Monday 4 February

Tuesday 5 February

Wednesday 6 February

Thursday 7 February

Friday 8 February

Saturday – Sunday, 9 – 10 February

 

Monday 4 February

• ABC News
  
  
  • Government urged to offer teachers significant salary increase
    
    "Students around the state are heading back to the classroom today for the start of first term.

    "There are still more than 79 teacher vacancies around the state and teachers are promising to abandon extra-curricular activities in their battle for better pay and conditions.

    "The Opposition's Education Spokesman, Peter Collier, says thousands of mainly regional students will be learning by correspondence.

    "He says the problems will be exacerbated by the work-to-rule campaign by teachers which could mean excursions and sporting activities are scrapped.

    "Now the government is flush with funds and the minister should offer teachers what they deserve, and that is a significant across-the-board salary increase," he said.

    "The simple fact remains that thousands of students now rely on correspondence, who have never relied on correspondence before, and hundreds of administrators are being forced back into the classroom and literally hundreds and hundreds of classrooms will not be taught by specialist teachers."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Teacher shortage will drop: McGowan
    
    "The Minister for Education, Mark McGowan, says the teacher shortage should drop to 50 by next week.

    "Last week, Mr McGowan announced there were 130 vacancies, but when students headed back to the classroom today the shortage in public schools had dropped to 79 teachers.

    "Mr McGowan says 27 of those positions are also under offer.

    "Mr McGowan says it is a dramatic improvement on last year when state schools were more than 200 teachers short.

    "Obviously what we've done has made a difference, so what we're doing is improving the situation," he said.

    "I can't say its perfect, its not perfect, but its improved a huge amount on where it was at, and we're doing a lot more in the future, and I will continue to do a lot more to improve the situation. No school now is more than three staff down."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Scramble to get full time teachers for high schools (page 12)
    by Beatrice Thomas

    "The Education Department was unable yesterday to guarantee that children taking their first steps into high school would be taught by full-time classroom teachers, with school scrambling to plug holes caused buy the chronic teacher shortage.

    "The department said yesterday that all primary school children would be taught by regular teachers but relief teachers and administrators would be used to make up teacher shortfalls in secondary schools.

    "The full extent of an expected shortage of 134 teachers would also not be known until school started today, although the State Government has said the shortage would be felt in the key secondary subjects of science, English, maths, and society and environment.

    "The department's executive director of metropolitan schools, Allan Blagaich, said yesterday that principals had comprehensive contingency plans to manage any vacancies.

    "They will manage their workforce on a case-by-case basis with assistance from the district office," he said.

    "Mr Blagaich said every class would have a qualified teacher but indicated administrators would be forced to teach if necessary.

    "If public schools do have any teacher vacancies at the start of the school year they can draw on the teaching expertise of senior staff such as deputy principals and relief teachers," he said.

    "State Education Minister Mark McGowan said last week that 144 teachers in desk jobs would return to the classroom today and schools would be encouraged to share teaching resources and employ non-teaching staff to fill positions that did not require a teaching qualification. But when asked yesterday for further details on how classrooms would be affected today, a spokesman for the Minister referred the question to the department.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said it was inevitable class sizes would have to increase in some cases to compensate for teacher shortages.

    "It just puts additional pressure (on teachers), particularly at the beginning of the year when students and staff are being established in the schools," he said.

    "The Government last week indicated that most vacancies were for high school teachers in the Fremantle-Peel, West Coast, Swan and Canning education districts. The Pilbara also had a shortfall of more than 10 teachers. The school with the biggest shortage was Gilmore College in Kwinana, which was down five teachers.

    "The fallout of the teacher shortage came as the teachers' union warned students would miss out on all out-of-school activities indefinitely as a result of its pay dispute.

    "State School Teachers' Union president Anne Gisborne said members had been told to cut all extracurricular programmes, including sport, theatre and excursions, until further notice.

    "Teachers had also been instructed to stop other after-hours work such as class planning, professional development and parent-teacher meetings."

    From The West Australian

    
    

  • WA Principals most stressed in the nation (page 12)
    by Beatrice Thomas

    "Principals in State high schools are significantly more stressed by teachers shortages and heavy workloads than their counterparts across Australia, according to a national survey.

    "The National Joint Secondary Principals' Association survey of 1000 school leaders across the government, Catholic and independent school sectors found WA government high school principals were far more stressed as a result of Government initiatives, prompting the Opposition and the teachers' union to blame countless curriculum changes.

    "The survey, taken late last year, also found the same principals - who made up 80 percent of respondents - came in above the national average for feeling overwhelmed by their workloads and not on top of their jobs.

    "But they were in line with other respondents for liking their job and being in the profession because of the effect they could have on students.

    "Australian Secondary Principals' Association president Andrew Blair said the research showed although school leaders were passionate about their job they were under increasing pressure. "This is saying to systems across the country you've really got to do something to better prepare principals and given them the support they need to get on with work," he said.

    "The sheer quantity of work emerged as the biggest cause of stress across all sectors, while expectations put on teachers by their employer ranked second in WA, followed by pressures as a result of Government initiatives, lack of time to concentrate on important matters and teacher shortages. Industrial disputes ranked 16th.

    "Fifty percent of WA government school principals surveyed said they felt "very strongly' that the stress of their jobs was because of their employer and the same amount said it was because of State Government initiatives. An alarming 46 percent felt they were not on top of their job compared with 30 percent nationally, with more than 60 percent saying they could not maintain their current workload for long.

    "WA Secondary Schools Executive Association president Rob Nairn said stress levels and workload continued to be of concern. Principals were also under extra pressure from outcomes-based-education changes.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier and State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne both said they were not surprised by the findings."

    From The West Australian

    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 23)
    

    • In Short
      
      "The term started for many teachers days ago. One I know has been shifting furniture, scrounging for resources, fixing broken computers and scrubbing with bleach in a classroom with an air conditioner that leaks. I refuse to do this. I am one of the many teachers after 13 years of service who have left due to poor work conditions and an ever-increasing workload. It is a shame to leave as I love teaching, but I am sorry, Mr McGowan, your wage offer from the dark ages doesn't cover my mortgage and at this stage in my career I thought it would."

      Name and address supplied
      
      
      

• The Australian
  
  
  • PM calls on best and brightest
    by Patricia Karvelas and David Uren
    
    "Kevin Rudd has moved to establish an all-encompassing reform plan that will transcend party politics and set the policy agenda for the next decade.

    "The Prime Minister announced yesterday that 1000 of the nation's "best and brightest" would be picked to attend a two-day summit in Canberra to articulate radical solutions to the 10 most pressing problems facing the nation over the next decade.

    "Mr Rudd said he wanted the Australia 2020 summit, to be heldover the weekend of April 19-20, to deliver ambitious proposals across a wide range of areas, including the skills crisis, indigenous disadvantage and national security.

    "Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis will co-chair the summit with Mr Rudd. The 1000 people chosen to take part will be separated into 10 groups of 100 each.

    "Each of the groups will tackle a specific challenge outlined by the Government. These are productivity; infrastructure and the digital economy; population, sustainability and climate change; rural Australia; health; families and communities; the future of indigenous Australia; the arts; the structure of government; and Australia's future in the region and the world..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    

    • Literacy Wars

      "The attack by Ilana Snyder on The Australian and other advocates of educational reform is a predictable reaction by the academic elite that has dominated teacher education for far too long in Australia ("Skills tests put students at odds”, 2-3/2).

      "Now that the ALP dominates government across the nation, people like Dr Snyder can once again look forward to reasserting their ideological stranglehold on the education system, after a brief period when it appeared that common sense and effective teaching practices might prevail.

      "In her book she likens The Australian’s campaign to the cultural heritage model associated with Matthew Arnold at the end of the 19th century, as if this is obviously a bad thing, ignoring, for example, the years that Arnold spent as a school inspector travelling around England observing and listening to schoolchildren and their parents as they gave voice to the hope they had invested in the education system as a way to escape the cycle of poverty to which they would otherwise be condemned.

      "As a result, Arnold came to see education in terms of the high seriousness with which he approached all forms of literature and learning. In contrast, Dr Snyder thinks of education not as an end in itself but merely as a means of social and political change in a direction that she advocates. As Dr Snyder’s book makes clear, the Culture Wars, History Wars and now Literacy Wars are conducted between people who take culture, history, and literacy seriously as having some relation to truth, and other people (like Dr Snyder) who see all these things as simply vehicles through which they can advance their own ideological and political interests irrespective of what children and parents might want."
      
      Mervyn F Bendle, Senior Lecturer in History and Communications, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld
      
      

    • "I agree with Ilana Snyder’s claims that universal skills tests advantage certain groups of students and marginalise others based on the fact that there are differences in cultural and social capital between different socio-economic groups. I approve of her comment that differences in literacy achievement as measured by standardised tests need to be approached with caution.

      "I am appalled that Professor Kevin Wheldall can describe such ideas as barking mad. To me they seem eminently reasonable, lucidly argued and consistent with my experience as a teacher in private, public, single sex, co-educational, primary and secondary schools, teaching a variety of subjects including English. It needs to be remembered that outcomes-based education has now been around for three decades and was introduced as a necessary means of achieving accountability through assessment and measurement of student achievement. It is a tried and true system which has been proven to work.

      "In an opinion piece ("In plain English, a war worth fighting”, Inquirer, 2-3/2), Kevin Donnelly raises the usual suspects of political correctness and elitism as the friends and abettors of Dr Snyder. He criticises Dr Snyder for being one-sided. Surely a contrarian is not going to be an advocate for the other side. He admonishes Dr Snyder for not welcoming public debate led by The Australian. A refutation is a participation in a debate and, presumably, an implicit welcoming of it. To chastise her for ignoring a blatantly political argument by a former government minister is the height of absurdity. She also sorely taxed Donnelly’s patience in ignoring The Australian’s outing of a private school’s teaching of a Shakespeare text in a manner in which it did not approve. What was she supposed to do, applaud the outing?"
      
      Stephen Kershaw, Virginia, Qld
      
      

    • "Can we please move the discussion forward? Once again The Australian takes a particular view on the supposed literacy crisis ("A resistant reading of postmodernism”, Opinion, 2-3/2). Yes, we do need to continually review and reflect on practice but young children’s literacy development is influenced by multiple factors - economic background, nature of the school and community context, use of technology and just sheer opportunity to read. As Professor Allan Luke, a Queensland academic well-known for his literacy work and research, said recently, it’s about balance: just as you wouldn’t feed your child one kind of food continuously, so too do children from different skill levels and backgrounds require different diets. Surely, we have little time to waste in a period of rapid cultural and social change in Australia. It’s time for common sense to prevail on literacy, instead of being bogged down in simplistic debate over phonics - this position leaves educators, parents and children stranded."
      
