Monday 13 August

Tuesday 14 August

Wednesday 15 August

Thursday 16 August

Friday 17 August

Saturday – Sunday, 18 – 19 August

 

Monday 13 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Cash lures only two retirees back to school (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Just two retired teachers have accepted State Government enticements to lure them back into the classroom with higher pay and superannuation incentives as part of desperate measures to tackle the growing teacher shortage, the Education Department has revealed.
    
    "The department wrote to more than 1000 former teachers after the scheme was launched with much fanfare more than a month ago.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said he wanted to bring experienced teachers back into the classroom, especially in country areas, as soon as possible. “We could see teachers taking up positions as early as August,” he said on July 5.
    
    "But this week he said he was not concerned that just two retired teachers had responded to the call.
    
    “To date, we have received around 85 phone calls from interested retirees, 35 written expressions of interest and two definite placements,” Mr McGowan said.
    
    “It is now a matter of matching their speciality teaching areas with locations where they are prepared to teach and the vacancies around the State. Far from being concerned, I am pleased that this scheme has resulted in this level of interest.”
    
    "But State School Teachers Union president Mike Keely said he was not surprised at the low take-up rate. “People who have only been retired for a year are being asked to go to quite demanding locations,” he said.

    “I don’t think it would surprise anybody if there were only two people willing to take the risk.”
    
    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said most people who retired in the past five years had done so for good reason. They were dissatisfied with the way they were treated by the department and tired of poor pay and conditions.
    
    “This has been a roar of disapproval,” he said. “Unless they can see some seismic shift in terms of salary and conditions, they’re simply not going to return to the profession.”
    
    "He questioned why people would want to come out of retirement to teach in country areas where it was difficult to find accommodation and they had to pay more for their food, electricity and petrol.
    
    "After starting third term with a shortfall of 92 teachers, the department was still trying to fill more than 60 vacancies Statewide last week.
    
    "The retired teachers’ package promises salaries up to $76,000 and gives them the option to put all their pay into superannuation. Teachers who agree to teach in isolated country schools could earn up to an extra $15,000 in remote area allowances.
    
    "Only teachers who left the department before June 30 last year are eligible for the package, which also includes flexible working hours.
    
    "Mr McGowan said the scheme to entice retired teachers back to school was just one of many initiatives in train to tackle the teacher shortage.
    
    "The department had offered permanent placements to most country teachers who were on temporary contracts and promised to make it easier to transfer from country schools to the city."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Pupil free days cut to reduce longer holidays (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "State schools are cutting back on student free days because of parents' concern that their children have longer holidays than those in other parts of Australia.

    "Education department director general Sharyn O'Neill told schools on Friday that student free days would be scaled back from 8 to 5 in primary schools next year to bring the number of teaching days in public schools into line with those of the other States.

    "High schools would have 6 student free days.

    "The extra days that teachers had this year and last year were introduced to give teachers extra time to prepare for implementation of the controversial OBE system.

    "Feedback from parents has indicated increasing concern about the shortening of the school year and longer holidays," Ms O'Neill said.

    "Greater consistency across the State also provides greater certainty in planning for holidays for families, particularly where those holidays involve extended families in other States."

    "Rob Fry, president of peak parents group the WA Council of State School Organisations, said many parents had been upset by the introduction of extra pupil free days.

    "Because obviously it's less time kids are having at school and something must get missed as a consequence of that," he said.

    "And I understand the Education Minister has also received a lot of letters about that from parents."

    "But State School Teachers Union vice president Anne Gisborne said teachers would be concerned at the removal of pupil free days.

    "Particularly given the current situation that we're in with teacher shortage," she said. "It will put additional pressure on schools and teachers with respect to undertaking professional development and participating in school development planning."

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said demands on teachers would not be any less than they had been in the past because OBE courses that had been delayed would be implemented in the next two years. Syllabuses for kindergarten to Year 10 were also being introduced next year." [emphasis added]
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Principals need help to be leaders (page 11)
    
    "Australia must introduce school leadership standards if it wants better trained school principals, an education research conference in Melbourne will be told today.

    "Lawrence Ingvarson and Michelle Anderson, from the Australian Council for Education Research, say principals face greater demands for accountability and traditional training methods are no longer acceptable.

    "But Australia had no systematic programme for preparing school leaders across most States and Territories.

    "Future leaders caught what they could on the run," they say in a paper to be given at the council conference. "It has been possible to gain school principal positions with little formal training in school leadership."

    "They say standards of school leadership should be used as a framework to help guide professional development for principals.

    "Dr Ingvarson said the teaching profession had to play a strong role in developing and operating a national system for the professional development of principals. "The system must be guided by profession wide standards and it must provide a certification that holds respect and credibility with all education authorities as a valid indicator of a principal's demonstrated leadership abilities," he said.

    "WA Secondary School Executives Association president Alison Woodman said people taking on such an important job should have the requisite training. "It's largely on the job training," she said. Nationally, fewer people were applying to be principals."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Education raises a challenge in the Premier's own backyard
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "[New Premier] John Brumby wasted no time trying to prove education really was his Government's "No. 1" priority. Two days after he was sworn in as Victoria's 45th premier, Brumby drove 150 kilometres to trumpet his credentials at Eaglehawk Secondary College, the school on the outskirts of Bendigo where he once taught.

    "Twenty-four hours later, he placed one of his most senior MPs — former health minister Bronwyn Pike — in charge of the multibillion-dollar education portfolio. And perhaps in the most telling decision of all, Brumby moved swiftly to reverse a longstanding Steve Bracks policy, expanding the Education Department to give it control of the state's 1400 kindergartens..."
    
