Monday 1 October

Tuesday 2 October

Wednesday 3 October

Thursday 4 October

Friday 5 October

Saturday – Sunday, 6 – 7 October

 

Monday 1 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers willing to risk sack over fee (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "State Government hopes that teachers would quickly succumb to threats to pay compulsory registration fees have been dashed, with some teachers saying they are prepared to run the risk of being sacked for non-payment until at least the end of the year.

    "Despite the teacher shortage that has crippled some government schools, the Education Department warned last week it would sack teachers who refused to pay the $70 fee to the WA College of Teaching by the end of the month.

    "It instructed principals to draw up contingency plans to deal with resulting teacher shortages.

    "Most of the 3000 teachers who have so far refused to pay have said they would do so when a date was set for an election for teacher representatives on the WACOT board.

    "No election date has yet been announced but WACOT has said it will publish election details on Friday and the WA Electoral Commission has confirmed it has a draft timetable in place for a postal election which would close on December 10.

    "However, it has now emerged that some teachers also have other objections to paying the fee.

    "Greg Williams, acting head of teachers group People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes, which will field candidates in the WACOT election, said some teachers would not pay until the election was over.

    "Theres a whole swag of them out there who have absolutely no faith in the process," he said. "Its ludicrous that people who have been teaching for 20 years quite successfully, then the Government invents a registration body, and suddenly theyre not allowed to be teachers."

    "Despite being a single mother with a mortgage and four children, Christine Kelly has put her job on the line for the sake of principle.

    "Ms Kelly, who has worked in State schools for more than 30 years, said WACOT had been foisted on teachers who did not want another bureaucracy that did nothing for them. "They appear to have no platform whatsoever," she said.

    "Doctors have the AMA and every time there is bed shortage theres a public face that says something."

    "An English teacher who has experienced some of the worst problems stemming from the bungled implementation of outcomes-based education, Ms Kelly said she thought WACOT would have backed classroom teachers.

    "Weve been sent to the edge with the new course because its a failed exercise and we dont have any public face, weve had no voice, weve had nothing," she said. "The whole things been a sham."

    "She said administrators at her south of the river State high school had offered to cover fees for those who had not paid to avoid losing some of their best teachers. But she said they and Education Minister Mark McGowan had missed the point. It was about the principle, not the amount.

    "Mr McGowan has attempted to call the teachers bluff, saying nobody would sacrifice their job for $70.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said WACOTs failure to hold an election after three years in operation had become a symbol of teachers general disenchantment."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Harassment
      
      "Your headline said "Teachers face mass sackings over fees" and that if several thousand teachers do not pay a fee of $70 to the WA College of Teaching, there is a fair chance they could be sacked.

      "I have always thought that governments are strongly opposed to this type of harassment and this is why the new IR laws are supposed to protect people from the "no ticket, no start" mentality.

      "Oh well, good enough for some I suppose."

      Grant Weber, Northam
      
      

    • Get real on teachers
      
      "I read that yet again the Education Department is prepared to abandon people it should be supporting (Teachers face mass sackings over fees, 28/9), having once more set itself up as an adversary to those without whom it could not properly exist.

      "The WA College of Teaching seems to be little more than a new level of bureaucracy that represents a quite unsubtle way of compulsorily extracting money from teachers while offering nothing much in return except a threat of the use of undeserved power..."

      "[WACOT is] a college of teaching in name only and controlled by the Education Department, a Government shoebox that has yet to meet its obligations regarding elections to college positions. The department is in charge of proceedings and the true professional members and potential members stand on the periphery. Furthermore, when challenges to WACOT's non-membership Government-anointed authority have appeared it is said to have retreated to the old nonsense about being unable to do anything but put the legislation into effect and thereby shoot itself in the foot by sacking 3000 teachers. Try telling the standards committee of any half decent professional group that they should run their college in such a fashion.

      "It is clear that WACOT is not a true professional college at all. It is a government body within another government body and has a name that is a deception.

      "If it is the desire of the State Government to craftily apply a means of siphoning money from a captive sector before allowing members to practise their profession, it should just say so and be honest. If it is the desire of the Government to create a few more self-financing jobs for another plank of clerks, come clean.

      If it is the desire of the Government to help facilitate for teachers a proper college through which professional development and standards can be formulated, from and with the advice of the actual practitioners of that profession, then it should ask the teachers to form their own peer-controlled collegiate body and trust them to do it themselves..."

      "It is time for the Department of Education to set about improving its reputation and time for the State Government to think about this matter in an intelligent manner."

      A. Cavanaugh, Bunbury
      
      

    • Legal threats
      
      "In response to your 27/9 report on teachers, it needs to be known that this is not the first time that the legal fraternity has tried to impose themselves on the education sector.

      "As a head of department in a respected private school in Perth, I was present at a briefing on the possible, impending precedent of legal action against schools which failed to realise the potential of students, about 10 years ago.

      "Certain cases from interstate and overseas were cited in order to reinforce the dramatic and financially catastrophic implications of such a procedure; in a word, "scare-mongering". It was, and is, merely the legal profession attempting to stretch its wings and increase its potential client base over a previously "untapped source of revenue"...

      Andrew Wilson, Merriwa
      
      
      

• The Sunday Times online
  
  
• Still more Reader Comments on Teachers face sack over $70 fee
  
  The rank stupidity of the Education Dept in threatening to cause total meltdown of Public Education is indicative of the level of competence that the higher echelons of this Dept has displayed for several years. The total stupidity of OBE has consumed hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted resources and resulted in many totally dysfunctional schools where students leave for all purposes illiterate and innumerate, but with totally inflated ideas of how good they are. This is being followed with new Upper School courses of study that are also deeply flawed, as evidenced by the English course that is without credibility a matter of weeks before the TEE. WACOT, the teacher tax body, serves absolutely no purpose bar keeping a superannuated union boss and sundry others off the streets where they might be a traffic hazard. It has demonstrated almost total incompetence in the three years of its existence, despite almost the only thing it had on its agenda was registering teachers. It even believes that many teachers commute daily from Afghanistan, as that is a default setting on its registration process. The organization is loaded with Govt appointees so that, even with an election, it is unlikely teachers will actually have more than a token voice. Old Lill, the previous Minister, also has prohibited preferential voting, lest that lead to any real democratic process. When it comes down to it, WACOT is yet another unnecessary bureaucratic organization, staffed with incompetent functionaries, and I doubt any teacher would pay their $70 tax willingly. I certainly hope the teachers refusing to pay maintain their stand and force the Education Dept and Minister to eat humble pie.
  Posted by: john of Busselton
  
  As one of the refuseniks, I can say that most of us have with-held our fees because a much delayed election for WACOT was cancelled during the actual vote, based on a technically that no-one has clearly explained and against the clearly expressed Electoral Act that says such things should not happen. It is an unheard of thing in Australia, and I am not the only one to conclude it was because the vote was going the "wrong way". It is the tip of the iceberg for an education system that has been run into the ground, dumbed down with OBE nonsense, and where teachers are bullied by their employers at every turn. Discipline in too many schools has been allowed to get out-of-hand, teachers in many schools are forbidden to remove disruptive students from the classroom; sometimes this alone makes a mockery of doing any real teaching at all. Year 12 English has become the disaster that was predicted, specialist high school teachers are in short supply, but even in areas of shortage can find themselves assigned to classes they have not been trained to teach. It is an unholy mess, and it needs fixing soon. And it is getting worse! No wonder teachers are voting with their feet. This last threat, and there have been many over the years, and, for me, the last straw. The Electoral Commission has not announced any timetable, yet they are rushing through with this collective punishment with no regard of the effect on morale, and, if teachers are dismissed, no concern whatsoever on the effect on students during the final term of the year. I believe we have good reason to withhold our fees until a fair election has begun, we are not being unreasonable. A first step would be to stop WACOT's bullying by legal injunction. If any lawyer would consider donating their talents for the public good in this matter, please contact me (my email address can be found on PLATOWA.com ).
  Posted by: Greg Schofield of Kalamunda
  
  I cannot believe this story. After more than 30 years of teaching, I feel that "our" Minister, DET and this WACOT bureaucracy, has made teaching an absolute joke in this state. It is not the $70, but it is the fact that this organisation has been operating for more than 3 yers, and we do not have 10 classroom teacher representatives on the Board. The Minister talks about making teaching more professional. Why can't this WACOT body, be for just teachers - not all the "hanger ons" that are currently on the board. We want to control our own profession and if we pay for it, that should be the case. Now I am led to believe there is no appeal process in the new regulations. Perhaps a lawyer from say Slater and Gordon, or another Law practice, would act for teachers, and really show this arrogant Minister and DET, that they are a pack of bullies. If there is such a willing lawyer, could he/she attend the Plato Meeting on 12 October, details on the Plato Forum. Also the Journalists from The Sunday Times, and The West might like to attend. Dr Parry, the Director of WACOT will be in attendance.. I love being a teacher, but I don't like being threatened and bullied. All teachers and parents should attend this Plato meeting, fi you really are concerned about the state of education in WA and the continuing shortage of good, quality teachers.
  Posted by: Jenny of Peerth
  
  tmz_99 of Perth says: "Fair is fair, a professional standards body is certainly needed, and somebody needs to fund it. If teachers are smart (as they should be) they should have enough investments on the side to not worry about $70 anyway." You have missed the point - it is not the $70 but the total lack of anything like professional standards emanating from WACOT. It is about its inability to hold a proper election and allow teachers a direct voice in their profession.
  Posted by: Greg Schofield of Kalamunda
  
  We humble and devoted members of the 'Bored of Management' of the West Afghanistan Caliphate of Taliban (WACOT) have decided to cut off your hands if you don't pay us our tax which feeds our camel. It is written.
  Posted by: the will of God
  
  I am a male Primary School teacher. A rarity in itself! After 24 years of highly successful teaching and unbelievable support from parents of the chn that I teach , I continue walking closer to the EXIT door. Much appreciation to the hundreds of letters from parents that I have received over that time in recognition of my "exceptional skills." I know that you would be aghast if this job loses an exceptional teacher. OBE, bullying in the workplace, putting up with some lazy, over indulged chn, an uncaring Dept of Ed and pitiful pay have taken their toll. The truth is- We have chn to feed of our own and mortgages to pay. I'm telling you now...7 out of 10 teachers would walk out the door tomorrow if they didn't have chn and a mortgage to fund. Time the public realised this and time those teachers and Admin teams that hide behind the Dept of Educ woke up and supported the rest of us. And "whinging teachers of Perth"...don't comment on something you know very little about. It makes you look like a MUG!
  Posted by: Dullsville
  
  Parents! Some of your children's teachers are unable to spell or do basic mathematics. If they are also unable to stand up for themselves on basic human rights such as being able to insist on value for money spent, then what are they teaching your children?
  Posted by: Are principles Dead?
  
  
  
  
• The Northern Tasmanian [formerly The Launceston Examiner]
  
  
  • Teachers to vote on wage increase
    by Nic Price
    
    "Tasmanian teachers would receive substantial salary increases, aligned with interstate teachers, as part of a "generous" Government wage offer, says Education Minister David Bartlett.

    "Mr Bartlett said the Government would provide at least $50 million extra for wages over the next three years under the deal.

    "In return, teachers in the North would be required to work three extra days next year (200 in total), and two days more in 2009 and 2010.

    "The State executive of the Australian Education Union will meet to consider the offer today and make a recommendation to members at meetings around the State this week. Teachers will then vote whether to accept the deal.

    "Mr Bartlett said beginning teachers earn about $47,000, and could earn up to $54,600 in 2011 under the offer.

    "Top teachers earn about $68,000 and could earn up to $80,000 in 2011.

    "This Government is investing heavily in education ... I believe the union will take a positive message to their members," Mr Bartlett said.

    "AEU State president Jean Walker said the Government's offer was deficient in some areas.

    "We don't believe that they've sufficiently met our log of claims," she said.

    "Some things haven't been addressed although we would acknowledge there's been some improvement in resources for inclusion and behaviour management."

    "Last week, Mr Bartlett promised $12 million over three years for support for special needs students.

    "The money was reallocated from administration as part of the Student At The Centre programme.

    "Mr Bartlett said the Government would continue to work on a range of issues - including behaviour management, inclusion, promotional pathways, and teacher workload - put forward by the AEU, but said many of them were beyond the Government's capacity to fund.

    From The Northern Tasmanian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Hand-Held Calculators' Milestone Number
    by Michael Alison Chandler
    
    On 40th Birthday, Classroom Role Still Questioned
    
    "... But as the technology continues to advance, a question remains: Are the devices helping or hurting students? Educators are deadlocked over whether calculators are helping create a more numerate society capable of claiming the next technological breakthrough or making students technology-dependent and mathematically insecure.

    "The United States lags in international math exams. Top performers, including Singapore and China, put more emphasis on mental math and memorization and introduce calculators to the curriculum later than the United States does, said Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, who has researched how calculators affect student achievement.

    "Today's students "maybe are not so great at computing numbers on the back of a notebook," said Jerry Merryman, 75, a co-inventor of the hand-held calculator, as he stood before a velvet-encased 1967 prototype during a ceremony at the Smithsonian Castle last week. But he said calculators have expanded "their reach and grasp" of mathematics..."
    
    "Some teachers say calculators make it possible for students who struggle with basic math concepts to explore higher math.

    "Kids whose arithmetic skills may be weak can rely on calculators to do that work, and they can still do algebra," said John Mahoney, a math teacher at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in the District and a consultant for Texas Instruments. "It's just like word processing. There are people who can't spell . . . but word processing can allow them to express things well and be creative," he said.