      Jane Hunter, Balmain, NSW
      
      

    • "In my 25 years in middle management in public service, I have had to teach basic sentence and paragraph construction to a continuing stream of employees, including some who had completed degree level studies in law. To say that their writing skills were horrendous, let alone non-functional, would be an understatement. So much for the much vaunted outcomes-based English curriculum of the last 30 years. Part of the problem is the low entry scores usually applicable to education courses. This encourages mediocre students to get into tertiary studies in teaching when they were, at best, marginal students."
      
      John D Kerr, Albany, WA

      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • Lessons to learn from high achievers
    by Sue Thomson, national project manager for PISA in Australia
    

    "Finland leads the way. Again. According to the latest results from the OECD Program for International Student Assessment, Finnish students are top of the class when it comes to scientific, mathematical and reading comprehension.

    "While the PISA results, released in December, show that Australia also has a world-class education system, we certainly have room for improvement - particularly where underprivileged, remote and indigenous students are concerned.

    "The continuing strong showing by the Finns prompts the question: why can't we be more like Finland? But rather than imitating the education systems of other countries Australia should look to its own classrooms for further improvement.

    "PISA is the largest assessment program of its kind in the world. The most recent round of the assessment, conducted in 2006, evaluated the scientific, reading and mathematical literacy of 400,000 15-year-old students from 57 countries, including 14,000 students from 356 schools across Australia.

    "The assessment provided a wealth of detailed information from which researchers can draw meaningful comparisons about the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to education within and between countries.

    "The most simplistic analysis reduces the results of such a study to a set of international league tables, and much of the discussion following the release of the results touted an apparent slump in the academic standards of Australian students or suggested that Australia should adopt the educational practices of other high-performing countries.

    "Such conclusions are misguided, both because Australia already has an internationally competitive education system and because the strong cultural differences between many countries preclude a cherry-picking approach to schooling.

    "The results of PISA 2006 show that Australia's performance is above the OECD average in scientific, reading and mathematical literacy.

    "Australia's level of equity also compares favourably to other high-performing countries. In Australia the relationship between a student's socioeconomic background and academic achievement is weaker than the OECD average, meaning that Australia is considered to be a "high quality-high equity" country.

    "However, Australia has a larger-than-average gap between the performances of the highest and lowest-achieving students, although by international standards we do not have an unusually long tail of underachievement. The percentage of Australian students falling below the base level of proficiency set by the OECD is similar to that of other high-achieving countries.

    "In scientific literacy we rank equal-fourth in the world, significantly outperformed only by Finland, Hong Kong/China and Canada. In reading literacy we rank equal-sixth, and in mathematical literacy equal-ninth.

    "Although in 2003, Australia ranked equal-fifth, third and eighth, it should be noted that a change in rank does not necessarily equate to an improvement, or decline, in student performance.

    "Closer analysis of the results indicates that Australia has high standards of education - but that while we are maintaining stable levels of academic achievement, some other countries are improving at a faster rate.

    "Should Australian education authorities send delegations to Helsinki to learn how it's done? Identifying the characteristics of better-performing countries provides one avenue to strengthen our system.

    "While this may provide some insights, there are often cultural factors that cloud the interpretation of such characteristics.

    "Some educational commentators have called for Australia to adopt, for example, competitive external examinations and streaming; however, if we examine the PISA results for a country such as Germany, which has a highly tracked system of schooling and a high-stakes exit examination, we find that Australia significantly outperforms it in mathematics, reading and science.

    "Germany also has one of the widest gaps in scores between highest and lowest-performing students in reading literacy in the OECD and it's considered "high quality" but "low equity" in science. Finland is one of the highest-achieving countries in every area in each PISA assessment, and has a schooling system not dissimilar to Australia's.

    "Australia may have lessons to learn from Finland's investment in comprehensive public education, which aims to give everyone an equal educational foundation and includes a comprehensive preschool system. In contrast, PISA found that Australia performed significantly better than would be expected from its government funding per student.

    "While international comparisons put Australia's performance in the big picture, perhaps the most important differences PISA highlights are those between schools within our own country.

    "Australia performed very well in PISA. These high levels of achievement are, however, a picture of the average - there are areas of real inequity in our education system.

    "Australia's lowest-performing students are most likely to come from indigenous communities, geographically remote areas and poor socioeconomic backgrounds. About 40% of indigenous students, 23% of students from the lowest category of socioeconomic status, and 27% of students from remote schools are not meeting a proficiency level in science that the OECD deems necessary to participate fully in a 21st-century workforce and society. Of course, these too are averages. There are schools catering to students from remote, indigenous and low socioeconomic backgrounds that do perform well - and these examples provide the key to improvement across the entire education system.

    "Providing high-quality education and resources to these students is the surest way to raise the achievement level of indigenous, remote and poor students.

    "The recent PISA results have confirmed that Australia already has a world-class education system - for most students - but that we have much work to do to address issues of inequity and ensure access to quality education for all students. Then we may be even more like Finland.

    "Dr Sue Thomson is the national project manager for PISA in Australia, co-author of the PISA Australian National Report with Lisa De Bortoli and a principal research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research."

    From The Age at link
    
    
    
    
  • Push for trial of merit pay
    by Caroline Milburn
    

    The Government is being urged to collect evidence on whether higher pay leads to better teachers, writes Caroline Milburn.

    "The Rudd Government has been urged to trial merit pay schemes for teachers this year to break the policy deadlock on the issue.

    "Andrew Leigh, an economist at the Australian National University, says Education Minister Julia Gillard should seize the initiative and run merit pay trials to gather evidence on what works best and whether a scheme should be introduced nationally..."

    Full story in The Age at link
    
    
    

  • Principals turn to booze to cope: report
    by Farrah Tomazin
    

    "School principals are increasingly turning to alcohol to cope with the stress of their jobs, and most believe their families are suffering because of their lack of time and energy away from work.

    "A survey of almost 1100 public and private schools has found that many principals feel overwhelmed by their workload and almost half feel they will not be able to cope with the demands for much longer.

    "Experts warn that unless governments give schools more support, fewer teachers may aspire to become principals, compounding nationwide shortages..."

    Full story in The Age at link
    
    

    • One teacher's lesson on the right balance
      

      As the principal of 1200 students at Cheltenham Secondary College, Peter Corkill knows only too well how tough it is being the boss of a school.
      
      
      

  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • "Our society needs to support the teachers who have done their job with outstanding dedication – even for low pay.

      "The Age has devoted extensive coverage to teacher pay rates, with little attention to other conditions. Among the many teachers I know, the ley issues centre on the lack of respect, meritocratic recognition and value that is simply sealed by low pay and contract employment.

      "Society trains teachers at university for four or more years only to slot them into the bottom rung of a leaden bureaucracy where, irrespective of their enthusiasm and potential, they can remain until they are burnt out, rust out, or are forced out by broken-down health. Meanwhile, the management of teachers, the elephant in the corner of every classroom, is sidestepped by education commentators as if teaching occurs in a vacuum.

      "Why would intelligent, creative professionals enter teaching knowing they will be involuntarily shaped to fit a rigid bureaucracy, apparently more occupied with statistical outcomes than the learning needs of fertile, creative minds – and knowing that, as teachers, they may not be supported to grow to their own potential?

      "No matter how high their IQs or ENTER scores, or how well they are trained, teachers can only be as good as they are allowed to be. Teachers are acutely dependent on objective professional appraisal systems that support best practice, reward excellence in teaching skill, and which are scrupulously fair, and free of the ravages of the tall poppy syndrome and the debilitating ills of cronyism.

      "Under the banner of accountability, teachers spend countless hours every week filling in forms and keeping copious records. In the values of a rampant bureaucracy, paperwork incongruously trumps what happens in the classroom.

      "In contrast, there is little apparent accountability for the way teachers are managed. Rigid management by high-salaried bureaucrats has failed. In this most human of professions, conditions and real achievements are not just about pay, but about people, families, communities; about valuing teaching and learning; about caring; about respect and being valued as an educator. Therein lies the root cause of the troubles with teaching that distant commentators fail to see.
      
      "It is said that you pay a teacher to teach, but you can’t pay a teacher to care. Yes, teachers’ pay needs to go up, but our society also needs to support the teachers who are competent and who care, and who have done their job with outstanding dedication – even for low pay."

      Barbara Chapman, Hawthorn
      
      
      

  • Britons flunk history test
    

    Britons are losing a grip on fact and fiction — with nearly one in four believing Winston Churchill and Florence Nightingale are myths, while over half think Sherlock Holmes actually existed.

Tuesday 5 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Twomey report a blueprint for solving woes among teachers (page 20)

    "The State Government says the shortage of teachers when school returned yesterday was less than expected. On the other hand, the State School Teachers Union says that WA schools are 300 teachers short. Somewhere between the two figures lie both the truth and the future of education for WA's children.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan engaged in some creative accounting last week when he said that last year's shortfall had been reduced. In fact, he had inflated teaching numbers for this year by drafting teachers from their desk jobs, a ploy which did him no credit and which explains the weary cynicism which greets the self-serving claims from this State Government.

    "It is no secret that it is difficult to find teachers and it is no secret either that attempts to boost numbers have not, for a variety of reasons not necessarily of the Government's making, been successful. The public would be more sympathetic to a minister who was honest about the situation than one who misleads by trying to gild the lily.

    "The 2008 school year has begun in much the same disarray as did 2007 with a shortage of teachers, disquiet over outcomes-based education courses and threats of escalating industrial action during negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

    "Teachers will not be encouraged by Mr McGowan's refusal to release a Government-commissioned report into the teacher shortage which he has had for more than six weeks.

    "The report, by former Curtin University vice-chancellor Lance Twomey, is the result of 15 forums and 270 submissions.

    "It is expected to recommend higher pay, better housing and more classroom assistance be offered to teachers as a way of encouraging more to join the profession.

    "Professor Twomey said last year that teachers were forced to waste too much time on tasks which could have been done by support staff. He agreed that teachers were too often asked to be surrogate parents and faced problems from disruptive students.

    "A cynical explanation for Mr McGowan's failure to release the report is that he doesn't want it to be used by the SSTU in its negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

    "By not releasing the report, Mr McGowan is standing in the way of change. Again, he should be upfront in examining whatever recommendations the report makes and using them as the basis for a genuine attempt at improvement. It is the only possible chance of making the profession more attractive. Having commissioned the report, presumably to provide a framework for change, there is no sense in the Government sitting on it.

