Monday 11 August   10 reasons to Vote NO

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Monday 11 August

• Members First
  

  • TEN GOOD REASONS TO VOTE NO TO THE AGREEMENT-IN-PRINCIPLE

    Authorised by Clive Kelly on behalf of Members First

    1.  THE SALARY INCREASES ARE INADEQUATE
    
    15% with structural adjustments of 1-3% at the end is just not enough.
    
    The increases are not backdated to March 08, meaning a 1.5% loss over 4 months, and with another delay likely at the end, will span nearly 4 years.
    
    The impact of huge increases in the cost of living for teachers in WA has not been properly reflected.
    
    Percentage increases for teachers in real terms since 1997 have been 11.5%, compared to 16% for nurses and 17.8% for police. Since 1997 average weekly earnings have increased by 31%.
    
    The recommendations of the Business Council of Australia and other groups for a substantial increase in salary to make up lost ground on other professions have been ignored.
    
    Recommendations of the Twomey Task Force into substantial salary increases have been ignored.

    2.  THE SALARY INCREASES BARELY MATCH INFLATION
    
    The annual rate of inflation in WA is currently running at 4.8%.
    
    The 4.5% increases in salary in 2008 and 2009 are less than inflation.
    
    Fuel prices have gone through the roof and work related car expenses are a major cost burden for many teachers and administrators.
    
    Many teachers are finding it very difficult to make ends meet and the insubstantial salaries proposed will provide little or no relief for them.

    3. THE SALARY INCREASES ARE UNEQUAL
    
    It is unfair that there is a 5% disparity in the cumulative increases different groups would receive.
    
    The highest increases would go to teachers at the top of the pay scale. Young teachers, who are struggling to purchase a home, pay off their HECS debt and deal with the high cost of living, will literally not be able to afford to stay in the profession.
    
    It will take teachers an extra year to reach the top of the incremental salary scale.
    
    Administrators are being asked to do more work and they would receive 4% less than the highest cumulative salary increases.

    4. WORKLOAD CONCERNS IN OUR LOG OF CLAIMS HAVE BEEN IGNORED
    
    There are no significant initiatives to reduce workload for teachers and administrators.
    
    The 20 minute increase in primary DOTT time over 3 years is meagre.
    
    No extra time for HODS is provided, only clerical time which will be unworkable in many schools.
    
    Other administrators get nothing and will have extra workload caused by changes in the EBA and the relentless bureaucratic requests of DET.
    
    There is no reduction in class sizes.
    
    There is no attempt to redress the problems of special needs students in mainstream classrooms.
    
    There is only minor and grudging support for curriculum changes e.g. Help line for CoS

    5. THE CRITICAL ISSUE OF BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT IS NOT ADDRESSED
    
    Evidence of increasing assaults on teachers and student violence show the need for major initiatives to improve student behaviour, but nothing substantial is offered.
    
    There is no additional resources or support for teachers working with behaviourally challenging students.

    6. TWOMEY REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN ACTIONED
    
    The Minister for Education has ignored the recommendations contained in his own report and as a result the teacher shortage crisis will continue unabated.
    
    Chapter 1 . Remuneration. No immediate and significant salary increase is offered in the Agreement-In-Principle as Twomey recommends.
    
    Chapter 2 . Career Progression. No proposals are put forward for career pathways that will deliver substantially higher salaries as Twomey proposes.
    
    Chapter 3 . Housing conditions. Nothing is offered to alleviate a situation which Twomey says is critical in many country areas.
    
    Chapter 7 . Workload Issues. No significant initiatives are offered as recommended by Twomey to address the many workload issues facing teachers and administrators.
    
    Overall, the advice by Prof Twomey that the implementation of a number of recommendations, rather than any one by itself, is needed to raise the status of teaching profession is not reflected in the Agreement-in-Principle.

    7. WE MUST NOT TRADE OFF CONDITIONS FOR POOR EBA OUTCOMES.
    
    State Council and other union forums have repeatedly demanded there must not be any trade offs. The Agreement-in-Principle contains trade offs.
    
    15 hours Professional Development in your own time is a trade off.
    
    EBA Update 17 (8-11-07) stated the following in relation to 15 hours PD:
    
    This is an increase in mandated workload at a time of excessive workload. It is unpaid. It is a return to the bad old days of Norman Moore and a de-professionalisation of teachers and school leaders.. What has changed? Nothing!
    
    Extending the hours that teachers and administrators in high schools can work across is a trade off. Starting work at 7am or finishing at 6pm in high schools is a real possibility in the Agreement.
     
    8. FLEXIBLE DELIVERY IN HIGH SCHOOLS WILL ERODE OUR CONDITIONS
    
    The Agreement-in-Principle gives the green light to all high schools being open for instruction between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm and where this happens Administrators will be required to be in attendance and teachers will be required to take classes during this time.
    
    Teachers in difficult to staff subjects or where there are unviable classes may be required to work in two or more schools.
    
    Teachers and Administrators will be required to provide a duty of care for their students throughout the extended school day.
    
    While teachers may have to agree to work outside the .normal school day,. it is likely that in some cases they will be pressured to do so.

    9. ARBITRATION IS A RISK WORTH TAKING
    
    EBA negotiations have followed a predictable path over the past 15 years or so with teachers and administrators sacrificing much & rigorously supporting union directives only to be disappointed when we accept an unsatisfactory offer, often because the government of the day exploits the fear of going to arbitration.
    
    The Government is not confident of the outcome of arbitration and factors like the strength of the WA economy, the Twomey Report and the teacher shortage crisis mean that we have never been better placed to fully prosecute an arbitration case on behalf of teachers and administrators.
    
    Arbitration can offset the advantages that DET has in negotiations and both parties are reliant on the strength of their evidence and quality of their arguments.
    
    And of course the Government can return to negotiations at any time during the arbitration process and/or make a new EBA offer.

    10. THE BULLYING BEHAVIOUR OF THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND DET
    
    DET and the Minister have threatened and bullied the Union every step of the way.
    
    They have done this with WAIRC applications resulting in fines, an extreme Enterprise Order in arbitration designed to strip us of all our conditions, a threat to withdraw the Agreement In Principle unless the Executive endorse it and now the threat of withdrawal of back pay if we vote No.  
    
    The Minister for Education has not addressed any of the Labor Party.s platform for state education released in its Education policy at the last state election.
    
    If we accept this offer we will be rewarding this appalling behaviour and they will never change. The government tactic of divide and conquer is repeated in every negotiating round and has resulted in the deepening teacher shortage crisis and the current crisis in teacher morale. Another failed EBA is not in the interests of the teaching profession and we should reject it outright.

    VOTE NO TO THE AGREEMENT-IN PRINCIPLE AND VOTE NO TO THE UPDATED  AWARD AND COMMIT TO CONTINUE THE CAMPAIGN FOR SUBSTANTIALLY  IMPROVED PAY AND CONDITIONS.
    
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• SSTUWA
  
  
  • Update # 67 [Voting Details]
    
    Vote 6 days AFTER the State Election !
    