    "But the concern is that students rely on calculators too much..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

Tuesday 2 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    School lessons lost on teachers’ silly bullies
    by Paul Murray
    
    "There’s the stuff you learn in school that helps you pass exams. And then there’s the stuff you learn in the schoolyard, which helps you get through life.
    
    "One of those schoolyard lessons is that you should never make a threat that you don’t intend to — or can’t — carry out.
    
    "The certain result of that sort of behaviour, before political correctness began to rule the roost in the playground, used to be a good hiding and endless humiliation.
    
    "The threat by the Education Department that teachers who are refusing to pay the $70 registration fee to the WA College of Teaching will be sacked was one of those puffed-up boasts that makes you question the sanity of those behind it. [emphasis added]
    
    "Further threatening them with $10,000 fines treats teachers like militant construction workers infected with blue flu.
    
    "This school year started with front-page stories about staff shortages and the situation has just got worse as the year rolled on with the discontent among teachers over a host of issues — including the intransigent OBE wrangle which is now a millstone around the Carpenter Government’s neck — growing to alarming levels.
    
    "Any sensible analysis of where the power lies in this current equation would put it resolutely in the teachers’ corner. Going through with the sacking threat toys with the unthinkable act of shutting schools.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan suggests in weekend news reports that he had no knowledge of the department letter to principals threatening to sack teachers who don’t pay the fee.
    
    "Mr McGowan’s ignorance is implicit in his comment that the letter was “overly legalistic and heavy-handed”. Surely no Minister in his right mind would have allowed such a letter to go out had he known the contents?
    
    "However, not knowing how such a sensitive issue would be handled is nearly as big a ministerial sin as being party to such a ham-fisted and empty threat.
    
    "The same goes for the new head of the department, Sharyn O’Neill, who came into the job several months ago offering a shake-up of the upper echelons. This is her first big test and she has flopped.
    
    “Ms O’Neill said the department would continue to use “imaginative approaches” to ensure enough teachers were available to staff schools during the growing teacher shortage,” The West Australian reported on September 5, as Ms O’Neil was seen to be stamping her authority on the organisation.
    
    "Back in July, the newspaper used FoI laws to get hold of departmental reports predicting a looming crisis because 38 per cent of teachers, about 4800, would be eligible to retire in 2009 and 2010. The department knew it was holding dud cards in any game of bluff poker with the teachers.
    
    "So, against this background, how do we make sense of the threat to sack up to 3000 teachers who object to the $70 fee? Well, you can’t because it’s nonsensical.
    
    "The only logical approach by the Minister and his new director-general would have been to quietly arrange for the registration fees to be held over until they had sorted out the running of the WA College of Teaching, which, incidentally, many teachers seem to view as an unnecessary piece of window dressing.
    
    "But the teachers’ legitimate complaint is that they should not be required to pay the fee until the college fulfils its obligation to hold elections to allow them to gain representation on the board.
    
    "Elections were planned for last November, but were abandoned due to “legal complications”.
    
    "Having apparently learnt nothing in the schoolyard, those responsible for this debacle also seem to have picked up little in the schoolroom either, especially about the American Revolution.
    
    "So face the front McGowan and O’Neill. Today’s lesson is on a fundamental piece of American history.
    
    "Back in the 1760, American colonists who opposed British rule did so under the slogan “No taxation without representation”. The term originated in Boston and one local politician, James Otis, also coined the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny”. It led to the Boston Tea Party which sparked the Revolution.
    
    "End of lesson. But it should not need to be said that we ignore history at our peril.
    
    "The teachers are well within their rights to refuse to pay what amounts to a tax until an election date is set to give them the say they have been promised in running the college. After all, the first WACOT elections should have been held three years ago.
    
    "Against this reasonable position, WACOT has arrogantly said its board will meet on October 26 to draw up a list of the teachers to be deregistered for failing to pay, making it illegal for them to teach in a State or a private school.
    
    "Premier Alan Carpenter is not known for taking good advice. But as a former education minister with an intimate knowledge of the department and how teachers think, he must know that this issue has been dangerously botched.
    
    "Mr McGowan says he doesn’t have the legal capacity to intervene. That may be the black letter case, but it’s also bunkum.
    
    "There needs to be a political solution to this crisis, not a legal one. It requires some leadership and common sense, two commodities that are in very short supply in the Carpenter Government.
    
    "Now is the time for Mr Carpenter to show that he learnt something in the schoolyard and stop the bullies threatening the teachers."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    
    
    • Silver City lynch mob chooses a fine day to hang teachers
      
      "Exquisite timing by the Education Department if it carried out its threat to sack hundreds of teachers if they fail to pay a $70 registration fee by October 26.

      "The irony is probably lost on the Silver City bureaucrats but most chalkies would know that October 26 just happens to be when they celebrate World Teachers' Day.

      "The fee was originally due by April 30 but some teachers have refused to pay until the registration body, the WA College of Teaching, fulfils its obligation to hold elections to allow teachers to appoint representatives to the board.

      "WACOT's board is due to meet on World Teachers' Day, when it will draw up a list of the teachers to be deregistered for failing to cough up the cash.

      "Perhaps the board members could meet in the morning and knock off the day with a champagne breakfast to celebrate the big day.

      "Then they could get down to the serious task of determining which teachers they would be happy to see lose their job."

      • Internationally, World Teachers' Day is celebrated on the first Friday in October. But, because it coincides with school holidays in Australia, it is celebrated each year on the last Friday in October.

  
  From The West Australian
  
  

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    There are NINE Letters on the WACOT TAX Fiasco. Eight of them support teachers; one supports the State Government.
    
    
  • In Short

    "The only time that the Minister, the department and WACOT refer to teachers as professionals is when they want us to shut up and do as we're told."

    Arthur Barrot, Northam
    
    

  • "Education Minister Mark McGowan certainly has a funny way of promoting the status and professionalism of teachers. Most peculiar."

    Paul Keenan, Maylands
    
    

  • "Why doesn't the Education Department do something really stupid like pay the $70 registration fee for the 3000 unregistered teachers? $210,000 is a very cheap price to pay to avoid the massive disruptions and costs the Education Department will incur if it perfunctorily goes ahead and sacks the teachers. If it can't find the funds, it can always phone Treasurer Eric Ripper: he has got plenty of our money to spare."

    Phil Shepherd, Mt Taarcoola
    
    

  • "I'm not a teacher but I find it remarkable that the Department of Education and Training is considering sacking teachers for non-payment of a paltry $70 registration fee. All the more remarkable considering that it has been trying to lure retired teachers back to work because there is a shortage of teachers!"

    J. Quinn, South Perth
    
    

  • The principle

    "The loss of even one teacher for not paying fees to WACOT would consign this non-representative and totally unnecessary "boys and girls" club to the proverbial scrapheap.

    "Christine Kelly's moving letter (29/9) displays true professionalism and care. "Our" Minister dismissively refers to the fee and states that no teacher would risk deregistration because of this.

    "For once, he is right. It is not the money - it's the principle - and people fight and die for principles. Unfortunately, there is little principle left in the Education Department which has continued to drag its reluctant and tiring workforce through this ghastly mess that is OBE."

    Rob Thompson, Manning
    
    

  • The only way

    "It was with great surprise that I read the Education Minister's comment that he did not believe that teachers would sacrifice their jobs for a $70 WACOT fee. This misses the point to a worrying degree.

    "The miners of the Eureka rebellion did not give their lives for a 30 shilling gold license. Their stand was for a voice against an undemocratic organisation.

    "Similarly, the teachers of WA are asking for the election that they are entitled to, yet have been denied for more than a year. Withholding their fees is their only means of protest.

    "This same law does not insist that they be deregistered just yet, but WACOT seems determined to take a provocative and pusillanimous action of which police commissioner Rede in 1854 would have been proud.

    "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat its mistakes."

    Richard Ewing, Eaton
    
    

  • My solution

    "I have a simple problem with the looming crisis about teacher registration. The teachers who are going to be deregistered and hence sacked are currently teaching in the classroom. It must be obvious that they are capable of doing so because they were registered by WACOT.

    "Does not paying a fee suddenly make teachers incompetent? I would think not. They are registered. However, they are protesting against the continuing fiasco that is the WACOT election soap opera. They are protesting against the only registration body without member-elected representation.

    "WA recognises de facto couples with much the same rights as married couples, but without the paperwork. Why not have de facto teacher registration? Teachers, who are recognised as being competent but want to protest against the injustices of the WACOT system, could be granted de facto registration. They are already in the classroom and, since April, they are already not financial. Why the need to sack them now? Hold an election or make their registration classified as de facto."

    Patrick F. Whalen, Yokine
    
    

  • Government shirks responsibility

    "The comments in your editorial (29/9) about the farce involving the Education Department, WACOT and the hundreds of teachers who appear to be standing up for their rights reiterate what I and most other contributors to these pages have been saying for many years: this State Government is abrogating its duties.

    "We have a shortage of teachers and many of the buildings and equipment at our schools are in need of replacement..."

    "Without the parents and citizens organisations at each school, our children would be without equipment and comforts vital to their education. Last, but by no means least, we have an assistant police commissioner organising working bees to paint the inside of buildings to save the Government $20,000 (Inside Cover).

    "While all these good people do these wonderful jobs the Government will always abrogate its responsibilities.

    "Mr Carpenter, I call on you to stop being a front man for the people behind the scenes (Messrs McGinty and Ripper) and show some gumption and be the leader you have been elected to be. Use some of the huge Budget surplus to fix the shortages in this State before the disintegration of essential services becomes irreparable. It appears the money is there - we don't have any shortage in the Treasury, do we?"

    Kevin Mullane, Baldivis
    

    
    
  • Voting issue a furphy

    "The letters by Christine Kelly and Andrew Bell (29/9) cannot go unanswered. While I agree that WACOT has problems, especially with the communication of its ethos and its enforcement so far of teachers who refuse to pay membership fees, I think the issue of being able to vote for members of the board is a furphy.

    "I have to pay my driver's license but I don't get a vote on who becomes the police commissioner. My wife pays her yearly $70 occupational therapy registration board fee without fuss and doesn't vote on board members. [I think the writer is missing the point that the WACOT Act guarantees teacher-elected board members.  Web]

    "The importance of WACOT in its professional representation role, however, cannot be understated. All, repeat all, other professional bodies insist that their practitioners are registered. This gives the public the confidence to know that when you consult a doctor, lawyer, dentist, occupational therapist and the like you are absolutely assured that the person you are dealing with is fully trained and fully competent.

    "Teaching should demand no less. I understand that WACOT has already removed teachers who have no qualifications and screens teachers to make sure their qualifications are correct and up to date. This issue has nothing to do with workloads and the other extraneous issues mentioned in the other letters on these pages. This is about teachers becoming professional and having a body to promote the profession. [Which WACOT does SO well!  Web]

    "I suspect the main reason that the remaining people have not paid is that their wallet is locked on close. The vast majority of teachers have paid their fees and the Department of Education needs to support the teachers who are prepared to support their profession."

    Ross Paton, North Perth
    

   

Other education news

• Education staff face limbo in acting roles (page 12)
  by Keryn McKinnon

  "Nearly 40% of senior department of education and training staff are acting in their positions, raising further concerns that the WA school system lacks direction and is in a state of turmoil.

  "Documents obtained by The West Australian reveal 286 of 749 central office staff at level 5 and higher, or those earning about $50000 and more, are in temporary jobs, filling the positions while they are being advertised or while the people who usually carry out the role are on secondment or leave.

  "A quarter of the senior staff have been in temporary jobs for at least 3 months and 13 employees have been doing someone else's jobs for longer than a year.

  "The documents, prepared at the end of July, also show some directorates have numerous people working in acting capacities, including the section charged with overseeing behaviour, standards and well being in schools, where 13 staff members hold acting jobs and the directorate responsible for inclusive education, where 17 employees are in acting positions.

  "Nine directors or executive directors responsible for the most senior jobs in the department including curriculum standards, aboriginal participation, planning and resources and infrastructure, are in acting roles.

  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said yesterday the figures were unbelievable and provided more evidence of a department lacking direction and vision. Mr Collier said medium and long term planning would be extremely difficult for someone holding a job in an acting capacity only.

  "These areas are the most significant in terms of educational delivery," he said. "These sorts of issues are the forefront of the problems that are permeating our education system at the moment."

  "The department has been battling one crisis after another from a teacher revolt over OBE and a state wide teacher shortage to the sacking of former director general Paul Albert over major problems with its complaints management unit.

  "The latest issue dogging the department is a threat to sack teachers refusing to pay a $70 registration fee to WACOT by the end of this month.

  "Acting human resources executive director John Serich defended the staffing situation, saying acting positions were balanced with employees' needs for security and stability at work.

  "SSTUWA president Mike Keely said now more than ever teachers needed certainty and continuity."

  From The West Australian
  
  
  

• Warning on school SMS plan (page 12)
  by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor

  "The State government will spend close to $1 million over the next 5 years sending mobile phone text messages to parents of WA school children, but the SSTUWA warns the scheme won't go ahead if it means more work for principals and school leaders.

  "Education minister Mark McGowan confirmed yesterday that the State had last week let a tender for the supply of the messaging service to South Australian company MGM Wireless but company director Mark Fortunatow said training was critical to the success of the programme.

  "It is very much a change management process that the school needs to go through in order to realign their school operations to use text messaging effectively as a mainstream school to parent communication," Mr Fortunatow said. "It's software with a great deal of training and education and development for school leaders and principals."

  "SSTUWA president Mike Keely said principals and other school leaders were already bogged down in retraining.

  "At the moment they're buried in bureaucratic workload and change and if this is a further workload I think you'll find it won't be done," he said. "I think school leaders and principals at the moment are absolutely under the hammer like their staff and I don't think they'll be looking forward to a great deal of training about this thing."

