Monday 8 September

Tuesday 9 September

Wednesday 10 September

Thursday 11 September

Friday 12 September  The Vote on EBA-3 is a resounding NO

Saturday – Sunday, 13 – 14 September  Nationals support Liberals to govern WA

Monday 8 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Poll result hangs in limbo [online only]
    
    Voters may not know who will govern WA until next week after National Party leader Brendon Grylls said he would wait for the outcome of the vote count and further talks with the Labor and Liberal leaders.
    
    
    
  • Alston (page 20)

  

  © The West Australian
  
  
  

  • $1m school fire deliberate: police [online only]
    by Jayne Rickard
    
    "Detectives investigating a $1 million fire that devastated the East Manjimup Primary School during the weekend believe the blaze was deliberately lit.
    
    "Arson squad detectives believe the fire started after a burglary at the school between 5pm Friday and 7am Saturday.
    
    "Electoral staff arriving on Saturday to set up a polling station raised the alarm and police believe by then the blaze had been burning for at least six hours.
    
    "Detectives believe the arsonists forced their way into the school through a library window and removed electronic equipment including computers, screens, monitors and headphones.
    
    "Witnesses reported seeing two children running from the building about midnight, while police later located some of the stolen property near a fence along the school boundary.
    
    "The fire completely gutted the building and its contents and damage is estimated at $1 million.
    
    "Police have called for information from the public to assist their enquiries and anyone who can help should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Bid to sell condoms in WA schools [online only]
    
    A leading family planning group has called for condom vending machines in WA high schools and female students to be provided with access to the contraceptive pill.
    
    
    
  • Frivolous PhDs spark serious deliberation (page 5)
    
    PhDs in armpits, witchcraft, 1950s kitchens and Harry Potter are among the quirky research projects at WA universities that have sparked controversy over how taxpayers are funding doctoral study.
    
    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Teachers want vote on pay deal delayed
    
    "Teachers say the vote on their pay deal should be delayed until after the result of Saturday's election is known.
    
    "Teachers are due to vote on the deal by Friday morning, but say they way they vote would depend on which party is in power.
    
    "Alan Carpenter's government offered a pay increase between 15 and 21 per cent over three years but during election campaigning the Liberals promised to top up that pay offer by $120 million.
    
    "Marko Vojkovic from the education watchdog PLATO says it would be unfair to make teachers vote before a result is clear.
    
    "It would make a lot of sense to postpone or delay the vote until we know who's in power, he said.
    
    "We would look very stupid asking our members to accept an inferior offer than one that's already been put on the table by the Liberals." [emphasis added]
    
    "However, the President of the State School Teachers' Union, Anne Gisborne is urging teachers to send in their votes.
    
    "Ms Gisborne says the Liberal Party would not lock them into the deal if it wins power.
    
    "The outcome of a yes would provide an opportunity, if it's a Liberal government, for us to go back and negotiate a salary matter," she said.
    
    "If it's a yes and it's a Labor Government then we will proceed to bed down the current agreement and look for further opportunities examine allowances and so on during the life of this agreement."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Comment
    Schools policy smacks of cheap populism
    by Paul Williams
    
    "Most parents will be pleased Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made good on his 2007 election pitch to make the "education revolution" a priority of his first government.
    
    "But how much of his schools policy is geared to a genuine solution to what appear to be declining educational standards, and how much is the politics of populism? Indeed, how revolutionary is a policy trialled by former prime minister John Howard?

    Federal Labor has now committed itself to three "pillars" of education reform.
    
    "The first calls for the "best" teachers to be rewarded with higher salaries. A second initiative decrees all Commonwealth education funding to the states be contingent on schools publishing performance data. This is to indicate for parents where their child's school rates against others in the state, and allows dissatisfied parents, in Rudd's own words, to "vote with their feet" and find a more "successful" school. The third, and wholly commendable, idea is to boost funding to "underprivileged" schools by up to $500,000 per year.
    
    "The first two initiatives sound admirable, until we ask who is to determine how we measure "best" or "success".
    
    "Is a child's intellectual and scholarly performance the only measure of a "good" teacher? Or even the most appropriate one? Aren't other factors also at play in any child's development? What of the child's socioeconomic background? Can a teacher legitimately be "punished" with a lower salary for a child's poor educational outcome when that child's own parents do little or nothing to foster their offspring's learning?
    
    "Two natural corollaries arise from the specious belief that teachers' behaviours alone shape academic outcomes. First, there is the potentially disastrous plan to place the "best" teachers, however defined, in the "worst" schools - again, however defined. Without providing support for other sociocultural variables such as disadvantaged communities which may be affected by alcohol, drugs, crime, violence and poverty, little can be gained from such an experiment, except to destroy the morale of hitherto committed and enthusiastic educators. Of course one would hope the best trained teachers are placed in disadvantaged schools, just as one hopes the best trained teachers are in every school.
    
    "A second undesirable corollary is to give individual schools, steered by a parochial committee of parents and principal, the power to hire and fire teaching staff. Again, parents untrained in pedagogy aren't necessarily the most qualified people to make staffing decisions, and such a plan will invariably see "popular" teachers hired and "unpopular" staff - perhaps those who are behaviourally strict with their students - dismissed.
    
    "In short, Labor's new schools policy smacks of cheap populism.
    
    "First, it buoys a new Prime Minister whose electoral honeymoon is coming to an end by aligning him with parents' popular concerns. If parents are worried their children aren't learning, they can find comfort in a PM who blames soft, easy and unpopular targets: teachers, teachers' unions, and state governments. Note the fact Rudd delivered his schools policy - without caucus approval - to the National Press Club, where he knew it would receive wall-to-wall media coverage.
    
    "Second, it allows the PM to engage in the politics of federalism. By picking a fight with state governments over the release of school performance "league tables", the PM can again appear to be engaging in nation-building while state administrations and teachers' unions appear to play the politics of parochial self-interest.
    
    "Then there's the political beauty of it. The policy potentially wedges the Opposition: either the Coalition supports Rudd, or the Opposition appears anti-education. And, if the policy proves impossible to implement, it won't be the Commonwealth's fault but that of the states and recalcitrant unions.
    
    "It's thoroughly admirable that a Commonwealth Government of any political hue is committed to assisting state and territory governments improve educational outcomes. But any policy that tinkers with one side of the equation - namely teachers - without similarly adjusting the other side - namely disadvantaged communities - is doomed to fail. It's a simple mathematical lesson one would have hoped the PM would have learnt. Perhaps we should blame his teachers."

  Dr Paul Williams is a lecturer in Griffith University's School of Humanities and a senior writer for the Courier Mail.

  From ABC News at link
  
  
  

  • NT teachers reject revised pay offer
    
    "Teachers in Darwin and Palmerston have rejected the Northern Territory Government's last pay offer despite the Education Union recommending members accept it.
    
    "In the latest offer, the Commissioner for Public Employment lifted the pay increase to 12.5 per cent over three years.
    
    "But the union says about 75 per cent of teachers at today's meeting rejected the rise and conditions.
    
    "The Union says the bush and regional branches will vote on the offer over the next few days."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Gillard faces clash on teacher training
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "The Rudd Government is on a collision course with education deans over proposals to shorten some teacher-training programs and recruit non-teaching graduates for the toughest classrooms.
    
    "At a meeting of education ministers this week, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard will urge the states to follow Victoria and adopt an international scheme in which high-flying young graduates - from any field of study - are recruited to teach in struggling schools.
    
    "Ms Gillard is also considering a restructure of teacher education by cutting back on the length of some tertiary courses, while boosting the level of practical experience students get.
    
    "We're at a stage now where people can get a diploma in education if they have an undergraduate degree. So say they have a degree in science, they can do a graduate diploma in 12 months now. We're obviously exploring the possibility of making that shorter," she told The Age.
    
    "The Government will discuss the ideas with universities and state authorities over the next three weeks as it moves towards a new national agreement to improve teaching quality in all schools. It will also:
    
    
    • Examine ways to identify and recruit top classroom teachers to work as mentors for university teaching students.
    • Explore a national accreditation system to measure teaching performance and standards.
    • Work towards new salary structures rewarding accomplished teachers, which would include "resources above and beyond" the next four-year schools funding agreement.

  "But even before talks have begun, the Australian Council of the Deans of Education has warned that shortening teacher-training courses and recruiting underqualified graduates could do more harm than good.
  
  "The world view is that where you have more years for teacher preparation, you have better outcomes," said council president Sue Willis.
  "Countries like Finland, which do exceptionally well, offer a masters degree to teach - so it's not about reducing the length of training, it's about increasing it."
  
  "If the Government is serious, it should inject more money into cash-strapped education faculties, Professor Willis said. She also questioned recruiting non-teaching graduates for struggling schools - an idea based on two international models: Teach First, in Britain, and Teach For America, in the US.
  
  "Under these programs, altruistic graduates take on teaching roles for at least two years. They are given five to six weeks of preparation before entering the classroom, as well as financial incentives and ongoing support.
  
  "Ms Gillard became a fan of Teach First and Teach for America after learning about the programs during a trip earlier this year. She wants other states to follow Victoria, which will adopt the program in 2010 by taking on 170 graduates.
  
  "Professor Willis said the scheme was unsustainable and unworkable. But Ms Gillard said the overseas programs had been successful in getting top students to some of the toughest schools, and in boosting perceptions of teaching as a valued profession.
  
  "The evidence from these programs shows that these teachers do make a difference in classrooms, do make a positive difference in the schools that they go to (and) many of them, at the end of the two years of Teach First, elect to stay on in teaching," she said."
  
  From The Age at link
  
  Similar stories in The West Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  

• The Australian
  
  
  • One pupil in five needs help with mental problems
    
    One in five children needs support to deal with mental health or emotional wellbeing issues, many school principals believe.

    A survey of 1200 principals worldwide, including 270 in Australia, found students' academic performance was directly linked to how they felt emotionally.
    
    

  • Editorial
    Voters shake up the landscape
    
    While the weekend's political results in three states were a bundle of contradictions for the major parties, the underlying themes and messages were clear.

    The biggest political weekend since the election of the Rudd Government last year showed that voters have become increasingly intolerant of underperforming politicians of all persuasions. No party, however well-entrenched, can take public support, even among its traditional base, for granted. For Labor, a day after its upheavals in NSW, it was an appalling weekend, losing Western Australia with a 6 per cent swing against the Government of Alan Carpenter. Mr Carpenter's only hope is to strike an unlikely partnership with the Nationals; failing that, Labor's coast-to-coast dominance is over...
    
    

  • Op Ed
    This is a vote for political balance
    by Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large
    
    The vote in Western Australia highlights not just a state ALP failure but a visceral national dislike of the coast-to-coast dominance of the Labor Party.
    
    
    
  • Comment
    Knives are out for bumbling leader
    by Tony Barrass
    
    "Whatever scenario plays out in the west over the next week or so, you can be assured of one thing; the knives are out for Alan Carpenter.
    
    "Seething Labor MPs, party hacks and assorted hangers-on have every reason to be livid following Saturday night's embarrassing rout. In a matter of five short weeks, they have gone from red-hot, unbackable favourites to finding themselves clinging to the edge of an abyss.
    
    "Poor old Carps, who seems to be morfing into Methuselah as the hours tick by, is in the dog house. Voters have turned on him and a growing number of them see Colin Barnett as The Man. And now his own troops are glancing over their shoulders at him, muttering dark thoughts about whether he's up to the job.
    
