Monday 26 March

Tuesday 27 March

Wednesday 28 March

Thursday 29 March

Friday 30 March

Saturday – Sunday, 31 March – 1 April

Monday 26 March

• The West Australian
  
  
  • People with OBE course misgivings to get a say (page 10)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Teachers, parents or employees worried over Year 11 and 12 outcomes-based education courses have the chance to voice their concerns.

    "The State Government is calling for submissions on the readiness of 40 new senior school courses due to begin next year.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan hopes to head off the controversy surrounding new OBE courses that dogged his predecessor Ljiljanna Ravlich last year by giving rank and file teachers a say on whether they should be permitted to go ahead.

    "Randomly selected "teacher juries" will consider the submissions next month. However, the juries will not have the power of veto and the Curriculum Council will make the final decision on whether a course goes ahead.

    "More juries will meet in June and July to consider the eight OBE courses already under way, including English, and two new maths courses that are scheduled to start in 2009. The WA Electoral Commission has randomly picked teachers for the juries from lists provided by schools. A jury will sit for each course and each will be held for about four hours after school.

    "Two-page submissions must be sent to Dr Christina Gillgren at the Department of Premier and Cabinet by April 13. Jury decisions are expected by June 1 and will be made public.

    "Last year, classroom teachers strongly criticised new OBE courses due to begin in Year 11 this year and 13 were delayed until next year."

    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 17)

    • Who would want to be a teacher?
      

      "I am one of the teachers retiring within the next three years creating the increasing teacher shortage.

      "After almost 40 years in a classroom, I now have an air-conditioned room. Most government classrooms do not.

      "For the first time I am in a school where I can wash my hands with hot water in the staff toilet.

      "It is now just three years since I was still writing in chalk on a blackboard.

      "Working conditions for staff and students remain those of a poor Third World country, Who in their right mind would want to work in this industry?

      "The looming shortage has been evident for years. Three years ago all teachers in our school approaching retirement were interviewed by an independent consultant working for the Education Department.

      "We were all asked what it would take to stay on longer in teaching. That report has never been released and has been buried by those in charge of staffing our schools - politicians and public servants. Maybe they didn't like the answers to the question.

      "The only solution so far has been for the Government to lean on the allegedly independent WA College of Teaching, which has decided to roll over and approve the employment of lesser trained teachers - if we can recruit them from Third World countries."

      Name and address supplied
      
      

    • "I have been teaching young children for six years. In those six years I have worked at eight schools in varying capacities taking jobs I am not necessarily trained for. I am what is commonly known I the teaching profession as a "temporary teacher".

      "When I began my four-year teaching degree I was told that to better my employment prospects I should go to the country - I did this taking my children; but was usurped in my second year by a "permanent teacher". Since then, I have been on the Ed Department's merry-go-round of (lack) of employment opportunities.

      "Every year I put in my departmental application. Last year I had to have it completed in July for the 2007 positions, yet it still took until the end of December to discover if I had a position.

      "My application covers more than 250 schools in the metropolitan area. I am not prepared to try the country experiment again as I now have a child in high school and the cost of relocating is expensive.

      "For some time now I have been hearing grumblings of teacher shortages.

      "What shortages?"

      Name and address supplied
      

      
      
      
• The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Schools 'struggling under expectation'
    [no authorship given]
    
    "Primary schools are buckling under the pressure of increased expectations and the entire system is starting to falter, principals warn.

    "In a paper released today, Australian Primary Principals' Association said schools were being asked to perform the role of parents, and teachers were struggling to impart the contents of eight curriculum areas while allocating equal time to each.

    "Association president Leonie Trimper said primary schools had become too intense.

    “The curriculum has become too cluttered and primary schools are having to take responsibility for issues that should really be the domain of parents,” she said.

    “Many schools are under-resourced, particularly those with the most challenging children and the least community support.

    “Add to this the growing number of children with social and emotional problems, and the system is starting to falter.”

    "Ms Trimper's comments follow the release of a paper, commissioned by the principals' association, by Professor Greg Robson from Perth's Edith Cowan University.

    “The base for taking primary schooling forward is not as solid as it once was - the pressures are significant, the expectations unrealistic, the appreciation of what is needed underdeveloped, and the phase has lost its pre-eminence as a point of focus in education,” Prof Robson said.[emphasis added]

    "Ms Trimper said principals wanted to formulate a charter, with the support of both sides of politics, that would define what was expected of primary schools.

    “We need a charter so that primary schools can clearly understand their role and achieve what is being asked of them,” she said.

    "Prof Robson said a charter must nominate primary school as the key stage of schooling, amid the emergence of middle schools and early childhood education.

    "He said the charter should reduce “curriculum clutter” and outline what primary schools stand for - the development of foundational skills, a child-friendly learning environment and a strong partnership with the community.

    "Primary schools needed new investment and better leadership, Prof Robson said." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sunday Times Online at link
    
    
    

• The New York Times
  
  
  • Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day
    
    States and school districts nationwide are moving to lengthen the day at struggling schools, spurred by grim test results suggesting that more than 10,000 schools are likely to be declared failing under federal law next year.
    
    
    
  • Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care
    
    A much-anticipated report from the largest and longest-running study of American child care has found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class — and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Op Ed
    No Retreat on School Reform
    by Senator Edward M Kennedy
    
    We can improve No Child Left Behind by building on what we've learned over the past five years, when Congress and President Bush made a bold and historic promise.
    
    
    
    
• The Times
  
  
  • Oxford starts entrance exams
    
    Teenagers will have to sit entrance exams to get into Oxford University under measures to sift the best students from the thousands with top grades.
    
    
    
  • Sentenced to rot in their failed schools (from 25 March)
    
    There can be no justification for sentencing children to long hours in schools that are no good to 11 years of compulsory boredom, mismanagement and bad influences. There can be no justification for spending billions on this long incarceration only to let the prisoners out, having blighted their best years, unfit to deal with the world. Yet that, in this rich country, is precisely what we do.
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • "Monday Education Section" [not yet updated]
    
    
    
  • Private schools seek funds for 'needy' students
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Victorian private schools have called on governments to boost funding to their needy students, and have accused the teacher union of peddling the "myth" that independent schools are more generously subsidised than the public education system.

    "New research from the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria highlights the fact that, when state and federal funding is combined, taxpayers spend $4173 for every student in an independent school compared with $8134 per student in a government school.

    "Using census and national schooling data, the research shows that 175,000 students in independent schools, which educate 13 per cent of all students, come from families that earn more than $1500 week.

    "In government schools, which educate 67 per cent of all students, there are 476,000 families that earn more than $1500 a week.

    "The research will be used to lobby politicians over the contentious issue of school funding in the lead-up to this year's federal election.

    "But it is also likely to deepen tensions between private schools and the public teachers' union, which argues that government schools do not charge compulsory fees and should receive priority funding.

    "Firing the latest salvo in the education funding debate, association chief executive Michelle Green accused the Australian Education Union of repeatedly trying to create the false impression that all private schools were better off.

    "She said many families within the sector were struggling financially, and that needy students deserved financial support from state and federal governments.

    "Governments of all persuasions have a responsibility to needy students. Some of those students happen to be in our sector. Governments need to recognise that and put money behind it," Ms Green said.

    "There are schools that charge very low fees, there are medium-fee schools and there are high-fee schools. I don't think it's up to the AEU or to me to make judgements about where parents choose to spend their post-tax income."

    "But union state president Mary Bluett countered that public education was a government responsibility, saying public schools did not have the luxury of charging parents compulsory fees, some of which are up to $18,000 a year.

    "The union's figures — which take into account fees as well as government funding — say that, on average, public school students in Victoria received $1819 less than their non-government counterparts in 2005.

    "Non-government schools have totally separate income streams, and the total combined resources that go into non-government schools far outweigh government schools," Ms Bluett said.

    "The independent schools' research, seen by The Age, was developed by a Canberra-based independent economics consultant on behalf of the association's 213 schools.

    "It comes days after federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd scrapped his party's notorious "hit list" policy, which would have cut funding to some private schools.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said parents paid their taxes and were entitled to a level of government funding if they chose non-government schools for their children."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • A chain reaction to ever-diminishing cycles
    
    Three decades ago most children rode bikes to school or walked — now only 5 per cent do, according to research compiled by Bicycle Victoria.
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Seeing is believing
      
      "Far from undermining Kenneth Davidson's well-argued claim (Opinion, 22/3) that "it is next to impossible to get meaningful statistics on school resourcing", Michelle Green (Letters, 23/3) in fact confirms his point. She claims that she has "statistics showing that non-government schools save taxpayers $5 billion annually", yet this is an entirely fanciful argument.