    "While many schools do well despite the generally low socio-economic make-up of the region, almost half the secondary schools are in the bottom 20 per cent of the state when it comes to VCE achievement. Almost 40 per cent of primary schools fall in the bottom 20 per cent of the standard reading benchmarks. One-third of primary schools have fewer than 200 pupils and one-fifth of secondary schools have fewer than 300.

    "Put simply, there are too many schools and too few students. The consequence is a reduction in opportunity and choice. In these schools, the choice of subjects and pathways is limited, the social mix of the school is reduced, teachers have to take on greater workloads, absenteeism is high, and performance falls, as does morale.

    "In turn, many parents reject their local government schools in favour of those in more affluent areas that achieve higher results.

    "This widens the equality gap in Victoria's education system: private schools, together with government schools in well-to-do suburbs such as Camberwell, Kew and Balwyn, continue to flourish, while those in poorer areas are drained of resources and of their best and brightest students..."
    
    "If chronic underperformance comes down to school leadership, the Government must be brave enough to replace under-performing principals or teachers. There's little point creating new schools if leadership quality is not tackled.

    "Effective teachers should be better rewarded and greater financial incentives offered to encourage exceptional principals to work in struggling schools. Neighbouring schools should be encouraged to share resources and ideas, and equity funding should be not only increased but better directed, so that the money goes to students who need it most..." [emphasis added]

    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
  • The Monday Education Section has actually updated on Monday, and contains 13 articles, including:
    
    
    • Pursue the hard sell, schools told
      
      State schools need to do more to promote their success stories as a way of stemming the tide of students moving to private schools, according to a leading educator. Professor Brian Caldwell says schools should share their successes with the community to combat negative publicity.
      
      
      
    • Bishop queries 'anecdotal' poverty study
      
      Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has challenged the validity of a survey that found student poverty has worsened dramatically this decade.
      
      
      
  • $20m maths, science school for Clayton
    
    Victoria is set to get its first maths, science and technology school as part of the State Government's push for a more selective public education system.
    
    
    
  • Chess at school a shrewd but contested move
    
    Victorian students would be offered chess coaching to boost their thinking skills under an idea being pushed from within senior State Government ranks.
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Critical thought essential to reading
      
      "Agnes Nieuwenhuizen mars her otherwise excellent article "How we lost the plot" (The Age, 11/8) on the need to encourage students to read books, and particularly Australian books, by confusing the pleasure of reading with the need to think about what we read.

      "No teacher of media studies would make the same mistake of considering pleasure and criticism as incompatible.

      "Of course students should be led to enjoy reading for its own sake, but they should also be taught how to think critically about what they read. Stories can convey images of courage, endurance, loyalty. They can also contain images of hatred, bigotry and racism. These images affect the ways we think about life, and so shape our future behaviour, and the direction of our society.

      "Critical thought is necessary to enable us to distinguish truth or simple entertainment from the false, the meretricious and the malevolent. It should be a part of any program of literacy or wider reading."
      
      John McLaren, North Carlton
      
      

    • Librarians can inspire readers
      
      "Agnes Nieuwenhuizen raises issues that are timely for us all. The challenge in developing a love of reading must be the promotion of both school and public libraries, as they offer free reading material to the entire community.

      "The role of the librarian is often overlooked in this issue, when it is the librarian who has the best skills in matching reader to book, the best knowledge in children's literature, and the passion to inspire readers.

      "Until we uphold the value of libraries, especially school libraries, and provide them with adequate funding, qualified staff and employment not aligned to the number of students enrolled, then we are only providing lip service to any promotion of reading."
      
      Sharon McGuinness, Thirroul, NSW
      
      
      

• American Educator
  
  
  • Inside a Philadelphia Success Story
    
    Anyone looking for a dramatic turnaround of a school need look no further than M. Hall Stanton Elementary. In just two years, Stanton went from being a school where few children met state standards to one where most students met them. Stanton sits in just about as difficult an urban environment as exists in America—North Philadelphia. Its neighborhood of narrow brick rowhouses is one where a block of houses that bravely sports pumpkins and autumn leaves at Halloween immediately gives way to many blocks scarred by burned-out and boarded-up buildings, with individual houses and even entire blocks torn down—piles of rubble mark where homes once stood. Children walking to school regularly pass crack houses. Nightly shootings are common. "This is not the worst part of Philadelphia," said the Chief Academic Officer of the city's school system, Greg Thornton. "But it's close."
    
    
    
  • Uncovering Academic Success
    
    Can it be done? Can schools help all children learn to high levels, even poor children who typically enter school far behind their more privileged peers? Is it even possible?
    
    
    
  • Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?
    
    There’s no such thing as critical thinking “skills.” There are strategies that aid critical thinking—but these can only take one’s thinking to the precipice, no further. Then what? Critical thinking depends on knowing relevant content very well—and thinking about it, repeatedly, in critical ways.
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Stipends, Training for Teachers Fuel Debate [late update from 12 August]
    
    Prince George's County schools are offering new teachers stipends to pay for professional development, Montgomery County is hiring instructional coaches, Fairfax and Arlington county schools will have some smaller classes and Loudoun County teachers will have the chance to take free college courses -- all thanks to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Tuesday 14 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers find fault with union pay claim wording (page 17)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Teachers at many schools have refected their union's list of claims for a new enterprise bargaining agreement because they say it lacks detail on the size of salary rises.