    "Central to their argument is Carpenter's judgment. They believe it to be poor and the decision to go to the polls almost six months early - seen by voters as an offensive attempt to use the Beijing Olympics to stifle any Opposition message - reinforces that concern..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Lucky Grylls cashes in after Carpenter blunder
    by Peter van Onselen
    
    "In opportunistically calling an early election, Alan Carpenter claimed he was doing so to end uncertainty and bring greater stability to government.

    "Instead, Western Australia is now in a state of flux. As counting resumes today, a hung parliament is far and away the most likely outcome, with the two major parties falling over each other to strike a deal with the Nationals, who hold the balance of power..."
    
    "Barnett's ascension to the Liberal leadership and his stunning performance in Saturday's election was a triumph of good over evil. Not over Carpenter, a decent man to be sure, but over the dark forces in the West Australian Liberal branch..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    

    • Labor must learn to listen to the people for survival [8 Letters]

Tuesday 9 September

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Australia rated foot of developed world on school funding
    
    "Australia's government spending on public education is the second lowest among developed nations, a new report has found. Turkey, Portugal, Mexico and Iceland all spend more money on public education institutions than Australia. Only Belgium spends less.
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard says the new OECD Education at a Glance report highlights the need for the Rudd Government's much-hyped "education revolution".
    
    "This new report shows that Australia performs well overall in education and training but there are some long standing areas of underperformance and underinvestment," Ms Gillard said.
    
    "Investing in education is crucial to driving productivity growth and to building a modern and prosperous economy for the future."
    
    "Australian Education Union Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the OECD figures were a sad indictment of the Howard government's neglect of schools and universities.
    
    "The Rudd government must now take immediate and urgent steps to redress this critical underfunding to our schools," he said.
    
    "The report also shows experienced teachers in Australia are paid significantly less than the OECD average, but teach longer hours and more weeks than most OECD nations, Mr Gavrielatos said.
    
    "In 2005, just 0.1 per cent of GDP was spent on pre-primary institutions, compared to the OECD average of 0.4 per cent, ranking Australia equal 24th out of 26 countries.
    
    "Tertiary education expenditure was only 1.1 per cent of GDP, also less than the OECD average.
    
    "But Ms Gillard pointed out there was some good news, such as that eighty per cent of 25 to 34-year-old Australians have attained at least upper secondary level education, above the OECD average."
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • Editorial
    Short cuts not the way to train our teachers (page 20)
    
    “The Rudd Government’s proposals to shorten some teacher-training programs and recruit star graduates from any discipline to work in the nation’s toughest classrooms – with perhaps just a few weeks preparation – are puzzling.
    
    “At first sight they might look like attractive options which could energise the profession and help inspire battling students. But on closer inspection, the proposals, which have come under fire from education deans, look less attractive and at odds with the Government’s commitment to improving the quality of teaching.
    
    “Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard wants the States to follow Victoria’s lead and adopt an international scheme in which outstanding young graduates from any field of study are recruited to teach in struggling schools.
    
    “But while this is a commendable push to put bright young altruistic minds to work in our classrooms, it appears the high-flying graduates in the non-profit overseas schemes are given as five to six weeks preparation before being launched into schools.
    
    “Ms Gillard is also considering revamping tertiary teacher education by cutting back on the length of graduate diploma courses.
    
    “This comes as the Government moves to secure a national agreement on lifting the quality of teaching as it works towards an accreditation system to measure performance and standards and a new salary structure rewarding accomplished teachers.
    
    “Few would disagree with moves to promote teachers’ professionalism and standards and to reward good performance with higher salaries. Substantial pay rises and improving the profession’s image were high on the list of recommendations made in Professor Lance Twomey’s report on overcoming WA’s teacher shortage.
    
    “But it would seem illogical to push for higher standards and ways to attract quality candidates into the system while at the same time proposing to provide them with less professional training.
    
    “The Australian Council of the Deans of Education has warned that shortening teacher-training courses and recruiting underqualified graduates could do more harm than good. Council president Sue Willis logically argues that where you have more years for teacher preparation, you have better outcomes, and that if the Government is serious about improving teacher education, it should inject more funds into cash-strapped faculties.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • State in limbo as Nats ponder power
    by Amanda O'Brien, WA political reporter
    
    "Western Australia will remain in political limbo for days as Nationals leader Brendon Grylls considers generous offers from both major parties, while angry Labor factions begin circling a wounded Alan Carpenter.

    "Labor insiders said the Premier faced a bleak future even if he managed to cobble together a deal with the Nationals to form a minority government.

    "Mr Carpenter was closeted in meetings all day and refused to speak to the media, but there was growing speculation that Education Minister Mark McGowan or Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan are mustering factional support to challenge him..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    

    • Brian Burke faction weighs in for Labor
      
      Labor insiders say Mr Carpenter has been so badly damaged by the party's poor campaign, and his decision to call an early election without consulting deputy Eric Ripper, that he cannot survive long term even if he pulls off a deal with the Nationals to form government.
      
      
      
  • Students removed after school cursed
    
    Students at the Numbulwar Community Education Centre on the remote east Arnhem Land coast were removed yesterday after a traditional owner cursed the school, the medical centre, the council offices, the credit union and the shop.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    The big picture on education funding
    by Michelle Green
    
    Education funding should be about quality schooling for all children
    
    "Ignorance, misunderstanding and wilful distortion of facts cloud important debates about the education reform agenda in Australia. Robust discussion by education policy makers should be based on more than "government schools, good; private schools, bad".
    
    "To determine fair ways of funding government and non-government schools, for example, we need complete and accurate figures, and "apples with apples" comparisons.
    
    "Many Australians don't know how much of their federal and state government tax is allocated to government or non-government schools. And it's offensive and inaccurate to suggest that middle-class parents are escaping their responsibilities by enrolling their children in non-government schools. In fact, for each child and for each school year that a Victorian parent chooses a non-government school, taxpayers save nearly $5000.
    
    "Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said recently that he wanted parents to vote with their feet as far as schooling is concerned — and in Victoria they are: more than four out of 10 students in secondary school in Victoria are at non-government schools. Parents voting with their feet and their wallets should not be penalised..."
    
    Michelle Green is chief executive, Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV)
    
    Full story in The Age at link
    
    
    
  • The Monday Education Section has 30 articles, with nearly all dealing with preparation for the TEE, but also including:
    
    
    • Battle lines
      
      The opening salvos have been fired in what may be the final stages of the "reading wars".
      
      Welcome - again - to the so-called "reading wars". Those who want a shift to the systematic teaching of letter-sound relationships or phonics remain at loggerheads with those who back the dominant method used in schools for 30 years: the "whole language" approach that uses whole word recognition and other tools to teach reading.
      
      
      
  • Postgrad study a move to bank on
    
    Some postgraduates are earning more than $60,000 in their first full-time jobs, according to a survey of more than 200,000 recent graduates.
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Time where it counts
      
      "As a teacher with 38 years' experience, I was pleased to hear that Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard recognises the value of practical experience for student teachers in the classroom ("Gillard faces clash on teacher training", The Age, 8/9).
      
      "In the past couple of decades, tertiary courses have taken up more and more of a student teacher's training, giving them less time for face-to-face classroom experience. While some tertiary courses can be valuable, others can be dispensed with and replaced by greater time in the classroom learning from experienced teachers."
      
      Warren A. Sapir, East Bentleigh
      
      
      
      
• ABC News
  
  
  • School children miss out with Bligh's Q2 plan, teachers say
    
    The Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) says Premier Anna Bligh has overlooked school students in her future plans for the state.
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Poll: UK losing 60,000 scientists a year
    
    A poll of 4,000 nine- to 14-year-olds' attitudes towards science looks like bad news for Britain's next generation of scientists.
    
    The poll, published by Shell, claims that Britain could be losing 60,000 potential scientists each year. These are the 10% of children who say they are inspired by science but don't plan to pursue it past the age of 16. Just 28% overall plan to do so. The report suggests that uninspiring teaching caused by shortages of qualified science teachers may be partly to blame.
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • School bans governor's choc treat
    
    A 92-year-old school governor has been told he can no longer give chocolate to children at a Cornish school, because of a drive to promote healthy eating.

 

Wednesday 10 September

• The Australian
  
  
  • New posting to curriculum board reignites history wars
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The latest chapter in the history wars returns one of its chief protagonists, Stuart Macintyre, to the front line, with his appointment by the National Curriculum Board to draft the course for schools from the first year of school through to Year 12.
    
    "Professor Macintyre, the Ernest Scott professor of history at Melbourne University and chairman of Australian Studies at Harvard, was sidelined by the Howard government in its pursuit of a national curriculum for Australian history.
    
    "But Professor Macintyre is one of four educators appointed to draft "framing documents" setting out a broad direction for the curriculum in four subjects.
    
    "The board has made another controversial appointment in its adviser on the English curriculum, selecting Sydney University literacy researcher Peter Freebody, who is identified with the critical literacy side of the so-called reading wars.
    
    "The adviser on science is University of Canberra professor Denis Goodrum, and Monash University professor Peter Sullivan will draft the mathematics curriculum.
    
    "Professors Macintyre and Freebody were understood to be overseas yesterday and unavailable for comment, but NCB chairman Barry McGaw defended the appointment of both academics, saying they were leaders in their fields.
    
    "Professor McGaw said Professor Macintyre - a former communist - was a "very sane historian" and the politics of Australian history was less of an issue with the board developing a broader history curriculum. He described Professor Freebody as a "fine scholar" and while his background was not in literature, the board would convene a panel of experts to work with him on that aspect of the curriculum.
    
    "Almost anyone is controversial in literacy," he said. "If anyone doesn't have enemies, they probably haven't been engaged in the debate." Professor McGaw said the framing documents were intended as a starting point for public consultation. The final decision on the curriculum would rest with the board.
    
    "A spokeswoman for Education Minister Julia Gillard said she was confident in the judgment of the NCB, which is independent.
    
    "But Wollongong University associate professor in history and politics Greg Melleuish said Professor Macintyre's appointment was akin to the Howard government appointing Keith Windschuttle, noted for his questioning of the Aboriginal genocide.
    
    "They seem to have selected the person who is most likely to raise the hackles on the other side," he said.
    
    "I would have thought it incumbent on whatever government it was, particularly in history, to try to depoliticise the process and Professor Macintyre's appointment won't do that."
    
    "Professor Macintyre is often described as a left-leaning historian and co-authored a book about the history wars, which debates the interpretation of European colonisation and its effect on indigenous people. The debate became heavily politicised after John Howard championed an alternate to the black-armband view of history.
    
    "Professor Freebody was a developer of a widely used model in the teaching of reading called the four pillars of literacy, which sees it as "not a 'scientific' decision, but rather as a moral, political and cultural decision". Literary academics say Professor Freebody has since moved away from that model, and now has a strong commitment to the need to teach phonics or the letter-sound relationships.
    
    "Professor Goodrum, who is working with the Australian Academy of Science in developing school curriculum, said the challenge was to reduce the amount covered in courses.
    
    "There's a tendency to succumb to breadth rather than depth of learning and that's one challenge to try to meet," he said.
    
    "Professor Sullivan said the challenge was to create a maths curriculum for the 21st century. "Children who start school at the same time as this new curriculum is implemented will enter the workforce in 2030 and they're not going to need the type of skills people needed in the 1950s," he said.
    
