Monday 20 August

Tuesday 21 August

Wednesday 22 August

Thursday 23 August

Friday 24 August

Saturday – Sunday, 25 – 26 August

 

Monday 20 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Levy may see teacher shortage worsen [Front Page]
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "WA's teacher shortage could be about to get significantly worse, with thousands of teachers facing instant dismissal for failure to pay compulsory professional registration fees.

    "The WACOT warned yesterday that 4100 teachers still had not paid their $70 annual membership fee, due in April, and would be stripped of their licence to teach if it was not paid by October.

    "Many teachers are refusing to pay the fee until WACOT holds an election for the 10 teacher positions on its board, which is expected to be some time in November and possibly even as late as December.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan yesterday tried to hose down the prospect that State schools, already short of about 60 teachers, could see hundreds more disappear from the system by the start of term four because of failure to pay the fee.

    "Asked whether he would intervene, Mr McGowan said that it was a "hypothetical question" because he was confident teachers would pay the fee once the election was held. "No one is going to give up their job over a $70 tax deductible fee," he said.

    "The problem for Mr McGowan is the election might not be held for several weeks or months after WACOT has issued its final demands for payment, meaning that teachers will have already lost their jobs by the time the election takes place.

    "WACOT is yet to set an election date, but has promised it would be held by the end of the year.

    "A State school head of department who asked not to be named, said he was prepared to sacrifice his job over the issue. "I've got superannuation, I'm alright," he said. "They've been in existence for 3 years now and we still haven't had an election and the only teacher reps on there are government appointed ones."

    "WACOT director Suzanne Parry said yesterday she hoped an election date could be announced in early October before teachers' memberships had to be cancelled. "It is certainly an issue for us and we're concerned about it," she said. "But we're hoping that we can manage it in a way that gives people the opportunity to vote, which is what they have indicated that they are waiting for."

    "All teachers must be financial members of WACOT to teach in WA. They risk a $5000 fine if they continue teaching while unregistered. Any school which employs an unregistered teacher could also be fined $5000.

    "Dr Parry said final notices would be sent out soon, giving teachers 28 days to pay."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • 12 books your kids must read before they turn 12 (page 3)
    by Katie Hampson
    
    "Sharing the wonder of discovering a magical world at the back of your wardrobe, the adventures of a reckless Toad or the mischief of a puddin’ in a pot will do more for your children’s education than any amount of TV, says WA Education Minister Mark McGowan.
    
    "He suggested parents who want to give their children a head start at school should begin reading to them for half an hour a day from when they are as young as 12 months.
    
    "To coincide with Children’s Book Week, which runs until August 24, Mr McGowan has named the 12 books children must read before they turn 12 and The West Australian’s readers have the chance to agree or disagree in an online competition, which runs until next Monday.
    
    "Mr McGowan said among the most important books on his list were The Wind in the Willows, The Magic Pudding, Wombat Stew and Harry Potter. Nearly half the books were written by Australian authors.
    
    “My message to parents is have lots of books at home, switch off the telly and read to your children,” he said. “I have two young children and I know sometimes parents need time out, but reading to your children for half an hour today is the best gift you can give to them.”
    
    “I suggested Harry Potter, which is not traditional literature, but at the same time it’s exciting and interesting and it encourages children to read. The most important thing is to get them interested and started on reading.”
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop said she would like to see more emphasis on classic works and believed books such as Charlotte’s Web, Storm Boy and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe should be the cornerstone of reading.
    
    “Parents have the primary responsibility to develop in their children a love of reading from an early age,” she said. “Classics — including Australian classics like the Billabong series by Mary Grant Bruce — are timeless and can continue to enthral children generation after generation.”
    
    "Readers are invited to list their top 12 by Monday, August 27, with their name, contact number and email address. The best suggestions will go to an expert panel including Librarian of the Year Marie Clarke, children’s book author Andy Griffiths and WA Primary Principals Association head Colin Pettit. Their top 12 books will be announced on Saturday, September 1, and five randomly selected readers will win a set of them from Dymocks."
    
    From The West Australian at link [plus you can register your 12 favourite books at that link]
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Teaching in crisis

      "After attending one of the many public forums into the teacher shortage crisis, it is clear that education is set for testing times ahead - and not necessarily related to the accountability driven WALNA or WAMSE test days.

      "The Minister has bravely called for the task force to examine the issues and he will face a test - a test of his integrity and resolve to act on the advice.

      "Key messages that resounded from the forums were: the need for a significant pay rise to redress years of decline in the professional pay of teachers, the provision of genuine support mechanisms for teachers just starting and newly appointed administrators and a reduction in the paperwork that is drowning educators. People also wanted to see a change away from the ridiculous workload that has been created by OBE."

      Andrew Bell, Woodvale
      
      

    • Get rid of HECS

      "The report about the HECS and the considerable debts graduates accrue (16/8) was enlightening. It would appear that little attention has been given to this factor in accounting for the current acute shortage of university trained professionals.

      "The basic premise behind HECS when it was introduced by the Hawke government in the 1980s appeared to be that only the graduate benefited from their education, there they musty pay for it. We can see clearly now that this is not the case and that such training is integral to our society and economy.

      "Why would a person saddle themselves with a big debt to undertake a vital societal role, and in the case of people such as nurses and teachers, earn little more than the average wage after graduation? Even professions such as medicine and dentistry where there is opportunity to earn better than average money, debt must deter many graduates from entering the public sector and going private for the better remuneration.

      "If we trained our own professionals in sufficient numbers, we could stop poaching them from other countries with all the issues that this entails.

      "Let us return to free tertiary education and encourage every student who is able, to undertake the educational training that is vital to maintaining our social and economic infrastructure."

      A White, Subiaco
      
      
      

• The Australian
  
  
  • Private schools 'benefit taxpayer'
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Parents who send children to private schools save taxpayers about $5 billion a year in building and running costs of schools that governments would otherwise have to provide.

    "An analysis commissioned by the independent schools sector argues that state and federal governments spend twice as much annually on students in government schools than on those in independent schools.

    "Non-government school students overall, comprising Catholic and independent schools, receive about 58 per cent of what is spent on government school students.

    "Based on 2004-05 figures, the analysis found that the public spent $10,715 a year educating a government school student, compared with $5559 a year on an independent school student and $6246 on all non-government students.

    "The report concludes that federal government funding is biased towards non-government schools, while state and territory government funding is "even more biased" against non-government schools.

    "Adding the two levels of government together, total government support is strongly biased against non-government schools," it says.