    "The SSTUWA has circulated its log of claims for the 2008 agreement before negotiations start in earnest with the Education Department.

    "But teachers at many branches have rejected "salary increases to place WA teachers at the forefront of top teacher salaries in Australia" as not specific enough.

    "Union members at one big metropolitan school called on the union to aim for wages parity with State Government backbenchers rather than NSW teachers.

    "Marko Vojkovic who heads the "members first" group which is challenging the current union leaders at the election in October, said the log of claims lacked detail on what teachers would be earning in 12 months time. "Teachers want to know specifics, at least a range of percentage figures," he said.

    "Union vice president Anne Gisborne said she would not know how branches had voted until today."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Teacher hits church's free shows
    by Bridie Smith
    
    "A Pentecostal church has been accused of using state schools to spread its message by offering free concerts, barbecues and kung fu classes to students.

    "A teacher from a Richmond secondary school said yesterday his principal had threatened him with suspension after he opposed a hip-hop concert by an American Christian group, the Nubian Gents. The group was brought to Australia by a youth arm of the Assemblies of God.

    "The teacher's concerns, backed by the teacher union, has highlighted the increasing role the church plays in secular state schools.

    "English and psychology teacher Brendan Bailey said students at Lynall Hall Community School should have been made aware that yesterday's concert was put on by a religious group and called for an alternate program for students who did not want to attend.

    "But he said the secondary school refused and the principal threatened him with suspension.

    "Principal Eddie Crouch denied he threatened suspension, instead suggesting Mr Bailey go home to calm down after a heated confrontation with another staff member..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Neighborhoods' Effect On Grades Challenged
    
    Many social reformers have long said that low academic achievement among inner-city children cannot be improved significantly without moving their families to better neighborhoods, but new reports released today that draw on a unique set of data throw cold water on that theory.

Wednesday 15 August

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Colour code to detail pupil threat
    by Bridie Smith
    
    "Parents will be kept informed of potential threats to student safety via a colour-coded alert system to be introduced this week.

    "Under the code, school principals will be obliged to inform teachers, parents and if appropriate, students about potential threats to children using a four-colour alert system.

    "The move follows an incident earlier this year when a man identified by police as a known sex offender, with a history of indecent exposure, was spotted near some eastern suburban schools.

    "The department alerted 249 schools in the area but the message failed to get to parents, sparking concern from parents and child protection groups.

    "New Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said non-government schools were also being encouraged to adopt the warning system. Top of the scale is a black alert, which will signal an evacuation or lock-down of the school due to a serious emergency or bushfire. A code red would require the school to alert the school community of a sex offender in the vicinity, while amber will mean staff are told to be vigilant if, for example, a thief is targeting belongings or vehicles. Principals are obliged to report any sightings to police.

    "The lowest code is green, which includes reporting of severe weather or flooding to emergency services."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Student loans blow out as degree prices soar
    by Adam Morton
    
    "The number of students taking out private loans to pay for university fees is set to blow out, with more than 100 full-fee degrees at Australian campuses set to cost more than $100,000 next year..."
    
    "Labor education spokesman Stephen Smith, who has pledged to phase out domestic full-fee degrees at public universities from 2009 if elected, seized on the figures as evidence that university entry in some cases was now based on financial, not academic, means. He said the Government was out of touch.

    "The Treasurer describes the present system as 'generous' and has pointed out that in the United States, students forked out more than $100,000 and rely on banks to lend them the money," he said.

    "But Education Minister Julie Bishop said by phasing out full fees, Labor would create uncertainty and a potential funding black hole of $500 million over four years. Arguing that Mr Howard had said only that no Commonwealth-supported degree would top $100,000, she criticised Labor for barring Australian students from full-fee places while keeping them for foreign students..."
    
    "As with Commonwealth-supported (HECS) places, full fees can be paid through a deferred loan scheme that is capped at $80,000 for most courses and $100,000 for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science..."

    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    What price a university education?
    
    "Reaching a ton is usually cause for celebration, but today The Age reports on one such milestone that is quite the reverse. From next year, more than 100 full-fee university degrees in Australia will cost more than $100,000. The rise in courses costing this much money has been extraordinary and is a grave cause for concern.

    "In just four years the total courses costing more than $100,000 has more than doubled. In 2005, 45 degrees cost that much or more. In 2006, the number rose to 60, and this year it climbed to 97. The figures are revealed in The Good Universities Guide, published today.

    "The revelations will fuel the bitter ideological battle that is being fought between the Coalition and Labor over university degrees and, more broadly, the future of education, especially in the tertiary sector. One of the key pitches to voters of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd is the "education revolution". However, for Prime Minister John Howard, it will mean facing down his comment in 1999 to Federal Parliament: "The Government will not be introducing an American-style higher education system. There will be no $100,000 university fees under this Government." The Government later said the Prime Minister was referring to HECS, under which students can incur a debt up to $50,000.

    "Only about 3 per cent of undergraduates, roughly about 16,000, are full-fee-paying students. However, in this year's federal budget the Government said it would scrap the 35 per cent ceiling on full-fee degrees. Student debt is forecast to reach $15 billion this year. And according to a recent OECD report, Australian students pay the world's second-highest fees.

