Many thanks to Cindy for filling in during my absence.   Web

Monday 9 July

Tuesday 10 July

Wednesday 11 July

Thursday 12 July

Friday 13 July

Saturday – Sunday, 14 – 15 July

 

Monday 9 July

• The West Australian
  

• Secret plan scraps TEE and grades
  by Bethany Hiatt

  "WA's high school principals are secretly pushing to scrap the TEE and outlaw A to E grades from reports as part of controversial plans to overhaul student academic assessment, a leaked discussion paper reveals.

  "The proposals, which would set government school principals on a collision course with State and Federal governments, are contained in a report prepared for the WA Secondary School Executives Association.

  "The document says school-based assessments should replace Year 12 exams for most students , while those aiming for university should provide a portfolio of their work and sit an aptitude test set by tertiary institutions.

  "This model, which includes a one-off test in Year 12 that measures aptitude or academic potential, coupled with school achievements exclusive of a final exam at the end of Year 12, is one that holds merit and is used elsewhere with considerable success," the paper says.

  "The scheme would be a radical departure from WA's current system which combines school assessments with tertiary entrance exam results to determine a tertiary entrance rank.

  "And it flies in the face of Education Minister Mark McGowan's decree in January that all Year 12 students would sit compulsory final exams except those doing trade certificates.

  "The document also says the present system of reporting in A-E grades, which are derived from outcomes-based education levels of achievement without also showing students' progress through the levels, does not give a true picture of their child's achievement.

  "This led to situations where bright but lazy students could achieve As and Bs while industrious students of low ability received demoralising Cs and Ds, no matter how hard they worked.

  "If the purpose of schooling is to ascribe failure to a significant proportion of the student population in each year cohort, then reporting only in grades will achieve that result," the paper says.

  "In grade-based reporting individual performance is compared with other students with the in-built consequence that half the students will perform below average and be deemed as 'failures'.

  "One would hope we do not revert to a reporting model that was abandoned for that reason in the late 60s.

  "Mr McGowan banned OBE levels from State school reports, claiming they were meaningless to parents. The Federal Government tied school funding to reporting in A-E grades.

  "Association president Alison Woodman said the paper was only a discussion document that had been designed to generate debate among its 300 members to help the association form its final position on secondary education issues.

  "We simply want to reach a point that is where we stand on these issues and it may be diametrically opposed to what's in the paper," she said. "We are not setting ourselves up in opposition to the minister of the director-general, we just wanted to canvass the issues."

  "Ballajura Community College principal Steffan Silcox, who wrote the paper after significant consultation, said many principals had already agreed with the sentiments expressed in the draft document."
  
  The full report is available at this link
  
  
  

• Editorial
  Department forced to win back teachers it drove out
  

  "The Education Department has a hide, if nothing else. It is now grovelling to retired teachers to try to get them back to work.

  "Many of these teachers were driven out of their classrooms by an arrogantly authoritarian education bureaucracy that was indifferent to their professional needs and opinions, as was evidenced by the outcomes-based education disaster.

  "Education Minister mark McGowan has been forced to use desperate measures to lure teachers out of retirement because of his department's failure to plan adequately to meet school staff needs.

  "He should now demand a vastly improved performance from his bureaucrats."
  
  
  

• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • Writing on the blackboard, Minister

    "So, Mark McGowan is now offering as much as $70, 000 for teachers to return to the teaching profession. Instead of worrying about the dearly departed, who doesn't he look after the dedicated professionals still teaching, many of whom will quit or retire in the next few years?

    "I, for one, will quit my chosen profession as a teacher at the end of this year - a decision that I am not happy with. Unfortunately, after 17 years of committed service, the past eight years in the country, I still do not have a permanent position and I am only employed on a yearly basis.

    "My family (two children of school age) have been carted around the State as I search for work. Teaching in three schools, thousands of kilometres apart , in one year. This nomadic lifestyle is not beneficial to my children in their primary years and one of the reasons that will force me to quit teaching.

    "Obtaining a housing loan also becomes extremely difficult when you have a yearly contract and no guarantee of work. Is there really a teacher shortage? Is there really a shortage of male teachers? There can't be, otherwise we wouldn't be treated in this manner by our employer.

    "Mr McGowan knows, and so do I, that the teacher shortage will reach crisis point within a few years. You are in a position of power and trust, Mr McGowan. You have an opportunity to make an impact on the education that our future generations will receive. Promote teaching and give teachers what most other jobs already provide to their employers - job security and reward for hard work.

    "I give The West Australian permission to pass on my personal details to Mr McGowan should he wish to discuss my premature retirement. Unfortunately, I cannot have my personal details published for fear of victimisation by my employer - the Education Department."
    
    Name and address supplied
    




• Pupils run riot
  
  "What a disgrace. Our schools are becoming battlegrounds, according to recent reports in your newspaper.
  
  "When physical punishment, like the cane at school and the strap at home, was outlawed, it was supposed to lead to less violence in our schools and society in general.
  
  "This has not happened. Rather, we are seeing the opposite.
  