    "There are predictions that the teacher shortage in WA by 2012 could reach 3000. Clearly a shortage on this scale will only be reduced by listening to teachers about what is wrong with their profession and identifying ways to make lasting improvements. Better pay remains one of the key concerns among teachers.

    "The Twomey report should be regarded as the catalyst needed to reassess the teaching profession and identify and address problems which are so serious that fewer people are considering teaching as a career. As the minister responsible, Mr McGowan must ensure the report's speedy release."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Year 12s not guaranteed best teachers (page 17)
    
    "The Education Department was yesterday not able to guarantee that Year 12 students facing their TEE would not be taught by relief teachers while the State Government struggled to fill the teacher shortage.
    
    "The State School Teachers Union warned some students were at risk of receiving a substandard start to the school year after it was revealed WA's schools were still short of 79 teachers on the first day of the school year, despite the State Government ordering 144 bureaucrats with teaching qualifications back to the classroom..."
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In Short

      "To anyone considering a career in teaching - don't do it. I am a teacher with no job: yes, no job. I am highly trained but have no appointment for 2008.

      "Not only is the pay no good, but the hours are long, which impact on family, but the worst thing is there is no guarantee of employment.

      "I am trying to raise a family and keep a home. I can't do it teaching. We are so many teachers short, but there are still teachers who do not have a job. I don't understand.

      "So don't waste four years to end up with no job and a DECS bill. Think very carefully and look at all the options.

      "Warehousing is looking good."

      Sharon Harring, Ballajura
      
      
      

• ABC News
  
  
  • Call for regions to get specialist centres for violent students
    
    "The State School Teachers Union of Western Australia has renewed calls for specialist centres for violent students to be placed in key regional towns.

    "Last year, the union called for the State Government to address the issue after complaints were made by Busselton Senior High School, in the south-west, about teacher abuse.

    "The union's David Kelly says if trials of the program in Perth and Kalgoorlie prove successful, there should be no reason for it not to be expanded.

    "If these centres prove successful and I'd expect they would start to show some great opportunity, it is absolutely essential that particularly major centres such as the Busselton-Bunbury area and other regional areas must indeed get these centres to ensure that they have that support to other regions," he said.

    "A spokeswoman for Education Minister Mark McGowan says the issue will be assessed once the outcome of the trials have been completed."

    From ABC News at link

• The Australian
  
  
  • Union to fight hiring of teachers
    
    Public schools in NSW will be free to hire their own teachers under changes announced yesterday, but the union has threatened to fight the move... Selection panels for the vacancies will comprise the principal, a teacher nominated by staff and representatives from the wider school community, such as the P&C.
    
    Similar article in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sydney Daily Telegraph
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    A fraternity built on oversensitivity
    by Luke Slattery
    

    "In mid 2005 I wrote a series of articles for The Australian on critical literacy in schools. No more than five pieces all told. Alas, I have been made to pay for them.

    "I should have known something was wrong during the first week of the ensuing controversy. My sister, a diploma of education student at the time, was present when a lecturer - an avatar of critical literacy - brandished one of my articles before leading his class in a chorus of denunciation. Out of filial loyalty she offered up some contrary remarks; but she was a lone voice at church that day as the preacher held forth.

    "I relate this tale because it reveals some unhealthy traits of the teaching profession, especially within the tight fraternity of English teachers. These have implications, I believe, for the debate about literacy education reprised by Ilana Snyder's new book, The Literacy Wars.

    "A kind of evangelical fervour is afoot within the profession, along with an extreme sensitivity to criticism (usually portrayed as a conspiratorial "attack"), a profound sense of grievance, and a bad case of group-think. The latter discourages self-criticism, and manifests itself in an abiding need to affirm the group's moral authority.

    "These qualities, present in Snyder's jeremiad, also radiate from the cover of the journal Idiom published recently by the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. Titled Advocacy Matters, it is illustrated with a pastiche of 1960s protest art: a black woman with an afro clenches her fist; a white dude with a tie seems to be shouting her down.

    "The subtitles read: "Advocacy is a way of reaffirming ourselves. Keep our knowledge alive among ourselves. VATE's advocacy role is a long-term project. We need to be ready for a time to come when people are prepared to listen to teachers." The first article is titled "An anatomy of the attacks on Australian education", which are described as a "discourse of derision" undertaken by "conservative critics who yearn for the safety and security of times past".

    "Snyder's book is of a piece with this approach. I have never maintained an allegiance to conservative politics - quite the opposite - but I am trad-

    "uced there as a conservative for daring to criticise trends in literacy education. God help the students who dare to be different under Snyder's regime.

    "If a traditional approach to literacy were a marker of political conservatism, with all that entails, it would not be the favoured approach across left-leaning continental Europe.

    "In fact it's the school of critical literacy, largely an Australian enthusiasm, that has no purchase there. Europe is resolutely conservative in its approach to literacy. Students study important books, learn to analyse, criticise and mount arguments, and are not taxed with tendentious post-structuralist jargon. But it doesn't make them conservative.

    "If critical literacy were simply a tool for textual engagement there would be no criticism of it. In fact it is a faddish pedagogy cobbled together from a grab-bag of post-'60s theories - a touch of Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed; a tincture of Michel Foucault; a nod to Jacques Derrida - with emancipatory ambitions. It is a form of pedagogical resistance to the structures of oppression: race, class and gender.

    "As one of the contributors to Advocacy Matters concedes, her "deep" interaction with Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men invariably involved an examination of the "power structures at play in the novella". She goes on: "How you can complete a thoughtful study of this text without examining notions of class, gender and ethnicity is beyond me."

    "Unlike some critics of the new literacy, I wouldn't want to deny students an engagement with these notions; but I don't believe we should build an approach to literacy around an ideology of textual resistance that easily descends to cliche and is, moreover, unresponsive to any kind of hermeneutics not fed by these socio-political energies. It is not, simply put, a pluralistic environment.

    "Critical literacy is heavily influenced by post-1968 baby-boomer theorists variously described as poststructuralist, or postmodernist; their influence is deep-grained in the language with which critical literacy explains itself. This is an entirely uncontroversial proposition. It's a given. Equally uncontroversial is the following point: the authority of post-structuralism/postmodernism is vigorously contested. Its many distinguished critics range right across the Anglo-American intelligentsia, from left to right. They include philosophers John Searle, Simon Blackburn, Daniel Dennett and Martha Nussbaum; Left academics Noam Chomsky and Terry Eagleton; literary critics Frederick Crews and Frank Kermode. Any advocate of critical literacy, no matter how rabid, is going to have to give me these points.

    "So how is it that an approach to literacy deeply indebted to a set of problematic - some say corrosive, others fraudulent - critical theories was introduced into schools without public discussion? And why is it that Australian English teachers and their representatives persist in portraying any attempt to provoke debate on this issue as a right-wing assault on the English curriculum?

    "One reason for the lack of resistance within the profession is that teachers themselves are not generally equipped with the kind of literacy - or simply the knowledge - to prompt searching questions of critical theory. Nor, it seems to me, were they taught these pedagogies in a vigorously questioning intellectual environment.

    "They imbibed the ideas of Foucault and Derrida as if they were glamorous sages who had revealed or "shown" - a word Snyder also uses in her exposition of these theorists - when they were merely thinkers who had hypothesised.

    "The subject we call English has always had an emancipatory edge. It has the potential to induct young minds into an intense world of sensibility; to what the literary critic Randall Jarrell called the "attention, submission and astonished awe that real art always requires of us". Deepening this is the collective aim of cultural literacy, which stresses shared knowledge.

    "With critical literacy, it seems to me, we see a shift in the pedagogical aim. Literacy loses its high-end individualist aspirations and its emphasis on cultural knowledge. It entails attention and submission to the mantras of race, class and gender, and a view of all textual performances as encoded power. This might be a good way to transmit received dogma and to foster right thinking, but it is no way to develop critical intelligence."

    Luke Slattery is an honorary associate of Sydney University's School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry.

    From the Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Teachers must see phonics as a valuable classroom tool

      "Ilana Snyder and her ilk should be held to account ("Skills tests put students at odds’’, 2-3/2). Visiting my primary school-age granddaughter in Melbourne last year, I was appalled at how badly she was reading, stumbling over the simplest of words.

      "Visiting the school, I learned from the teacher that phonics played no role in the classroom.

      "With my urging, my daughter arranged for an independent assessment and began a course of reading exercises using phonics. My granddaughter has now moved from the bottom of the reading class to the upper level and has regained her confidence in the whole learning process.

      "Even if only a minority of children need phonics it’s important that the theories of educators such as Snyder are ignored and that teachers return to using phonics as a valuable tool for introducing children to the joys of reading that will stay with them for a lifetime."

      Ian Green, Winthrop, WA
      
      
      
    • "Educational ideologues are irrepressible. The unedifying spectacle of Kevin Wheldall and Ken Wiltshire impugning the reputation and motives of Ilana Snyder shows how far we remain from balanced educational discussion. Wheldall dismisses Snyder’s views as “barking mad’’. Wiltshire describes her motives as “sinister’’. Neither appears fond of the democratic ideal of openness to difference and the Enlightenment’s pursuit of critical inquiry.

      "The attacks on Snyder deny the indisputable. Her argument that literacy is hard to define reflects how definitions of this word have evolved over the last century from simply being able to make your “mark’’. Bookshops now have titles about emotional, financial, computer and even kitchen “literacies’’. Wheldall claims only intensive phonics will improve the reading outcomes of disadvantaged students, and appears to suggest that the 90 per cent of Year 3 students who achieve national literacy benchmarks do so solely because of their home background. What a gross insult to the nation’s teachers."

      Mark Howie, President, Australian Association for theTeaching of English, Kensington Gardens, SA
      
      
      

    • "Even as a tertiary-educated adult, I’m sure I’m not the only baffled by the edubabble that passes as opinion and argument in the so-called “literacy wars’’.

      "Having read your editorial ("A resistant reading of postmodernism’’, 2-3/2), and Kevin Donnelly’s column ("In plain English, a war worth fighting’’, Inquirer, 2-3/2) on Ilana Snyder’s book The Literacy Wars, it seems to me that just about every parent in Australia wants their children to learn basic English and maths via a structured curriculum, whereas Snyder believes in the theory that children learn to read and do maths through an osmosis-like process. Does that sum it up?"

      John McLeod, Sunshine Coast, Qld
      
      
      
    
    
  • Education ahead of tourism in export revenue
    
    Education has replaced tourism as Australia's biggest services export and become the country's third top export overall, increasing by 21 per cent in 2007 to $12.5 billion.
    