      "Taxpayers are manifestly not being saved any money at all. Our taxes remain the same no matter where parents send their children. All we can do is put pressure on the Government to allocate those funds raised from taxes in a fair and equitable way — something that is not currently occurring.

      "There is a very simple way you can establish whether there is any sort of disparity in funding between the government and non-government sectors. Visit your local government school and examine the cramped and run-down facilities with your own two eyes. Then travel to the leafy eastern suburbs and search through the vast mansions until you find the expansive grounds of some of the independent schools that themselves resource Michelle Green and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria.

      "Ms Green's blatant sophistry would have you believe that these schools require large amounts of government funding and that government schools have an abundance of funds thanks to the largesse of parents who remove their children from the system. Trust your eyes. Do not trust the arguments of the private school lobby.
      
      Blair Mahoney, Brunswick West
      
      

    • The limo fallacy
      
      "So Michelle Green believes that parents sending their kids to private schools are freeing up funding for the Government to spend on public education. No doubt she believes if she drives her luxury car to work and doesn't take government-funded public transport she is also doing the plebs a favour. No doubt she would also expect a subsidy for her car as she is not costing the public transport system money for increased infrastructure if most people were to use it."
      
      Alan Inchley, Frankston
      
      
      
      
      
• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Principals defuse Prep fight
    
    An Education Queensland official has emailed state school principals in Brisbane's western suburbs urging them to "manage" a campaign pushing for more staffing for Prep classes.
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Nation has been cheated on broadband
    
    There is no question that broadband is a good investment with vast potential to boost the economy, including small business and rural and regional Australia.
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • School pill runs
    by Liam Houlihan
    
    "Teachers are taking students as young as 13 to get the "morning after" pill without parents being told.
    
    "The revelation comes as a government agency called for condom machines to be installed in schools, starting from year 9 then to progressively younger year levels.

    "And a leading reproduction specialist has said that condom machines should be placed in primary schools because children are losing their virginity as young as 12.

    "A Sunday Herald Sun investigation found teenage girls are being taken to family planning "action centres" by teachers and counsellors..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
    
    
    

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • 'Super school' project backed
    
    Six new schools will be built using public-private partnerships, after the final school to vote backed the State Government's "super schools" proposal.
    
    
    
    
• The Northern Territory News
  
  
  • After eight school weeks, brat pack told to ... GET OFF BUS
    
    More than 100 school children have been banned from Greater Darwin buses or given an official warning this year, it was learnt last night. The bans were imposed for students distracting the driver, moving out of their seats, fighting, and for graffiti and vandalism.

 

Tuesday 27 March

• The Australian
  
  
  • Swamped schools need to send social welfare back home
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "Primary schools are swamped by a cluttered curriculum that places equal importance on issues traditionally taught by parents, such as awareness of dog attacks and nutrition, rather than the core skills of literacy and numeracy.
    
    "The Australian Primary Principals Association, representing more than 7000 government and non-government primary schools, will today release a position paper calling for a charter to redefine the role of primary schools and cull the curriculum to focus on education rather than social welfare.

    "APPA president Leonie Trimper called on the nation's education ministers to discuss the issue at their meeting next month and form an independent group of primary educators to draft a charter.

    "Ms Trimper said it was time to reassess the curriculum and the importance placed on different aspects of traditional subjects such as literacy.

    "Are there things in literacy that should be of lesser importance: for example, is viewing as important as listening, speaking, reading and writing?" Ms Trimper said.

    "We would rather do less and do it well and make sure it's well resourced."

    "Ms Trimper said rather than schools supplementing parental responsibilities, the pendulum had swung too far. Schools were now forced to offer breakfast programs, values education, nutrition, personal finance, road safety, and even awareness of dog-biting and parenting programs.

    "A joint report by the APPA and the federal education department in 2004 found that primary schools were also under-funded; for every $100 spent on a high school student, only $73 was spent on a primary school student.

    "Ms Trimper said the needs of primary schools rarely featured in public debate or government policy.

    "The policy paper prepared by Greg Robson, from Edith Cowan University, says the pressures placed on primary schools "may well be undermining their capacity to deliver continuing success".

    "The pressures are significant, the expectations unrealistic, the appreciation of what is needed underdeveloped and the phase has lost its pre-eminence as a point of focus in education," the paper says.

    "Professor Robson, who oversaw the introduction of highly criticised year 11 and 12 courses as head of the Curriculum Council in Western Australia, said a charter should reposition primary schools as the key phase of schooling.

    "The national umbrella group of parents and citizens organisations, the Australian Council of State School Organisations, yesterday supported a charter that refocused primary schools on the traditional core tasks of literacy, numeracy and socialisation.

    "ACSSO executive officer Terry Aulich said primary schools were overloaded with excessively detailed curriculum and were forced to deal with social problems without adequate resources."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • A year of childcare 'disrupts'
    by Stephen Lunn, Social affairs writer
    
    "Spending a year or more in a long-daycare centre increases the likelihood that a child will be disruptive at school.
    
    "And the effect could last until he or she is 11 or 12.

    "The warning is made in a new US study, which says the child's gender, family's income level and quality of childcare made no difference to its conclusions.

    "The latest findings from the Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development, a $US200million ($248.6 million) longitudinal research project undertaken by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, were reported in The New York Times yesterday, and noted that time spent in high-quality daycare centres led to a better vocabulary in primary school..."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    Similar story in The Melbourne Age
    Original article in The New York Times
    
    
    
    
  • Emphasis on skills training
    
    Improving skills training and access to basic services will be the key to ensuring a pool of under-utilised workers find work under Labor's draft policy platform.
    
    
    
    
  • Iemma picks new minister for education
    
    NSW Premier Morris Iemma is set to promote frontbencher Reba Meagher to the key education portfolio as he puts his stamp on a new ministry following Labor's weekend election victory.
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Three Rs squeezed out by PC subjects (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    See detailed story [above] in The Australian
    
    Local content includes:
    
    "WA Primary Principals' Association Colin Pettit said society increasingly expected schools to take on parenting roles.

    "We're not saying that drug education shouldn't be part of the educational process but if you keep adding more and more, then at some point you have to say 'What do you give away?' Mr Pettit said.

    "He said of a charter: "It's more than just the three Rs, but we're saying there must be some core things that you want schools to do without throwing everything else at us."
    
    "Edith Cowan University head of education and former Curriculum Council acting chief executive Greg Robson backed a charter, saying etiquette and bike safety classes were examples of “curriculum clutter”.
    
    "Professor Robson said primary schools’ key role of teaching the basics such as literacy, maths, science and civics was being overlooked.
    
    “They’re the core things, the foundational skills that students need to progress successfully as they move on in their careers,” he said.
    
    "Professor Robson said demands on schools to give equal importance to all eight curriculum learning areas —the arts, English, health and physical education, languages, maths, science, society and environment and technology — were undermining their capacity to teach effectively..."

    "WA Education Minister Mark McGowan said recent changes to assessment requirements and the introduction of syllabuses next year would help reduce teachers' workloads to free them up to focus on literacy and numeracy." [I fear Mr McGowan has missed the point, again... Reducing the ridiculous outside-of-class assessment workload does NOT create additional contact hours.  Web]
    

    Full story in The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • School's cool as the traditional blackboard lessons go after lunch (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Since Redcliffe Primary School abandoned traditional desk and blackboard lessons in the afternoons, students' reading and math skills have improved and behaviour problems eased.
    
    "Principal Chad Sexton-Finck said enrolments had risen since students were allowed to pick what they studied after lunch for a term..." [Am I missing something, or does this appear to contradict the last article?  Web]
    
    "Canning district director Lindsay Usher said Redcliffe worked because the school was small and staff and parents worked well together."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • District Toughens Graduation Policy
    by Theola Labbé
    
    Standards Also Tightened in Lower Grades
    
    "Earning a [District of Columbia]. high school diploma is going to become more challenging.

    "Superintendent Clifford B. Janey announced yesterday that the school system has adopted a new graduation policy that requires all students to take four years of math, science, social studies and English, an attempt to increase academic rigor and give a high school diploma more meaning.
    
    "The policy also says elementary and middle school students must master a new set of skills, known as "learning standards," before they move to the next grade. The old promotion policy did not tie student advancement to the mastery of grade-level material..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

    
    
    
• USA Today
  
  
  • Many teachers see failure in students' future
    by Greg Toppo
    
    "Ask a teacher whether her students are on track to earn a college degree, and she'll probably say "Sure."

    "Grant her anonymity, and you may get a different point of view.

    "In a wide-ranging survey being released Tuesday, nearly one in four teachers in urban schools paint a sobering picture of students there. They say most children "would not be successful at a community college or university."

    "Even more say students "are not motivated to learn."

