Monday 17 November

Tuesday 18 November

Wednesday 19 November

Thursday 20 November

Friday 21 November

Saturday – Sunday, 22 – 23 November

Monday 17 November

• The West Australian
  

  • Delay new courses, teachers' group says (page 7)
    by Kate Tarala
    
    “New upper-school courses planned for next year may need to be delayed because the changes had been rushed and teachers were unprepared, a prominent teachers' lobby group warned yesterday.
    
    “Marko Vojkovic, co-founder of education watchdog Plato, said last week's resignation of Norman Snell, head of the reference group overseeing changes to the geography course, highlighted the “mess” created by changes to the upper-school curriculum.
    
    “I think in individual courses there could be a case for delaying them for another year,” Mr Vojkovic said.
    
    “I thing geography is one of those. There were problems and they didn't fix them before it started, so there is going to be another debacle.”
    
    “Mr Vojkovic said a Plato survey of 325 teachers revealed more than half believed the new Year 11 and Year 12 courses were “much worse” than the ones they would replace.
    
    “Teachers are asking why we need to change anything,” he said. “Why did we embark upon this process when the majority of the courses that we have ended up with are worse than the ones we started with?”
    
    “Mr Vojkovic said teachers in courses facing changes next year including chemistry, biology, physics and languages, should be given the option of delaying the introduction of the new curriculum for a year.
    
    “He said problems that had emerged in the English, engineering and physical education courses over the past two years were the result of the hurried introduction of the curriculum.
    
    “We haven't been given any time to plan, we have to do that during our own time,” he said.
    
    “If it is a course that has been radically changed you are going to have to do a lot of planning.
    
    “If it is a course that has been changed slightly, people are modifying their existing courses.”
    
    “Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood dismissed the claims, saying teachers we well prepared for the changes.
    
    “He said 3400 teachers across 49 subjects attended professional development sessions on October 13 and a further 3600 teachers were working in schools to prepare for the introduction of the new courses.
    
    “Mr Wood said the feedback from the sessions had been overwhelmingly positive and they would be held on continual basis to help teachers with the changes to the curriculum.
    
    “Almost all the teachers will be well under way with their planning for next year and a delay would waste all of the work done throughout this year,” he said.
    
    “Education Minister Liz Constable said that given the positive feedback from teachers, there was no cause for delaying the implementation of the new courses at this stage.” [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • One in four kids sees violence in their home (page 13)
    by Angela Pownall
    
    “More than 500,000 Australian children live with violence in their homes, according to new research which paints an alarming picture of widespread domestic abuse that is breeding violent actions and attitudes in young people.
    
    “One in four children had witnessed violence against their mother and half of all young people had seen her subject to verbal, emotional or physical abuse, a report released today by The White Ribbon Foundation said.
    
    “More than 350,000, or one in seven, girls and women had been sexually assaulted and a third of Year 10 girls had been forced to have unwanted sex, the report said.
    
    “Co-author Dr Michael Flood said: “This report confirms that the impacts of violence against women are extremely serious with lasting implications for the health and well-being of Australia's young people.
    
    “We need urgent national, State and local programs focused on preventing violence to minimise the huge impact this is having on the health of millions of Australian women and children.”
    
    “The White Ribbon Foundation, which compiled existing research and surveys of young Australian, call on governments to fund violence prevention programs in all universities and schools.
    
    “It highlighted that a third of boys surveyed believed it was acceptable to hit a girl and that most physical violence was provoked by a partner. One in seven boys said it was acceptable to force a girl to have sex if she has been flirting. “We must start by challenging these attitudes while kids are still young because we know that adults who hold these attitudes are more likely to use violence,” White Ribbon Foundation chairman Andrew O'Keefe said.
    
    “Nina Funnell, who was 23 when she was sexually assaulted last year, said:
    “Often we run programs for girls on how to avoid assault yet that is not where the problem lies.
    
    “Men and boys have a real positive role to play in preventing violence.”
    
    “In WA, 21 per cent of young people surveyed said they had witnessed physical domestic violence against their mother, such as threatening her, throwing things at her, hitting her and using a knife or gun against her.
    