  "Mr Keely said the union would be looking to the government to provide clerical staff to operate the new system. "You provide the clerical support staff to enter the data and it gets done. I must say I'd express great concern if teachers and school leaders are going to have to undergo a lot of training because there aren't enough people in schools to provide support and relief at the moment," he said.

  "But WA Council of State Schools president Rob Fry said the system would reduce the workloads for school administrators.

  "In some of the bigger schools especially in the middle of winter you can have 50 or 60 kids away. This system saves time and gets messages out very quickly. If you have to use phone calls it might be two hours before you get to your child," Mr Fry said.

  "Mr McGowan said her expected the system to reduce workloads for staff across a range of areas.

  "The aim of this is not just about truancy and attendance but it is a communication tool between schools, teachers and parents which I certainly hope will enhance parents' participation in the children's education," he said.

  "If parents don't want to give their mobile phone numbers they don't have to but I think most people would because obviously if there's an issue with your child you want to know about it pretty quickly."

  "As well as emergency and truancy information, parents will receive notices about sports days, parent teacher nights, special events, open class opportunities and other school related business.

  "But Mr McGowan said the system would complement rather than replace traditional school notes.

  "He said the system would be rolled out to 400 of the State's 770 primary and high schools in the first 6 months of next year. MGM's messageyou software is used by about 300 schools across Australia, including many in WA. Parents in remote areas will miss out on the service because of poor mobile phone reception."

  From The West Australian
  
  

  • Truants to get busted via SMS [online only, updated at 1:30 pm]
    by Phillipa Perry
    
    "Parents will soon be informed if their child is playing truant via SMS messages sent from the child’s school as part of a new $950,000 State Government contract.

    "Education and training minister Mark McGowan said the five-year contract with MGM Wireless would help WA’s public schools fight truancy in 2008.

    “Western Australia has one of the highest rates of mobile phone ownership in the world and it makes sense to put this technology to good use, in improving communication between parents and schools,” Mr McGowan said.

    “This new technology will inform parents when their children are absent from school, but it will also allow schools to inform parents of school projects, important events in individual classrooms, parent-teacher nights and tips on how to help with their child’s education.”

    "Mr McGowan said the new technology would also free up teacher time spent on day-to-day follow up of absent students.

    "He said the technology was already being used in 46 schools throughout WA with a great deal of success.

    “The contract which I am announcing today will allow those schools, as well as prospective new schools, to save a great deal of money on SMS messaging,” he said.

    “The contract will also offer schools the option of additional features such as electronic roll marking.”

    “I expect around 400 schools (around half the State’s public schools) will welcome this new technology and sign up for implementation in 2008, but decisions will be made at the local level.

    "Some schools may find it extremely useful while others may prefer other methods of communication.”

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Mark McGowan media statement
    
    
    
    
• Talent study tips shortfall in education [Business section, page 43]
  by Leon Gettler

  "Australia is behind the pack in attracting and developing talent and is likely to slip further because of the education system, a global study has found.

  "The first global talent index (GTI) which survey 30 countries places Australia 6th as an attractive place for talent - behind the US, Sweden, Canada , Germany and France.

  "According to the study, Australia will move to 5th by 2012 as an attractive place in terms of personal disposable income, growth in employment, gross domestic product and technical skill base. But the study, put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit, with the cooperation of global search firm Heidrick and Struggles, also reveals Australia will slip from 7th to 8th place in terms of its compulsory education.

  "H&S's managing partner for Asia Pacific, Gerry Davis, said Australia was an exporter of executive talent, but senior overseas executives also increasingly saw Australia as an exciting place to enhance their careers.

  "The survey shows the one weakness that needs to be addressed - the quality of our education system," he said. "More investment needs to be made to keep us globally competitive. We are sitting on the edge of the greatest growth engine the world has ever seen in China and India, and we need to ensure that our skills are constantly refreshed."

  "According to the study, China will gain 2 positions from 2007 to 2012 and the quality of China's environment to nurture talent will improve from 22 to 14.

  "According to some estimates, China, which has been growing at about 11%, faces a talent deficit of 70000 executives over the next decade.

  "The problem is this comes at a time when Europe is forecasting a net labour shortfall of nearly 100 million workers and the US a shortfall of 40 million."

  From The West Australian
  
  
  

• Teachers part of $6.6 million plan to combat allergies [online only, updated at 11:45 am]
  by Phillipa Perry
  
  "Teachers and childcare workers will be able to give adrenaline shots to the increasing number of West Australian children who suffer from potentially fatal allergic reactions as part of a new State Government plan.

  "Premier Alan Carpenter said the WA government had committed $6.6 million to the plan, which also included a training program for teachers and childcare workers, instructing them on how to handle an allergy emergency.

  “At the moment teachers and childcare workers can only give adrenaline to a child who has been diagnosed with a severe allergy, when parents have given consent and staff have been trained to do it,” Mr Carpenter said.

  “Because anaphylaxis can occasionally occur in a child who has not been diagnosed with an allergy, changes to the legislation will allow a teacher or childcare worker to give adrenaline in an emergency situation.”

  “New legislation will also allow adrenaline EpiPens to be added to first-aid boxes at all schools and childcare centres.”

  "He said the new legislation would be introduced to Parliament next year.

  "Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can be triggered by the exposure to certain foods such as peanuts, fish, shellfish, milk, eggs, wheat and soy.

  “The potentially life threatening symptoms include breathing difficulties, swelling of the tongue and throat and loss of consciousness,” Mr Carpenter said. “With severe allergies affecting 2 per cent of Western Australian children, most schools and childcare centres will be called on to manage at least one child who is at risk of anaphylaxis.”

  "Mr Carpenter said the training program would be developed over the next 12 months and implemented across the State over the following three years.

  “The importance of this program is to standardise the teaching so that we know that every teachers or the majority of teachers or people working in childcare centres have the same knowledge and know how to recognise and how to use an EpiPen,” Richard Loh, head of the immunology department at Princess Margaret Hospital, said.

  "Melissa Lang of Forrestfield, whose daughters Ebony, 7, and Emma, 4, both suffer from allergies said the changes would give her some peace of mind.

  “This will help anyone who is going to look after children,” she said. “It’s going to give them a much better understanding and it’s going to be across the board so it’s not just selective teachers who have been advised by parents of children’s allergies.”

  "Mr Carpenter said the Western Australian Anaphylaxis Service, which would reduce the waiting time for a child to see an allergy specialist from nine months to four weeks, would be developed over the next 12 months.

  "A community awareness campaign would also be launched as part of the plan. Specialist allergy training would also be provided for an extra four to six general practitioners a year as well as a specialist telephone advice line for GPs.

  "The plan followed a review into the management of anaphylaxis in schools and childcare centres by the Anaphylaxis Expert Working Committee."

  From The West Australian at link
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• History lost in new school charter
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "A new primary-school charter has ditched history as a core subject in favour of the broader "social education", which includes geography, the environment and civics.

  "The Australian Primary Principals Association yesterday launched its final version of the charter, which is designed to drop courses such as bicycle safety and animal care and focus on the key areas of English, maths, science and, now, social education.

  "A draft version published in August named history as the fourth area, but after consultation with principals and teachers in government, independent and Catholic schools, it was included in social education, which as well as geography and the environment will include other cultures and places, and how decisions are made in Australia.

  "APPA president Leonie Trimper said the association was not entirely happy with the name "social education" and was working on a different title.

  "But she said it was not intended to mimic the high school subject of Studies of Society and Environment, which states and territories have agreed to drop in favour of traditional disciplines.

  "We had feedback that history was far too narrow and conjured images of students just learning dates," she said.

  "The emphasis is on children learning about their identity and stories about significant Australian events and people, but the thought was we needed to have some geography to do that, and people also wanted to include the term environment."

  "The federal Government has spearheaded a campaign to make Australian history compulsory in Years 9 and 10.

  "Associate professor of history and politics at the University of Wollongong Gregory Melleuish said primary schools risked repeating the mistakes of SOSE in high schools, and history should remain a distinct subject.

  "The danger with social studies is that it becomes vague and wishy-washy, and another way of indoctrinating kids with the fashions of the day," he said.

  "If you include history under social education, then it will get submerged under things like climate change and ecology and all the '-ies' of Western society.

  "History can be taught in a relatively objective fashion; some of these other things I just wonder how objectively you can teach them."

  "Professor Melleuish said one way of engaging young students in history was to teach it through the lives of exemplary people.

  "But History Teachers Association of Australia president Nick Ewbank said it was important for primary students to be taught a range of content areas and skills so it was understandable that it might not be viable to have history as a distinct subject.

  "History is an important part but it's not the only part of a sensible humanities curriculum and I can understand why the primary principals have done it this way," he said.

  "The charter also broadens the purpose of science to help "children to make informed decisions about the environment and their health and well-being".

  "The draft charter was criticised for underplaying the importance of the arts, music and sport in primary schools and the final version emphasises that the core "is not intended to imply that other learning areas are unimportant".

  "The charter is a response to the curriculum in primary schools becoming cluttered with non-essential courses in social problems traditionally the province of families and the community.

  "It will be given to federal, state and territory governments and the APPA will lobby education ministers to adopt it at their next meeting."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  • Related stories in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
  • Australian Primary Principals Association Press Release: Charter on Primary Schooling
    
    
    
    
• Multiplying problems
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "Memorising basic mathematical facts is undervalued by teachers, according to a study that shows only a minority intend to set questions in every lesson to practise and improve the automatic recall of facts such as the times tables and common sums.

  "A survey of primary school teaching students presented to a conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia found maths exercises to help children memorise the basics were seen as the least valuable lessons and their perceived value fell during the course of the degree.

  "Mathematicians emphasise that the ability to immediately recall basic mathematical facts and routine operations is essential to understanding the science at higher levels. The study, by Anne Scott of the Australian Catholic University, surveyed nearly 350 student teachers, 163 at the beginning of their primary teaching degree and 186 at the end. Fewer than one in two graduating teachers intended to use memorisation tasks in 75per cent or more of their lessons, compared with 71 per cent of teaching students at the beginning of the course.

  "The study says teacher educators promoting the use of interesting and challenging tasks in maths "may devalue the contribution of tasks that encourage the fluency and automaticity of simple number facts or the practice of skills".
  
  From The Australian at link

  
  
  
• Steiner students 'unable to cope' with maths testing
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "Children enrolled in the alternative Steiner education curriculum are "overwhelmed" by literacy and numeracy testing, says a Victorian state school in excusing its poor academic performance.

  "Up to 80 per cent of Year 3 students at Mornington Park Primary School, south of Melbourne, failed to reach state government standards for maths and more than half are not achieving at or above "expected levels" for reading.

  "The school, which offers a Steiner stream, admitted the results were of "concern", especially given a further 70 per cent of students did not reach state benchmarks for maths in Year 5.

  "Student achievement, as measured by the AIM (Achievement Improvement Monitor) test, was moderate in 2006," the school's annual report reads.

  "Low percentages are generally recorded but of significant concern is the overall poor performance in mathematics at both Year 3 and Year 5 levels."

  "The annual report says one of the explanations for the school's poor performance could have been the increasing number of Steiner Year 3 and Year 5 students completing the tests.

  "They are not used to the regimen and the rigour of the testing and may be overwhelmed by the process," it says..."

  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • Primary school revamp backed
    
    A controversial plan to "unclutter" the primary school curriculum has been backed by principals, teachers and parent bodies.
    
    See also related stories in The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald, plus the APPA press release
    
    
    
    
  • Telly tots can become the brat pack: researchers
    
    Television could be turning your children into little monsters. [This is news???  Web]
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Yes, teachers do deserve more

      "David Campbell (Opinion, 28/9) is right — teachers deserve more for their hard work — more money and more time to do their best job. My wife and I should know — we are now in less demanding jobs, earning similar money to our teaching salaries.

      "I can earn much more in mining and earth-moving than I ever did in teaching. Weekends pay big overtime. As a teacher, leading outdoor education activities, planning or correcting on weekends paid no extra. But we weren't there for the money. Teaching was challenging, creative and fulfilling, because young people are stimulating to be with.

      "My wife and I agree we could never return to teaching, yet we were both assessed as successful, committed teachers. But there was always so much to do and so little time to complete it.

      "You owed it to the kids to give them your best. You wanted them to enjoy learning and to succeed, so you sacrificed your own life. For the future wellbeing of Australia, I fervently hope that all teachers get what they deserve: more money and more time to do their important, tough job."

      Ian de Kam, Ringwood North

Wednesday 3 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    WACOT fails teachers’ interests (page 21)
    by Tony Rutherford
    
    "The current controversy surrounding the Western Australian Council of Teaching might well be more or less impenetrable to the average observer of day-to-day politics. It may be consoling to know that it is not much more penetrable to most teachers.
    
    "There is no doubt that WA’s teachers could do with a reputable professional organisation which represented their interests in an even-handed and commonsense way; one which also acted as a guardian of standards and competence among teachers.
    
    "It has been a long time since the teachers’ union carried out the first task with any real credibility. For years now, the union has been compromised by its relationship with the Labor Party and with Labor governments.
    
    "Too many of its office-bearers have used their office as a stepping point to higher things. Labor has too often been able to take its support for granted while Liberal governments, uneasily, can see them as part of the enemy establishment.
    
    "Union activists have tended to be Labor activists, and so confuse their responsibilities to members. Many teachers, disliking the union and the Labor ethos, simply chose not to join, and were thus left, theoretically at least, with no effective voice. So the union has been weak, conspicuously weak, in major issues affecting its membership.
    