    "In all, 23.6% of public school teachers at all levels say success in college would elude most students in their school. An additional 18% say they aren't sure.

    "The results were surprising even to the study's author, Brian Perkins, a professor of education law and policy at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn..."

    Full story in USA Today at link
    
    Full survey results available at http://www.nsba.org/cube/whereweteach/
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Schools 'punish' bullying victims
    
    Children should not be expelled from school for fighting back against bullies, MPs said yesterday. The Commons Education Select Committee expressed concern that some victims of bullying were being thrown out for retaliating. They said pupils should help decide how to punish playground bullies and called on ministers to tell schools not to exclude children who have been victims.
    
    Related story in The Times
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Fed Govt accused of neglecting rural WA
    
    "The Western Australian Government has accused the Commonwealth of neglecting rural WA by refusing to fund HECS incentives for teaching graduates who work in regional areas.

    "The Education Minister wrote to the Federal Government in an attempt to reduce the rural teacher shortage.

    "Mark McGowan wanted a year's university debt to be removed for every year a teacher worked in regional areas.

    "All we're asking for is a little bit of help from the Commonwealth with this particularly intractable problem of getting teachers to go to some country locations," he said.

    "However, his federal counterpart Julie Bishop has ruled that out, saying WA should reduce the shortage by providing better career prospects, salaries, working conditions and job satisfaction.

    "Mr McGowan says WA cannot fund the program because it would have to pay high fringe benefits tax while reducing teacher's debts.

    "For every $4,000 we pay to remove a teacher's debt burden, we're actually paying another $4,000 in tax," he said.

    "What we're asking is the Commonwealth to show a little bit of support for country Western Australia, however they've refused to do that."
    
    From ABC News Online at link
    
    Education Minister Mark McGowan's media release
    
    
    

  • Forum considers schoolies issues
    
    A two-day symposium in Perth will today begin planning for the traditional end of year school leavers' celebrations.
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Schools in rural areas 'in crisis'
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Premier Steve Bracks has come under pressure to curb the widening gap between country and city schools, as figures show fewer rural students are completing year 12, going to university or performing well in the VCE.

    "The latest data shows that year 12 completion rates have hit a five-year low in country schools. Nationals leader Peter Ryan accused Mr Bracks of failing to concede there was a problem and called on the Government to make it compulsory for teaching students to undertake at least one of their placements at a country school.

    "It is not exaggerating the situation to describe this as a crisis … Unless you believe that country kids are not as smart as city kids — and that is not the case — then it must be a problem with the system," Mr Ryan said.

    "The Nationals conducted the analysis using figures from the Productivity Commission, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the education department. They show that:

    • Retention rates in country government schools have fallen from 72 per cent in 2002 to 68.5 per cent last year. Rates in metropolitan schools are around 84.4 per cent.
      
      
    • Almost 6000 rural and regional students enrolled at university last year, compared with 23,687 from metropolitan schools.
      
      
    • Completing school is a particular problem for males in rural Victoria, with only 52 per cent finishing year 12 in 2005.
      
      

  "Monash University Associate Professor Trevor Gale said there was a longstanding divide between country and city. He said research showed one of the major reasons for the disparity was to do with "the lack of relevance of schooling to everyday living" — a finding he said called into question the Federal Government's push for a national curriculum.

  "Melbourne University student Phillip Clifton, 21, said his study in the bush had been hindered by lack of internet access and the time spent travelling: "Homework is the last thing you want to do by the time you get home."

  "Licardo Prince, spokesman for acting Education Minister Jacinta Allan, said the Government had introduced a range of initiatives for country students, such as employment support for students who drop out.

  "But he added: "Higher education … would be a great deal more accessible to regional and rural Victorians if the Howard Government weighted its funding more favourably toward regional universities."

  From The Melbourne Age at link
  
  
  

  • Principals seek more pay and more help
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Victorian principals are seeking a 30 per cent wage rise over three years and a new assistant in every school to reduce the growing administrative burden.

    More than 2000 public school principals have warned the Government that their increasing workload is deterring teachers from taking on leadership roles, and forcing many principals to leave for the better-paid private sector.

    The newly registered Australian Principals Federation is seeking a rise in principals' salaries, which range from about $82,000 to $131,800 a year (including superannuation). [Bumping the top salary for a public school principal to $171,340 per year. To compare: A full Professor at an Australian university earns $124,989.  Web]
    
    "The log of claims was given to the Government yesterday. A 2003 study found more than half of principals and assistant principals had work-related illnesses."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Drug foundation blasts parents who turn on the booze at teenage parties
    
    Parents who give alcohol to other people's children at teenage parties should be prosecuted, the Australian Drug Foundation says.
    
    See following Editorial on this issue.
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Alcohol, teenagers and common sense
    
    The teenage years are not only treacherous for the teenager. Parents, too, have to negotiate moral dilemmas about the manner in which they want their child to reach adulthood. Possibly the greatest challenge is in the area of alcohol; its consumption, its health risks and its social and personal consequences.

Wednesday 28 March

• The West Australian
  
  
  • WA students among lowest for three Rs (page 10)
    by Rhianna King, Canberra
    
    "WA primary school students are among the worst in the nation when it comes to reading, writing and numeracy, a national comparison of Years 3, 5 and 7 pupils has found.

    "Tests carried out in 2005 found WA had the highest percentage of students failing to reach the national benchmark in five of nine categories, making it the lowest-ranked State..."

    "State Education Minister Mark McGowan said WA's results, which his department had previously made public, compared well with the rest of Australia when the younger starting age of WA students was taken into account.

    "West Australian children in Years 5 and 7 are up to 11 months younger than students in the same year level in other States and therefore the time they have spent in formal schooling is up to 12 months less," Mr McGowan said. [Am I missing something here? Would not all Year 7 students, regardless of age, have spent 7 years in primary school?  Web]

    "He said the Government had made several changes to raise standards, such as requiring all primary school teachers to devote at leat half of their time to literacy and numeracy lessons..."

    Full story in The West Australian

    See following detailed stories in The Australian and The Melbourne Age
    

    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Numeracy skills crisis grows
    by Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
    
    "Nearly one in five students in Year 7 do not have the basic numeracy skills required to progress through high school.
    
    "The key finding of a national snapshot of literacy and numeracy skills yesterday prompted bi-partisan support for a new push to force schools to release more information to parents about student performance against state and national benchmarks.

    "Despite state and federal governments pouring millions of dollars into the task of improving numeracy and literacy, the findings suggest students' overall performance in the basic skills tests has stalled or is going backwards.

    "The findings also provide more evidence that state and territory governments are failing to deliver on a 1998 pledge that every child starting school that year would reach minimum acceptable standards in reading, writing and mathematics within four years.

    "Girls also performed better than boys in most categories and, despite signs in previous years of an improvement in indigenous students' results, the 2005 figures released yesterday by the ministerial council of federal, state and territory education ministers showed another decline.

    "In 2005, the percentage of students not meeting the benchmarks in numeracy in Year 3 was 6 per cent. But by Year 5 this had increased to 9 per cent and by Year 7, 18 per cent of students were not meeting the benchmark.

    "Educators warned that the findings underlined the urgent need to improve teacher training in key areas.

    "Australian Council for Educational Research's Ken Rowe said the results suggested teachers needed more help and that early intervention was the key to improving students' performance.

    "These benchmarks simply tell us there's a group of children who should have had more help earlier," Dr Rowe said.

    "Schools are very keen to ensure children are offered evidence-based teaching methods - that includes letter-sound relationships. We need to ensure all students have been taught the basic skills required.
    
    "But it's also about teaching teachers how to teach," Dr Rowe said. "There's also a concern indigenous students are not doing as well as they could or should. Again, that's probably because of inappropriate teaching practices."

    "Bill Louden, who recently completed a literacy and numeracy review for the West Australian Government, said one of his recommendations had been to enforce minimum standards.

    "There wasn't a minimum amount of time every week devoted to literacy, and we recommended there should be," he said. "But these results don't necessarily show things are getting worse. The benchmarks are higher and children progress. If you haven't reached that standard, it would impede your chances of progress."

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said the results showed the number of students failing to meet benchmarks increased the longer they were at school. "The data that has come out in these results shows far too many students are failing to meet the minimum acceptable standards in literacy and numeracy," Ms Bishop told parliament.

    "Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith said the Government had to act to improve teaching standards, including testing new teachers for literacy standards.

    "It's not good enough. We need to ensure teachers before they commence teaching have some form of accreditation in literacy skills," he said. "Parents are entitled to know how their child is performing as compared with other children in the same school, and how that compares with other schools in the state."