    There is also more detailed info on EBA 3 on the union website, accessible in the "public" section of the website. [See the "EBA 3 red box", upper right of the home page.]
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • States sceptical of Fed Govt student monitoring push
    
    "A Federal Government push for schools to provide better information on the progress of students has been met with scepticism from the states.
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard is today expected to outline what information she believes should be available to help parents monitor what is happening in Australian schools.
    
    "Ms Gillard says there should be information on the socioeconomic status of students, the number of students with disabilities and the development rate of children.
    
    "Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike says the system sounds a lot like league tables and she says that is not the way to go.
    
    "What we're better off identifying is the kind of extra value that education offers so that we measure the progress people are making, not the raw result," she said.
    
    "Ms Pike says it is more important for parents to have information about the progress of their own child.
    
    "It's how it's collected, how it's compared and how it's disseminated that is really critical, because in the end the focus has to be on the child and how they are progressing and what we're doing to improve their educational outcomes," she said."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    • Opposition says schools reform plan needs states' support
      
      The Federal Opposition says the Government's promise of more information about the performance of schools should not be believed until it has the support of state governments.
      
      
      
  • Education forum to focus on 'employability skills'
    
    "Education researchers say developing a student's employability skills are just as important as teaching them how to read and write.
    
    "The annual Australian Council for Educational Research conference is being held in Brisbane over the next two days.
    
    "The council's Professor Geoff Masters says he wants to see national minimum benchmarks set for high school students.
    
    "The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia have called for greater emphasis to be placed on what they're calling employability skills, and they are things like communication, problem solving, planning and organising, teamwork, developing skills for life," he said.
    
    "What we're hoping for today is to start a conversation nationally about what we should expect every student to achieve, what are the basics, how can we set minimum expectations for all students.
    
    "It is our belief that a significant proportion of students are getting through the school system and not meeting basic standards."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Push for better wages for TAFE teachers
    
    The Education Union is stepping up its campaign for better wages for Victoria's TAFE teachers.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Anger at 'voucher' plan
    
    The Australian Education Union has reacted angrily to plans to move towards a voucher-like scheme, which would give students the power to choose between private training providers and public ones such as TAFEs.
    
    
    
  • 'Good omen' for WA Libs
    
    Western Australia's besieged Liberals have been buoyed by the shock 9per cent swing against Labor at Saturday's Northern Territory election, labelling it a good omen for their battle with the Carpenter Government on September 6.
    
    
    • Voters hang [NT] Labor out to dry
      
      
    • Analysis: Arrogance met with big caning
      
      
    • Editorial
      Lessons from NT poll
      
      Saturday's result shows voters resent early elections
      
      After holding 19 out of 25 seats in the last parliament, Labor has been left clinging to power by its fingernails in the Northern Territory after a 9 per cent swing against the party. While the ALP was taken by surprise by the size of the swing, it was richly deserved. The Government of Chief Minister Paul Henderson has been more about spin than substance.
      
      
      
  • The Wry Side
    Parents perplexed after outbreak of facts learning at school
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "An alarming thing happened at my children's school last week. As a result, my son's Year 4 teacher has been dragged before the disciplinary board of the education department, which has launched a full-scale investigation. The school principal has assured me she won't rest until she gets to the bottom of it...
    
    "I was stunned. Here I thought [my son] was safely ensconced in school, protected from the harsh world of facts except those I thought appropriate to pass on, and somehow, somewhere he's gone and learned the times tables.
    
    "There was no indication such dangerous learning was happening. His report card was glowing in its praise of his efforts in Human Society and its Environment, in which he had received top marks for his list of the differences between a transvestite and a transsexual. I thought the anatomically correct cardboard dolls he had made, complete with sequinned costumes, had probably earned him the extra marks..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link   Worth a look... Web
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • First Byte
      
      "I’m very nervous about the call for national minimum standards from Geoff Masters ("Call for standards in testing Year 12”, 7/8). It’s a well-known fact that when minimum standards are set, they inevitably rise to become the accepted norm. This leads to a decline in education standards such as we are experiencing in Western Australia at present."
      
      Patrick Whalen, Yokine, WA
      
      
      
    • Carpenter should be worried
      
      "West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter must have felt a momentary sense of panic when he heard the Northern Territory election result. The parallels with Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson who led Labor to Saturday’s election debacle would have been frightening: going to an election for the first time as leader with a big majority and a budget surplus, huge projects on the books, a weak opposition in disarray and bookmakers and the media saying you’re a certainty. 
      
      "What Carpenter and Henderson have overlooked is that Australian voters are like the Aussie cricket selectors: they prefer to alternate left and right-hand batsmen to confuse the bowlers. With Kevin07 in Canberra looking like he is all style and technique but can’t score a run, Carpenter could be about to get a golden duck in his first test."
      
      Rod Bates, Ardross, WA
      
      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • Rogue colleges in cash-for-certificates scam
    
    Rogue trades colleges in Melbourne are taking illegal payments from visa-seeking international students in cash-for-certificates scams, an Age investigation has found.
    
    Related story in The Australian
    
    
    • The twisted road to learning
      
      Melbourne has an undeniable international reputation for teaching overseas tertiary students. But the city's education services also feature a dark and unsavoury reality.
      
      
      
  • The Monday Education Section has eight stories, including:
    
    
    • Divide and conquer

      Australia may improve its student retention rate if it creates junior and senior high schools.
      
      

    • Opinion: We can learn from special schools

      Julia Gillard has called for a 'raging debate' about how our education system compares to the best in the world, how to ensure that every school is a great school, and how to ensure every child gets an excellent education.

 

Tuesday 12 August

• SSTUWA
  
  
  • EBA 3
    
    
    • EBA 3 Details [75 page .pdf]
      
      
    • Teachers (Public Sector Primary and Secondary Education) Award 1993 [107 page .pdf]
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Tell-all report cards to rate schools
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    

    "The Rudd Government is on a collision course with Morris Iemma and teachers' unions who say its push for transparent report cards that identify test results, class sizes, teacher qualifications and even the wealth of students' families will lead to unfair school league tables.
    
    "The federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard - having met the chancellor of schools in New York, Joel Klein - says Australia can learn from his methodology of "comparing like schools with like schools to measure differences in school results".
    
    "A former lawyer criticised for his lack of education credentials, Mr Klein has stirred the ire of New York teachers with his focus on standardised testing and links between student results and teacher performance.
    
    "Ms Gillard has distanced herself from criticism from the NSW Government and teaching unions who warn her approach will name and shame disadvantaged schools. Rather, Ms Gillard said yesterday, teaching excellence should be identified and rewarded and high standards expected of all students, rich or poor.
    
    "We're not talking about anything as simplistic and silly as league tables," she said at the Australian Council for Educational Research annual conference. "But we are talking about parents and the community understanding what kinds of students are in schools, their socio-economic status, the number of indigenous students, the number of students with disabilities, because that obviously means the schools have special needs."
    
    "Researchers have linked low performance at school to social disadvantage, with less able richer children overtaking more able poorer children by the age of six. Apart from investing in early learning and rewarding quality teaching, Ms Gillard said a spotlight was needed on schools needing extra help.
    
    "The aim should be to robustly ascertain what mix of capacities and needs children are bringing to their school," she said. "We need this information in order to understand what schools, in turn, should offer to these students, and how governments and communities working together can support schools to do so.
    