    "Its stand on matters of genuine and deeply-held concern, such as OBE, has been arrived at too late and too half-heartedly to be of any real use. It has failed, equally conspicuously, to persuade the present Government to pay teachers adequately for what is, increasingly, an unpleasant and difficult job.
    
    "Matters like these isolate one of the real problems teachers have always faced: they look like professionals, but sometimes act, and are always treated, like salaried wage-slaves.
    
    "WACOT has, if anything, failed a little more conspicuously in representing teachers’ interests than the union. It may well have had something useful to say about OBE but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in my files. Indeed, it is far from clear what it actually does in this sort of area.
    
    "I have heard its rare defenders compare WACOT to bodies such as the AMA and other national professional institutions; but those institutions are, apart from any more obvious difference, genuinely independent professional bodies, equally at arm’s length from either party, and fearless in promoting members’ interests on any issue.
    
    "It’s worth pointing out that you can still be a practising physician and not be a member of the AMA — professional registration is a quite separate matter. WACOT, on the other hand, puts one in mind of the way that professional organisations in places like Soviet Russia used to be set up by government decree.
    
    "It is a weird hybrid, offering compulsory unionism without even the erratic independence of traditional union membership.
    
    "Certainly, WACOT is charged with the maintenance of standards. But that, as far as any outsider can see, is a matter of making sure that appropriately qualified teachers have passed routine police checks, and it hardly requires a bureaucracy and a compulsory membership fee to do that simple task.
    
    "The notion that police checks are central to professional standards is itself a nice indicator of what the bureaucracy really thinks of its drafted membership. And then, more to the point, it has proved itself incapable of organising its own elections, with nearly a year having passed since the last botched and aborted election. This is, legitimately enough, a sticking point for quite a few teachers. The cliche about taxation and representation still does apply, and rightly so.
    
    "But the striking thing about the controversy is the Government’s chosen method of handling it. Instead of negotiating a sensible compromise, which would have delayed serious action until after elections had been held, the Government has waded in with threats and bullying. This is, it has to be said, par for the course.
    
    "Its determination to close its ears to the legitimate concerns of teachers — again, the OBE issue is the best case in point — is now so ingrained that no other managerial technique seems to be contemplated. [emphasis added]
    
    "Quite a few teachers are now (justifiably) cynical enough to suggest that last week’s move was indeed deliberately timed to coincide with the end of third term, so that teachers in Years 11 and 12, having lost their students, could be dragooned into taking on the workload of those facing the sack. They’re probably right, but it is nevertheless a very temporary stopgap. And, as usual, the Government has chosen to use principals as the tools of its brute force approach. That will do wonders for the already rock-bottom morale in so many schools. It will make the task of reasonable day-to-day management just that much harder.
    
    "Perhaps the most bizarre feature of all this is that it is coming from an Education Department which is already struggling (unsuccessfully) to cope with a chronic teacher shortage, with teachers leaving in large numbers and with insufficient new recruits to begin to fill the gaps.
    
    "The department’s initiatives to tempt teachers back into the profession have, predictably, yielded derisory results. If only a few hundred of the dissenters stick to their principles, it will be a major blow. It is beyond belief that neither the Minister nor his department gave any thought to this. It is equally beyond belief that, if they did, they then decided to bluster their way out of it.
    
    "As the controversy was breaking last week, there was another education story which deserved attention.
    
    "According to the department’s own statistics, about 3600 students were suspended for verbal abuse, harassment, physical assault or intimidation of staff. This is an important problem and the statistics ignore the everyday unpleasantness which teachers must tolerate.
    
    "It would seem only common sense that the department would be bending its energies to doing something about this, rather than provoking a factitious dispute with its employees, one which is concerned with utterly irrelevant matters. It would, too, seem to be the merest common sense to begin to tackle all these considerable problems by directly asking teachers, particularly the more mature teachers, just what, within the bounds of reason, could be done to make their job more tolerable and more rewarding.
    
    "But then, common sense doesn’t seem to be a commodity much valued any more by those who make the decisions these days."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Labor plan for one body to regulate all teachers (page 10)
    by Andrew Probyn

    "Australia's 300,000 teachers could be regulated by a single national body as part of a Labor plan to save hundreds of millions of dollars in overlapping State-Federal responsibilities and inefficient funding.

    "But Labor leader Kevin Rudd's pledge to overhaul vocational education if he was elected prompted Government claims that he would cut apprenticeship and TAFE funding.

    "Labor has also tipped changes to so called special purpose payments which specify how States spend Federal funding, including State run education programmes, by focusing the payments on educational outcomes.

    "Mr Rudd said yesterday vocational training was a "murky area" which was ripe for efficiencies, a line that was interpreted by Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb as "code" for funding cuts to programmes aimed at labour shortages.

    "Shadow education minister Stephen Smith said labor was not convinced the current "inter relationship" between TAFEs, apprenticeships and traineeships was the best or most efficient use of funds.

    "But Mr Smith declined to outline an alternative vision saying: "Labor quite openly acknowledges that this examination is best done from government, not opposition."

    "Labor promises to keep the Government's 28 technical colleges but may collapse them into local TAFEs or school systems.

    "Mr Smith said Labor's plan would save $94 million over the next 3 years by reinstating the voluntary student supplement scheme, which was scrapped by the Government in 2004, that let students receiving Commonwealth income support get repayable loans up to $7000 a year by trading in their entitlement to youth allowance or Austudy. Like HECS, the interest free loans are repaid when recipients annual incomes go over a certain level.

    "Shadow State-Federal relations minister Bob McMullan said reforming the way the two levels of government work together was the "next big area of macro economic reform".

    "Labor's plan is understood to involve a single national body to regulate teaching or ensuring all State based regulators are nationally consistent. Currently, WA teachers are regulated by WACOT, set up in 2004. It's 43000 members pay about $3 million towards the college's administration. "

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Stop nonsense

      "Christine Kelly (Teachers willing to risk sack over fee, 1/10) is an outstanding and experienced English teacher. Out school and the government education system cannot afford to lose staff of her quality. I urge the Department of Education and the teachers' union to work to resolve this issue with WACOT.

      "They appear to be seeking confrontation rather than finding a solution to the present situation. They are not representing the views of teachers, which I understand to be their main function.

      "This nonsense must stop and common sense prevail, otherwise I fear for the future of education in this State."

      Dave Bonner, deputy principal, Kensington
      
      

    • WACOT is to blame for this upheaval

      "It is truly unbelievable! Teachers facing the sack because they refuse to pay fees into a WACOT fund - yet WACOT itself failed miserably in getting its own house in order!

      "It is a sham of gigantic proportions and clear signs that WACOT, the West Australian College of Teaching, is itself to blame for this upheaval! Get rid of it: it serves no purpose at all!

      "All this, when there is a glaring shortage of teachers in our schools to educate our children.

      "And why is there a shortage? Obviously, Government harassment, interference and lack of support in its many forms are important reasons. Teachers are feeling unsafe in their classrooms because they are now allowed to deal appropriately with unruly pupils.

      "A lack of proper facilities and remuneration play a part. Bureaucratic interference from a vast army of pen pushers, many seemingly without the slightest idea of what education stands for - and requires - does nothing to assist our teachers in their battles to do the best they possibly can for our children.

      "The OBE debacle has put many of our best educators offside to the point where they have thrown up their hands in despair and said "enough is enough, I am out of here" and they are thus lost to the system, which is screaming out for experienced people.

      "All this is by complete ineptitude of the "authorities". They are to blame, nobody else.

      "Mark McGowan and your band of hanger-ons, take notice!"

      Peter S. Boam, Leederville
      
      

    • And in fairness, here is equal time for the "I haven't a bloody clue and I'm proud of it!" brigade:
      

      • Pay up, teachers

        "Teachers like Christine Kelly (Letters, 29/9) have got no idea. Most professional groups pay annual registration fees to their respective, usually unelected, boards such as the Medical Board and Nurses Registration Board. The AMA and the ANF are unions, similar to the teachers' union. Teachers should pay their $70 to WACOT and get on with it."

        Greg Lumsden, Booragoon

        [No comment from Web: I don't argue with my radishes or turnips, either.]
        
        
        

• Women nervous, men happy when outnumbered
  
  Women feel threatened when outnumbered by the opposite sex, such as in math, science and engineering classrooms, while men enjoy being in a roomful of women, a US study published today showed.
  
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• Op Ed
  In pursuit of a dinosaur
  
  PhDs are a valuable anachronism, writes Kevin Donnelly
  
  "Is the PhD a dinosaur from a previous age of elite education, as Curtin University professor of Australian studies Richard Nile claims in his blog on The Australian's website (Failure of the PhD, August 22)?

  "Based on my experience, undertaking a PhD at La Trobe University in the field of education during the early 1990s, the answer is yes, but so what?

  "When tertiary education has been thrown open to the masses on the assumption that increased participation is an end in itself and the purpose of education is to increase living standards by making Australia more competitive internationally, supporting elitism is not such a bad thing.

  "Not everybody has the ability, commitment and motivation to complete a PhD, in particular to research and write a 100,000-word thesis through several years. If the doctorate is to continue to be regarded as the pinnacle of university study, then its currency needs to be restricted.

  "Much of education is consumed by the tyranny of relevance and measured by its utilitarian value. An added advantage of a more traditional approach to undertaking a PhD is that the exercise is primarily an intellectual one that may not have any practical application or worth.

  "As a secondary-school English teacher with the usual round of lesson preparation, correction and extracurricular responsibilities, undertaking a PhD was not just an additional burden; there was no guarantee further study would make me a more effective teacher or increase my chances of being promoted.

  "Notwithstanding such minuses, there is no doubt if I had the time over, I would jump at the chance of undertaking postgraduate study. Why? Although it may appear old-fashioned, there is no doubt that researching, formulating ideas and developing a thesis is intellectually fulfilling. The excitement and pleasure of discussing and clarifying ideas was heightened by establishing a relationship with a supervisor, an expert in the field and an academic with a vast reservoir of knowledge and wisdom, over four years.

  "Much of teaching is taken up with the practicalities of the classroom and dealing with students on a regular basis; an added benefit of undertaking further study is that one is able to place the routine of one's professional life within a broader perspective.

  "During the '90s, Australian schools experienced the advent of outcomes-based education, with its focus on child-centred learning -- where the interests and needs of the student take centre stage -- and the belief that the process of learning was more important than the content of what was taught. This was also when the academic curriculum was criticised as socially unjust and guilty of reinforcing privilege. Within Victoria, the Higher School Certificate was replaced with Victorian Certificate of Education, and in classrooms across Australia measuring success in terms of pass and fail gave way to self-esteem and creating an environment where all succeeded.

  "To those in the classroom, such changes arrived, generally speaking, unheralded and imposed from on high. As many teachers appreciate, such changes have generally made teaching more difficult.

  "In part, the reason curriculum change has failed is because many of those responsible for imposing innovations no longer teach in schools and have little idea of what works in the classroom.

  "The research associated with writing a PhD allowed me to identify the origins of the curriculum innovations washing over Australian schools and to place them in a theoretical and international context. Better still, by understanding the rationale behind educational change, one is in a position to develop a critique.

  "When business councils and politicians argue that we need to develop so-called higher order skills and deep understanding, it is also the case that undertaking a PhD develops a habit of mind characterised by being able to synthesise ideas, understand concepts and communicate logically.

  "When talking about dinosaurs, it is obvious that my PhD fits Nile's description: I never became an academic, the degree did not have any immediate practical application and it did not lead to extra money when teaching. But in my view its value still proved incalculable based on a belief in education for education's sake."

  Kevin Donnelly is director of Education Strategies in Melbourne.
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• Melbourne masters a US model
  by David Cohen
  
  "The University of Melbourne's plan to reconstitute itself as a US-style institution of higher learning has picked up steam with the introduction of a masters degree modelled after similar North American programs devoted to teaching the teachers.

  "The degree, which the university is touting as the first of its kind for the region, is part of a shift away from specific undergraduate degrees to a bigger emphasis on graduate schools.

  "The qualification will be rolled out next year. A one-year teaching diploma program will be phased out along with many other undergraduate programs, including bachelor degrees in primary and early childhood education.

  "As with the Melbourne model, the name of the university's present academic reform agenda, the new degree was modelled on similar qualifications offered by US institutions, including Stanford University and the University of Virginia, as well as the University of Toronto in Canada.

  "The Australian version of the degree was 18 months in the making, "and we know there will be some finetuning yet to come", said Kaye Stacey, a professor of mathematics education and the new qualification's principal architect.

  "The program would be offered in early childhood, primary and secondary streams. It represented a first in terms of Melbourne University's "innovative concepts", according to Dr Stacey, who said students' relative maturity would also help sharpen their learning experience and finetune their performance asteachers.

  "The personalised learning aspect, of trying to get students to learn how people learn and how that best can be understood in an individual way, is also a first, definitely," Dr Stacey said.

  "The course includes two days in the classroom and three in the lecture hall each week, from which, it is hoped, aspiring teachers will acquire much more of a focus on individualised learning, interventionist practice and technique than previously."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• High school culture 'fosters anorexia'
  
  High schools are promoting values that can unintentionally encourage anorexia, according to new research. University of Western Sydney associate professor Christine Halse found school structures such as strict adherence to timetables, disciplinary protocols and cultural values, including competitiveness and individual achievement, contribute to a climate that potentially fosters anorexia.
  
  Similar story in The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  
  
• Teacher taught students to stab
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "A private school teacher who told students the best way to stab someone was in the kidney because the victim "can't exhale or scream" and described a female student as having "more cushion for pushin"' has been allowed back in the classroom.