    "It is a daunting prospect for a teenager out of high school to know that to pursue further education can result in a massive debt. Is this increasing price of learning going to become such that the cost of an education is too much to bear?"
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link

    
    
    
  • Police, nurses dig in on wages [but no mention of teachers]
    
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • The Higher Education Supplement [but nothing of particular relevance to K-12 teachers today]

Thursday 16 August

• Vision and Issues: Dr Dennis Jensen, Federal Member for Tangney
  
  
  • Outcomes Based Education

    "Outcomes based education (OBE) is a social experiment that essentially works under the premise that competition (apart from self-competition) is bad. Unfortunately, this is not how the real world works, and as soon as our children leave school they will be competing with others, whether it be for university, training or apprenticeship places, or for a job. Why is it that competition in sport is viewed so positively, yet academic competition between students is actively discouraged? Whatever happened to the pursuit of excellence?

    "We need an education system that encourages students to strive for excellence, whilst acknowledging that not all can excel in an academic sense. Those less academically minded should be assisted to work in areas that best suit their temperament. OBE does cater for these students but fails to challenge other students to pursue excellence, to go the step beyond – instead it encourages mediocrity. If mediocrity is what the State Government is aiming for then it is a goal that is sure to be achieved!"

    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Call for more government money for private schools
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Private school parents have accused the states of using the "drift" away from public education as an excuse to spend less on non-government schools.

    "The Australian Parents Council — representing the parents of children in the non-government system — said the growth of private schools was saving state governments more than $7 billion a year according to Productivity Commission figures. That money, the council said, ought to be better spent.

    "I think they're taking advantage of that instead of using it as an opportunity to invest in education overall," said council executive director Ian Dalton.

    "Mounting an election-year push, the group has called for state and federal governments to enter into "shared contractual arrangements" to fund schools. Under the proposal, any time the Commonwealth increases its spending on schools, the states would be required to lift their support by an agreed percentage.

    "At present, private schools get about $4.8 billion in recurrent funding from Canberra and $1.8 billion from the states. The majority of their money comes from parents' fees. Public schools get $2.1 billion in federal money, and $22.1 billion from the states.

    "A spokesman for Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said: "Our main responsibility is to fund a quality public education system that is accessible to all students".

    "Private school enrolments have increased by 21.5 per cent in the past decade."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Labor unveils early childhood plan [late afternoon update from 15 August]
    AAP
    
    "An at-home early childhood learning program for disadvantaged areas has been unveiled by Labor, as the next instalment of its promised "education revolution."
    
    "Working in conjunction with the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Labor says it will establish 50 community groups in Australia's most disadvantaged communities if it wins the upcoming federal election.

    "The home interaction program, which will support up to 8,000 children aged between three and five, will cost $32.5 million over five years.

    "The two-year program will provide tutors who will visit parents at home to provide personal mentoring, tutoring assistance and support, as well as books and learning materials..."
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link

Friday 17 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Unions vow hard ball on pay at MPs' rise of 4.5 pc (page 5)
    Exclusive by Ben Spencer
    
    "The State's 91 MPs have been given a 4.5 per cent pay increase – well above the State inflation rate – prompting unions to threaten a bloody round of pay negotiations if the Government fails to meet their pay demands..."
    
    "State School Teachers Union vice-president Anne Gisborne warned the Government that 4.5 per cent would be the minimum it would seek for teachers when negotiations start in October.
    
    "Ms Gisborne said the negotiations could get heated if the Government was unwilling to come to the party, warning the current teacher shortage could push its demands well in excess of 4.5 per cent.
    
    "Our members are very determined. They have put up with a lot," she said. "I think the message from a lot of teachers would be, 'put up or we're out of here'." ...
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Mandurah students flout State school ban on jeans (page 43)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Students at a Mandurah school are flouting the State Government's ban on wearing jeans to school.

    "Coodanup Community College principal Digby Mercer conceded that a number of student were still wearing jeans to school, six months after denim was banned from State schools and uniforms were made compulsory.

    "It is an issue because we need to comply with the department's policy, however … the community we serve is very economically and socially disadvantaged," he said. "With rising rents and petrol prices I've got to be sensitive to the fact that I might be significantly disadvantaging some parents."

    "Most students wore school uniform in the summer months but with the colder weather more of them were wearing jeans.

    "Mr Mercer said he was working with the school community rather than being dictatorial about it. "We're going along very softly, softly," he said. "Hopefully as we get into next year it will be most kids in uniform."

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said students were also ignoring the jeans ban at many other schools. He said it was another "feel good" policy the State government had floated in the past 12 months that was impossible to implement in reality.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said the no denim policy had been well received by the community and was being successfully implemented across public schools under the supervision of district directors.

    "Fremantle Peel district director Neil Darby said that in Coodanup's case he had taken into consideration exceptional socio economic circumstances which had led to the school taking longer to implement the jeans ban. The school was working with parents.

    "This includes reminding parents who have a family health card that they can apply for $115 for school uniforms and $135 for school fees as part of the secondary assistance scheme," he said.

    "But parent Kerry Ellery said the allowance barely covered the cost of shoes for her Year 9 daughter, Bethany, as well as uniform T shirts and jumpers. She bought six pairs of jeans to last three years and refused to pay for more trousers. She said her daughter was told that if she wore jeans to school she would be sent home to change but that threat was never carried out."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • School funding 'discriminates'
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "A parents group has lodged a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Commission against the federal Government, claiming that funding of non-government schools discriminates against families who cannot afford private school fees.

    "Parents United for Improving Education also accuses the Queensland Government of contravening a parent's right to pass on moral and ethical beliefs to their child by seeking to teach a set of unspecified ideologies.