    "Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith said: "Stuart Macintyre brings a well-known, left-wing perspective to Australian history. We can only hope that Stuart Macintyre is able to suppress his views and develop a quality, non-biased, Australian history curriculum, but I'll guess we'll find that out when it's released."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    Related story in The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    No curriculum hijacking
    
    Were Macintyre and Freebody the best available?
    
    "After almost 12 years of strong rhetoric but little action on education reform under the Howard government, The Australian has been encouraged by the Rudd Government's willingness to stare down teachers' unions and state bureaucracies to implement its education revolution. The Government's promise to make education more transparent by mandatory reporting of school results will be especially beneficial for students and will allow parents to compare performances from year to year. We have also saluted moves to reward the best principals and teachers, and in extreme cases close the worst schools and sack the worst staff.
    
    "A national curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history, however, is at the heart of Labor's education revolution, and a national approach has much to recommend it. In a nation of 21 million people, it is nonsensical for schooling to change at every state border. Valuable resources are wasted through duplication across eight different state and territory systems in a hotch-potch of different curriculums and testing regimes. Children even start and finish school at different ages. A national curriculum - favoured by both sides of politics - offers potential for the best core elements of different state approaches to be adapted for the benefit of all. However, there are pitfalls, as some commentators, including Kevin Donnelly, have warned. A poorly constructed national curriculum could magnify the worst aspects of some state education systems across the country. Diversity at least insures against that risk.
    
    "The unfortunate appointments of professors Peter Freebody and Stuart Macintyre to influential positions in framing the English and history curriculums respectively have heightened such fears. Professor Macintyre, a left-wing historian, is a former communist and was an ardent player in the history wars, about which he co-wrote a one-sided book with Anna Clark, the grand-daughter of Manning Clark. Deeply disturbing from an educational viewpoint is Professor Macintyre's stated disregard for "the tyranny of the fact".
    
    "Ignorance of essential facts and the absence of narrative teaching has been a scandal in most Australian schools for a generation, as history has given way to postmodernist, ideologically driven social and environmental studies. Often these have been more about promoting left-wing propaganda than knowledge. While Professor Macintyre is regarded as a distinguished historian with a love of the discipline, the Government must ensure this is reflected in a balanced, rigorous and ideologically free curriculum.
    
    "While Professor Freebody has long professed concern about educational disadvantage, his background is also cause for concern. In partnership with Queensland scholar Allan Luke, Professor Freebody created a widely used Four Literacy Resources Model which has been taken up in several states. It reads like a postmodernist's dream.
    
    "In a joint article in 1999, he and Professor Luke made no secret of their view that literacy was a sociological tool as much as a vital skill and the means to appreciate the best of Western literature. "Literacy education is ultimately about the kind of society and the kinds of citizen/subjects that could and should be constructed," they wrote. "Teaching and learning just isn't a matter of skill acquisition or knowledge transmission or natural growth. It's about building identities and cultures, communities and institutions."
    
    "Failure at literacy, they argued, "isn't about individual skill deficits - it's about access and apprenticeship into institutions and resources, discourses and texts". Really? Tell that to frustrated parents whose youngsters can't read and write properly. [emphasis added]
    
    "The "four literacy resources" were designed to allow students to "break the code of texts ... participate in the meanings of text ... use texts functionally ... (and) critically analyse and transform texts: understanding and acting on the knowledge that texts are not neutral, that they represent particular views and silence other points of view, influence people's ideas; and that their designs and discourses can be critiqued and redesigned, in novel and hybrid ways". It's no substitute for the concentrated study of Shakespeare, Austen or T.S. Eliot.
    
    "Parents looking to the national curriculum to teach their children good reading and writing skills, including correct grammar, spelling and punctuation, and a comprehensive appreciation of novels, plays and poetry already feel badly let down. A dud national curriculum would both anger them and break their hearts.
    
    "Professor Freebody's supporters insist he has moved away from his earlier positions, but some of his later statements are highly ambiguous about vital issues. In 2006, in a Sydney University press release, he complained that "the media and even experts have for too long become side-tracked into narrow debates about phonics versus whole-language teaching approaches".
    
    "Given these well-established positions, the appointments reflect poorly on the National Curriculum Board and its chairman, Professor Barry McGaw. If these appointees were really the best available, Australian education has a problem. The curriculum is at a preliminary stage, but Kevin Rudd would be making a major mistake if he allowed it to be hijacked in a way that permitted the continuation of the second-rate fads that have ruined the humanities in many parts of the nation.. If the process is veering off track, the Prime Minister should intervene. Too much is at stake to let it go." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    My worst fears have been realised
    by Kevin Donnelly
    
    "Leading up to the federal election, I welcomed the ALP's policy calling for a national curriculum based, as it was, on a conservative agenda very much like the Howard government's approach to reshaping the teaching of history and English.
    
    "The fear was that the devil would be in the detail and, given the cultural-Left's control over the curriculum, that the agenda would be captured by those opposed to the more academic and balanced approach.
    
    "Stuart Macintyre's appointment as a so-called eminent educationalist to oversee history as a subject in the national curriculum - primary to Year 12 and mandated for all schools at the start of 2011 - shows such fears were well-founded.
    
    "Macintyre, from the University of Melbourne and one-time member of the Communist Party, is a staunch advocate of what he terms "history from below" - one that dismisses a grand narrative celebrating what we have achieved as a nation.
    
    "For historians like Macintyre, unlike Geoffrey Blainey, who called for an end to what he termed a black-armband view of history, the subject is about privileging victim-groups and interpreting the past in terms of power relationships.
    
    "In his book The History Wars, published in 2003 and launched by Paul Keating, Macintyre condemns so-called conservatives such as Keith Windschuttle, Janet Albrechtsen and me for suggesting history teaching is unfairly slanted towards a left-wing, blinkered view.
    
    "Macintyre continued his attack on the more traditional view of history at a recent Australian Council for Educational Research conference where he defended "educational progressivism". One wonders what Macintyre has to say about Julia Gillard, the Minister for Education, who describes herself as an educational traditionalist and argues that Australia was settled, not invaded.
    
    "The second appointment proving that the national curriculum has been captured by the usual suspects is that of Professor Peter Freebody, from the University of Sydney, who will oversee English as a subject.
    
    "One of the main criticisms of the way English is now taught in schools and teacher education is the impact of critical literacy - a view of reading that asks students to analyse and deconstruct texts in terms of power relationships and theory.
    
    "Critical literacy draws on the work of the Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire and, as noted by one overseas academic: "Where Freire's ideas have found the most fertile soil in recent years is in Australia. The Australians have led the world in a movement now called critical literacy."
    
    "Freebody advocates critical literacy on the basis that being literate is no longer defined as being able to read and write to the required level.
    
    "Instead, in the jargon loved by advocates of theory, it involves "a moral, political and cultural decision about the kind of literate practices that are needed to enhance people's agency over their life trajectories and to enhance communities' intellectual, cultural and semiotic resources in print/multi-mediated economies". [emphasis added]
    
    "Freebody, like the Australian Association for the Teachers of English, argues that any talk about a literacy crisis is manufactured and that teachers need to be wary of approaches to literacy that lend themselves to "centralised political surveillance and technocratic control in education".
    
    "Given Kevin Rudd's belief in academic standards and a back-to-basics approach, one would have hoped the national curriculum would represent a break with the politically correct, ideological view so prevalent over the past 10 years. Such is not the case." [emphasis added]

    Kevin Donnelly is director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and author of Dumbing Down
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Liberals reject bidding war
    by Amanda O'Brien, WA political reporter
    
    "West Australian Opposition Leader Colin Barnett has ruled out a bidding war with Labor to win crucial support from the Nationals to form a minority government, even if it means losing the chance to govern.
    
    "Mr Barnett told The Australian his commitment to integrity and honest government did not stop on election night and he would not put the party up for sale.
    
    "But he warned the Nationals -- who are expected to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament -- to think very carefully before aligning themselves with Labor and allowing it to retain government.
    
    "He said Labor had been rejected by voters and still faced a barrage of Corruption and Crime Commission reports on its dealings with disgraced former premier Brian Burke.
    
    "As vote counting continued yesterday, there was little progress in reaching a result. Thirty seats are needed to form government, and last night, Labor had 25, the Liberals 23, Nationals four and independents one. Six seats were undecided, with Labor ahead in two, the Liberals ahead in two and independents ahead in two.
    
    "Mr Barnett said he would meet the Nationals' demand for 25 per cent of mining royalties -- worth about $675 million a year -- to go to regional areas because voters had supported it. But he would not change the offer if Labor matched or beat it..." [emphasis added]
    
    "Nationals leader Brendon Grylls, who is under intense pressure from constituents not to support Labor, was yesterday maintaining his claim that both parties had an equal chance. He said a decision would not be made before Sunday..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Pressure on Carpenter mounts after poll rout
    
    Premier Alan Carpenter has admitted his days as Labor leader may be numbered as the party launched a review of the campaign that led up to its thumping in Saturday's election...
    
    As counting in six undecided seats continued yesterday, Mr Carpenter would not say whether he would offer his resignation as party leader. "I will answer at the appropriate time," he told ABC radio.

    
    

  • Op Ed
    Not what the doctors ordered
    by Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney
    
    "In his critique of social engineering, Nobel prize-winner Friedrich Hayek forcefully rejected the idea that governments could organise the world according to their wishes. He called the belief in the power of planning the fatal conceit. What follows is a story about how central planning, to paraphrase Karl Marx, resulted first in farce and is now heading for a tragedy of disappointment and waste.
    
    "The story begins in the 1990s when I was a dean of medicine. Government planners decided Australian universities were graduating too many doctors. Their logic went like this: doctors create their own demand by conducting useless consultations, ordering unnecessary tests and writing futile prescriptions. Cutting back on doctors would save the taxpayers money without affecting health care.
    
    "The commonwealth achieved its aim; the number of medical graduates dropped dramatically. There was only one problem; Australians still wanted their consultations, procedures and prescriptions. As there were too few Australian doctors to meet the demand, supply was augmented by an influx of foreign medical graduates. Despite the planners' efforts and the bribes paid to universities, the only thing that changed was the accents of the doctors.
    
    "This farce then became even more ludicrous. A few years after it successfully reduced the number of medical graduates, the government discovered Australia was not facing a doctor glut but a shortage. More overseas medical graduates were encouraged to immigrate and new medical schools were established. In a few years, when these schools begin to graduate their students, the number of Australian medical graduates will jump 81 per cent (from 1608 in 2005 to 2916 in 2012). In some states, medical graduate numbers will double.
    
    "Problem solved? Not quite. Here is where the story degenerates to tragedy and waste..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Students say no to podcasts
    
    A student petition at the University of Western Sydney is demanding cuts in fees to match cuts in face-to-face teaching time as the university extends the virtual classroom.




• The West Australian
  

  • National school syllabus outlined (page 19)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “The first clues on Australia’s  new national schools curriculum will be released next month in draft papers outlining a broad structure for each of four subjects.
    
    “National Curriculum Board chairman Barry McGaw said it took the interim step of asking experts in English, maths, science and history to draft “framing papers” before it began to write curriculums.
    
    “A general position paper with more detail on the type of curriculum to be produced will be released with the framing papers and national forums will be held for each subject in mid-October to discuss the papers.
    
    “English, maths, science and history curriculums are scheduled to be implemented in schools from 2011.  A second series will include languages and geography, though no time has been decided for them.
    
