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Breaking
News: Week of 6 October 2008
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Saturday – Sunday, 11 – 12 October
- The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
- Six per cent payrise for teachers
"West Australian teachers will become the nation's highest paid when they receive their next pay packets, Premier Colin Barnett says.
"Mr Barnett today announced a $120 million package for teachers, promised by the Liberals during the election campaign, would provide an immediate six per cent pay rise backdated to September 5.
"The announcement comes after a bitter year-long struggle between the State School Teachers Union of WA (SSTUWA) and the former government.
"The union ended up in arbitration and was hauled before the Industrial Relations Commission for taking strike action.
"Mr Barnett said the dispute had been a major distraction and the ``long overdue'' salary increase would be paid immediately.
"WA Education Minister Liz Constable said the rest of the package for teachers would be thrashed out in the coming weeks.
"I'm really hoping we can (avoid arbitration),'' Dr Constable said.
"I hope they (the union) will see this as a very positive first step...''
"Dr Constable said the overall offer to teachers would not be less than the previous government's offer.
"It certainly won't be less,'' she said."Two of the other sticking points to be discussed with the SSTUWA include professional development for teachers and allowances for country teachers."
From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
- ABC News
- Teachers to get backdated pay rise immediately
"State school teachers and school administrators in Western Australia will get an immediate 6 per cent pay rise.
"The Premier, Colin Barnett, says the increase will be backdated to September 5.
"He says it will make West Australian teachers the highest paid in the country.
"Last month, teachers overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer by the previous government for increases of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years.
"Mr Barnett says he expects today's announcement will go a long way towards resolving the long running pay dispute.
"It has been something that has been achieved within our first two weeks in government and I regard it as a major achievement of the new Liberal National government," he said.
"I congratulate the Education Minister, Liz Constable, for sitting down and working with the teachers union."
"The pay rise is the first instalment of a three year Enterprise Bargaining Agreement which is still being negotiated with teachers. [emphasis added]
Pay rise accepted
"The State School Teachers Union (SSTU) has unanimously accepted the government's six per cent pay rise.
"The president of the SSTU, Anne Gisborne, says it is a positive step but their full three year agreement still needs to be finalised.
"I think it's a breakthrough in the sense that is an improved quantum, it's recognising a need to get money into teacher's pay packets as soon as possible, but what we haven't got is resolution to the overall negotiations process," she said.
"The SSTU says it still has concerns over pay and workloads and is preparing its case for arbitration.
"Education Minister Liz Constable says she is hopeful arbitration can be avoided.
"I'm really hoping we can," she said.
"I think this decision today sets the scene for everyone to get around the table and negotiate the issues that are outstanding." [emphasis added]
From ABC News at link
- Principal questioned over Henson scouting
Officials from Victoria's Education Department are speaking to a primary school principal under investigation for allowing artist Bill Henson to scout for talent in the playground.
- The West Australian
Teachers on verge of new deal in pay row (page 3)
by Yasmine Phillips
“The long-running teachers pay dispute is set to move a step closer to resolution today, with State Cabinet expected to approve the final details of an interim pay rise.
“But the State School Teachers' Union has warned it will continue to prepare for arbitration, despite hoping to come to an agreement with the Liberal-National Government.
“SSTU president Anne Gisborne said the union would work to identify members who were willing to give evidence, gather witness statements and finalise its submission to the WA Industrial Relations Commission over the coming weeks.
"We will continue to keep preparing because the arbitration program is early December so we certainly can't afford not to keep preparing for arbitration. That being said all the way up to that point we will be pursuing opportunities to get a negotiated settlement," she said.
“The West Australian understands Cabinet will approve the final details of an interim pay rise for teachers, which was promised by Premier Colin Barnett in his second week in Government, at its meeting today.
“Ms Gisborne expected to discuss the finer details with Education Minister Liz Constable during a meeting on Wednesday. She was disappointed with the initial delays but hoped teachers would be granted their pay rise by the start of the fourth term next week.
"There's no doubt the delays in terms of the new Government settling itself in... have created some delays which we, needless to say, would have preferred not to have occurred but that being said I think we have had assurances from both the Premier and the Minister that they are keen to deal with the issue," Ms Gisborne said.
"What we're attempting to do is open up the doorway for formal negotiations as opposed to progressing down the arbitration pathway."
“Dr Constable would not reveal details of the interim pay rise yesterday. But she was determined to resolve the often bitter pay dispute, which had been the source of prolonged tension between the union and the former Labor government.
“Ms Gisborne said she would urge the State Government to jointly seek and extension from the WAIR once formal negotiations had begun.
"I'm hoping in the next short while we'll find out whether we have a capacity to negotiate and outcome and once you've got that on the table and there's a commitment between the parties than that would open the doorway up to having a reason why you would seek to defer arbitration," she said.
“Teachers rejected a deal with the Carpenter government, which offered pay rises of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years. The Liberal party promised and extra $120 million for teacher salaries during the election campaign.”
From The West Australian
Government offers teachers six per cent pay rise
[AAP story on The West's website]
- The Age
- New standard on the way for pupils
by Farrah Tomazin
"As students brace themselves for a new national curriculum, state and federal authorities are developing goals that every child should reach by the time they finish year 12.
"A draft copy of the so-called "national declaration" shows an increased emphasis on Asian culture, religious and sexual tolerance, climate change, and information technology compared with the standards set in schools 10 years ago.
"While literacy and numeracy remain the foundations of learning, the proposed goals state that "values as well as skills must form part of the school's legacy to young people".
"According to the declaration, the economic rise of India and China sparked a need for all Australians to be "Asia literate", while environmental pressures such as climate change demanded students "engage with science and approach problem-solving in new and creating ways".
"According to the draft goals, students should also:
■Have a "sense of optimism, self-esteem and are able to manage their emotional, mental and physical well-being".
■Respect others, have "control over their lives" and be "well-prepared for their potential life roles as family, community and workforce members".
■Understand government, Asian culture, and indigenous people.
■Have the "capacity and inclination to act with moral and ethical integrity".
"The new goals will replace the standards set under the Adelaide Declaration of 1999, which nominated the eight key learning areas in the curriculum: English, the arts, health and physical education, languages, science, social studies and technology.
"State and territory leaders believe that while those areas had "served schools well" it was time to rethink school goals so they took into account societal changes over the past decade. [emphasis added]
"But Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos said the new vision was "not aspirational or inspirational enough" and appeared to be based on "political imperatives, rather than a bold statement about educational goals".
From The Age at link
- Catholic schools to get $39m boost
Victorian Catholic schools will get a $39 million funding boost as the State Government bows to public pressure and provides more money to upgrade rundown classrooms and buildings.
- Exclusive Brethren school given $1m state grants
A Victorian school run by the secretive Exclusive Brethren religious sect received more than $1 million in state taxpayer funding last year, new documents show.An analysis of Federal Government funding for Brethren schools also shows they will receive almost $12 million nationwide this year.
- Ministers slam Henson
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard and Youth Minister Kate Ellis have expressed outrage at photographic artist Bill Henson's talent scouting visit to a Melbourne primary school.
- The Australian
- Parents endorse Henson principal
- Op Ed: Get Henson out of the schoolyard
[Plus lots of Letters in a range of newspapers... not transcribed]
- Monash overhaul a passport to choice and rivalry
Monash University will cut some courses, enhance its focus on double degrees and increasingly send students to overseas campuses in a curriculum revamp set to rival the high-profile Melbourne Model.
- International students miss out on taskforce spot
International student groups are furious they have been excluded from a State Government taskforce set up to examine the problems they face.
- The Australian
- Gillard guru in line for top job
Julia Gillard's favoured New York schools guru Joel Klein has been touted as a potential education secretary in a Barack Obama or John McCain administration after both presidential candidates sought his advice in framing their education policies.
- Letter to the Editor
- Many teachers, but they quit
"Kenneth Wiltshire cites the key factor in the shortage of school teachers as stemming from the lowly status of the profession ("When it comes to status, the teachers get less than top marks”, 4-5/10). There is some validity to this statement but it does not account for the shortage as a whole.
"Every year there are many students graduating from university with teaching qualifications, however, studies show that within three to five years retention of early career teachers is one of the biggest challenges facing the profession—although the issue seems to be largely ignored and certainly has not been addressed with any success.
"Teaching continues to be one of the few professions where from the first day a teacher with no experience has the same level of responsibility as an experienced one.
"Until early career teachers are given reduced workloads and real support, the profession will continue to loose [sic] teachers."Louise Dorrian, Newtown, NSW
- The Washington Post
- Merit Pay Could Ruin Teacher Teamwork
by Jay Mathews
"I have been studying successful urban public charter school networks, arguably the most encouraging story in education, and listening to their leaders. Many of them know D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and share her views, except for one important part of her reform plan: incentive bonuses for teachers.