    
  
  
  • Curtin ranked in distance MBA top 10
    

    Curtin University of Technology is the only Australian outfit to feature in the first ranking of distance MBA programs by the Economist magazine.
    
    
    

• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Irate teachers plan strike over school staffing overhaul
    
    The State Government faces a statewide teachers' strike over plans to allow schools to advertise vacant positions and choose the best available candidate.
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Teaching is a calling more than a vocation
    by Christopher Bantick
    

    "Teaching has never been about the money. Perhaps it's a good thing that students who might have been considering a career in teaching but thought about the money first did not make the mistake of entering the classroom. This year, applications for teaching degrees in Victoria are down by 6.8 per cent. The question is why?

    "The decline in teaching candidates, experts have suggested, is due to pay. To view teaching in dollar terms reveals a narrow focus.

    "Do you think I'm overstating the case?

    "Then consider the recent flurry of books on teaching, not least the inspirational, Teachers Who Change Lives, by Andrew Metcalf and Ann Game (Melbourne University Publishing) and School Days, Edited by John Kinsella, (Fremantle Arts Centre Press), that have shared a common thread.

    "This is that truly great, imaginative and original teachers, have taken to the classroom knowing it was not the best paid job. Last month The Times Education Supplement's First Appointments magazine, included this paragraph in its "Welcome to teaching" editorial:

    "Teaching is unique in the way it can change children and young people for the better for ever. It's not always the easiest of professions, but the best ones never are. It can be, however, one of the most exhilarating ways of earning a living on the planet."

    "Should remuneration be a factor in becoming a teacher? Hardly. And money does not make an exemplary teacher either. So what does? The children in front of a teacher are not concerned how much or how little Mr of Ms earns. What they want is to be taken seriously as individuals, and to be excited and challenged by ideas. Learning new stuff is a powerful intoxicant. If teachers forget this, or are distracted by money issues, they may as well resign.

    "This is what is apparent in another new book, It's Your Time You're Wasting: A Teacher's Tales of Classroom Hell, by one Frank Chalk. (Random House). Yes, Chalk is a nom de plume.

    "The book is one of the most dismal, morale deadening, defeatist and utterly miserable accounts of teaching you are likely to encounter. While Chalk says that the school he cites and his real identity are fictitious, his book reflects the life of a loser who should never have entered the classroom. Try this for starters:

    "On student performance Chalk says of the students of St Jude's, his fictional school:

    "In a school like ours, you have to drop your standards and then lower them some more until they are practically underground; the only alternative is insanity."

    "Then on classroom management he says this:

    "One day, perhaps, those at the top will admit that there is a behaviour crisis in our schools; until then, the pleasure of using nunchucks to bring Wayne and Darren into line will be denied me, I'm afraid."

    "He maintains his bleak tone when referring to the Senior Management Team, (SMT)

    "The best thing the SMT could do (apart form commit mass harakiri in the playground) would be for each of them to pin a simple notice on their door saying: 'The Buck Stops Here'." No, Frank, it stops with you.

    "Teaching is a calling. It is not a profession that you train for much as you learn how to train a dog. It is a job that many feel driven to do and one that can be edifying and, as the voices in Teachers Who Change Lives attest, deeply satisfying. The enduring, memorable pedagogues - those who have changed your life just a little bit - take risks.

    "Great teachers, those who have the X factor, are not beholden to the conventions of the classroom. They do not have to power dress or slog away at higher degrees to shinny up promotion's slippery pole. They instruct but they also touch hearts and minds while leading children to believe they can see things and go places they've never experienced before.

    "The problem is that increasingly schools no longer want risk taking, unconventional, boat-rocking teachers. No smooth talking professional development guru will endorse the unconventional. None will say that teaching's a calling for fear of giving up their seat on the PD gravy train.

    "To those who are in the classroom, try something unconventional. Shock the students out of their torpor and find your greatness. Be passionate, creative. Yes, take risks and live out your calling."

    Christopher Bantick is a Melbourne writer and education commentator.

    From the Age at link

Wednesday 6 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • No end to State school exodus (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "A record one in three WA children went to a private school last year as WA parents continued to desert the public school system in droves.

    "Preliminary data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that the number of children attending WA State schools dwindled by more than 150 students between 2004 and 2007, while the number at private schools swelled by more than 8000.

    "The figures show that 229,611, or 66.7 per cent of WA children, were at State schools last year, compared with 114,977, or 33.3 per cent , at private schools. In 2004, 229,766 WA students, or 68.4 per cent, attended State schools and 106,300, or 31.6 per cent, went to private schools.

    "WA private school enrolments have leapt by 40 per cent since 1996, compared with an increase of just 2 per cent for State schools. In that year, 73 per cent of WA children attended public schools.

    "Education Department metropolitan schools executive director Allan Blagaich said most parents chose a public school for their child because they offered an excellent standard of education across the breadth of the State.

    "Independent and Catholic schools chiefs said the rate of growth in private school enrolments was slowing after a big increase in the 1990s.

    "Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said figures for Catholic schools had gone up one per cent, compared with 3 per cent growth in the previous years.

    "He said that over the past decade the previous Federal Government had loosened requirements for the establishment of new schools, which had resulted in a flood of students abandoning public schools to take up private places.

    "There was a big exodus over that time," he said. "I think it now has probably stabilised."

    "Association of Independent Schools of WA executive director Audrey Jackson said many low-fee private school had opened in new suburbs with young families.

    "While those new schools would continue to grow over the next few years, the number of places available would eventually level off.

    "She said factors that attracted parents to private schools included their emphasis on a religious faith, access to excellent sporting or arts facilities or the foreign languages offered.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said the main reason many parents chose to pay for a private education for their children was that public schools struggled to manage disruptive and abusive students.

    "The State School Teachers Union said the trend away from State schools was a symptom of public education's consistent under-funding by successive State and Federal governments."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (pages 22-23)
    

    • In Short

      "Yes, the Minister must release the Twomey Report on the teacher shortage. It should be informing the negotiations between the Education Department and SSTUWA.

      "The teacher shortage is a real issue which will increase of the next few years. Government and the Minister have an obligation to provide a curriculum guarantee for our children, for their future and that of the community. Qualified teachers are essential for that guarantee.

      "Appropriate salary increases, adequate planning and preparation time and reduced class sizes are some measure which, if promptly delivered, will assist in resolving the teacher shortage. The answers are there, Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Education and Training. Our children deserve a quality education delivered by qualified teachers. Act now!"

      Anne Gisborne, president, State School Teachers' Union of WA
      
      

    • Left in limbo

      "We have heard so much about a teacher shortage but it obviously does not apply to primary schools.

      "My son recently finished a year teaching in a remote country school. The new school year has started and he has not received a new position. He has spent the past seven weeks camping out at a friend's house with all his furniture and worldly goods in storage.

      "The Education Department has not called him, so now he ahs to look for another job and somewhere to live. They didn't even say sorry. They just left him in limbo."

      Name and address supplied
      
      

    • Please explain

      "When I did my first teaching job at Safety Bay High School, the first day of the year, 1984, was a really hot day. One student vomited in the class as soon as he entered the room and others suffered from the heat as well as me. It was a nightmare of a day and all that first week for everyone in the school.

      "Now, 24 years later, children are going to school in the hottest summer for 16 years and there is still no air-conditioning and most State schools. Everyone will also be leaving school in the heat of the day thanks to daylight saving.

      "How can we expect kids to work in such heat when politicians and all those in their multi-storey air-conditioned office blocks have the comfort denied our children?

      "So much for the big boom in WA. Our children have to suffer such terrible conditions in their schools because they don't have a vote and are last on the list of improved working condition in their workplace. No wonder teachers are leaving to work in an air-conditioned workplace with better working conditions and the education department offers its workers.

      "It's time all the unions got together and demanded air-conditioning in all State schools. No one else will speak up for students. Politicians don't care- they are too busy supporting their corporate mates who all work in air-conditioned buildings"

      Mary Jenkins, Spearwood

    
    

• Peter Collier Media Statement
  
  
  • More Questions than Answers on the Teacher Shortage [from 23 Jan]

    There is no sound reason why Western Australia’s Education Minister cannot reveal the true extent of the teacher shortage less than two weeks before the school year resumes.

    Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier said the Carpenter Government had labeled the State School Teachers’ Union claims that WA would be 600 teachers short this year as ‘scaremongering’ and ‘wildly volatile’. He said that the Minister could quite easily refute this claim if he were to release the actual number.

    Mr Collier said the Minister’s dragging of his feet on the teachers’ enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) would also impact on the teacher numbers.

    He added that the Department of Education and Training (DET) was seriously deficient if it could not provide the Minister with accurate figures, as all teacher leave had been granted five months ago.

    “A handful of last-minute resignations may alter the number of available teachers and this is the only factor that could prevent the DET providing the Minister with a fairly accurate estimate,” Mr Collier said.

    “The department must know how many teachers they have available and how many teachers they need to begin the school year on February 4.

    “So either the Minister is not telling the truth or the department is incompetent.”

    Mr Collier also said the Carpenter Government’s education priorities had been put into question with its refusal to resolve the teachers EBA claim.

    “The government is flush with funds and is quibbling about a salary increase for the state’s underpaid teachers,” he said.

    “Teachers legitimately feel undervalued and their numbers will inevitably shorten unless this government makes some bold decisions in regard to the profession.

    “The Minister’s failure to resolve this issue is inconceivable. We will be commencing the 2008 school year in exactly the same vein as last year, with a crisis in teacher numbers.

    “There must be an across-the-board salary increase, not just for new graduates and so-called ‘elite teachers’.”

    Mr Collier said the Twomey taskforce report, due out five weeks ago, would more than likely only show what three previous education reports had done.

    “The Carpenter Government would not reveal the cost of this report when I asked the Minister in the final week of State Parliament last year, and now won’t reveal its contents,” he said.

    “The Twomey report will probably tell us exactly what three previous reports have done: that teachers need more pay, better career opportunities and a more harmonious relationship with the DET.

    “The taskforce was announced last February as a purely cosmetic tactic and will undoubtedly reveal nothing new. Quite frankly, the money spent on the whole exercise would have been better placed in the pockets of our struggling teachers.”
    
    Media Contact: Peter Collier – 0414-595-572
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
• Plan sabotages teacher supply, union warns
  by Gerard Noonan
  
  "The ability of principals of easy-to-staff public schools to select their own teachers would reduce the capacity of hundreds of disadvantaged schools in country areas and poorer city suburbs to attract and retain qualified teachers, the NSW Teachers Federation says.