  "To all those do-gooders who have been responsible for this situation over the past 30-or-so-years, I say you should hang your heads in shame. You have taken all the authority away from teachers, the police and parents, and unfortunately our spineless have listened to you.
  
  "The Bible warns that if you spare the rod you spoil the child. It also tells us that we reap what we sow. God help Australia."
  
  Bob Stephens, Hillarys
  
  
  
• Bring back the cane
  
  "I was pretty sickened when I read your report about those boys who had allegedly bullied another boy for six hours in an appalling manner. (Boys accused of kidnapping, whipping teen schoolmate, 5/7)
  
  "While I imagine the parents of these alleged bullies in all honesty probably don't think their kids could do such things, it always amazes me what kids will do in a group.
  
  "The alleged ringleader, 12, has obviously got some behavioural issues that have never been, or can't be, addressed properly. Sometimes the parents are model citizens who have just got a kid who is out of control and no amount of interventions will "fix" the issues the child may have.
  
  "Everyone points the finger at the parents, who just don't have any more answers to help their child be a valuable member of society. I feel sorry for parents, who have such an allegedly uncontrollable child.
  
  "If the bullies are a product of bad parenting, then the parents should pay restitution to the family of the boy who was bullied and they should be mad to attend parenting classes. I mostly feel sorry for that poor boy who was subjected to the bullying.
  
  "I feel that the cane should be brought back for naughty boys. It seemed to work in the 1960s. Then maybe the kids wouldn't get to the ridiculous violent levels they do now. Nip it in the bud."
  
  M. Simms, Ballajura
  
  
  
• In Short
  
  "Well the end of Semester 1 in Year 11 and my daughter achieved a dismal D in chemistry. To be fair to her she has had the challenge of five chemistry teachers in one semester. A "relief" teacher for the "relief" teacher no less. From a parents' perspective the education system in WA is not in crisis, it's past that and moved on to meltdown."
  
  Celia Loot, Leeming
  
  
  

• The Australian
  
  
• Fewer students learn high-demand skills
  by Dorothy Illing
  

  "The number of students studying chemistry, maths and physics is lower than it was 18 years ago, sparking further warnings about the skills crisis.
  
  "Overall science enrolments in universities appear to have bottomed out, but in disciplines that feed key areas of workforce demand they are in freefall.

  "A report commissioned by the Australian Council of Deans of Science finds that the proportion of students taking physics subjects is now only two-thirds of what it was in 1989.

  "The picture for chemistry is also gloomy and for maths it is worse: enrolments in maths fell from 7520 in 1989 to 4988 in 2005.

  "The decline has occurred against massive growth in higher education with student numbers doubling over the same period.

  "Trendier disciplines such as forensic science are attracting the biggest share of students, leaving the hard, or enabling, sciences -- the building blocks of many professions -- to struggle.

  "President of the deans council, John Rice, said university enrolment patterns were a barometer of the skills stock.

  "If you look at it that way you ought to be pretty worried," he said. "If you look at the spread of jobs in an economy that needs to be technologically oriented, it needs that kind of background training."

  "Professor Rice said universities were still in the grip of the "scientist as geek" stereotype: they needed to encourage a broader understanding of how science impinged on every facet of the modern economy.

  "The problem for the universities is that they keep training science graduates as though they're all going to end up in labs, wearing white coats and unable to park their bikes straight."

  "He pointed to Melbourne University's new model of a general undergraduate science degree followed by a specialist degree as one way of addressing the problem. This enabled science to be integrated into a wide spectrum of professions.

  "The Melbourne model also received strong endorsement from the peak science lobby, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies.

  "Executive director Bradley Smith said while the national figures in some science disciplines were grim, it was not all doom and gloom.

  "For example, Sydney University was "going great guns" with its physics enrolments because it had focused on school students.

  "The report, by Monash University's Ian Dobson, shows a continuing slide in information technology students, forcing universities to look overseas to recruit students.

  "Almost half the enrolments in IT subjects and 29 per cent in engineering were international fee-paying students.

  "The study is the third in a series commissioned by the science deans over the past eight years to chart enrolment trends.

  "Professor Rice said there was some comfort from the fact that between 2002 and 2005, enrolments in science seemed to have bottomed out and even increased slightly.

  "However, that's cold comfort to those people dealing with the current and growing skills crisis, who look at the current education system and see little that is different from the one that delivered such a dramatic decline."

Tuesday 10 July

• The West Australian
  

• Science teachers 'deserve higher pay than the rest'
  by Bethany Hiatt

  "Science teachers should be paid more than other teachers to help overturn a nationwide shortage, Lord Robert Winston told an international science education conference yesterday.

  "I think all teachers should be more valued but science teachers in particular need to be rewarded because science is fundamentally more difficult," Professor Winston said after delivering the keynote speech at the World Conference on Science and Technology Education in Perth.

  "There needs to be recognition of the fact that doing science is hard and it requires that mixture of practical and academic work. The text of Hamlet hasn't changed since 1599 - the text of molecular biology has changed in the last two months.