    "The savings to all levels of government in 2004-05 was $4.9billion as a result of the federal government spending $3.9billion on private schools.

    "The analysis, to be released by the Association of Independent Schools Victoria today, is the latest salvo by the independent schools sector in the debate over school funding ahead of the federal election.

    "The public education lobby has stepped up its campaign in recent months over school funding, arguing the federal Government is funding non-government schools at the expense of public schools.

    "The Australian Education Union is running a $1.3 million campaign in marginal seats, including television advertising, arguing that the federal Government's share of public school funding has fallen to about 30 per cent, despite 70 per cent of Australian students attending a government school.

    "The Independent Schools Council of Australia sent a briefing package to parliamentarians in June to counter the AEU campaign, claiming it was misleading for excluding the amount paid by state governments.

    "The analysis commissioned by the AISV was conducted by economic consultant Matthew Ryan, who previously headed Treasury's domestic economy division, chaired the federal Government's joint economic forecasting group and was a senior member of the Government's tax reform team.

    "AISV chief executive Michelle Green said the debate over school funding was clouded by "ignorance, misunderstanding and wilful distortion of facts".

    "Ms Green said the association commissioned the research to set out the facts and to demonstrate the need for greater investment in education.

    "We are less worried about which school gets how much and more concerned that all schools -- government and non-government -- should have the money they need to provide the best educational standards and values for students," she said. [emphasis added]

    "The analysis is based on publicly available data for 2004-05.

    "The research looks only at government monies for schools, and excludes the concept of total school resources or the private resources that schools can raise through the community, including fees and fundraising.

    "The report includes the cost that governments would incur if they had to build and run schools to replace private schools, and theimpact on other budgetary measures.

    "For each dollar that taxpayers must invest in government school buildings and equipment, there is one less dollar left over for investment in building roads and hospitals, and training teachers," it says.

    "Non-government schools relieve the infrastructure burden ontaxpayers of having to build many more new schools and equip them."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Parents spend on Steiner dropouts
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "Parents whose eight-year-old children went to a Steiner school have been forced to spend thousands of dollars on private tutors to teach them to read and write.

    "One child's literacy skills were so poor he was diagnosed with dyslexia and told he would never be able to attend a mainstream school without a teacher's aide.

    "The Rudolf Steiner curriculum is based on the belief that children should not formally learn to read and write until their adult teeth come through at about seven.

    "The alternative education movement operates at more than 44 schools across the nation, but concerns have been raised about its spiritual basis since it started moving into Victorian government schools. "None of my children could read or write when they left at age seven or eight," said Rachel Piercy, who took her children out of Manning River Steiner School in Taree, NSW.

    "We had to do a lot of extra work for my son because he was in Year 2 and still couldn't read. Now he is in Year 4 and he has finally caught up."

    "Ms Piercy said she spent more than $1000 on private tutors to get her son and daughter up to scratch. The former school board director said Steiner's early learning was based on spiritual beliefs rather than educational principles.

    "Many parents were attracted to the creative side of Steiner, but had no idea what they were getting into.

    "I remember being seduced by the beauty of it and feeling like a fool afterwards," she said.

    "Another parent who also pulled her two children out of the Manning River school, but who did not want to be named, said her eight-year-old boy was diagnosed with dyslexia soon after he left the school.

    "My son could not read at age eight and we spent thousands of dollars in getting help for him," she said.

    "It took an intense 18 months of catch-up work and he has vastly improved and now he meets the average in his class. He is also so much happier now."

    "But Manning River Steiner School board chairman Kevin Watt said parents knew the Steiner approach to early learning was different when they enrolled their children in the school.

    "The process we use is very unique. We don't chase it (reading and writing) down in kindergarten and prep," he said.

    "Mr Watt said formal reading and writing was not introduced until Year 1 -- when children were six or seven -- because Steiner learning followed the natural development of the child.

    "The single thing most kids under seven want to do is play," he said.

    "Mr Watt said Steiner students did not perform up to the state average in Year 3 literacy and numeracy tests.

    "Because we don't push it in the early years, they are obviously not up to the levels of state school students," he said.

    "But when our students do the assessment in Grade 5, they are 20 per cent above the average."

    From The Australian at link

Tuesday 21 August

• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Class warriors hold on to envy
    by Kevin Donnelly
    
    "As the saying goes, there are lies, dammed lies and statistics. One of the worst examples of manipulating figures relates to the Australian Education Union's campaign against funding provided by the federal Government to non-government schools. One would expect that a professional association, especially one representing thousands of teachers across Australia, would present arguments in a rational way; such is not the case. Instead of a complete picture, the union peddles an ideological, jaundiced view of the issue.

    "According to the union's website, the Coalition Government has turned its back on government schools in preference to spending taxpayers' money on already over-resourced non-government schools.

    "In a media release in response to this year's federal budget the union argues "private schools are set to receive a $1.7 billion increase over the next five years to $7.5 billion, while public schools will receive only $300 million to rise to $3.4 billion".

    "In a recent television advertisement, the union states: "Public schools teach almost 70 per cent of kids but now only get 35 per cent of the money the federal Government spends on schools." One of the most misleading features of the AEU's campaign is the impression that school funding is the responsibility of the federal government. Ignored is the fact state governments are primarily responsible for school education and the criticism that state Labor governments have failed to properly resource schools, both government and non-government.

    "The union also ignores the proposition that the reason federal funding to non-government schools has increased is because more parents are turning their backs on state systems. In 1970, 78 per cent of Australian students attended government schools. By 2005, the figure had dropped to 67 per cent.

    "Given the ever-increasing numbers of students attending non-government schools, it follows that federal funding will increase as the money follows the child. It should also be noted that, based on government figures, the 2006-07 federal budget increased funding to state schools by 11 per cent.

    "If the contribution of state governments is added to what government schools receive, the total amount received by public schools, which teach about 70 per cent of students, jumps from 35 per cent, the figure quoted by the AEU, to 76 per cent. Although non-government schools enrol about 30 per cent of students, they receive only 24 per cent of total public funding.

    "As noted in a research paper commissioned by the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, carried out by Canberra-based economist Matthew Ryan and released yesterday, when federal and state funding are combined, it is obvious that non-government schools receive considerably less taxpayer money than government schools.

    "Based on 2004-05 figures and quoted in the AISV paper, the annual taxpayer cost for each government student is $10,715, while the equivalent figure for students at independent schools, largely made up of Anglican, Uniting and non-denominational schools, is $5559, and $6246 for students in the Catholic system.

