Ms Ravlich’s involvement in the controversy, saying the Minister should be questioned on the timetable of events and her knowledge of the Corruption and Crime Commission report.

    "Opposition Leader in the Upper House Norman Moore said the Opposition would consider seeking an inquiry, which could investigate the circumstances of this week’s removal of Education Department chief Paul Albert and lead to questions about Ms Ravlich’s knowledge of the damning CCC report.

    "The inquiry, which would need the Greens’ support, could be conducted by the Standing Committee on Public Administration or a select committee.

    "Greens leader Giz Watson said a parliamentary inquiry was a possibility, but she would prefer to suspend standing orders to discuss the issue.

    "Professor Peachment said Ms Ravlich was a “backbench option”. Her future would be discussed before the next Cabinet reshuffle and it was possible she could be moved out of the education portfolio.

    "Political analyst Harry Phillips said the Premier could decide to bring a reshuffle forward to Christmas, which would be his first opportunity to move Ms Ravlich out of the portfolio without directly laying blame.

    "Edith Cowan politics lecturer Peter van Onselen said Mr Carpenter, who was education minister until Ms Ravlich took over, would lay himself open to blame as her predecessor if she was forced to accept responsibility."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Schoolgirl became a teacher's sex slave (page 16)
    by Robert Taylor
    
    "Marie was a normal, happy 15-yearold schoolgirl when she first came under the influence of Richard Kelly, the head of performing arts at a top government high school.

    "She was a talented music and dance student but when she caught the eye of Kelly it was the start of a long nightmare from which, now in her 20s, she is only just emerging.

    "For two years, the 40-something Kelly kept Marie (not her real name) under his spell through a mixture of intimidation, threats, cajoling, blackmail and adolescent proclamations of eternal love..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link

    
    
    
  • Schools warn on sex, booze parties [Front Page Headline]
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Teenage parties involving sex, violence, drugs and alcohol are spiralling out of control, prompting principals of Perth’s top schools to take the extraordinary step of warning parents of the extent of the problem.

    "Scotch College principal, the Rev. Andrew Syme, is leading a push to rein in promiscuous and unruly behaviour, saying parents needed help to confront the issue.

    "Mr Syme has taken the radical step of calling parents of Year 11 students to a meeting to discuss the problem..."
    
    “Children from all over Perth are involved in those sort of parties,” he said. “This isn’t a Scotch issue or a western suburbs thing. This is a Perth issue that we’ve got to try to get some handle on.”

    "Presbyterian Ladies College principal Beth Blackwood agreed that the local party scene had become an increasing concern in recent years. She said girls as young as 14 or 15 were attending parties almost every weekend, often unsupervised, where they were engaging in “sexually promiscuous behaviour”. They had access to alcohol and drugs such as marijuana and amphetamines.

    "Churchlands Senior High School principal Neil Hunt said the problems were not confined to private schools. “It doesn’t matter which school you go to, for Year 12s there is a party every Friday night,” he said.

    “Whatever people used to do as first-year uni students 20 years ago, Year 12s wanted to do 10 years ago, Year 11s wanted to do five years ago and Year 10s want to do now,” he said..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    Similar story in The Weekend Australian; most of the News.com newspapers ran similar stories on Saturday.
    
    
    

  • Parents to take action on teacher bullying (page 61)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Parents with serious concerns about the Education Department's handling of complaints about teachers bullying students have formed a new advocacy organisation to take on the department.
    
    "The Education Consumers Group plans to run on a similar structure to the Health Consumers Council of WA, which is funded by the Health Department..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Alston Cartoon




© The West Australian



• The Weekend Australian
  

• Under fire over schools abuse report
  by Amanda O'Brien
  
  "In 2003, a primary school gardener is overheard by a parent arranging to meet a boy aged about four. The parent reports it to the school principal, who responds by directing the gardener to "maintain a professional distance" from the children.

  "In 2004, the gardener asks a Year 6 student to meet him in the garden shed outside school hours so he can "give him a toy". A teacher becomes aware of the child's presence in the empty school grounds and stops the meeting. The education department transfers the gardener to a high school where he can be supervised more closely.

  "In 2005, a member of the public tells police the gardener has nude photos of a girl he allegedly says is a student at his school. Police cannot find the photos so no charges are laid.

  "Meanwhile, the department finally begins an investigation, but not into the misconduct allegations. Instead, it investigates the gardener's ability to follow directions "with respect to raking, weeding, watering".

  "In late 2005, the department starts investigating the third incident - after a push from the Corruption and Crime Commission - but the gardener retires before it is completed.
  
  "The case of the gardener is one of five revealed by the CCC this week in its damning report on the department's mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against teachers and staff.

  "Compared with the other four cases, which portray inaction over sexual contact between teachers and students and a decision to let a convicted child sex offender continue teaching, it is perhaps the least serious case. But it is also the most chilling. Even more disturbing is the fact the CCC says the five cases are not isolated examples. And many people seem to have known about these problems for a long time and failed to act.

