Monday 12 February

Tuesday 13 February

Wednesday 14 February

Thursday 15 February

Friday 16 February

Saturday – Sunday, 17 – 18 February

Monday 12 February

• ABC News
  
  
  • Govt accused of denying regional teacher housing

    "The Western Australian Opposition says a Geraldton teacher, in the state's mid-west, has been denied Government employee housing.

    "The Opposition spokesman for education and training, Peter Collier, says the woman was told she should not accept the job if she could not find her own housing.

    "He says all teaching staff in regional areas should be offered help with accommodation.

    "This new teacher does not have or has not been provided with accommodation," he said.

    "Quite frankly, if we're going to attract graduates to teaching, we need to be able to provide the most basic service and that is a house, a roof over their head."

    "In a statement, the Minister for Education and Training, Mark McGowan, says he is aware of the importance to provide suitable housing for teachers in regional areas.

    "He says in places such as Geraldton, there are fewer Government houses, but the Education Department's mid-west district office is actively looking at several properties which may be suitable."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 18)
    
    
    • A-grades a limited test of teacher value
      
      "It's sad that we have a Federal Minister for Education who doesn't know the difference between schooling and education. The idea of rewarding teachers for performance is replete with absurdities and contradictions.
      
      "In my former life as a teacher, I had two students in a class; one had both parents who were highly paid professionals, who was academically brilliant, who averaged over 90 per cent in every test, exam, assignment and field report and who scored the highest A grade I have ever given.
      
      "However, she never spoke to anyone, answered any question, contributed to class activities or discussions. The second student came from a split family, whose Vietnam veteran father was struggling to cope; he struggled to pass any of the assessments and finished the year on a "failed" D grade.
      
      "At the beginning of term two, I asked him what he had done during the holidays. He replied: "You inspired me." When I asked what he meant, he said that because of all the lessons we had done on the state of the Earth and its environment, he had decided to spend the holidays working on a tree-planting project, as he did for the rest of the year.
      
      "Julie Bishop would reward me for the first student and penalise me for the second. If teachers were paid for all the roles they play – educator, role model, adviser, counsellor, mentor, first-aider, comforter, meal-provider, carer, legal guardian etc. – she wouldn't have enough money. If she is so keen to pay on performance, I suggest she does a trial run first with government ministers, politicians and the CEOs of large companies. She could use the millions of dollars saved in this trial to pay teachers what they're really worth."
      
      Terry Dwyer, Warwick
      
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Rudd rockets into league of political stars
    
    

  
  © The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
  Similar stories in virtually all Australian newspapers today
  
  

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Education for all

      "Poor John Howard. He freely admits he is a product of his education ("Forget fads and fashions, the best possible foundation is essential", February 9). What better indictment could he offer of the thoroughly obsolete view of education he seeks to uphold?

      "That system, designed for WASPs by WASPs, produced minds well trained in categorisation. We could not expect a person of his age to see the inter-connectedness of all educational disciplines. Nor could we expect him to see any connection between the policies implemented by the various departments in his Government.

      "Strangely, the people immigrating to Australia from all over the world to sustain Mr Howard's economy quite often have children who go to school. Even stranger, they would have great difficulty accepting that Shakespeare and classical literature are their cultural inheritance of which they are being so wantonly robbed. Our future society can function without citizens able to quote Shakespeare en masse. It cannot function without citizens who have learnt while young to respect and understand each other's differences."

      Katrina Kemp, Bundeena
      
      

    • "John Howard has clearly lost the plot on education. A better piece of "doublespeak" I have never heard. He clearly knows nothing of the choice of English texts available to students, except of course Nineteen Eighty-Four, which he must have read and admired greatly. How else could his Government so closely resemble that fictitious world?"

      Marion Wood, Manly
      
      
      

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Sun shines for [Univ of Queensland V-C Prof John] Hay
    by Tess Livingstone
    
    "University of Queensland vice-chancellor Professor John Hay will be 65 on September 21 this year.

    "And on December 31, he will retire after 12 years in one of Queensland's most influential leadership roles.

    "However, as he prepared to welcome 8000 new undergraduate students during Orientation Week, Professor Hay had "far too much" on the horizon to review his achievements..."
    
    "Professor Hay will now focus on teaching and exam formats, believing it is no longer appropriate for students to be assessed by a two-hour written exam at the end of semester.

    "Professor Hay believed that in many subjects, the once-a-week lecture was on the way out, replaced partly by online and podcast lectures. This left an urgent need for a revamped system of tutorials, giving students more contact with staff..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    

• CNN
  
  
  • Biggest curriculum overhaul at Harvard in 30 years
    
    "BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Harvard University announced Wednesday its biggest curriculum overhaul in three decades, putting new emphasis on sensitive religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming U.S. "parochialism."

    "The curriculum at the oldest U.S. university has been criticized as focusing too narrowly on academic topics instead of real-life issues, or for being antagonistic to organized religion. Revisions have been in the works for three years.

    "One of the eight new required subject areas -- "societies of the world" -- aims to help students overcome U.S. "parochialism" by "acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own," said a 34-page Harvard report on the changes.

    "An earlier proposal would have made Harvard unique among its elite Ivy League peers by requiring undergraduates to study religion as a distinct subject, but that was dropped in December.

    "The changes to the general-education requirements, imposed on students outside their major, still address religious beliefs and practices. Study of those issues, however, would be folded into a broader subject of "culture and belief."

    "The "culture and belief" requirement will "introduce students to ideas, art and religion in the context of the social, political, religious, economic and cross-cultural conditions" that shape them, Harvard said..."
    
    Full story at CNN at link
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • No Tests, No Homework
    'Free Schools' Allow Students to Learn What They Want -- If They Want

 

Tuesday 13 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Balga bungler has history of drugs (page 6)
    by Steve Pennells, Special Correspondent, Melbourne
    
    "The man in charge of the bungled, government-funded Balga Works program for disadvantaged youth was a former heroin user, alcoholic and sexually abused bankrupt, who was now helping Corruption and Crime Commission investigators probe the WA Government, a Melbourne court was told yesterday.
    
    "A defence statement tended to the court blamed Michael Peter Carton's unrelated $140,000 fraud of the Commonwealth Government seven years ago on his history of substance abuse. His lawyer said the reason he could not pay back the $140,000 by yesterday, when he was due to be sentenced, was because there had been a "situation" with his employment.
    
    "Lawyer Mark Rochford told the court the WA Department of Education and Training owed $600,000 to the operators of Balga Works and $200,000 would go to Carton.
    
    "But that payment had been held up because the CCC was investigating the program, he said. "Mr Carton is not a suspect," Mr Rochford told the court. "He is a material witness assisting an investigation." ...
    