    "Instead of being a burden on the public purse, as argued by the AEU, parents of non-government school students pay taxes for a system they do not use. In addition, by saving government schools the cost of teaching such students, such parents, according to the AISV paper, save Australian taxpayers $5 billion a year.

    "A second furphy pushed by the AEU is that only wealthy parents send their children to non-government schools and they do so because such schools can afford better facilities as a result of federal funding.

    "After analysing the relevant data, Ryan concludes: "The view that the poor send their children to government schools and the well-off send their children to independent schools is much too simplistic."

    "As noted by a series of parental surveys - the most recent, entitled What Parents Want, carried out by Independent Schools Queensland - it is also obvious that parents, instead of being attracted by expensive sporting fields and smaller classes, choose non-government schools because of the culture and values of such schools.

    "The Queensland report states that the three most important reasons for choosing non-government schools are because parents believe such schools effectively prepare students to "fulfil their potential in life", have "good discipline" and encourage a "responsible attitude to work".

    "Although the federal Australian Labor Party has rejected the politics of envy represented by Mark Latham's hit list of so-called wealthy private schools, the AEU continues to fight an ideological battle that refuses to accept logic and to understand that the days of the class war are no more."

    Kevin Donnelly is the director of Education Strategies and the author of Dumbing Down (Hardie Grant Books).
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Lomax-Smith 'not in control of education' [20 August]
    by Nick Henderson
    
    "Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith has been accused of "rubber stamping" bad education policies, leading to unpopular government decisions.

    "Just days after it was revealed that Dr Lomax-Smith's own party sub-branch passed a motion condemning her education cuts, a number of Labor sources have expressed dismay at the Government's new school music program.

    "They have told The Advertiser they are concerned Dr Lomax-Smith was taking advice solely from the Education Department, ignoring parliamentary colleagues and those affected by policies.

    "This is someone who will only listen to the department," one Labor MP said.

    "She will not listen to teachers, she will not listen to colleagues. She is not on top of her education portfolio."

    "Another senior source said Dr Lomax-Smith was not in control of the Education Department which was described as "out of control".

    "I'm just not sure that she's actually taking a big interest to try to stamp herself on the department or whether she is being more presidential," the source said.

    "I think there are a few around the place that think she is being more presidential."

    "Last week, Dr Lomax-Smith left a State Council meeting shortly before a motion was set to be debated that criticised education cuts after a motion was passed by her Adelaide sub-branch.

    "The move left many people within the party questioning why she was unable to "sell" the policies to her own supporters and why she did not remain at the meeting to defend the Government.

    "When asked whether Education Department decisions were simply approved by her, Dr Lomax-Smith did not directly answer the question.

    "Well I like to talk to people and everyone likes to give me their version of what is going on and I think that is an appropriate thing to do," she said.

    "I have had a lot of letters which I have read and I have had phone calls and submissions and I have had discussion and that happens all the time and I think that is appropriate they have a right to express their views."

    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melville Community Times
  
  
  • Principal Fellow

    "Spearwood resident Allan Blagaich will head overseas to to carry out research that could help improve outcomes for students in local schools.

    "Mr Blagaich, the Principal of Melville SHS, was one of the 12 people in WA to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. The Trust provides annual Fellowships for Australians to travel overseas and bring knowledge back to Australia.

    "During the 9 weeks Mr Blagaich will spend overseas at the beginning of next year he will research best practice, which will be used in WA schools next year.

    "He will research strategies and supports in USA and UK schools that help teachers improve student results.

    "At the beginning of next year the Education Department will send teams into WA schools to review student performance.

    "Mr Blagaich said he was "blown away" to get a chance to do the research and it was an "amazing opportunity". His mentor is former North Lake Senior Campus principal Alan Genoni, who received a Churchill Fellowship last year.

    "Churchill Fellows' Association of WA Inc president Michael Cahill said he was delighted with the variety of projects undertaken each year. "We have Fellow studying (everything from) lichens, acute mental health care, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, to home nursing models and hybrid power systems for remote communities and town," he said."

    From The Melville Community Times
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Private fantasies

      "Just when we thought that schools were about educating our young people, about providing comparable and quality opportunities for all, about creating viable communities, economic competitiveness and building a nation, along came the Association of Independent Schools Victoria to tell us that its schools benefit the taxpayer (The Age, 20/8).

      "This is apparently because private school students don't get as much government funding as public students. Of course they don't: the schools they attend don't take on the same obligations for the compulsory education of all of Australia's kids, no matter how difficult, remotely located, neglected, handicapped, poor or disadvantaged.

      "Has the AISV factored in all the costs, including the downstream cost of our unsustainable framework of schools: the cost of schools and communities increasingly divided on income level, social class, religion and in some cases culture?"

      Chris Bonnor, Cherrybrook, NSW

Wednesday 22 August

• The Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Do your homework
    
    Get the maths right on private versus public education
    
    "Few issues concerning families with children are more emotive or easily misrepresented than the debate over public versus private education and who pays for what. On the one hand is the $1.3 million misinformation campaign by the Australian Education Union, which is long on political spin but short on basic maths by implying that public schools receive less taxpayer funding than private schools - a campaign that conveniently ignores the fact that public school funding is a state responsibility. On the other hand is this week's analysis commissioned by the Association of Independent Schools Victoria. It shows that when federal and state government funding is combined, total government support is strongly biased against private schools. It costs the taxpayer almost twice as much to send a student to a public school as opposed to a private one. Parents who send their children to private schools ease the burden on taxpayers to the tune of about $5 billion a year in building and running costs of schools that governments would otherwise have to provide. And they do contribute to the public system through their taxes - effectively paying twice.

    "The AISV's analysis should be required homework for members of the AEU. Beginning with the premise that all schools should have the money to provide the best educational standards for their students, it proceeds to dispel a number of myths. These include the view that the poor send their children to government schools and the wealthy send theirs to independent schools. 2001 census data shows that while 36 per cent of middle- and high-income families sent their children to public schools, 34 per cent of places in Catholic and independent schools were filled by low-income groups. When Australian government targeted grants for purposes such as improving literacy are added, together with state and territory grants for running costs, the annual taxpayer cost for a government school student is $9262, compared with $5387 for an independent school student.

    "The important thing here is providing parents with a greater choice. Academic performance is just one of many determinants, with many parents putting equal or higher emphasis on religious, cultural or social factors. Unfortunately, choice has always sat uncomfortably with the left-wing bias of the AEU, which seeks to demonise private education as elitist and supports penalising parents who send their children there by calling for a cut to federal government grants.