    "As a nation, we should then be tracking attainment, knowing that we are in the powerful position of comparing like schools with like schools. If two schools have comparable school populations but widely varying results, we would be able to ask the question why and ascertain the answer.
    
    "We should be able to identify best practice and innovation, and work systematically to ensure that they are spread more widely. We should be able to especially assist those schools that need it. Specifically we should be identifying excellent teaching and excellent school leadership. We must expect high standards of every child."
    
    "However, a spokesman for the acting NSW Minister for Education, John Hatzistergos, said enough information was already available to help identify struggling students in need of help.
    
    "There is considerable concern with proposals to excessively 'tag' students and schools with various labels for little purpose," he said. "NSW is responsible for the welfare and education of its students and is committed to the constructive application of the outcomes of assessment in all its forms."
    
    "The Premier, Morris Iemma, said it would be difficult to rank schools around Australia.
    
    "It's like hospitals; it's the rules around that [ranking], because if you're going to stand in a hospital - and it's a similar example with schools - like Westmead and compare it, for example, with a small district hospital, like Canterbury, and then attempt in some way from the straight statistics that appear on that list to rank those two hospitals, you would not be comparing like with like."
    
    "The president of the Australian Education Union, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the learning priorities of students would not be addressed by a "divisive sideshow on league tables".
    
    "Raising overall student performance and addressing underachievement requires investment," he said. "Teachers know it and parents know it.
    
    "Public schools nationwide require an immediate $1.4 billion per annum to raise retention rates to 90 per cent and a further $1.3 billion per annum to ensure that all primary school-age children reach the minimum benchmark scores for literacy and numeracy."
    
    "The principal of SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Jenny Allum, said students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 had completed the first round of national literacy and numeracy tests in May, but no results had yet been made available to help schools diagnose any learning difficulties in students.
    
    "The federal Opposition's education spokesman, Tony Smith, said: "Already Julia Gillard has failed the first test in refusing to release the individual results of the national literacy and numeracy tests until the end of this year. The whole reason the Coalition government introduced these tests was to provide parents and schools with information in a timely fashion so parents could get help straightaway."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    Similar stories in The Australian and The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Push to cut uni fees for indigenous students
    
    Indigenous university students should be offered half-price HECS, there should be more intensive residential courses on governance and native title and mining leases, and the income threshold for Abstudy should be doubled.
    
    
    

  • Headcount checks on class funds
    
    Random headcounts of schoolchildren are being conducted following claims that a private school principal inflated student numbers and obtained $2 million in government funding to save his school from closure.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Julia Gillard to follow New York on school ranks
    
    Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday endorsed aspects of the New York system for ranking schools based on student performance and progress.
    
    See similar stories in The Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Empower parents to boost schooling
    
    Ms Gillard has gleaned valuable lessons from New York

    "After decades of parental concern about education standards, Julia Gillard is to be commended for her open-mindedness in looking to New York for lessons that could benefit Australian schools. Realist that she is, the Deputy Prime Minister knows she can expect a wall of opposition from state bureaucracies, teachers' unions and even parents' groups, which these days sound more like captives of the education establishment than client advocates for the people who matter most -- students.
    
    "In a speech to the Australian Council of Educational Research in Brisbane yesterday, Ms Gillard raised important lessons she learned from recent discussions with Joel Klein, the chancellor of schools in New York. Mr Klein was appointed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002 to oversee 1400 schools educating more than a million children. They have put their stamp on the system as decisively as Mr Bloomberg's predecessor, Rudolph Giuliani, cut crime rates.
    
    "One of their most effective measures was a public school transfer process, enacted under the US No Child Left Behind law, which gave parents whose children attended a school identified as substandard the option of moving them to a better state school. Last year, under the New York evaluation system, 50 schools that earned an "F" faced closure or having their principals removed. Heads of high-performing schools can earn bonuses. The system is sufficiently sophisticated to compare apples with apples, taking socio-economic profiles into account in assessing schools in a way that does not disadvantage those in poorer areas.
    
    "Ms Gillard is not proposing an A-F ranking scheme for Australian schools, but as she says, Australia can learn from the "methodology of comparing like schools with like schools and then measuring the differences in school results in order to spread best practice." As she pointed out, addressing Australia's "long tail of educational under-achievement" will take more than higher levels of investment in struggling schools and low-socio-economic school communities, although this is important. It will also require more investment in early learning, accelerated literacy and numeracy programs, attracting high-achieving graduates to teaching, rewarding quality teaching, arming teachers with an improved national curriculum, more effective classroom methods, better facilities and good school leadership.
    
    "As the New York experience shows, disadvantaged schools need not remain so. In the districts such as Harlem and the Bronx, dozens of publicly owned but privately run charter schools and small, themed secondary schools with curriculums centred on finance, health or other areas have added variety to the mix and are breaking entrenched, decades-old patterns of low achievement. Such schools are growing in number to meet demand, with school boards playing a significant part in overseeing them and insisting on good teaching and facilities. As Mr Klein noted last year: "I want parents to say, 'Look, we could lose people to charter schools if our school doesn't improve.' Competition in this thing works."
    
    "Whatever reforms are introduced, empowering parental choice is essential. Ms Gillard, a pragmatic member of Labor's Left, is better placed than her predecessors to stare down the objections and obstructions of state bureaucracies and teacher unions. These recently reared their predictable head over the worthwhile push towards a voucher-like scheme, which would give students the power to choose between private training providers and public ones such as TAFEs. While frequently paying homage to choice and quality control, the Howard government deserved the criticisms levelled at it numerous times by The Australian for proving unable to turn its ideas into action over 11 years. As Ms Gillard says, it will take courage to introduce greater transparency in schools. The Rudd Government is showing signs that it has it."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • Comment
    
    First take Manhattan
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "Julia Gillard is to be commended for staring down opposition to the idea of giving parents and the community more information about the performance of our schools.
    
    "And before all else, her membership of Labor's Left makes her support for a national system to compare school performance immune to specious attacks of it being part of a neo-conservative agenda.
    
    "Gillard yesterday pointed to the New York system as a model from which Australia can learn, in particular the way it compares schools.
    
    "But in stopping short of endorsing the grading of schools to ensure quality, she is stopping at the Bronx.
    
    "Schools in New York City issue progress reports every year that compare students' performance levels this year with last. The report also compares schools with a set of peer schools, which are matched in terms of the years taught, student demographics and average results.
    
    "A "peer index" is calculated to rank the schools, with the peer group comprising the 20 schools above and the 20 schools below.
    
    "Schools are also judged on how their students' performance compares to similar schools across the city, and are graded A, B, C, D or F.
    
    "The majority of the score, 55 per cent, is based on how students have progressed in English and maths over a year. It's the value a school adds to a student, rather than the capacities students bring on their first day.
    
    "Thirty per cent of the score is measured by student performance, being the number of students that have reached proficiency goals.
    
    "The remaining 15 per cent is based on the school environment, which measures the preconditions for learning, such as student attendance and parent, student and teacher engagement in learning.
    
    "Extra credits are given to schools when their disadvantaged or low-achieving students make exemplary gains. Schools graded as A or B are rewarded financially. Schools graded D or F are given assistance to improve, and if they don't, are closed.
    
    "Decisions are made by principals, who are then held accountable.
    