    "Balga Works management committee chairman Jonathan Cook told the court that former education minister Ljiljanna Ravlich had been sacked over the scandal. He said Carton was not a suspect in the CCC inquiry. But when cross-examined by prosecutor Gavan Meredith, he admitted he wasn't present when Carton gave evidence to the CCC.
    
    "Mr Rochford told the court the issue had "large political implications" for Premier Alan Carpenter, who was education minister when the program was approved..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Off to school at 2 ½ as parents too busy (page 13)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Children as young as 2 ½ are putting on school uniforms and donning backpacks as some elite WA schools respond to cashed-up, time-poor parents by establishing their own child-care centres.
    
    "School heads say they are meeting growing demand from professionals who are trying to combine careers and parenting by providing educational activities designed by trained early learning teachers for fees similar to normal day care.
    
    "This year, St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls opened its new junior kindy, which takes children as young as 2 ½ from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. The school has also introduced an out-of-school care program between 7:30 am and 6 pm.
    
    "In WA, child care costs between $50 and $60 a day. Depending on how many hours a child attends, St Hilda's charges between $45 and $70 a day and parents may qualify for a government rebate.
    
    "But unlike most day-care centres, children at St Hilda's wear a uniform and carry a bag.
    
    "School principal Joy Shepherd said parents saw the program as a worthwhile alternative to day care.
    
    "Teachers design the program and it also means that you're not trying to drop a child at day care and then have day care run them to school, it's all in the one spot," she said.
    
    "Presbyterian Ladies College began a pre-kindergarten program for three-year-olds in 2003 and also offers out-of-school care.
    
    "Principal Beth Blackwood said the school might eventually consider offering care for six-week-old babies as one Melbourne school had already done.
    
    "Young children these days live in a very stimulating environment and I think many parents are looking for an enriching learning environment for those early years," she said. "Schools such as ours have the facilities where we have specialists in music, art and sport as well as educational specialists in the classroom."
    
    "Edith Cowan University childcare expert Margaret Sims said child-care staff were trained to work with children from birth but most early childhood teachers were not. Relationships were more important for young children than regimented routines.
    
    "Montessori schools take children from the age of three, but Perth Montessori School teaching director Ineke Oliver said they attended for only three hours a day." [Montessori schools vary; my son attended full-time at age 3 ½   Web]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    • Sidebar: A Day At St Hilda's Junior Kindy (page 13)
      
      7:30 am: Arrive at Extend-ED child care
      8 am: Light breakfast
      9:30 am: Junior kindy starts. Music
      10 am: Collage using the colour red, Valentine's Day cards
      10:30 am: Decorating paper dolls with clothes and child's photo
      11:20 am: Story reading in the library
      Noon: Lunch
      12:30 pm: Activities include using smarties and snakes to make faces on biscuits, maths using the numbers 1 and 2, outdoor play, number and letter rhymes
      2:30 pm: Extend-ED activities include cooking, outdoor play, music practice, art and craft
      4 pm: Afternoon tea
      4:30 - 6 pm: Funky dance, soccer, extreme frisbee and yoga, reading
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Stop public schools cuts
    by Pat Byrne, Federal President of the Australian Education Union
    
    "John Howard and his Education Minister Julie Bishop spent a good part of last week trying to distract Australian parents from the most important issue when it comes to educating our children: funding for public schools.

    "This month students across Australia have been going back to school. If you are among the majority of Australians, it is more likely that your children have returned to public schools delivering quality education despite a shortfall in resources needed to maintain all their buildings, keep class sizes down and give students with special needs the attention they deserve.

    "Australia's great challenge is to ensure every child, no matter where they live or how much their parents earn has the chance to get a high quality education. To do that we need to ensure all public schools across the country are properly resourced.
    
    "Since the Howard Government came to power, the share of federal funding to public education has steadily slid until it receives barely one third.

    "The recent Productivity Commission Report shows the Federal Government spends $1051 per public school student against $4515 per private school student. No matter how Mr Howard or MsBishop try to distract from this, their Government chooses to govern for private schools.

    "Government research shows that public schools need an extra $2.9 billion a year to ensure every school student in a public school is able to achieve the national goals of schooling.

    "Because of the funding shortfall overseen by the Howard Government, many Australian children are cheated and miss out on this opportunity.

    "Is the Liberal Government doing what voters want when it cuts funding for public schools?

    "Absolutely not. A national poll conducted for the AEU in 2006 found 66per cent of people believe the Federal Government is not providing enough funds for public schools and 67per cent believe public schools should be the main educational priority for the Federal Government.

    "Ninety per cent of respondents said extra money on education should go to public schools.
    Despite talk about quality and standards, Ms Bishop recently proposed to allow unqualified teachers into classrooms, which the AEU rejects.

    "What we are opposed to is the Federal Government attempting to introduce individual contracts in schools which will force teachers to compete for bonuses based on test scores.

    "It's a cash for grades scheme that hasn't worked successfully anywhere in the world.

    "Australia ranks 18th out of 30 OECD countries on education spending and is in the grip of a major skills and teacher shortage.

    "But instead of looking to fix this shameful record, the Howard Government persists with backward-looking curriculum debates and teacher bashing.

    "It is way past time for a proper national education debate. In the lead-up to the federal election the AEU will campaign to gain commitments from all political parties to properly fund our public schools. Public education must be a federal priority."
    
    From The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Independent
  
  
  • Alarm at slump in number of pupils studying history
    
    
  • How religion and media studies have filled the gap

   

  
  

Wednesday 14 February

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • 'No Child' Commission Presents Ambitious Plan
    by Amit R. Paley
    
    "A commission proposed a wide-reaching expansion of the No Child Left Behind law yesterday that would for the first time require schools to ensure that all seniors [Year 12 students] are proficient in reading and math and hold schools accountable for raising test scores in science by 2014.

    "The 230-page bipartisan report, perhaps the most detailed blueprint sent to Congress thus far as it considers renewal of the federal education law, also proposes sanctions for teachers with poorly performing students and the creation of new national standards and tests.
    

    "The recommendations from the Commission on No Child Left Behind underscore that the emerging debate over the law is not over whether it will continue, but rather over how much it will be expanded and modified. Even the panel's leaders acknowledged that their proposal is more sweeping than many politicians had expected or wanted..."
    
    "If the commission's recommendations were adopted, schools would have to test students in science three times from grades 3 through 12 and in reading and math in 12th grade. The commission recommended sanctions for schools that do not make adequate progress toward 100 percent proficiency on those tests by 2014..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

    Similar story in The New Work Times
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • The Higher Education Supplement has 17 articles today, including:
    
    
    • Unable to stay the course
      
      "The London Underground is littered with them: advertisements practically begging people to train as secondary school maths and science teachers.."
      