    "As the number of independent schools grows, standards of teaching, innovation and managerial competence are also rising. However, the point is not to increase the gap between public and private education, but to create outcomes that benefit students. Mechanisms such as merit-based pay for teachers, greater transparency in ranking schools according to their academic performance and vouchers that allow parents to spend their education dollar as they see best, must be all be part of the mix."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Higher Education Supplement [nothing of particular interest to K-12 teachers]
    
    
    
    
  • Uni plagiarists risk degrees
    
    The University of New England will consider stripping students of their degrees if they are found to have cheated, following a spate of plagiarism in one of its masters programs.
    
    
    
    
    
• Media Statement: Federal Shadow Education Minister Stepen Smith
  
  
  • National testing asks the right questions... but action is needed to get the answers

    Federal Labor welcomes the introduction of coordinated and consistent national numeracy and literacy testing across all States and Territories from 2008.

    Federal Labor supports national numeracy and literacy testing for students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and the sensible publication of this information for the benefit of parents, teachers, students, policy makers and the community.

    However, we do have to do more than just test.

    It’s not good enough to just simply require student testing and then do nothing to provide solutions for kids who are identified as falling behind.

    This has been the Howard Government’s approach.

    The release in March of the 2005 National Report on Schooling in Australia underlined the need for ongoing action to improve numeracy and literacy in schools. That Report found that as kids progressed through Years 3 and 5 to Year 7, there was actually an increase in the proportion that did not reach numeracy and literacy benchmarks.

    By Year 7 for example:

    · Nearly one-in-five kids were not meeting numeracy benchmarks; and

    · Around one-in-ten kids were not meeting reading and writing benchmarks.

    It’s all well and good to have the testing, but where was the intervention to improve outcomes?

    Federal Labor supports the Premiers and Chief Ministers Council for the Australian Federation’s (CAF) commitment in the April 2007 ‘Future of Schooling in Australia’ report which states that information on the performance of schools and school systems should be made available to the public so that teachers and parents have necessary and relevant information:

    “Assessment should provide information on the performance of…individual schools and school systems.”

    and that,

    “Parents and students need reports on progress that help them to understand personal development in a jurisdiction or national context. The external assessments of all students in State and National testing programs provide this kind of information.”

    Consistent with this Report, Federal Labor supports the sensible provision of all objective information on the comparative performance of schools within and between States or Territories. [emphasis added]

    Making this information available is not about punishing so-called ‘underperforming’ schools. It’s actually about taking the first step to help students improve.

    The sensible release of all objective information will allow better judgements and policy decisions to be made about the factors that impact adversely on educational outcomes, particularly socio-economics.

    Literacy and numeracy results already published in Western Australia, for example, indicate that socio-economic factors have a significant adverse impact on an underperforming ‘tail’ of students. This in turn helps identify where greater investment is needed to improve educational outcomes.

    The release of such information does need to be meaningful by, for example, taking into account socio-economic factors.

    This requires a much more comprehensive approach which, according to Professor Bill Louden, Dean of Education at the University of Western Australia, should for example,

    “…take into account the social background of the students…average scores and not just the number below the benchmark… information on things like the proportion of kids in the top quartile of the State and show the value that's been added by the school in the last two years…”

    It is important to recognise that while this information will identify educational outcomes in our schools, it does not necessarily identify their cause.

    If we can identify where the interventions need to be made, and then intervene to improve the outcomes of kids who have fallen or are falling behind, we can improve our secondary school retention rates, and ultimately reduce the number of kids who are at risk of falling into unemployment or low-skill, low-pay jobs.

    Labor has a positive policy program, through its National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy, to boost the skills of our kids by focusing on measures to assist schools, teachers and parents.

    · In schools, the National Action Plan will develop a national curriculum that includes specific literacy and numeracy standards from Kindergarten to Year 12 and also provide schools with specialist literacy and numeracy teachers, coaches or coordinators.

    · For teachers, the National Action Plan will ensure that all trainee teachers have necessary literacy and numeracy skills and provide ongoing literacy and numeracy professional development for current teachers.

    · For parents, the National Action Plan will promote the value of reading to children and will seek to increase parental involvement to consolidate good work done in the classroom.

    Coordinated national numeracy and literacy testing is a good first step, but it’s the intervention which improves the educational outcomes of our kids that is the really important issue.

    Federal Labor will deal with these issues in a cooperative way with State and Territory Education Ministers.
    

    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Teacher on a winner as science goes bush
    
    Crocodile egg-collecting, long-neck turtle-trapping and spider-catching are all part of a day's work for Mason Scholes' students in Arnhem Land.

Thursday 23 August

• The Australian
  
  
  • TAFE courses 'dumbed down'
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Vocational education in schools and TAFEs is narrow and shallow, failing to teach the theory that underpins workplace skills.

    "Griffith University senior lecturer in education Leesa Wheelahan argues vocational education has been "dumbed down", with knowledge devalued and economic pressures reducing the time spent learning a trade.

    "The problem undermines the federal Government's efforts to fix the skills shortage by failing to deliver properly trained tradespeople despite a record $2.5 billion funding for vocational education and training announced in the budget. The skills shortage is exacerbating pressures on vocational training, with the Coalition and Labor foreshadowing a shortening of apprenticeships to push people through the system more quickly.

    "Ms Wheelahan said it was dangerous to introduce a method that allowed students to progress through the system on the basis of an assessment rather than on the time spent completing a course.

    "It takes a long time for people to learn and internalise knowledge, make it part of themselves," she said. "We'd never dream of doing it to doctors, nurses or engineers and we have shortages in all those areas. So why is it OK to do it in vocational education and training?"

    "Ms Wheelahan, who teaches TAFE teachers, cites the example of student mechanics being taught the formulas to use for specific mechanical problems without being taught the maths or physics behind the formulas.

    "Electricians need to think like mathematicians and community development workers like sociologists," she said.

    "Even hairdressers need a lot of maths; students need to know the relationship between fractions, ratios and percentages. We need to value the depth and complexity of knowledge needed for vocational practice the same as for professional practice."

    "Ms Wheelahan warned that the lack of knowledge in vocational education stymied creativity, the expansion of knowledge and the development of innovative practice. "You have to know the rules before you can break them," she said.

    "The Australian Education Union representative for TAFE teachers agrees, saying the system is failing to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next.

    "AEU federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward said the training packages described competencies on which students were assessed but had no curriculum and no content. "The argument is that these are just assessment criteria and the content and curriculum is provided by the teachers," she said.