    From The Australian at link
    
    Related story in The Melbourne Age
    
    
    
    
  • The Higher Education Supplement has 20 stories today, including:
    
    
    • Mathematicians' plea to PM
      by Bernard Lane
      
      "Fields prize-winner Terry Tao has added his name to an open letter urging John Howard to come to the rescue of endangered mathematics departments across the country.
      
      "Leading figures in maths have decided to lobby the Prime Minister directly due to frustration with Education, Science and Technology Minister Julie Bishop.

      "They complain they have been unable to meet her in the three months since their national review reported a decimation of maths departments and warned of a"collapse in research capability".

      "We had hoped there might be some response from the Government in time for the May budget but we haven't had any official response," said Hyam Rubinstein, the University of Melbourne mathematician who chaired the review's working party.

      "Jan Thomas, another member of the working party, emerged from a meeting in Canberra yesterday with Ms Bishop's science adviser, Jade Sharples, worried that the minister's budget plans would focus chiefly on schools. "If we don't fix the problems in the universities, we don't have the teachers, and that affects every parent in the country," Ms Thomas said.

      "Ms Bishop said the maths review, carried out under the auspices of the Australian Academy of Science, was "being considered in the budget context". She said the Government already had programs to promote maths and science in schools.

      "As for universities, they should "implement long-term work-force management strategies to ensure they are able to cope with the anticipated level of retirements due to the ageing of the population," the minister said.

      "The open letter, already signed by about 400 academics here and overseas, is expected to be sent to Mr Howard at the end of the week..."
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      

    • Soft on foreign students
      by Lisa Macnamara
      
      "Confirmation that academics have been going soft on fee-paying international students did not surprise Tracey Bretag but widespread fear of talking about it astonished her.
      
      "The University of South Australia researcher's study on plagiarism and overseas students from 10 universities found some campuses allowed overseas students to graduate without basic skills.

      "Academics said they can't even go to graduation any more because when they sit there on the stage they see students graduating that they know they failed, so someone along the chain would have intervened and overturned that grade," said Dr Bretag, a senior lecturer with the university's school of management. "People are pretty despondent about it.".

      "But the widespread lack of English skills was still a taboo subject, with no academic wanting to go public. "One guy who I interviewed was so upset because he had been told by his superior that his career was at stake because he just wouldn't shut up about this issue. And he kept saying to me: 'Don't ever let the research identify me."' ...

      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      
      
    • An agenda for our own literature

      Literary studies can be enriched by forging bonds internationally, writes Robert Dixon
      
      

    • Division over role for audit agency
      
      Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has accused the states of blocking her efforts to strengthen the quality audit agency amid concerns by universities over its cost and effectiveness.
      
      
      
    • Punish dodgy colleges
      
      Private college operators who take thousands of dollars from foreign students for substandard training should be threatened with jail, a former top education bureaucrat says. And with some private colleges in Victoria breaching regulations, federal authorities must step in, the former director of Victoria's Office of Training and Tertiary Education, Terry Stokes, has warned.
      
      
      
      
• Media Statement: Federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd and Shadow Education Minister Stephen Smith
  
  
  • Federal Labor's Plan for a National Curriculum for Australian Schools
    
    [bit of a re-hash of their 28 February 2007 policy statement]
    
    "A Rudd Labor Government will set up a National Curriculum Board to develop a rigorous, consistent and quality curriculum for all Australian students – from kindergarten to year 12.

    "It will focus on four important subject areas. They are:

    • Maths;
    • The Sciences;
    • English; and
    • History.

  
  "It will be concise, in plain English and understandable for parents and teachers.

  "This will be achieved within three years.

  "Australia has been talking for years about the need for a national curriculum.

  "Each year, 340,000 Australians move inter-state. Some 80,000 school age students relocate with their families and experience differences in core learning areas between the eight separate education systems.

  "A national curriculum is about ensuring that young Australians are equipped with the skills necessary to compete effectively in the workplaces of tomorrow.

  "We want young Australians to get the best start in life.

  "They need an internationally competitive and a robust curriculum.

  "A national curriculum will mean that a student moving between Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria will not be disadvantaged.

  "Instead, they will benefit from an education system of the highest and consistent quality.

  "Some examples of the knowledge and skills that could be covered in a national curriculum include:

  "Younger Maths students should be able to:

  • Problem solve and understand multiplication tables; and
  • Understand fractions, placement of decimal points, and identify geometric shapes.

  
  "Upper primary Science students should be able to:

  • Understand scientific concepts and principles, such as gravity and our solar system.
    
    

  "Primary English students should be able to:

  • Understand basic grammar including the use of a full stop in a sentence; and
  • Meet consistent spelling competency levels.

  
  "Older English students will have a consistent recommended reading list of Australian literature and the classics; and

  "Senior History students should:

  • Know both factual history, but also have an ability to apply critical analysis to solve problems; and
  • Have a systematic understanding of Australian history.

  
  "In addition, the National Curriculum Board will be asked to address a strategy and curriculum for boosting the way languages are taught in our schools.

  "Today, Federal Labor is announcing a further building block in the national education reform process, by working cooperatively with State and Territory Governments and the education sector to develop a national curriculum for all Australian schools.

  "The National Curriculum Board will bring together Australia’s best and brightest educationalists to ensure the best aspects of State and Territory curricula are available to all our children.

  "Federal Labor’s National Curriculum Board will be led by an eminent Australian education expert, appointed by the Commonwealth.

  "The Chair will be a person of impeccable credentials as an educationalist and committed to curriculum rigour.

  "Federal Labor is committed to an Education Revolution and ending the blame game between the Commonwealth, States and Territories.

  "These priorities reflect Labor’s determination to lift long-term productivity growth and build our future prosperity.

  "Higher education standards deliver a real and tangible benefit to our nation’s economy, lifting productivity and allowing people to get better jobs.

  "There are considerable strengths in each of the State and Territory systems. Federal Labor is determined to ensure the national curriculum builds on these strengths. It is about quality up, not down.

  "The National Curriculum Board will include representation from the Catholic and Independent Schools sectors.

  "A high quality education is a key driver of productivity growth and is the best means of securing the nation’s long term prosperity.

  "Today’s announcement is the third chapter in Labor’s Eduction Revolution. It builds on Federal Labor’s plans to:

  • Invest $450 million to provide four year olds with 15 hours a week of high quality early childhood education; and
  • Provide $111 million to encourage students to study maths and science at university and use their degrees within the maths and sciences professions, particularly, teaching.
    
    

  "For Australian families, it’s not just a matter of seeing that our kids get an education, but ensuring that they get a high quality education."
  
  
  
  

• Media Statement: Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop
  
  
  • Higher Standards needed in Literacy and Numeracy
    
    “The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, today expressed concern that results released today from literacy and numeracy tests conducted in 2005 show that the number of students failing to meet benchmarks increased the longer they were at school.

    “In 2005, the percentage of students not meeting the benchmarks in numeracy in Year 3 was 6%, however, by Year 5 this had increased to 9% and by Year 7, 18% of students were not meeting the benchmark. Results for Year 7 students also show that 10% did not meet the reading benchmark and 8% did not meet the writing benchmark,” Minister Bishop said.

    “The Australian Government has provided an additional $1.8 billion over 2005-2008 to State Government and non-government schools to specifically lift standards in literacy and numeracy, and I am concerned that this money is not being used to good effect.

    “It concerns me that too many students are still failing to meet these minimum standards. Reading, writing and mathematics are fundamental life skills that every person needs for further education, employment and participation in society.

    “The Australian Government is also providing $20.6 million for the Reading Assistance Voucher programme which will enable parents and caregivers of eligible children to receive up to $700 worth of reading tuition for their child. This supports students who did not meet the Year 3 national benchmark for reading in 2006.

    “Also, 36% of Indigenous Year 7 students did not meet the reading benchmark, 28% did not meet the writing benchmark, and 51% did not meet the numeracy benchmark.

    “The Australian Government has committed $1.9 billion to Indigenous specific education programmes over 2005 to 2008, including $1.1 billion under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. Resources will be directed towards areas of the greatest need, particularly remote areas, and towards proven programmes and projects.

    “I look forward to the implementation of the first national literacy and numeracy assessments in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in 2008, which will more quickly provide comparative information about standards throughout Australia.”
    
    
    

• The Times
  
  
  • Parents: tutors are the right answer
    
    Pupils and their parents are increasingly turning to tutors for an edge over classmates for jobs and university places
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Concerned parents buying up body armour for teenagers
    
    Anxious parents are buying body armour for their children after the recent spate of highly publicised fatal stabbings in London.
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • The "Monday Education Section" has updated and has 12 stories, including:
    
    
    • Libraries close their books
      
      Technology is becoming the lifeblood of libraries.
      