  "Professor Winston, a fertility studies expert at London University who has fronted several BBC series including The Human Body and Walking with Cavemen, said WA boasted about the huge amounts of money that mining generated but failed to see that that was only sustainable if people were prepared to make the innovation necessary to continue the industry.

  "And that means actually investing in education," he said. "Frankly, you pay teachers inadequately and you don't reward science teachers enough and you don't value them enough.

  "So you get too hew teachers teaching too many kids and not being able to have enough time for career development."

  "He said an Australian Council of Deans of Science report released this week that revealed a long-term decline in the proportion of students recruited to study university science was worrying.

  "Essentially that's because of the lack of inspiring teachers," he said.

  "Australian Science Teachers Association president Paul Carnemolla agreed science teachers should be paid extra because their qualifications cost more and because the hands-on nature of science teaching made classroom management more difficult.

  "More than 1000 people from 51 different countries are attending the science conference this week, the biggest ever held in Australia."
  
  
  

• Cutting-edge calculators on the cards for students
  by Bethany Hiatt
  

  "Maths students in Years 11 and 12 will soon be allowed to use significantly more powerful calculators than they do now, despite opposition from some teachers and university lecturers.

  "Curriculum Council chief executive Dave Wood said the council had agreed students would be entitled to use cutting-edge computer algebraic system calculators instead of graphics calculators after new maths courses are introduced in 2009.

  "News of the council's decision emerged as education Minister Mark McGowan said the wanted calculators banned from part of the TEE exams and their use limited in primary school classes.

  "Even though a Curriculum Council reference group is still investigating a proposal for students to do part of the maths exams without a calculator, Mr McGowan made his stance clear yesterday. "In Years 11 and 12 I've indicated to the Curriculum Council that we should have a portion of our exams which is calculator-free," he said.
  
  "Greg Williams, who heads a maths department at a Catholic school, said introducing more powerful programmable calculators would exacerbate the problems that schools already had with students' over-reliance on calculators.
  
  "He said there was a massive gap between the new technology and the graphics calculators now in use. "I think they'd be good for the top 5 per cent of kids, helping them delve into more complex problems, but the remaining 95 per cent it's just going to increase the already all too prevalent black box nature of mathematics," he said. "The kids don't really understand what they're doing, they just punch the numbers in and churn out the numbers with very little knowledge of the mathematics behind it."
  
  "Murdoch University mathematics professor Ken Harrison said calculators were only a stop-gap solution.
  
  "We should be working towards the use of computers in senior school mathematics," he said. "As soon as they get to university they will be using computers that do the things these fancy new calculators do."
  
  "Mr McGowan said new primary school syllabuses would focus on teaching children to do maths calculations in their heads and on paper.
  
  "My view of maths is that most people are not going to become engineers or computer scientists where they are going to need to know or remember how to do these calculations, the major point of it is to develop the mental capacity of young people and their problem-solving skills," he said.
  
  "But he said it was simply not feasible to ban calculators from schools altogether because students had to become familiar with technology and their use had already become embedded in primary teaching programs.
  
  "What we have to do is strike the right balance - the right mix of traditional calculations, using your brain and pen and paper, and technology," he said."

  
  
• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • Surprise, surprise

    "Is anyone else curious about the timing of two blockbuster announcements (Curriculum Council scrapped, 7/7) and (Secret plan scraps TEE and grades, 9/7)? Both occurred during the first days of the school break. No staff-room discussions on these issues!"
    
    Patrick Whalen, Yokine
    
    
    
    

• Education Watch International
  
  
• British pupils to be taught about the Olympic games - instead of geography

  "The dumbing down never stops. Propaganda is more and more being substituted for knowledge. Knowledge might enable kids to think for themselves -- and the Left can't afford that! Kids must be TOLD what to think

  "Traditional geography teaching is to be sidelined in favour of studying global warming, Third-World trade and the 2012 Olympics. A major shake-up of the secondary school curriculum aims to make subjects "more relevant" by introducing "modern day issues". Lessons in capital cities, rivers and continental drift will make way for "themed" teaching on issues such as the causes of climate change, the impact of buying clothes on poorer nations and the effects of the South-East Asian tsunami.

  "Other key subjects such as history and science will also be affected by the changes, which mark the biggest upheaval in secondary education since the national curriculum was introduced in 1988. The measures, which come into force in September next year, will be unveiled by Schools Secretary Ed Balls next week. Ministers hope they will encourage more pupils to stay on at school after the age of 16. But many teachers remain unconvinced.

  "A convention of history, English and science teachers on Thursday issued a plea for traditional subject disciplines to be protected. The new curriculum will be followed by 11 to 14-year-olds. Other new subjects include "emerging" languages such as Mandarin ["Emerging"? It's thousands of years old!] and Urdu, as well as personal finance and practical cookery. In cookery, pupils will be taught how to analyse a diet to ensure balance and variety, how to keep food safe at home and prepare contemporary healthy recipes.

  "The previous Education Secretary Alan Johnson insisted certain "untouchables" would remain in the curriculum, including the two World Wars. But swathes of other material will be relegated to optional status. Mr Balls will announce that "sustainable development" [Greenie propaganda] will become a compulsory part of the geography curriculum. Pupils will learn to understand relationships between people and the environment by studying the impact of the tsunami.