    "But Ms Forward said TAFE teachers were concerned that the training packages failed to adequately describe competencies and the system was under-resourced.

    "Ms Forward said the skills shortage exacerbated the problem, with employers looking to fill very specific skills within a trade and not taking a long view of the need for a broad skills base.

    "Senior lecturer in education at the University of Melbourne Dianne Mulcahy said the design of the training packages did not lend themselves to comprehensive statements about knowledge but it had not been emptied from the courses entirely.

    "It's really down to the skill of the teacher and the background the teacher brings to the practice," she said.

    "Dr Mulcahy said the inclusion of theoretical knowledge in vocational education was patchy, dependent on the particular course and the skills of the teacher.

    "But with the dropping of the requirement for teachers to have undergraduate training, she said, some lacked the skills in curriculum design required to teach students the knowledge underpinning the vocational practice.

    "Ms Wheelahan's research will be published next month in the British Journal of Sociology of Education."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Why I will be cast aside

      "I am a teacher with more than 30 years of experience. I am a single mother with 4 children still living at home - two at school, one an apprentice and one at university - and I have a big mortgage, so I am not in the position to take a principled stand against something frivolous that will cost me my job.

      "Over the past 10 years I have negotiated the minefield that is outcomes based education. As an English teacher I have further weathered the storm that is course of study in upper school. I have, as a career classroom teacher, soldiered on believing in the job that I have thought of as a vocation.

      "When the WA College of Teaching was established I thought that part of its portfolio might be to address the many and varied intricacies of the changes to education and act as support to staff. Quite the opposite. It has been a voiceless body full of the applauded and rewarded bureaucrats whom education now seems to rate so highly - few of whom have any idea of what happens in a classroom.

      "I was interested to note that teachers avoiding the WACOT fees will have until October to fall into line before they are "pulled into line", fined and then stripped of their positions.

      "I have two Year 12 classes: that will mean I will have fulfilled my obligations to these classes and then be cast aside - I guess to make room for a graduate more desperate and compliant than me.

      "A great way to treat your workforce.

      "As teachers we are aware of the need to communicate, use powers of diplomacy and practise people management. It is interesting that education bureaucrats resort to fear, bullying, intimidation and outright standover tactics."

      Christine Kelly, Spearwood
      
      

    • Bigger crisis

      "The prospect of 870 teacher retirement notices for the end of 2007 already acknowledged by the Department of Education, coupled with half as many again who are turning 60 and are seriously considering giving notice by mid 2008, sounds to me like an impending crisis for children in schools.

      "It makes the reported current "crisis" of 60 classrooms without a teacher an extremely mild concern.

      "The State Government's "recycled retiree scheme" aimed at tempting hearing impaired, short sighted and artificial hipped retired teachers to return to difficult to staff remote schools conjures up an image bordering on farcical. I would bet the State medical services think it's a great idea too.

      "The DET must be tragically short of idea. I am only too happy to offer my services as a consultant if that's the best advice Mark McGowan is receiving. Given my extensive classroom experience, my fee will naturally exceed that of his advisers."

      Peter Drinkwater, Edgewater
      
      
      

• Mark McGowan Media Statement
  
  
  • New report heralds call to skill the State beyond the boom
    
    It is estimated that an additional 180,000 skilled workers will be required in Western Australia by 2016, according to figures released by the Carpenter Government today.

    Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said the Department of Education and Training had modelled the projections on the findings contained within a new report into the State’s projected workforce needs over the next decade.

    Launching the State Training Board’s ‘Beyond the Resources Boom’ report, Mr McGowan said an action plan would be drawn up to ensure the State was well equipped to deal with workforce needs into the future.

    “The study highlights the challenges WA are facing with skill shortages set to remain a feature of the labour market due to the continued strength of the economy and our ageing workforce,” he said.

    “It is also shows the contribution that our training system can make to the development of the State’s workforce to offset skill shortages in the future.

    “During these good economic times many people are putting off investing in their own training and skills, and it is essential that we turn this situation around so that Western Australians are given every encouragement to develop their skills for the future workplace.”

    The Minister said the State Government had already made significant inroads into addressing skill shortages by injecting unprecedented funding into the training system and making a raft of landmark reforms to improve its effectiveness.

    “Our approach is clearly working, since 2001 we have increased the number of apprenticeships and traineeships by 85 per cent, we are leading the nation.

    “However, training our future workforce is a challenge for Government and the private sector to tackle together and we need to lay out the steps to do that.”

    Chair of the State Training Board Keith Spence said it was vital that industries invested in upskilling their existing workforce.

    “Attaining higher level skills are essential if people are going to advance in their careers and find rewarding jobs,” Mr Spence said.

    “Upskilling staff also has a dual benefit for business by enhancing productivity and creating a work environment where people feel valued and want to stay.”

    Mr McGowan said that an action plan would be developed for the Western Australian training sector which would build on the reform process, already underway, to respond to the demand for skills for the State’s economy now and for the future.
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Editorial
    Resource billions call for wisdom in investing the windfall
    
    Australia has yet to future-proof the economy by using its boom years to boost education, productivity and infrastructure.
    
    "... After 11½ years in office, and in the 17th year of economic growth, the Howard Government is vowing to invest more in education and health. It will transfer surpluses into various funds: $7 billion in the Future Fund to cover public service superannuation; $1 billion to add to the $5 billion in its Higher Education Endowment Fund; and $2.5 billion into a new Health and Medical Investment Fund. These represent a welcome but modest start to making better use of surplus billions..."
    
    "Comparisons with Norway's use of its windfalls from oil over a similar period are startling. With an economy a third as big and with a quarter of the population, it has built up a fund of $400 billion, which is set to top $640 billion by 2010. Investments in education, innovation and infrastructure will sustain a "smart" economy beyond the current boom. Norway leads the OECD in education spending and in relative productivity. Australia is 20 places behind it in education and has slipped in the productivity rankings..."
    
    Full editorial in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• Uni plagiarism threatens repute, warns minister
  
  Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has warned of the damage plagiarism could do to the reputation of Australian universities, after foreign students were caught cheating in their masters courses.
  
  
  
  
• Keep watching the skies: Google opens heavens
  
  Sky in Google Earth allows viewers to zap across the cosmos at warp speed, zooming in on 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies, as well as the paths of the planets.

Friday 24 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Isolation and lack of support force British teacher to head back home (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "One of the British teachers recruited to alleviate the teacher shortage in country WA is flying home in disgust because of the appalling treatment he says he received from the Education Department.
    