      
      
    • Words that can change our world
      
      "Searching for 12 books that changed the world, Melvyn Bragg wanted texts that "changed, rootedly, the lives of people and the reach of (their) minds and ambitions"...
      
      
      
    • Revamp for flawed ratings
      
      "A 6 million project to overhaul the way Australian universities measure teaching quality could eventually help international rankings systems address one of their biggest problems - how to measure teaching rather than just research performance..."
      
      
      
    • Poor grasp of the medium
      
      "English language proficiency of international students has long been a contentious issue, and at last there is solid evidence to support what academics have been saying for many years..."
      
      
      
      
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • The "Monday Education Section" has returned ! [but still updates online on Tuesdays...]
    
    This week's has 17 articles, including:
    
    
    • Notebook
      
      Australia's education systems have occasionally faced accusations of "dumbing down", and it seems there are similar concerns in Britain.
      
      
      
    • The classroom's great white hope
      
      Interactive whiteboards are a school revolution.
      
      
      
    • Getting to root of problems on tree of knowledge
      
      How early intervention might head off children's learning problems later.
      
      
      
      
• CNN
  
  
  • Kansas repeals science guidelines questioning evolution
    
    TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- The Kansas state Board of Education on Tuesday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution that had made the state an object of international ridicule.
    
    Similar story in The New Work Times
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Counting on maths for our future
    by Tony Burke
    
    "Mathematical induction, calculus and vectors. There was a time when I knew exactly what they all meant and they were relevant to that deeply practical part of my life called exams.

    "It never occurred to me then that teaching maths and science is essential to our economy.

    "They certainly weren't talking a lot about calculus in economics class back then.

    "The reason teaching maths and science matters is because they are key skill sets that Australia needs to stay ahead in the world economy. And we've fallen behind badly.

    "A recent World Economic Forum report ranked Australia's maths and science education 29th in the world. We're behind India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

    "This is a serious long-term problem for our economy. Many of the best jobs for the future will require solid skills in maths and science.

    "Skills in maths and science are vital in industries such as mining, manufacturing, agriculture and finance.

    "It is the revenge of the kids at school who were the brilliant science and maths students. They now have the chance for the best jobs.

    "We have to take teaching maths and science more seriously or these jobs will go off shore.
    
    "The jobs within Australia will be filled by skilled migrants because local kids haven't had the training they need..." [And then makes the pitch for Kevin Rudd and the ALP...    Web]
    
    Tony Burke is the ALP immigration spokesman
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • End spanking call
    by Margaret Wenham
    
    "Parents would be banned from smacking their children under controversial reforms proposed by former state education minister Dean Wells..."
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    
    

Thursday 15 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Music exam won't need students to read a note (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Students will be able to pass the new Year 12 outcomes-based education music course without being able to read or write music.

    "The Curriculum Council has confirmed students who cannot read music will have the option of answering exam questions using storyboards instead of musical notation so they are not disadvantaged.

    "The course, to introduced in Year 11 next year, will have two exams, one for students who can read traditional music notation and one for those who cannot.

    "Sample papers sparked passionate debate with teachers saying it was unfair if students who did not read could get the same marks as those who spent years learning the skill.

    "But Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said the course was designed to be "inclusive". It would cover seven styles, including popular and indigenous music.

    "In these areas, students aren't expected to read traditional music notes," he said. "In the popular, world and indigenous music written paper, music students can represent their music in other ways such as (guitar) tab, graphic notation, charts or storyboards.

    "Standards in both traditional and non-traditional forms of music will be upheld and equal."

    "Richard Gill, a former Dean of he WA Conservatorium of Music, said the alternate exam was an "outright insult" to serious music students.

    "Now Victorian Opera director, he said a question in the non-reading sample exam asking to describe visual images suggested by a film excerpt was "absolute claptrap". Another, asking whether a note was higher or lower than another, was kindergarten standard.

    "The paper for music readers was also poor. "It's riddled with the dumbing-down philosophy that's permeating education departments all over the country," he said.

    "All Saints College music director John Beaverstock said studying music without traditional notation was like studying English without the alphabet. "An electric guitar player who only reads tab is only ever going to be able to function in that one area of music," he said.
    
    "Being able to read music was important because it gave students the tools to "escape from any kind of musical ghetto".

    "But John Forrest Senior High School music teacher Les Pierce backed the new course as allowing students to express themselves"It is not dumbing down, it's an alternative program," he said.

    "The course was rewritten after The West Australian revealed a rap song could get higher marks than a student with year of training playing a Mozart concerto.
    
    "Last July, the State Government was forced to delay until 2008 13 OBE courses which were to start this year after teachers threatened to boycott them."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

    • Flashback [compiled by Web: not in today's West]
      
      
      • "Turntable music 'equal' to violins", "Music course a tragedy: expert" [The Australian, 25-26 May 2006]
        "Editorial: Dum-dum-dum down: WA's new music curriculum hits all the wrong notes" [The Australian, 26 May 2006]
        
        
        
  • Editorial
    ...but dumb-down PC rules over music studies (page 16)
    
    "Here we go again. This time the politically correct social engineers in the education system have decreed that music students will be able to pass a Year 12 OBE course without learning to read or write music.

    "Surely, even they should be able to understand that people have had a gutful of their dumbing-down nonsense.

    "Will the Curriculum Council ever understand that people don't want studies designed for the lowest common denominator?

    "Government intervention is needed - yet again."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Alston cartoon (page 16)
    
    
    © The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Senate inquiry set to recommend national education curriculum (page 38)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "A national inquiry into the academic standards of Australian schools is likely to recommend the States introduce a nationally consistent curriculum by 2008 as a condition of Federal funding.
    
    "The new Senate inquiry will consider whether Australian schools adequately prepare students for further education, training and employment. It will also compare Year 12 standards between States and other countries.
    
    "But WA Education Minister Mark McGowan said he was sceptical about the Federal Government's intentions, considering the committee was due to report just months before a Federal election.
    
    "Victorian Liberal senator and former high school teacher Judith Troeth, who will chair the inquiry, said because the Commonwealth provided money to State schools, if could require the funding to be used for particular purposes.
    
    "She said it was likely the inquiry would recommend a nationally consistent curriculum start next year..."
    
    "She said WA's outcomes-based education system had attracted a lot of criticism. The inquiry will call for public submissions and hold a series of hearings across Australia, It will report on August 20.
    
    "Mr McGowan said he had already backed national consistency, making any Commonwealth threat to withdraw funding on that basis hollow rhetoric.
    
    "The inquiry appears designed to manufacture further attacks on the States," he said."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Sneering Premier carps on regardless (page 17)
    Inside State, by Jessica Strutt
    
    "It was March last year and Alan Carpenter was at his sarcastic best. The media was swarming all over the crisis at Halls Creek after a series of reports in The West Australian highlighting the Third World living conditions of Aboriginals in the town.
    