  "Victoria's teaching watchdog has deemed that Joel Edmund Roache did not engage in serious misconduct, despite being sacked for the remarks he made to a group of Year 9 boys while on a school camp last year.

  "It is the third controversial finding by the Victorian Institute of Teaching in recent months, and follows decisions to allow an English teacher deemed "seriously incompetent" and a teacher who admitted to binding a child's hands with tape to remain registered teachers..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    History without more wars
    
    "Primary school principals have long protested that their schools are asked to do too much - to make good all of society's deficiencies in children's upbringing, at the expense of what schools do best, namely teaching the basics. They are right: primary schooling is the essential foundation for more specialised education that children will receive at high school and beyond. Primary schools should concentrate on their basic task and not waste time compensating for deficiencies in children's broader upbringing. Those are problems for families to solve.

    "However, the principals' laudable proposal to get back to basics, set out in a charter on primary schooling, has run into criticism from the federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop. Ms Bishop questions their view of what constitutes the basics. The principals say these are English, arithmetic, science and something called social education. The last element - a combination of basic history, geography and politics - is the problem. Ms Bishop fears for the fate of history.

    "Both Ms Bishop and the Prime Minister, John Howard, have strong views about any watering down of history teaching. Mr Howard devoted part of his Australia Day address last year to a call for "root and branch renewal" of the subject in Australia. It is a part of his more general campaign in the long-running culture wars with which many parents will agree. Ms Bishop organised a history summit to discuss a possible national curriculum. Most of this attention has been on high school history teaching. But yesterday, when the opportunity arose to talk about the primary curriculum, Ms Bishop took it. It is not clear why. Although it is apparent what Mr Howard and Ms Bishop oppose in history teaching practices, the public has been given only a vague idea of what they support.

    "History is an important subject. In high school, it should not be watered down into an amorphous "people in their environment" curriculum. But in primary school, there must be room for teachers to seek to awaken children's interest in this country's story as part of finding out about the society in which they live. In this case, primary schools need not become another battlefield in Canberra's culture wars."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Plans for ads to blitz teacher union
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "The Federal Government has prepared an advertising blitz to counter an election-year campaign by the teacher union over schools funding. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show the plans began a day after the Australian Education Union advertisement went to air on April 11 challenging the level of federal funding to public schools.

    "The $1.3 million union campaign featured a television advertisement with public primary school students clutching Australian flags and cheering as they waited for the Prime Minister, John Howard, to visit their school only to have him drive past.

    "The documents from the Prime Minister's Department and the department of the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, show the Government contacted the ad agency The Campaign Palace and media buyers Universal McCann to prepare a counter-campaign."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link

Thursday 4 October

• The West Austalian

Note: The website and the analogue newspaper carried different version of the teacher pay rise story, with different authors.

• Pay rise to solve teacher shortage [Front Page Headline]
  Exclusive by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor
  
  "First-year State school teachers will be able to earn up to $70,000 a year [IF receiving the top remote area allowance, $50,000 otherwise] from the start of next year under a radical Labor Government plan to solve WA's chronic teacher shortage..."
  
  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier applauded the move as a "bold initiative" but warned more had to be done to retain teachers in the State school system.
  
  "It's a good start to kick them off on $50,000 but if you're going to retain them you've got to assume that the increase will be reflected in every level above that," he said.
  
  "But Mr McGowan said the Government would concentrate on "those who do the tougher jobs" in its negotiations with the unions over the new enterprise bargaining agreement.
  
  "The graduate rise would not necessarily flow through to other levels, he said. [emphasis added]
  
  "A teachers union spokesman could not be contacted for comment."
  
  Full story in The West Australian
  
  
  
• Pay rise for grad teachers [online version]
  by Phillipa Perry
  
  "Western Australia's graduate teachers could earn up to almost $70,000 a year from 2008, making them among the highest paid graduate teachers in Australia alongside New South Wales and the ACT.

  "The State Government has offered graduate teachers a $50,000 starting salary which they could top up by $19,800 if they chose to work at selected country and remote schools, as part of a radical plan to address WA's teacher shortage.

  "Education and training minister Mark McGowan said the package was estimated to cost more than $60 million over five years and included a doubling of the graduate start-up allowance from $800 to $1600.

  “This means new graduates will receive nearly $3500 extra, independent of any increases negotiated as part of the current or new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), which is expected to be finalised later this year,” Mr McGowan said.

  “When a scheduled 2.5 per cent pay rise for February 2008 is included, graduates will be paid $4600 more than today.”

  "Mr McGowan said graduates were particularly in demand for the areas of maths, science – particularly physics and chemistry – design and technology, home economics, languages other than English, English Literature and agriculture.

  “The public school system has to be competitive against other job opportunities outside of teaching and this is an important step toward achieving that end,” he said.

  "Mr McGowan said he recognised the need to reward existing teachers.

  “We are currently working on a new enterprise agreement to ensure that those doing the toughest jobs are rewarded,” he said.

  “This is the latest of the short, medium and long-term measures we have underway to boost the teaching workforce. I am confident that we will be able to improve the situation over time.”

  "He said the doubling of the graduate start-up allowance would also apply to graduates who began teaching in the public system in 2007, so long as they continued to work at a government school in 2008 and 2009."

  From The West Australian at link
  
  Add / view Reader Comments
  
  
  
• Alston (page 20)

© The West Australian

• Inside Cover (page 2)
  
  
  • Mini-Alston: The State of the State

© The West Australian

• Low marks for teachers' day
  
  "World Teachers' Day is on October 26 (IC, 2/10) but the calendar of events on the WA College of Teaching website is blank for that day.

  "The organisation supposedly improving the morale of its teaching staff and raising the status of the education profession is planning nothing to celebrate World Teachers' Day... they are having NO EVENTS," said Graham, a teacher who asked that his surname not be published because he doesn't fancy a "forced transfer to Meeka".

  "Graham also directed IC to the website's About Us section for a "bigger giggle".

"It carries several interpretations of what WACOT's logo represents. According to one, the globe in the logo represents that "learning is never-ending", its gold colours "the value of learning" and the blue "the depth of understanding".

"Good to see all those $70 fees are being spent wisely. Maybe the three lines represent the three years it has taken to get an election," said Graham, suggesting that IC run a competition for readers to interpret the logo. "It can't be any worse than the dribble on the website."

"Or maybe all those teachers sacked for not paying their fees could design a brand new logo. I need a nice new shiny badge."

 

• Letter to the Editor (page 22)
  
  
  • In Short

    "Ross Paton's simplistic version of the WACOT situation (Letters, 2/10) demands a response. Neither the WA Bar Association nor the Australian College of Surgeons demands compulsory membership. They have high levels of membership because they are respected organisations, unlike WACOT. Furthermore, the board of these institutions are not nominated and controlled by the Government, which is also the biggest employer. If Mr Paton believes a professional body is one organised along the same lines as WACOT, then he has confused it with a bureaucracy."

    Richard Ewing, Eaton
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • WA students to get new English course by 2010
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    "WA students will be studying a new english course by 2010 - and it's a far cry from the controversial outcomes-based model touted earlier this year.
    
    "Following heated debate over the new outcomes-based education english course, Curriculum Council chairman Bill Louden said today that the council decided to back recommendations of a "teacher jury''.

    "The first (recommendation) is to make some short-term changes for 2008 and 2009, and the second is to develop a new english course, which will be trialled in 2009 and implemented in 2010,'' said Prof Louden.

    "But he said the council did not accept a recommendation for optional exams by the "jury'' of teachers appointed by the Government to review the OBE course.

    "The State Government has indicated that it wants the rigour of exams introduced and that issue was outside the scope of the jury's ambit,'' he said.

    "The council today deliberated about the recommendations of the jury, which was formed following WA Education Minister Mark McGowan's edict in January to establish randomly selected teacher panels to review 50 new courses being introduced into senior school.

    "Last month during its review, the jury told Mr McGowan and the council that: "This jury believes that this course is flawed and it must be re-worked.

    "This reworking requires more time than the process provided,'' the jury added.

    "According to a statement by the council today, proposed changes for English in 2008 and 2009 included modifying the current course, by including types of texts that students needed to study.

    "Providing "greater clarity for assessment by using traditional marking to obtain a mark out of 100,'' was also planned.

    "The council said: "From these marks, teachers will award a grade for each unit''.

    "A recommended list of books was also planned.

    "And two more units, "suitable for students who would like a more practically-oriented English course'' would be included.

    "Prof Louden said a meeting of teachers in charge of English would be held in mid-November to discuss the proposals for next year.

    "Curriculum Council chief executive officer David Wood, said the proposed changes would provide greater clarity for teachers and students.

    "Just as importantly, we hope these changes will help restore teacher confidence,'' he said.

    "Another recommendation endorsed by Council is the formation of a group that includes a significant number of jury members who will advise on the progress of the report recommendations.''

    "PerthNow was unable to get comment from Mr McGowan or the State School Teachers Union." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link [plus add / view reader comments]
    

    • English Jury Report
      
      
    • Curriculum Council Media Release on the Report
      
      
    • I am not surprised that Minister McGowan was "unavailable for comment". His department has wasted an unbelievable amount of public money on the OBE mess, not to mention the terrific job they have done exhausting and demoralizing so many teachers. Of course that is an ongoing job, as even today he announced increases for incoming student teachers which manage to offend all the experienced teachers who DON'T receive such rewards for their ongoing loyal service.
      Posted by: Mum of perth
      
      
      
  • WA offers graduates $70,000 to teach in country schools
    by Liza Kappelle, AAP
    
    "WA is trying to fix its chronic teacher shortage by offering fresh graduates almost $70,000 a year to get into the classroom in the bush.
    
    "The state has struggled to get teachers, blaming it on the lure of heftier salaries elsewhere due to the resources boom.

    "Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan today dangled a new carrot - a base salary of $50,000 for graduates who teach in 2008.

    "There are incentives of almost $20,000 extra for those who go bush.

    "We are pulling out all the stops in our efforts to boost the state's teaching workforce,'' Mr McGowan said.

    "This latest lure comes just months after the state launched an advertising blitz to entice 8000 registered teachers back into the state's education system.

    "It offered four-year trained teachers a starting salary of between $44,618 and $71,067 a year - plus sweeteners of up to $8500 in some regional schools and up to $15,000 in some remote schools.

    "In July, Mr McGowan offered retired teachers $74,275 to get back into the classroom, and up to $90,000 if it was in a remote area, saying teachers should follow Prime Minister John Howard's example and work longer.

    "Today, the minister said his new graduate teacher incentive package, estimated to cost more than $60 million over five years, included a rise in the graduate start-up allowance from $800 to $1600.

    "He also launched a $19 million scholarship scheme for university students who agree to teach for at least four years and for existing teachers to retrain in maths, science, design and economics.

    "Under this five-year scholarship program, 935 scholarships would be offered to final-year teaching graduates.

    "WA is also offering 160 scholarships for existing teachers to retrain in maths; 160 for retraining in science; 57 for design and technology; and 40 home economics scholarships."

    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link [plus add / view reader comments]
    
    
    • There is no new money here. It is a standard first year out pay, with the 2.5% (which was already promised to us in the 2006 EBA) and $19,000 as pay for going remote (which was already there as well). I encourage all new graduates contemplating this to ring Mr Mcg or DET and ask them exactly which schools they will have to go to to get this allowance. Make sure you are sitting down first though. If you expect to just go country and get this type of pay then you are being mislead. Make sure you do your research as DET and its minister are not the most honest of employers.
      Posted by: matt of perth
      
      
      
      
• Mark McGowan media statement
  
  
  • Scholarships to boost Government school teacher numbers
    
    The State Government has today unveiled a multi-million dollar initiative to offer lucrative scholarships to more than 1,300 university students and existing teachers.

    Under the scheme, individual students signing up to a Government teaching career for at least four years could receive $60,000.

    Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said the scheme, worth more than $19million, would secure teaching graduates for regional postings and for the key shortage areas of maths, science, design and technology and home economics.

    He said the scheme complemented a decision by the State Government to boost starting salaries for graduate teachers to more than $50,000.

    Under the five-year scholarship program:

    * 935 scholarships would be offered to final year teaching graduates;
    * 160 scholarships for existing teachers to retrain in maths;
    * 160 scholarships for existing teachers to retrain in science;
    * 57 scholarships for people to train in design and technology; and
    * 40 scholarships for people to train in home economics.

    Mr McGowan said the scholarship program, coupled with the increased starting salary for graduates, made Government school teaching an attractive option.

    “This is consistent with the Gerard Daniels review which stated that the Department of Education and Training needs to better position itself as the employer of choice for prospective teachers,” he said.

    “This is an important first step, but there are many more things to be done.

    “A scholarship will help students with living and other expenses while they are struggling at university and will help kick-start their teaching career.”

    The Minister said the scholarships arose from a partnership between the department and Edith Cowan, Curtin and Murdoch universities.

    Applications for the scholarships would close on Monday, November 5.

    A three-week television, radio and press advertising campaign would run from this Sunday to ensure eligible people are aware of the scholarships. Detailed information will be available on a new website.

    Mr McGowan said the new website, Teaching WA, developed by the Department of Education and Training, would be available on the weekend and would be an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to undertake teaching as a career.

    “It can be accessed through the department’s main web page http://www.det.wa.edu.au and is a comprehensive resource for anyone wanting information about teaching in this State,” he said.

    “Student teachers, interstate or overseas people interested in teaching in Western Australia, retirees or former teachers wanting to return to teaching will find the information they need.”

    The Minister said that the scholarships and website were two examples of a comprehensive strategy by the State Government to boost teaching numbers in WA’s public schools.

    “The State Government is committed to providing a world-class public education system,” Mr McGowan said.