    "John Harris, 39, lasted just four weeks after taking a job at Carnarvon Senior High School in July at the start of third term. He claims he was misled because the department did not tell him he would be forced to teach subjects he knew nothing about and failed to give him teaching resources.
    
    "But the department said it considered his experience and expertise suited the Carnarvon job.
    
    "Mr Harris said that despite being a computing studies specialist, he was given only two sessions a week in computing. He was also expected to teach digital photography and society and environment, as well as provide classroom back-up for a newly graduated maths teacher.
    
    “Other than using a disposable camera on holiday, I have no background in photography whatsoever,” he said. “I’m a trained ICT specialist and I assumed I was being recruited on that basis. I was never told that I was going to be teaching anything other than computing.”
    
    "He claimed he had no guidance on how to teach unfamiliar subjects, other than being told to look up photography on the internet or to read a chapter in a social studies text book.
    
    "Along with 14 other overseas teachers, he completed a three-day induction course in Perth before starting at Carnarvon. “We had things like the curriculum explained to us,” he said. “I got a basic grasp of it but I also thought there would be resources and plans available at school.”
    
    "Mr Harris said he felt isolated without any back-up support and frustrated by the behaviour of rude and abusive students. He believed other British teachers were facing similar problems.
    
    "But acting human resources executive director John Serich said the department judged that Mr Harris’ qualifications and experience matched the requirements of the Carnarvon position.
    
    "He said Mr Harris had left his job without notice. Despite the department making every effort to contact him because of concerns about his welfare, he had not returned phone calls, emails or text messages.
    
    "Mr Harris conceded that he left Carnarvon suddenly. He sent an email advising the department why he had resigned. A reply dated the same day said his visa would be cancelled but did not address his concerns. “After that I didn’t feel there was much to be said,” he said.
    
    "Teachers recruited from overseas agree to spend two years in country schools, after which the department will sponsor them for permanent residency. Next month, another 19 recruits will join the 28 overseas teachers working in WA schools."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    New take on teacher shortage as wages fail to arrive
    
    "If teachers are like every other wage slave, there's probably not much left in the kick come pay day.

    "The State's 25000 chalkies get paid fortnightly and rely on their hard earned lobbing in bank accounts on a Thursday.

    "But in many cases yesterday the dough didn't arrive. Teachers' Union boss Mike Keely said the Education Department had a priority to make sure teachers, its "most important resource", were paid on time.

    "Get that right!" he said. "We have a teacher shortage, we have teachers substantially underpaid. We have substandard housing, we have all sorts of problems in the system - and now the failure to pay teachers on time gets added to the list. Will politicians get their pay on time?"

    "Of course they will, Mike."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In short
      
      "I agree with Joy Ott (Poor hygiene at many State schools, 22/8). My son is at a State high school and when he gets home at the end of every school day he dashes straight to the toilet. I have said to him" "Why don't you go at school?" His reply is always the same: "If you saw those toilets, you wouldn't want me to use them. They are disgusting."

      "I asked him if they were ever cleaned and he told me if they were they certainly didn't do a very good job. It's a poor show that he has to cork it up all day because the toilets are so bad that he won't use them!"

      Janice Sell, Bull Creek
      

      
      
      
• Stephen Smith Media Statement
  
  
  • Federal Labor's University Compacts: Investing in our universities' strengths and promoting national interest priorities

    A Rudd Labor Government will invest up to $4 million in new Commonwealth supported university places in national priority areas of teaching, nursing, and medicine at Notre Dame University in Western Australia and New South Wales.

    This is an example of a funding compact or partnership arrangement with a University – an approach flagged in Federal Labor’s 2006 Higher Education White Paper.

    For Western Australia and the Fremantle campus this will mean:

    · 100 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate teaching places;
    · 20 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate nursing places; and
    · 30 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate medicine places.

    For New South Wales and the Sydney campus, this will mean:

    · 100 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate teaching places; and
    · 80 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate nursing places.

    As part of this important initiative, a Rudd Labor Government will also invest up to $7.5 million to upgrade and improve facilities at both Notre Dame’s Fremantle ($2.5m) and Sydney ($5m) campuses to provide additional classrooms and infrastructure support for teacher education programs.

    This Commonwealth contribution will ensure that the University on both sides of the continent contributes to meeting Australia’s national interest objectives in the key, core disciplines of teaching and health.

    It also sees the University focusing on its strengths and developing its emerging specialisations in Health and Education.

    The additional Commonwealth support is conditional upon Notre Dame focusing on its core strengths – teaching and health.

    Australia has 39 Universities. Not all of them can be doing the same thing.

    Labor is committed to greater investment in our Universities, but targeted to an individual University’s strengths, particularly where these strengths reflect long-term national interest priorities.

    Teaching, nursing, and medicine are all areas where there are substantial existing or emerging skills shortages.

    Notre Dame University has agreed that the compact reflect the following conditions and objectives of the additional Commonwealth investment:

    At its Fremantle campus:

    · Teaching: A focus on indigenous, rural and regional education, including practicum in rural, regional and remote schools.

    · Medicine: A focus on Indigenous primary and preventative care and general practice in rural and regional Australia. Clinical training will be undertaken in rural and regional areas and will include exposure to Indigenous health care through the University’s Broome campus. Graduates will be encouraged to work in rural, remote and regional Australia.

    · Nursing: A clinical training focus on Indigenous primary and preventative health and rural and regional Australia.

    Notre Dame University has also agreed the compact reflect the following conditions and objectives of the additional Commonwealth investment at its Sydney campus:

    · Teaching: A focus on vocational education and training in secondary schools, together with the teaching of maths and science.

    · Nursing: A clinical training focus on rural and regional New South Wales.

    Notre Dame has already negotiated the necessary additional clinical training places in medicine and nursing and the additional practicum training arrangements in teacher education with both public sector and private providers in Western Australia and New South Wales.

    These additional places and resources will provide an additional stream of graduates in some of the critical disciplines and professions our nation needs now and into the future.

    Focusing on Indigenous primary and preventative health care and rural and regional health addresses a particularly acute national difficulty. So does teaching in rural, remote and regional Australia, as does a focus on vocational education and training and maths and science.

    Federal Labor is committed to addressing workforce issues in crucial health, allied health and education areas.

    A Rudd Labor Government will also consider providing 50 additional Commonwealth supported undergraduate physiotherapy places at the Fremantle campus, subject to further discussion with the University, the physiotherapy profession and clinical training places being available.