  "The union, which represents more than 60,000 teachers in the state education system, hit back yesterday at the Government's plans to change the way schools are staffed. It has not ruled out industrial action over the issue.

  "The plan will allow principals to hire qualified teachers for a staffing vacancy at their school. Until now the NSW Department of Education mainly determined where teachers were posted, and offered incentives to ensure that schools, particularly in far-western NSW and areas of social unrest, were properly staffed.

  "Generally, the incentive was to get priority in choosing a transfer to a school nearer to Sydney or the coast after spending some years in a more remote location. The union's senior vice-president, Gary Zadkovich, said the existing system was based on decades of practical experience in classrooms.

  "Under current arrangements we have stability and security at a time of teacher shortages in other states and overseas," he said.

  "Transfers maintain the supply lines to all schools, especially those that cannot compete evenly with schools in preferred locations on the coast. After a specified period of time a teacher's service in these harder-to-staff schools is recognised and rewarded through a transfer."

  "Yesterday the Minister for Education, John Della Bosca, said no teacher's right of employment would be removed by the change.

  "The school transfer system will stay in place for schools that choose to use it," he said. "All of the evidence is that harder to staff areas will also be recipient of new, young, enthusiastic teachers."

  "The change would also allow principals to appoint a casual teacher to work permanently at the school where they were teaching and not be obliged to take part in the transfer system.

  "'The current system locks them out of any opportunity to even be considered for the job," Mr Della Bosca said.

  "The teachers' federation pointed to the commitment on staffing arrangements by the previous education minister Carmel Tebutt during last year's state election campaign, which she said were her proudest achievement as minister and warned that it would be destroyed by the Opposition.

  "The NSW Government takes responsibility for making sure that every school in NSW is staffed with experienced teachers, and we will continue to do so," she said at the time.

  "They [the Opposition] believe in an unfettered market, and the result will be chaos. Schools in favourable locations, in cities and along the coast, will take their pick of applicants. Schools in less favoured locations will be forced to accept what they can."

  From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
  
  
  
  
• The Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    The crucial revolution
    by Ross Gittins
    

    "Is it possible we've elected a politician who intends to keep his promises? In convening his 2020 summit, Kevin Rudd says he is open to suggestions about policies the Government could pursue after 2009. Before then, however, he won't be walking away from any of his pre-election commitments.

    "And that's lovely. A return to higher standards of political honesty would be great. But what matters more: keeping your promises come what may or doing what's best for the country?

    "The two don't always coincide — especially when, in your desperation to win office, you sidestepped much controversy by saying "me too" to a lot of policies that weren't as sensible as they should have been.

    "The obvious example is Rudd's post-election plan to use a bigger budget surplus to help restrain the economy and diminish inflation pressure, thus reducing the need for further rises in interest rates. To this end the Government is scouring the woods in search of spending programs to cut.

    "But the search wouldn't be necessary had Rudd not foolishly committed himself to big tax cuts in each of his next three budgets. Doggedly sticking to that promise will mean his budget is busy boosting demand with one hand while it seeks to restrain demand with the other.

    "Then there are the contradictions Rudd has created by promising an Education Revolution while also promising to set in stone the Howard government's formula for grants to non-government schools.

    "In a report published last week by the respected and independent Australian Council for Educational Research, Andrew Dowling concludes that Australia's system of funding schools is crying out for reform.

    "He quotes from a wide range of education commentators saying the system contains "considerable deficiencies" and "quite remarkable difficulties" that make it "very frustrating", "unsatisfactory", "deficient", a "failure", "exceedingly complicated", "inequitable and inefficient", "irrational" and "unhelpfully complex and exceedingly opaque".

    "Australia's $30 billion-a-year system of funding schools is fragmented by level of government (state or federal), type of school (government or non-government), location (differences between states), accounting approach (cash or accrual) and even time period (financial or calendar year). As a result, the system is a black box to many education experts and a closed book to the public.

    "More than three-quarters of the public funds going to schools come from state governments, leaving less than a quarter coming from the feds. But whereas the states provide more than 90% of the public money going to government schools, the Commonwealth provides almost three-quarters of the public money going to non-government schools.

    "Though the feds give grants to both government and non-government schools, and have long given proportionately more to the non-government sector, the bias in favour of private schools increased considerably under the Howard government.

    "In 1996, non-government schools got about $3.50 per student for each $1 per student going to government schools. By now the ratio has blown out to almost $5 per student. (Note that because these figures are per student, they can't be explained by the drift of students to private schools.)

    "While the present funding arrangements are deficient at state as well as federal level, it is clear from the report that the feds' non-government school funding formula — which the Howard government introduced in 2001 — lies at the heart of the overall system's inefficiency and inequity.

    "Under this "socio-economic status" formula, non-government schools (but not government schools) are given grants based on the average recurrent cost per student of government schools.

    "What proportion of this annual cost per student — about $9000 per secondary school student — a particular non-government school receives is determined (in principle, at least) by the school's socio-economic status. This status is determined by the combined average socio-economic status of the communities in which each student's home is situated.

    "There are at least four problems with this formula. First, only half the nation's 2600 non-government schools get the sum determined by it. The other half get more than they should so that they don't suffer the drop in funds the switch to the new formula in 2001 would have brought about. There were winners, but no losers.

    "Second, annual grants are increased in line with the rise in the average recurrent cost of a government school student. But this means grants increase at a faster rate than non-government school average costs are rising. Why? Because the drift of students to private schools causes government schools to lose economies of scale.

    "And also because the students who switch tend to be low-cost students, whereas those that stay tend to be high-cost — the poor, the indigenous, the disabled and those with behaviour problems.

    "Third, the formula doesn't measure need and ignores a school's capacity to generate its own income through school fees, investments, donations and fund-raising.

    "Fourth, the socio-economic status of the community from which a student comes may not reflect that student's own socio-economic status. You'd expect it to be quite common for the families of students who go to private schools to be among the better off in their community.

    "Professor Barry McGaw recently described this phenomenon as "relatively advantaged students from disadvantaged communities carrying with them to a non-government school a government voucher based on the students they leave behind in their communities".

    "So that is the inefficient and inequitable formula the reforming Rudd Government has promised to leave untouched for at least three years. Is it really a virtue to keep promises you should never have given?"
    
    From The Age at link
    
    

  
  
  • Education bigger than tourism
    
    "Education has replaced tourism as Australia's top services export.

    "The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that education exports last year were worth $12.5 billion compared with the $11.5 billion tourism industry.

    "Its data ranked education as the third most lucrative export industry behind coal ($20.8 billion) and iron ore ($16 billion)..."

    Full story in The Age at link
    
  
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • The debate is about the most effective way to teach

      "What a muddled contribution Mark Howie, the president of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, makes to the phonics debate (Letters, 5/2). 

      "Literacy is not at all, as he states, “hard to define’’. It means, literally, the ability to understand the written word, and to convey meaning by writing. Being able to make one’s ``mark’’ has never been understood by anyone as an indicator of literacy - though writing one’s name may have served as a minimal indicator in less educated times.

      "As for the other “literacies’’ he lists, a literate teacher would know, and hopefully instruct his students, that “literacy’’ in these contexts is a metaphor - and in many cases a very weak one. Take “kitchen literacy’’. The suite of perceptions, skills and understandings employed in the creation or appreciation of a good meal are overwhelmingly more different from than similar to those involved in comprehending or creating a piece of writing.

      "The metaphor in each of the examples cited is intended to refer to understanding of and skill in the relevant field. To put the matter literally, just as one cannot cook a palatable meal without being able to identify and correctly employ ingredients and utensils, one cannot read or write competently without the foundation skill of being able to identify and employ appropriate words and syntax.
      The phonics debate is simply about the best way to equip students with a basic tool for using written language; that is, the knowledge of written words. In this context, references to other “literacies’’, let alone higher order issues such as “the democratic ideal of openness to difference and the Enlightenment’s pursuit of critical inquiry’’ are just red herrings. It’s also unimportant whether Howie, on behalf of his members, feels “insulted’’. A “balanced discussion’’ on this question will leave all of that out and bring together the available evidence to allow us to determine what’s actually the most effective way to teach children to read and write. Simple, really."
      
      Michael Layden, Ashfield, NSW
      
      

    • "I was born in the Welsh mining valleys in 1925. We started school at age 3 . Our first lessons were in associating letters with sounds. Learning our times tables was regarded as memory retention training that stood us in good stead. By the time we were five, we could read a paragraph from the newspaper to start off a class discussion on the topic. The principal aim of our teachers was to instil a love of learning. They worked on the premise that you can’t expect young people to become experts at anything if they do not first learn the basics. How times have changed."
      
      C.O. Morgan, Acacia Ridge, Qld
      
      

    • "While I applaud The Australian for its focus on education policy, can I encourage a little sympathy for those of us who are not educationalists? After reading Luke Slattery’s article ("A fraternity built on oversensitivity’’, Opinion, 5/2) I was confused and frustrated by name-dropping, jargon and in-house terminology. Does one really need to know about Derrida, Foucault and "a touch of Paulo Freire", as Slattery suggests, to understand critical literacy? Wikipedia’s definition of critical literacy is "being able to have a discussion about different meanings a text may have, a text including television, movies, books, art and music".

      "Put simply then, surely the problem with critical literacy is that it does not necessarily involve being able to read."
      
      Vicki Flannery, East Brighton, Vic
      
      

    
    
  • Gillard vows to end years of distrust
    
    Education Minister Julia Gillard has declared an end to years of government distrust of universities at her first meeting with the innovative research group of institutions.
    
  
  
  
  
  • Foreigners are 'exploited'
    

    Contrary to their image as cashed-up BMW drivers, many overseas students cannot afford to eat, are paid well below the minimum wage and are among those most vulnerable to exploitation in this country, new research says.

Thursday 7 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • One-third of teachers prefer a new career (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "One in four WA teachers has lost all interest in teaching and more than one in three would prefer to be doing a different job, a leaked confidential report has revealed.

    "The disturbing results of a survey of nearly 7000 teachers across Australia reveal that 25 per cent of WA teachers say they have lost their motivation to teach, compared with 16 per cent of those in other states.

    "About 38 percent of WA teachers said they would rather do a different job, compared with 28 per cent nationally.

    "The report, compiled by the Australian Research Group on behalf of teacher professional registration bodies in six States and Territories and obtained by the West Australian, also found that just 39 per cent of WA teachers felt respect compared with 57 per cent for all States. And only 35 per cent felt supported in their jobs compared with 55 per cent nationally.