    “More than half of the children questioned in WA said they had heard their father or step-father shout loudly at their mother or stepmother. Almost a third said they had seen him humiliate her or put her down. Almost one in 10 said their father or stepfather had stopped their mother or stepmother from seeing her family or friends.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Music school hits the wrong note (page 13)

    A Fremantle music school used by 300 students might have to close because of noise complaints from neighbours and legal action by the council for not complying with planning conditions.

    Full story in The West Australian

    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • 'Gatekeepers' part of problem, says Mundine
    by Stuart Rintoul and John Lyons
    

    "Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has attacked ideologically driven white "gatekeepers" in Aboriginal communities, saying one of the biggest problems they have is "people who want to protect Aboriginal people".
    
    "There are some people who seem to go to these communities who, quite frankly, wouldn't get a job outside," Mr Mundine said..."
    
    "The former national Labor president's comments came after indigenous educator Chris Sarra sparked an angry reaction when he told The Weekend Australian that while Aborigines were blamed for the dysfunction in their communities, the standard of services and the people providing them were not subject to the same scrutiny. "In its crudest form, remote communities are the place to tuck our white trash away," Dr Sarra said..."
    
    "Dr Sarra, executive director of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute at the Queensland University of Technology, yesterday retreated from his choice of words, saying he would never use the term again.
    
    "If I had my time again I would use the term lazy and incompetent," he said.
    
    "But he stood by his central claim that white workers in education, health, police and public service who would not be able to hold down jobs in larger communities were a major part of the problem for Aboriginal Australia. "I stand by what I said - the language was unfortunate," he said. "A lot of people are saying this (the white trash comment) is stereotyping and this is despicable language and I absolutely agree with them," Dr Sarra said. "I had not intended it to bemalicious." ...
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Editorial
    High standards vital
    
    Educator Chris Sarra created one of Australia's strongest success stories in indigenous education.
    
    "As principal of Cherbourg State School in southeast Queensland in the late 1990s, Dr Sarra developed the Stronger Smarter philosophy, imparting to his pupils apositive sense about being Aboriginal and expecting indigenous students to achieve at a comparable level to others. As he once summed it up: "If change was to occur, we had to change our beliefs about what our children could do, and our children had to change their beliefs about what they could achieve."
    
    "In 18 months, unexplained absenteeism at the school fell 94 per cent. Over six years, attendance grew from 63 per cent to 93 per cent. In his extensive travels as head of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute at the Queensland Institute of Technology, Dr Sarra is familiar with indigenous education and services.
    
    "For these reasons, it is a serious concern when a man of Dr Sarra's standing and experience warns that Aboriginal Australia is being let down by workers in education, health, police and public services who, he says, work in remote communities knowing that they would never last in mainstream centres. Dr Sarra was also critical of the failure of intervention strategies in the Northern Territory to examine the quality of services being delivered to remote communities.
    
    "The standard of services being delivered to Aboriginal people, and the people providing them, must be held to account. In theory, all public sector workers are subject to performance standards, anyway, overseen by their immediate superiors and departmental leaders. And the vast disadvantages indigenous people are struggling to overcome in terms of life expectancy, health, education and child safety are such that those working with them should be of the highest calibre..."
    
    Full Editorial in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Most Talked About: White Trash
      Bravo, Chris Sarra, for exposing feckless workers
      
      "I couldn't agree more with Chris Sarra.
      
      "Having recently spent a number of years working in the Western Desert region of Western Australia, I witnessed the “work” of dozens of underskilled, dysfunctional, immoral, incompetent, lazy, unaccountable and fiscally corrupt non-Aboriginal employees whose profligate self-interests continue to ravage the development and implementation of policy and the delivery of services (housing, health, employment, etc) in this region.
      
      "While the rhetorical endeavour of all tiers of government is to provide highly skilled, transparent, effective, sustainable and culturally resonant services to Aboriginal people, the first step is for the funding bureaucracies to mop up this quite particular brand of “fourth world” lawlessness and enhance the capacity for strong and local governance to replace the whitefella goon show which they’re aware of but have failed to remedy."
      