    "For parents, the strength is knowing that the quality of their child's school is being monitored and meets a standard. It's a model worth considering in Australia."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Unify funding for unis
    by Fred Hilmer, vice-chancellor of the University of NSW
    
    The Rudd Government's education revolution is under way.
    
    "We have funding for more and better preschools. Every high school student is to have access to a computer. What is not clear is what is going to happen for our universities.
    
    "The answer is going to depend not on one, not on two, but on something like a dozen different reviews, each looking into a different part of the system. This is symptomatic of the major problem besetting the sector: fragmentation. Without leadership from the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister we will not have an effective revolution in higher education.
    
    "The university sector in this country is like a massive jigsaw where the pieces don't quite fit. Certainly the system needs a higher level of funding, but that alone is not the answer..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • Student lists are ‘apartheid’ (page 3)
    by Andrew Tillett
    
    “Parents will be able to find out how many poor, Aboriginal or migrant children are enrolled in each State school under a plan unveiled by Education Minister Julia Gillard that has infuriated teacher and principal associations, which warn it will widen the gap between wealthy and impoverished schools.
    
    “As part of efforts to redirect resources to the neediest schools, Ms Gillard said she wanted to publish data on the socioeconomic background of all students and the numbers of students at each school who were Aboriginal, disabled or from a non-English speaking background, including refugees.
    
    “The demographic data and results of national numeracy and literacy testing would together be used to work out which schools were struggling academically and extra government funding could be targeted to those most in need.
    
    “But the plan was instantly savaged by education groups, who fear it will lead to the creation of “league tables” and encourage “white flight” in which parents would refuse to enrol their children in local schools with a high ethnic or Aboriginal population.
    
    “WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry said data about school performance and demographics should be kept secret because it would invite unfair comparisons between schools.
    
    “The last thing we want is to introduce a feeling of apartheid,” Mr Fry said. “This is data that can make schools look good based on the background of the people enrolled.”
    
    “State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne predicted that releasing the data would accelerate the trend of parents seeking private education. Ms Gisborne said 70 per cent of children attended their local government primary school but this figure dropped to 56 per cent for high school.
    
    “This sort of information might be useful behind the scenes as to why results are the way they are but to put it out publicly each school’s difference could cause division,” she said.
    
    “We know that schools set up where children of different backgrounds and abilities work together have better results than streamed schools.”
    
    “Ms Gisborne was especially scathing about identifying the number of migrant or Aboriginal children at a school, warning it could create ethnic enclaves as white parents switched their child’s enrolment.
    
    “Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair agreed with that view, describing the consequences of white flight as “enormous”.
    
    “WA shadow education minister Peter Collier said schools would be stigmatised if the Government’s data was used to create unofficial league tables.
    
    “Ms Gillard denied the data would be used to create league tables but was unable to say what safeguards would be placed on the data to stop parents from drawing their own conclusions.
    
    “It’s in everybody’s interests, certainly in the interests of every Australian child studying at school today, for the maximum amount of information about our education system and their school to be available publicly,” she said.
    
    “WA Education Minister Mark McGowan offered some support for the proposal, saying he welcomed the recognition that schools were not all on the same level playing field.
    
    “I’m sure the Commonwealth can come up with protections against meaningless league tables,” Mr McGowan said.
    
    “Ethnic Communities Council of WA president Ramdas Sankaran also backed the plan, dismissing the notion of “white flight”, saying: “If people have made a choice to send their kid to a private school, it is for more reasons than because they don’t like the ethnicity.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 23)

    • More prisons?
      
      “It is good to see that Carps has pledged to employ 500 extra police officers. Considering the way his Government has run down the once strong public education system and seeing as there is a crisis in terms of teacher shortages, the police will come in handy in picking up the pieces created by the resultant social problems. Perhaps he should also look at building more prisons.
      
      “Hopefully, one day politicians will learn that investment in our social infrastructure is as important as reaping the revenue and royalties generated by a mineral boom.”
      
      Adrian Bell, Dianella
      
      

• The Age
  
  
  • TAFE student loan plan gets federal support
    
    The Rudd Government is expected to help Victoria introduce a HECS-style loan scheme for TAFE, paving the way for the most dramatic shake-up of the state's vocational education and training sector in years.
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • Bosses say education has worsened
    
    Nearly half of senior managers believe education in the UK has declined over the last 10 years, despite improvements in exam results, a study suggests.
    
    Similar story in The Guardian
    

 

Wednesday 13 August

• The West Australian
  

  • Editorial
    Knowledge means power for schools and parents
    
    “The more information there is in the public domain about government and the services it provides, the better.
    
    “And this applies especially to the education system.  It is in the best interests of parents, and their children, to know as much as they can about schools and how they are performing.
    
    “So Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard’s plan to publish data on the socioeconomic background of students at State Schools with the results of national numeracy and literacy testing is a welcome move.
    
    “Ms Gillard says the plan will be part of efforts to redirect resources to the neediest schools, with the data used to work out which schools are struggling academically so extra government funding can be targeted to those most in need.
    
    “Controversially, the data will include the numbers of students who are Aboriginal, disadvantaged or from non-English speaking background, including refugees.  This has raised the ire of teacher and principal associations, which warn it will widen the gap between wealthy and impoverished schools.
    
    “Education groups have argued the plan will lead to the creation of “league tables” and encourage “white flight” in which parents would refuse to enrol their children in local schools with high ethnic or Aboriginal population.
    
    “But the alternative is to keep the information secret, as proposed by WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry, denying parents and the community their right to knowledge about the state of our schools.
    
    “And the idea that publishing the data will lead to ethnic divisions has been rejected by Ethnic Communities Council of WA president Ramdas Sankaran.  Mr Sankaran dismissed the notion of “white flight”, saying: “If people have made a choice to send their kid to a private school, it is for more reasons than because they don’t like the ethnicity.”
    
    “Attempts to release information about students and schools’ performances traditionally have run into resistance with the argument that it will result in some being disadvantaged by the creation of unofficial “league tables, resulting in parents sending their children to better-performing institutions.
    
    “But this is not a foregone conclusion, and the publishing of such data is commonplace in other school systems.  Britain’s Department for Education and Skills, for example, publishes tables of information every year on the achievement of pupils in all schools.
    
    “And if some schools in the Australian system are found to be under-performing, the onus will be on the Government to live up to its promises and provide the help needed to raise the standards.
    
    “In any case, Ms Gillard says the plan is not concerned with drawing up league tables.  The aim is to compare schools in like positions to find out why some might be doing better than others and spread the best practice.
    
    “While the plan has much to recommend it, it obviously can only be part of a broad approach.
    
    “As the nations teachers ‘have pointed out, improving student performance and achievement will require investment, not just publishing performance information.
    
    “But the benefits of having the potential to help the children who need it most outweigh the concerns of the naysayers.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • WA teachers won’t cop this
      
      “Alan Carpenter has announced a $100 million plan to attract 500 extra police officers over the next five years. Will this plan include asking burnt-out, retired police officers to return or asking partly-qualified officers to work? This is how he dealt with the teacher shortage.
      
      “Teachers are not fooled by the “agreement in principle” which will make then the highest-paid teachers in Australia for a week or so. All teachers are underpaid so making WA's teachers the best paid slaves isn't going to change anything.
      