    Federal Labor’s support for Notre Dame continues our longstanding support for the University. When last in Government, Federal Labor supported the establishment of the University, and since 1996 has supported capital development grants to the University and the allocation of HECS or Commonwealth supported places.

    Federal Labor understands the need to invest more in our Universities in a range of areas including additional recurrent expenditure, research infrastructure and rural and regional and outer metropolitan Universities and campuses.

    Federal Labor strongly believes this is best done by Universities focusing on their strengths and in key long-term national interest priority areas, rather than all Australian Universities trying to do everything across the board.

    
    
    • Mark McGowan's reply
      
      Federal Labor’s plan for extra university places welcomed
      
      The Carpenter Government has welcomed the Federal Opposition’s plan to increase teaching, nursing and medicine places at Notre Dame University, with a special focus on rural and regional Western Australia.

      “It’s no secret that we have a shortage of teachers and doctors in some parts of country WA,” Mr McGowan said.

      “Anything that assists in alleviating that problem is welcomed.

      “We have been raising this issue with the Commonwealth Government and the Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop constantly, to no avail.

      “The Federal Opposition’s plan will help us deal with this pressing issue for country WA.”

      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Health reform needs more than talk
    
    Kevin Rudd has started to show his interventionist side
    
    "Vowing to take personal responsibility for fixing Australia's public hospital system, Kevin Rudd has given away his administrative bent, backing it up with a small carrot and a big stick..."
    
    "Mr Rudd has a history of heavy involvement shaking up health and education bureaucracies from his time as former Queensland premier Wayne Goss's top public servant..."
    
    Full editorial in The Australian at link [plus a range of articles and Op Ed pieces on this topic in all major newspapers]
    
    Otherwise, I found nothing of interest in The Australian, The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald.
    
    

Saturday – Sunday, 25 – 26 August

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Infection threat sparks demand for school soap (page 18)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Schools that fail to provide soap for students to wash their hands are neglecting their duty of care, the head of WA's main parent group warned yesterday.

    "Education Department policy states that decisions on whether to provide soap for students to wash their hands are made by individual schools..." [One wonders how many educrats spent how many months developing that policy?  Web]

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Rob Fry said he would approach Education Minister Mark McGowan to demand that he direct the Education Department to clarify its policies on hygiene.

    "I believe they are negligent in not providing an adequate hygiene service to their students," he said. "If they fail to meet those minimum requirements, the parents' group will be calling on the Minister to instruct the director-general to ensure that those policies are put in place to make sure that principals understand their requirements as a site manager." ...

    "[UEA microbiology professor Rom] Riley said viruses and bacteria could be spread by poor hand hygiene including influenza, hepatitis, salmonella and staphylococci. He said soap did not necessarily kill bugs, but the physical process of washing hands with soap and water removed bugs along with the grime.

    "A bit of soap will help in that process, there's no doubt about that," he said.

    [As we might expect... Web] "An Education Department paper on student health care advises there is no specific policy which "identifies minimum requirements for provision by schools of hand washing materials", even though it also encourages the promotion of "good health habits" in schools..."

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Education staff warned not to edit Wikipedia (page 14)
    by Nick Butterly, Canberra

    "The WA Department of Education and Training has warned employees they face disciplinary action if caught misusing Government computers after it was revealed someone used an official computer in an attempt to vandalise a Wikipedia entry for Prime Minister John Howard..."

    "The Education Department said the offending changes to Mr Howard's site could have come from anybody with access to its computers - including any of its 250,000 State school students..."
    
    [A diversion from the "no soap" problem???  Web]

    Full story in The West Australian
    

    
    
    

  • Federal technical college is pork barrel: Minister (page 58)
    by Nick Butterly, Canberra

    "The Howard Government has again been accused of pork barrelling in marginal electorates after announcing this week it would build two technical college campuses in two marginal Perth electorates..."

    Full story in The West Australian
    

    
    
    
• Harry Potter and Narnia Chronicles voted top reads for kids [late online update from 24 August]
  
  The modern-day magic of Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron may have bewitched a generation of young readers but they were not quite enough to beat a lion, a witch and a wardrobe in The West Australian’s poll to find the State’s favourite children’s book.
  
  
  
  
  
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Education Minister Mark McGowan bans mobiles in class
    by Anthony DeCeglie
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan will introduce new guidelines to ban the use of mobile phones in WA classrooms.

    "The minister said there was no need for students to have phones with them in classrooms.

    "Apart from being distracted by text messaging, there is evidence of camera phones being used to secretly record classmates and teachers.

    "This week, a video exposing one Perth teacher to ridicule was posted on the YouTube website, The teacher is shown swearing, with the title: "Would you want this to be your teacher?''

    "There are also video clips of students playing practical jokes on teachers.

    "Principals have accused students of using their mobiles to bully classmates, organise fights and take pictures of others without their knowledge.

    "At present, it is up to individual schools to determine their own policies about mobile phone use.

    "But Mr McGowan saied it was time for guidelines to be introduced.

    "To try to ban the possession of mobile phones at school would be impractical and ineffective,'' he said.

    "However, I will have guidelines drawn up to manage their use at schools throughout WA. The guidelines will ensure that they will not be able to be used in the classroom.

    "One of the reasons why it would be impractical to ban them completely is many parents give them to their children for safety reasons when they are walking to or from school.''

    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said it was time the Education Department "drew a line in the sand''.

    "He said schools should force students to switch off their phones as soon as they entered the schoolyard and keep them in their lockers or bags. He said phone abuse by students was rife.

    "A former teacher, Mr Collier said he would not tolerate being filmed or photographed by students in or out of the classroom.

    "Teachers are humans, individuals and want to protect their privacy,'' he said.

    "There is enough stress and strain being a teacher as it is. (Phone cameras) open up a quagmire of possibilities to humiliate teachers, especially if they are already having problems disciplining their students.''

    "State School Teachers' Union of WA senior vice-president Anne Gisborne said she was not surprised to learn students were using phone cameras to record footage of their teachers.

    "She said mobile phones were responsible for a range of problems.

    "There have been some rather unpleasant incidents in which students from outside the school have been involved in violence within the schoolyard through SMS (text messaging) talk,'' she said.
    
    "Sacred Heart College principal Ian Elder, an executive member of the Catholic Secondary Principals' Association of WA, said mobile phones were a "fashion statement'' and "not necessary during the school day''.

    "We say to parents that we prefer students not to bring them to school at all,'' he said.

    "If parents want to contact their children there are ways of doing that already through the school.''