    “Initiatives include overseas recruitment and appointing graduates three months earlier than usual with improved pay and conditions.”

    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
• Teacher union puts acid on Brumby
  by Bridie Smith
  
  "The Brumby Government has come under increased pressure to cut a deal with the state's teachers, as the powerful teacher union releases an open letter to the Premier today declaring "now is the time to act".

  "The letter — which calls on the Government to lift teacher salaries, reduce the rate of contract employment, lower class sizes and address widespread teacher shortages — is timed to coincide with South Australian teachers getting a 4.5 per cent wage increase this week.

  "The Australian Education Union says the pay rise takes SA teachers' top wage to $68,422 — making Victorian teachers the lowest-paid in the country with a top salary of $65,414.

  "Mr Brumby, a former teacher at Eaglehawk High School, stressed education would be his "No.1 priority" when he became Premier in July.

  "However, union state branch president Mary Bluett said the Government should be embarrassed at the state's low ranking on the national pay scale, where the top rate is $72,454 for NSW teachers.

  "On the one hand, we have the Premier out there saying education is the No.1 priority … and yet he's happy to maintain the lowest-paid workforce in the nation," she said.

  "The letter also comes amid ongoing enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations, which continued yesterday without result. The union has been in weekly negotiations with the Government since March, but little progress has been made on the key areas of pay, workload and contract employment levels. The previous EBA expired in August.

  "Ms Bluett said with almost half the state schools having class sizes of 25-plus and one in five teachers currently on short-term contracts, it was becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain quality teachers in the profession.

  "Victorian teachers at the top of the scale receive 11 per cent less than their NSW colleagues, which equates to over $7000 per year. In January 2008, this figure will rise to 15 per cent," she said.

  "Ms Bluett said unless an agreement was reached soon, thousands of teachers would strike on November 21, when almost 4500 VCE students are due to sit exams.

  "The education union is seeking a 30 per cent wage rise over three years for its 33,000 members, but the Government is standing firm with its offer of 3.25 per cent a year. The union is also seeking a reduction in the rate of contract employment and first-year teachers' workload.

  "A spokesman for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the top level of teacher pay was about $78,000 a year, making them the highest-paid in the nation.

  "The Government's wages policy is balanced between offering a pay increase for teachers and having money left over to keep improving our education system," he said."
  
  From The Age at link
  
  
  

• The Australian
  
  
  • ALP slams 'uni con'
    by Samantha Maiden
    
    "Labor has attacked the Government's $6 billion university endowment fund as "a con", signalling a Rudd government would ensure more of the proceeds are spent on ageing lecture theatres.

    "Signalling that Labor will announce a funding boost for research during the election campaign, including more places for PhD students and incentives for collaboration, Opposition innovation spokesman Kim Carr attacked the fund as a "stunt".

    "Announced in the May budget, the Higher Education Endowment Fund was hailed as a breakthrough by university chiefs, but it does not guarantee any university a single dollar in additional infrastructure funding.

    "Instead, universities will be forced to apply to secure a grant from the proceeds of the $6 billion investment fund, estimated at about $300 million a year.

    "Each year, many universities will fail to secure any additional funding with no requirement for the Government to issue reasons why applications were rejected.

    "Some of the universities now understand they were conned," Senator Carr told The Australian.

    "It was like a starving man being offered a bit of bread and butter. The problem is the amount of money they have allocated is quite small.

    "The guidelines haven't been issued yet so it is not clear how they are intending to allocate it, or the quantums.

    "That's a problem if you're a university. The Government is not being clear, it is trying to be all things to all people. It's now becoming crystal clear to vice-chancellors that is not the case."

    "Senator Carr guaranteed Labor would not abolish the fund if elected. "No, but there are ways of using that more effectively. We've got further to say about research infrastructure later in the campaign," he said.

    "What we're saying is up to two-thirds of that funding would be spent on research infrastructure and one-third on teaching infrastructure. That's lecture halls."

    From The Australian at link

Friday 5 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Chaney urges $100,000 potential for top teachers (page 4)
    by Kim MacDonald
    
    "Michael Chaney, the highly influential president of the BCA, has urged governments to introduce a performance based pay system for teachers that would earn $100,000 or more a year.

    "Mr Chaney, formerly chief executive of Westfarmers and now chancellor of UWA, said yesterday merit based pay would help stop the public system from becoming a collection of badly funded schools used primarily by poor families who could not afford private education.

    "The capacity for teachers to earn significantly higher salaries would help attract and retain capable staff and give the profession new status.

    "Mr Chaney said governments should view the extra cost as a necessary investment to help improve the quality of education and stop the exodus from the public system.

    "There is a continuing drift to private schools, the shift we've seen over the last few decades, and (there is a risk) the public sector will be left as a poorly funded system for poor people," Mr Chaney said.

    "The State Government's decision to lift starting salaries for teachers to as much as $70,000 a year did not go far enough. A suitable solution was to pay the bottom half of all teachers, based on performance criteria, up to $60,000. Those in each 10% bracket above this range should be allowed to earn an extra $10,000.

    "This would leave the State's leading 10% of teachers - which excludes administrators such as principals - with the capacity to earn at least $100,000 annually.

    "Mr Chaney said principals, guided by a set of criteria concerning classroom performance, should be given the power to set staff pay.

    "I don't think the starting wage is the problem. I think the issue is what happens 10 or 20 years down the track when you find that you are remunerated very similarly to a very poor teacher and find that the only way to get more money is to get out of teaching and into administration," Mr Chaney said.

    "I would like to see a society where teachers are revered and are considered by people to be like Socrates. (Where) if you say to somebody that you are a level 10 teacher that it would be a like saying 'I'm a champion footballer or a Neil Perry chef'. People will say that is a wonderful thing."

    "You can imagine a society where young people who are very capable will want to go into teaching and their parents will want them to and the position is held in very high esteem."

    "SSTUWA president Mike Keely agreed with a recent BCA report which claimed schools were badly underfunded, but said he was satisfied the existing pay system gave enough incentive for teachers to ensure their own self improvement.

    "Mr Chaney said senior teachers had the ability to apply for thousands of dollars extra each year after sitting some professional development courses. Teachers' performance was not assessed after sitting such a course."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Anti-OBE lobby has English exam win (page 4)
    by Daniel Emerson
    
    "The State Government has bowed to pressure from teachers who had dismissed the controversial Year 12 OBE English course as "flawed" and agreed to make significant changes next year while it develops a completely new course to be taught in 2010.

    "The Curriculum Council yesterday endorsed key recommendations from a panel of teachers set up to review the OBE English course, saying they were practical and would provide greater clarity for teachers and students.

    "The changes were backed by an anti-OBE lobby group [i.e. PLATO], the SSTUWA, and the State Opposition, but they questioned why it had taken the Government so long to listen to teachers' concerns.

    "Among the proposed changes to be implemented over the next two years a recommended list of books and specific types of texts would be made compulsory. The model currently taught has been widely criticised because students can answer questions in exams and assessments without referring to specific types of texts.

    "The marking system would be returned to the traditional method of giving a score out of 100. The marks would be converted to a grade from A to E, meaning this year's Year 12s will be the last to be given an outcome rather than a mark. Two more units would be designed for students of mid range English ability.

    "Curriculum Council Chairman Bill Louden said the second part of the revamp would see a new English course developed, tested in 2009 and implemented in 2010.

    "A meeting of teachers would be held in the middle of next month to approve changes for next year.

    "The council has agreed to set up a new group of teachers who were on the so called teacher jury to give advice on the progress of the changes.

    "Acting president of PLATO Greg Williams said the changes should filter down to Years 8, 9 and 10. SSTUWA president Mike Keely said: "The council has to bear responsibility for what's happened with the courses of study going pear shaped."

    "Shadow minister Peter Collier said the council's move was a slap in the face for the Government.

    "Education minister Mark McGowan welcomed the council's decision. He had initiated teacher juries to ensure teachers' views were heard."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • State's $60000 carrot to lure new graduates (page 4)
    by Daniel Emerson and Robert Taylor
    
    "Education students who commit to a government teaching career for at least 4 years could receive $60000 in lucrative scholarships under a $19 million plan unveiled by Education minister Mark McGowan yesterday.

    "A day after revealing that first year State school teachers can earn up to $70000 as part of a renewed effort to reverse the teacher shortage, Mr McGowan said that scholarship plan was another key plank in increasing and retaining teachers.

    "As part of the plan, 1300 scholarships would be offered to university students and teachers. Final year graduate teachers will vie for 935 scholarships while teachers keen to retrain as Maths and Science teachers can apply for one of 320 scholarships.

    "The Minister said the scholarship package and improved pay would make teaching a desirable profession once again and ensure remote areas were not ignored. "We've had shortages, we don't deny that, in areas like some maths and sciences in particular, in some of the more remote parts of the State we've had these shortages and so offering students up to $60000 next year to study at university and then be prepared to go to a location in the country is a pretty good deal," Mr McGowan said.

    "The scholarship deal was welcomed by UWA education dean and CC chairman Bill Louden, WACSSO president Rob Fry and shadow education minister Peter Collier.

    "SSTUWA president Mike Keely urged the Federal Government to match the State Government's efforts.

    "The pay increase sparked calls for similar wage increases across the public service and a warning that private school fees would almost certainly rise.

    "Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson warned yesterday that without similar measure, the shortage of nurses in the State's hospitals would be exacerbated and would further discourage men from considering it as a career.

    "If you're a bloke and you've got a choice between being a policeman, being a teacher or being a nurse and there's an 8 to 10 thousand dollar difference between nursing and the other two, what do you think he's going to choose," Mr Olson said.

    "First year nurses start on a base rate of $42691 but Mr Olson said registered nurses would now have to work for 5 years before catching the graduate teacher wage.

    "WA Police union boss Mike Dean said the Government's decision broke away from the 3 year EBAs, but the union would not put a special case for some sections of the force. He said a special needs case would be put for police operating in the south west wheat belt towns where the force struggled to retain officers.

    "Public service union boss Toni Walkington said the teachers' pay boost should be applied to a range of professional areas.

    "The graduate teachers pay move is expected to flow through to the private and Catholic sectors.

    "Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss John Langoulant said the pay increase was a "first step in ensuring that teaching is widely regarded as a desirable and rewarding career".
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Alston (page 20)
    
    


© The West Australian



• Letters to the Editor (page 22)
  
  
  • Slap in the face

    "Yet again our Education Department has no idea!

    "Not only will paying graduate teachers $50,000 a year not solve WA's increasing teacher shortage, it is a huge slap in the face to any longstanding, hard-working existing teacher who has reached their current pay scale.

    "If a substantial pay rise is not given across the board, older teachers with valuable experience will be lost for good. They will leave in droves. Let's see these teachers get rewarded for their years of service with a pay increase that at least puts them on an equal footing with NSW teachers.

    "If Mark McGowan and the Education Department are serious about solving the teacher shortage problem, they will remove themselves from their gilded offices and join teachers on a daily basis to see what the true problems are. Only then will they truly have an idea about what today's teachers have to face daily.

    "When is our Government going to recognise the important contribution that teachers (and policemen and nurses) make to our society and pay them accordingly?"

    Kate Atthowe, Thornlie
    
    

  • Teachers are not valued

    "While the Government's attempt to attract people into teaching with the opportunity of earning up to $70,000 as a graduate is a step in the right direction (Pay rise to solve teacher shortage, 4/10), it is a step that does not go anywhere near the distance to attract and retain teachers, especially the experienced teachers all sectors of education - public, Catholic and independent - should be fighting to retain.

    "I cite my personal circumstances as an example of the inequity in rates of pay between professions, especially here in WA.

    "I have a bachelor's degree and two postgraduate qualifications. I have been teaching for more than 10 years in schools in metropolitan and rural areas.

    "I have a number of years of international experience, teaching in schools in Britain. I am told I am a valued member of staff.

    "In Britain I was getting paid at the same level as my partner, who is an engineer with similar qualifications but less industry-related experience than me.

    "In Perth he earns around three times my salary. I am at the top of the pay scale and my salary falls only just above the average wage of $60,000. Such a disparity shows just how little teachers are valued.

    "Teachers, especially those who have endured the disastrous implementation of the courses of study and have slaved tirelessly over the past 10 years to implement the curriculum framework, are told that what they do is valuable; that what they do is important; that what they do is appreciated.

    "Until that is reflected in pay and conditions, teachers will leave education for sectors that recognise their value and reward them accordingly. The teacher shortage is going to get worse.

    "The loss of experienced teachers and the instability of understaffed schools often results in a decline in standards of student behaviour and achievement.

    "Attracting and retaining teachers becomes even more difficult when conditions in schools worsen.

    "Having endured the horrors of working in some schools in Britain where disruption, threats, abuse and violence are a daily occurrence and seen the terrible impact this has on students, teachers and the wider community, I know that retaining experienced and effective teachers is crucial to ensuring stability and standards that are the foundation for learning and the foundation of our future society."

    L. Doyle, Joondanna
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
• $20m ploy to lure new teachers fuels disquiet
  by Amanda O'Brien, WA political reporter
  
  "The Carpenter Government has thrown $20 million into a desperate plan to recruit more student teachers but refused to intervene in a dispute that could see hundreds of experienced teachers sacked this month for refusing to pay a $70 fee.

  "As angry teachers hit talkback radio in droves, Education Minister Mark McGowan admitted shortages were guaranteed when school resumes in about 10 days.

  "He denied he had any responsibility to try to end a dispute that could see up to 1000 teachers sacked for refusing to pay registration fees to the West Australian College of Teaching, their professional standards body.

  "The teachers are angry over WACOT's performance and its lack of elected teacher representatives.