      “Teachers' salaries have been falling behind for many years sp a pay rise over three years which only matches inflation is a huge insult. Where is the immediate and significant investment in public education which the Twomey report called for? WA teachers and their families will have a big impact on the election on September 6.”
      
      Robin Taylor, Carine
      
      

    • Working for nothing
      
      “Much has been said about the pay offer made to teachers and many people cannot understand why this offer is being received with such contempt. It appears this is another attempt by the State Government to gain brownie points with the electorate and at the same time demonise teachers as not being satisfied with a significant pay offer.
      
      “Very clever of the Government to call a snap election before the teachers' vote is likely to be heard.
      
      “One aspect no one has mentioned is that in this new pay offer we are also expected to undertake 15 hours of professional development in our own time. This is losing two days pay (equating to one per cent of salary). With inflation, and this effective pay cut, our wages barely keep up with the cost of living.
      
      “There is no real pay rise at all and we are starting to be made to work for nothing. No wonder why teachers are not impressed with the offer.”
      
      Ramona Elliot, Lathlain
      
      

    • State 08: Wow!
      
      “Wow! We can now all relax and stop worrying about the dire state of education, health and law and order. According to the pollies, they have all the answers and it sounds, if you listen to them, as if they are spending their money and not ours. Fixed in a flash, I can't wait to vote.”
      
      Terry Stammer, Bunbury
      
      

    • State 08: Priorities
      
      “Please Mr Carpenter, before you promise 500 new policemen over five years, could we get the remainder of your last election promises? Also Messers Carpenter and Barnett, do we really need new laws on brothels? Repairing our failing health and education systems should be the priorities.”
      
      Maxine Green, Dianella
      
      
      

• SSTUWA
  
  
  • TAFE Negotiating News: Round 28
    
    MD’S WISH LIST FOR YOUR NEW CONDITIONS: The following is a summary list of what the Managing Directors of TAFE Colleges have asked to be included in your replacement working conditions.
    
    Removed
    
    • 1.    The requirement to consult lecturer’s over conditions as per our current agreement
    • 2.    The right to launch a an individual grievance
    • 3.    Removal of permanency as the preferred mode of employment
    • 4.    Removal of casual employment cap
    • 5.    Right to ARD off site at the lecturer’s discretion
    
    Added
    
    • 1.    Averaging as directed
    • 2.    Direction to force you take Christmas leave
    • 3.    Forced transfer to any public sector job (any where in the state)
    • 4.    Reduced notification of termination
    • 5.    Working extra hours to cover work that falls on public holidays
    • 6.    Flexible Hours Arrangement that removes all protections of the Certified Agreement: Span of hours, Overtime, Balance between ARD & Teaching hours and 37.5 hrs per week as directed by management.

    THE CALLING OF THE STATE ELECTION NOW PUTS THE UNION INTO ARBITARATION FOR OUR RIGHTS AND CONDITIONS
    
    We must all now focus on arbitration preparation. To assist we ask that all members when asked to contribute to this preparation do so as thoroughly and as quickly as possible. Please watch your emails for calls for information and assistance.
    
    591 DAYS SINCE LAST SALARY INCREASE
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Education reporting may block funding
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "NSW may risk losing millions of dollars in Commonwealth schools funding if it refuses to report educational outcomes such as the improvement of literacy rates for Aboriginal children, says the head of Christian Schools Australia.
    
    "NSW legislation prevents the reporting of information in a way that may allow the creation of controversial league tables of school results.
    
    "If the legislation is not repealed, it may stand in the way of plans by the federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, for a report card that would involve releasing information on test results, class sizes, teacher qualifications, attendance rates and the socio-economic status of families.
    
    "Stephen O'Doherty, a former state opposition spokesman on education, said the Federal Government must ensure all schools are part of the same reporting regime and it appeared the present legislation in NSW had set the state on a collision course with the Commonwealth agenda.
    
    "Instead of flying the Australian flag and displaying values statements, as required by the Howard government, under the new arrangements schools would be required to report on educational outcomes to qualify for additional Commonwealth funding for National Partnership programs such as improving Aboriginal literacy.
    
    "The legislation that will be introduced in parliament in the spring session will be making it very clear that there will be reporting on outcomes," Mr O'Doherty said.
    
    "The states and territories have already agreed to the National Partnership with the Commonwealth. However, the NSW Government has said it is not in favour of providing information that will lead to school rankings.
    
    "The NSW Teachers Federation opposes the creation of league tables because they "name and shame" disadvantaged schools. "If NSW doesn't sort out this problem with the NSW Teachers Federation and allow for the meaningful reporting of outcomes, not only with our education system fall behind other states, but NSW government schools could miss out on funds," Mr O'Doherty said.
    
    "Tied funding arrangements are expected to be part of legislation for the next four-year $12billion funding agreement with private schools.
    
    "A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard said the independent schools funding agreement had not yet been finalised. "Intensive and cooperative discussions are continuing with state and territory and Catholic and Independent school systems about the schools agreement and the outcomes including transparency measures, contained within it," she said.
    
    "The deputy president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Christine Cawsey, said principals were opposed to the notion of "anything that might resemble league tables".
    
    "However, Ms Cawsey said: "We would have no problem at all with targeted funding for children with language difficulties and other learning needs."
    
    "Although Ms Gillard has said league tables are of no value, she has not made it clear how she would prevent the media from publishing tables of schools based on the rankings."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Little information is dangerous
    
    My son attended one of the academically best-performing primary schools in our New York neighbourhood. My wife and I knew it was one of the top schools long before we arrived there to live because we could look up its results on the internet...
    
    Instead, [the entire education establishment] would prefer that no one knows which schools are failing, and that parents send their children to these schools in ignorance.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Sow the seeds of science in primary years, says report
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "By the age of 14, it's too late to convince a teenager that studying maths or science could be interesting, useful or lead to a career.
    
    "A federal government report released yesterday found that efforts to convince students to study the sciences should target primary schools rather than secondary students sizing up subject choices for their final years.
    
    "The report, Opening Up Pathways, reviewed national and international research on children's engagement with science, maths and technology, particularly in the transition from primary to secondary school, when many students suddenly lose interest.
    
    "The report found that most students have formed their life aspirations by the end of primary school and the first years of high school.
    
    "Lead researcher Russell Tytler said students' attitudes to science were also influenced by the type of people they thought they were and whether they could see themselves as scientists, engineers or mathematicians.
    
    "The self-identity of students is critical. It's more than just whether students like science and maths or not; it's whether it's the sort of thing they can see themselves doing, whether they're the sort of person who's interested in these areas," Professor Tytler said.
    
    "As they go through secondary school, we need to show how an interest in science can be transmitted into a possible future. Kids aren't made aware of the things you can do in science, maths and technology.
    
    "It's important at primary school that kids are made aware of the sort of people who do science so they can begin to think of themselves in that way."
    
    "The professor of science education at Deakin University said the developing world had better success at interesting students in the sciences because it was sold as nation-building and being involved for the good of their community, but students in the developed world focused on their hopes and desires. Yet a thread of altruism ran through students who chose careers in science, particularly among women, which could be harnessed.
    