    "Parents United is a small group of parents, grandparents, teachers, students and community members based in Bundaberg, in eastern Queensland.

    "The Queensland anti-discrimination commissioner, Susan Booth, said socioeconomic status was not covered by discrimination laws in Australia, although it was elsewhere in the world.

    "But Parents United chairman Kenneth Burmeister said the complaint, lodged with the Anti-Discrimination Commission in Queensland, was the first step and the group would pursue the matter through the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and appeal to the Supreme Court.

    "Mr Burmeister, who helped set up Calvary Christian College in Townsville, said Parents United wanted education vouchers to replace the school funding system. Under the plan, the Government would give parents an annual voucher worth the amount it costs to educate a public school student, which parents could spend at the school of their choice, public or private. [emphasis added]

    "Mr Burmeister said the system would give parents the power to exercise choice in educating their children and eliminate discrimination in the system.

    "The fact that money is going to independent schools facilitates parents of a certain economic class to extract their children from compulsory education in state government schools."

    "The complaint says some students are of an economic class incapable of paying private school fees. "Thereby that class of students, due to compulsory education, are compelled to enrol in the state's public schools."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • A detriment to standards
      
      "Garry Collins (Letters, 14/8) comments on the role of teachers and the school system.

      "Politicians and administrators in the education system are keen to boast about the number of students achieving given qualifications. In addition, the education culture strongly discourages telling students that they have failed in something. As a result, the marks at Year 12 are "scaled’’ so that the average mark is typically in the vicinity of 60 per cent – regardless of how low the average mark might have been. The result is that some students who have achieved low marks are given higher final marks and so "qualify’’ for university entrance.

      "Another problem is that it’s not uncommon for universities to adjust some students’ entrance scores by adding a percentage to allow for the admission of under-represented groups. There are other schemes, such as accepting a reference from a student’s school to overcome the problem of a low entrance score. Finally, academics are sometimes pressured by administrators to accept students who have not qualified for university entrance in order to fill a quota. These techniques allow a university to publicly claim that it has maintained a high "cut-off’’ entrance mark.

      "To exacerbate the resulting detrimental effect on standards, some universities have a policy that students’ grades should conform to some nominal distribution. Consequently, academics are pressured to ensure that as few students as possible fail, and that some notional proportions should be awarded credits, distinctions and high distinctions."
      
      T.R. Smyth, Florey, ACT

 

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Big changes flagged for science to be cool
    by Bridie Smith
    
    "School science lessons are set to have a radical overhaul as the Federal Government moves to silence critics who claim the science curriculum is out of touch and boring.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop yesterday outlined a four-year action plan to lift the profile of science in schools, at a time when the number of students studying science is in decline.

    "The Australian School Science Education Action Plan 2008-12, released ahead of National Science Week that starts tomorrow, includes increasing the time dedicated to science in schools, improving student assessment and taking a fresh approach to professional development, while also improving financial rewards for teachers.

    "Ms Bishop said the curriculum needed to be relevant to the lives of students to retain their interest.

    "Australian students need to know about the importance of science and to have their imaginations sparked by the wonder of science," she said. "Australia needs more scientists to ensure we remain internationally competitive and economically strong."

    "Deakin University's Professor Russell Tytler said: "We're losing students and we're not getting as many as we need taking post-compulsory science subjects."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Selective schools 'could weaken public system'
    
    The State Government's push to increase the number of specialist schools in Victoria and choose more students based on academic ability could weaken the education system, a leading education expert has warned.
    
    
    
    
  • Classroom wireless could be harmful: parents
    
    Parents have raised concerns about the radiation risks of internet wireless technology, which the State Government admits it introduced to all public schools without researching the health implications.
    
    
    
    
  • Bike sheds will help in war on weight, state told
    
    Bike sheds should be mandatory for every new and refurbished school in Victoria, a cycling advocate says.

Saturday – Sunday, 18 – 19 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • State schools 'left only for the poor' [Front Page Headline]
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Principals have issued a dramatic warning about the decline of State high schools, saying that unless dramatic changes are made they will become schools of last resort for students from poor families who are unable to pay for a private education.

    "In a document sent to education director-general Sharyn O'Neill this week, the WA Secondary School Executives Association claims that public secondary education is subject to political interference and is at a "critical crossroad". The drift to private schools would increase without a major redistribution of resources.

    "To go straight on, albeit with even a number of surface changes, will almost certainly continue to downward spiral in reputation, enrolments, staff morale and effectiveness," it states. A radical shift to a self-governed and effectively resourced system in which teaching took priority over public service compliance was needed to regain public confidence.

    "Without such a shift in approach, public secondary schools will inevitably degenerate into a collection of residual or safety net institutions attended by only those unable or unwilling to pay the additional charges demanded by the publicly funded privately run school sector," the document says.

    "While there were "islands of excellence", public schools were sometimes "neglected, unattractive, inadequately staffed, micro managed by the centre" and "subject to incessant populist political interference". [emphasis added]

    "In the paper, A Vision for Public Secondary Education, the association recommends that only university-bound students sit Year 12 exams and that school reports should not include grades A to E. Both recommendations contradict policies put in place by Education Minister Mark McGowan.

    "The report argues that universities' influence on secondary school courses is "disproportionate and unreasonable" because it forces schools to become unpaid agents selecting students for tertiary institutions.