    “Professor McGaw, who is the director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute  and a former education director at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, said the framing papers would outline the content students would be expected to know in each subject.
    
    “And we’ll give a sense of scope and sequence , “he said.  “This is what you would be doing at various stages through primary and secondary.”
    
    “For example, the mathematics framing papers would say at what age students should be split into courses according to their ability.
    
    “The history paper would cover when students should begin studying history at a formal level and what history should be included.  “Obviously Australian history and presumably British history because of our origins,” Professor McGaw said.
    
    “Science paper writer Denis Goodrum, who is an education professor at the University of Canberra, said he would not try to include everything currently taught in the States and Territories but would start afresh.
    
    “There’s a general expectation that we’re starting from a blank piece of paper rather than trying to do  a synthesis of all the curriculums in Australia,” he said.
    
    “He would focus on “scientific literacy”, or the science that would be useful to a citizen in a future society, “rather than the more traditional facts and principles that science in past years has been perceived as”.
    
    “Professor Goodrum said past science curriculums had been too crowded, resulting in shallowness.  “I think we need to go into much more depth and do it better,” he said.
    
    “Monash University science, mathematics and technology education professor Peter Sullivan said he did not want to amalgamate existing curriculums. “Nor do we want to end up with a curriculum that looks like it was an excellent one designed for 1960,” he said.
    
    “Professor Sullivan said technology would change the way mathematics was taught and learnt in the next 20 years.  “The challenge for everyone is to find a way to produce the best possible curriculum for the future citizens, not simply defend the status quo,” he said.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Age
  

• Vic schools ranked in secret study
  by Farrah Tomazin
  
  "The State Government has been secretly ranking every school from best to worst, prompting fears Victoria is shifting towards a system of league-style tables.
  
  "Education Minister Bronwyn Pike's department has been conducting the study to identify schools that are "at the absolute bottom of the pile", as part of a broader push to direct resources where they are needed most and make schools more accountable for their results.
  
  "But the exercise has sparked concerns that the Government is departing from its long-standing opposition to league tables comparing school results, as the Federal Government demands the states be more transparent about their education systems.
  
  "Premier John Brumby last week said league tables were "something we've not supported in the past, not because we don't want parents to have more information but because measuring these things is exceedingly difficult".
  
  "Yesterday Ms Pike's spokesman insisted the Government would provide families "with rich data to help better inform their education choices", but it would not publicly provide the information in the form of school-by-school rankings.
  
  "Senior education officials have told The Age that the department has measured each school from best to worst across four categories, with the bottom 25% earmarked for immediate Government intervention.
  
  "It is believed schools were initially ranked on raw data — such as VCE results and retention rates — but the department is now trying to take into account socioeconomic factors and the extent to which schools "add value" to their students.
  
  "Principals and teachers yesterday agreed the neediest schools should be identified so resources can be better targeted. But Australian Education Union state president Mary Bluett said she would oppose any moves to make the information publicly available.
  
  "It would serve no purpose whatsoever, other than debilitate the schools that are already struggling," she said.
  
  "Brian Burgess, president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, agreed. He said schools should not be measured on academic data alone, as this would not provide a clear picture of why their students faced difficulties.
  
  "Ms Pike's spokesman said tougher measures to boost results were flagged in the Government's education blueprint, released last week. "We make no apologies to act decisively to provide the support and the incentives to help some of our schools improve their academic performance," he said.
  
  "The Age believes the bottom group of schools will be given support, such as financial incentives to attract top principals and teachers, or literacy and numeracy strike teams.
  
  "The Government is also set to announce more than 60 new "regional network leaders", who will oversee about 20 schools in a designated region and set ambitious targets for them.
  
  "Prime Minister Kevin Rudd recently demanded that the states take tough action against failing schools, sacking principals and teachers and even closing sub-standard schools, as a condition of the next four-year schools funding deal, which begins next year."
  
  From The Age at link
  
  
  
• Global study shows high education cost
  by Bridie Smith and Farrah Tomazin
  
  "Australia has increased its tertiary participation rate but has been singled out as a country that has forced its students to take on more of the costs.
  
  "An international study, Education at a Glance 2008, released in Paris overnight by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, found that while the Nordic countries expanded tertiary education participation through "massive public spending", Australia was among a handful of other countries, such as Canada, Japan, Britain and the US, where students and families were increasingly bearing the financial burden of higher education.
  
  "And while public money still covers the bulk of the cost of tertiary education, the international report found private spending had almost tripled during the past five years in OECD countries, with Australia one of only a few countries where private funding exceeded 50%..."
  
  Full story in The Age at link
  
  See related story in today's Sydney Morning Herald and yesterday's Sunday TImes online / PerthNow
  
  
  
  
• The New York Times
  
  
  • Obama Looks to Lessons From Chicago in His National Education Plan
    by Sam Dillon
    
    CHICAGO — "Senator Barack Obama learned how hard it can be to solve America’s public education problems when he headed a philanthropic drive here a decade ago that spent $150 million on Chicago’s troubled schools and barely made a dent.
    
    "Drawing on that experience, Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, is campaigning on an ambitious plan that promises $18 billion a year in new federal spending on early childhood classes, teacher recruitment, performance pay and dozens of other initiatives..."
    
    "Were he to become president, Mr. Obama would retain the emphasis on the high standards and accountability of President Bush’s education law, No Child Left Behind. But he would rewrite the federal law to offer more help to high-need schools, especially by training thousands of new teachers to serve in them, his campaign said. He would also expand early childhood education, which he believes gets more bang for the buck than remedial classes for older students..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
• Editorial
  Camden exposed for its hypocrisy
  
  "In living memory - and you don't have to be all that old - a lot of Australians would have looked askance at Catholics trying to build a big new school in their neighbourhood. There would have been lots of talk about how "they" always got the hilltops or other choice sites, mutterings about vials of holy water, plaster statues from Pelligrini's and other signs of superstition, or about divided loyalties.
  
  "Things have moved on, and now Muslims are the Catholics of the present day for the bigots in our midst. In Camden, we've just seen a demonstration of that. The local racists and the wider metropolitan riff-raff, draped or tattooed with the Australian flag, just cannot help themselves. The claim that they objected to the proposed Muslim school on planning grounds is exposed for the prejudiced hypocrisy it is by their uncritical support for a proposed Catholic school on the other side of the town, even before a development application is lodged with the local council or shown to residents. [emphasis added]
  
  "Of course they will say that the 1200-pupil school proposed for the site of the existing small Mater Dei special-needs school is in an area already zoned for schools, whereas the similar-sized secondary school proposed by the Quranic Society would be on land presently zoned rural. But the rhetoric gives the game away. It's not about planning, but about whom existing residents see as likely to "fit in".
  
  "The Islamic school application is now being appealed to the Land and Environment Court, but already we can say that the planning question is a side issue to the failure of community leadership by Camden Council. It and the majority of residents have gone along with the State Government's plans to make Camden and its surrounds a residential growth area for Sydney, and are no doubt looking to the increase in their property values that this will bring. Some may make a killing when land that is now zoned rural is eventually rezoned.
  
  "Inevitably, this population influx will reflect the changing mix of Australia's population, especially that of western Sydney. This means that if Camden does not have many Muslims now, it will have a lot more in coming years. The council could have guided the Quranic Society to introduce itself better to locals, or helped it to find a better site. Instead it has surrendered leadership to racists and bigots."
  
  From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
  

Thursday 11 September

• PLATO News
  
  
  • In the past two months [11 July through 10 September], we've had 11,891 NEW visitors to the PLATO home page.
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • OBE ‘cuts literacy lesson time’ (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “Outcomes-based education may be linked to Australian primary school students spending significantly less time learning to read and write than their overseas counterparts, according to a new international report.
    
    “The study of education systems by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Australian students aged 9 to 11 spent just 13 per cent of their class time – or less than an hour a day – on reading and writing compared with the OECD average of 23 per cent.
    
    “This was also considerably less than countries such as Mexico, France and the Netherlands, which spent 30 per cent or more of total compulsory instruction time on literacy.
    
    “The report, which is based on 2006 data, also said Australian students spent 9 per cent of class time on maths, compared with the OECD average of 16 per cent.
    
    “Explanatory notes in the OECD Education at a Glance 2008 report  which was released on Tuesday night state: “The Australian States and Territories’ education systems have for some time moved to an outcomes- based system; therefore the flexible part of the curriculum has increased, while compulsory core subject times have decreased.”
    
    “University of WA education dean Bill Louden said the report showed that the question of how much time was specifically allocated for subjects was not relevant to Australian schools, because only a small amount of their curriculum was compulsory. “We haven’t been strong on minute-based mandates,” he said.
    
    “Professor Louden, who headed a Statewide inquiry into literacy and numeracy last year, said under OBE teachers were told what students should learn, not how much time to spend teaching them. But Australian schools being less restrictive than others school systems did not mean students were spending less time on reading and writing.
    
    “He said WA stood out from the rest of the nation because last year Education Minister Mark McGowan specified schools should spend at least half of their time on literacy and numeracy.
    
    “Australian Primary Principals Association president Leonie Trimper said the OECD figures appeared to be “highly flawed”. Research by the association in 2007 showed that primary school students spent an average of 38 per cent of class time a week on English.
    
    “WA Primary Principals Association president Stephen Breen said most schools spent at least an hour and a half a day on reading and writing.
    
    “Education Department school support programs executive director David Axworthy said students in State primary schools were taught literacy and numeracy for 50 per cent of class time as the subjects formed the vital foundations of children’s learning.
    
    “A spokeswoman for Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the OECD report gave support to the Rudd Government’s plan to introduce a national schools curriculum.”
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Principals break away on pay deal (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “School principals claim they have been “hung out to dry” by the teachers’ union in the pay deal its leaders negotiated with the State Government.
    
    “The WA Principals Federation, a new group seeking registration as an industrial body, says principals and deputies will be short-changed if State School Teachers Union members vote to accept the offer.
    
    “Results of the union ballot on whether teachers will accept increases of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years will be announced late tomorrow. Under the deal, principals would get 17 per cent over three years.
    
    “The SSTU has hung principals out to dry in the current enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations, with our school leaders to receive a smaller percentage pay increase than most of their teachers,” federation president Noel Strickland said. “This farcical EBA process – even if it succeeds – will deliver a great deal less for our principals compared to most teachers.”
    
    “The federation already has about 720 members but, if a “yes” vote is successful, it is possible that many more principals and deputies would desert the teachers’ union, which would seriously undermine its negotiating power.
    
    “Asked if he was urging principals to quit the union to join the federation, Mr Strickland said that was their choice. “That’s what we are hearing, anecdotally, that they will do,” he said.
    
    “SSTU president Anne Gisborne said yesterday more than 1500 administrators were union members but she was not sure how many of those were principals, deputies or head of departments.
    
    “She said it would be destabilising if principals and deputies quit to join a new group, which was why the union had opposed the federation’s bid for registration by the WA Industrial Relations Commission.
    
    “I don’t think it would be at all helpful to end up with a segmented representation of the employees of the department,” she said.
    
    “Ms Gisborne said it was an exaggeration to say school leaders had been hung out to dry because the union had done a great deal to improve their conditions. However, she believed there was more to be done.
    
    “Within the agreement that’s on the table at the moment there are doorways open for ongoing work and improvements for conditions of administrators,” she said.
    