      
      
    • Graduates fail to meet demand
      
      Too few graduates are arriving in the workforce to address Australia's skills shortage, despite a growing reliance on overseas-trained professionals to fill the gap, a new study has found.
      
      
      
    • 2 much txt can = ill-advised teen sex
      
      Instant technology could be leading teens to false intimacies.
      
      
      
    • The critical edge
      
      It takes clear thinking to make a compelling argument.
      
      
      
    • Just kidding around
      
      The back-row clown has gone to the top of the class, with new programs harnessing humour as a learning tool.
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    One HECS of a broader solution
    by Ross Gittins
    
    "... In his book Government Managing Risk, published by Routledge, Professor Bruce Chapman, of the Australian National University, expounds on a relatively new instrument governments can use to manage risk, "income-contingent loans". These are particularly useful for providing default insurance and consumption smoothing.

    "Never heard of it? Of course you have. You know it as HECS - the higher education contribution scheme. If you've always thought of HECS as just an impost on our young people you haven't understood its subtleties. The impost is the government's requirement that uni students make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition.

    "In some other countries, most would have to take out a commercial loan to pay their tuition fees. But not here - here they're able to pay with HECS. One advantage of HECS is that the interest rate charged is no higher than the inflation rate - usually only 2 or 3 per cent a year.

    "But the other great attraction of HECS is that repayments are income-contingent. That is, they vary with your income. You don't have to make any repayments until your income exceeds about $38,000 a year and thereafter the size of your repayments rises with your income according to a sliding scale.

    "With an ordinary commercial loan, you're required to make fixed, predetermined repayments come hell or high water. With HECS, if your income falls for any reason, the size of your repayments falls, too. If you lost your job and couldn't find another, so that your income fell back below $38,000, your repayments would cease for as long as you remained below the threshold.

    "This is why income-contingent loans are said to involve default insurance. Being unable to make repayments doesn't put you in default of the loan contract. And you can see how repayments that vary with your income help to smooth your consumption spending.

    "In these ways HECS, being a form of income-contingent loan, turns out to be an instrument government uses to help students manage the risks they run in incurring debts to pay their tuition fees..."
    
    [Discussion of other potential uses for income-contingent loans.]
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Some private colleges are visa factories: study
    
    A loophole in the skilled migration program has turned private colleges into visa factories, a study published in the latest issue of a Monash University journal has found.
    
    
    
    
  • Video games steer men down rocky road to risky driving
    
    A wasted youth spent in video game parlours could turn you into an aggressive, dangerous driver, but only if you're male. This prognosis is suggested in a new overseas study which has examined the link between playing computer-generated car racing games and risk-taking behaviour on German motorways.

 

 

Thursday 29 March

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • TAFE colleges lobby for student loans
    
    TAFE colleges will push for HECS-style loans for their students as part of an overhaul of the sector to address trade skills shortages.
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Office of Shared Services becoming 'financial black hole'
    
    "... "We have got an issue in our public sector," [Alan Carpenter] said.

    "We're finding it difficult to attract enough quality people, outstanding people, into our public sector..." [Most teachers would be aware of this.  Web]
    
    Full story at ABC News Online at link
    
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • McLean Students Sue Anti-Cheating Service
    by Maria Glod
    
    Plaintiffs Say Company's Database of Term Papers, Essays Violates Copyright Laws
    
    "Two McLean High School students have launched a court challenge against a California company hired by their school to catch cheaters, claiming the anti-plagiarism service violates copyright laws.

    "The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, seeks $900,000 in damages from the for-profit service known as Turnitin. The service seeks to root out cheaters by comparing student term papers and essays against a database of more than 22 million student papers as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. In the process, the student papers are added to the database.

    "Two Arizona high school students also are plaintiffs. None of the students is named in the lawsuit because they are minors.

    "All of these kids are essentially straight-A students, and they have no interest in plagiarizing," said Robert A. Vanderhye, a McLean attorney representing the students pro bono. "The problem with [Turnitin] is the archiving of the documents. They are violating a right these students have to be in control of their own property." ... [Go students! A private company has NO RIGHT to copy students' papers without their permission.  Web]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    

  • How About Some Homework On Correlation vs. Causation?
    
    
    
  • For a Change, Students Critique Administrators and Teachers
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Ministers 'blind' to review of testing
    
    A senior government exams adviser has accused ministers of "wilful blindness" in rejecting calls for an inquiry into the national curriculum testing for two million children a year. The decision means they have in effect vetoed any relaxing of the current testing regime - which academics claim has turned UK children into the most tested in the Western world.

Friday 30 March

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Radical ideas in mix for teacher shortage (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "More students could be taught by fly-in, fly-out teachers or study by correspondence under a raft of ideas being examined by a task force set up to tackle the State’s growing teacher shortage.
    
    "The task force will question whether the traditional concept of one teacher in front of a classroom of 30 children is an outdated notion of education and should be replaced in some cases by “alternative delivery strategies”.
    

    "Set up to provide advice to Education Minister Mark McGowan, the task force would also consider bonus superannuation payments, improved long-service leave entitlements and phased retirement plans to provide incentives for baby-boomer teachers to stay on longer, task force chairman Lance Twomey said yesterday.
    
    “They will all be considered along the way — nothing like that is to be excluded,” he said. “At the moment the upper ends of career progression all involve people leaving the classroom and becoming managers and it’s very clear that you’ve got to have people stay in the classroom, it’s also clear that you’ve got to provide an incentive for that.”
    
    "State schools were scrambling to find enough teachers to fill more than 260 vacancies at the start of this year and recent forecasts by the Education Department revealed WA could face a shortfall of up to 3000 teachers by 2012, with one in three teachers likely to retire in the next five years.
    
    "Professor Twomey, a former Curtin University vice-chancellor, said the task force had to look at other methods to deliver education in remote areas using fewer teachers.
    
    “Alternative delivery is an area that we’ll be putting a lot of time into,” he said. “I think that’s probably the critical issue — how do you get science taught when there aren’t any science teachers? How do you get French taught when no one in that area is a French scholar? There are all sorts of ways of doing that.
    
    “You’ve got everything from CDROMs through to (internet) chat rooms, podcasts, through to having people work in an area with a tutor and having experts fly up and down or bringing students from remote locations together into an area where they can work together,” he said.
    
    "Professor Twomey said people had to brace for the possibility that schools could not provide a teacher for every classroom. [emphasis added]
    
    “If we just don’t have them we don’t have a choice,” he said. “I think we need to begin to prepare for that now.”
    
    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said it would be a sad day if schools gave up trying to provide a teacher for every classroom.
    
    “We’re talking about vulnerable youth that need direction, they need coherent strategies from qualified professionals,” he said.
    
    "The task force is due to finish its final report by the end of the year."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Northern Territory News
  
  
  • NT fails reading grade
    by Pheobe Stewart
    
    "Northern Territory students are failing to reach the minimum level of literacy and numeracy skills, according to the latest results.
    
    "The 2006 Multilevel Assessment Program shows that more than 60 per cent of remote Territory students in Years 3, 5 and 7 failed the national benchmark in reading and writing. Education Minister Paul Henderson said attendance rates and the level of English spoken at home had influenced the results.

    "The messages are clear: we must focus our energies on getting and keeping students at school and concentrate on the educational basics -- numeracy and literacy," he said.

    "The Education Department's Ken Davies said school attendance rates in remote communities were a concern.

    "We've got very good acceleration literacy programs rolling out across 100 schools, which is closing the gap," he said. "But what we need is parents and communities getting students to school seven days out of 10."

    "Mr Davies said students from Darwin and Palmerston had achieved comparable results to other jurisdiction. But Opposition education spokesman Terry Mills said the new results were "tragic". "In 22 out of 27 categories, Northern Territory students are below benchmarks," he said.

    "He said outcomes-based education had no "clear academic standards that are measured throughout the process". [emphasis added]

    "Mr Davies said the NT curriculum would be reviewed in 12 to 18 months to bring it in line with national requirements."
    
    From The Northern Territory News at link
    
    
    

• USA Today
  
  
  • Study gives teachers barely passing grade in classroom
    by Greg Toppo
    
    "The typical child in the USA stands only a one-in-14 chance of having a consistently rich, supportive elementary school experience, say researchers who looked at what happens daily in thousands of classrooms.

    "The findings, published today in the weekly magazine Science, take teachers to task for spending too much time on basic reading and math skills and not enough on problem-solving, reasoning, science and social studies. [emphasis added] They also suggest that U.S. education focuses too much on teacher qualifications and not enough on teachers being engaging and supportive.