      Annie Farrell, Darwin, NT
      
      Plus five more Letters at that link
      
      
      
      
• SSTUWA
  
  
  • Early Years Learning Framework now released
    
    The latest draft Early Years Learning Framework has just been released, and is attached. Details of how to register are available on the DEEWA Office Of Early Childhood and Care website. You can get this information from the above link.
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Not Everyone Wants to Move Toward Rating Educators by Student Progress
    by Jay Matthews
    
    "For a while, the fight over how to improve public schools seemed to be quieting down. During the presidential campaign, Republican and Democratic education advisers happily finished each other's sentences on such issues as expanding charter schools, recruiting better teachers and, in particular, rating schools by how much students improve.
    
    "Moving to the growth model for school assessment, by measuring each student's progress, seems to be the favorite education reform of the incoming Obama administration. Up till now, we have measured schools by comparing the average student score one year with the average for the previous year's students. It was like rating pumpkin farmers by comparing this year's crop with last year's rather than by how much growth they managed to coax out of each pumpkin.
    
    "The growth model appeals to parents because it focuses on each child. It gives researchers a clearer picture of what affects student achievement and what does not. Officials throughout the Washington area have joined the growth model (sometimes called "value-added") fan club. The next step would be to use the same data to see which teachers add the most value to their students each year.
    
    "Of course, as often happens in education, that lovely consensus is proving too good to be true, mostly because of the teacher issue. The bad news was delivered recently by Education Week reporter Stephen Sawchuk, who has been checking how the growth model was actually being received by state politicians. It turns out some legislators have been building trapdoors under the welcome mats. California banned in 2006 any use of student growth data in teacher evaluations or compensation decisions. New York last year prohibited the use of such data for tenure decisions for at least two years. Other states are staying away from anything that ties student success to a teacher's pay or job security.
    
    "Go ahead. Blame the teacher unions. They make no apology for their opposition to this approach. But they have good arguments. Congress will have to revise the No Child Left Behind law to install the growth model, and most support for the idea there extends only to rating schools, not teachers. Assessing instructors by how much their students improve seems reasonable to people like me who have never taken a psychometrics course, but nobody has sufficiently tested the statistical devices for doing that, and they might prove to be expensive..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
  • Fenty, Rhee Look for Ways Around Union
    
    Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee are discussing a dramatic expansion of their effort to remove ineffective teachers by restoring the District's power to create nonunionized charter schools and seeking federal legislation declaring the school system in a "state of emergency," a move that would eliminate the need to bargain with the Washington Teachers' Union.
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Lollies ban in government schools from next year in bid to improve health
    
    Chocolates and lollies will be banned from Victorian Government school canteens and vending machines from next year.
    
    Related story in The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    A malison on the niddering who vilepend these fine words
    
    Just because a word is rarely used is no reason to discard it from a dictionary.

 

Tuesday 18 November

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 23)
    
    
    • My point
      
      "Like most experienced teachers, I rejoiced when the Curriculum Council finally released the Andrich Report, which condemned the use of levels for assessment and reporting. My joy was enhanced when the subsequent Tognolini Report reinforced the inappropriateness of using levels in schools. My joy became ecstasy when the Liberals, who had campaigned on a platform of getting rid of levels and doing a complete review of OBE, took power in September.
      
      "So why am I depressed now? I have been informed that my school, like most others, will continue to report in levels next year. What is wrong with the administrators in DET and Catholic Education that they cannot grasp this simple concept, “levels are invalid for assessing and reporting”?
      
      "I have been told time and time again, “Pat, we agree with you on your fight against levels. But we have to do it.” I say it is now time for school leaders, teachers, and parents to stand up to these bureaucratic bullies and say “No more levels!”
      
      "I say it is now time for the Government to use common sense and start to take control of education from the ideologues that have been destroying it. To continue using a system which has been proven to be seriously flawed is nothing less than academic child abuse."
      