"Rhee wants to offer teachers up to $20,000 extra a year, based at least in part on how much better their students read, write and do math under their tutelage. Performance or merit pay, as it's sometimes called, has drawn interest in several places across the country.
"The idea troubles me, because it is at odds with what I have learned from charter leaders who have made great achievement gains in their independent public schools. Their staffs thrive on teamwork. Everyone shares lesson plans, swaps ideas and reinforces discipline to help each child. Won't big checks to just a few members of the team ruin that?
"The issue meshes with giving principals the power to fire weak teachers, a Rhee reform I applauded in last week's column. Teams don't work nearly as well if everyone is not doing his or her share. Teams with all players pulling hard are also more likely to attract more committed people, happy to escape schools where co-workers make fun of strivers.
"Rhee's move last week to impose some of her plans in spite of union opposition might increase the likelihood that the whole package will go forward, including bonuses that contradict the team concept. Some charter leaders say be careful with those individual rewards. Don Shalvey, co-founder of the Aspire charter school network, said, "I can't see any other way than going with the team." Steve Barr, founder of the Green Dot Public Schools network, said the only individual incentives in his schools are "if you are not doing well, you will be removed." ...
Full story in The Washington Post at link
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Op Ed
Good grammar without the grief
by Mark Tredinnick [author of The Little Green Grammar Book]
There are schools of grammar, and I belong to none of them. Among the schools are traditional grammar, modern grammar and what is sometimes called transformational-generative grammar, the scientific-sounding grammar linguistics students learn these days.
- The New York Times
- The Future of Reading: Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers
by Motoko Rich
Carlsbad, Calif.— "When PJ Haarsma wrote his first book, a science fiction novel for preteenagers, he didn’t think just about how to describe Orbis, the planetary system where the story takes place. He also thought about how it should look and feel in a video game.
"The online game that Mr. Haarsma designed not only extends the fictional world of the novel, it also allows readers to play in it. At the same time, Mr. Haarsma very calculatedly gave gamers who might not otherwise pick up a book a clear incentive to read: one way that players advance is by answering questions with information from the novel.
“You can’t just make a book anymore,” said Mr. Haarsma, a former advertising consultant. Pairing a video game with a novel for young readers, he added, “brings the book into their world, as opposed to going the other way around.”
"Mr. Haarsma is not the only one using video games to spark an interest in books. Increasingly, authors, teachers, librarians and publishers are embracing this fast-paced, image-laden world in the hope that the games will draw children to reading.
"Spurred by arguments that video games also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom. In New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is supporting efforts to create a proposed public school that will use principles of game design like instant feedback and graphic imagery to promote learning.
"Publishers, meanwhile, are rushing to get in on the action. Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, recently released “The Maze of Bones,” the first installment in a 10-book mystery series that is tied to a Web-based game..."
Full story in The New York Times at link
- The Guardian
- The rise and rise of the YouTube generation, and how adults can help
Blogs and online diaries should be part of school curriculum, says thinktank
- The West Australian
Teachers to be given an immediate 6pc pay rise (page 6)
by Bethany Hiatt
“State school teachers will get an immediate 6 per cent increase in their pay packets in a decision the Government hopes will ease tensions over the long-running pay dispute.
“Colin Barnett claimed yesterday the interim pay rise, backdated to September 5, was a breakthrough in solving the dispute after just two weeks in government.
“But shadow education minister Michelle Roberts said the failure to backdate the pay rise to July would short-change teachers.
“The across-the-board rise will increase a first-year teacher’s annual salary within weeks from $48,425 to $51,331 and a senior teacher’s salary will go from $70,868 to $75,120.
“The Premier said the 6 per cent increase, which soaked up the $120 million that the Liberals had promised towards improving teachers’ salaries during the election, would be part of any final enterprise bargaining agreement reached with the State School Teachers Union.
“This has been a breakthrough and I think it is a long overdue and well-deserved increase in the salaries of our teachers,” he said.
“We believe the salary of teachers and administrators should be increased by 6 per cent for the coming 12 months as a fair reward for their efforts and to compensate for changes in the nature of their work, the skill and responsibility required and the conditions under which their work is performed.”
“The bitter pay dispute, which had dragged on for nearly a year, had been a major distraction from teachers’ role as educators, he said.
“Education Minister Liz Constable said the interim pay rise was the first step to negotiating the rest of the teachers’ package over the next few weeks, even though preparations were still in train for the dispute to return to arbitration in the WA Industrial Relations Commission.”
“She said she hoped that arbitration could be avoided. Issues still to be thrashed out with the union included a requirement for teachers to complete 15 hours of professional learning on top of normal duties and allowances for teachers in country schools.
“Teachers rejected a deal with the Carpenter government that offered pay rises of between 15.84 and 21.67 per cent over three years.
“Mrs Roberts said because Labor’s offer had been backdated to July, it represented an increase of more than 6 per cent for many teachers.
“She welcomed the pay rise, but said it was a flat 6 per cent, which lacked the allowances that would have been payable under Labor to encourage teachers to take jobs at difficult-to-staff schools.
“SSTU president Anne Gisborne said while the interim increase was more generous than the first rise of 4.5 per cent, which teachers would have received under Labor’s three year offer, it was less generous in the point at which it took effect.
“I think it’s a breakthrough in the sense it is an improved quantum,” she said. “It’s recognising the need to get money into teachers’ pay packets as soon as possible, but what we haven’t got is resolution to the overall negotiations process.”
“Union activist Marko Vojkovic, who led opposition to the rejected pay deal, said the interim rise was a good start. “It really depends now on when the next increase will be and what the total increase will be over the next three years,” he said.” [emphasis added]
From The West Australian
Comment
Offer not a long-term solution (page 6)
by Bethany Hiatt
“Just like the former Carpenter government, the new Liberal-Nationals Government is claiming that WA teachers will soon be the best paid in the country.
“More importantly, it is hoping the interim 6 per cent pay rise approved by Cabinet yesterday will keep teachers quiet for long enough to find a real resolution to the dispute.
“Colin Barnett seems to be hoping that teachers will be so pleased to get an extra 6 per cent immediately, that the whole vexed issue will disappear.
“But far from being the “breakthrough” that the Premier called the interim pay rise yesterday, it was simply a smart move to make his new Government look good and to buy some time.
“While Education Minister Liz Constable says she’s hopeful that a new agreement can be reached within weeks, it’s difficult to share her optimism.
“In reality, the Government still has not met its pre-election pledge to pull out of arbitration in the WA Industrial Relations Commission, despite requests from the union for it to defer the process.
“If the dispute returns to arbitration, there are no guarantees that teachers will get anything more than 6 per cent for some time to come.
“And if 6 per cent is all they are going to get for another year, they will not be kept quiet for long.”
From The West Australian
- The Australian
- Colin Barnett hands teachers instant 6pc pay rise
by Amanda O'Brien, WA political reporter
"Teachers will get an immediate 6 per cent pay rise on top of a substantial three-year deal still being negotiated, as the new Barnett Government tries to end a bitter 12-month pay dispute.
"West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said teachers had been distracted from their core role of educating children for too long, and it was time to move on.
"The Liberal leader was unapologetic about the likely flow-on wage pressures from the double increase. And he denied it was out of step with plans announced by Treasurer Troy Buswell to slash government expenditure.
"The across-the-board increase was approved by cabinet yesterday at its second meeting since the new Liberal-Nationals Government was elected.
"In May, the Brumby government caved in to union demands, giving Victoria's 43,000 public school teachers pay rises of up to 15.2 per cent to make them the highest paid in the nation.
"The next day, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard warned of potential problems if other unions used the big pay deals struck for one group to try to get increases for their members as well.
"But Mr Barnett rejected any criticism. "Nothing can be more important than the quality of education, and nothing was distracting more from education than this 12-month dispute over teachers' and principals' salaries," he said. [emphasis added]
"The teachers' year-long pay battle with the Carpenter government was marked by huge rallies, a strike that shut dozens of schools and disrupted hundreds, and a union campaign targeting Labor MPs in marginal seats. Teachers last month rejected a pay offer of between 15 and 22 per cent over three years, which would have made them the highest paid in Australia.
"And Mr Barnett said the 6 per cent rise, backdated to September 5, would make teachers in Western Australia the highest paid in the country, even before the other rises were finalised. It would add between $2900 and $4250 a year to teachers' pay. Principals would be almost $5000 better off. A first-year graduate teacher would jump from $48,425 to $51,331, a senior teacher from $70,868 to $75,120, and the principal of a large school (more than 700 students) from $114,593 to $121,469.
"A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard last night suggested any pay deal should be linked to productivity gains. "Pay arrangements should foster best practice and productivity improvements," she said. "Wage movements that are linked to productivity gains are not inflationary." [emphasis added]
[Thanks, Julia: let's ignore teachers being overworked and underpaid for ages... More bang for the buck, perhaps, Julia? Web]
"The State School Teachers Union executive endorsed the offer at an emergency meeting late yesterday, ensuring the money would be available in pay packets next week.