    "Everyone acknowledged that it was inconceivable that anybody could be living like this in our own backyard when the State’s economy was booming.
    
    "The Premier resorted to his default position — shoot the messenger. “Good on Steve Pennells,” he said. “He has ventured out of the metropolitan area; he has been to the Third World, Africa and parts of Asia and seen that sort of degradation. He has now shone a light on it in this State. Good on him.”
    
    "Seeping in sarcasm, Mr Carpenter went on to tell Parliament that he wouldn’t be “pulled around by the nose by The West Australian”.
    
    "As it happens, Pennells went on to win a Walkley Award for journalism for his coverage of the crisis but perhaps more notable is that Indigenous Affairs Minister Michelle Roberts today will announce a multi-million-dollar injection of funds — including a commitment to build a hostel for at-risk children — to tackle the problems in Halls Creek.
    
    "Mr Carpenter’s attacks on the media have become all too familiar when he is backed into a corner and searching for a way to hose down a political fire.
    
    "It’s an unusual position for any politician, but especially for a former reporter. Far from the laid-back, larrikin persona he likes to portray to the public, the reality is often a stark contrast. Both at press conferences and in Parliament it is common practice for him to launch personal attacks on journalists and single out individual reporters from the pack.
    
    "He is also renowned for forgetting which side of the media pack he now finds himself on by asking questions of journalists in response to them asking one of him. A clear pattern of behaviour has emerged, one that was never more apparent than during the debate over outcomes-based education.
    
    "After months of telling the public he was totally committed to the controversial OBE and a dogged insistence that the only people concerned about the changes were a handful of old, out-of-touch teachers and The West Australian, the Premier nevertheless seemed remarkably happy for his new Education Minister Mark McGowan to simply dump the contentious parts of it last month.
    
    "Last May, Mr Carpenter used parliamentary privilege to launch a vicious and highly personal attack on The West Australian’s editor, Paul Armstrong, saying he was “not up to the job” and added “. . . the newspaper’s whole approach to this subject is a campaign and it is run irrespective of the truth”.
    
    "But just like the Halls Creek crisis, Mr Carpenter wanted us to believe that the outrage over OBE was all of the media’s making and there was no real problem.
    
    "The attack continued in Parliament in June when the Opposition claimed Mr Carpenter had broken parliamentary rules by meeting three Government members of a parliamentary committee investigating OBE just weeks before it was due to hand down its final report.
    
    "Poor old The West Australian is running out of an angle," Mr Carpenter said. "It cannot now make the crazy assertions it has been making day after day, month after month...", Mr Carpenter said.
    
    "But Mr Carpenter’s game was up when Bassendean MLA Martin Whitely, jumping to his leader’s defence, told Parliament that the Government members called the meeting because they were concerned that the Premier was not taking the OBE issue seriously enough.
    
    "While publicly defending OBE, Mr Carpenter effectively took control of the issue from his bumbling then-education minister Ljiljanna Ravlich and was working franticly behind the scenes to put together a peace plan to appease the parent and teacher outcry. There was no apology from Mr Carpenter to The West Australian when the Government itself finally conceded there were fundamental problems with OBE and in effect scrapped the contentious parts..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Other marginal-interest articles which will not be transcribed here
    
    
    • Halls Creek kids to be removed from parents (Front Page headline)
      
      
    • Editorial: Common sense triumphs in hostels plan... (page 16)
      
      
      
    • Op Ed [Bettina Arndt]: School for tots of two is too much too soon (page 17)
      
      
    • One Letter to the Editor on pre-kindy for 2 ½ year olds (page 19)
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Uni grads turn to TAFE for job skills [Lead story]
    by Lisa Macnamara and David Uren, with additional reporting by Dorothy Illing
    
    "University graduates are increasingly being forced to enrol in TAFE courses to improve their job prospects, with students armed with arts and science degrees finding they do not have the skills to enter the workforce.
    
    "New data shows one in five students enrolled in some technical courses had completed university but required further study to obtain employment in their desired field.

    "As employers demanded higher skills from graduates, an OECD report released yesterday found Australia's schools spent too much time preparing students for university and gave inadequate attention to other training options.

    "The OECD says schools should do more to help students get into vocational education and training courses.

    "The high share of the low-skilled in unemployment and inactivity, especially early school-leavers, suggests that the upper-secondary education system's emphasis on preparation for university is too narrow," itsays.

    "Martin Riordan, head of TAFE Directors Australia, told The Australian that the rise in university graduates taking up TAFE courses was driven by employers wanting more skills from workers.

    "They've found it difficult on graduation or nearing graduation to secure satisfactory employment," he said.

    "They often finish university but go on to try to complement their university qualifications with a trade qualification.

    "Industry in particular is driving it. (They are) wanting a much higher level of skills."...
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Our kids are bright, but rate low on wellbeing
    by Stephen Lunn, Social affairs writer
    
    "Australian teenagers rank third among industrialised countries for reading, mathematical and scientific literacy, but are below-average for overall material wellbeing.
    
    "In the first study of its kind, the UN Children's Fund has produced a league table gauging the quality of life for children across the developed world, coming to the surprising conclusion that the US and Britain rank second-last and last of the 21 nations.

    "North European countries dominated the ratings, with The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark heading the list, which amalgamates figures on poverty, health and education, and asks young people about their own sense of wellbeing..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Editorial
    Law and disorder
    Inaction means Aboriginal policing remains a bad joke

    "The script writers for British comedy series Yes Minister would find fertile ground in this week's Senate estimates hearing that was told the commonwealth couldn't give away money it had promised to help the states and territories police remote Aboriginal communities..."
    
    
    

• The Hobart Mercury
  
  
  • Teacher posting sparks outrage
    by Linda Smith
    
    "Many Tasmanian teachers have still not been assigned schools to teach at, despite most classes resuming today.
    
    "At least a dozen teachers in the state's South still don't know where they will be teaching this year, while many more have been given a posting only in the past few days, allowing little time to plan lessons and prepare for the new term.

    "The move has not only put pressure on individual teachers -- many of whom are now rushing to make last-minute travel, accommodation and child-care plans -- but also on many of the 66,500 students who will attend the state's 215 public schools and colleges this year, who may not yet know who their teachers will be.

    "The allocation disaster comes as the State Government works to implement its major "Student at the Centre" shake-up, moving about 150 bureaucrats out of office jobs and back into the classroom.

    "It is believed the Education Department held urgent talks in the South on Tuesday with about a dozen full-time teachers without schools, and more are thought to be waiting in other parts of state -- all receiving full pay despite not being able to work.