    “Mr Strickland said that while WA teachers’ salaries were competitive with other States, principals’ salaries lagged behind. He said school leaders needed the power to negotiate their own agreements to make sure they were no longer neglected.
    
    “The commission rejected the federation’s application for registration last month because of a technical problem. Mr Strickland said it would apply again.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • “I have voted Labor all my life, as a shearer and farmhand in the country when I was younger and now as a secondary school teacher. This was the first election that I have voted for another party due to the lack of respect that this Government has shown to its support base.
      
      “As a teacher, our latest EBA has been played out in the media with at times bogus wage increases published on the front page of the newspaper. I’m starting to admire the stance that Brendon Grylls is taking in support of the people who have voted for him and his party.”
      
      Reese Driscoll, Clarkson
      
      
      

• The Australian
  
  
  • Educators in row over English post for school curriculum
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The Australian Academy of Humanities yesterday accused the National Curriculum Board of selecting the wrong man in its appointment of a literacy researcher to oversee a uniform school curriculum in English.
    
    "Academy president Ian Donaldson will write to Education Minister Julia Gillard seeking the appointment of a recognised expert in English and literature to oversee Sydney University professor Peter Freebody's initial drafting of the curriculum.
    
    "English literature is an important field and it's important to have wise and informed guidance from those very familiar with the field," Professor Donaldson said.
    
    "I am concerned in principle by the appointment to this important post of someone who is evidently lacking any real professional qualification in the field on which he is required to offer expert advice."
    
    "Professor Freebody is one of four appointments by the NCB todraft "framing documents" setting out a broad curriculum in English, maths, science and history. Professor Freebody is known for his advocacy of critical literacy in English courses and whole-language methods in teaching reading.
    
    "His appointment was described as provocative for his lack of professional background in English, and the concerns are shared by those in education faculties teaching English, as well as by English academics.
    
    "Professor Donaldson, an honorary professorial fellow at Melbourne University and a fellow of the British Academy, is an internationally renowned English academic and former chairman of English at Oxford.
    
    "He said the concerns were no reflection on Professor Freebody's achievements or academic record but related to his disciplinary background.
    
    "You must have people who know about the subject area or else the subject will be skewed in various ways," he said.
    
    "One of Australia's foremost literary theorists, Graeme Turner, echoed Professor Donaldson's concerns, saying problems in school English courses were connected to the sidelining of experts in the discipline. [emphasis added]
    
    "Professor Turner, director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at Queensland University, said academics with a background in the field of English were required to write the curriculum, not a background in education, as in the case of Professor Freebody.
    
    "The debate on the English curriculum has focused on critical literacy as a particularly contentious area; to pick Professor Freebody seems unnecessarily controversial," he said.
    
    "NCB chairman Barry McGaw has emphasised that the framing documents are intended to kickstart widespread consultation with specialist teachers and academics and the wider community before a final curriculum is decided on by the board.
    
    "Professor Turner said the selection of Professor Freebody sent a signal about the direction of the curriculum and that it was at odds with Ms Gillard's pronouncements on the need for the national curriculum to be based on the traditional disciplines.
    
    "My background is in cultural studies, and even somebody like me, from that background, has argued for the importance of literature to the syllabus and that the methods being used in schools are overly formulaic," Professor Turner said. "My fear is that the criticism mounted over the past few years from both the Left and the Right will be ignored and we'll simply return to what we've had over the past 10 years, which is not good enough."
    
    "The national body representing specialist English teachers, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, is unconcerned by Professor Freebody's lack of expertise in the discipline.
    
    'President Mark Howie said Professor Freebody's was an "eminently sensible and reasonable appointment", which the association fully supported." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    

  Unsubstantiated Rumour Billboard erected by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English Source unknown

  
  
  

  • Uni funds 'should be performance-based'
    
    University funding should be tied to institutions meeting individual performance targets, a leading vice-chancellor says.
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    
    Supporting innovation
    
    The Cutler report presents major reform challenges
    
    The overhaul of the nation's R&D effort proposed by CSIRO board member Terry Cutler in his wide-ranging report has given the Rudd Government scope for extensive reform.
    
    
    
    
  • Count 'could last until next week'
    
    The final, official count in the West Australian election may not be determined until early next week.
    
    
    
  • Nats 'risk loss of top credit rating'
    
    The West Australian Treasury says the Nationals' demand for 25 per cent of mining royalties to be poured back into regional areas could cost the state its AAA credit rating.
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Most Talked About
      Demonising Macintyre doesn’t aid education reform
      
      Six Letters at that link
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teachers claim victory over staff hiring [late 10 Sept update]
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "The NSW teachers' union has forced the State Government to water down its decision to allow principals to hand-pick the teachers they hire.
    
    "Figures show the Government has not achieved its aim of giving schools greater autonomy in hiring teachers. The policy has been amended to the extent that it applies only to a minority of schools.
    
    "Official data from the NSW Department of Education shows that only one position has been filled through open advertisement since the State Government announced the policy change early this year.
    
    "The figures show that of 981 classroom teacher vacancies being filled in term two this year, 259 were through the new staffing processes. Most of the vacancies were being filled through the transfer system which gives principals no choice over whom they hire. The number of positions waiting to be filled through open advertisement was 73.
    
    "When the former minister for education, John Della Bosca, announced the changes in February, he said all principals would eventually have the right to select the teachers they hired through open advertisements.
    
    "Principals have long campaigned for the right to pick quality teachers, instead of having teachers chosen for them through the transfer system. That system entitles teachers to nominate the school of their choice based on the number of points they accumulate by working in remote locations and other schools which are difficult to staff.
    
    "However, the Director-General for Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, has made some concessions to the NSW Teachers Federation since it orchestrated a series of strikes over the issue.
    
    "In an online bulletin issued in June, the federation told members that "for the third time since the staffing dispute began, the Department of Education and Training has made unilateral changes to its staffing procedures". It said this made it clear "that by disputing the imposed procedures we can force changes".
    
    "The federation president, Maree O'Halloran, has said the industrial campaign would continue until the union succeeded in imposing the state-wide transfer system on all schools.
    
    "The president of the NSW Primary Principals' Association, Geoff Scott, said: "There hasn't been a great deal of change in the way schools are being staffed." Mr Scott said he expected teachers and the State Government would make further concessions to resolve the dispute after the new Minister for Education, Verity Firth, settled in.
    
    "The staffing dispute has been a thorn in the side of the State Government which faces another dispute with teachers over a new three-year salaries agreement when the current agreement expire at the end of the year."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • Degrees of earning overshadow learning
    
    Universities are no longer seen primarily as centres of learning but as corporations most concerned about the bottom line, a survey from a leading Australian university has found.
    
    The survey, to be published today by the Australian National University, found that close to half the people interviewed in a phone poll viewed universities as being driven by business motives.
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Why we should teach the Bible in all our schools
    
    To my mind, there are still plenty of reasons to bother with the Bible. But at least one is indisputable, and it reveals a gaping hole in the Australian educational experience. You need to know the Bible in order to understand the history, literature and arts of Western culture. In fact, it is an educational and cultural tragedy that the Bible has quietly disappeared from the schooling experience of many Australians.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    

    • A question of values
      
      "It is predictable that Michelle Green, CEO of the Association of Independent Schools, again trots out the argument that for each child in a non-government school "taxpayers save nearly $5000" (Comment & Debate, 9/9). While one can debate the various models for funding private schools and argue about who pays for what, surely the real issue is the sort of society our education system produces.
      
      "I'm still optimistic enough to believe that most Australians regard first-class universal education as the mark of a civilised and clever country, and yet we condemn the majority of our children to a system which is becoming increasingly dedicated to the production of inequality, social division and lifelong unfairness.
      
      "I am not opposed to private schools and have taught in both systems, but do we invest in all our children or only in those of the already fortunate? In other OECD countries private school fees are capped so that they can't be better resourced than government schools, but in Australia we have developed a two-tier education system that is incompatible with a modern, multicultural society."
      
      Bryan Long, Balwyn

 

Friday 12 September

• SSTUWA News
  
  • The Vote on EBA-3 is NO

  
  
  

  Yes ~ 33 %
  
  No ~ 67 %

  "About 14,000 teachers voted on the deal and the president of the State School Teacher's Union, Anne Gisborne, says two-thirds voted against it." [ABC News]
  
  

• Members vote NO to EBA 3

  Members are advised that the VOTE on the proposed replacement EBA (Agreement-In-Principle) and the updated Teacher Award has been completed and are thanked for their engagement.
  

  Due to the fact that the WAEC did not complete the count of vote until 4.30pm on Friday 12 September, the Union was not able to advise members until Monday morning 15 September. This notice was posted on the website on 12.09.08.
  
   
  The VOTE has rejected the proposal
  
  
  • The Union will now prepare for arbitration
  • The Union will be seeking an interim payment for members
    
    

  In light of the rejection of the school’s Agreement In Principle by SSTUWA Members the Union will seek urgent discussions with the incoming Minister for Education to explore the possibility of reaching a further improved offer. The Union calls on the incoming Government to negotiate such an offer in good faith and to address our log of claims.
  

   

  We call on the incoming government to negotiate around:
  
  

  • Attracting new teachers and retaining experienced teachers and school leaders
  • Providing support for teachers and school leaders in their work
  • Addressing class sizes, Primary DOTT, Behaviour Management, and Inclusion Issues
  • Paying salaries and allowances that reflect the professional nature of teachers’ and school leaders’ work and are above the rate of inflation and meet the rising cost of living
  • Ensuring Country Housing for Teachers and school leaders is provided and maintained at high standards
    
    
  The engagement of members in community and political campaigning no doubt played a role in the outcome of the recent State Government election.
  
   
  The message to Government is:
  Education is an important Electoral Issue!
  Educators Matter!
  Educators’ votes count !
  IN SOLIDARITY !
  
  Authorised by Mark Muir, Acting General Secretary, State School Teachers’ Union of WA (Inc.), 150 Adelaide Terrace, East Perth – www.sstuwa.org
  
  
  
  
• The West Australian
  

• WA teachers reject pay offer
  by Dale Miller and Aleisha Preedy
  
  "The WA State School Teacher’s Union has rejected an offer by the Carpenter Government for a pay rise of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years.
  
  "SSTU president Anne Gisborne announced the result of a union ballot this afternoon at their Perth headquarters in Adelaide Terrace.
  
  "Under the deal, principals would get 17 per cent over three years.
  
  "The pay offer had caused a rift among executives and teachers after the government reached an agreement “in principle” on the new pay deal with union leaders.
  
  "The agreement, announced on July 21 by Education Minister Mark McGowan and Ms Gisborne, included an increase of between 15.84 per cent and 21.67 per cent over three years.
  
  "Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier pledged to give teachers an extra 2 per cent or $120 million on top of the Government’s pay offer."
  
  From The West Australian online at link
  
  
  
• Editorial
  Another cause for worry about OBE (page 20)
  
  "Yet again, there is cause for worry about the effects of outcomes-based education.
  
  "This time a report on a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Australian students aged nine to 11 spent just 13 per cent of their class time, or less than an hour a day, on reading and writing. The OECD average is given as 23 per cent. The report is based on 2006 information.
  
  "Explanatory notes in it refer to the flexible part of the curriculum increasing with compulsory core subject times decreasing under an outcomes-based system.
  
  "This doesn’t necessarily mean that WA primary schools are spending less time on language skills than they should in a directive to them last year to spend at least half their class time on literacy and numeracy.
  