    "Overall, West Australian teachers express lower levels of enthusiasm and more negative attitudes towards teaching than their counterparts in other States," the report says.

    "They are much less inclined to feel respected as a teacher than their interstate counterparts."

    "Perhaps an area of greatest concern is that almost four out of every 10 WA teachers would prefer to do a job other than teaching."

    "The report on professional development and teacher attitudes will be presented to the WA College of Teaching board meeting next week. WACOT director Suzanne Parry said she could not discuss the report because it had been forwarded to board members as a confidential document.

    "I am unable to comment on it until such time as the board has considered it," she said.

    "State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said it was no surprise that WA teachers were less positive than those in other States.

    "Certainly teachers are feeling devalued and disrespected," she said. "There have been a number of factors over probably the last several years that have exacerbated these feelings."

    "Contributing factors included poor wages, teacher shortages, extra workload caused by curriculum change, problems with disruptive students and the negative hammering that teachers received from the media and politicians.

    "Confirmation that many WA teachers would rather be anywhere than in classroom came as the Opposition revealed its plan to help tackle the shortage of key subject specialists in secondary schools.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said high school teachers should be allowed to use some of the time allocated to in-school planning and marking to take other classes for which they could receive extra pay.

    "He said that would allow students to be taught by qualified specialists rather than relief teachers or by correspondence.

    "The SSTU shot down the proposal, saying it would inly impose extra work on already overloaded teachers.

    "But a State school principal who did not wish to be named said it was a good short term solution because many teachers were already working second jobs to make ends meet."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Staff shortage secrecy sparks doubt (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan refused yesterday to say whether he had submitted a report on the teacher shortage to State Cabinet, raising further doubts about whether it would be released in time to be considered during teacher pay talks.

    "Mr McGowan said last week he would release the report by teacher shortage task force chairman Lance Twomey after it had been considered by Cabinet. But he refused to respond to questions yesterday on whether he had submitted the report to Cabinet or, if not, when he planned to do so.

    "A spokeswoman from Mr McGowan's office would only say: "Cabinet matters are confidential".

    "Mr McGowan received the Twomey report almost seven weeks ago. The task force was set up by Mr McGowan a year ago to offer solutions to the problems of getting and keeping teachers. The State School Teachers' Union has demanded the report's release in time for negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement for teachers.

    "SSTU president Anne Gisborne said the report should be made public so its recommendations could be incorporated in the new agreement.

    "I find it strange that the Minister isn't releasing the Twomey report or making sure it proceeds to Cabinet as soon as possible so that it can be released, particularly in the context of current negotiations," she said. "Taxpayers have paid for it, taxpayers have obviously got an interest in making sure schools are appropriately staffed."

    "The Opposition has accused Mr McGowan of burying the report until after negotiations are settled because it is likely to recommend salary increases for teachers.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said Mr McGowan should show Professor Twomey respect and release the report.

    "The report is evidently going to provide recommendations that the Minister doesn't want out in the public domain until after the EBA has been agreed to, " he said. "That's blatantly obvious. If he's got nothing to hid he should release it."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Job refusal sees veteran quit after 25 years
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "After working for the WA Department of Education and Training for a quarter of a century, physical education teacher Diana Hoffman quit her job yesterday because she was told resignation was her only alternative after she refused to take a job when it was offered.

    "Ms Hoffman, 46, found out late last year she would lose her part time job at a northern suburbs primary school after teaching there for six years.

    "She said the department offered her a position at a school much farther from her home, which she declined. But a few weeks later, when she found a job at a school closer to where she lived, she said the department would not allow her to take it because she had refused the first job offer.

    "So she will forfeit her permanency and all her long service entitlements.

    "Ms Hoffman was told her previous job was offered to a teacher who had taught in a country or hard-to-staff school during the past 10 years.

    "Since 1982 I have always gone where the department has asked me to go," she said. "I love teaching. But I am told that I am not wanted any more because I have declined a position."

    "Ms Hoffman said her experience was one example of why many teachers were disillusioned. "You are like a number, you're not treated as an individual," she said.

    "The department's human resources acting executive director John Serich said a teacher who chose to decline a matched position because of the school's distance from their home would be advised they would be relinquishing there permanent status.

    "It is puzzling when a teacher opts to resign rather than accept a teaching position that exactly fits his or her extremely limited job preferences," he said.

    "In this case, the school was a further six minutes by car away from the teacher's home."

    From The West Australian
    

    
    

• The Wanneroo Times

© The Wanneroo Times

• The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Liberal's offer temporarily teacher shortage solution [from 6 February]
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    "Getting teachers to teach during lesson preparation and other non-class work time would temporarily solve the teacher shortage, the Opposition said today.
    
    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said under the Liberals' plan, teachers could voluntarily use 200 minutes of their allocated duties other than teaching time to take classes for their normal pay, plus 10 per cent.

    "Mr Collier said the plan would enable teachers to add up to $12,000 a year extra, but would be cost-effective to the State Government because the time had already been allocated for and funded in budget estimations.

    "The teacher shortage is the single most significant challenge facing the Western Australian education system,'' he said.

    "It is absolutely imperative that we have effective strategies that seek to both retain practising teachers and attract new graduates to the profession in the short, medium and long terms.

    "The Opposition's strategy enables secondary teachers to temporarily use some of their DOTT time to teach one extra class a week and get paid for it without costing the government a cent.''

    "Mr Collier said the plan would allow qualified, specialist teachers to take classes rather than students having a relief teacher or relying upon correspondence lessons for their education.

    "This would particularly apply to subjects in, which there is a short supply of teachers, such as mathematics, science, languages and design and technology,'' he said.

    "He said Education Minister Mark McGowan continued to "penny pinch" in his dealings with the teachers salary negotiations.

    "These professionals feel undervalued and disillusioned," Mr Collier said.

    "Teachers participating by accepting the extra weekly class would be appropriately remunerated and recognised by the government.

    "Using the example of a high school mathematics teacher on salary scale 2.4, who receives $69,132 per year at today's rate, the participating teacher could receive an additional $11,863.

    "This would be based upon the appropriate remuneration plus 10 per cent loading for saved costs."

    "Mr Collier said secondary teachers had 320 minutes of DOTT time per week. As an example, a teacher could take an additional class for 200 minutes of this time and still retain 120 minutes of duties other than teaching time.

    "He said the strategy would not be mandated and would only be offered to teachers in schools where a shortage existed.

    "The proposal was a win-win situation in every respect, he said. It would provide students with a specialist teacher and it would give volunteering teachers an opportunity to improve their salaries, while not placing a financial burden upon the government.

    "But WA State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne immediately shot the proposal down, saying that it would only exacerbate difficulties already faced by teachers with increasing workloads.

    "This is nonsense, when we're in the middle of a negotiation period where 90 per cent of teachers rejected the Government's (pay and conditions) offer on the basis of the salary being inadequate and the workload being too heavy," she said.

    "This is preparation and planning time we're talking about, and it is effectively asking teachers to go home and keep working into the night, and subsidise this out of their own personal time.

    "It's a bit of a shame that the shadow education spokesman, particularly because he comes from a teaching background, would put up this proposal.

    "(This is) a solution that is increasing workload for teachers when the feedback we're getting is that one of the key reasons that teachers are leaving the workplace is workload. One of the key issues in our negotiations is redressing the workload.

    "This proposition would only exacerbate difficulties that people are having in establishing an appropriate work-life balance."

    "Executive Director of Metropolitan Schools Allan Blagaich said, in response to Mr Collier's proposal, that strategies to increase the supply of specialist teachers were "being looked at by the Department of Education and Training".

    "WA schools were still short about 79 teachers at the beginning of this week."
    
    From The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    

• The Busselton - Dunsborough Mail
  
  
  • Students under fire [from 6 February]
    by Usman Azad
    
    Concern has been expressed over the behaviour of a small group of students at Busselton Senior High School.
    

 

• The Australian
  
  
  • Private sector grabs Rhodes scholar
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Elizabeth Stone is exactly the type of teacher that schools are trying to attract.

    "With a masters in law from Oxford, the Rhodes scholar eschewed a lucrative career as a corporate lawyer to become a maths teacher.

    "But her academic record and experience lecturing at university counted for nothing when three years ago she approached the NSW Education Department to teach in one of its schools.

    "Even though she has three degrees and studied maths at university, Ms Stone was not allowed in the door of a government school without first completing a one-year diploma of education.

    "In contrast, her qualifications and experience were welcomed in the private school system, which allowed her to study for her diploma part-time while teaching and offered to pay half of her HECS fees.

    "At a time of national teacher shortages - especially in maths and science - and amid concern about the falling academic calibre of teachers, Ms Stone's experience highlights how the system works against raising the quality and status of the profession.

    "The biggest losers are public schools, which are already struggling with inadequate funding and are further hamstrung by teachers' unions and government bureaucracies in their ability to hire staff and offer attractive conditions.

    "I believe in a strong public education system; in terms of social cohesion, it's so important," said Ms Stone, 35, who has taught at a private high school on Sydney's north shore.

    "To return to the public sector now would mean a $15,000 drop in annual salary for the mother of two, because her private school has more flexibility in what it pays her.

    "In recognition of her background, Ms Stone was put on a salary level several tiers beyond her teaching experience.

    "As for the diploma of education, Ms Stone described it as a "total waste of time".

    "I firmly believe that teachers are born, not made," she said.

    "If you can't teach, then going to university doesn't make the slightest bit of difference."

    "Now studying a bachelor of science to update her maths skills, Ms Stone said the diploma of education was an appalling academic experience that concentrated more on the use of academic language to espouse educational theories than the skills required to teach in the classroom.

    "There's a confusion of purpose," she said.

    "Most people would expect a one-year teacher qualification, particularly if it's mandatory, to make you classroom-ready, giving you practical skills. But most of what you do is highly theoretical, about education theory with subjects like adolescent development and the theory of self-identity."

    "A spokeswoman for the NSW Education Department said its main approach in attracting people seeking to change careers was to provide teacher education scholarships, which fund HECS payments, provide an annual training allowance and guarantee a permanent appointment.

    "They must first meet the department's qualification requirements."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  
  
  • Teachers strike in 'unsafe' town
    AAP
    

    "Teachers in a central Queensland Aboriginal community plan to strike next week over a breakdown in law and order.

    "The teachers at Woorabinda, west of Rockhampton, have voted to walk off the job for 24 hours on Wednesday because a request for Premier Anna Bligh to directly intervene in law and order issues in the town has not been met.

    "The Queensland Teachers Union says staff at the school feel unsafe in the community after their accommodation was vandalised while they were away on school holidays."
    