"SSTU president Anne Gisborne said it was a positive first step and that she was hopeful the full three-year salary deal could now be negotiated with the new Government without having to go to arbitration, which would further delay a resolution.
"They certainly have come to the table fairly rapidly in an attempt to resolve this matter," she said. "It's a breakthrough in the sense that it is an improved quantum -- it's recognising a need to get money into teachers' pay packets as soon as possible."
"But Ms Gisborne refused to rule out further industrial action if the rest of the deal was not approved quickly. As well as salaries, she said teachers wanted progress on workload issues.
"Ms Gisborne said Western Australia faced massive challenges trying to retain teachers, let alone attracting new ones. "The teacher shortage issue is significant and it is going to grow," she said. "Western Australia appears to be heading the stats, reluctantly, in respect to teacher shortages. South Australia, I gather, and Victoria also have some issues there.
"It is a problem that is going to creep across Australia, and one where we are going to be increasingly in competition with each other for teachers."
"The 6 per cent rise meets anelection commitment by Mr Barnett to top up the previous government's pay offer by $120 million."
From The Australian at link
- Celeb parents join defence of school head and Bill Henson
Celebrity parents at a Melbourne primary school where child photographer Bill Henson was allowed to scout for talent have defended both Henson and the school principal, who says she is confident an investigation will clear her of any wrongdoing.
Asked whether she thought an Education Department investigation would show she acted appropriately, principal Sue Knight told The Australian yesterday: "I'm sure that in the findings of the report ... that will be very clear."
The Age presents an alternative view
- The Age
- The Monday Education Section is actually available online this week and contains 16 articles, including:
- Upper primary the 'forgotten' years
This year's national tests highlight problem areas, writes Caroline Milburn.
- Economics 101 - what the global meltdown means
Making sense of the financial crisis that has swept America and the world.
- Stars make Madrid [International Mathematical] Olympiad count
Each country's team consists of up to six students and their coaches. The competition is over two days and the students having 4½ hours a day to solve three problems. The best problem solvers are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.
To give you a flavour of the IMO, here is a problem (one of the easier ones) from a previous year. Feel free to use your calculator:Twenty-one girls and 21 boys took part in a mathematical contest. It turned out that each contestant solved at most six problems. And, for each pair of a girl and a boy, there was at least one problem that was solved by both of them. Show that one of the problems was solved by at least three girls and at least three boys.
- Henson principal could face suspension
The principal who allowed controversial artist Bill Henson into her school to scout for child models faces possible suspension if a Government investigation finds she acted inappropriately.
- Editorial
It is important to get a proper perspective on Henson
While the inquiry into the artist's visit to a Melbourne primary school is proper, the initial reactions of the Premier and Prime Minister are not.
... The argument arising from Henson's visit to St Kilda Park Primary is not one of consent or of artistic motivation. It is to do with possible breaching of Education Department guidelines for any extracurricular activity — be it visits by photographers, career counsellors or football scouts — that involves the presence of strangers on school grounds in proximity to children. As such, Mr Brumby is within his rights to initiate an inquiry: parents are entitled to measures to ensure their children are safeguarded when not in their care...
- Op Ed
Look after our children without hysteria
by Dr Leslie Cannold (medical ethicist and author)
Pillorying Bill Henson and the school will not make children safer.
... The truth looks more like this. That adults with no awareness of the usual practice of schools when dealing with sporting and artistic scouts, no knowledge of the particular needs of this young boy, no insight into the factors the parents considered when deciding to involve their son and no concept of the social milieu in which those parents were operating (St Kilda has more artists than any other place in Victoria) have been invited by the media to pass judgement on decisions made by those well across these things.
If our former principal had taken George Lucas through the playground, and as a result the next child star of Star Wars 87 was born, would anyone be caterwauling now? ...
- ABC News
- [NT] Teachers' union urged to restart pay negotiations
"The Northern Territory employment commissioner has urged the Education Union to return to the negotiating table and resolve the year-long teacher's pay dispute.
"The Industrial Relations Commission has stopped teachers from striking until next month, but the Education Union is appealing the decision.
"The union is refusing to negotiate until the ban on striking is lifted..."
Full story at ABC News at link
- Students, parents responsible for school attendance: Qld Govt
The Queensland Government says a new anti-truancy campaign will emphasise the link between poor attendance and poor achievement.
Schools will be encouraged to communicate with shops and businesses to report when students are 'off campus'.
- The New York Times
- A Dead Language That’s Very Much Alive
Latin makes a comeback
- SSTUWA
- SSTUWA Scholarship Program
"The SSTUWA Scholarship Program for Exemplary Activists, funded in recognition of member activists fighting the imposition of individual workplace agreements in the 1990s, has depleted.
"A replacement SSTUWA Scholarship Program has been established. Under this scheme a total of $ 10 000 per annum will be available for scholarship(s) to support professional learning opportunities of an industrial and/or professional nature.
"Applications for 2009 must be received by COB 28th November 2008..."
Full details at SSTUWA at link
- ABC News
- Qld Govt to revamp school curriculum [Oh My God! Web]
"The State Government says it is introducing new curriculum guidelines for public schools.
"Education Minister Rod Welford says it is the first time there has been an over-arching curriculum framework that covers students from prep to year 12.
"Mr Welford has told Parliament the document deals with how students are taught, rather than what they are taught. [emphasis added]
"This framework will be the key reference for schools in setting goals, planning teaching and monitoring progress," he said.
"In short, showing them how to implement the detailed elements of the curriculum across every year level."
From ABC News at link
- The New York Times
- Video Game Helps Math Students Vanquish an Archfiend: Algebra
by Winnie Hu
"The eighth-grade math class at Intermediate School 30 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, sounded like a video arcade on Monday morning as 30 students zoomed through virtual tunnels and zapped competitors with a blue freezing light.
"Then all action stopped as an algebra problem popped on screen: What is the slope-intercept formula for points A and B?
“You have to be at the top of your game,” said Salma Nakhlawi, 13, who has been brushing up on her math skills along with her hand-eye coordination so that she can play the video game Dimension M with her friends. “I used to hate math, but I’ve started to like it. I actually understand it more.”
"This fall, New York City is rolling out Dimension M — M stands for math — in 109 middle schools across the five boroughs after trying the game out in two dozen schools, including I.S. 30, last year. Like a modern twist on “Jeopardy!,” the fast-paced video game quizzes students on prealgebra and algebra topics ranging from prime numbers to fractions and complex equations. A correct answer brings 500 or more points, a wrong one as few as 25; the player with the most points wins. (No prizes, just glory.)
"Whether such educational video games are effective teaching tools is among the key questions behind the new Games for Learning Institute, a $3 million research effort at New York University that was publicly unveiled on Tuesday. The institute, a partnership between the Microsoft Corporation and six universities (N.Y.U., Columbia, the City University of New York, Dartmouth, Parsons the New School for Design, and the Rochester Institute of Technology) will study games used in middle school classrooms and then create prototypes for new ones.
"The plan is to test the prototypes, focusing on math and science, in more than a dozen schools in the New York area, and share the research with game developers and others, but not sell them commercially.
“At the core, we are trying to understand what’s fun for kids in this age group and relate that to what’s learning,” said Ken Perlin, a computer science professor at N.Y.U. who will direct the new institute, which will have 14 faculty members, drawn from the six institutions, including Columbia’s Teachers’ College..."
Full story in The New York Times at link
- The Australian
- Students want a teacher as online learning is a turn-off
by Andrew Trounson
"Full online course delivery may be the tempting way to maximise returns in the growing but high-cost transnational education sector, but it is a turn-off for students.
"A survey of 469 computer students undertaking different Australian degree courses in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam has found that despite improving technology, most students don't want their courses delivered fully online.
"Computer science researcher Iwona Miliszewska of Victoria University found that what support there was for full online delivery was often qualified by demands for 24-hour service support. As well, students wanted teachers to be available through emails and discussion boards.
"Dr Miliszewska said her research confirmed what the sector was already realising: students preferred a hybrid model combining face-to-face teaching with online delivery..."
Full story in The Australian at link
- Letters to the Editor
- Dads can be denied same access to their kids’ school
"Why do we have to put up with more whinging and whining about Bill Henson and his trials and tribulations from the likes of David Marr? Parents all over the country care about a zillion times more about the welfare of their kids than they do about Henson’s art, find their kids about a zillion times more beautiful than his photographs and, frankly, could think of about a zillion things they would rather spend a small fortune on than one of his pictures.
"But Henson can walk into their kids’ school, escorted by the principal, to trawl for talent from which he makes a pretty handsome commercial gain while those same parents, particularly fathers, are discouraged and even forbidden to take a camera to certain school events because that is what pedophiles [sic] might do. [emphasis added] The children’s fathers have to run the gauntlet of that hideous suspicion and Henson gets a free tour?