  "They will also conduct fieldwork projects such as "the regeneration of East London as part of the 2012 Olympics". And they will explore globalisation by looking at the impact of their choices as consumers, including buying clothes and trainers. Schools minister Lord Adonis said: "We want geography to excite pupils so that they continue studying the subject when they leave school."
  
  
  

• Britain: Those who can't, teach

  "Less than half of primary school teachers have two good A levels [High school qualification], while only 41 per cent of secondary teachers have a degree in the subject they teach, according to a report claiming that the profession is in crisis.

  "There has been a big increase in teacher numbers in recent years, after a shortage in the mid 1990s But the report from the think-tank Politeia says government policies focus too much on increasing numbers with too little regard for quality. It notes there there are two nonteaching members of staff for every three teachers. There are now 150,000 teaching assistants, while the number of unqualified teachers working in schools has increased significantly in the past decade.

  "Bob Moon, Professor of Education at the Open University and co-author of the report, said: "The assessment system allows even the weakest candidates through". The Training and Development Agency for Schools, the Government's teacher training agency, rejected many of the findings, insisting that standards had never been higher. [That doesn't say much]"

Wednesday 11 July

• The Australian
  

• Maths losing its numbers
  by Dorothy Illing
  
  "Universities are paring back mathematics departments as a new report reveals the national pool of maths enrolments is still shrinking. A survey by the National Tertiary Education Union has found that at least seven universities - including Melbourne, La Trobe, Macquarie, Flinders, RMIT and James Cook - have cut maths staff in the past 18 months.

  "At Melbourne, six maths academics took redundancies last year, and 3 1/2 positions have gone at La Trobe. Macquarie University has also seen departures after all staff over 55 were invited to think about early retirement. The NTEU says Flinders offered voluntary separation to five maths staff; RMIT lost eight positions in its school of mathematical and geospatial sciences in February.

  "And 12 staff from James Cook University's department of maths and statistics were made redundant late last year.

  "But two University of New England academics won their jobs back this year after appealing a decision to make them redundant.

  "Last year a report by the Academy of Science warned staff losses in university maths departments were undermining Australian industry.

  "This week the warning came from a report commissioned by the Australian Council of Deans of Science. As reported in The Australian on Monday, the report reveals enrolments in maths fell 34 per cent between 1989 and 2005. Enrolments also fell in physics and chemistry as national enrolments more than doubled during the same period.

  "Sustaining Science: University Science in the Twenty-First Century is the third study commissioned by the science deans in the past eight years to track science enrolments.

  "These have expanded overall, but the growth has been in the biological and behavioural sciences, not the enabling sciences such as chemistry, maths and physics.

  "The combined effect of these trends has meant declining enrolments in subjects taught by some departments, and severe financial constraints within faculties of science, including cutbacks in the numbers of academic and general staff in those departments," the report says.

  "The study, by Monash University's Ian Dobson, finds that students who study science are more likely to go on to do a PhD.

  "While PhD enrolments represented 4.1 per cent of all enrolments in universities in 2005, in the natural and physical sciences they represented 10.7 per cent.

  "And the proportion of women with PhDs in science is growing: in 2005 there were 3514 full-time equivalent, up from 2950 in 2002.

  "The deans' report concludes the main concern should be longer-term enrolment patterns during the past 15 to 20 years in science.

  "When examining the pattern back to 1989, the long-term absolute decline in chemistry, physics and mathematics ought to ring alarm bells," the report says.

  "Looking just at the happenings this century, the pattern is 'steady as she goes', but this hides the fact that the '90s saw sharp declines in enabling sciences participation by students enrolled in courses in the natural and physical sciences."
  
  
  

• Man who took on the A levels
  by Aban Contractor

  "GOovernment bureaucrats are used to putting a little bit of stick about. But Ken Boston has put about more than his share since he was charged with overhauling one of Britain's most prized institutions, its internationally renowned system of qualifications for school-leavers.
  
  "And the man from Melbourne and former director-general of the NSW Department of Education did not just tinker at the edges. He went in boots and all. In the past five years Boston has overseen a radical revamp of Britain's General Certificate of Secondary Education and Advanced Level examinations. He has weathered tabloid tantrums and survived to tell the tale.

  "Contrary to popular belief Boston has not, and will not, do away with the system that determines who gets a place at university.

  "But as head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority he, with the Labour Government's backing, has overseen a shake-up of the exams taken by most students at ages 16 (GCSE) and 18 (A level). He is also in the process of adding another layer and introducing new diplomas that he says will engage students in an innovative curriculum.

  "Boston laughs when asked what it is like being an Australian in charge of changing the British education system.

  "I wouldn't put it as grandly as that," he tells the HES.

  "There is a long, important, respected history in the development of awarding bodies that goes back over 100 years and it's a question of working to achieve change, reform and improvement within context."

  "As with many top education bureaucrats across the globe, Boston is fighting on several fronts to contain the insidious influence of the internet on coursework that students often claim as their own. From next year awarding bodies, the equivalent of state examination boards, will be using the same sort of software used by universities to catch cheats.