    "Funded by the National Institutes of Health, educational researchers spent thousands of hours in more than 2,500 first-, third- and fifth-grade classrooms, tracking kids through elementary school. It is among the largest studies done of U.S. classrooms, producing a detailed look at the typical kid's day.

    "The researchers found a few bright spots — kids use time well, for one. But they found just as many signs that classrooms can be dull, bleak places where kids don't get a lot of teacher feedback or face time.

    "Among the findings on what teachers and students did and how they interacted:

    • Fifth-graders spent 91.2% of class time in their seats listening to a teacher or working alone, and only 7% working in small groups, which foster social skills and critical thinking. Findings were similar in first and third grades.

    • In fifth grade, 62% of instructional time was in literacy or math; only 24% was devoted to social studies or science.

    • About one in seven (14%) kids had a consistently high-quality "instructional climate" all three years studied. Most classrooms had a fairly healthy "emotional climate," but only 7% of students consistently had classrooms high in both. There was no difference between public and private schools.

    "Although all teachers surveyed had bachelor's degrees — and 44% had a master's — it didn't mean that their classrooms were productive. The typical teacher scored only 3.6 out of seven points for "richness of instructional methods," and 3.4 for providing "evaluative feedback" to students on their work.

    "Whether a teacher was highly qualified, had many years of experience or earned more mattered little, says lead researcher Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia.

    "Of the standard measures studied, "none of them makes a noticeable difference," he said.

    "Prior research has shown that highly skilled, engaging teachers can eliminate achievement gaps between rich and poor kids. Pianta says his new findings support that conclusion and suggest policymakers should focus more on how individual teachers can improve on these measures.

    "Kathy Schultz, director of teacher education at the University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of education, says studying how teachers teach is helpful, but ignores the reality of larger mandates such as the federal No Child Left Behind law.

    "Teachers, she says, are under enormous pressure to increase basic skills."
    
    From USA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Times
  
  
  • Lessons in how to walk
    by Alexandra Frean, Education Editor
    
    "National examinations on subjects such as history or geography should be replaced with tests on life skills such as walking and thinking, teachers’ leaders will say today.

    "The Association of Teachers and Lecturers wants the national curriculum scrapped and the testing system abolished.

    "Martin Johnson, its acting deputy general secretary, said that teachers should be able to adapt the subject content of lessons according to local need and demand and to focus on teaching pupils skills they would need in adult life.

    "These would include “the full range of physical, personal and interpersonal, creative, ethical, social and political, learning and thinking, as well as academic skills”.

    "The new tests would assess essential skills such as manual dexterity and the ability to use tools, to cycle or to to walk in a variety of styles.

    “There’s a lot to learn about how to walk,” Mr Johnson said. “If you were going out for a Sunday afternoon stroll you might walk in one way. If you are trying to catch the train you might walk in another way and if you are doing a day’s cliff walk you might walk in another way.

    “We need a nation of people who understand their bodies and can use their bodies effectively.”
    
    From The Times at link
    
    Similar story in The Guardian

    "For the state to suggest that some knowledge should be privileged over other knowledge is a bit totalitarian in a 21st century environment."
    
    

• The Australian
  

• Plan for TAFE to go into worksites
  by Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
  
  "TAFE colleges will set their own student fees and offer flying squads of trainers for workplace classrooms under a government blueprint for education reform.
  
  "Newly appointed Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb has outlined his vision of more flexible training arrangements and colleges able to enjoy the same autonomy as universities.

  "Mr Robb also proposed a new online computer training system for TAFE colleges, allowing more workers, students and stay-at-home parents to study away from the classroom.

  "Under his plan, TAFE colleges would become more entrepreneurial. They will be allowed to keep profits from innovative course offerings and send trainers to work sites rather than forcing employers to let their staff have time off to travel to education centres.

  "Mr Robb said reform was vital to meet the nation's labour force requirements.

  "The whole four-walls, classroom mentality of TAFE has to change," he told The Australian yesterday.

  "It's about being able to work with local industry on designing programs which can be delivered in the workplace, at a price. So that an employer comes along and says, 'I've got seven workers, I am not big enough to release them to come and do training'. So (TAFEs) could design a program and say we will be there at 4pm, three days a week or we will do that but also provide online. Whatever it takes."

  "Mr Robb also flagged future spending in co-operation with the states on upgrading online tuition resources for TAFE colleges. "There's been certain platforms developed for online learning with the states. I am looking at how we can take that to another level," he said.

  "Can we create a network, a platform that created a nationwide network that's accessible to companies, to TAFEs, to private providers and to individuals?"

  "Although the states retain regulatory responsibility for the sector and provide about two-thirds of TAFE funding, to the commonwealth's one-third, Mr Robb insisted colleges should be given the freedom to set their own fees..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  

• Uni's US-style syllabus a tough sell
  by Lisa Macnamara
  
  "Melbourne University has conceded it is facing an uphill battle to convince students to enrol in its new US-style graduate school curriculum.
  
  "As the campus prepares to unleash a fresh offensive next month to sell the radical syllabus, vice-chancellor Glyn Davis yesterday admitted the six new generalist undergraduate degrees might be a tough sell to parents and school leavers.

  "We're expecting a couple of difficult years; that's the price of changing," Professor Davis said.

  "We're expecting some turbulence over the next two to three years until people can see what we think the merits of the system are.

  "It's an external risk that parents and teachers and students who are not used to this system will say: 'I think I better stay with something I know because I'm not necessarily yet persuaded'."

  "The campus will pour $85million into the new model, which will involve replacing hundreds of undergraduate courses with six "new generation" degrees as well as a series of graduate schools that will be rolled out from next year, starting with law and architecture..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  Similar story in The Melbourne Age
  
  
  

• The Brisbane Courier Mail
  
  
  • Editorial
    RU4real?
    
    "Parents, teachers and employers who understand the importance of reading and writing skills will be unimpressed with QUT education professor Erica McWilliam's claims that poor spellers who can tap out a fast text message deserve credit for their "digital literacy".

    "Fast communication is important, and texting, in some form, is probably here to stay.

    "But in no way does this diminish the importance of correct spelling and grammar, clear expression and comprehension, which remain the foundations of learning.

    "CUL8R just won't do."
    
    From The Brisbane Courier Mail at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Teacher's classroom chaos claim
    
    A State secondary teacher has been accused of letting her students fight, swear and scuffle in her classroom.
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Former student sues school
    
    A partially blind man is suing one of the state's elite private schools for "criticising, belittling and intimidating" him as a student.
    
    

 

Saturday – Sunday, 31 March – 1 April

• The West Australian
  
  
  • OBE rollback on marking ‘just cosmetic’ (page 63)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "The Opposition has attacked State Government claims that it is rolling back big chunks of the controversial outcomes-based education system as smoke and mirrors because teachers will still have to rely on the discredited 'levels' system of marking.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said Education Minister Mark McGowan's recent announcement that primary and lower school teachers could return to traditional marking methods was false because grades that appear on student reports would still be linked to levels.

    "It's like a policy a minute here, he's talking about fundamental shifts all the time but it's all just cosmetic," he said. "Nothing has changed."

    "Mr McGowan abandoned the levels system for Years 11 and 12 in January because it was deemed inadequate.

    "But teachers from kindergarten to Year 10 will still have to decide at what levels students are achieving on the department's "outcomes and standards framework" continuum so they can allocate grades.

    "Mr McGowan's announcement that teachers could return to traditional marking and would get more practical resources to help them plan and assess was in response to a damning report on OBE implementation by independent researchers, headed by University of WA education dean Bill Louden. The report, which surveyed nearly 3000 public schoolteachers, said OBE implementation "cannot be regarded as a success" because it had not improved students' results, despite vastly increasing teachers' workloads.

    "Mr McGowan said teachers would no longer have to allocate a level between one and eight to every piece of student work.

    "Grades were still linked to levels to ensure consistency from school to school. He said all teachers understood the need for a common standard to underpin grades. [This is the fatal fallacy, Minister; levels do NOT provide "standards" in any way, shape or form.  Web]

    "A B-grade must mean the same thing from Kununurra to Kardinya," he said. "If Mr Collier does not understand this, he is in need of a refresher course on teaching.

    "The important change is that teachers will be able to determine the grades directly using their own professional judgment and based on their knowledge of the common standards."

    "Marko Vojkovic, president of People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes, said the idea that linking grades to levels maintained standards was a myth because level descriptors were so vague "you could drive a truck through them".

    "He said an Education Department letter to schools detailing the changes had only added to teachers' confusion." [emphasis added]

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    Don't deny students guidance of teachers (page 16)
    
    "Some of the radical ideas for teaching to be considered by the committee on WA's teacher shortage would have more credibility if they weren't so obviously responses to a crisis. The committee should not try to make a virtue of new teaching methods out of the Government's failure to provide enough teachers.