    "The Government's actions have attracted criticism from Australian Education Union Tasmanian president Jean Walker, who says the extra staff should be used to reduce class sizes and provide more resources in schools.

    "Ms Walker said the union had been hearing reports of teachers who had been given placements only in the past day or two, while others had been told which cluster they would teach in but not given a specific school.

    "Permanent teachers usually are told by the end of each year where they will teach the following year, while temporary staff are notified a few weeks before the term's start, but never this late.

    "The Government should be welcoming the spare teachers and using them to reduce class sizes or offer additional resources," Ms Walker said.

    "Tasmanian State Schools Parents and Friends president Jenny Branch said the placement delays were putting unnecessary stress on teachers, parents and students.

    "She said many children -- especially younger ones -- found the transition into a new year difficult, and this was made worse if they didn't know what teacher to expect.

    "She also questioned whether teachers being forced back into the classroom would be enthusiastic.

    "Education Department deputy secretary corporate services Andrew Finch said final school enrolment figures for the year would not be available until next month and staffing in some areas was still being finalised.

    "He said support would be available to staff in situations where their appointment was made late."
    
    From the Hobart Mercury at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Don't Gum Up Sex-Ed; Leave Instruction to Professional Teachers
    by Marc Fisher
    
    "In the matter of the "gum game" -- the yucky attempt in Montgomery County schools to impress upon teenagers the dangers of sexual promiscuity by asking them to share a piece of gum -- all involved now appear to be appalled at themselves.

    "In hindsight, it's gross and disgusting," says Gail Tierney, founder and head of the Rockville Pregnancy Center, the evangelical, antiabortion clinic that taught abstinence classes to thousands of Montgomery schoolchildren until the gum hit the fan.
    
    "It's a disgusting, gross exercise that no adult should have asked a child to do, no matter what the purpose," says Brian Edwards, spokesman for the county school system, which has now banned the Pregnancy Center from public classrooms..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

• CNN
  
  
  • Commission urges tracking of teacher progress
    
    "WASHINGTON (AP) -- An updated No Child Left Behind law should track the progress of teachers as well as students, a special commission said Tuesday.

    "The private commission said schools should be required to measure how well teachers are doing at raising student test scores -- one of 75 recommendations in a report meant to guide Congress as it prepares to rewrite the 5-year-old law this year. The idea came under immediate attack from the nation's largest teachers union.

    "Teachers should be evaluated annually based on progress in the test scores of their students, the panel said. Reviews by colleagues or school principals also would be part of the equation for determining teacher quality.

    "If a teacher has trouble showing student progress or getting good reviews after two years, that teacher would begin to get professional development. If that doesn't lead to a turnaround, then after seven years the teacher would be prevented from teaching in a school that receives federal poverty aid..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story at CNN at link

    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed: The answer - and lots of questions
    
    Discusses the Dore Program - supposed miracle cure for Dyslexia, ADHD & Aspberger's.
    
    
    
    
• New York [nymag.com]
  
  
  • How Not to Talk to Your Kids
    The Inverse Power of Praise
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Heads want school land restrictions
    by Xanthe Kleinig, education reporter
    
    "Fewer children will enrol at the State Government's superschools if restrictions are not put on the use of schools earmarked for closure, the South Australian Primary Principals Association says.
    
    "The association wants a guarantee that land from vacated schools will not be used for private education.

    "President Glyn O'Brien said selling former government school facilities to independent or Catholic school groups could take student numbers away from the new schools, due to open in 2010..." [Wow... Let's FORCE students to stay at public schools!   Web]
    
    Full story in The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Smack ban rejected
    by Rosanne Barrett and Rosemary Odgers
    
    "Premier Peter Beattie has rejected a call to close a legal loophole allowing parents to smack their children, saying it would make him a hypocrite.

    "Former Education Minister Dean Wells yesterday called for a legislative ban on parents smacking their children, saying as it was "unlawful to hit your next door neighbour with a stick, it ought to be unlawful to hit your kids with a stick"...
    
    Full story in The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    

Friday 16 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Doubt over truth of OBE changes (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The State Government's claim to have dismantled a key plank of outcomes-based education was in question yesterday when it emerged that Year 11 teachers were still being told to assess students using the discredited "levels" system of marking.

    "The teachers' lobby group which has led the fight against OBE, as well as many other teachers, told The West Australian that principals were instructing them to continue applying the most despised aspect of OBE until they received written instructions from education authorities to do otherwise. This is despite assurances from Education Minister Mark McGowan four weeks ago that the levels system would be abandoned in Year 11 this year for more conventional grades and percentages. [emphasis added]

    "Mr McGowan also said levels would not be used on report cards for Years 8 to 10, admitting they confused parents. But teachers said yesterday they were yet to get any clear instructions about this.

    "People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes president Marko Vojkovic said some State school principals were telling staff to keep assessing Year 11 students using levels until the Education Department provided more details.

    "This is leading to great confusion as assessment structures are being distributed to students and teachers have amended their programs to use marks and percentages," he said. "It also ignores the fact that levelling has been officially discredited by two independent Curriculum Council studies."
    
    "The Education Department said it had referred teachers to the Curriculum Council, which runs upper school assessment, and had told teachers to seek advice from teacher development centre co-ordinators. [Pass the parcel, WA education bureaucracy style...  Web]

    "English and media teachers said yesterday the co-ordinators had advised them to continue levelling Year 11 students. [emphasis added]

    "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said it had told Year 11 teachers they could use levels or percentages provided they gave students a grade at the year's end.

    "But teachers say they are still in the dark because the council is yet to tell them what method to use to create the grades. Mr Wood said advice would be provided within two weeks. [And this is happening WEEKS after classes started... Does the phrase "couldn't run a bus" come to mind?  Web]

    "Education acting director-general Sharyn O'Neill said the department would start discussions on the directive to remove levels from Years 8 to 10 reports with the State School Teachers Union, because the issue of report templates was before the WA Industrial Relations Commission.

    "Under the enterprise bargaining agreement with the union, any proposed changes to the report template must first be negotiated with the union," she said. [Pass the parcel... ]

    "SSTU president Mike Keely denied the union was blocking the decision to remove levels.

    "Mr McGowan yesterday acknowledged that implementation of his policy could take some time." [emphasis added]

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Uni grads may need TAFE for job skills [follow-up on yesterday's story]
    by Lisa Macnamara
    
    "The TAFE sector could become the new finishing school for university graduates as employers express concern that an increasing number of tertiary students are not job-ready after completing their degrees.
    
    "As vice-chancellors talked up the advantage of students holding both university and TAFE qualifications, industry and business groups called yesterday for a closer alliance between the two sectors.