    "Association president Alison Woodman said forcing all students to sit exams was a "statistical convenience". "I don't see it as increasing rigour or raising standards," she said. The paper notes the current compulsory method of linking A-E grades on school reports to outcomes-based education assessment in eight levels of achievement leads to wide variations and inconsistencies between and within schools. The grades were imposed by the Federal Government and backed by Mr McGowan. [But the Feds NEVER said to link them to OBE levels!!  Web]

    "Mr McGowan said he had not seen the report. "The State Government sets education policy, not WASSEA," he said. "We will not be deterred from focusing on standards and educational achievement by interest groups." Ms O'Neill said she would give consideration to the principals' recommendations in light of recent changes."

    From The West Australian
    
    

    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Education crisis no surprise

      "So, the community is dissatisfied with current educational standards. Perhaps the impending crisis should have been predicted when teachers had to uncharacteristically march up St Georges Terrace in the 80s and 90s to press governments to award cost-of-living salary increases.

      "As a result of relatively inferior salary awards, teachers have progressively lost parity with other occupations and the community has witnessed a steady exodus of teachers to other careers. Blind Freddie could have forecast that Australian society would be the ultimate loser.

      "Governments are expedient decision markers. They think only in terms of their re-election. Add to this lack of vision their imperative to return a surplus budget and the result is their inability to afford the services that society expects in paying teachers, nurses and police what they are worth.

      "We can expect the situation to get worse. With self-employed tradesmen now receiving extraordinary salaries for their work, who would want to commit to four years post-secondary school training to become a teacher? The net result will be a diminution of educational standards, a less-educated and internationally competitive workforce, a decline in our productivity and consequent fall in our living standard.

      "I resigned two years ago after a long and intrinsically rewarding teaching career to pursue salary justice before retirement. I haven't been disappointed. In the "real world" I have earned significantly more per annum than I did as a school administrator. I now work half the hours and have about a quarter of the stress.

      "Footnote to teachers, police and nurses: stop picking up society's guilt bag and charge appropriately for your important services. You are worth more in the "real world" with the daily issues you deal with than the majority of workers."

      George Watson, Duncraig
      
      
      
      

  • West Weekend Magazine: Letter to the Editor (page 7)
    
    
    • "In 10-20 years time we will have no nurses, teachers or police because, thanks to OBE, there won't be enough people with a decent education to undertake the studies required for these professions.

      "Coupled with the average person on an average wage being unable to buy a house because of rising rental costs and escalating house prices, how can people in these professions afford to buy a house?

      "Why is our State Government so self-destructive?

      "At an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, why doesn't the State Government offer some sort of "housing incentive" for people to pursue careers in education, the police force or nursing? Off the top of my head, why now offer some sort of tax relief or housing allowance to people in these industries after two or five years of service... maybe more tax relief or housing allowance after 10 years?

      "This would hopefully encourage young people to pursue these careers and stick with them, with the incentive of the assistance to be able to buy their own home. The trick would be to make sure that the assistance is significant and not a token."

      Alison Milne, Wembley Downs
      
      
      

• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Shopping Centre refuses children service during school hours (page 7)
    by Anthony deCeglie
    
    "School children are being refused service at a Perth shopping centre during school hours in a bid to tackle truancy.
    The strong measure has been introduced in Clarkson, where truancy is high.

    "Children will no longer be served at the town's major shopping centre, Ocean Keys, between 9am and 3pm. The initiative was launched on Friday.

    "Sen-Sgt Steve Principe, from Clarkson police station, said the ban had to be introduced after a spate of crimes in the area committed by students who were skipping school.

    "There was a burglary spate and we did some investigations which told us it was school students operating during school hours,'' he said.

    "We located six of the offenders at the local shopping centre.

    "There have also been other occurrences of violence and assaults by students at the shopping centre during school hours.''

    "Sen-Sgt Principe said he hoped the entire Wanneroo region would start enforcing the ban.

    "When you think about it, it is very simple,'' he said.

    "I think it can happen anywhere.

    "Shop owners have got to start taking some responsibility with the young people.''

    "Banning students from shopping centres would give them one less place to meet when they skipped school.

    "It is also for their safety,'' he said. ``It stops kids from being vulnerable to predators who often target shopping centre areas.''

    "Ocean Keys Shopping Centre manager Craig Wilson said he had had problems with students loitering outside the centre when they should have been in school."

    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
    
  • Merit first at uni (page 33)
    
    Universities should be selecting benefits more on academic merit than their ability to pay full fees upfront, according to the new chief of Australia's top universities [UWA vice-chancellor Alan Robson].
    
    
    
    
  • Kindy kids' drug advice (page 16)
    
    Pre-primary students, aged just four and five, should be taught about illicit drugs, an experienced counsellor says.
    
    
    
    
  • School of hard knocks (page 16)
    
    Police are taking high school students on "survival tours" of the city, including Northbridge, to teach them how to safeguard against increasing the threat of violence.
    
    
    
    
    
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Labor 'winning' the education debate
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Former Liberal Party adviser and outspoken critic of the school curriculum Kevin Donnelly says Labor is winning the public debate on education and has presented a more persuasive vision of the reforms required to raise academic standards.

    "Dr Donnelly said ALP education spokesman Stephen Smith had succeeded in enunciating a "clear and powerful view" of the goals of education and had seized the ground on school curriculum reform previously occupied by the Coalition.

    "By contrast, Education Minister Julie Bishop had a piecemeal approach to education reform that resulted in shallow policy and failed to provide clear goals.

    "The ALP have been able to win the public debate at the level of rhetoric and Mr Smith has presented an articulate and persuasive view of education in terms of accountability and academic rigour," Dr Donnelly said.