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Reading difficulties

      "While I applaud Mark Howie's ideals of openness to difference and the pursuit of critical inquiry (Letters, 5/2), they are not applicable in the methodology of teaching young or disadvantaged children to read.

      "People with reading difficulties all share a common problem: the failure to discriminate between speech sounds at a fine level of detail. This skill, called phonemic analysis, is partly innate and partly learned. Training in this skill has proved to be successful for both adults and children with reading difficulties.

      "Contrary to what Howie suggests, everyone knows what is meant by literacy in the context of a five, six or eight-year-old non-reader. These children want to know what the black marks mean. It's about the child who says, "I hate books because I can't read and I don't know what the words mean and I have to make it up."

      "The alphabet was invented as a code for sounds. Codes are easy to learn for some, while others take a little longer. The latter need systematic instruction using a method that starts with the sounds of the language and how we make them. Professor Kevin Wheldall of Macquarie University has achieved great success with disadvantaged children using his MULTILIT (Making up Lost Time in Literacy) program. All primary teachers should be taught how to use it."
      
      Jan Bellenger, North Ryde, NSW
      
      

    • "It's amusing, yet telling, that in Luke Slattery's article criticising the teaching profession ("A fraternity built on oversensitivity", Opinion, 5/2) he mentions his sister defending his views to a dogmatic university lecturer "out of filial loyalty". I always thought, and the dictionary confirms, that "filial" related to sons and daughters (from the Latin filius/filia). Slattery's sister was showing him sibling loyalty. All I can add is, "Teacher, teach thyself!"
      
      Richard Hurford, Petersham, NSW
      
      
      

  • TAFE expands ties with China's schools
    by Sid Marris
    
    "A five-year deal allowing Australian vocational educators and their business partners to design and run programs in China, potentially generating export income worth millions of dollars, will be finalised today.

    "TAFE Directors Australia, which represents 57 technical and further education providers, and the China Education Association for International Exchange will formalise their second and more expanded deal at a ceremony in Sydney.

    "The agreement will increase the exchange of experts as well as the recognition of courses andstandards..."

    Full story in The Australian at link

Friday 8 February

• The Australian
  
  
  • Sporting lure to stay at school
    
    "A high school in the goldfields hub of Kalgoorlie is unlocking the secrets to keeping indigenous students in class.

    "In a city where pitifully few indigenous residents have high school certificates, a record five indigenous students graduated from Year 12 at Eastern Goldfields College last year.

    "Among them was the school dux, Cody Butler, who intends to study medicine at the University of Western Australia.

    "This year, 35 Aboriginal teenagers are studying in Year 12 at the Kalgoorlie campus."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

• Australian unis ranked third in world by students
  
  Overseas students have ranked Australia as the third best country in the world for university education, a new survey has revealed.
  
  
• Student numbers hit one million
  
  Somewhere in one of Australia's universities last year was the magic millionth student.
  
  
  

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In Short
      
      "I am tired or reading that one of the issues causing teachers to leave the profession ("One-third of teachers prefer a new career" 7/2/08) is "extra workload caused by curriculum changes". Yes this is true but only part of the curriculum issue. Many experienced teachers have seen through this "educational fad" of OBE and has been exasperated by their loss of educational input to the bureaucratic ideologues. It is not only the unrealistic workloads of OBE that drives teachers away, it is the very nature of this failed experiment that has caused many experienced teachers to rethink their career choice."
      
      Patrick F. Whalen, Yokine
      
      
      
    • "Another two highly qualified teachers left in the lurch (Letters 5/2, 6/2). I, too, have been left high and dry this year and I am both qualified and skilled. What's happening there in central office? Obviously not a lot. Release the Twomey report, Mr McGowan, so everyone can see just how appalling the recruitment process really is."
      
      L. Thomas, Perth
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • That'll teach you - student wins payout
    
    "Rebekah Turner, the student who won a landmark discrimination case against the Education Department, has been awarded more than $80,000 compensation in a tribunal ruling likely to spark a flood of claims.

    "A Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal judgement, handed down by the tribunal's deputy president Cate McKenzie yesterday, has already led to calls for a review of government funding for students with speech and language difficulties.

    "In addition to compensation, the Education Department was ordered to provide 16-year-old Rebekah, who has a severe language disorder and learning disability, with a full-time teacher's aide, remedial tuition and an individual learning plan for the rest of her time at school. The assistance must be in place by February 21.

    "Rebekah said she was thrilled with the result, adding that having a classroom aide to take notes for her would allow her to listen more closely to teachers as she embarks on her VCE.

    "Getting the help at school is really important because already this year work is starting to pile up because I don't understand it," she said. "Having the help in the classroom will be the best bit as they will be able to help me with what is to be done and what the teacher has said."

    "Rebekah plans to complete her VCE over three years and hopes to train as a special education teacher.

    "Last May the tribunal found the Education Department discriminated against Rebekah, now in year 11 at Ringwood Secondary College, by failing to provide a teaching aide and other classroom assistance, which she had applied for since 1999 but never received. The department appealed against the decision, but it was dismissed.

    "Yesterday's finding was also critical of Ringwood Secondary College, which the tribunal said continued to discriminate against Rebekah, even after last May's judgement.

    "The department was ordered to pay Rebekah $82,000 in compensation for failing to provide assistance, which "limited her participation and access to the curriculum … and diminished her opportunity to obtain successful education outcomes".

    "The decision is a blow to the Government, which is battling to defend its language support program after changes were made to eligibility criteria in 2005.

    "The Education Department's own figures show that thousands of students with language disorders, who had received individual funding before 2005, now miss out.

    "In 2005, 6760 students were funded under language disorder categories. That number fell dramatically to 208 in 2006 and increased only marginally to 219 last year. The department yesterday said it could not say how many students were funded under language disorder categories this year, as funding now went directly to schools rather than students.

    "But while critics concede that the 6760 students who received funding in 2006 reflected a blow-out, serious concerns about the severity of the new requirements remain.

    "Speech Pathology Australia yesterday called for an urgent review of funding for speech pathology services, with several thousand Victorian students struggling with speech and language difficulties.

    "Shadow education minister Martin Dixon said Rebekah's case represented "a systemic failure rather than an individual one" because not one of the four state schools she attended granted her the assistance she needed.

    "Rebekah is unfortunately one of a number of students let down by the State Government in Victorian schools over a number of years," he said. "But there's no time for excuses now."

    "He said yesterday's finding would likely spark a rash of complaints against the department, with the decision likely to be regarded as a precedent by thousands of families who have a child with a disability.

    "Access Law anti-discrimination consultant Julie Phillips, for Rebekah, said yesterday's result was bittersweet for her.

    "Even upon winning her case at VCAT last May, support from the department has not been forthcoming … However, she is very excited at the prospect of receiving the help she needs and she starts her VCE this year absolutely determined to succeed."

    "Education Minister Bronwyn Pike yesterday referred comment to Early Childhood Development Minister Maxine Morand. A spokeswoman for Ms Morand said she would not comment while the case was subject to appeal.

    "The Education Department said it was considering its response to the decision. Last year the department allocated more than $33 million to support students with language difficulties."

    From The Age at link

Saturday – Sunday, 9 – 10 February

• How the SSTUWA is working against the interests of teachers
  by Marko Vojkovic
  
  I have had enough first hand experience of how the SSTUWA works to put forward the following thoughts.

  David Kelly and Anne Gisborne run the Union as if it is theirs. They don't really care about what is best for their members, just what is best for them and their loyal clique of supporters.

  When an elected Executive tries to do anything that upsets THEM PERSONALLY, but is in the best interests of members, they spit the dummy, bully and then release their dogs in things like letters to the editor in THEIR member subsidised publication, the Western Teacher.

  This is the last post I will make about the SSTUWA. But please believe me, this is how it works. Dave and Anne are Labor Party sympathisers. That is not a crime. I am also that way inclined and so are the majority of Members First. The difference is they put their party allegiances ahead of teachers' interests.

  You want proof? 600 teachers short!!!! This was the mantra of Anne and Dave against the advice of the MF Executive. We pleaded with them to stop quoting that figure because we knew it was bogus. They didn't. Now the SSTUWA, and consequently all of us, have to eat humble pie as the real shortage is nowhere near that figure. We might even have to congratulate the Minister for doing such a great job even though we were 134 teachers short on day 1. But worst of all, the wind has been taken out of our EBA sails.

  Now we have a campaign to release the Twomey Report. Why? Do we know for a fact that it will help us in our campaign? No we don't! So yet again, we are going in blind on the urging of our President. But she has read the report, so why doesn't she release it herself? Confidentiality protects those with something to hide.

  The most frustrating thing is that I predicted this 2 months ago and here we are witnessing it happening.

  The solution? Every branch must put in a motion to escalate industrial action immediately. We must not be distracted by Directive #1 which sees us arguing amongst ourselves. You, yes YOU who read this must get off your bums and nominate for State Council. If they have the numbers, kiss goodbye to any hope of reform.

  Over to you Platonians. Feb 22 is the deadline for nominations even though Council is in June! Do it! We need your help.
  
  From the PLATO Forum
  

 

• News.com.au
  
  
  • Crippling shortage creating 'fake' teachers
    
    "School teachers are taking classes in subjects they know little or nothing about new research has shown.
    
    "A report by the Australian Council for Educational Research revealed 43 per cent of high school principals asked staff to take additional classes outside their area of expertise.

    "Primary schools are also not exempt from the problem, with 14 per cent of principals getting teachers to work outside their area.

    "The findings were published in the 183-page report, commissioned by the Federal Government, and canvassed the responses of more than 10,000 teachers and 2000 heads of schools.

    "According to unions, the figures are further proof the nationwide teacher shortage is crippling the education sector.

    "Angelo Gavrielatos, president of the Australian Education Union, said the severity of the shortage is being masked by teachers having to take classes outside their faculty.

    "He added that until the Rudd Government can commit an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools, the problem will continue to manifest itself.

    "Jim McAlpine, president of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council agreed that "it's a general problem in all education departments''.

    "The matter was magnified even more in rural and remote areas.

    "The difference there is that they are smaller schools with smaller numbers and because there are fewer teachers, you have less chance of having a trained teacher in that area.''

    "Music, creative arts, languages and information technology are the subjects considered to be the hardest hit as a result of the shortage.

    "Anthony Sleeman, a mathematics teacher at Ariah Park Central School in the Riverina region has been taking Spanish classes since 2005, even though he isn't fluent in the language.

    "Mr Sleeman said, due to a lack of staff, he was asked to lead a combined Year 7/8 languages class and has continued to "bluff'' his way through since.