      Patrick F. Whalen, Yokine
      
      
      
    • School safety fears spark Labor call for parents to get SMS alerts (page 19)
      by Amanda Banks and Robert Taylor
      
      "The Opposition yesterday called for mobile phone messages to be used to alert parents to safety risks at schools amid concerns over the handling of an alleged sexual assault on two children from a northern suburbs primary school last week.
      
      "Shadow education minister Michelle Roberts said the SMS alerts were already used for truancey and the system could be expanded to include alerts on safety concerns.
      
      "Mrs Roberts, who wants guidelines but responsibility for the system to rest with principals, said the latest incident last week highlighted the need to improve they system after parents were not told of the alleged assault for 24 hours.
      
      "Colin Barnett and Education Minister Elizabeth Constable said SMS alerts were worth considering.
      
      "The incident last week had prompted the Government to order an urgent review into the the process for alerting parents to danger at schools.
      Dr Constable said emails, radio alerts and letters would also be considered as part of the review."
      
      From The West Australian
      
      
      
      
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Kids failing basic maths [16 November]
    by Laurie Nowell
    
    "A quarter of Australian children are failing even the most basic standards of maths, confidential new figures show.
    
    "Data from the new national Naplan tests obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun shows just 75 per cent of children at years 5 and 9 meet minimum standards of numeracy.
    
    "In years 3 and 7 the figures are 84 and 80 per cent respectively.
    
    "Victoria scores well in comparison with other states with 81 per cent of students meeting minimum standards in year 5 and 80 per cent in year 9.
    
    "But the poor results in Tasmania, WA and the Northern Territory have sparked a political row between the states over where benchmarks should be set.
    
    "And the row has put the broader concept of the national curriculum - hailed by educators and politicians as a necessary step forward - at risk.
    
    "A Victorian education source told the Sunday Herald Sun state departments were squabbling over where the benchmarks should be set and the Naplan literacy and numeracy standards were set "embarrassingly low so the results don't look too bad in some areas of the country".
    
    "If they had set the minimum standards any lower, Victoria would have scored 100 per cent and if they had set them any higher, the NT would have been diabolical," the source said. [emphasis added]
    
    "The figures show Victoria is top of the "national maths league" in years 3 and 5, but slips to second in years 7 and 9.
    
    "In every state and territory the numbers of students meeting basic standards declines between years 3 and 5.
    
    "The numbers rise in year 7, but then decline again in year 9.
    
    "Education consultant Russell Boyle said the data showed students were becoming "disengaged" at times during their school careers.
    
    "He said a national curriculum and national standards would "paint a full landscape of Australian education".
    
    From The Melbourne Herald Sun at link
  
  
  
  
• ABC News
  
  
  • Heads clash over bilingual education
    
    Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner and the Northern Territory Education Minister have locked horns over the issue of bilingual education.
    
    
    
  • Stoush builds over remote schools language plan
    
    Two of Australia's well known Indigenous leaders have clashed over a Northern Territory Government plan to force remote Aboriginal bilingual schools to teach the first four hours of classes in English.
    
    
    
  • Single-sex schooling 'good leadership prep for girls'
    
    The principal of one of Brisbane's biggest girls' schools says single sex schooling better prepares women for leadership roles later in life.
    
    See related item in The Guardian
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • All-day school speed limit backed
    
    Schools have rallied behind a push by the WA Council of State School Organisations for all-day 40km/h speed limits in school zones.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • White township workers defended
    by Sarah Elks and Stuart Rintoul
    
    "Employers and unions have defended the quality of staff in indigenous communities after they were branded as "white trash" who would not be employed elsewhere, or too busy trying to save Aboriginal people to do their jobs..."
    
    "Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos said chronic underfunding of schools was to blame, and governments should create an environment that was attractive to teachers.
    
    "There are many communities across Australia, in the Northern Territory for example, where students are denied access to a teacher and a school -- basic access to education," Mr Gavrielatos said.
    
    "There are communities where there are no schools, there are communities where there are no teachers, and there are other communities where there are teachers and a school, but no desks and chairs for a student to sit at.
    