  "Two heads have rolled: the department's director-general, Paul Albert, and human resources director Alby Huts. But Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich remains at the helm. Her defence that no one told her what was happening so she could not be held responsible is breathtaking in its ramifications. To date, she didn't know about any of the incidents revealed by the CCC, she didn't know the CCC was conducting an investigation into her department, she and her staff didn't hear seven ABC radio reports about the CCC investigation four months ago, they didn't notice it on the government news summary lists and she wasn't aware of the detailed findings of an independent review of her department's complaints handling processes, which reported in March and highlighted significant problems.

  "The Opposition says Ravlich would have had to live on another planet to have been so oblivious, and the public is similarly unconvinced. Talkback radio is running wild and television news polls blame her.

  "But the Premier, despite the damage to his Government and to himself, as his own role as former education minister comes under scrutiny, continues to support her. Which makes you wonder why. Ravlich is a key player in the centre-left faction, which has supported the non-aligned Premier. And the faction, ruled by union heavyweight Kevin Reynolds, would be unhappy if she were dumped. It is understood the faction met on Wednesday to talk tactics on shoring up support. But don't be surprised if a reshuffle happens before the end of the year."

  Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• Principal acts after boys hire stripper
  by Paige Taylor
  
  "The principal of one of Perth's most exclusive schools has summoned parents to a meeting "of critical importance" following reports of booze-fuelled public sex romps, weekend drug binges and boys employing a stripper whose act involves the use of vegetables.

  "Recent events have prompted a number of parents to approach me about initiating a discussion among parents due to the seriousness of some of the activities that have occurred," Scotch College headmaster Reverend Andrew Syme wrote in a letter sent this week to the parents of each Year 11 boy.

  "Unfortunately, this year I have heard stories of boys lying to parents about the social events that are occurring; of parents' houses being trashed; alcohol and drugs being accessed; of gangs (from beyond the school) attacking boys; and of sexual behaviour that would be of concern to all parents."

  "Although better would have been expected from boys whose parents face annual day-pupil fees of about $13,000, "money never has and never will equate to wisdom," Mr Syme said..."
  
  Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
  
  
  

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Business leaders call for science degrees to be free
    by Debbie Andalo
    
    "Employers today called on the government to abolish university tuition fees for science subjects to encourage more students to pursue careers in information technology.

    "The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said more needed to be done to make science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) courses more attractive to undergraduates if the UK is to create its own home grown IT workforce and compete effectively with the developing and cheaper economies in India and China..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• All-round Country [Edition 1]
  
  
  • Deconstructive criticism (page 27)
    by Kevin Donnelly

    The evidence upholds the belief that the teaching of English has fallen victim to political correctness, writes Kevin Donnelly

    "Geoff Masters, head of the Australian Council for Educational Research and the person in charge of the commonwealth-funded inquiry into state and territory Year 12 subjects, argues concerns about school curriculums being politically correct are without foundation.
    
    "In relation to senior school English -- in particular, the NSW Higher School Certificate course -- Masters concludes there is no left-wing bias and that federal Education Minister Julie Bishop's concerns about the cultural Left taking the long march through the education system are misplaced.
    
    "Masters is wrong. As those who have followed the articles in these pages about the effect of critical literacy on English teaching and the way the theory approach of teaching has destroyed the moral and aesthetic quality of the literary canon know, there is ample evidence of how English has been politicised.
    
    "In NSW, students are made to deconstruct texts such as Shakespeare's Othello and Tim Winton's Cloudstreet from a Marxist, feminist, postmodern and post-colonial perspective. The Board of Studies English stage 6 annotated professional readings support document, designed to tell teachers how English should be taught, is awash with the kind of gobbledygook associated with theory.
    
    "In opposition to the more traditional approach to literature, NSW teachers are urged to adopt what is termed "critical-postmodernist pedagogy'', described as: "This involves drawing on and seeking to integrate into a dynamic, strategic synthesis the currently evolving and ever mutating discourses of critical pedagogy, cultural studies and postmodernism, within which notions of popular culture, textuality, rhetoric and the politics and pleasures of representation become the primary focus of attention in both 'creative' and 'critical' terms.''
    
    "As argued by writer Sophie Masson, the result is that good students jump through the hoops as they know what has to be done, while less able students drown in the arcane and turgid jargon associated with the new English.
    
    "The Victorian and Queensland English studies are also prime examples of the impact of the cultural Left on the classroom. The Victorian study asks students to analyse texts from a range of perspectives. These include: "Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytical, reader-response, deconstructionist (and) postmodern''. In a similar vein, the Queensland literature syllabus favours an approach that argues that all texts are inherently political as "texts play their part in upholding or challenging prevailing world views and compete with one another to persuade readers to accept versions on offer''.
    