    "In a sense you have to use your skills as a teacher to try and teach something you don't know much about,'' he said."
    
    From News.com.au at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teacher in knife attack 'saved kids' (page 13)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "A teacher has fought off a knife attacker in front of horrified students in Secret Harbour.

    "Two boys allegedly trespassing at Comet Bay College on Thursday were challenged by three male teachers.

    "Police said one boy pulled a knife from his friend's backpack and attacked a teacher who refused to let them get any closer to students, about 15m away.

    "He did it to protect the other students in the school so he's pretty much of a hero, to be honest," Rockingham police Const. Ray Sleiman said. Peter, 42, a design and technology teacher who did not want his surname published, said: "I just grabbed his arm because it was coming towards me and then he pulled his arm right back and slashed the knife underneath my chin, but it hasn't cut me, luckily." Two boys aged 15 were charged."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Sunday Age
  
  
  • Union seeks allergy nurse for every school
    
    Every school in Victoria needs a school nurse to cope with the rising number of anaphylactic children, the Victorian teacher's union has said.
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • 'Parasites' deserve a place at the table
      
      "Juliette Hughes, The Ethicist ("Should you go on strike if your union asks you?" 3/2), refers to non-union members of the teaching fraternity as "merely parasitical".

      "I doubt that the Australian Education Union represents half of all serving teachers in Victoria, and yet they hold all the power at the negotiating table during discussions with the government.

      "During the 2004 Schools Agreement talks, I contacted the government as I wanted to contribute to the discussion. I was told I had to speak to the union. I then contacted the union and they hung up on me when I told them I was not a member.

      "As this door closed I turned to my usual course of action and wrote letters to the minister.

      "Unfortunately, under the Bracks/Brumby Government, I only received the standard auto reply of "we'll get back to you", which they never do.

      "When it came time to vote on the agreement, I voted against it but was in the minority. I had no choice but to accept the umpire's decision, however flawed, in order to continue doing what I love.

      "Having been a member of a union, I believe the AEU has continually let its members down and therefore I choose not to join.

      "I do, however, continue to lobby the government and have been described by senior bureaucrats as an "activist", although none of these people have shown me the courtesy of actually speaking to me and finding out whether I am rational or otherwise.

      "It is my hope that all teachers, and not simply unionists, will be able to have more of a say in their working conditions in the future.

      "That way "parasites" such as myself can finally play a role in changing education in Victoria for the better."

      Charles Spicer, Glen Waverley
      
      
      

• The Age [Saturday]
  
  
  • Teachers to be lured to tough schools
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Topteachers would get pay bonuses to work in struggling schools and tighter controls would be placed on pupil-free training days, under a radical revamp of Victoria's education system.

    "The Age believes that the Brumby Government plans to use politically sensitive wage negotiations with Victoria's powerful teacher union to push through a wave of reforms designed to lift student performance.

    "The move comes as talks between the union and Government hit boiling point, with up to 25,000 teachers expected to shut down schools on Thursday, when they walk off the job in pursuit of higher wages, smaller class sizes and better working conditions. [emphasis added]

    "It is believed that the Government plans to create new, highly paid principal positions to boost struggling schools, many of which are concentrated in Melbourne's northern and western suburbs.

    "High-performing teachers would also be offered financial incentives to work in disadvantaged areas, with the Government considering adopting by 2010 a successful British program that encourages bright university graduates to work in the toughest schools.

    "In a move likely to prove contentious, the Government is believed to be investigating the operation of pupil-free days, which give teachers time away from the classroom for professional development and training.

    "Some insiders are concerned these days are being used as holiday time and believe that imposing tighter controls should be explored.

    "The planned changes are part of a push by Premier John Brumby and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to lift student performance, target assistance to the neediest students and boost teaching quality.

    "But to successfully implement any changes, Mr Brumby must broker a deal with the union, which is seeking an annual 10% pay rise. The Government is offering 3.25% a year, with anything above that to be met by "productivity trade-offs".

    "A Government insider told The Age yesterday that the Government "sees the (enterprise bargaining agreement) discussions as not just about teacher pay and conditions. It is also about getting agreement to reforms that will lift student performance".

    "In recent months, Victorian teachers have complained that they are the worst-paid teachers in the country, receiving a maximum of $65,414 a year, compared with $72,454 in NSW.

    "Ahead of next week's 24-hour strike — the second in three months — Australian Education Union members yesterday passed a resolution condemning the Premier. "This meeting of AEU teacher and principal members condemns Premier John Brumby for continuing to ask teachers and principals to take an effective pay cut to finance the Government's education policies," the resolution said."
    
    From The Age at link
    
    
    

  • Language curriculum reform call
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Learning a language should be compulsory and students should get university-entry bonuses if they complete the subject in VCE, educators are urging.

    "As the number of students studying languages continues to decline, experts warn Australia is at risk of falling behind because its school curriculum is too "Euro-centric".

    "Experts from the Australian Secondary Principals Association, the Asia Education Foundation and the Australian Council of State School Organisations have called for reforms to encourage more teachers and students to learn a language.

    "Some of the suggestions include:

    • Reducing HECS debt for university students who take on a teaching degree in language.
    • Expanding to other states the Victorian practice of giving high school graduates a bonus on university entry scores for doing a second language in year 12.
    • Making language a compulsory subject in primary schools to year 10.
      
      

  "Figures show the rate of year 12 students graduating with a second language has dropped from 40% in the 1960s to 13% today — with Australian students spending less time learning a language than those in all other developed countries.

  "But the Victorian Government appears reluctant to change its status on the school curriculum. "We have struck the right balance," said Matt Nurse, spokesman for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike.

  "Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair said part of the problem was that instead of focusing on a few chosen languages, schools offered many choices but not enough emphasis on any of them.

  "In Victoria, 22 languages are taught in government primary schools, 19 in secondary colleges and 40 through the Victorian School of Languages.

  "But Mr Blair said the curriculum should contain six core languages other than English — Indonesian, Japanese, French, Mandarin, Spanish and German — with HECS support offered to university teaching students who studied one or more of the six.

  "What we haven't been is sufficiently brave to grasp a solution that can at least guarantee continuity of teacher supply and of programs in schools across the country," Mr Blair said.

  "Terry Aulich, chief executive of key parent group Australian Council of State School Organisations, agreed, saying the shortage of language teachers was resulting in schools having to scrap programs.

  "In the lead-up to the election, Labor leader Kevin Rudd, who is fluent in Mandarin, pledged $68 million to promote Asian languages in schools and tackle teacher shortages. But some have warned that the plan is just a starting point to rectify decades of government inaction.

  "Asia Education Foundation executive director Kathe Kirby called for a revival of the national Asian languages and studies in Australian schools strategy, which doubled the number of Asian language learners in schools in the 1990s, but was scrapped in 2002."

  From The Age at link
  
  
  

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • How private schools owe taxpayer $2b
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    

    "Private schools have been over-funded by more than $2 billion over four years and some will be overpaid by as much as $23 million each in the next funding cycle, the federal Department of Education reveals in a secret review.

    "Its review of federal funding of Catholic and independent schools, leaked to the Herald, criticises arrangements that entrench "inequities" in the distribution of private school funding for "purely historical" reasons.

    "If they are allowed to continue, private schools will get up to $2.7 billion more than they are strictly entitled to under the next four-year funding agreement starting next year.

    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Schools set skirt length standards
    by Anthony Deceglie
    
    "Several WA schools are trying to raise standards by lowering the hemlines of school skirts
    
    "Schoolgirls are baring more flesh and as a result, the skirt issue is getting a fresh airing, says WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry.

    "There has always been a dress code but it's been a very lax one,'' Mr Fry said. "There has to be ... an appropriate standard.

    "If a school deems that a girl's skirt is too short, they should have every right to express that concern.''

    "One teacher at an upmarket co-ed high school said staff had been told to keep a close eye on girls with hemlines that rode too high.

    "Monthly skirt checks were not out of the question, the teacher was told.

    "The checks would be done the "old-fashioned way'' - girls kneeling in a line. If the skirts did not touch the ground, they would be deemed too short.

    "At the all-girls Iona Presentation College, skirts must be knee-length.

    "If they came up above knee level, then I think our teachers would be asking questions,'' principal Margaret Herley said.

    "Carine Senior High School principal Paul Ganderton said a lot of girls wore shorts instead of skirts to bypass hemline queries.

    "Our policy is quite clear - skirt length is to be sufficient so that students show modesty at all times,'' he said.

    "A lot of our girls in Years 8, 9 and 10 are wearing shorts now. If they were allowed to wear very short shorts, they would.''

    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said strict dress standards were considered paramount by many parents and, often influenced the decision about which school to send a child to, because they were symbolic of a school's values."
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    

  • School balls a rite of passage
    
    They should be the highlight of the school year. But University of WA research has found the traditional school ball is a traumatic event that can leave emotional scars for students.
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 55)
    
    
    • Professor, have you taught big classes?

      "So, new National Curriculum Board chairman Barry McGaw wants to "keep big classes" (TST, February 3).

      "I have 19 years in primary and 31 years in secondary education. How big do classes have to be, professor? Thirty-plus, 40-plus, 50-plus?

      "I had 15 years of 50-plus primary students. Has the professor actually taught secondary? I have, in classes ranging from 25 to 38.

      "Has the professor taught with next to nothing in resources? I have. Has the professor taught the full range of subjects? I have.

      "Has the professor tried to do student reports under the OBE system? I have. It's a bloody failure. Has the professor been lectured to year after year by learned educational pedagogues? I have.

      "Come off it, Barry, get real, go and teach classes of 40-plus for a year and see how you feel."

      Benjamin Seabrook, Roleystone
      
      

    • Pupils must grasp basics

      "Kevin Rudd's decision to appoint Barry McGaw as co-ordinator for the new national curriculum should be a major concern for parents of this state.

      "His notion of hiring specialist teachers to help struggling students ignores on major dilemma: How to help a struggling high school student who may not have grasped all the basics he/she should have learnt and needed when in primary school without major disruption to the rest of the class.

      "Mr. McGaw has obviously jumped into the deep end with his highfalutin ideas based on results in Finland without even examining claims by teachers across the country who have complained, with good reason, for over a decade that their workloads are ridiculously excessive and class sizes are too big.

      "If students were adequately assessed yearly, or even more frequently, on their grasp of essential subjects, with teachers and parents combining to ensure appropriate learning was achieved from Grade One on, no extra teachers would be needed."

      Andrew Pumfrey, Bateman

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This page last updated 17 April, 2009 11:02 PM