    "There needs to be more discussion between universities and TAFEs and there needs to be - from some people in the university sector - a more humble approach to the fact that what the vocational education and training system provides can be just as important, if not more important, than what university provides," said Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Peter Hendy.

    "He said the problem of some university graduates failing to be job-ready had been on the rise for the past decade.

    "And that can come down to simple employability skills and their ability to work in teams to have a good standard of literacy and the fact that some of these people have to go back to TAFE is a reflection of that," he said.

    "The comments come after The Australian reported yesterday that one in five students enrolled in some TAFE vocational courses had completed university but needed further study to obtain their desired job.

    "The Australian Industry Group said universities could not be expected to provide practical workplace training for all of their students, leaving an opportunity for the vocational training system to step in.

    "It is an opportunity for TAFE to have offerings to finish graduates off and it's totally consistent of where I see the system has been moving," chief executive Heather Ridout said. "It does challenge universities to provide relevant education but it also offers the opportunity for TAFE to provide postgraduate studies in a sense."

    "And TAFE was an essential for some students, said the vice-chancellor of dual-sector Swinburne University, Ian Young, who this year introduced compulsory "professional" components to subjects, ensuring students were more job-ready.

    "Meanwhile, an OECD report found Australia's schools had spent too much time preparing students for university, neglecting other education options."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Benefits of uni and TAFE
      
      "Is it really so worrying that some young people are pursuing university educations only to turn to TAFE when they have been sufficiently educated to understand the range of employment options available to them ("Uni grads turn to TAFE for job skills”, 15/2)? And why do we consider universities as training colleges, out of which students should receive jobs rather than an education?

      "Maybe employers need to think harder about how they advertise for graduates and stop expecting fully formed worker bees to emerge ready for the job line.

      "University education is a privilege, and an invaluable asset to any individual or their employer. Our penchant for finding exact square pegs for exact square holes is deadening our culture and our youth. Besides, education is never a waste of time."
      
      Kylie Cardell, Toowong, Qld
      
      

    • "While it is great for young people to aspire to the highest education standards of universities, the importance of adequately preparing young people for other post-school options should not be underestimated. Many young people are simply not aware of the breadth of work, training or study alternatives available to them at the completion of their schooling.

      "Given the climate of skills shortages, schools, business and the local community must take responsibility for engaging the students in careers expos, work experience and site visits to show them what’s available in the world of work. Young people can’t be expected to know about the huge array of career options available without being taught."
      
      Scott Harris, Hobart, Tas

       

  • Op Ed
    How best to capture the hearts and minds of the young
    by Frank Devine
    
    "The drone of agenda journalism - known to Joseph Goebbels as propaganda - grates on the nerves. But you can, in the better countries, turn it off. It is heart-warming to learn The New York Times shares have lost 40 per cent of their value in the past two years.
    
    "Agenda teaching, as practised in Australia, is more insidious and bruises the brains of a captive audience. Consider this homework assignment for a Year 10 class. It is the product of a public high school that is in no perceptible way idiosyncratic:

    (1) Choose two of the following types of person: a feminist; a conservative male politician; a surfer; a waterside worker; a middle-aged matron; a homeless youth; a priest; a teacher; a rock'n'roll singer; an old-age pensioner; a motor mechanic; an unemployed person; a member of the RSL; a psychologist; a doctor; an Asian immigrant; a One Nation supporter; an Aborigine.

    (2) Write from the point of view of the two types you have chosen a response to one of the following issues: the Schapelle Corby ordeal; recent terrorist attacks; war in Iraq; drugs in sport; new P-plater restrictions; Aboriginal deaths in custody; immigration detention centres; work for the dole; a female prime minister; the stolen generation..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Indigenous content for uni degrees
    by Verity Edwards
    
    "Indigenous content will be added to every undergraduate course at the University of South Australia by 2010, in a national first that the institution says will allow students to focus on how "the white community engages with the black community"...
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Chalking up any points
    by Julie Bishop, Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training
    
    "The Australian Education Union is so embarrassed by the performance of its state Labor mates that it ignores the fact that state governments own, operate, manage and provide the majority of taxpayer funding for government schools, with supplementary funding from the Federal Government.

    "The union persistently misrepresents taxpayer funding for schools by seeking to separate federal taxpayer funding from state taxpayer funding, which is plainly ridiculous.

    "Australian Government funding for schools is based on principles of choice, values, standards and fairness.

    "Taxpayer funding for schools is a shared responsibility between state governments and the Federal Government..."
    
    "The Howard Government believes that parents, having paid their taxes, have a right to send their children to non-government schools and should receive some public funding.

    "The Federal Government provides the majority of taxpayer funding for non-government schools.

    "Under the funding formula, the poorest non-government schools can receive up to 70 per cent of the taxpayer funding provided per government school student, with a sliding scale down to a minimum of 13.7 per cent.

    "In their mad and irrational rush to score political points against the Federal Government, education unions are letting state Labor governments off the hook."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link

 

Saturday – Sunday, 17 – 18 February

• Liberals to abandon 'levels' in years K-10

  Media Statement: Peter Collier MLC, Shadow Minister for Education and Training
  
  "A WA Liberal Government would abandon the use of 'levels' throughout Western Australian schools.

  "Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier said in light of the recent decision to revert to percentages at the senior secondary level, it was imperative to establish a seamless transition through schooling for Western Australian students.

  "Mr Collier said that could only be achieved by also scrapping the use of 'levels' in the K-10 years.

  "The position was adopted by the WA Liberal Party at a meeting in Esperance this week.

  "Mr Collier said the Liberal Party had consulted with teachers in dozens of schools and with all of the education sectors before making the decision.

  "He said the 'levels' were viewed as being far too vague and subjective, offering parents and teachers imprecise information on specific student progress.

  "There is now a strong argument to remove levels that describe outcome achievement and replace them with content and skills based syllabus documents for each year of schooling," Mr Collier said.

  "Parents want to know specific details on exactly how their child is progressing and where they stand in relation to their peers.

  "In addition, such a document would identify the essential core for all students, especially in the literacy and numeracy areas in the early years.

  "The syllabus documents will continue to support the curriculum framework, but would replace the levels as indicators of student achievement.

  "For each schooling year syllabus achievement standards would be identified so that students, parents and the community could understand whether a child was achieving what was expected at that year level, exceeding it or still working towards what is expected.

  "This achievement would be reported in grades A to E which is much more relevant to parents and would be widely embraced by teachers.

  "Because of the various programs underway in schools there would need to be a couple of years where schools shifted from the programs designed around outcomes and levels to the syllabus and grades for each year.

  "It is also recognised that such a syllabus document for each year 1 to 10 would not be inclusive of all students in WA, but would be include the great majority (well over 85%), and that schools such as remote community schools, or students with additional needs, may still use individual education plans that suit those needs.