    "Science and maths are still promoted as being about things, and they need to be sold on the basis of how people can make life better and contribute," Professor Tytler said.
    
    "The report says the key to engaging students' interest lies in the way the subjects are taught, and it calls for curriculum and pedagogy to be more appealing, relevant and meaningful to young people.
    
    "Professor Tytler said primary school teachers tended to lack confidence and interest in the sciences, and it was time to consider specialist science and maths teachers working with general teachers in primary schools.
    
    "Education Minister Julia Gillard said the report showed that quality teaching was the key to maintaining students' interest in maths and science."
    
    From The Australian at link [I think I've fixed the five typos in the original... Web]
    
    
    
  • Aboriginal school attendance policy 'ineffective'
    
    Linking welfare payments to school attendance in indigenous communities is destined to fail because it ignores the underlying reasons children stay away from classes: health problems and a lack of basic facilities.
    
    
    
  • TAFE vouchers on the agenda
    
    The federal Government is "firmly entertaining" a voucher-like system for vocational education according to University of Ballarat vice-chancellor David Battersby.
    
    
    
  • Indigenous students find maths is a good yarn
    
    Annette Baturo and Tom Cooper teach deadly maths, but not as in deadly boring. Rather, the two Queensland University of Technology academics have spent years working out ways to make the Queensland high school maths syllabus relevant, even appealing, for remote indigenous students.
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Read with your children, minister tells parents after drop in standards
    
    Reading standards among 14-year-olds have fallen in the past year, national curriculum test results revealed yesterday.
    
    The Schools minister, Jim Knight, called on parents to encourage their children to read after results showed a drop of two percentage points in the number of students who had attained the required reading standard.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    

    • Trouble at TAFEs
      
      "A story like "The twisted road to learning" (Analysis & Debate, 11/8) should be a wake-up call to the Brumby Government and Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Jacinta Allen.
      
      "Under proposals that will undermine TAFEs by funding fly-by-night registered training organisations that have no infrastructure, stories like this will be all too common.
      
      "Why does this head-in-the-sand Government think that TAFE teachers are going on strike? It's not just wages, but lack of funding for quality training courses and the proposal to put up fees for quality education and training that is nationally recognised. The privatisation by stealth of TAFEs will see so many more rip-off private organisations compete for the Government's education dollar.
      
      "I want to know where they'll get qualified staff to teach at these shifty organisations, or is that not an issue? Students can already do "training courses" in hairdressing, scaffolding and cooking that carry no recognised industry qualifications.
      
      "As long as private bodies can call themselves institutes, colleges and academies, and get government funding and permission to do so, the rorts by some will continue unabated."
      
      Alan Long, Moe

 

Thursday 14 August

• Liberal Party of WA: Empowering School Communities
  
  
  • Executive Summary
    
    The Liberal Party acknowledges that not all schools are the same and this needs to be recognised. That is, schools should be given the opportunity to respond to the unique demands of the local community. Members of a school staff and community need to feel that they have the authority to make decisions necessary to improve teaching and learning, although school communities vary in how much authority they need.
    
    We recognise that the school community is best placed to set directions for their school to ensure every young person has the greatest opportunity to achieve in education and in life.
    
    The Liberal Party vision, as for schools in Victoria, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and Canada, is to give greater responsibility for student achievement to school leaders and communities. This will be within a framework for a system of public schools where policy and budget will be determined for implementation locally, for those schools that are equipped to do so.
    
    The problems associated with a highly centralised system of governance with our schools has long been recognised. These views were reinforced by the Carpenter Government commissioned Twomey Report into Workforce Education Initiatives, which emphasised strong and consistent criticism of the Department of Education and Training, with beliefs that it is:
    
    “…too large, too remote and bureaucratic, often unresponsive and focused too much on issues of process and compliance rather than on aiding and facilitating the learning workplace.” (page 80)
    
    Twomey also stated that:
    
    “...it is the general view of the Taskforce that there ought to be greater diversity within the system and that more issues need to be delegated to local levels (ie to schools, districts or clusters of schools in an area).” (page 81)
    
    With this perception, delegation of centrally-held powers becomes just one strategy of achieving a school’s goals. Others include increased flexibility through regulatory reform and policy review.
    
    A Liberal Government will provide the opportunity for schools to be empowered with the authority to make decisions that reflect the needs and aspirations of the individual school and the local community.
    
    For schools to be able to respond quickly to market forces, they should be given the choice to make all the necessary decisions themselves: that is, they should be as autonomous as possible. It is therefore critical that centrally-held powers affecting the ability of a school to respond quickly to market forces be devolved to the schools.
    
    From the policy document at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Liberal plan for community schools [online only: added at 3:15 pm]
    
    "School districts would be cut by more than half and schools would be responsible for their own management under an education policy announced by Opposition education minister Peter Collier yesterday.
    
    "Mr Collier outlined a community schooling concept where all decision making for a school would be done at a local level and principals would be responsible for all aspects of how the school was run.
    
    "That included implementing and assessing the curriculum, finance, marketing and sponsorship, community relations, facilities and the organisational structure and profile of teaching staff. All would be the responsibility of principals under the Liberal Party plan.
    
    "Principals will no longer be forced to seek permission through an arduous process before making decisions which impact upon their schools," Mr Collier said.
    
    "Community schooling will provide the opportunity for schools to be empowered with the authority to make decisions that reflect the needs and aspirations of the individual school and the local community." 
    
    "Each school would have a school council to oversee roles such as appointing the principal, approving the budget, developing a school charter and administering recommendations from any external reviews.
    
    "Mr Collier said no schools would be forced to go down the community schooling path, but all would be given the choice.
    
    "He also said the policy included streamlining district offices, reducing the number of education districts from 14 to six, with two in the big metropolitan areas and four in the country."
    
    From The West Australian online at link
    
    
    
  • Historic college to close doors (page 11)
    by Jodie Thomson
    
    “A northern Wheatbelt community east of Geraldton which has battled through the drought has been dealt a fresh blow with the impending closure of its historic Catholic college.
    
    “The 80-year-old Christian Brothers Agricultural School at Tardun is to close its Year 8 to 12 schooling at the end of next year, despite local community members arguing the institution remained an important part of the community, with student enrolments increasing in recent years.
    
    “Enrolments have risen from 60 in 2003 to about 90, with the once all-boys boarding school, 140km east of Geraldton, opening its doors to female students last year.
    
    “Shire of Mullewa chief executive Tom Hartman said urgent talks were being sought with school operators Edmund Rice Education Australia.
    
    “The general feeling is that the loss of that facility in our area, and also in the State, is an important issue,” he said. “We want to look at keeping the place operating.”
    
    “The school began in 1928 in tents and sheds under the Christian Brothers teaching order and in following decades its students included orphan and migrant boys, particularly from Britain and Malta.
    
    “In the 1960s, the school, which is on 18,000 ha of wheat farming land, turned its focus to agriculture.
    
    “It has recently concentrated on accommodating students who may not fit into mainstream schooling, drawing children from the Geraldton area, Perth and the Kimberley.
    
    “Local farmer Michael Thomas, who was chairman of the school for five years until its board was disbanded last Friday, said school staff and the community had worked hard to boost student numbers in recent years, despite the challenges posed by the recent drought.
    