"Yes, Henson makes a striking image. But in the scheme of things, so what? He is not the only artist going around and, personally, I could not care less if I never saw one of his photographs ever again. It would be a very small price to pay if it meant I would also not have to put up with that self-appointed guardian of the artistes’ right to do whatever they like, “Ayatollah” David Marr, who is so precious he even turns on Bill Leak."
M. Seward, Launceston, Tas
[plus seven more Letters at that link]
- The Independent
- A-level exams system is 'not fit for purpose'
by Richard Garner, education editor
Students just 'regurgitate knowledge' warns head of inquiry into exams reform
"A-levels "strangle scholarship" and are not "fit for purpose" in preparing students for university, according to Sir Mike Tomlinson, who led a government inquiry into exam reform.
"The former chief schools inspector who headed an inquiry into the future of secondary education, told a conference in London yesterday that there were "searching questions" to be answered about the exam.
"At the moment it is strangling scholarship and reducing students to identifying key points that collect marks rather than sustain argument," he said. The exam was just about "regurgitating knowledge"...
Full story in The Independent at link
- The Age
- Foreign students on par with locals
International students do just as well as Australian students at Australia's elite universities, countering claims that international students are "soft-marked" and are dragging down academic standards, according to the author of a new study.
- ABC News
- TAFE teachers rally for equal pay
"TAFE teachers are rallying outside the electorate office of Victorian Premier John Brumby, in a push for a wage increase.
"The rally is part of a state-wide campaign to gain pay parity with school teachers.
"Jill Roberston from the Australian Education Union says TAFE teachers get $13,000 a year less.
"Now either Mr Brumby thinks it is critical to solve the skill shortage. Start paying teachers properly so we can attract and retain the best in TAFE," she said.
"He needs to come out and say is a TAFE teacher worth as much as a school teacher is worth?"
From ABC News at link
- Save Our Schools: Media Release
- Gillard Should Come Clean on School Reports
Save Our Schools, a Canberra-based public education advocacy group, today called on the Education Minister, Julia Gillard, to release details of her controversial school performance reporting plan.
SOS spokesman, Trevor Cobbold, said that the imminent visit of New York Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein, is an opportunity for informed public debate about school reports.
“Julia Gillard wants schools to be open and transparent about their performance. Yet, she is not applying the same standard to herself. She has restricted public information and debate about her proposal. It is all being decided under the cloak of secrecy.
“It is time for Gillard to come clean and reveal the details of what she proposes for Australian schools.
“Klein is being brought to Australia to tout New York’s school progress reports. Let us have an informed debate while Klein is here and not just a one-sided presentation to bolster Gillard’s secret negotiations with State and Territory Governments.
“Parents, teachers and the public are entitled to know what school performance information will be made public and how schools will be compared. They need to be able to assess whether the information can be used to construct misleading league tables, whether it will actually reflect school performance rather than family social background and whether the information is statistically valid and reliable.
“Gillard says she that she rejects ‘simplistic and silly’ league tables and wants to compare ‘like schools’. However, the Klein model that so ‘impresses’ her fails both tests.
“The New York system reports the performance scores of all schools, thus making it possible to create school league tables. Many of its so-called ‘school peer groups’ are very un-alike in their social composition.”
Mr Cobbold said that the Education Minister’s refusal to provide the details of her proposal contradicts the Prime Minister’s promise of open government.
“It seems that it is all being decided behind closed doors with the axe of Commonwealth funding held over the heads of State and Territory Governments to ensure compliance. What a way to conduct the open government promised by the Prime Minister!”
“The Prime Minister’s message clearly has not got through to his Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister. Instead, she is taking her cues from her champion, Joel Klein, on how to force through controversial measures without public debate.
“Secrecy and avoidance of public debate are characteristic of how Klein has implemented change in New York’s schools. There too, teacher and parent organisations were excluded from the process. Gillard has clearly learned from him.
“Gillard needs to demonstrate that she is as open and transparent as she wants schools to be. She should release the details of her proposal for school progress reports and invite public discussion. We should have real public debate over proposals before implementation. This is what open government means.”
Contact: Trevor Cobbold 0410 121 640 (m)
From Save Our Schools at link
- The Independent
- Days of children reading books 'are numbered'
by Richard Garner, education editor
"The days of children reading traditional books are numbered, claims the man spearheading a campaign to improve literacy in schools.
"Publishers must adapt titles to the demands of modern young readers who spend more time on the internet if they are to succeed in persuading the next generation to read, says Jonathan Douglas, the director of the National Literacy Trust.
"He made his remarks as researchers prepared to tell a conference starting today that children's reading habits slump dramatically after they start at secondary school. The typical eight-year-old reads nearly 16 books a year but, by the time they reach 15 or 16, this has dwindled to just over three books per year. The big drop-off starts after the first year of secondary school, when the number of books read falls from nearly 12 a year to just six.
"The study, based on interviews with nearly 30,000 pupils aged seven to 16, also shows a growing trend towards reading comics, magazines, newspapers and online articles, and playing computer games, after the first year at secondary school.
"Reading books does not maintain the strength of its hold on young people as an activity," Mr Douglas said. "It begins to diminish from the age of 11. Publishers and the book trade must reinvent the book. They have to produce more graphic novels. Children are much more visually conscious than they were before – and the book trade must reflect this.
"Reading is not a static activity. It has always changed from one generation to another, depending on where literacy skills sat within society and what texts were available and why."
"A research paper entitled What Kids Are Reading, by Professor Keith Topping of Dundee University, will be presented to a national conference on literacy and numeracy in Stansted today. It also reveals marked differences in the books that girls and boys choose to read.
"Among pre-teen girls, Jacqueline Wilson is overwhelmingly their favourite author. Her books explore growing up and teenage relationships and emotional development. Boys prefer adventure stories such as J K Rowling's Harry Potter novels and children's books by Roald Dahl.
"Many respondents did not believe they were engaging in reading if they were scanning items online. Mr Douglas said: "Twenty-nine per cent did not see themselves as readers but they were spending a vast amount of time reading online.
"They thought reading only related to books. This shows we will have to develop new strategies for promoting reading to children in future."
"One way would to do this would be to ensure that more classic books and novels were made available online with illustrations, he added."
From The Independent at link
- The Australian
- Op Ed / Blog
States need to lift their game
by Julie Novak
Australian states and territories appear to have been steadily losing friends for a long period of time.
"The group of those not enamoured with the states includes former and present politicians from across the ideological spectrum.
"Federal Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon called for the abolition of the states in the inaugural Edmund Barton lecture in July.
"In his maiden speech to the Senate -- the states' house in the federal parliament -- John "Wacka" Williams said: "I believe that we should have only two tiers of government in Australia, a federal government and regional governments." Federal Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has also previously favoured the abolition of state and territory governments.
"To the cynics among us, these kinds of sentiments expressed by commonwealth politicians are not surprising. After all, it is often remarked, "Show me a federal pollie, and I'll show you a centralist." However, even former state political identities have made similar calls. Former NSW treasurer Michael Costa stated his preference for state abolition, and former premier Bob Carr said in August that the states are a "dying institution" that would require only part-time parliamentarians to function.
"Apart from the (former) political elite, surveys suggest that the general public is becoming intensely dissatisfied with the states.
"A Newspoll survey conducted for Griffith University in July showed that about 42 per cent of people surveyed regarded the performance of states as poor or very poor. It also showed that a sizeable minority of those surveyed (about 31 per cent) wanted to see the states abolished.
"How has it come to this? The increasing involvement of the commonwealth government in the constitutional responsibilities of the states is one culprit. Successive governments in Canberra have come to dictate many policy and administrative settings of the states in areas such as health, education, transport and so on. This creeping centralism may leave the general public shrugging their shoulders and asking themselves, "Why have the states when the commonwealth is doing part of the job already?"
"Although commonwealth intervention in state affairs is a significant problem for our federation, it is important not to overlook the states. For a start, lower levels of government retain financial muscle. In 2006-07, the states (and their local governments) spent a staggering $151billion, equivalent to about 14per cent of gross domestic product.
"The states also retain important decision-making powers and controls over services that are critical to Australia's economic growth and productivity. Therefore when survey respondents claim that states' performance is poor or very poor, it is important to take notice.
"A significant portion of the blame for the reduced esteem for state governments must lie with the states. The states and territories have benefited from substantial increases in revenues over the past 10 years, including from state taxes and the GST. With this tidal wave of gold flowing into their coffers, the states have chosen to increase their expenditure at a rapid rate.
"Indeed, since the late 1990s, many newly appointed state Labor governments have extolled the virtues of government spending, chiefly as a tool to overcome alleged expenditure neglect by former state Coalition administrations.