  "But plagiarism is not the only problem thrown up by allowing students to complete work outside a controlled environment, Boston says. Helpful relatives pose almost as big a threat.

  "The QCA used a polling company to speak to a wide range of people, including parents, about their input into assignments that were being used to assess students for their GCSEs.

  "We found that there was, I guess it's not too strong a word to say, some abuse in relation to coursework being done by relatives," Boston says.

  "In fact 8 per cent of the parents interviewed confirmed that they had contributed quite significantly."

  "With coursework accounting for up to 40 per cent of the mark in some courses and GCSEs being used to help determine if a student would proceed to an A-level course and possibly university, it was a problem that could no longer be ignored.

  "From September 2009 the 600,000 students taking GCSEs will produce "controlled assessments". They will still do coursework set by an awarding body or by the school and it will be marked by the same body or school. But "except in exceptional circumstances such as a major piece of art", it will be done under supervision. Boston believes Australia is moving in a similar direction.

  "After being caught up in the furore surrounding claims that A-level courses were far too easy and too many students were receiving good grades, Boston is in the process of revamping those, too.

  "We're making (courses) more demanding, more difficult," he says. "In the political jargon of the day, ministers wanted 'stretch and challenge', and that's what we've given them." There will be fewer structured questions and more extended writing. Students beginning A-level courses in September next year will be the first to be eligible for a new A-star grade, which will be awarded to those who score 90 or above.

  "Boston was recently asked to extend his contract and will be in the job until September 2009. He agreed, in part, because it would allow him to implement a new qualification for 16 to 19-year-olds: a diploma with levels one to three.

  "Levels one and two will be at GCSE level and level three at A level. There will be 14 types of courses, including construction and the built environment, information technology and engineering, and the first five will be introduced next year.

  "They are fundamentally not a training program," Boston says.

  "They are an education program aimed at exercising the learning muscle in the skull of all young people, but using a contemporary industry-based curriculum."

  "Boston knows the transition will not be easy. It is true a student could take a level two diploma and go on to an A-level course or a level-three diploma and go on to university. But students, and especially the parents of students, know that it will be a while before a diploma attracts the same status as an A level, even if it is a better course.

  "These diplomas will have to earn their spurs," Boston concedes. "But they are not being designed for the youngsters who are dropping out of school, they're being designed as an alternative mainstream program to appeal to the whole ability range."

  "He is pleased the Government has heeded advice and agreed on a small intake in the first year of the new diploma course. There will be only 38,000 students next year out of a possible cohort of 600,000.

  "If there are then substantial numbers of students going into university as well as employment or further training, the diploma will be home and hosed," Boston says."

  Aban Contractor is a London-based writer on higher education.

   

• The West Australian
  
  
• Australians miss out on uni places
  by Rhianna King, Canberra
  
  "The Government is giving job and education opportunities to migrants while Australians are missing out because of a lack of university places and no incentives to study, according to a report to be released today.
  
  "The study, published in Monash University's People and Place magazine, discredits the Government's repeated claim that available places in the university system are more than enough to meet overall demand.
  
  "It said domestic undergraduate enrolments only increased from 520,221 in 2001 to 528,980 in 2005 while more than 45,000 students missed out on a place last year.
  
  "The report said the shortage of university-qualified workers was not because Australian students lacked the required tertiary entrance scores, but because the number of subsidised places and incentives to take up those places were lacking.
  
  "That (young Australians) should be ambivalent about university is hardly surprising when one considers the evidence below about physical access and financial disincentives of university attendance," it said.
  
  "It criticised access to university campuses, particularly in regional areas, and the "very low" amount of Government funding such as Youth Allowance which was provided to students.
  
  "It attacked the Government's reliance on the skilled migration program, which has seen the number of migrants double from 44, 750 in 2001 to 100, 000 in 2006-07.
  
  "The recent escalation of the migration program is a direct consequence of the Australian Government's anxiety about skill shortage," it said. "This level of dependence on skilled migration is unwise. The days when Australia could rely on a large flow of migrants from Europe have long passed."
  
  "The authors, who include well-known researcher Bob Birrel, said there was a strong ethical case for expanding opportunities for young Australians, rather than relying on skilled migrants.
  
  "The immigration 'solution' is at best a partial one and in any case is effectively giving education and employment opportunities to overseas persons that could have been given to young Australians," they said.
  
  "There is no shortage of young people of university age ... nor is there a shortage of those who would like to go to university."
  
  "The report coincides with an announcement by Education Minister Julie bishop yesterday that the Government would create a new national data collection for uni places.
  
  "Ms Bishop said under current arrangements the lack of consistent or comprehensive data on applications and offers meant there was a "danger of incorrect conclusions being drawn about the availability of university places". She hoped the new system would be in place by 2009."
  
  
  
  
• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • A grading disgrace
    

    "I have been teaching in primary schools for 20 years. The first semester reports have recently gone to homes. While many schools have been reporting in grades for some time our school has only recently complied.
    