  "However, questions remain about how this fits in with the supposedly progressive flexibility of the OBE system, if it does, and whether all students are getting the solid core-subject grounding they need. All this uncertainty and worry could be ended if OBE were purged, once and for all, from our schools."
  
  From The West Australian
  
  
  
  
• No WA voice at schools summit (page 6)
  
  "WA will not be able to offer a political view Kevin Rudd's contentious plans to overhaul school standards at a crucial education ministers' conference in Melbourne today.
  
  "The State Government remains in caretaker mode, so neither Education Minister Mark McGowan nor his possible successor, Peter Collier, will attend the Ministerial Council forum.
  
  "Education Department director-general Sharyn O'Neill will represent WA.
  
  "Mr Rudd's plan calls for the collection of data on the performance and socioeconomic background of every student to see which schools are succeeding and which are being left behind and determine future funding arrangements.
  
  "While Mr McGowan offered support for the plan, Opposition Leader Colin Barnett came out strongly against it, saying no schools would be shut under his watch if he became premier.
  
  From The West Australian
  
  
  
• Letter to the Editor (page 23)
  
  
  • "I reply to J. Buxallen (Letters, 8/9). WACOT registers teachers based on qualifications, English language skills, standards of professional practice and a police criminal record check. Employers then decide whom to employ."
    
    Brian Lindberg, chairman of the board, Western Australian College of Teaching
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • WA teachers reject Labor pay offer
    by staff writers
    
    "WA teachers will push for a better deal from the incoming government after today rejecting an offer that would have made them the best paid in the nation.
    
    "The offer made before the election by the Carpenter government provided for pay rises to teachers at state schools of between 15 and 21 per cent.
    
    "The State School Teachers Union said this afternoon that the result of a ballot showed teachers had rejected the offer.
    
    "In light of the rejection of the school’s Agreement In Principle by SSTUWA Members the Union will seek urgent discussions with the incoming Minister for Education to explore the possibility of reaching a further improved offer," it said on its website.
    
    "The Union calls on the incoming Government to negotiate such an offer in good faith and to address our log of claims."
    
    "Union president Anne Gisborne today said teachers had been incensed by the drawn out negotiations with the previous government.
    
    "There's no doubt that they've been angered by the 12 months of delay," she said.
    
    "Our members are concerned not just about their own working conditions but about the state of education in Western Australia."
    
    "The Liberal Party pledged during the WA election campaign that it would better Labor's offer to teachers if it won office, vowing to add $120 million to the government's $755 million package.
    
    "Teacher unionist Marko Vojkovic said immediately Colin Barnett was reinstated as Liberal leader that teachers should use the opportunity to lever a better deal. [emphasis added]
    
    "But former teacher shortage task force chairman Lance Twomey had backed the deal rejected today, saying it offered significant pay increases and looked reasonable."
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • WA teachers turn down pay rise deal
    
    "WA teachers have rejected a pay deal that would have given them a 16 to 22 per cent pay rise.
    
    "About 14,000 teachers voted on the deal and the president of the State School Teacher's Union, Anne Gisborne, says two-thirds voted against it.
    
    "She says the vote sends a clear message to the Government that teachers expect a better deal.
    
    "The final result may depend on the outcome of the state election."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • It must be catching... Web
    
    Pay deal overwhelmingly rejected by teachers
    
    Northern Territory teachers have gone against their union and rejected the latest pay deal from the Government.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  

• 'Vege maths' moves to minus column
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "The national maths curriculum is still a blank page but the man in charge of framing the document knows what won't feature: easy maths courses for weaker students.
  
  "While so-called "vege maths" courses teaching day-to-day skills have been offered to less able students, Peter Sullivan said they basically told students to give up.
  
  "Instead, he envisages a national maths curriculum that gives all students the understanding they need for life after school.
  
  "Professor Sullivan, appointed by the National Curriculum Board to draft a direction for maths, said the course should offer the depth for talented maths students to pursue their interest, but still provide comprehensive skills to weaker students.
  
  "People need maths to be able to understand the world and their lives but also to be able to participate effectively in the workplace and their job," he said.
  
  "That's what curriculum can do, it can make education more interesting and relevant to the world today."
  
  "Professor Sullivan, from Monash University, said extended courses were necessary for students in the final years of school, when they were making choices about their careers.
  
  "But for the compulsory years of schooling, the curriculum should preserve opportunities for all students as long as possible and not discard them as unable to do maths.
  
  "If there were low-achieving students falling behind, then schools and systems have to find ways to support them so they can improve, not give up on them and say 'here, do this easy course'," he said.
  
  "Professor Sullivan said many young students developed an attitude that they just could not do maths and one of the aims for the curriculum was to teach them that persistence pays off. "Giving up is not the way to do it. The amount of maths they learn depends on how hard they try, not how bright they are. These are the sorts of things the curriculum should try to do."
  
  "Professor Sullivan said technology had a crucial part to play. "It has the potential to change the way students study maths. It will allow students to place less emphasis on the memorisation of skills and formulas and use technology to solve real problems with real data." [emphasis added]
  
  "He said fundamental knowledge such as the times tables would always be required. Rather, he was referring to the blind manipulation of memorised formulas. "A lot of people learn things in maths they don't understand, but once they're able to use technology to explore the concept, the maths makes sense," Professor Sullivan said."
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• Victorian TAFE teachers to strike over pay dispute [late online update]
  
  Victoria's TAFE teachers are set to ramp up their campaign for a 20 per cent pay hike with a series of rolling stoppages next month as they put pressure on Premier John Brumby to intervene in the long running dispute.
  
  
  
  
• Call to give states autonomy
  
  A senior public servant warned yesterday that putting the states into a straitjacket under detailed agreements with the Rudd Government would be akin to abolishing federalism.
  
  
  
• Tasmania backs push for reports on schools
  
  The federal Government's push for parents to be told how local schools are performing has the full support of the Tasmanian Government, with the Premier and Education Minister David Bartlett saying it is essential to drive improvement in the education system.
  
  
  
• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • [academic] Fears about the Macintyre appointment are misplaced
    
    "The appointment of Stuart Macintyre to draw up the history section of the national curriculum should not re-ignite the history wars (10/9). I have seen his first draft and can assure you that the fears expressed in your pages about his appointment are misplaced.
    
    "Macintyre has nominated five “critical friends” to look over his draft before it is circulated for wider comment. I am one of these, which explains why I have seen it.
    
    "Despite our political differences, Macintyre and I have worked well together on a number of history projects. He was appointed by Paul Keating to head a small group to examine civics education. David Kemp, the minister of education under John Howard, maintained this group but added me, Greg Craven and Kevin Donnelly (now your education commentator) to it. I became its chair and Macintyre accepted and supported my leadership. The group worked harmoniously in preparing a strong history component to civics education. Donnelly made a valuable contribution and, as far as I know, was happy with our joint efforts.
    
    "Now Macintyre has been asked to lead in the matter of the national curriculum and immediately he sought my assistance. This indicates his commitment to an inclusive approach, but he needed no outside prompting to produce a comprehensive, coherent, factually based curriculum to be presented in narrative form."
    
    John Hirst, Department of History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic
    
    
    
  • [teacher]No, the fears are very real
    
    "Despite the position of Paul Kiem (Letters, 11/9) as president of the History Teachers’ Association of Australia, it’s important not to be deceived into believing that he represents history teachers as a group, let alone their views.
    
    "As a (recently retired) history teacher of well over 30 years’ experience in the classroom, in administration and on various regional and state panels and committees, I have marvelled at the ongoing determination of such associations, whether at state or national level, to systematically work at the destruction of honest evidence-based historical study of the kind identified by John Dawson (Letters, 11/9). After all, it was the Queensland version of such an association that did its best to consign history to, well, history, when it promoted so forcefully SOSE—Studies of Society and Environment!
    
    "To support an apolitical National Curriculum Board in one breath and Stuart Macintyre in the next is to suggest such a new meaning of apolitical as to require a rewrite of the dictionary definition. The Australian Association for the Teaching of English is of a similar nature, as is clearly shown by Mark Howie’s remarkable conclusion (Letters, 11/9) that Peter Freebody’s ideas will lead to the teaching of good English skills.
    
    "These people have fought long and hard to destroy good education in Australia and it looks as if a federal Labor Government is about to give them exactly what they want." [emphasis added]
    
    Roger Wilkins, Broadbeach, Qld
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Children should be taught creationism, claims science education expert
    
    The Rev Prof Michael Reiss, director of education at the Royal Society, said that excluding alternatives to scientific explanations for the origin of life and the universe from science lessons was counterproductive and would alienate some children from science altogether.

 

Saturday – Sunday, 13 – 14 September

WA Election Result, 8 days later:
It's a Liberal – Nationals Government

Both photos © WA Today

• PLATO's letter to the political parties
  
  
  • Peter Collier's reply on behalf of the Liberals [no reply was received from the Nationals]
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Nationals hand WA election win to the Liberals
    
    "The Western Australian Nationals have handed the Liberals victory in the State Election.
    
    "The Nationals leader, Brendon Grylls, has emerged from a State Council meeting at a hotel in Perth to announce the party would use its balance of power in the Lower House to support their traditional allies, the Liberals.
    
    "Both the Liberal Leader, Colin Barnett, and Labor's Alan Carpenter have been courting the Nationals since last weekend's state poll delivered a hung Parliament.
    
    "Mr Grylls demanded that 25 per cent of mining royalties be set aside for regional projects.
    
    "It's been a tough and arduous week," he told a press conference.
    
    "Both parties agreed to the deal and to other requests, raising concern about the impact on WA's credit rating, and a range of projects planned for the state.
    
    "However, the party has voted to side with the Liberals, delivering the party government and Mr Barnett the Premiership.
    
    "Meanwhile the distribution of preferences is continuing in a number of seats."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Carpenter stands down
    
    "Alan Carpenter has resigned as Labor leader.
    
    "Mr Carpenter made the announcement at Governor Stirling Tower a short time ago.
    
    "He congratulated the Liberal Leader and new WA Premier Colin Barnett, who successfully negotiated an alliance with the Nationals that will see a change of Government in Western Australia, a week after the state went to the polls.
    
    "Mr Carpenter's leadership of the party has been under strain since Labor's poor election performance.
    
    "He never won an election in his own right, taking over from the former premier, Geoff Gallop, who resigned for personal reasons in January 2006.

    "Mr Carpenter says he will stay on in parliament as the member for Willagee."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Colin Barnett WA's 29th premier
    by Glenn Cordingley with AAP
    
    "BREAKING NEWS: Colin Barnett will become WA's 29th premier after the National Party agreed to form a government with the Liberals today.
    
    "The Nationals announced their decision after spending yesterday locked in day-long negotiations, considering proposals from both Labor and Liberals. Neither party could form government without a partnership with the Nationals. 
    
    "Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls told a packed media conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Perth that the power-sharing arrangement to form a minority Liberal government would require the support of  Independent Kalgoorlie MP John Bowler.
    
    "Mr Grylls said the make-up of parliament had been a key factor in determining which side the Nationals supported.
    
    "He said giving the Nationals' support to Labor would have meant the Nationals sharing the balance of power in the upper house with the Greens.
    
    "Mr Grylls said the negotiations with both parties had lasted 25 hours and 15 hours had been taken up in sorting out the situation in the upper house.
    
    "We had two very good proposals, and negotiations with both (Premier Alan) Carpenter and Colin Barnett were good and strong,'' Mr Grylls told reporters in Perth.
    