    “We are disappointed at this decision, which will have repercussions not only for the parents of the students at the school but right though the Mullewa community, of which the school is an active part,” he said.
    
    “Edmund Rice executive director Wayne Tinsey said the school was operating at a loss at current enrolments but that was not the reason behind the closure.
    
    “The organisation was taking a new national approach, which would include flexible learning centres in Perth and regional areas, along with mobile outreach schooling where required.
    
    “Dr Tinsey said students interested in agriculture could move to the bigger Catholic agricultural school at Bindoon, while positions in other suitable schools would be sought for the remainder of the students.
    
    “While the intention was to stop operations at the end of next year, if a small group of students could not find appropriate schooling elsewhere, resources at Tardun would be made available to ensure their education continued.
    
    “A lot of the emotion around Tardun is that they believe Edmund Rice Education Australia is going to abandon the kids, it’s anything but,” Dr Tinsey said.
    
    “Former school board member and Nationals MP Grant Woodhams said the school was providing a critical service to the WA community.
    
    “The school pulls kids from all over WA and provides them with an educational environment that they are not going to get elsewhere,” he said.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Rattled in the west
    by Tony Barrass
    
    "The September 6 election in Western Australia will be like no other. There are so many variables, so many unknowns, that it would take a brave soul to call it.
    
    "Labor should win. But, in saying that, you would be a fool not to emphasise the word should. Labor has to lose 10 seats in a swing against it of about 4 per cent. This is a considerable ask, even in a state with a traditionally strong conservative vote.
    
    "Labor should win because it has incumbency on its side; because last year's electoral redistribution comes down heavily in its favour; because the Opposition, until two weeks ago, was a rabble headed by a politician internationally ridiculed for his chair-sniffing antics and schoolboy high jinks.
    
    "Labor should win because the ALP has become a hard-edged, experienced party machine run by the likes of Bill Johnston and Kieran Murphy, state secretaries and chiefs of staff who know how to win elections; because the WA economy is running at about 6 per cent annual growth; because most voters are doing very well in a state that's the envy of the nation.
    
    "So why is there a sense in the electorate that Labor is on the nose? And why does Alan Carpenter's Government look seriously spooked, giving out the vibe that it's rattled?" ...
    
    "But we're a weird mob in the west, and we like nothing better than pushing against the load. At the federal election last year, WA was the only state to give what remained of the Howard government an extra seat. The conservative vote west of the rabbit-proof fence remains strong. Just how strong is a question that will be making Labor's backroom boys sweat during the coming weeks."

    Tony Barrass is the West Australian editor of The Australian.
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Doctor strikes loom as Brumby stalls on pay talks
    
    Public hospitals in Victoria face looming disruption after doctors yesterday threatened industrial action in protest at a lack of progress in their pay campaign.
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Improving school standards
      
      "It's a shame that while your editorial ("Empower parents to boost schooling”, 12/8) is quick to commend Julia Gillard and the Rudd Labor Government for their efforts to improve school standards, and thus condemn the previous Howard government’s inability to “turn its ideas into action over 11 years”, you have just as quickly forgotten that a prime reason for such slow progress during these 11 years was the opposition of the state Labor governments time and again to any initiatives from the Howard government that looked to even slightly improve teaching standards. Just because Gillard is now at the federal education helm doesn’t mean the states will be quick to change course.
      
      Daniel Downes, The Gap, Qld
      
      
      
    • "It is great to see Julia Gillard ("New York state of mind on school ranks”, 12/8) applying the Rudd Government’s commitment to evidence-based policy in her proposal for a national school performance reporting system. The suggested reform would improve the quality of tuition by making school performance more transparent and accountable."
      
      Robert Tulip, Fraser, ACT
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Measuring the quality of education not as simple as it seems
      
      "Professional educators would welcome Julia Gillard's assertion that teaching excellence should be identified and rewarded, and that high standards be expected of all students ("Tell-all report cards to compare schools", August 12). We all want better schools.
      
      "However, the strategies for improving education require careful scrutiny. Comprehensive and valid data is a necessary basis for any improvement strategy. However, great care must be taken in interpreting and applying this data if it is expected to guide the educational agenda and determine resource levels.
      
      "A test-driven curriculum would undoubtedly distort educational programs; and general comparisons of schools, not based on a thorough understanding of the complexities of learning and teaching, would simply mislead and distract the public.
      
      "Even comparisons of schools in similar environments, and with similar problems, may not be helpful unless based on a deeply informed understanding of the specific context, culture and rate of improvement of the schools concerned.
      
      "When governments around the world have adopted quick and simple solutions to complex educational problems, they have usually got it wrong and seem determined to continue doing so.
      
      "It would be so much easier if schools were factories, created to produce easily measured, standardised products. But they are not. They are full of vibrant, growing, learning human beings, each with individual needs, styles, natural abilities and background experiences.
      
      "We have known for well over two decades now that the key to improving students' learning is a combination of good teachers using relevant methods. We would be better served by helping teachers to continuously improve the effectiveness of their teaching, rather than focusing on narrow measures of some aspects of student achievement that don't show the whole picture.
      
      "The world of learning is delightfully complex. We need to be careful we do not confine learning to a simplistic mindset of measurements and comparisons in our endeavour for a better education system."
      
      Greg Whitby, Executive director of schools, Catholic diocese of Parramatta
      
      
      

    • Schools sink to new lows with published comparisons

      "No one can blame Mark Coultan ("Little information is dangerous", August 13) for wanting a safe New York school for his children. But he has not shown that publishing comparisons creates quality schools for everyone.
      
      "They target and close down underperforming (that is, marginalised) schools, but unsurprisingly they have to open again in some form. Some schools in England have been recycled several times and still stay on the bottom of a vicious heap, always facing the tough end of teaching and struggling to make a difference.

      "Competing in this way creates sink schools; places to take the students no one wants. Let's not kid ourselves that creating league tables of schools is any part of a solution."

      Chris Bonnor, Cherrybrook
      
      

    • "The "Metal Detector High" Mark Coultan mentions was allowed to remain open for several years as an official "failing school". This implies there was a student body, and that their parents were for some reason unable to send them to a better school. If it's hard to change schools in such a densely populated city as New York, it will be virtually impossible here - choice will be restricted, as always, to those with deeper pockets."
      
      Ellen Hrebeniuk, Lidcombe
      
      

    • "We do not send our daughter to our local comprehensive school "in ignorance", as Mark Coultan suggests, but in the full knowledge of what makes a great school. I know about the challenges the school has, but you won't find the best things about it on any report card or league table.
      
      "Our daughter gets to befriend and understand girls of a different race, class, culture and religion. Many of the students do extremely well in the HSC, but that is not my definition of success.
      
      "While Sydney Girls and James Ruse are great schools in their own right, they are hardly the model the whole system should aspire to.
      
      "By all means assess the needs of schools and evaluate their performance, but the thought that in the name of competition you could allow a school to run down and eventually close, simply because on some objective measure it is "failing", is truly abhorrent."