    "We don't operate in a vacuum, we operate in a context, and in some cases that context is one where our schools are chronically underfunded." Asked if it were true that the nation's best teachers were not attracted to remote Aboriginal communities, Mr Gavrielatos said: "I think what's true is that in periods of teacher shortage, the schools first affected and most acutely affected are in our most difficult-to-staff areas." ...
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Artists plead to keep academy
    
    More than 750 musicians, writers, actors and composers -- including Geoffrey Rush, Barry Humphries, Peter Carey, J.M.Coetzee, John Pilger, Anthony Warlow, Paul Kelly and Simon Rattle -- have condemned the federal Government's decision to close the Australian National Academy of Music.
    
    Related story in The Age
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Most Talked About: White Trash
      Many workers forgo comfort and risk injury to help
      
      Six new Letters at that link
      
      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • The Monday Education Section is now available again online, and this week contains seven articles, including:
    
    
    • Outback schools need `new themes'
      
      A revised curriculum for indigenous students is being mooted.
      
      Australia has done a better job of teaching English to newly arrived migrants than its own indigenous population, according to a leading educator.
      
      Gregor Ramsey, chairman of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, says a new approach to education that teaches knowledge based on themes rather than strict disciplines could help indigenous children in the Australian outback break the cycle of unemployment.
      
      
      
    • A contemplation on life without a techno fix
      
      A school finds benefits in life's slower rhythms, writes Denise Ryan.
      
      
      
  • Protest at decision to shut school for blind
    
    Teachers at Victoria's only school for the blind fear more than 140 students will be without proper help after it closes at the end of next year.
    
    
    
  • Do your homework before you take off
    
    A study last year by two economists at the University of Western Australia, Elisa Birch and Paul Miller, found students who took time out scored an average first-year university mark 2.3% higher than those coming straight from school. It's a correlation Penelope McEniry explored five years ago when she wrote Time Out — a book offering suggestions about gap-year activities.
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Jimmy shows the way for students
      
      "The article about Jimmy ("Quest for knowledge results in life's harshest lessons", The Age, 15/11) was one I've been waiting four years to read. Since my first taste of international private colleges as a tutor in a college in partnership with a regional Victorian university, I have been aware of the welfare issues associated with international students.
      
      "I heard stories of students sleeping in bus shelters and on train stations, and 11 to a one-bedroom apartment. Two other colleges I have worked for have not been much better. After the last, I vowed never to work in them again, so chaotic, stressful and exploitative did they appear.
      
      "So, bravo, Jimmy. You have done a great thing in opening up your life like that and communicating about the dark side of international student life in Melbourne. Let's hope more students (and teaching staff, mostly casuals in a non-unionised environment with high staff turnover) feel able to come forward to express their concerns and get the help they need — colleges must be held much more accountable."
      
      Jane Dunstan, Kingsville
      
      
      
      
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Single-sex schools 'are the future'
    by Richard Garner, Education Editor
    
    "Differences in how male and female brains work mean single-sex schooling will make a comeback, a leading headmistress says.
    
    "Vicky Tuck, president of the Girls' School Association, which represents the country's top independent girls' schools, told her association's annual conference in Winchester: "Far from living in the dying days of single-sex education, I am confident that as understanding of the brain continues to evolve, what is obvious to us will become obvious to everyone: girls learn in a different way to boys and it is crucial to cater for their separate needs.
    
    "I have a hunch that in 50 years' time, maybe only 25, people will be doubled up with laughter when they watch documentaries about the history of education and discover people once thought it was a good idea to educate adolescent boys and girls together."
    
    "She cited evidence in support of her argument showing that neurological differences between the sexes meant girls' brains worked differently to boys' and added it would reverse a 40-year trend towards co-educational schools..."
    
    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teachers learn to close culture gap
    
    All 93,000 people who work for the NSW Department of Education will spend up to 10 hours learning about indigenous culture under a new Aboriginal education policy to be launched today.
    
    
    
  • Sex abuse teacher loses ban appeal
    
    A student teacher who had a lesbian relationship with a pupil has failed to have a decision overturned that could stop her from working at schools.

 

Wednesday 19 November

• The West Australian
  

  • Students to catch buses, trains to do top maths (page 19)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “Students from five southern suburbs State Schools who want to study advanced maths in Year 11 and 12 will be forced to travel to another site by public transport twice a week because the schools can't offer the subject.
    