    "But Ms Bishop was no "cultural warrior" and lacked the conviction to reform the dominant education culture, characterised by a lack of academic rigour, political correctness and a focus on outcomes at the expense of standards. "As a result, the ALP has taken some of the territory from the conservative agenda," he said. [emphasis added]

    "Dr Donnelly is a former chief of staff for now Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, has worked as a consultant to the federal Government and Liberal Party and has stood for Liberal preselection in Victoria.

    "Government sources said last night Dr Donnelly was a disgruntled former consultant to the previous education minister, Brendan Nelson, who is now Defence Minister, and had since unsuccessfully applied for advisory positions in Ms Bishop's office.

    "Traditionally strong supporters of Coalition policy on education are increasingly dissatisfied with Ms Bishop's performance.

    "Critics argue she has mishandled several key issues, requiring John Howard to come in over the top of his minister, notably at the Australian history summit.

    "The summit proposed a curriculum based on series of open-ended questions, which critics say required the Prime Minister to establish a four-person committee to rewrite the curriculum.

    "Conservative commentator Christopher Pearson, a former adviser to Mr Howard and former editor of The Adelaide Review newspaper, echoed Dr Donnelly's comments, saying Ms Bishop was not "a conspicuously good minister but she hasn't in a policy sense made any spectacularly stupid decisions, except when posturing about curriculum, when she seems to have left her brain at the door".

    "In a speech prepared for a history teachers' conference last year, Ms Bishop said education departments had distorted school curriculum with "Chairman Mao"-type ideologies -- a reference that attracted widespread criticism when it was reported and was subsequently dropped when she delivered the speech.

    "An education researcher with conservative think tank the Centre for Independent Studies, Jennifer Buckingham, said the Coalition and Labor school policies were similar, differing only in the proposed implementation.

    "Ms Buckingham said the ALP had an edge in early childhood education, being committed to preschools and to testing literacy and numeracy as children started school. "Otherwise, I think it's pretty much neck and neck."

    "Executive director of the Independent Schools Council of Australia Bill Daniels said the sector felt much more comfortable about the ALP's funding policy than at the last election, when the party proposed taking money away from a hit-list of rich schools.

    "But having a policy and being able to implement it are different things and there are significant pressures on the Labor Party from public education lobby groups, who don't like any government funding going to independent schools," he said.

    "Dr Donnelly said Mr Smith and federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd in party education policy documents had laid the building blocks and had started to deliver a good narrative on education.

    "There's an underlying concept of where they want to go," he said. "Whereas Ms Bishop's policies are crisis management, episodic, and she often contradicts herself."

    "But Dr Donnelly expressed concern that the ALP intended to use the Curriculum Corporation and the Australian Council for Educational Research in developing a national curriculum, saying they were both agents for the status quo. [emphasis added]

    "Ms Bishop said the criticism of events surrounding the Australian history summit and the development of the model history curriculum "was fanciful, indicating either an unreliable source or a fabrication of events".

    "The Australian Government has achieved unanimous agreement from the states and territories for a nationally consistent approach to curriculum, assessment and reporting, despite decades of debate and inaction," she said.

    "This will lead to significant educational reform and an unprecedented national effort for higher standards through greater national consistency."

    From The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Prize-winning author doesn't need words
    
    When it comes to assessing the most successful Australian book of the year, it's hard to go past Shaun Tan's masterpiece, The Arrival. Yesterday, the quietly spoken 33-year-old scored another strike when his "silent" graphic novel won the picture book of the year category in the 2007 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, The Arrival's 13th prize this year.
    
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Teachers in the front row when students square off
    by William Birnbauer
    
    "The short skinny kid had blood pouring from his face and teacher Claude Tomisich could see that worse was to come. The boy, a 14-year-old called Benny, was being bashed by a student almost twice his size.

    "Mr Tomisich was coaching a weight-lifting group during a school lunch break when he went to investigate a commotion outside the gym. About 100 students were around Benny and his attacker.

    "They wanted to see poor little Benny get the crap beaten out of him," Mr Tomisich recalls. "He was going to end up with broken bones, missing teeth …"

    "Mr Tomisich, a senior teacher, ran in to break up the fight. To his astonishment, four or five year 11 boys blocked his path by linking their arms around him.

    "I had to grab one of them not only to stop falling over but also to move them out of the way. Then it happened."

    "Disc prolapse or bulge won't kill anyone but is no reward for trying to do the right thing. The fight was 10 years ago and Mr Tomisich's back pain reminds him of it every day. Sometimes it's niggly; other times he can't move without chiropractic treatment.

    "For almost 18 months I was in extreme, if not, excruciating pain," he said. "I could not sit for periods longer than 10 or 15 minutes and lifting anything heavier than a textbook aggravated the condition."

    "The dilemma of whether teachers should intervene physically in school fights was highlighted recently in a decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which concluded that "there is no immutable rule that a teacher should physically intervene in a fight between students".

    "The tribunal ruled that a former teacher, Peter Moran, be allowed to resume teaching from next year. Mr Moran was sacked by the Education Department and deregistered as a teacher by the Victorian Institute of Teaching partly because he did not intervene in a fight between girls at Langwarrin Secondary College.

    "Mr Moran told one of the girls after the fight: "I'm here to teach, not to break up fights." He has not worked since being dismissed in 2002.

    "VCAT urged the profession to draft guidelines for teachers on how to handle fights. The governing council of the Victorian Institute of Teaching, which registers teachers, will discuss its response on August 29.