    "Along with many other teachers, I struggled with the A-E reporting grade format. Many hours on weekends and at night were spent with outcome books open, trying to decipher jargon designed to correctly allocate each child a grade in certain subject areas. Teachers had to decide if a child was sometimes, frequently or consistently at a level which then determined their grade.
    
    "I feel that allowing a child to be labelled with a letter grade such as a D or E in primary school is a disgrace. I had to console a mum who came to me for advice. She has two lovely children who attend our school. They are attentive, polite and always try hard. Unfortunately, they received some Ds and one of them received an E from other teachers at our school.
    
    "On the last Friday morning of school they were crying and didn't want to go to school. They were saying such things as "I'm dumb, I'm stupid, there's no point in trying because I'll just get a D"!
    
    "Although she kept reading their report comments, which were positive, they could focus only on their given grades. Their mum understood their anguish, but could do little to console them. How can we as educators allow this?
    
    "We have always informed parents when their children were struggling. We implement strategies and programs to improve their skills. Indicating a child has limited skills or skills of a low level is enough. Children and parents do not need a letter grade.
    
    "I and many other teachers do our best at improving the self-esteem of children. We constantly praise children for their effort and commitment. I know all our encouragement and praise will easily be forgotten by the children who receive the lower grades.
    
    "I've no doubt the A-E grades will do more harm than good. This is just one of the many reasons I find myself disillusioned with teaching."
    
    Name and address supplied

  
  
  • Please explain
    
    "My family read your report (Curriculum Council scrapped 7/7) with glee. Last year I contacted first my 11-year-old son's school, and then the Minister for Education, after his mid-term report showed that my previously excelling student was now receiving Bs.
    
    "The school told me the new system made it virtually impossible to give an A (or Ds for that matter) and the Minister, when I finally got a response, said I needed to keep working with the school.
    
    "In the meantime, my son sat the State Government's gifted and talented entry test for high school earlier this year, achieving an outstanding result. In the maths section he finished in the top 5 per cent of the 2000 bright students and was offered a place in the secondary gifted maths/science program for 2008.
    
    "Yet he came home once again with his mid-term report last week - all Bs in the core areas, even maths! This is demotivating for bright kids, who work hard, not to be able to receive the highest reward for their efforts
    
    "Either the school is failing to bring out his abilities (which I do not believe is the case) or the grading system is fundamentally flawed.
    
    "Let's hope this new Education Standards Authority can correct this appalling grading system so that parents can meaningfully be informed of their child's performance and that students receive the reward they deserve."
    
    Natalie Nelmes, Geraldton
    
    
    
  • In Short
    
    "So, bright students are no longer talented but lazy, and the less talented, but tryers, will get the A grades.
    
    "In the future we will not revere Einstein as the father of modern science but Gilligan. Surely this is a joke."
    
    Mike Horton, Dardanup
    
    
    "Mr McGowan has delivered the ultimate insult to the disillusioned and dwindling teaching profession in WA. He proposes to bring retired teachers back into the system and pay them thousands of dollars more than the non-retirees still at the chalk-face, who are often older, more experienced and still doing a great job.
    
    "I am flabbergasted. I plan to retire immediately. I shall then re-apply to join the "zimmer-frame brigade" with an automatic $10,000 a year salary increase. There is a tsunami of righteous indignation gathering among experienced teachers at State schools. Put on your lifejacket, Mr McGowan!"
    
    Penny Stewart, Osborne Park

Thursday 12 July

• The West Australian
  
  
• Students take easy path to uni
  by Bethany Hiatt
  
  "Teachers' fears that new upper school outcomes-based education courses such as physical education and media studies would lure students sway from traditional subjects have been realised, with statistics showing pupils flocking to less demanding courses.
  
  "Curriculum Council figures reveal more than 5000 Year 11 students, or one in five, opted to study the new OBE physical education course introduced this year, nearly three times as many as those who selected biology.
  
  "The statistics back anecdotal evidence revealed by The West Australian last year, which showed many Year 11 students were abandoning harder subjects in favour of easier courses.
  
  "Subjects which were not previously eligible as part of a university entrance score are proving popular, with 5271 students enrolled in physical education and 2299 students choosing media studies in 2007. Humanities subjects were the hardest hit, with the number of students studying geography slashed by a quarter from 4557 in 2006 to 3433 this year.
  
  "Economics lost near 500 student, from 3323 to 2832 and history shed 193 students, from 3926 to 3733. Biology dropped from 2204 to 1927 but other science and maths subjects increased in numbers.
  
  "The drastic changes in enrolment patterns arose after a requirement for students to include at least one humanities subject and one maths or science subject in university entrance calculations was scrapped for students entering Year 11 this year. Under the new system, results from students' best four subjects will be used to calculate tertiary entrance scores.
  
  "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said the had expected some changes in subject selection as new courses were introduced and provided wider opportunities for university entrance.
  
  "The new courses reflect changes in society, technology and the job market," he said.
  