  "Mr Collier said the New South Wales model had successfully integrated norm referenced assessment (comparison of student progress and achievement with each other) with an outcomes approach.

  "He called on the Carpenter Government to learn from the NSW experience and follow the Liberal Party's lead."
  
  

• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Three Rs top schoolwork (page 10)
    Exclusive: Paul Lampathakis
    
    "The WA Government today will unveil a new "back to basics'' campaign in schools.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan will force primary teachers to make the "three Rs'' - reading, writing and arithmetic - their main focus in the classroom.

    "I will stipulate that a minimum of half the face-to-face teaching time for students in primary school is dedicated to literacy and numeracy; that is, reading, writing and basic maths,'' he said.

    "It is now not compulsory for teachers to spend a certain amount of time on literacy and numeracy subjects, nor do they have a syllabus they must follow.

    "Good and experienced teachers are already spending at least half their time on literacy and numeracy,'' Mr McGowan said.

    "But it must become compulsory for the sake of our kids ... primary school is where people learn the basics that affect the rest of their lives.

    "Combined with the new syllabus we're bringing in for kindergarten to Year 10 next year, I think it will help resolve a lot of the issues and concerns in the community about basic literacy and numeracy at our schools.''

    "Mr McGowan said the new policy, which he expected to start this year, was essential to address the needs of a "largish" percentage of students who did not meet literacy and numeracy benchmarks.

    "Last month, it was revealed that in WA state schools 25 per cent of Year 7 students, 21 per cent of Year 5s and 19 per cent of Year 3s did not achieve national minimum spelling standards, according to WA Literary and Numeracy Assessments.

    "About 16 per cent of Year 7 students failed to meet national reading standards, 15 per cent did not achieve writing standards and 16 per cent did not meet numeracy benchmarks.

    "Mr McGowan said: "Some children are always going to have difficulties - children with learning difficulties, children in education support centres and children for whom English is their second language.

    "However, I want to see all those students who are capable of achieving good literacy and numeracy results doing so, and this new measure will help achieve that goal.''

    "The rule would not mean teachers would have to "religiously" spend half of each day teaching such subjects, but during a week that would be the ratio.

    "He said he had great faith in WA teachers.

    "But part of the problem is that there has been no syllabus for them to follow,'' he said.

    "Then-education minister Colin Barnett abolished the syllabus for kindergarten to Year 10 in 1998, but we're reintroducing it next year.'' [emphasis added]

    From The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Liberals vow to dump OBE levels system (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The Liberal Party would abolish the outcomes-based "levels" system of assessment from primary school to Year 10, shadow education minister Peter Collier said.
    
    "He said that after the decision to revert to marking in percentages in Years 11 and 12, it was imperative to establish a smooth transition by using the same assessment in lower school years. His stand was adopted as Liberal policy at a meeting in Esperance this week.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan recently announced that levels would be abandoned in upper school and not reported in Years 8 to 10. However, grades on lower school and primary school reports would still be linked to levels.
    
    "Mr Collier said levels were too vague and subjective and did not tell parents anything. He would replace levels with grades linked to content and skills-based documents for each year of school.
    
    "But Mr McGowan said it was "a little bit rich" for the Liberals to talk about throwing levels out when it had been in power when the Curriculum Framework was devised. [But the Framework doesn't have or require "levels", Minister.   Web]
    
    "Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said throwing out levels and going back to grades would not help maintain standards across schools and hold teachers accountable. WA primary and secondary principals' associations opposed the move." [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Teachers want delay on off-note music course (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Music teachers want a new outcomes-based music course – which would pass students who are unable to read or write music – delayed amid concerns there is not enough time to understand the changes and students would be assessed unfairly.

    "The West Australian revealed this week that the Curriculum Council plan to give students who cannot read traditional music notation the option of answering exam questions using storyboards, graphic notation or guitar tabs instead.

    "St Mary's Anglican Girls School director Kimberley Harrison said sweeping changes were made to the course late last year that teachers needed more time to digest.

    "Mr Harrison, who has served on a Curriculum Council syllabus committee for 10 years, said he was concerned that non-music readers would be rated equal with students who had worked hard to develop that skill.

    "I can't see how in two separate exams, one for kids who can read music and one for kids who can't, can be successfully moderated so that students are on an equal playing field," he said.

    "In light of the fact that we've already spent the majority of our professional development and only just reached this stage, a delay may be the best option."

    "Mr Harrison's concern was echoed by other private school teachers yesterday, and harks back to problems faced by former education minister Ljiljanna Ravlich last year, when several subject specialists called for OBE courses to be delayed.

    "It is one of the first real tests for Education Minister Mark McGowan, who said the course would be closely examined by a jury of randomly selected music teachers before it was permitted to go ahead next year. [emphasis added]

    "The Curriculum Council said the course was designed to be inclusive, so students studying popular, world or indigenous music were not expected to read traditional music. Mr McGowan said he he would need a lot of convincing that music could be taught with students being unable to read notation.

    "I was surprised to learn that there would be the possibility that people who could not read music would be able to study music and get results as good as those people who can read music."

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said that schools should be encouraging students to aim for the highest possible standards, not the lowest." [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Task force to tackle shortage of teachers (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The State Government will establish a task force to find long-term solutions to overcome the lack of teachers and increase its efforts to recruit from overseas and interstate after a new report predicted the dire shortage would continue.
    
    "The Department of Education Services examined the problem after State schools started the year with a shortfall of 264 teachers.
    
    "By Thursday, there was still a deficit of 100, including 82 high school, 15 primary and three specialist teachers.
    
    "The report on teacher supply and demand, a copy of which has been obtained by The West Australian, found that a big drop in applications for 2007 university education courses emphasised the looming problem.
    
    "This year, secondary subjects such as maths, physical science, English, design and technology, languages and home economics are proving the hardest to staff.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said yesterday the "high-level task force" would be chaired by former Curtin University vice-chancellor Lance Twomey and would include representatives from unions, interest groups and all education sectors. [Wonder if PLATO will get invited?   Web]
    
    "The warning signs have been there for a number of years about teacher recruitment but perhaps the problem was not taken as seriously as it should have been," Mr McGowan said.
    
    "We are looking at long-term solutions, a 30 or 40-year plan, rather than just worrying about next year.
    
    "The report found that problems with obtaining data made it almost impossible to monitor key teacher supply and demand variables.
    
    "But the big number of teachers reaching retirement age by 2009 was a major concern if the number of those leaving was higher than could be replaced by projected graduates.
    
    

  Today's maths lesson: X = the number of teachers leaving the profession Y = the number of teachers entering the profession If X > Y, then... [a "Level 8" question no doubt!] Bonus marks if you include in X the number of teachers who have quit in disgust over OBE, levelling, shabby treatment by DET and unnecessary stress. Web

  
  

  "Any under-supply of teachers is a significant issue for the State and every effort must be made to improve the data and identify the true extent and nature of the problem," the report recommended.
  