"An analysis of state financial data illustrates, however, that much of the additional spending was accounted for by rising expenditure on the labour inputs used to deliver government services. Using Australian Bureau of Statistics labour market data, and calibrating for the timing of first state Labor election wins in the present electoral cycle, the total number of bureaucrats employed increased from about 1.1 million to about 1.25 million: an increase of about 176,000, or about 16 per cent.
"For the general government sector, employee expenses increased by about $23 billion whereas total expenses increased by about $52 billion. In other words, about 44 per cent of total general government spending by the states was absorbed by bureaucratic wage claims.
"Nationally, expenses by state governments on bureaucratic labour costs alone stood at 6 per cent of GDP. This spending is broadly equivalent to the share of the retail sector in the national economy, and bureaucrats stand to gain more pay if recent wage claims by public sector unions are approved.
"The growth in bureaucrat numbers and public sector wage costs does not appear to have led to sustained improvements in service delivery that would justify the spending increases. On any significant indicator of performance -- such as school student benchmark testing results, waiting times for elective surgery or emergency treatments in public hospitals, complaints about policing services, or peak-hour travel times on city roads -- it is clear that the service outcomes are mixed at best. Indeed, there has been deterioration in performance against some of these indicators in some states.
"The divorce between state spending decisions and outcomes clearly shows that the formula adopted by Labor governments -- to shift receipts out the door to the bureaucratic classes as fast as possible -- has failed. Therefore, it is unsurprising that state governments have fallen out of favour with the political elite and general public alike.
"The key to rebuilding support for the role of the states in our federal system rests with engaging in genuine reform to improve results. For example, funding entitlements for school students should be made more portable across schooling systems, and individual government schools should have greater autonomy to manage their affairs. Contracting out public hospital patient treatment to private hospitals can help alleviate waiting lists, and more information on hospital performance can help patients make better care decisions. The private sector could also play a larger role in building public infrastructure assets ranging from road networks to public housing.
"Many of these reforms will require a sea change on state policies to leverage greater private sector involvement in service delivery. That said, such measures promise to boost efficiency and deliver services more quickly as a consequence of greater competition and the provision of tailored services. This also allows the states to overcome any revenue raising limitations that may otherwise hamper service delivery.
"If states are prepared to move away from the tired old bureaucratic model and inject market competition into services, as well as lowering taxes and regulatory burdens, perhaps some greater public esteem for the states will ensue. It may even turn around the growing voter sentiment against state Labor governments, as highlighted in this week's Newspoll. The beauty of reform is that it's never too late to start."Julie Novak is a research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.
From The Australian at link [view and post comments at that same link]
- Senator's umbrage at genocide lessons
There was a sharp outbreak of the history wars at a Senate inquiry in Melbourne yesterday as a Liberal MP and a secondary school teacher clashed over whether Aborigines suffered genocide and whether a freedom fighter could be a mass killer.
- The Age
- Diddly squat
Rising rents and a housing shortage are forcing many local students to take desperate measures just to find a place to sleep. Annie Lawson reports.
- The West Australian
Letter to the Editor (page 22)
Too greedy?
“Teachers have been engaged in a pay dispute with State governments for almost a year.
“They chose to decline an offer of between 15 and 22 per cent increase (over three years) – an increase their own union recommended and an increase most of us would be very happy with.
“Teachers get automatic pay rises for the first seven years of employment (to a base of $70,000), regardless of performance, plus allowances, plus bonuses for remote areas/tough schools, plus one-off payments – and don’t forget the extra school holidays they get.
“Then comes the State election and changes of government, the extra $700 million royalty for regions Brendon Grylls was promised, which was not in the Budget, followed by the current world economic crisis. So, you’d think the teachers had blown it – gambled and lost, got too greedy and waited too long while the coffers were drained.
“But, no, they get a 6 per cent pay rise anyway, backdated at that.
“This pay rise already makes them the highest paid in the country – and they are expecting more?
“The other unions are bound to try to follow suit. This Government needs to keep costs under control during this time and not blow our sound financial position as the world heads into recession.”
W. Bilick, Gosnells
- The West Australian
WA uni deans split over ban on using OBE levels (page 17)
by Bethany Hiatt
“Education deans at WA universities are divided over whether the contentious outcomes-bases education assessment system should be abolished for kindergarten to Year 10 classes.
“Notre Dame University education dean Michael O’Neill said yesterday the system should be removed because it was too confusing for teachers, parents and students.
“Professor O’Neill said trainee teachers learnt to mark Year 11 and 12 students using grades and percentages but had to use “levels” – the OBE assessment system, for students from kindergarten to Year 10. “It would be a far better to have one seamless system,” he said.
“The Carpenter government abolished levels for Years 11 and 12 last year and restored traditional grades and percentages. But they remain for kindergarten to Year 10. Critics say levels are too broad to measure student progress accurately and show little distinction between high and low achievers.
“New Education Minister Liz Constable has promised to abolish assessment in levels from kindergarten to Year 10 and to get an independent audit of the curriculum framework.
“Former education minister Mark McGowan said levels were linked to standards, so if levels were abandoned there would be no common difference between schools.
“Professor O’Neill said the standards that students should meet would still be contained in the curriculum framework which teachers could use when planning lessons. “It doesn’t inherently imply that you have to assess under a system that simply didn’t work for the majority of teachers in schools,” he said.
“Edith Cowan University education head Greg Robson said levels should not be used on school reports because parents found them confusing. But they should not be abolished because they were a useful common scale for teachers, had coped with differences between upper and lower school assessment “for as long as there have been high schools.”
“University of WA and Murdoch University education deans Bill Louden and Barry Kissane said their students did not find the different systems problematic.”
From The West Australian
- Letter to the Editor (page 22)
Chaplains play a vital role
“Thank you to P.T Singham for his article on school chaplaincy (9/10). I have been a chaplain in schools for the past nine years (eight years in a State school, now in a private school) and can vouch for the need to have them in schools. One of the biggest problems facing our youth is finding someone who will listen and help them with the incredible challenges and problems they face.
“On more occasions than I can remember, students would tell me they had no one who listened or cared about them, and they found school, and in particular chaplains, the only place to turn to. We are called on so much to deal with a huge range of issues and with so many students having no church of religious connection, they have no idea where to go when they face such things as bereavement, family breakdowns, depression, suicide and relationship problems.
“I don't understand the fear that some people have of talking about spiritual issues in schools. We are one of the few cultures to have made a point in recent times to deny and put in the closet a lot of our spiritual heritage - to the detriment of out youth. Our youth are looking for reasons to live and want some answers to life's bigger questions, and surely if we are committed to giving them a rounded education, we should allow them the time and place to explore spiritual matters.
“As a Christian chaplain working in a government schools I was very aware of my responsibility not to promote my religion or church, but to help the students find for themselves satisfactory answers to their questions.
“I can recall one particular time in my office having a discussion with some students who were Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Muslim and Atheist. I am Evangelical Christian. And the discussion was brought up by them, not me, about what they believed in, and what they thought about God. Had I not been in the school, I wonder whether these students would have ever had the chance to hear from one another.
“So I say than you to both our Federal and State governments for their support and hope that the wider community, regardless of their beliefs or religious connections, will see the good chaplains do in schools and give them their support.”
Darren Birch, Banksia Grove
- The New York Times
- Math Skills Suffer in U.S., Study Finds
by Sara Rimer
"The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.
"The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in math — the talent to become top math researchers, scientists and engineers — they are rarely identified in the United States. A major reason, according to the study, is that American culture does not highly value talent in math, and so discourages girls — and boys, for that matter — from excelling in the field. The study will be published Friday in Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
“We’re living in a culture that is telling girls you can’t do math — that’s telling everybody that only Asians and nerds do math,” said the study’s lead author, Janet E. Mertz, an oncology professor at the University of Wisconsin, whose son is a winner of what is viewed as the world’s most-demanding math competitions. “Kids in high school, where social interactions are really important, think, ‘If I’m not an Asian or a nerd, I’d better not be on the math team.’ Kids are self selecting. For social reasons they’re not even trying.”
"Many studies have examined and debated gender differences and math, but most rely on the results of the SAT and other standardized tests, Dr. Mertz and many mathematicians say. But those tests were never intended to measure the dazzling creativity, insight and reasoning skills required to solve math problems at the highest levels, Dr. Mertz and others say.
"Dr. Mertz asserts that the new study is the first to examine data from the most difficult math competitions for young people, including the USA and International Mathematical Olympiads for high school students, and the Putnam Mathematical Competition for college undergraduates. For winners of these competitions, the Michael Phelpses and Kobe Bryants of math, getting an 800 on the math SAT is routine. The study found that many students from the United States in these competitions are immigrants or children of immigrants from countries where education in mathematics is prized and mathematical talent is thought to be widely distributed and able to be cultivated through hard work and persistence..."
Full story in The New York Times at link
- AEU
- Media Release
Public Education For Our Future: Campaign Coming
The Australian Education Union will launch a new national campaign next week calling for parents and teachers to work together to get more federal government funding for public schools.