  "But Geographical Association of WA president Mike Fazio said changes to the way tertiary entrance was calculated had cut enrolments in the humanities subjects. "I am concerned for the humanities and the impact this could have on students," he said. "I believe there is a place for the sciences and the mathematics, but humanities must also have a significant place in education.
  
  "If they're taking physical education for ulterior reasons, because it may be seen to be a soft option, then one would question what's happening."
  
  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said students should have greater subject choice but he was concerned some were picking courses because they believed they would offer an easier pathway to university."
  
  
  
  
• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • I agree
    
    "A teacher wrote about the "grading disgrace" (Letters, 11/7). I agree. My child and all the other 25 Year One students received a D (limited outcome) in health and physical education. Not one child received a good or even satisfactory level. The teacher said this is a "system problem" and that criteria are typed into the system and this produces the grade. The teacher advised that my child is enthusiastic and participates well and is picking up lots of skills, which would be expected of a six-year-old. The grade in no way reflects the actual comments of the teacher. It is a flawed reporting system.
    
    "Could The West Australian consider analysing these outcome books and deciphering them for us parents? The Education Department has so far failed its teachers in this area - and it wonders why so many are leaving the profession."
    
    Name and address supplied
    
    
    
  • We face the rage of the 'unparented'
    
    "I respond to the letters Pupils run riot and Bring back can (9/7). I began my teaching career in a private boys' school where we were allowed to use the cane, and unfortunately we did - frequently.
    
    "Years later at school reunions some of these men were bitterly resentful at the way they had been treated. I also found out that they ran a book on who could get the most canings in a day, winner take all, so the whole purpose of corporal punishment was nullified.
    
    "About 10 years ago, while on Friday lunch duty, I saw two boys walking away from school. When I called out they ran off. By the time we had phoned their parents and had them grounded for the weekend, interviewed them at length on Monday morning and had them complete a week of "civic duty" and detention, they had had enough. They never again played truant in their remaining four years of high school A colleague overheard on of the boys say: "I just wish he could cane us and get it over with." An American education psychologist once wrote that it is not the severity of the punishment but the certainty of it that makes it effective.
    
    "In my new role I see disturbed teenagers every day; the common denominator is a dysfunctional family, whether it be through drugs, alcohol or domestic violence. However, by far the most common factor is the absent father. What we are witnessing today among our young people is the rage of the unparented. The last thing they need is to have more violence inflicted on them through corporal punishment.
    
    "In some American schools they train their early primary teachers to recognise seriously at risk students and to implement a three-point program simple but clearly defined rules; immediate sanctions for breach of these rules; constant reward and recognition for achievement and good behaviour.
    
    "Unfortunately, our Government is more intent on playing politically correct football with our family structure and our education system than implementing proved and workable policies."
    
    Terry Dwyer, Warwick
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
• 'Teachers must adopt national approach
  by Selina Mitchell
  
  "Teaching must be professionalised to gain the credibility and strength required to influence the growing national debate on classroom standards.
  
  "Teachers were among the last of the professions to develop a national charter and standards, Teaching Australia chief executive Fran Hinton told a Canberra conference yesterday.

  "A national approach was required to end the fragmentation that had "plagued education for the last century", she said.

  "We need to have a profession that is strong and influential, and to have a public that recognises the significant role of teachers.

  "The teaching profession has been fragmented, and that dissipates its influence.

  "We either have a professional body that influences its own future, or we continue to let the states do it for us."

  "A draft national charter for the profession was circulated for comment recently. Final wording of the charter is likely to be decided at a conference in Melbourne later this month.

  "Teaching Australia is working on national standards and a national accreditation system for education courses.

  "The accreditation system would monitor the uniform standards that graduates should meet and would be overseen by an independent council. A pilot scheme should be operating early next year, with the accreditation process to begin by mid-year.

  "But a separate accreditation system is being developed by state and territory teacher registration boards.

  "A charter for the teaching profession would set out "what we value and stand for across the country", Ms Hinton said.

  "Accreditation for education courses would raise the standard of the profession and increase public confidence in graduates.

  "A set of national standards would unify the profession and provide aspirational goals.

  "But there would be no way of protecting teachers against employers using the standards to measure performance.

  "Also speaking at the Australian Association for the Teaching of English conference was literacy expert David Hornsby, who promoted phonics and meanings-based reading approaches.

  "Phonics, where students sound out words, was an essential part of learning to read, he said, but it was context and meaning which directed how phonics worked.

  "It was impossible to determine some words and their correct pronunciation just by sounding them out, he said."

Friday 13 July

nothing of interest

Saturday, Sunday 14 - 15 July

• The West Australian
  
  
  • New schools chief backs return to learning basics
    
  by Bethany Hiatt

  "The woman responsible for resurrecting public trust in the State education system says she supports a move back to the traditional 3 Rs as the basic building blocks of education.

  "Giving her first in-depth interview a month after taking on the job of director-general of the Education Department, Sharyn O'Neill said she was a pragmatist who believed education should be mostly about children rather than teacher accountability or bureaucratic programs.

  "The single mother who has spent her entire working life in the department she now heads said the educational balance needed to be restored in favour of times tables and phonics, which were fundamental to children developing life skills.