      Lisa Watts, Randwick
      
      
      

• US News and World Report
  
  
  • Should Students Major in Turfgrass Science? (31 July)
    by Steven Yaccino
    
    Specialized majors offer perks—like golf—but raise concern about long-term career prospects
    
    "Daniel Hughes first took a summer maintenance position at his hometown golf course in Allentown, Pa., solely for the free golf. But waking up before dawn to mow greens and rake sand traps soon became something more than just another summer job—it became his college major. In fall of 2005, just before his sophomore year at Pennsylvania State University, he switched his major from education to turfgrass science, a four-year bachelor's degree offered through the school's College of Agricultural Science. In that program, Hughes and some 200 other undergrads at Penn State study plant diseases and pest and weed control, along with other courses tailored specifically to managing turf, which is mostly used in golf courses and other sport stadiums. "At first I thought it was a goofy sounding major," he admits. "I couldn't believe there was a whole field of study for it."
    
    "For the past 30 years, career-oriented majors like turfgrass science have been popping up in colleges nationwide, as an increasing number of students feel this kind of specialization will make them more competitive in tight job markets than a broader degree in liberal arts and sciences. As of 2004, about 80 percent of all U.S. four-year institutions now offer degrees in practical studies—fields rooted in preparing students for a specific vocation. Studies show that some 60 percent of all undergraduates are enrolled in career-oriented majors, up from 45 percent in the 1960s. But not all educators agree on what qualities employers are looking for in recent college grads, and many worry students are not being properly prepared for the future.
    
    "Anthony Marx, president of Amherst College, says there is a danger of overspecializing on the undergraduate level because it could prevent students from developing the broader critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills that graduates need to succeed in a competitive job market. "I think that if you specialize too early, you may think you're getting a boost in the short term, but you will not be prepared in the long term for the kinds of varied careers that students are going to have in this century, and certainly not be prepared for leadership roles in those careers," he says. Amherst is one of 95 remaining U.S. colleges with no graduate school where 80 percent or more students study liberal arts and sciences. These schools now make up less than 1 percent of the total enrollment in the U.S., according to the latest Carnegie Classifications..."
    
    Full story in US News and World Report at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Union urges Govt to protect uni staff working conditions
    
    The National Tertiary Education Union is calling on the Government to protect the working conditions of university staff.
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Pay Dispute Continues as Classes Near
    
    D.C. Teachers Split Along Age Lines
    
    Less than two weeks before classes begin, many of the District's 4,000 public school teachers are locked in a heated debate over Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's proposal to offer salaries exceeding $100,000 for those willing to give up job security and tie their fates to student achievement.
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Closing students' minds
    
    When I taught English A-level 15 years ago, the emphasis was on exploring the text. Now, it's all about 'assessment objectives'
    
    

    The news that A-level grades have risen yet again comes as no surprise to teachers like me. We've become much better at teaching to the tests, and pupils are much more proficient at passing them. But does this mean that our students are genuinely becoming cleverer?
    
    Worryingly, I think not. My experience suggests that precisely the opposite is happening. When I think back to when I first started teaching A-level 15 years ago, I realise that my lessons were a great deal more creative and exploratory and, as a result, fostered more intelligent, original and crafted responses.

 

Friday 15 August

• The Collie Mail
  
  
  • High school to lose half its teachers? [from 7 August]
    by Elysia Tilbrook
    
    "A large proportion of Collie Senior High School teachers are considering their employment options and keeping an eye on the job market.
    
    "A local teacher, who did not want to be named, approached the Collie Mail about the issue earlier in the week, as a State School Teachers’ Union representative.
    
    "It followed action from union members, who met with Collie-Wellington MLA Mick Murray last Wednesday to discuss conditions of the current enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
    
    "The teacher said his main concern was that teachers wanted a system they could be proud of. “The pay rise is only part of the issue,” he said.
    
    “Schools are doing their best to cope in the current system.” He said the major issues were the lack of respect shown by the government and the ongoing pay issues. “We have had to check our pay slips to make sure there are no mistakes, as there have been in the past,” he said.
    
    "The teacher said if the current EBA proposal was signed, the majority of teachers would only receive a rise of about 17 percent over three years, which came marginally over inflation.
    
    “There are a number of teachers close to retirement and if the proposed EBA goes through they will be rethinking their options,” he said.
    
    “There is also a large proportion of teachers who are keeping an eye on the job market and considering their options.”
    
    "He said if the EBA went through and a large proportion of Collie teachers left, he hoped it would not mean the school would have to close. “I suspect some schools in WA would close, but those remaining staff would be filtered to other schools, including Collie, and the high school would not have to close,” he said.
    
    “However, we would expect an increase in the cycle of staff,which would be disruptive to students, but at least we wouldn’t have to close.” He said one of his major concerns about Collie Senior High School was the amount of demountables in use – there are currently six.
    
    "The teacher said it was about time a new building was erected to accommodate the 600 students.
    
    "A Department of Education and Training spokesperson said the department was urging teachers to look at the details of the in-principle agreement between the union executives and the Education Department, available on the website. “This deal will make our teachers the highest paid in the country,” he said.
    
    "Mr Murray said he accepted the teachers’ right to protest, but was disappointed the Teachers’ Union came away from the negotiating table without finalising the deal.
    
    "He said he was also surprised teachers did not have all the details about the EBA.
    
    “There are still issues concerned with getting teachers into the workforce and keeping them,” he said. When asked if he thought the proposed pay rise was enough, he said it was not for him to comment, but instead up to teachers to vote.
    
    “But I have said before, I do hate percentage pay rises,” he said.
    
    "Shadow Treasurer and Capel MLA Steve Thomas said he had a huge amount of sympathy for teachers. “This is the last opportunity for teachers to have their say and have a significant pay rise,” he said. Dr Thomas said the government had treated teachers with contempt and their needs had been ignored.
    
    “The government should apologise for the way in which the teachers have been treated.”
    
    From The Collie Mail
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Alston


© The West Australian




• ABC News
  

• Teachers' Union baulks at Opposition plan to give school principals more power [Alternative title: Gisborne defends DET... again... still  Web]
  
  "The State School Teachers' Union has warned that any move to give principals the power to hire and fire staff would be met with great resistance from teachers.
  
  "The Opposition promised yesterday that if elected it would give greater responsibilities to principals and cut the level of centralised bureaucracy in the Education Department.
  
  "However, the President of the State School Teachers' Union, Anne Gisborne, says the policy would make it more difficult for schools in low socio-economic areas and less desirable locations to attract teachers.
  
  "We have got issues with teacher shortages and the deployment of staffing being left at local decision making will only exacerbate problems," she said.
  
  "The State President of the Primary Principals Association, Steven Breen, says the change would be difficult to implement.

  "We would be extremely disappointed if the government changed and they bought this in without consultation."
  
  "Secondary principals are also calling for consultation on the issue."

  From ABC News at link
  
  
  
• WA politicians granted a payrise
  
  Western Australia's politicians have been granted a 4.2 per cent payrise, taking the base salary of a MP to just under $130,000 a year.
  
  
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    The Premier Alan Carpenter says he does not believe state members of parliament deserve a pay-rise, given that Federal M-P's went without one earlier this year.
    
    
    
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  The Education Department says classes at Churchlands Senior Highshcool will not be affected by a fire at the school overnight.
  
  
  
• Public servant pay dispute reluctantly resolved
  
  A long running pay dispute between the State Government and Western Australia's public servants has ended.
  
  
  
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