As part of the campaign the union is rolling out a new television advertisement and website that will accompany local activities as teachers and the parents of Australia’s 2.2 million public school students join to ensure the federal government invests more in public schools.
The campaign launch comes as a national survey of public school principals shows lack of funding is compromising the quality of education in public schools.
The 2008 AEU State of Our Schools survey of 1396 principals across the country reveals:
From SSTUWA at link
- The majority of schools have been forced to fundraise to pay for basic classroom equipment in the past year
- 69.8% believe their school needs a major upgrade in facilities and/or equipment
- 100% of secondary schools are reporting teacher shortages and 73.6% believe the problem is worsening
- 76.1% say lack of federal funding has left their school unable to do basic maintenance on buildings and facilities.
- The Australian
- States demand $23bn as price of backing Kevin Rudd reform
by Lenore Taylor, National correspondent
"The states are demanding up to $23 billion in extra funding from the federal Government's already stretched surpluses before they sign on to the major agreements that form the backbone of Kevin Rudd's new federalism agenda.
"A confidential brief prepared for the states reveals they have developed funding options for the five big agreements in health, schools, disability services, housing and vocational education and training, with the preferred option for an additional $23 billion over four years on top of current federal funding to the states of $33billion a year..."
"[The states] are also determined to get the commonwealth to contribute to the extra spending requirements imposed on the states as a result of the federal Government's election promises, particularly the $1.2 billion computers in schools program from which NSW has withdrawn because the commonwealth has refused to cover the ongoing costs of installing and running the computers..." [emphasis added]
"Before the commonwealth deferred consideration of the financial deals from last week's COAG meeting, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and NSW Premier Nathan Rees had said their priority was to get major increases in federal funding for hospitals.
"The Australian understands states are seeking up to $15 billion extra from the commonwealth for the new healthcare agreement over the next four years.
"They are also seeking up to $3.6billion under the new schools funding agreement, up to $1.6 billion for the new agreement on disability services, up to $2.8billion for the new housing agreement, and more than $700million for the new agreement on vocational education..." [emphasis added]
Full story in The Australian at link
- 25 NSW schools defying computers grant ban
More than 20 NSW government schools have defied an order by the state Education Department and proceeded to apply for funds from the federal Government's computers grant scheme.
- BBC News
- Pupils' well-being to be measured [from 9 October]
Schools in England are to be held to account on a wide range of measures of pupil well-being.
Ofsted is to use parents' and pupils' views on issues such as how a school discourages drug and alcohol use and offers relationship guidance.
- The Guardian
- "Mortarboard Blog"
Which poems best sum up teaching and academia? [from 9 October]
"It's National Poetry Day and, while I don't usually hold much truck with "national days" that seem to pop up like molehills, this one is worthy of marking.
"The theme this year is "work", rather than schools, but I thought I would start you off with one of my favourite school-related poems. It is written from a teacher's perspective, so it's close enough to the work theme. I hope it inspires you to add your own to the list."The poem is by Allan Ahlberg, who used to be a teacher so he knows exactly how fraught teachers can feel at the end of the school day.
"Ostensibly about scissors, it captures the occasional chaos of the classroom perfectly."Nobody leave the room.
Everybody listen to me.
We had ten pairs of scissors
At half-past two,
And now there's only three…"
"The increasingly desperate search for the scissors goes on, with just a hint of the children's despair that they will never be allowed to leave the classroom."I don't want to hear excuses.
Don't anyone speak.
Just ransack this room,
Till we find them,
Or we'll stop here… all week!"
"What poems best sum up teaching or the academic life for you? What are your favourites?"
From The Guardian at link
- The Age
- Australian universities slip in ratings
Australian universities have slipped in an annual ranking of the world's universities, with the University of Melbourne falling behind the University of Sydney for the first time.
However, the Australian National University cemented its place as the nation's top university for the third year running in the 2008 Times Higher Education-QS World University Ranking. The University of Melbourne slid 11 notches down the table to 38, one behind the University of Sydney, which was placed 37th, down six on last year. ANU remains in 16th place.
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Academics rally against Young Liberal 'witch-hunt'
Academics have accused the Young Liberals of a "witch-hunt" after two blacklists of Australian university lecturers accused of having a left-wing bias were presented to the Senate inquiry into academic freedom in Sydney yesterday.
Saturday – Sunday, 11 – 12 October
- The Sunday Times
Shanty homes upset teachers (page 17)
by Paul Lampathakis
“Teachers are living in run-down shanties while waiting for the WA Government to act on abysmal country housing conditions.
“The State School Teachers’ Union says the state of a donga at Jungdranung, 120km from the Argyle diamond mine, near Kununurra, is a “classic” example of the need for Nationals leader Brendon Grylls’ “royalties for regions ” plan.
“The donga is described in the coming issue of the union’s journal, Western Teacher, as a “hell hole” shared by a teacher and his fiancé.
“The union called on Education Minister Liz Constable and the Government to formulate housing a strategy that would significantly address teacher shortages.
“After The Sunday Times emailed Ms. Constable about the donga and other housing problems, she contacted the Education Department and was told a two-bedroom transportable unit would be relocated to Jungdranung before the start of the next school year.
“Dr. Constable said the department had asked the Housing and Works Department to look at accommodation at Jungdranung as a “matter of urgency”.
“She intended to work on strategies with Mr. Grylls, who is Regional Development Minister.
“Union president Anne Gisborne said the long-term regional housing crisis for teachers and other government workers had been greatly exacerbated in the North-West by the mining boom.
“The issue includes poor maintenance, a lack of security, substandard housing and, in a number of circumstances, no housing, where teachers are having to hang out in hotels,” Ms. Gisborne said.
“The failure to adequately resource housing was a significant reason for teachers being lost to other industries, their lack of longevity in country postings and their resistance to working in the regions.
“Ms. Gisborne called for a 10-year strategic plan to tackle problems such as maintenance and security. “
From The Sunday Times
Smash trauma hits TEE (page 27)
by Anthony Deceglie
“Several Year 12 students at Corpus Christi College are expected to miss their TEE exams because of trauma caused by the death of three classmates.
“The school’s acting principal, Sue Baker, said grieving students who could not cope with TEE would instead meet staff at universities.
“James Klessens, Braydon de la Nougerede and Rosy White, all 17, died when the BMW in which were travelling hit a tree in Riverton on Friday, August 29.
“Another Corpus Christi student, Adam Johnson, was seriously injured in the crash.
“The students were popular and part of the school’s leadership group.
“If a student is stressed very much, then we would advise they don’t sit the TEE exam,” Dr. Baker said.
“Then we would approach individual universities and say, ‘This is how we believe the student should be performing. He or she was not in a state to sit the exams.’ We would then proceed that way to form an agreement with individual universities.”
“Dr. Baker said no students were exempt from their mock TEE exams which are under way.
“Once we get our results in, then we will be able to compare how students were performing before the accident and how they are currently performing,” she said.
“We will look at a measure of those two points in time. Then we can gauge to some extent what the impact is.”
“Dr. Baker warned that some students would not do as well as they expected in their mock TEE exams.
“I know that some of our brightest students and most able students are among those most affected,” she said.
“Dr. Baker said delaying the TEE exams was not an option.
“The exams are set,” she said. “You either sit the exams or you don’t.”
“Several concerned parents had contacted Dr. Baker recently.
“I have been responding to parents where their student is stressed and they are not sure how this is going to affect them in the longer term regarding their results,” she said.
“The Curriculum Council is always very fair in these circumstances,” she said.”
From The Sunday Times
- The West Australian
Op Ed
Cut the jargon and give us plain English, please (page 21)
by Zoltan Kovacs, Opinion Editor
“A neighbourly chat over a fence is a time-honoured custom, often a pleasant break from the chores of the day. Now we are increasingly likely to call it social interaction, which we are told is good for us.
“We have always encouraged children to play together, partly because this helps them to learn the rules of behaviour. They learn, for example that if they whack someone they are likely to cop one back and get told off by an adult. Now we are increasingly likely to call this the process of socialisation.
“There has been a discernible shift in our language use over the past 10 or 20 years from the specific to the general, the concrete to the abstract. This can be explained partly by the absorption into everyday language of jargon, mainly from the so-called social sciences. There also seems to be a general appetite for finding wider meanings in the ordinary events of daily life, a tendency encouraged by relentless social research into who does what and why and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of self-help advice by supposed experts on how to go about our lives.
“On top of this, there is a regime of contemporary politeness which has been influenced by political correctness. For example, the word adultery is hardly ever used now because it implies a moral judgment: extramarital (or even extramural) relationship is the preferred euphemism.
“We talk vaguely about domestic violence rather than wife-beating, which is usually what is meant, because we have been conditioned to be wary of drawing distinctions between men and women, not only on any tendency to resort to hitting a spouse but also on a range of other matters.