    "Western Australia, not to be outdone, in addition to making students respond to texts "using different theoretical frameworks [for example, Marxist, post-colonial, feminist, psychoanalytic]'' and checking "for consistency, contradiction and the privileging of some ideas over others'', argues that there is nothing universal or profound about classic literature.
    
    "The basis for this is that "the concept of the literary is socially and historically constructed rather than objective or self-evident'' and "texts and reading practices enact particular ideologies, playing an important role in the production and maintenance of social identities and reinforcing or contesting dominant ideological understandings''.
    
    "Within the new English, as a result of theory, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is criticised for its emphasis on stereotypical heterosexual love and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for being inherently racist. Even worse, students' appreciation of literature is destroyed as they spend time analysing mobile-phone messages, graffiti and Australian Idol.
    
    "Evidence that senior school English courses have fallen victim to politically correct theory is easy to find. The reasons the cultural Left has targeted English are also clear. Professional associations such as the Australian Association for the Teaching of English are staunch advocates of critical literacy and theory. Both the AATE and sympathetic teacher academics such as Allan Luke, Wayne Sawyer and Bill Green argue English teaching must be used to transform society.
    
    "Says Luke: "We would argue that text analysis and critical reading activities should lead on to action with and against the text. That is, there is a need to translate text analysis into cultural action, into institutional intervention and community projects.''

    Kevin Donnelly taught English for 18 years, is a past member of the AATE and is a member of the advisory group overseeing the inquiry into state and territory Year 12 subjects.
    
    From post by Kevin Donnelly on the PLATO FORUM
    
    
    

• The Sunday Independent
  
  
  • What on Earth has happened to geography?
    by Jonathan Thompson
    
    New research reveals a startling gap in British children's knowledge of the world
    
    "One in five British children under the age of 14 cannot find the UK on a map of the world, reveals new research to be published tomorrow.

    "And one in 10 children were unable to name any of the world's seven continents, the study found. National Geographic magazine questioned more than 1,000 children aged between six and 14. The results highlighted disturbing chasms in their geographical knowledge..."

    Full story in The Sunday Independent at link
    
    
    
    
• The Times
  
  
  • Free places at private schools for the bright but poor
    by Alexandra Frean, Alice Miles and Helen Rumbelow
    
    "One of Britain’s leading independent boys’ schools is to throw open its doors to pupils from all backgrounds, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    
    
  • 'If we want to be a truly progressive school, we must turn the clock back 500 years'
    by Alice Miles and Helen Rumbelow
    
    "The gates of the elite St Paul's School should be open to all, regardless of wealth, Martin Stephen, the High Master, tells our correspondents..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • The teacher scandals that rocked WA Government
    by Adam Morton, Perth
    
    "On April 21 last year a Perth high school teacher took a friend's 12-year-old daughter to help with repairs on a vacant house. He put his hands under the girl's shirt and tongue-kissed her until she ran away.

    "He later told police he "would have gone all the way" if she had not resisted.

    "He pleaded guilty, was fined $2000 and, under legislation passed by the West Australian Parliament in September 2004, would have been refused registration as a teacher. Instead, he was reprimanded and transferred to a teaching job at another school.

    "The reasoning? The abused girl was a family friend, not a student, and the attack did not take place in school hours.

    "The case was one of five sex abuse complaints ignored or covered up by the state Education Department brought to light this week in a damning report by the WA Corruption and Crime Commission that claimed the scalps of two senior bureaucrats and shredded the credibility of Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich.

    "Eventually the report's key finding — that the department was more interested in protecting staff than students — hit Premier Alan Carpenter..."
    
    "A principal and his deputy hid a relationship between a teenage girl and a male teacher with a history of inappropriate behaviour after the teacher agreed to resign. He was later re-employed by the department.

    "None of this was necessarily Ms Ravlich's fault, but she drew ridicule for claiming she was unaware of any sex misconduct cases and had been "gobsmacked" when the report landed on her desk nine days ago. The Opposition had raised the allegations in question time; the corruption commission investigation received widespread media coverage in June and sacked department chief Paul Albert received a draft copy in August.

    "Ms Ravlich, the partner of Treasurer Eric Ripper, later adjusted her story. She had heard "in passing" that her department might be under investigation. Yesterday she was clinging to her political life as Liberal leader Paul Omodei accused her of lying and renewed a call for her dismissal.

    "Mr Carpenter was dragged into the scandal, forced to defend his own actions as education minister between 2001 and 2004 after admitting he had harboured concerns about the department's handling of sex abuse claims, but thought it had been resolved through teacher registration and a new complaints management unit.

    "He conceded his confidence had been misplaced.

    "The Government's integrity was further questioned by the Corruption and Crime Commission, which issued a statement contradicting the Government's claim that Mr Albert had been instructed not to tell Ms Ravlich about the investigation..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link

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This page last updated 17 April, 2009 10:48 PM