    "We weighed those proposals up, we also weighed up the the numbers of government and obviously the other issues and we came to the decision at the state council floor.''
    
    "He said the Liberals had been considered the most likely party to gain the Nationals' support from the time it was discussed among MPs at a meeting of the state executive and today's council meeting of 40 National Party delegates.
    
    "But he said it had never been a unanimous decision and that the matter had been taken "very seriously''.
    
    "He said the details of the alliance were still to be worked out, but the Nationals would not form a coalition government with the Liberals.
    
    "We are not prepared to go into a traditional coalition so we will be accepting ministries dependent on being independent ministers who reserve the right to exempt ourselves from cabinet and vote against an issue on the floor of the parliament if it's against the wishes of the people we represent.''
    
    "A Liberal Party source close to Colin Barnett said: "Colin said after the announcement today that when you look at the amount of votes cast for each party, it was clear there was the will of the people for a change of government."
    
    "To that end, this is a very good result for WA."
    
    "Outgoing Premier Alan Carpenter has yet to concede but he is expected to call a press conference this afternoon.
    
    "Speculation has been mounting that Mr Carpenter would stand down as leader after a disastrous election campaign that caused a six per cent swing against the government and tipped Labor out of office.
    
    "Mr Carpenter has been accused by supporters and MPs of losing what should have been an unloosable election.
    
    "He went to the polls early at a time when the state's economy was booming, the government was sitting on a big majority and the opposition was a shambles due to leadership woes.
    
    "Some political analysists say Mr Carpenter's only hope of retaining leadership of the party was striking a deal with the Nationals to form a minority Labor government, which has failed."
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
  • Historic day for government of WA
    
    One of the most eventful days in WA political history has seen two parties unite to form government - and the resignation of the outgoing premier.
    
    
  • What to expect from Colin Barnett
    
    
  • Alan Carpenter steps down as Labor Party leader
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian online
  
  
  • Libs to govern after gaining support of Nats
    
    
  • Carpenter quits
    
    
  • Online Poll: Have the Nats made the right choice?
    
    
  • WA result a ‘watershed shift’: Nelson
    
    
  • Barnett speaks of ‘remarkable period’ in WA politics
    
    I said I only came back to lead the Liberals and independents to victory. I have not veered on that over five weeks.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian online
  
  
  • Nationals, Libs to form govt in WA
    
    
  • Labor's clean sweep broken
    
    
  • Carpenter resigns as Labor leader in WA
    
    
    
    
• WA Today
  
  
  • WA Election decided: Liberals to form alliance with Nationals
    
    
  • Outgoing Premier Alan Carpenter resigns after conceding defeat
    

Weekend Education News

• The West Australian
  

• More delays as angry teachers reject pay deal (page 5)
  by Dale Miller
  
  “Teachers have rejected the Carpenter Government’s pay offer, leaving the dispute in limbo and forcing their union to defend its handling of the issue.
  
  “The State School Teachers Union announced the result yesterday after previously recommending that teachers accept the deal, which would have delivered pay rises of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years.
  
  “About two-thirds of the 14,000 members who voted rejected the proposal in a blow for the Government and union president Anne Gisborne, who had promoted the agreement as a big win for teachers.
  
  “Under the agreement, teachers in difficult city and remote schools would have received annual allowances of between $3000 and $19,000.
  
  “Ms. Gisborne described the vote as a significant rejection of the deal but she did not believe it showed teachers were angry with the union. [emphasis added]
  
  “I think there’s a clear message here to government, whatever new government’s coming in, that there are a group of teachers who are dissatisfied with the way in which conditions are being dealt with and salaries are being presented,” she said.
  
  “We will continue as a union to prepare ourselves for arbitration and in the meantime we will be seeking an urgent meeting with the new government and the newly appointed education minister.”
  
  “Ms. Gisborne said the Liberal Party’s extra $120 million pay offer in the lead-up to the election could have influenced the vote.
  
  “She said arbitration was the only option now, meaning more delays and frustrations for teachers.
  
  “They have been angered by the 12 months of delay,” she said. “They’re extremely frustrated and disappointed. Our members are concerned not just about their own working conditions but about the state of public education in WA.”
  
  From The West Australian

   

• WA kids lag in national tests (page 5)
  by Andrew Tillett, Canberra
  
  "WA children are lagging behind those in most other States in numeracy and literacy, the results of new national tests have revealed, prompting calls for an increased emphasis on the “three Rs”.
  
  "Educators have labelled the State’s results in the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy tests as disappointing, with WA recording among the lowest percentage of students who were able to meet minimum benchmarks in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. Only Queensland and the Northern Territory had poorer results.
  
  "More than 10 per cent of WA students in Years 3 and 5 did not reach the minimum standard for reading, spelling and grammar and punctuation.
  
  "The State’s worst result was in Year 9 writing, with almost 15 per cent failing to achieve the benchmark.



© The West Australian



"This year was the first time all Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students at every government and private school in the country sat the same tests in May. They assessed students’ ability to read, spell, write a creative story using proper sentences, correctly use punctuation and grammar and understand mathematics. Students did not pass or fail but had their results compared with a set of academic benchmarks appropriate for a child of that age.

"The report card released yesterday found the percentage of WA students reaching the minimum standard was below the national average in the five categories tested across the grades.

"NSW, ACT and Victorian schools were consistently the best performers and also had a higher share of top students who achieved well above the expected level. Nationally, 90 per cent of students reached the minimum benchmarks.

"Many experts who spoke to The West Australian yesterday said the State’s high proportion of disadvantaged indigenous students helped drag the performance down but others also blamed outcomes-based education because it did not focus on basics in reading, writing and maths.

"University of WA dean of education Bill Louden said the bigger percentage of high achievers in NSW, Victoria and the ACT suggested those school systems pushed their students more to learn. “Those more able kids make such a fantastic contribution to society because they go on to become engineers and doctors,” he said.

"But what he found more worrying was how far behind younger WA students were academically.

“By the time they are in Year 3 it looks like they are half a year behind compared with other States,” he said. “The kids are playing catch-up, which is a lot of hard work. Our relative performance improves as kids get older . . . the gap begins to narrow between the top States and the rest.”

"People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes chairman Marko Vojkovic said the poor results were further evidence that OBE did not work.

“There has got to be some very deep soul-searching about how we teach our kids,” he said. “Any objective analysis is we’re doing something wrong for the fundamentals.” [emphasis added]

"WA Education Department director-general Sharyn O’Neill conceded the State needed to do more to help struggling students.

“Even one child struggling with maths or reading is one too many,” she said. “We will act on this as a matter of priority, to improve the educational outcomes of these children irrespective of their age or location.

“We have recently introduced measures to strengthen student performance, particularly for those not meeting the minimum standards. Our public primary schools have guidelines to devote 50 per cent of time to literacy and numeracy.”

"Australian Education Union Federal president Angelo Gavrielatos called for governments to ensure all schools were properly resourced to help struggling students.

"WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry said the results were not as bad as people suggested because, with the exception of the NT, there was little between the States in meeting the benchmarks." [emphasis added]

From The West Australian at link




• ABC News
  
  
  • Teacher pay rejection surprising: academic
    
    "The author of a report which recommended substantial pay increases for teachers says he is surprised they have rejected the government's pay offer.
    
    "About two thirds of teachers rejected a pay offer which would have seen most receive a 16 to 22 per cent pay rise over three years.
    
    "The former Vice Chancellor of Curtin University, Lance Twomey, says teachers have been underpaid and undervalued for a long time but the offer was a step forward.
    
    "What the government was trying to do and do progressively was to address that in many ways, it's not just the salary aspects of it, it's also to do with the status of the job and the conditions under which many teachers work which aren't I have to say all that great," he said.
    
    "Meanwhile teachers have rejected claims that they are being greedy by rejecting the pay offer.
    
    "The president of the WA Council of State School Organisations Robert Fry says the decision makes teachers look bad.
    
    "I think the message they are giving to society is that they are getting greedy," he said.
    
    "But union activist Marko Vojkovic rejects the criticism and says the offer was inadequate.
    
    "Why is it that nobody wants to become a teacher any more," he said.
    
    "If our conditions are so good, who's going to teach their children in 10 years time, when there's a shortage of 1000 teachers predicted by 2011?" [emphasis added]
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Teachers reject greedy label
    
    "Western Australian teachers have rejected claims that they are being greedy by rejecting the government's latest pay offer.
    
    "Teachers voted against a pay offer yesterday that would have seen them receive pay rises of between 16 and 22 per cent over three years.
    
    "The State School Teachers' Union had recommended that its members accept the offer.
    
    "The president of the WA Council of State School Organisations Robert Fry says the decision makes teachers look bad.
    
    "I think the message they are giving to society is that they are getting greedy," he said.
    
    "But union activist Marko Vojkovic rejects the criticism and says the offer was inadequate.
    
    "Why is it that nobody wants to become a teacher any more," he said.
    
    "If our conditions are so good, who's going to teach their children in 10 years time, when there's a shortage of one-thousand teachers predicted by 2011?" [emphasis added]
    
    "The Education Department says the issue is now in limbo until a new State Government has been formed."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • TEE online course rise concerns teachers' union
    by Andrea Mayes
    
    "The number of students studying TEE subjects by correspondence and over the internet this year has alarmed the teachers' union. The union has warned that student performance could suffer as a result.
    
    "A total of 250 TEE school-based students are studying at least one subject through the School of Isolated and Distance Education this year and a further 43 home-based students are also studying this way.
    
    "However, the Education Department has refused to reveal whether more students have been studying remotely because of staffing shortages.
    
    "A department spokesman claimed on Friday it was "too difficult'' to find out how many Year 12 students studied TEE subjects through SIDE last year because the information was not stored electronically. [emphasis added]
    
    "State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said the union was worried that students could fare worse in the TEE without face-to-face access to a teacher.
    
    "It is definitely of concern to us,'' she said. ``The provision of education online is not in the best interests of students generally.
    
    "That type of delivery is preferred to no delivery at all, but it is always going to be better to have a teacher directly teaching students.''
    
    "Ms Gisborne said it was important for some students, such as those living on remote stations, to have access to TEE subjects online.
    
    "The union could also accept online teaching as a short-term measure to alleviate staffing woes.
    
    "However, there was concern that the state government might come to rely on it to replace teachers in the face of ongoing staff shortages.
    
    "It's now being used as a stop-gap measure, but we don't want the government to turn around and say, `We're cutting back on teacher supply because we've now got online delivery as an option','' Ms Gisborne said.
    
    "There's a fair amount of research to indicate that the relationship with the teacher is a significant factor in student performance, in the identification of problems and so on.'' 
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
  • Teachers tip bucket on lazy parents (page 31)
    by Bruce McDougall
    
    “Teachers are sick of lazy parents who leave them to educate children in everything, from manners and morals to eating habits and hygiene.
    
    “They are fed up with playing “mum and dad” in the classroom and have told families to lift their game by devoting more time and effort to teaching children about social issues.
    
    “Teachers said in a survey they were now expected to take responsibility for educating children on a host of subjects parents could no longer be bothered with, including respect, good behaviour and punctuality. Even the etiquette of mobile-phone use is listed in a six-step guide prepared for parents by an elite teacher group. 
    
    “The new guide, Parent-Teacher Partnerships, has been produced by the Australian Scholarships Group and the National Excellence in Teaching Awards organisation.  
    