  "A former primary school teacher who taught for eight years in Marble Bar, Carnarvon, Geraldton and Perth, Ms O'Neill, 41, said students had to learn to use technology in primary school, including calculators, but their main focus should be on mental maths skills.

  "We need to restore the balance. In primary years we want them to know how to do sums in their head, we want them to know and be able to do their tables competently," she said.

  "Asked if she supported outcomes-based education, she said everyone had a different view of what OBE was.

  "What I support is a very clear focus on student learning and what students achieve," she said. "When I talk about outcomes I'm talking about what happens as a result of what we do in classrooms. Now if that's OBE, then certainly I support that."

  "But she also indicated she would back the new Education Standards Authority if it decides to abandon the OBE "levels" method of marking after it supersedes the Curriculum Council next year.

  "What we have to do is choose best system for describing student achievement that is useful for teachers and useful for parents and that provides a common set of standards," she said. "I actually don't care what we call it, what I'm committed to is that there's a common set of standards - so if there's another way of doing that, I'm all ears."

  "She rejected the notion that WA's OBE system catered to the lowest common denominator and held back high achievers. But she said that in the past the system had focused on TEE students and education should not cater for any group exclusively.

  "A fitness enthusiast who rises at 6 am every day to jog 5 km before breakfast, Ms O'Neill said failure was a part of life and parents had to know if their child was not doing well. She believed the reintroduced A to E grades were an honest way to tell parents of their child's progress.

  "I think even young kids are resilient. The world is full of competition, some of it healthy and some of it not, but I don't think we need to falsely orchestrate children's worlds so that there's never a winner," she said.

  "Ms O'Neill chose to send her own son to a private school eight years ago for reasons she would not divulge. But she said it would be "incredibly sad" if the massive drift of students away from public schools continued.

  "We need to work more closely with parents, to listen to what they want," she said. "You can't go past high-quality teaching, well-managed and maintained schools and that the learning program offers as many rich opportunities as possible, I think that's what attracts people."

  "She was not embarrassed about her own choice. "The employment contract didn't include where my son went to school," she said. The sister of novelist Tim Winton, Ms O'Neill said she had a supportive family who helped her juggle work and life."
  
  
  

  • Science teachers call for action
  by Bethany Hiatt

  "A strongly worded declaration issued on behalf of more than 1000 science teachers throughout the world has called for urgent action to reverse a global decline of interest in science.

  "The Perth Declaration, released at the end of an international science education conference on Thursday, deplores the severe shortage of specialist science teachers in many countries and the widespread lack of student interest in school science.

  "Key reasons given for the decline include lack of resources devoted to science education in some countries, public misconceptions of science and a perceived lack of relevancy in modern science courses. The declaration calls on all governments to revise science courses offered in schools and to recruit more graduates into science and technology.

  "Australian Science Teachers Association president Paul Carnemolla said the significant shortage of science teachers would worsen without immediate action.

  "He said schools and governments needed to reduce the current emphasis on pen and paper tests and boost interactive learning using computers to revitalise students' interest in science.

  "But Curriculum Council chief executive and former science teacher David Wood said the call to overhaul science courses could be seen as "futuristic". he said any changes towards teaching students about the societal impact of science still had to be balanced with the teaching of basic scientific facts.

  "Eminent scientist and TV presenter Lord Robert Winston said this week that science teachers should be paid more than other teachers to help turn around the national shortage of specialist science teachers.

  "An Australian Council of Deans of Science report revealed a long-term decline in the proportion of students recruited to study physical sciences at universities."
  
  
  

  • Principals want English options
  by Bethany Hiatt

  "Schools should have the option to ditch the new outcomes-based education English course and run the old Years 11 and 12 courses instead, Catholic high school principals have told the Curriculum Council.

  "In a letter to the council, which The West Australian has obtained, the Catholic Secondary Principals Association says English teachers are frustrated that many other courses have been delayed in the best interests of student and teachers, but they are faced with continuing to teach a flawed course in 2008.

  "The principals strongly recommended that schools be permitted to decide between the option of teaching the old TEE course. "Not only does the course require further refinement and greater specification of content and supporting material but English teachers are also faced with continuing heavy workloads associated with course writing, marking and the frustration of having to convert marks to levels," the letter said.

  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said the principals' proposal would have overwhelming support from English teachers across the State. The Curriculum Council needed to acknowledge that the English course was flawed.

  "It is causing an enormous amount of stress among English teachers and is not providing a quality alternative for students," he said. "The council needs to eat humble pie, revert entirely to the old English course, rectify the endemic problems and then progress with the refined course in 2009, for the benefit of students and teachers."

  "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said the had told the principals' group that any decision on the direction English would take were up to the 50 people chosen for the English teachers' jury, which would sit at the end of next month.

  "The English Teachers Forum, a group which loosely represents English teachers from independent, Catholic and State schools, has urged teachers making submissions to the jury to also demand that schools be given the option to return to the old English courses.

  "People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes president Marko Vojkovic called on State school principals to back their Catholic colleagues."

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All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers

This page last updated 13 August, 2008 0:39 AM