  "The report also called for more Federal funding of teaching courses to offset the high costs of sending trainee teachers out to schools for practicum appointments and a State-wide campaign to raise the perception of teaching as a career.
  
  "State School Teachers Union vice-president Anne Gisborne said the union had called for a task force late last year to tackle the critical teacher shortage.
  
  "She welcomed Mr McGowan's initiative but said it was "not before time".
  
  "Shadow education minister also backed the move. "But I just wish it had occurred 12 months ago," he said."
  
  From The West Australian
  
  

  • Letters to the Editor (pages 18-19)
    

    • Three more Letters condemning "pre-kindy", plus:
      
      "Want a solution to the teacher shortage crisis? Make their salaries competitive and pay them for overtime. Quite simply, really."
      
      P Allen, East Fremantle
      
      
      
      
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Corruption roadshow rolls back into town
    by Amanda O'Brien
    
    "Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission hearings got off to a snapping start this week with fishnet stockings, hints of leaked cabinet documents, allegations of misconduct and an Irish millionaire singing the praises of Brian Burke dominating the opening day.
    
    "By week's end, reputations were falling like confetti as property developers, landowners, mayors, councillors and spin doctors gave evidence about their dealings with the former premier-turned-lobbyist.

    "After a two-month break, the CCC was back, its senior counsel, Stephen Hall, promising to lift the lid on more impropriety by public officers..."
    
    "Despite ongoing speculation that some politicians will be called, Premier Alan Carpenter jetted off to India for a 10-day trade mission, telling reporters he was not going to sit around for three weeks "wondering what's going to happen".

    "It's not clear if he had his fingers crossed, but the chances of any WA politician not wondering what's going to happen at the CCC is inconceivable. The spectacular destruction of former minister Norm Marlborough at the last hearings and the collateral damage to other MPs, the Government and the ALP guarantee this..."
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Students to get second chance at elite courses
    by Deborah Gough
    
    "Students will have a second chance of getting into Melbourne University's medicine and law courses under a new American-European-style degree system.

    "The system, dubbed the Melbourne Model and to be launched in 2008, would also help reduce pressure faced by the state's brightest year 12 students, according to the architect of the new model, deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Peter McPhee.

    "Under the model, the university will offer a three-year generalist degree after which students can elect to do a specialist degree. It would mean that the year 12 equivalent national tertiary entrance rank (ENTER) would become less relevant in selecting students to study law and medicine..."
    
    "Last year, a student wanting to study law needed to score 99.45, while a medicine student needed not only a high score but also to fulfil other criteria..."
    
    "[McPhee] said there had been no serious discussion about having an alternative exam for the undergraduate course.

    "We are not intending to have separate exams, but one of the things we have heard from many school principals is that they can see the attraction of something that takes the pressure off high-achieving year 12 kids.

    "If year 12 is not fundamentally about maximising your ENTER score to get into a professional degree, like medicine or law, then it might make year 12 a happier year." ...

    Full story in The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    • Learning that lets the sun shine in
      
      
      
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • D for Doyle

      "Unfortunately, it would appear that Robert Doyle is not a good advertisement for English teachers, if his poorly written opinion piece (Perspective, 11/2) is anything to go by. He establishes no clear thesis beyond a vague assertion that John Howard and Julie Bishop are somehow right in their recent attacks on teachers, and concludes with an anecdote about his poor teaching skills that is meant to establish what, exactly? That teachers who can't teach children how to construct sentences are better off being politicians?

      "Doyle indulges in that favourite technique of politicians, the ad hominem attack, with his reference to "leftie edu-trendy wimps". If you don't actually have any substance to your argument then let the name-calling begin. Although Robert Doyle would apparently prefer students to view the media and the world around them uncritically, there are obvious benefits to expanding the scope of what we "read".

      "This is not to say that an English curriculum, national or otherwise, should focus entirely on such texts and eliminate literature as an area of study. Bear in mind that despite what Howard, Bishop and Doyle would have you believe, there is no English curriculum anywhere in Australia that does away with literature.

      "This year my year 9 English students will be studying A Midsummer Night's Dream, To Kill a Mockingbird and some classic and modern poetry among other things. But just maybe I'll throw in a lesson on SMS language tomorrow and they can draw some connections between Shakespeare's neologisms and the creative adaptations of language that we see in the modern world."

      Blair Mahoney, Brunswick West
      
      

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Classic authors 'too difficult' for 11-14 age group
    Press Association
    
    "Teachers are fighting the education secretary, Alan Johnson, over his plans to force teenagers to study classic authors like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.

    "Mr Johnson announced 10 days ago that 11 to 14-year-olds must study the classic writers of English literature as part of a reformed school curriculum.

    "But teachers' associations said authors like Dickens and George Eliot were too difficult for the age group and accused Mr Johnson of using the issue to win popularity in middle England.

    "The National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) pledged to support teachers who put their professional judgment ahead of Mr Johnson's requirements and refuse to teach these writers..."

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
• CNN – from Fortune Magazine
  
  
  • NYC school chancellor: Head of the class
    Fortune interviews Joel Klein, Chancellor of New York City public schools
    by Fortune reporter Jia Lynn Yang
    
    "Onetime Microsoft archnemesis Joel Klein has traded prosecuting the government's epic antitrust court cases for a task no less ambitious: fixing the New York City public school system. Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg tapped the hard-charging lawyer in 2002 for chancellor, Klein has been rankling the teachers' unions and bringing a CEO mentality to education. (He's also working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated more than $125 million to the city's schools.) Fortune's Jia Lynn Yang checked in with Klein during a break from overseeing 1.1 million students, 80,000 teachers, and a budget that's larger than the revenue of a Fortune 200 company.
    
    Apply business know-how to education

    "We're converting the role of the principal into a CEO role rather than, if you will, a cog in a top-down administrative machine. For far too long the system has been run for the benefit of the adults, not the kids. One of the things we're trying to do is drive more authority to the school and for the school to become the unit that matters. I've talked to a lot of people about this who have retail outlets, banks, bookstores or what have you. If you think about change, you think about what's the key unit in your organization, and for me that's the school..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story at CNN at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Elite schools dominate uni places
    by David Rood and Adam Morton
    
    "State school students are dramatically under-represented at Victorian universities, with seven out of 10 Melbourne University students recruited from private or academically selective government schools.

    "An Age survey of 2006 enrolments fo"und 17 of Melbourne University's top 20 "feeder schools" were private or academically selective state schools..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link

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This page last updated 17 April, 2009 10:57 PM