“Then there are the fad words which often carry little meaning. Currently, the word narrative turns up in unexpected places, such as in suggestions that governments or political parties should have one. Perhaps if they did, we could truly say they lost the plot when they messed up.
“This sort of thing may not seem to matter much. However, there comes a point at which communications break down because of the language being clogged with jargon, abstraction and euphemism. For example, when a Federal government finds a need to demand plain English school reports that parents can understand, there clearly is a problem. What on Earth is the point of school reports if parents can’t understand them?
“It may be unfair to single out education bureaucrats but sometimes they seem to choke on their own jargon. Here’s a specimen from the WA Department of Education and Training’s website: “The School Improvement and Accountability Frameworks supports the School Improvement and Accountability policy by describing the conceptual model that underpins the policy and offering advice about implementation that is more integrated and holistic.” Make of that what you will.
“The department also refers to “enablers of successful students”. The authors of this sort of stuff seem to go out of their way to find leaden jargon alternatives to everyday works such as teacher (learning facilitator now, apparently, enabler), classroom (structured learning environment) and so on. There is a huge population of students, parents and others who have legitimate interest in schools and what goes on in them, but they are made to become uncomprehending eavesdroppers on the exclusive language of education bureaucrats.
“The lessons of the outcomes-based education disaster of the past several years seem not to have been learnt. The public perception that it was about disguising an acceptance of lower academic standards was fed by the turgid, if not evasive, language of its planners. The aim seemed to be to move from anything specific and understandable measures of achievement to vague generalisations, for no evidently useful purpose.
“New Education Minister Liz Constable has an enviable reputation for high intelligence, competence and good sense. There is no reason to doubt that she is genuinely dedicated to improving education. A good start would be to try to get the department to become a model of the plain, precise language we would like schoolchildren to master.” [emphasis added]
From The West Australian
- Letter to the Editor (page 22)
Chaplains undervalued
“I am writing to applaud P.T. Singam (9/10 for bringing truth to the public debate about the presence of chaplains in Australian schools.
“As a student in Year 12, I am well aware of the enormous contribution chaplains make to a school community.
“Singam’s position that the role of a chaplain is not that of a “recruiter” is entirely correct. I see my chaplain, Andrew, as a mentor, peer and friend. Having known and worked closely with him for the past five years, it was not until recently I discovered he was religious.
“Like the girlfriend in the Bunbury case example, Andrew is my first port of call for assistance, even ahead of the school psychologist.
“Andrew has worked tirelessly at our school since the year I was born (1991), fulfilling his role as a counsellor while organising countless activities, including bush cadets, youth mentoring, year counsellor training and camps.
“Financially, the worth of chaplains is significantly undervalued, often relying on donations for funding.
“Andrew (and I am sure all other chaplains) is held in high esteem by our school community, earning a high level of respect.
“As I enter my final days of secondary schooling, I hope this appreciation is extended to the broader community. We must ensure that current and future generations reap the same benefits as I have from the operation of the chaplaincy programme.”
Jessica Oma, Mt. Lawley
- BBC News
- Do we ask too much of teachers?
by Mike Baker
"Schools in England are already amongst the most scrutinised and accountable in the world, yet now a whole new burden of responsibilities is being heaped on them.
"First, schools were told they have a responsibility to look out for any indications that their pupils are falling into the grip of extremists and fanatics.
"This involves teachers consulting a 47-page checklist of measures to help identify and counter signs that pupils have fallen under the influence of fanatical views.
"These signs range from checking whether pupil graffiti betrays the influence of extremism to monitoring pupils' downloads from the internet. Each school is to have a nominated teacher to whom pupils can turn if they have concerns about the influence of extremist groups.
"Teachers are also told they should be ready to counter extreme arguments and should encourage debates to challenge such views.
"To be fair, the 'extremism toolkit' stresses it is 'guidance' to schools, not a new set of requirements. But read on and you find a whole list of 'school actions' and references to things that schools 'need' to do.
"As with so many of these initiatives - from healthy eating to promoting citizenship - each is fine on its own but it is the collective burden on schools that can be overwhelming.
Data
"And the government continues to pile them on. Following hard on the heels of the 'extremism toolkit' came a much bigger set of tick-lists for teachers.
"These are the proposed 'indicators of a school's contribution to pupil well-being'.
"They will apply to all state schools from primary to secondary, including special schools and academies.
"The idea is that every school must collect data (yes, even more data!) to measure what they are doing to improve pupils' physical, moral and mental health.
"Naturally, this data will be checked by the education inspectorate, Ofsted. This immediately makes it high-stakes data rather than just a self-evaluation checklist.
"So what sort of things will schools now have to do?
"Well, in addition to the extensive data on test and exam performance, and the statistics on attendance and exclusions, schools will now have to provide information on the percentage of pupils who are 'persistent absentees', that is those who have missed more than one lesson in five.
"They will also have to count: the number of pupils doing at least two hours of PE and sport; the numbers taking school meals; and the numbers staying-on in education after age 16.
Alcohol and drugs
"But that is only the half of it. Schools will now have to employ opinion surveys of pupils and parents to find out how they think the school is doing on a wide range of well-being measures.
"These include: whether the school promotes healthy eating, exercise and a healthy lifestyle; whether it discourages smoking and the misuse of alcohol and drugs; whether it offers good sex education and relationship guidance; whether it fights discrimination, offers a good range of curriculum and extra-curricular activities and the extent to which it encourages community involvement.
"There is more. Schools should use these surveys to find whether pupils feel safe and protected from bullying, enjoy school, feel they are listened to, and whether they feel they can influence decisions made in the school.
"To be fair to the government, they have dropped some data measures that were in their earlier plans, such as counting how many pupils are obese. Presumably wiser counsel prevailed when the practical issues of checking the weight of every child were considered.
"Again, to be fair, the government acknowledges that pupils' well-being is not entirely a matter for schools and teachers. It is shared by local authorities and, above all, by parents.
"They add that the indicators are not judgements. A school may have a terrible set of indicators on attendance or school meal take-up, but there may be mitigating circumstances.
Crude measure
"Yet you could forgive schools and teachers for being cynical about such caveats. They have heard them before. Exam results, they were told, were only raw data, not a final judgement. They would not be used on their own to determine whether or not a school was doing a good job.
"Yet what do we find in practice? Yes, you guessed it: it is the headline measures, such as the percentage of pupils getting at least five A*-Cs at GCSE, that count, irrespective of more sophisticated data on value added, pupil progress, or pupils' home backgrounds.
"The government's own list of schools told to improve or risk being closed was based on exactly this crude measure. All the other fine talk and caveats were ignored.
"Of course, it is right for schools to consider all aspects of a child's development, including all five outcomes of the Every Child Matters policy (health, safety, educational achievement, contribution to society and economic well-being).
"But to insist on measuring all the aspects of a school's contribution seems too mechanistic.
"Ask anyone what were the biggest influences of school on their lives and they will not tell you about how many school meals they ate, how many times they ran round the school field or how many sex education lessons they sat through.
"No, they will tell you about an inspirational teacher or a notable school trip, drama, or sports event.
"Schools would say that if we try to measure everything - and hold teachers to account through so much data collection - we risk losing the spontaneity and individuality that should be part of teaching."
From BBC News at link
- The Weekend Australian
- We're failing at preschools. OECD says
by Caroline Overington
"Australia lags well behind the best-performing OECD countries in preschool education, with only 42per cent of children aged three to four in formal programs.
"By comparison, more than 90per cent of children in Belgium, France, Germany and New Zealand attend preschool. Besides preschool, only one-third of Australian children aged under five attended a commonwealth-approved childcare facility, and in some states and territories, such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory, the rate was 27per cent.
"The OECD's Economic Surveys Australia 2008 report, released last night, also shows Australian reading scores falling significantly, in a statistical sense, between 2003 and 2006, "reflecting mainly a decline in the scores of high achievers".
"It says Australia is the only country among those with above-average performance that experienced such a strong deterioration in students' reading performance. The mathematical skills of Australian girls also slipped.
"The report says that teaching quality "constitutes a very important determinant" of student outcome, and it laments the fall in average teacher pay in Australia between 1983 and 2003.
"It says the rise in pay in non-teaching occupations has "played a significant role in the deterioration in teacher quality" as talented teachers leave schools for more lucrative positions.
"The report is critical of the Australian system of allowing no rise in pay after 15 years of experience. "Salary progression of public school teachers reflects the length of teaching tenure, rather than performance," it says.
"Teachers reach the top salary band within nine years after graduation. Subsequent promotions usually involve administrative and management roles, reducing the attractiveness of becoming a teacher."
"The report characterises successful education systems as ones where schools are accountable for the performance of their staff, and where principals have autonomy over staffing and curriculum.
"Accountability, autonomy and choice have been shown to be strongly associated with student achievement," it says.