  "Advising teachers to pay up, Mr McGowan said he was focused on the future. He announced 1300 scholarships to attract more student teachers, and a pay rise for graduates to bring their starting pay to $50,000, among the highest in the nation. Those who opt to teach in remote areas will receive $20,000 more, taking their starting salary to $70,000.

  "The ploy backfired when the dean of education at the University of Western Australia, Bill Louden, said graduate pay was already reasonable and called for a $30,000 pay rise for experienced teachers.

  "Adding fuel to the fire, the nurses union threatened to seek parity for its members, who have a starting pay of less than $43,000, raising the prospect of industrial turmoil."
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• End of fad English course
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "The contentious English course in Western Australia that divided the teaching profession and came to represent all that was wrong with the state's approach to outcomes-based education will be dropped from 2010.

  "The West Australian Curriculum Council yesterday said it would develop a new English course for Years 11 and 12 to be introduced in 2010 after recommendations made by teachers.

  "The existing flawed course will be modified for Year 12 students next year and in 2009 to include the types of texts that students need to study; to provide a recommended reading list; and to revert to a traditional marking system out of 100, replacing the existing system where students are assessed across eight levels.

  "The council rejected the recommendation to allow the Year 12 English exam this year to be optional, saying it was inconsistent with government policy.

  "The first Year 12 exam in the soon-to-be-replaced English course will be sat by students in the next few weeks. The changes shift the focus of the course back to literature, ensuring students must study a novel, a play, poetry or non-fiction.

  "The West Australian approach to school curriculums, detailing what students should be able to do rather than the knowledge they should be taught, has been widely criticised for dumbing down school subjects.

  "In the discredited courses, Year 12 English students were asked to study the Big Brother television show, Mr Men children's books and movie posters.

  "They could have passed the exam without reading a full-length novel.

  "The English course meant students were assessed equally whether studying a magazine feature article or Macbeth.

  "The changes are the result of recommendations made by a jury of 48 English teachers. Teacher juries in all subjects were established by Education Minister Mark McGowan to restore confidence in the system.

  "Mr McGowan welcomed the changes yesterday as endorsing the Government's focus "on listening to teachers and a return to traditional standards".

  "The English course was championed by the English Teachers Association of Western Australia, despite deep reservations among the profession, prompting the establishment of an alternative organisation, the English Teachers Forum.

  "ETAWA president Wendy Cody, who works in the state education department, declined to comment, saying she had not had time to digest the report. [Run Wendy, Run!  Web]

  "ETF spokeswoman Bernadette Dell, who sat on the teacher jury, said the English course was reverting to what had been taught previously. "The changes mean that students will study at least one major text, such as a play or a novel, and some smaller examples, such as short stories and poetry," she said.

  "Ms Dell said the exam would be more predictable for students, reverting to the familiar three sections assessing students on comprehension with an unfamiliar piece of text, on their viewing, and on the texts they had studied during the year. [emphasis added]

  "In the viewing section, students would be required to study full-length feature films."
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• Call to focus on higher maths
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "A leading education research group has urged governments to drop the term numeracy and focus on the quality of maths education provided in schools.

  "In a submission to the National Numeracy Review, commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments, the peak organisation of maths educators criticises the review for becoming bogged down in the difference between numeracy and mathematics.

  "The Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia said the focus on numeracy as distinct from maths over the past two decades was a "wasted effort" that had not contributed to advancing mathematical standards.

  "There is little point arguing the difference between numeracy and mathematics," the submission says. "Motherhood statements such as 'every student should be numerate' serve little purpose, and too often numeracy and numeracy education are thought of as lowest common denominator and basic life skills."

  "The MERGA submission is at odds with the submission by the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, which argues that numeracy is not only distinct from mathematical knowledge but competes against it in schools.

  "The AAMT says mathematics is the discipline while numeracy is a "cross-curricular capability that is the responsibility of all teachers, through teaching and learning programs in areas other than mathematics".

  "There is a critical need to find the appropriate balance, throughout schooling, of the competing expectations on teachers and schools in relation to mathematics and numeracy," it says.

  "Using the term numeracy when mathematics is actually what is meant has been, and is, extremely common in this country. It is not appropriate to do so, given the definition of numeracy."

  "The National Numeracy Review was commissioned by COAG as part of its work on human capital to identify the teaching, learning and assessment practices that lead to improved numeracy outcomes for students.

  "The review was chaired by the head of the NSW Board of Studies Gordon Stanley and a draft report handed to the COAG Human Capital Working Group last month.

  "MERGA president Judith Mousley said maths teachers viewed numeracy as one element to be taught, giving students the basic maths skills required for working and adult life.

  "But Dr Mousley said focusing on numeracy at the expense of mathematics did a disservice to students by providing them with only the most basic skills. The MERGA submission says the preoccupation with numeracy is aiming for the lowest common denominator."
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• School collapses amid neglect and abuse claims
  
  
  
  
• The Age
  
  
  • Teachers seize on pay figures
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Premier John Brumby is under renewed pressure to pay teachers more, amid contentious figures suggesting the recent deal struck with police gave recruits an increase of 87 per cent over the life of their agreement — much more than the Government's public-sector wage policy.

    "With only weeks before teachers walk off the job in the push for more pay, the education union yesterday seized on the figures to argue that there was room in Treasury coffers for schools to get a better deal.

    "The union — which says that Victorian teachers are the worst-paid in the country — has made a formal claim for a 10 per cent pay rise every year for three years, as well as less contract employment and lower class sizes. However, the Government is yet to move on its public-sector wage policy, which allows for increases of 3.25 per cent a year, and anything above that must come from productivity "trade-offs."

    "The Government last month struck an agreement with police, giving what it publicly stated was a 13.25 per cent increase over four years, linked with a broader plan to reduce crime by 10 per cent over the life of the three-year-and-eight-month deal..."
    
    Full story in The Age at link
    
    
    

  • Victorians missing out on uni places

Saturday – Sunday, 6 – 7 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Finally, signs of sense on school staffing, OBE disaster (page 20)
    
    "At last there are glimmers of hope that the education bureaucracy and it political masters are coming to their senses. There are promising signs of a realistic attempt to overcome the teacher shortage and a key element of the disastrous outcomes-based education experiment is set to be jettisoned.

    "Neither development revealed this week amounts to a complete solution, but each amounts to at least a step in the right direction. After the Education Department was in evident denial of a looming teacher shortage, it had a staffing crisis on its hands at the beginning of the school year and had to scramble to find teachers for classrooms. By Education Minister Mark McGowan's account even he did not know about the seriousness of the shortage until just days before schools were to open.

    "Now the Government has come up with a proposal that will allow first-year State schoolteachers to earn up to $70, 000 a year from the start of next year. It has also decided to offer scholarships of up to $60, 000 to education students who undertake to teach in government schools for at least four years.

    "Both proposals should make teaching more attractive to students. There is also a provision for scholarships for teachers who want to retrain as maths or science specialists, of whom there is a continuing shortage.

    "These are welcome developments which suggest that it has finally dawned on education planners that they are in a highly competitive market and need to make government school teaching attractive to young people who might otherwise go to private schools or embark on careers other than teaching.

    "However, the Government must also act to retain its experienced teachers, many of whom are disillusioned with the education bureaucracy and dismayed by the diminishing status of their profession and government schooling. It could do a lot worse than take a serious look at a proposal my Michael Chaney, president of the Business Council of Australia and chancellor of the University of WA, for a performance-based pay system that would give teachers the capacity to earn $100, 000 or more a year.

    "Under such a scheme, there would be incremental levels of payment up to that, with teachers at the top level clearly defined as the best in the profession. This would help to improve the status of teaching and government schools, attract more bright and ambitious people into the profession and give teachers added incentive to do better.

    "Of course, the very idea is anathema to the teachers' union and its supporters in government. But if the Government is serious about attracting and retaining good teachers, it must accept the need to offer them career opportunities for substantial rewards in pay and status based on performance in the classroom.

    "And if teachers are to be treated as true professionals, then they must have a significant say in what they are expected to do. This has happened, finally, with the Year 12 OBE English course, the inevitable consequence of significant change - including the essential return to compulsory text types. Now the need is for a similar cleansing of the madness of OBE from other courses and stages of schooling. All that seems to be preventing this is a perceived need to save face for Premier Alan Carpenter, who was obdurate in his support of OBE." [emphasis added]
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Alston (page 20)



© The West Australian




• Accused former school principal allowed to fly out to work on bail (page 4)
  by Yasmine Phillips
  
  "Former Balga Senior High School principal Merv Hammond can work as a consultant to Aboriginal communities after a magistrate altered a bail condition yesterday.

  "Magistrate Vicki Stewart changed the condition which stopped Mr Hammond from travelling within one kilometre of the Perth International and Domestic airports to let him fly with commercial airlines to the WA North-West and Northern Territory.

  "Police prosecutor Sgt Clayton French did not object but asked the court to attach the names of the 17 prosecution witnesses to Mr. Hammond's bail conditions. The 64-year old former principal of the year is charged with 15 counts of corruption over his involvement in the bungled Balga Works Program which provided educational services to disengaged youth.

  "Police allege Mr. Hammond unlawfully funnelled about $400, 000 to private companies associated with the operation of the program in 2004-05. He was arrested and charged in July after retiring as principal of the school in October last year.

  "Mr. Hammond will reappear in Perth Magistrate's Court on December 14."
  

  From The West Australian
  
  
  
• Letter to the Editor (page 22)
  
  
  • I Disagree
    
    "What a joke (Pay rise to solve teacher shortage, 4/10). What a joke. To any young person contemplating entering the teaching profession, don't be fooled by this "band-aid" solution to the current teacher crisis. Sure you "may be able" to earn "up to $70, 000' a year, but at what cost? Living in sub-standard housing at the back of beyond no doubt.

    "While this offer my seem attractive, it does nothing to improve the "lot" of those who have been teaching for many years. I have been teaching since 1978 and my wage has only just reached $70, 000.

    "This offer my attract teachers, but it will do nothing to retain them.

    "Bachelor of commerce graduates are able to earn this sort of money working in the city in modern, clean and well-maintained offices. Meanwhile, State schoolteachers are working in poorly equipped schools, with very little government money being put into their maintenance. Every State government for the past 30 years should be thoroughly ashamed of this state of affairs."

    Lesley Boyes, Leeming
    
    
    

• English Teachers' Forum Media Release
  
  
  • ETF response to the October 4 release of the English jury report
    
    The ETFWA regards the findings of the Jury Report by 48 practicing English teachers on the suitability of the current Western Australian Certificate of Education courses of study in English as clear evidence that our campaign against the current English Courses has the support of the overwhelming majority of the profession. We congratulate the members of the Jury for their courage and affirm our confidence in their verdict.

    In their report, the Jury has indicated that the Senior English Courses are seriously flawed; that they do not meet the needs of senior students; and that the problems are so serious as to require a new set of courses to be written. We sincerely regret that students enrolled in English courses in 2007 have been forced to complete courses that the Council's own review process has determined to be not in the best interests of students, and call on the Curriculum Council to now move with haste to ensure that, wherever possible, the recommendations of the Jury are implemented before the commencement of the 2008 academic year.

    In the context of the Jury Report, we call on the Minister of Education and the Chairman of the Curriculum Council to issue an apology to all teachers of English, and to give serious consideration to offering financial compensation for the stress that has been caused to so many members of our profession. It is not as though the Government and the Council were unaware of the opposition of teachers. Many of the difficulties our profession has been forced to endure could have been avoided if the Government and the Council had consulted more widely when they became aware of the differences being expressed by classroom teachers and the professional body claiming to represent them.

    We also call on the English Teachers Association of Western Australia to acknowledge its share of responsibility for what has been an especially sad chapter in the history of education in Western Australia. The ETAWA's strong advocacy of the English courses is well known. In formal correspondence to the Minister in 2006, the ETAWA indicated that the courses had the support of the profession, and that the opposition to them was only from a tiny minority of teachers who were resistant to change. As the decision of the Jury this week makes clear, the courses do not have the support of the profession. In the context of the publication of the Jury Report this week, we call on the ETAWA to issue a formal statement apologising to the profession for ignoring the professional judgement of the overwhelming majority of classroom English teachers. Unless and until that apology is forthcoming, many of us cannot have confidence in the Association that claims to represent us.

    The publication of the English Jury Report is a major rebuff to supporters of the current English courses. However, the ETFWA is certain that, if all parties move with haste to accept the challenge of destroying the monster that many of us have fought so hard to resist, it also offers real hope for the future.
    
    

    • The ETAWA position
      
      "ETAWA believes that the changes proposed in the recently released jury report seem to be quite positive. However, management of these changes must be carefully timed and measured and must be the result of a transparent consultative process.
      
      "ETAWA will continue to support its members to ensure they provide the best possible English education for students."
      
      
      
      
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • WA minister flies east to poach teachers from other states (page 18)
    by Paul Lampathakas
    
    "WA's teacher shortage has forced Education Minister Mark McGowan to fly east today to poach staff from other states.
    
    "Mr McGowan's unprecedented mission, which may aggravate interstate Labor counterparts, will take him to Victoria and Tasmania to recruit teachers.

    "And I'm going to launch an $80,000 advertising campaign in the eastern states, pointing out the appeal of living in an exciting, booming state, versus living in a cold, dreary depressed place,'' he said yesterday. [The joys of living in the Last Gasp Hotel or a demountable, Minister?  Web]

    "Our private schools are suffering from this (shortage) as well. But public attention has been on public schools, so I'm determined to use every method I can to fix the problem.

    "If that means upsetting fellow interstate Labor ministers, so be it.''