    "There may be some value in a few of the alternatives it looks at, but it should not abandon the tradition of a teacher in every classroom for the sake of bureaucratic expediency.

    "Students will always need teachers to guide and encourage them."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Drop in male teachers linked to sex tag fear (page 52)
    by Michael Hobbs and Alison Batchelor

    "The number of men signing up to become high school teacher has dropped by more than 20 per cent in the past few years in a trend blamed on the growing fear of being branded a paedophile..."

    "Teachers Union WA general secretary David Kelly said the fear of false allegations of indecent conduct was a factor deterring and driving some men from the profession.

    "While processes to protect students from abuse were necessary and appropriate, unsubstantiated allegations had the potential to ruin a teacher's career and affect his family and social life.

    "Once allegations are made, to escape that cloud is virtually impossible," Mr Jelly said. "The stigma remains."

    "Often the teacher was denied access to the complaint and felt powerless to defend themselves while it was being investigated, he said.

    "Often if the complaint was unsubstantiated and frivolous, they were denied full natural justices.

    "Teachers needed full access to records and there was a duty of care on schools to ensure male teachers were not placed in situations which could easily give rise to false allegations of misconduct..."

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Feature
    Soft options only add up to trouble

    It's been figured out: our numeracy is not what it should be, writes Kevin Donnelly
    
    "In March 2004, 26 Australian academics wrote an open letter to then federal education minister Brendan Nelson about the parlous state of primary school literacy teaching as a result of Australia's adoption of outcomes-based education fads.
    
    "Among the concepts was whole language, whereby students are made to look and guess instead of learning the relationship between letters and sounds.
    
    "The rest, they say, is history.

    "Nelson set up a national inquiry into literacy. The subsequent report concluded that state and territory curriculum documents, teacher training and professional development had been captured by the whole-language approach and a greater emphasis on teaching the traditional phonics and phonemic awareness was necessary.

    "Not to be outdone, Australia's mathematicians have organised an open letter to the Prime Minister, to be delivered next week. It has been signed by more than 440 local and international academics concerned about the parlous state of mathematical sciences in Australia. Signatories include Terry Tao, the recent winner of the internationally acclaimed Fields Medal; John Ball, president of the International Mathematical Union; and many of Australia's most qualified mathematicians and statisticians.

    "The open letter cites the fact that many universities are closing or reducing departments of mathematical sciences, that the shortage of graduates is so acute that "it inhibits the work of business and industry", and that the quality and rigour of mathematics teaching in schools and universities have been severely undermined.

    "The letter argues that there has been little, if any, action at the commonwealth level - notwithstanding the release three months ago of Mathematics and Statistics: Critical Skills for Australia's Future, a report summarising the findings of the national strategic review of mathematical sciences - and that the time for action has long since passed.

    "In short, the report of the national inquiry concludes that the supply of trained mathematicians and statisticians is inadequate and decreasing, that Australian academics are becoming increasingly isolated and under-resourced, that not enough Year 12 students undertake more difficult courses (participation in higher-order mathematics fell from 41 per cent in 1995 to 34 per cent in 2004), and that high school mathematics is taught by teachers with inadequate mathematical training.

    "The report does not only concentrate on the negatives: it also offers a number of recommendations for improving the situation. They range from strengthening Australia's research base to guaranteeing funding for organisations such as the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and the International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (funded at present by the Department of Education, Science and Training) and rebuilding mathematical science departments.

    "Given the concerns aired in these pages over the past two years about the quality and rigour of Australia's school curriculum and doubts about teacher effectiveness, it's hardly surprising that the report on mathematics and statistics also highlights the need to strengthen secondary school mathematics courses and to ensure teachers have a thorough grounding in the discipline.

    "Reading between the lines - and as noted in a submission to the inquiry from Tony Guttmann of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematics and Statistics of Complex Systems - it is obvious, in the same way that subjects such as history and English have been dumbed down, school mathematics has also suffered.

    "Guttmann argues that the type of feel-good approach to education associated with Australia's adoption of outcomes-based education, where the word "failure" is banned and promoting self-esteem is considered paramount, has led to students being unable, or unwilling, to master so-called hard subjects.

    "Guttmann says: "An attitude is being bred in schools that it does not matter whether a student succeeds in mastering a concept, so long as an effort is made and that effort is rewarded. The concept of failure is considered to be potentially damaging to the self-esteem of students, and so must be avoided. This attitude is particularly problematic for subjects in which a substantial body of knowledge is assumed and built upon."

    "In order to strengthen mathematics teaching, the report suggests teacher training must be improved. Although it does not go as far as to argue that all teachers should complete an undergraduate degree in their specialist discipline, followed by a diploma of education, thus ensuring that graduates have a firm foundation in their subject, the report suggests that mathematical science departments should have a greater involvement in teacher preparation.

    "Research shows that one of the key determinants of successful learning is a teacher's mastery of a subject. There is increasing concern that the type of general bachelor of education degree designed and taught by schools of education fails to provide such grounding. As Guttmann points out: "The training of teachers can be improved by making sure that mathematics teachers have a mathematics degree, followed by a diploma of education or equivalent. Their mathematical education should not be provided by education faculties, but by discipline experts." [emphasis added]

    "In an election year, it is obvious the two main political parties see education as a significant issue and that Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith have successfully repositioned the ALP by staking the territory once the preserve of the conservatives.

    "It is also obvious that Australia's continued high standard of living and international competitiveness depend on the quality, rigour and effectiveness of our education system, especially in the areas of mathematics and related fields such as engineering, science and physics.

    "In the same way that Nelson, when education minister, acted quickly to address falling standards in literacy and concerns about the quality of teacher training, one hopes that the federal Government will also move quickly to address concerns about mathematics."

    Kevin Donnelly is director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and author of Dumbing Down.
    
    A copy of the open letter to the PM can be found at This Link [plus links to the Review and other relevant documents]
    
    From The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    

• The Sunday Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Learning's heavy load
    by Stuart Macintyre
    
    "The debate over education reveals an unusual measure of agreement between the Federal Government and Opposition — and a strange disjunction. The federal Minister for Education has demanded that the states and territories accept national control of the school curriculum as a condition of federal funding.

    "The Labor Party, under the leadership of Kevin Rudd, has accepted the idea of a national curriculum, but proposes to negotiate its adoption with the states and territories.

    "The arguments for such a dramatic change are hardly overwhelming. We are told, for example, that a common curriculum will overcome difficulties when students change states — but those difficulties are neither insuperable nor new.

    "We are told it will make for consistency, and so it would, except that it would also eliminate some of the most innovative teaching. Since competition is regarded as an axiomatic good in other areas of public policy, it seems strange to propose removing it from education.

    "Perhaps sensing the weakness of such arguments for yet another incursion into an area the Commonwealth constitution specifically reserves for states, federal ministers have sought the high ground. They allege curriculums are riddled with political correctness, and that essential subjects such as mathematics, science, history and English have been neglected.

    "Again, Labor follows the Government in making these subjects the core of a national curriculum, though it resists the Government's wild allegations against educators and stops short of naked financial blackmail.

    "Under Rudd, the federal Opposition has stressed the need to raise educational standards.

    "There is no doubt subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, history and English, and perhaps other languages, are crucial.

    "They are the basis of a proper education, essential to many types of work, research, innovation and critical awareness.

    "It is equally clear that these subjects have languished.

    "A recent study by the Australian Council for Education Research has revealed just 14 per cent of year 12 students in Victoria are studying physics and 19 per cent chemistry.

    "The proportion studying mathematics is higher but only 12 per cent of year 12 students are studying mathematics at a level that will enable them to pursue it at university. English is compulsory, but only 12 per cent choose the literature option; and just 3 per cent are enrolled in Australian history.

    "Why are the figures so low? One reason is that year 12 students are free to choose from a wide range of subjects, catering to different interests and levels of ability. Another is the uneven coverage of these subjects in earlier years: if you haven't been able to study a foreign language through secondary school, you can hardly be expected to attempt it as a VCE subject. But another reason takes us to the remarkable disjunction in our educational debate.

    "It is now generally recognised that there is an acute shortage of specialist teachers of mathematics and the natural sciences. The same is true of foreign languages, while history teaching in many schools is entrusted to teachers who lack training in the discipline.

    "Why is this? Readers involved in the councils of our state secondary colleges will no doubt recall some of the arguments over staffing. Even if you can attract a teacher qualified to teach mathematics, French, history or literature, a case will be made for filling the vacancy with a teacher of one of the vocational subjects these colleges have been encouraged to develop. But all too often you can't find a young maths teacher to replace the grey-haired one who has retired.