    "Schools, teachers and parent groups welcomed VCAT's decision but agreed it would be impossible to develop guidelines to cover every situation. On the front foot is the 15,000-member Victorian Independent Education Union, which included the development of protocols for managing violent students in a recent wage and conditions claim. The union covers staff at independent and Catholic schools.

    "The union's general secretary, Deb James, said violence among students as well as abuse and threats from parents were increasing and teachers often had to make split-second decisions on how to respond.

    "Teachers have it drummed into them time and time again: don't touch students, don't touch students," Ms James said. "Yet there are times when schools say 'why didn't you just jump in and pull them apart?'. The message the other 99 per cent of the time is 'don't put your hands on them'."

    "Ms James said the protocols would not be prescriptive and that teachers had to be able to exercise their professional judgement as situations unfolded.

    "What they need is for that decision to be respected and supported," she said. "Sometimes the best thing to do would be to actually let the two kids go at it a bit and keep everybody else out of the way."

    "She suggested schools give teachers on yard duty panic buttons or mobile phones and close off secluded areas.

    "The Victorian branch president of the Australian Education Union, Mary Bluett, said teachers confronted with student brawls often felt very alone, not knowing if principals or senior staff would back them.

    "The union believed teachers had a duty of care to prevent injuries to students and should intervene in fights as long as it did not lead to teachers being hurt or cause injury to the students. She said the union would work with the Victorian Institute of Teaching or the Education Department to develop guidelines on the issue.

    "Michelle Green, from the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, supported schools having their own protocols. "I don't think you could mandate protocols that would work for every school," she said.

    "She did not agree that teachers should intervene physically but said it depended on the situation. "Teachers tell me they don't have to intervene physically. If they have back-up they're able to use what authority they have to try and gain control of the situation."

    "Education Department spokeswoman Melissa Arch said state-run schools already had regulations under which teachers could take any reasonable action to restrain a student from acts or behaviour dangerous to the member of staff, the student or any other person. This included physical restraint of the student.

    "Principals and teachers also had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to protect students from risks of injury that are reasonably foreseeable.

    "Meanwhile, Mr Tomisich said that despite his continuing pain and the battery of scans and treatments that followed the incident, he had no regrets about intervening in the fight and preventing Benny from being more seriously injured.

    "He's not sure that guidelines would be very useful. "In the heat of the moment you want to try and do the right thing. Rules and regulations may be in the background but they don't necessarily present themselves as a checklist before you take action."
    

    From The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • Disgraceful lesson

    "Your editorial ("Teachers' dilemma: damned if you do, damned if you don't", 12/8) sums up the problem facing teachers. In my 33 years as a teacher, I had very occasionally to intervene physically to stop fights. I did so knowing that I could be charged with assault, injured and then blamed for my own injury, and that if I did not intervene I could be regarded as failing in my duty of care.

    "The teacher at Langwarrin has been treated disgracefully by the Education Department and the Victorian Institute of Teaching for what, at worst, is a 30-second lapse of judgement that anyone could have made. It is even more disgraceful that the department, having acted with the usual contempt it shows for its employees, seems even now unwilling to re-employ Mr Moran and to give him back pay for the five years since he was unjustly sacked.

    "The actions of the principal, which led to this injustice, are yet more evidence against the idea that principals should have any more power over the hiring, firing and performance paying of their staff."
    
    Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge
    
    

  • Failure of duty

    "I feel that the Victorian Institute of Teaching has treated teacher Peter Moran (12/8) very harshly. It is ridiculous that Mr Moran's career has been destroyed by a 30-second fight between 16-year-old girls.

    "Teachers have the right to work in a safe environment. The Victorian Department of Education should employ trained security guards in schools to control and protect children at lunchtimes.

    "I have worked in schools with strict "hands-off" policies for teachers. A teacher only has to touch a child in passing and a formal investigation can be launched. Mr Moran had good reason to fear getting involved in this fight.

    "Why would anybody make the effort to train to be a teacher when their career can be destroyed so easily? There are many problems in Australian schools and it is just too easy to make the teacher a scapegoat in every circumstance. Much, much easier than trying to deal with the children's behaviour problems. The Victorian Department of Education has failed Peter Moran."
    
    Robina Cosser, Queensland
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age [Saturday]
  
  
  • Melbourne Uni opens doors on its 'evolution'
    
    Melbourne is rebuilding its curriculum, modelling itself on the US tradition by abolishing double degrees, teaching only a few broad undergraduate courses and pushing specialist professional programs back to masters or doctorate level.
    
    
    
  • Science takes a walk on the wild side [plus links for National Science Week]
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • No evidence on selective schools
      
      "The evidence does not support Professor Richard Teese's contention that selective schools "could weaken the education system" (The Age, 17/8).

      "NSW has more than 30 selective secondary schools. On a broadly based measure of year 12 success — the percentage of subjects attempted where students score more than 40 — 21 of the top 25 schools are government-run. In Victoria, of the top 25 schools, only four are government, with the other 21 private.

      "Private-school students dominate the elite programs at Melbourne and Monash universities. Victoria's professional leadership is educated in private schools, whereas in NSW they come through the state system. NSW has a higher proportion of students in the government system. Many factors influence this, but a key element is the impact of selective schools in keeping the middle class committed to the system.

      "Given the significant unmet demand for places in our two selective schools, where is the problem in the Government implementing its pre-election promise?"
      
      Bruce C. Hartnett, Alphington

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This page last updated 13 August, 2008 0:40 AM