    "Mr Elder said Sacred Heart had for the past six years required students to leave their mobile phones switched off in their lockers.

    "He said the Education Department should have no qualms about enforcing the same rule in all WA schools.

    "Ms Gisborne said teachers often had trouble dealing with mobile phones because of the friction it caused with parents. She favoured legislative action so there was no debate on the matter.

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry encouraged parents to buy their children only phones that did not have cameras.

    "I'm not against phones,'' he said, "but children don't need hi-tech devices. If schools are going to let students have mobile phones, then they need to set strict guidelines.''
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    

  • Editorial
    Allow our teachers to take charge
    
    "The modern classroom is becoming an increasingly hostile environment for teachers.

    "Sadly, the respect that parents and students once held for our education professionals appears to be gradually eroding.

    "Violence against teachers is becoming more common and there are now websites where they can be rated and ridiculed by students.

    "It's little wonder there is extreme difficulty in attracting quality people to the profession.

    "There is no doubt our teachers deserve the support of school communities. But they also need to be given the power to retain control of their classrooms and school grounds. [emphasis added]

    "One sensible step toward this goal is the banning of mobile phones in classrooms.

    "Presently, it is up to schools to determine their individual policies on mobile phone use.

    "But Education Minister Mark McGowan has told The Sunday Times it is time for guidelines to be introduced "to ensure that they will not be able to be used in the classroom".

    "There has been evidence of camera phones being used to secretly record classmates and teachers.

    "There are also video clips of students playing practical jokes on teachers and, in some serious cases, schoolyard brawls.

    "Controlling a playground or teaching a class of 30 or so students is a hard-enough task without these added issues.

    "There is a legitimate argument for students to be allowed to take mobile phones to school for safety.

    "But there is no evidence they are anything more than a nuisance when allowed into classrooms.

    "Much needs to be done to restore the standing of our teachers to the position they deserve. Let us hope that giving schools some added impetus to ban mobiles in classrooms is a small, but significant step in this process." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
    

• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Big salaries kill defence recruitment crisis
    
    Massive increases in defence salaries and allowances have helped staunch a recruitment crisis, making Australian servicemen and women among the world's best paid. Generous government-backed pay adjustments have now put $80,000 defence force salary packages within the grasp of jobseekers who are barely in their 20s.
    
    It would probably work for teachers, too.  Web

 

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Schools 'must act now' to curb racist attacks [Sunday]
    by Jason Dowling
    
    "Schools should be teaching students more about religious and racial tolerance to curb a recent worrying spike in racist attacks, Victorian MPs have told parliament.

    "One Liberal MP told The Sunday Age there should be a greater awareness of multiculturalism taught in schools, just eight months after Prime Minister John Howard dumped the term from his Government's ministerial portfolios...."
    
    "The member for Caulfield, Helen Shardey, said she had received reports of "Jewish children in primary schools being racially vilified by other children as young as eight".

    "Rabbis are now telling me that parents fear letting their children out of the house for fear they will be harmed," Ms Shardey told Parliament.

    "Surely it is now time that education programs that promote acceptance and tolerance within our community are a priority, particularly in our schools." ...
    
    "[The Liberals' multicultural affairs spokesman Nick] Kotsiras said schools had to make a greater effort to promote an awareness of diversity and tolerance.

    "People have to understand why they should not be doing this and the best way to do it is at a young level, at the early level in schools," he said.

    "You see kids in the classroom, in the yard, they play with each other, not a problem, it's only as they grow older and they get peer pressure and they get this negative information from others that they start getting these different views … if it is reinforced in schools perhaps this might not occur." ...
    
    Full story in The Sunday Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Principal adds value and makes the grade [Saturday]
    
    "Ask Robert Lamb what makes a successful school, and his answer is simple.

    "A good school is one that turns the poor kid into an average kid, an average kid into a good kid and a good kid into an excellent kid," said the Gladstone Park Secondary College principal.

    "In educational circles, they call it "adding value". But how exactly schools achieve this — particularly in disadvantaged suburbs in Melbourne's north — is a moot point.

    "For Mr Lamb, it wasn't necessarily an easy task. He was the head of St Helena Secondary College when he was approached by the Education Department in October last year to take over as principal of Gladstone Park.

    "There were more than a few challenges. Students were getting an average median university entry score of 27 (out of a maximum of 99.95), staff morale was low, and families within the school's catchment area were turning to schools elsewhere..."

    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• US visa deal for student gap year
  
  High school students will be able to spend their gap year working in the United States before returning to Australia for university under a proposed new visa deal.
  
  
  
  
• Will bigger schools help poor children in [Melbourne's] north?
  
  
  
  
• RMIT admits student 'stuff-up'
  
  
  
  
  
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teenage work ethic alive and kicking
    
    A report by the United States Department of Labour, comparing international labour force data, says that Australia has more teens in the workforce than any other developed country.
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Unfit to run a family - let alone look after a state
      
      "If wealthy parents over many years so deprived their children that they grew up malnourished physically and intellectually, and then boasted they had so well managed the family's income they now had a very healthy bank account, they would deservedly be condemned as unfit for parenthood. This is analogous to the Federal Government's attitude to the states and the universities.

      "The announcement of a $17.3 billion surplus for the last financial year while the states' public hospitals and the great majority of public schools are in dire need (which was also true under recent Liberal state governments) and when the survival of the nation's universities is dependent on thousands of full-fee paying foreign students is so outrageous that a well-informed electorate would clamour for the defeat of the Howard Government in the coming election.

      "The deprivations in state-funded areas can hardly be blamed on the states when, as the principal economist of the Macquarie Bank has revealed, real Commonwealth funding to the states, primarily during the period of this Government, has fallen from 7 per cent of GDP to 5 per cent - the equivalent of a cut of $20 billion annually.

      "My economics background tells me the whole surplus could not be spent without adding to inflationary pressures and therefore pushing up interest rates. However, our $1000 billion economy could readily absorb additional public spending of, say, $3 billion in the critical areas listed above.

      "Over time this could be substantially increased with greater spending (in the universities and technical colleges) to overcome skill shortages.

      "The most bizarre example of this circularity has been the failure to provide funding for medical schools to greatly increase their student intake. As a consequence public hospitals have medical staff shortages, which have made them increasingly reliant on foreign doctors, and they haven't the funds to raise salaries sufficiently to stop the drift of local doctors to private hospitals, a drift the Howard Government has accelerated with its nearly $4 billion annual subsidy for private health insurance."

      Harold Levien, Dover Heights

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