    “Its key message is: “Education doesn’t only happen in the classroom”.
    
    “The guide provides tips for parents to help teachers, whose desks are piled with programmes on road safety, health obesity, safe foods, civic pride, values, drugs and alcohol, multiculturalism, child protection, life skills, bullying and anti-homophobia.  
    
    “Most teachers surveyed said that despite being overloaded with extra curriculum work and other duties, they were under pressure from the increasing load imposed by having responsibility for standards no longer taught at home. 
    
    “The teachers’ concerns follow data showing students as young as five are being sent home at a rate of 1682 a week for misconduct, including disobedience and bad behaviour.”
    
    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Wide vision of farmer Grylls
    by Joe Spagnolo
    
    "People will talk about this election for years to come, and for many reasons.
    
    "They will recall the cocky premier who called an election five months early and in the middle of the Olympic Games. To add insult to injury, he expected the public to swallow his drivel that he had done so "to clear the air".
    
    "They will retell the story of the phoenix – a man about to retire from politics who was called on to lead a dysfunctional Opposition that many thought had no chance of winning the election, only to deliver a result that conservatives had only dreamed about.
    
    "They will remember how it took more than a week to deliver an election result and how WA was stuck in limbo while the major parties pitched their marriage proposals to Nationals leader Brendon Grylls.
    
    "And then there's all the hand-wringing – the stories of individual victory and defeat, emotional farewells and tears in triumph.
    
    "But the man who stole the show was a young bloke with a lisp who gambled – and won – in his quest to get a better deal for the bush.
    
    "Grylls looked himself in the mirror late on election night, smiled and said to himself: "Brendon, you have got the bastards by the nuts." [emphasis added]
    
    "OK, he might not have said that, but he had every right to.
    
    "Take a bow, Mr Grylls.
    
    "Labor thought that its one-vote, one-value legislation, which resulted in fewer country seats and more city seats, would help ensure it an election victory.
    
    "The fact that the Liberals were in disarray, until Colin Barnett took over, was another cause for Labor's arrogance.
    
    "Many commentators, including me, thought the Nationals would be decimated at this election.
    
    "There were predictions that they Nationals battle to win enough seats to be registered as a political party and that they would probably only win two.
    
    "But Grylls put his own money and his convictions on the line.
    
    "The Wheatbelt farmer decided some time ago that the Nationals could be a real force in WA politics if they re-established themselves as a truly independent party.
    
    "Grylls was convinced that his party could not continue to fall into line with the Liberals.
    
    "And he refused to enter into a coalition, fielding candidates wherever he chose and spreading the Grylls gospel that the two Big Ls – Labor and Liberal – had failed country WA and would continue to neglect it.
    
    "He travelled the length and breadth of the state spreading the message that only one party would deliver for the bush.
    
    "Every time Carpenter and Barnett announced projects for the city, Grylls made sure country voters knew about it.
    
    "Grylls also believed that the demographics of country WA had changed.
    
    "He observed, correctly, that not everyone in the bush is a nailed-on Nationals voter who lives on a farm.
    
    "He appealed to younger voters, especially disenchanted Labor voters, who wanted better facilities for themselves and their children.
    
    "Grylls kept his eye on the prize: The balance of power in WA. And now that prize is his.
    
    "Both major political parties have had to reassess their budgets and come up with an additional $675 million a year for the bush to get the Nationals onside.
    
    "Grylls has done WA a favour by highlighting the neglect of rural and regional communities.
    
    "About 75 per cent of the WA population still lives in Perth. How are we ever going to get more people to live in the country if we do not provide regional centres and smaller towns with better infrastructure and services? [emphasis added]
    
    "It was only a few months ago that Perth was trying to pinch water from a South-West aquifer to service its swelling population.
    
    "It would make more sense to encourage more people to live in country areas.
    
    "While Perth continues to grow at unprecedented levels, some rural communities are dying. Even mining towns that deliver much of the state's wealth are deprived of adequate funding and facilities.
    
    "The only areas outside of Perth that get money thrown at them are big regional centres such as Geraldton, Albany and Bunbury.
    
    "But there is a whole lot of bush in between.
    
    "As happens in politics, we are about to see a correction regardless of who the Nats leap into bed with. City dwellers should not begrudge country folk this important and necessary correction."
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
    
• National Assessment Program [NAPLAN]
  

• Literacy and Numeracy: Reporting 2008
  
  
  
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Party pressure for Brendon Grylls to link up with Colin Barnett
    
    Nationals hardheads have told young gun Brendon Grylls that grassroots members are not sympathetic to Labor, warning that any decision to support a Carpenter minority government would have critical repercussions for his leadership and the party's long-term future.
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Alan Carpenter demise may be a positive for federal Labor
    by Peter Van Onselen
    
    Alan Carpenter's political execution has been a long and torturous one.
    
    "Instead of being dealt a fatal blow on the night of the election, the Labor Premier has had to endure a week of counting as postal votes slowly but surely trickle the Liberals' way, guaranteeing the parliament is hung, and leaving the final decision of who forms government in the hands of one-time Liberal allies the Nationals.
    
    "We will know for certain tomorrow afternoon who the next premier of Western Australia is, and that is likely to be Colin Barnett. The Nationals' state council meets tomorrow to ratify the decision taken by parliamentary leader Brendon Grylls..."
    
    "Privately, the Rudd Government might not be too disappointed with the Liberal victory, either. It takes the pressure off wall-to-wall Labor governments at the same time as removing from office a government that was suppressing the nation's mining boom.
    
    "Barnett and the Liberal Party would lift the Carpenter Government's ban on uranium mining, adding valuable royalties to the federal Government's taxation coffers and helping prop up a national economy when it hits troubled times..."
    
    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Territory at bottom of class in national schools tests
    
    Northern Territory school students have slipped behind the rest of the nation's children in reading, writing and numeracy, with a third of children in Years 3, 5 and 7 failing to meet the national benchmark for reading.
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Freebody is wrong choice
      
      "The appointment of Professor Peter Freebody to draft the English curriculum for the new National Curriculum Board concerns us too, and we endorse the comments made by Ian Donaldson and Graeme Turner ("Educators in row over English post”, 11/9). The failure to draw on the expertise of specialists in English and literary studies is not a good start to what is meant to be a process of widespread consultation with specialist teachers and academics in the discipline."

      Gillian Whitlock, Professor of English, University of Queensland
      Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature, University of Sydney
      John Frow, Deirdre Coleman, Professors of English, University of Melbourne
      
      

    • "The National Curriculum Board is responsible for developing a curriculum for all students from kindergarten to Year 12. It’s not just about preparation for university in the senior secondary phase of schooling. If a literary studies academic had been appointed instead of Peter Freebody, people could reasonably have asked what someone who had spent a career teaching literature at university would know about the initial teaching of reading or teaching effective writing in Years 4 to 9."

      Garry Collins, President, English Teachers Association of Queensland, Stafford Heights, Qld
      
      
      

• The Age
  
  
  • One in five pupils fail standards test
    by Farrah Tomazin and Bridie Smith
    
    "About one in five Australian students are failing to exceed basic standards in reading, writing and maths.
    
    "But Victorian students are among the best in the country, performing above the national average on all fronts and only trailing the ACT.
    
    "The results of the first national literacy and numeracy test found that while most students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 are going well, thousands continue to struggle despite recent efforts by state and territory governments to tackle underperformance.
    
    "According to the figures, about 20% of students are not performing above national minimum standards, while the proportion of students who are failing or only narrowly reaching those benchmarks tends to increase as they progress from primary to secondary school.
    
    "Educators partly attribute the trend to a lack of targeted programs in the early years of high school, and greater funding for those needing literacy and numeracy support in primary school..."
    
    "From next week, parents will receive a detailed report showing whether their child is a high or low achiever and how they rank against national benchmarks..."
    
    Full story in The Age at link
    
    
    
  • All guns blazing for Nats cowboy in wild, wild west
    [A bit of a summary for Victorian readers...  Web]
    
    Western Australia remains in political limbo a week after a state election that turned its back on Labor but failed to warmly embrace the Liberal alternative. One outcome is clear, however: National Party leader Brendon Grylls can play hardball.
    
    A deal with the Nationals is probably the only outcome that could save Carpenter from political oblivion. With the state in an unprecedented resources and energy boom and the opposition Liberals in disarray when he called an early election, the abrasive Labor leader has been widely criticised for running an inept and directionless campaign that failed to connect with voters. Opinion polling showing that Carpenter's arrogance and irascibility put voters' noses out of joint simply confirmed what a football crowd could have told you soon after he shot to prominence in January 2006, succeeding the popular Geoff Gallop. Carpenter's undertaking to correct his public demeanour came too late, and some Labor insiders believe he is unlikely to survive long even if he does lead a minority government.
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Pollies go crackers
    by Tony Wright
    
    "The West Australian, a news organ not known for its respect for the shenanigans that pass for doing political business in its cowboy state, outdid itself this week with a front-page picture of the state legislature bearing the giant headline "Welcome to the best little whorehouse in Australia".
    
    "It was pretty mind-blowing, though apposite. At face value, the story referred to nothing racier than the state's post-election horse-trading where both Labor and Liberals have been willing to bend just about any principle to win the love (and the power balance) of the Nationals.
    
    "However, it summoned an irresistible vision of ALP and Liberal leaders powdering their faces and rouging their lips and parading in skimpies and stilettos for the approval of Nationals leader Julian [sic] Grylls, in from the bush for a bit of fun with the city girls.
    
    "He would have us think he was prepared to leap into bed with Labor's Alan Carpenter, but if you believe that, you'd have to believe that he wouldn't be skinned alive by the good ol' boys from the West's farmlands and deserts who bankroll his Nationals..."
    
    Full story in The Age at link
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • Parents 'should know the teacher'
    
    "Children perform better in schools if their parents know their teacher, Schools Secretary Ed Balls has said.
    
    "Co-operation between home and school may increase progress and ensure children behave in class, he said.
    
    "His comments come as ministers prepared to launch the Time To Talk consultation, to gather parental views on issues from childcare to homework.
    
    "Government-sponsored research suggests parents become less involved when their child moves into secondary school.
    
    "The survey was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
    
    "It concluded that barriers to parent involvement included limited time and a reluctance to "bother" busy secondary schools.
    
    "Researchers spoke to 56 parents in four locations around the country.
    
    'Momentum gained'
    
    "Mr Balls said: "Parents' active encouragement and support for their children's learning produces academic benefits and children have a more positive attitude.
    
    "But there are still many parents who feel that it is difficult to get involved in their local schools, especially at secondary level.
    
    "I want to keep up the momentum gained in primary schools where parents are far more likely to get involved.
    
    "From these research findings and the Time to Talk consultation events happening over the coming months I hope to be able to pull together a really coherent picture on how we can make it much easier for parents to get involved at every level."
    
    "The Time to Talk consultations in Leeds, Birmingham and London are designed to gather information from parents that will be used to formulate policy.
    
    "Parents will meet Mr Balls, Children's Ministers Beverley Hughes and Kevin Brennan, and Schools Ministers Jim Knight and Andrew Adonis to discuss their concerns and ideas. "
    
    From BBC News at link
    
    
    
  • Huge rise in teacher suspensions
    
    There has been an 86% increase in the number of teachers suspended on full pay in the UK over claims of pupil mistreatment, the BBC has learned.
    

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This page last updated 27 April, 2009 9:40 PM