    "This week there were 129 teaching vacancies in WA public schools for the start of term four. [emphasis added]

    "WA has jobs for secondary teachers in maths, science – particularly physics and chemistry – design and technology, home economics, languages other than English, literature and agriculture.

    "Mr McGowan said teachers were in particular demand in regional WA. He said a State Government-approved pay rise announced this week had increased rates for graduate teachers starting in 2008 by $4600.

    "This meant all first-year graduates would earn more than $50,000 a year.

    "This will make WA graduate teachers among the highest paid in the country – earning $3898 more than their Victorian counterparts and $3289 more than Tasmanian graduates,'' he said.

    "If teachers choose to work at selected country and remote schools they can earn up to an additional $19,800 in location allowances, meaning some first year graduates could earn close to $70,000 per year.

    "In addition to our interstate and overseas recruitment efforts, we also need to better reward the existing teaching workforce.

    "We are working on a new enterprise agreement to properly reward classroom teachers doing the toughest jobs.''

    "WA regional teachers would feature in the ad campaign, telling interstate colleagues of their experiences."

    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
    
  • No sex for teachers (page 3)
    by Anthony Deceglie
    
    Invasion of privacy: union
    
    "Catholic schools will impose strict moral standards on new teachers - including abstaining from sex before marriage - despite the teacher drought and claims it is an invasion of privacy.

    "Catholic schools insist all new teachers adhere to a manner-of-life agreement consistent with the church's teaching. Restrictions include not living with a partner before marriage, having pre-marital sex, using condoms or divorcing.

    "Catholic education bosses say recruitment standards will not change, even though WA is in the grip of a teacher shortage.

    "But Independent Education Union of WA secretary Nigel Briggs said the teachers were having their privacy invaded.

    "A 23-year old teacher at a Catholic primary school in Perth's northern suburbs told The Sunday Times she was quizzed about her personal life when she was interviewed for the job.

    "I was asked about my relationship status and my thoughts on marriage," she said.

    "She had not said that she was living with her boyfriend.

    "She feared she could lose her job if her principal found out.

    "WA's Catholic education director Ron Dullard said: "That teacher is quite correct…if her indiscretion came to light she would be given a certain amount of time in which she could regularise her relationship so she could stay in employment otherwise her position would be in jeopardy.

    "There are certain conditions for employment at Catholic schools."

    "Part of these conditions is a manner-of-life agreement. Teachers have to maintain a manner of life which is consistent with church teachings."

    "A number of years ago it came to light that a teacher was living with his partner even though they were not married.

    "It was brought up before school officials during the last term of the school year and the teacher was told he had until the following Easter to regularize his relationship.

    "His choices were to get married, end his relationship or move out and continue the courtship."
    Mr. Briggs said his union was concerned at the practice.

    "The manner of life agreement as a condition of employment doesn't sit well with the union," he said.

    "It becomes particularly uncomfortable to us when you have a teacher who is living a style of life not in line with church teachings, but they are keeping it private. If their lifestyle is discovered they are dealt with as if they are openly breaching their agreement.

    "In my opinion, that is not promoting an alternative lifestyle and it is not impacting on the students. There is room for a more socially progressive condition to be put within the terms of employment at Catholic schools."

    "Mr. Briggs said teachers who had complained of discrimination rarely wanted to pursue the issue because they feared it would hinder future employment prospects.

    "But Mr. Dullard said it would be hypocritical if teachers did not practice what they preached.

    "You couldn't have a teacher employed at a Catholic school leading a pro-abortion march," he said. "They have duty to promote church teachings."

    "Mr. Dullard said teachers who were keen o abide by the manner-of-life agreement would be more likely to get promoted."
    

    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    
    
  • Climate lesson for classroom (page 18)
    by Anthony Deceglie
    
    "WA students will officially study the lessons of climate change.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said a new integrated science course, which includes climate change, would begin in 2009.

    "Meanwhile, there is concern some teachers are telling teachers that climate change is a myth - a view held by some scientists.

    "WA Sustainable Energy Association chairman Ray Wills said: "I am aware of some schools where the teachers are very sceptical. Some teachers I know have told students things like: 'You can't trust the science of climate change.'

    "There is nothing wrong with teaching both sides of the argument, but it must be taught objectively and in full.

    "Adding climate change to the school curriculum would be absolutely beneficial for the community."

    "It makes sense that within the framework of geography that we understand our climate."

    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said climate change could successfully become part of the existing syllabus.

    "The curriculum is too overloaded to create an individual climate-change subject," he said.

    "Making climate change part of school curriculum would help society confront the issue."
    

    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    
    
  • Condom handout to school leavers (page 19)
    by Joe Spagnolo
    
    "More than 1000 free condoms will be distributed to schoolies during celebrations this year.

    "The WA Aids Council will hand out condoms on Rottnest Island and in Dunsborough to protect partying school leavers from sexually transmitted diseases.

    "Figures from the WA Health Department for the first six months of this year show 3551 cases of Chlamydia were reported, nearly 700 more than for the same time last year.

    "Young people under 29 were the worst affected.

    "There were also 853 cases of gonorrhoea reported and 110 cases of syphilis.

    "Rosanna Capolingua, of the Australian Medical Association, said the figures were alarming.

    "The Catholic Church said the condom handout was not a substitute for the best safeguard - chastity.

    "WA Aids Council executive director Trish Landon denied it would encourage sex.

    "We can't put our head in the sand and say, 'Well, if we just say no to young people that's it,'" she said."
    

    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 62)
    
    
    • Education sins

      "Smithy your cartoons, as usual, are spot on, but your great one on September 30 has made a gross error.

      "Where is the Minister for Education and the previous three? To have left them out misses the great sins of the present Labor Government.

      "I'm a teacher of 50 years. The once-great state school system is in a mess.

      "Now, it seems, that when I front up to my senior high school this term, I'm going to be kicked out, fined or some other bureaucratic punishments.

      "I wonder where they will get a teacher to replace me? In my faculty, they already have six relief teachers, two in casual positions."

      B. Seabrook, Roleystone
      
      

    • Teach about trees

      "I was always taught that trees are the key factor in maintaining a balanced environment.

      "Once, when land was prepared for housing, it was compulsory to develop a house plan centred on the flora of the block. Now, housing lots are cleared and all that is seen is white sand, fence tops and tropical trees that are as far from our native plant life as Uranus is from Earth.

      "My children are still in primary school and have very little education of the importance of plant life.

      "Science and environment in the classroom has been replaced with science and technology. Could this be the reason the generation of today is the leading cause of climate change?"

      T. O'Farrell, Ballajura
      
      

    • "I feel David Hickling ("Class action", your voice, September 2) has misjudged the value of computers in education. The point of school is to prepare children for the real world. I use computers on a daily basis and find them a valuable learning tool, far eclipsing their price."
      
      C. Hind, Year 9 student, Ardross
      
      
      

• The Weekend Australian
  
• School for teachers to rethink English
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  [Here we go again: More posters, blogs and soup cans labels under the guise of 'literature'... Web]
  
  "English teachers attending the federal Government's first summer school in the new year will undertake courses on the need for a wider definition of the literary canon than that traditionally taught in schools.

  "The course, aimed at increasing teachers' skills, will address "key debates and questions concerning the place of literary and canonical texts in contemporary curriculum".

  "The academic adviser for the school, Catherine Beavis of Deakin University, said it was taken for granted that literature was an important part of teaching English and the intention was to examine what constituted a literary text.

  "The course will also cover "multi-literacies" and "multi-modal design" to show teachers how to use new media -- such as blogs, online discussion boards and "wiki" sites along the lines of Wikipedia -- to teach English and to teach students how to analyse it critically. [emphasis added]

  "A further aspect focuses on cultural diversity in children's literature, involving picture books and teenage fiction written from different cultural viewpoints.

  "The federal Government announced five summer schools in the May budget in English, literacy and numeracy, Australian history, science and mathematics.

  "The first is to be held in January.

  "Under the program, 1000 teachers from around the nation will apply to attend a residential course with all expenses paid by the federal Government. On completion, the teachers will receive a $5000 bonus.

  "The English summer school will be run by the education faculties of Deakin and Murdoch universities in conjunction with the Australian Association for the Teaching of English. The association has been outspoken about the traditional literary canon, arguing that it is no longer relevant.

  "Education Minister Julie Bishop has criticised the association's approach, and the program for the English summer school seems to run counter to the federal Government's view that English should be based on the teaching of a literary canon rather than analysing television programs and SMS.

  "One of the academics involved in the summer school module on literary and canonical texts is Ray Misson, the director and associate dean of learning and teaching at Melbourne University.

  "Dr Misson, a former chief examiner in senior English in Victoria, lists his research interests as cultural studies and critical literacy and his interests as "the teaching of texts, both literary and non-literary, in schools".

  "He has also written on sexuality issues, particularly in relation to English teaching and the ways in which heterosexism might be countered in English classrooms," the university website says.

  "Ms Bishop said she had final approval over the material to be presented in the summer schools.

  "If the consortium put forward materials with fads, trendy topics and gobbledegook, I will not accept it," she said." [emphasis added]
  
  From The Weekend Australian at link
  
  
  

• Rudd to raise the bar for schools
  by Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent
  
  "Kevin Rudd has attacked the nation's schools as unacceptably patchy in quality, expressing sympathy for parents struggling to find schools that provide a decent education.
  
  "And the Labor leader has promised to impose on schools a level of rigour not yet seen in Australia by linking funding to improved standards rather than handing state governments or private schools "a blank cheque".

  "In an interview with The Weekend Australian yesterday, Mr Rudd also called for four-year fixed electoral terms "entrenched in stone" and said John Howard had created a whole new class of "forgotten people" marooned by his rejection of traditional liberalism.

  "He also posed his alternative to Mr Howard's vision statement, delivered in the 1996 election campaign, that if elected, he wanted Australians to feel "relaxed and comfortable". Mr Rudd said he wanted Australians to be "confident in their kids' future, confident in Australia's future".

  "Mr Rudd made the comments in Sydney after a hectic week of campaigning on public hospital standards and amid increasing tension over when the Prime Minister will name a date for the federal election.

  "Asked whether parents could be confident that any government school would provide an adequate education, Mr Rudd said one of the education system's worst problems was its variability.

  "He said he felt sympathy for parents who faced a "vexed choice" on schooling, admitting he had seen excellence in public and private schools as well as inadequacy.

  "What you'll find us doing increasingly is lifting the bar nationally on performance measures for schools," he said.

  "When we talk about a new national curriculum, let me tell you, its core hallmark when it comes to English, maths, science, history, languages, will be absolute rigour."
  
  "In an indication that the Opposition Leader is likely to take on the powerful teachers' unions if he wins office, Mr Rudd said Labor would negotiate a national curriculum with states and tie funding increases to improvements in educational outcomes. [emphasis added]

  "We are doing kids an absolute disservice by a lack of rigour in schools' curricula, an absolute disservice by not testing them forrigour all the way through," he said.

  "And we are doing an absolute disservice to our kids if we don'thave intervention strategies properly resourced to deal with literacy and numeracy non-performance."

  "A Labor government would deliver to the education system "a rigour that I don't believe any federal government has embraced before".

  "While he agreed he had no magic wand, Mr Rudd said a carrot-and-stick approach would deliver change, with schools measured against tough standards that would be regularly lifted.

  "Unless school performance continues to improve against robust measures of learning outcomes for kids, whether it's in trades or it's in academic subjects or their primary school equivalents, then we are not in the business of signing blank cheques," he said.

  "Mr Rudd is a product of the Queensland state school system and sent his three children to state primary schools and private secondary schools.

  "Having ruled out a return to Labor's 2004 election policy, which included funding cuts affecting a "hit list" of exclusive private schools, Mr Rudd said his ambition was for the standard of Australian public and private schools to be the best in the world..."

  Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
  
  
  
  

• The Sunday Age
  
  
  • Students feel the financial pinch
    by Peter Munro
    
    "The sharp sting of university costs and rising living expenses has taken its toll on the state's campuses as thousands more students find themselves forced to defer study to enter the workforce.

    "Soaring numbers of school leavers are filling gap-year programs to work and holiday abroad or signing up to new paid schemes offered by government groups and the Australian Defence Force. Financial stress has pushed many off campus, particularly in rural and regional areas where less than half return to tertiary study..."
    
    "National Party MP Peter Hall said it was "ludicrous" that many students had to stop studying to take up paid work to qualify for Commonwealth Youth Allowance benefits. Students must first earn at least $18,500 over 18 months to qualify as financially independent and eligible for assistance..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Age at link
    
    
    

• The Age [Saturday]
  
  
  • Australian teachers at risk of losing jobs in Japan
    
    Hundreds of Australian teachers of English in Japan should "start making contingency plans", the Australian Government has warned, as erratic behaviour by language school colossus NOVA fuelled more predictions of an impending collapse.
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Another teacher lost

      "At the age of 40, I finally went back to uni to fulfil my dream of being a teacher. Life circumstances and having children had prevented me doing so earlier. I had experience in a school environment, having worked as an integration aide for 10 years.

      "Having completed my Dip Ed with high distinctions, I went out to find myself employment. After five years of endless casual relieving teacher work, short-term contracts, hundreds of job applications, no stability, no security, often no holiday pay, no respect from students or fellow staff, and five months of unemployment, I was offered a position outside teaching and I took it. I had worked and tried hard. I endured threats of violence from students and parents, and was given very little support on disciplinary matters. All for nothing!

      "I have stability, a job I enjoy and am being creative. I would like be in there teaching what I'd love to teach, but I cannot risk the poverty, instability and constant disappointment again."

      Judith Szalontai, Wendouree

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

This page last updated 13 August, 2008 0:41 AM