    "This deficiency leads us to the universities. University departments that teach these core disciplines are under heavy pressure. Physics and mathematics used to attract many of the brightest undergraduates: now those with talent for mathematics are more likely to pursue degrees in information or biological sciences, where the career opportunities are greater and the salaries higher.

    "As enrolments decline, so the funding for such departments dries up, and in many universities they have contracted or disappeared altogether.

    "There is a similar predicament in the faculties of education. Since teaching cannot match other professions in prestige and rewards, these faculties struggle to attract the brightest undergraduates. Education faculties are poorly resourced.

    "The Federal Government responded to a decline in demand for university places in education by reducing the Higher Education Contribution charge. This market-based response only produced a similar response from the universities, which passed on the decline in income to the faculties, so funding for training teachers in essential subjects was further reduced.

    "The contrast between the two chief educational institutions is remarkable. School is compulsory until year 10, and all students are expected to study the same spread of subjects. This phase of education is free of charge, though you can pay for private education and receive a large subsidy from the Commonwealth.

    "University is optional, provides a multitude of choice, all of which incur charges of various levels.

    "Moreover, universities have control over their curriculums: they can teach a degree in science or tourism, Asian languages or marketing.

    "Between these two levels of education are the final two years of secondary school. They are not compulsory and are still available free of charge, and they offer a wide variety of subjects (probably wider if you pay).

    "And while years 11 and 12 are optional, in practice they are vital to the prospects of young Australians. It seems odd that we should allow such choice when it comes to participation and subjects, especially since this is where so much of the hysteria about curriculum and standards is directed.

    "Those who whip up unease with their back-to-basics campaigns appeal to a highly nostalgic image of the school. They prescribe what should be taught in the heroic assumption that all students will dutifully learn it. They display a singular lack of understanding of the challenges that face our teachers in their daily work.

    "However, it is mostly the disjunction of school and university that handicaps the country's educational performance.

    "We are told certain areas of knowledge and understanding are vital to education, yet we do nothing to ensure they are sustained in the universities, and nothing to co-ordinate the two.

    "The school is treated as a command economy, the university as a strange island of entrepreneurialism and consumer choice subject to intrusive regulation from Canberra.

    "As we approach the federal election it would be helpful if the two main parties could attend to the disjunction.

    "By all means ensure that the core disciplines, including languages, are there in the school curriculum; but before imposing its dogma on the states and territories along with the compulsory national flag, the Commonwealth might first attend to its own responsibilities in higher education."

    Professor Stuart Macintyre is president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a former dean of the arts faculty at Melbourne University.
    
    From The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Put the 'e' back in txt
      
      "Is brevity the soul of wit for next txt generation?" (25/3) missed the travesty of SMS: that a system devoid of depth or subtlety is unworthy of our humanity.

      "Consider the distinct shades of meaning between feeling awed, humbled, embarrassed, chastened, remorseful, mortified or humiliated. IMHO ("in my humble opinion") is the closest reference I can find to "humility" in an SMS dictionary, which also fails to distinguish it from respect, reticence or dignity.

      "Degrees of intensity escalate from trepidation to fear, panic, terror and horror. One may be alarmed, frightened, stupefied or petrified. In SMS, it's enough to be :-@ (screaming).

      "The most common verb among students is "get", which signals passivity, not initiative.

      "They won't find a job; they'll get it. They won't attain a result; they'll get it. They won't wed; they'll get married. They won't earn, toil, save, invest, create or gather; they'll simply get rich. They won't enrol; they'll get in. They don't live; they GAL (get a life).

      "As a teacher from generation X, which saw mobile phones, emails and iPods arrive, I've witnessed the correlation between cultural impoverishment and a drift away from books. Where courtesy is absent from vocabulary, it is usually absent from behaviour. For words are not simply a bunch of random patterns. They are the keys to civilisation. Each shape and sound has evolved with a unique purpose, honed by history.

      "Why do people rush to save endangered species, yet ignore the extinction of words? Shakespeare knew that the English language thrives on diversity — that's why he never reduced it. He expanded it."
      
      Louisa John-Krol. Clayton South
      
      

    • Mr Chips lives on
      
      "The three tiers of education produce a vast difference in delivery. Mr Chips (25/4) [sic: 25/3] is still alive and well at the primary level; you just have to look a little harder. Recent unsolicited comments from two community members about their principal (who also happens to teach) were "a truly beautiful person", "a gem", "so approachable". The Mr/Ms Chips models are still there and worth nurturing."
      
      Margaret Raffle, Keilor East
      
      
      

• The Sunday Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Teachers unhappy with workload and pay
    by Mary Papadakis, Education reporter
    
    "At least 30 teachers resign or retire from the state school system each week.
    
    "The news follows a recent government report that warned more than 3200 teachers would be needed each year until 2010 to meet demand.

    "Department of Education figures obtained under Freedom of Information show 1454 teachers and principals -- or about 18 each school week -- quit in 2004 and 2005.

    "The figures show that a further 939 -- about 12 each school week -- retired.

    "Australian Education Union Victorian president Mary Bluett estimated the number of teachers leaving the profession was up to 15 per cent higher than the official figures. [emphasis added]

    "She said the 18 per cent of teachers on short-term contracts and those who left the system for reasons such as maternity, stress, family or sick leave were not included in the figures.

    "Ms Bluett said the department's recently released Teaching Supply and Demand 2006 report warned that about 3220 new teachers would be needed each year until 2010.

    "She said about 20 per cent of teaching graduates failed to enter the profession each year, reducing the pool of available staff.

    "Ms Bluett said increased workload, low pay and a poor career structure were forcing teachers out of the profession.

    "It's burnout. Teachers are asking themselves whether they want to be a teacher or have a life," she said.

    "We have to look at what is needed, not only to attract the best people to teaching, but to keep them teaching."

    "Victorian Principals Association president Fred Ackerman said "we have a significant issue" in replacing teachers and principals, particularly people in leadership positions.

    "Opposition education spokesman Philip Davis said the weekly toll was "huge".

    "The Government is failing to support teachers and principals and provide them with the proper incentives to stay in the job," he said." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sunday Melbourne Herald Sun at link

    
    
    
• The Sunday Times / PerthNow
  
  
  • Active way to top class (page 18)
    by Braden Quartermaine
    
    "A WA study has found that schoolchildren who spend less class time on reading, writing and numeracy, and more time doing physical education, do not suffer academically.
    
    "It has sparked calls for schools to seriously embrace a fourth "R" – recreation – in addition to the other three..."
    
    "In a new report, University of WA researcher Karen Martin found that children can spend less time in academic learning and more time being physically active, without affecting their academic success.
    
    "This suggests increased learning, per unit of time, when children are engaged in higher levels of physical activity, supporting the theory that increasing physical activity has a positive effect on learning." Ms Martin said..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Times
    
    
    
• Kids vandalise teachers' cars
  
  Children as young as 10 have trashed teachers' cars after being told they could not attend a school dance.
  
  
  
  
• The Sunday Independent
  
  
  • Professor quits over exam passes
    by Richard Garner
    

    "A university professor has quit after 25 years' service because senior dons reversed his decision to fail 13 of his students.

    "Professor Paul Buckland, who taught archaeology at Bournemouth University, told a colleague in an email: "I am not prepared to dumb down the course any further."

    "Twenty-six students on his reconstruction of environment and economy course failed their main exam last year. Given a second chance to take the exam, the number came down to 13 - with the marks ratified by a second examiner. After senior staff voiced concerns that the marking had been too harsh, a third marker upgraded the marks of 10 more students without any reference to Professor Buckland.

    "He told The Times Higher Education Supplement [THES] that the whole process had made "a complete mockery of the whole examination process".

    "His decision comes as academics at the University of Central Lancashire voiced concerns to the THES about students who were "immature" and could not spell or punctuate properly."
    

    From The Sunday Independent at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Tasmanian
  
  
  • Failing our children
    
    Tasmania has the poorest educational attainment rankings of any state or territory, says economist Saul Eslake.
    
    
    
  • 'More to learning than literacy'
    
    School is far more than just reading, writing and maths, says Eddy Smith.
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Rural student aid urged
    
    The Federal Government should pay an "access allowance" to country students as soon as they move permanently to the city to begin tertiary education, parent groups believe.
    
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age [Saturday]
  

  • Student protest leads to uni audit
    
    The future of Central Queensland University is under a cloud after the Bracks Government announced an investigation of its Victorian operations, accusing it of disregarding hunger-striking foreign students... It was the latest in a string of rallies by about 60 masters degree students, mostly from India, who claim they face no choice but to pay $2300 to re-enrol in a subject after being examined and failed on material they were not taught. The university denies the claims.

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

This page last updated 13 August, 2008 0:36 AM