"Moving to less centralised management is indispensable to increase school autonomy and choice." ... [emphasis added]
Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
- Op Ed
Danger in federal control of education
by Kevin Donnelly
"On one hand, the OECD's Economic Surveys Australia 2008 report can be read as an endorsement of the success of Australia's education system and Kevin Rudd's education revolution.
"Based on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, Australian 15-year-olds perform near the top of the table, public and private education expenditure from 1995 to 2005 has increased 45 per cent (faster than the OECD average), and our higher education system is sought after by overseas students.
"Commonwealth initiatives such as providing universal early childhood care, overcoming educational disadvantage, building technical trade centres and holding schools accountable for performance are praised, as is the Government's intention to increase Year 12 retention rates to 90 per cent by 2020.
"A closer reading, though, suggests some caveats. The OECD report refers to only one international test as evidence that Australian students perform well -- and that is PISA. Understandable, as PISA is sponsored by the OECD.
"Based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science tests, Australian students consistently perform in the second tier of nations and we have significantly fewer students, compared with stronger performing countries, whose performances put them at the top of the table.
"The OECD report characterises successful systems as those where schools have autonomy over areas such as staffing and curriculum.
"Different facets of accountability, autonomy and choice have been shown to be strongly associated with student achievement," it says. "Moving to less centralised management is indispensable to increase school autonomy and choice."
"Although school education is a state responsibility, the Rudd Government has announced a raft of measures calculated to exert control over government and non-government schools.
"National initiatives include: a curriculum, including content and assessment; a schools assessment and data centre; an accountability framework; a partnership program addressing disadvantage; a partnership in quality teaching and an action plan for literacy and numeracy.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that Mr Rudd wishes to micro-manage and to exert control from the centre. The danger, similar to what occurred in Britain during Tony Blair's reign (from where most of the ALP education revolution has been copied) is that top-down, bureaucratic and inflexible measures designed to raise standards have the opposite effect." [emphasis added]Kevin Donnelly is director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and author of Dumbing Down, published by Hardie Grant Books.
From The Weekend Australian at link
- Channel 9 National News
- OECD suggests pay boost for teachers [10 October]
"The federal government should consider extending its universal early childhood education policy to include three-year-olds, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommends.
"The OECD also suggests performance pay salaries for teachers and extending HECS to include living costs.
"In a report comparing education funding and performance outcomes of member nations, the OECD found early childhood education, teacher supply and education outcomes for disadvantaged kids in Australia were lagging behind other nations.
"Spending on early childhood education in Australia is about 0.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the OECD average of 0.5 per cent.
"About 40 per cent of three- and four-year-olds participated in early childhood programs, compared with the OECD average of 70 per cent.
"Indigenous children and those from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and disadvantaged areas, were "significantly" under-represented in the sector, the report found.
"There was "considerable room" to improve the pre-school and childcare sector, particularly in disadvantaged areas.
"Participation in pre-primary programs remains low, as does government spending on such services. Many disadvantaged children miss out," it said.
"Labor's policy to introduce universal childcare to all four-year-olds could be extended to three-year-olds and the duration of service provided should be more than 15 hours a week, it said.
"The report described as "weak" the salaries of Australian teachers when compared with teachers in other OECD countries.
"The career progression system for teachers in Australia was acting as a disincentive for graduates to enter the workforce.
"Under the pay system a teacher will reach the top salary band nine years after graduation.
"The OECD recommended a system where incentives were given to high-quality teachers, especially in schools in areas of disadvantage.
"Strategies to reward and recognise teaching will form part of a collaborative approach to strengthen the profession," it said. [emphasis added]
"School principals should also be given more autonomy to recruit and maintain high-quality teachers.
"Affordability and participation in the higher education and university sectors is another area where Australia lags behind.
"Tuition fees for domestic students in Australia is among the highest in the OECD, the report says.
"A sharp decline in public expenditure has also led to inflated university fees, declining teacher-student ratios and increased student debt.
"The report recommends the government boost expenditure and expand the HECS support scheme to include living expenses to encourage more students from disadvantaged areas."
From Channel 9 National News at link
- ABC News
- Former NT education head 'sacked, didn't quit'
"A spokesman for the Northern Territory's former Education Department chief says it is not true she left the job voluntarily, and that she was sacked yesterday without explanation.
"The ABC has spoken to a relative of the former chief executive of the Education Department, Margaret Banks, who said reports she had resigned were incorrect.
"The spokesman said Ms Banks was shocked to find out yesterday she was being forced out of the top departmental job when she still had 12 months to go on her four-year contract
"The spokesman said a representative from the government told Ms Banks the Territory Education Minister, Marion Scrymgour, was no longer able to work with her.
"The Government has praised Ms Banks's contribution to education in the Territory and declined to comment further, only saying she left her job yesterday afternoon."
From ABC News at link
- Education Minister urged to stand down
The Northern Territory Opposition has called on the Education Minister to stand down from the portfolio for wrongly sacking a top department head.
- The Age
- Needy students denied funds
Funding earmarked for disadvantaged students is sitting idle in school bank accounts or being used to pay teachers or for building maintenance.
Education sources say that hundreds of thousands of dollars in [Victorian] State Government "equity funding" — given to some of the state's poorest schools — is being misdirected, prompting calls for tighter guidelines to ensure the money goes to students who need it most.
- No guarantee of student services funds for 2009
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has refused to confirm Labor's policy to restore funding to university sporting facilities, child-care centres and welfare services will be in place in time for the 2009 academic year, sparking fears more services could disappear from campuses decimated by the Howard Government's Voluntary Student Unionism laws.
- The Sunday Age
- Immersion school drops textbook methods
by Liza Power
"Fifteen bright-eyed, smiling-faced prep students are singing a song. It's about the sun shining, the wind blowing, owls hooting, and the fact that it's a beautiful morning. Or a guten morgen, to be precise. The students are singing in German, you see, but this isn't your average primary school language class.
"Before being charmed by the song of six-year-olds, I've attended a year 6 science class on the seasons and an assembly of dancing, clapping year 4 students — with barely a word of English spoken in either.
"Another day, I might have taken a class in social studies, technology, music, art or even physical education, each taught in German.
"This is called immersion learning, and for the teachers and students of Bayswater South Primary School — one of 13 schools in Victoria to offer language immersion programs — learning German isn't about one class a week with a musty set of textbooks. Rather, it's about integrating a foreign language into everything you study, learning it as you would your mother tongue, and in the process understanding how it functions on a practical, day-to-day level..."
Full story in The Sunday Age at link
- Demand for Asia study overhaul
While Prime Minister Kevin Rudd aims to make Australians Asia-literate, a new report reveals that the study of Chinese in Australian high schools "is overwhelmingly a matter of Chinese teaching Chinese to Chinese".
The report calls for action to stop the massive drop-out rate from Chinese language classes by students who can't compete with classmates who are native speakers or of Chinese descent.
- Minding our language
Despite government efforts to bolster foreign languages, Australians remain staunchly monolingual.
- Ad budget for Melbourne model under fire
Melbourne University will spend $11.6 million on marketing this year and $16 million more over the following two years as it tries to sell its Melbourne model of education to potential students.
- Letters to the Editor
- More to it than that
"Reports on the educational programs of our universities are welcome, but should be well-informed. "Search for a super model" (Sunday Age, 5/10) analyses Melbourne University's new suite of programs, but many errors undermine its credibility.
"Most importantly, the claim that judgement of the model "will be made by the customers, and will be measurable by student demand for places" oversimplifies the real task of evaluating the success of the Melbourne model.
"The attractiveness of Melbourne model degrees to prospective students and satisfaction of students with their chosen programs are certainly essential measures of success, and a recent survey shows student satisfaction in semester one 2008 remains consistent with previous semesters. But also important are the breadth and depth of skills and knowledge that students acquire at the university, their adaptability for future challenges, their employment outcomes, their capacity for leadership and the longer-term contributions they make to our communities.
"The Melbourne model has been designed with these broader and deeper measures of success in mind."
Professor Philippa Pattison, president, Academic Board, University of Melbourne
- Take a chill pill
"When Australia's best-known photographer wants to be involved with your school, it would be irresponsible of a principal not to take up the opportunity. No child was photographed without permission from their parents. They were observed from a distance by an artist. Outraged politicians need to take a deep breath."
Nic Kocher, (parent, St Kilda Park Primary School), St Kilda
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- 'I'm going to cut your head off'
A 13-year-old schoolboy who allegedly bashed another teenager with a "blunt" meat cleaver and threatened to cut off his head appeared in a Sydney court yesterday... The teenager, who cannot be identified and who is on suspension from his school, faced seven charges including maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm, assault and armed robbery.
- Booze ad ban near schools 'won't work'
Anti-alcohol campaigners have branded a new policy banning alcohol manufacturers from advertising near schools as a PR stunt designed more to deflect criticism from the marketing industry rather than an effective way of combating teen drinking.
This page last updated 12 October, 2008 10:55 PM
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