    “In a further sign of the growing teacher shortage, students from Gilmore and Comet Bay Colleges, Warnbro Community High School and Rockingham and Safety Bay senior high schools will next year share one teacher for four hours a week at Murdoch University's Rockingham campus. For the rest of the week they will study online.
    
    “Murdoch arts and education dean Andrew Taggart said each school had too few students to offer high-level maths next year, so they asked the university to provide a neutral venue. “It's come out of necessity, the schools were no longer able to afford to teach very small maths classes,” he said.
    
    “Even though the 16 students would have to travel to the campus two days a week for two-hour sessions, Professor Taggart said they would have added advantages such as use of the library and access to special seminars.
    
    “It may be a really good outcome fore the region in terms of sustaining kids on a traditional high-ed academic pathway,” he said.
    
    “The program could later be extended to include other courses such as chemistry and marine science.
    
    “Professor Taggart said it could also help recruit students to study teaching at the university.
    
    “Department of Education and Training Peel district director Julie Woodhouse said parents supported students making their own way to the university to take the course.
    
    “Safety Bay Senior High School acting principal Jamie Hayres said the students would have access to  the most capable teachers.
    
    “Education Minister Liz Constable said she backed universities augmenting what schools could offer. “we are working in a very difficult era at the moment of shortages of teachers and maths would be near the top of the list for shortages,” she said.
    
    “University of WA head of mathematics Les Jennings said it would be better for students to stay at their schools but given the lack of specialist teachers, it was the next best option. Three schools in the Swan district plan to link timetables so they can share Years 11 and 12 teachers across combined classes next year.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Private schools defy Rudd deal (page 19)
    by Andrew Tillett
    
    “Private schools will tell a Senate inquiry today they do not want to adopt Kevin Rudd's education revolution – including a national curriculum – without more details.
    
    “About $28 billion in taxpayers' money for independent and Catholic schools for 2009-2012 is at stake but the funding Bill has stalled in the Senate over concerns about a lack of information on the national curriculum.
    
    “Some religious schools and specialist school systems such as Steiner and Montessori are worried that it would limit what they can teach.
    
    “Schools also have objected to requirements that they would have to publicly declare their sources of money including benefactors and donations, saying that it could be used to whip up the politics of envy against wealthy schools.
    
    “The Government needs to get the Bill through the Senate before the end of the year to ensure that schools do not run out of money.
    
    “Education Minister Julia Gillard has tried to reassure schools they have nothing to worry about but the Opposition is planning to strip out the conditions from the Bill and balance of power Senator Steve Fielding has flagged doubts over the measures.
    
    “The Senate inquiry will have its sole day of hearing in Canberra today and take evidence from private school and public education advocates.
    
    “Independent Schools Council of Australia head Bill Daniels is expected to tell the inquiry the requirement to publicly disclose financial operations of school is inconsistent with the Government's focus on education outcomes and student performance.
    
    “Mr Daniels supports a national curriculum but is likely to demand that is does not impose specific teaching styles or assessments that threaten specialist schools.
    
    “Catholic Education WA director Ron Dullard told The West Australian that “argy-bargy” was common when schools funding was renegotiated every four years but it was up to the Federal Government to have contingencies to support schools if a deal did not pass Parliament in time.
    
    “Even if there hadn't been a change of government, we would still be in the same situation,” Mr Dullard said.
    
    “Coalition education spokesman Chris Pyne said the strong resistance from private schools to the Government's proposals vindicated his opposition to the measures, despite the risk that schools could miss out on funding.
    
    “Non-government schools have been placed in a difficult position by this Government,” Mr Pyne said.
    
    “They're being asked to sign up for what what amounts to deeply flawed and ambiguous legislation by a Government that is on the record as having little love for non-government schools.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • When children are obviously at risk
      
      “As most people were, I was disgusted at the attacks last week on two vulnerable and young children.
      
      “However, it is of no surprise to me that the schools acted in the fashion it did please allow me to explain. My partner and I both have children from previous relationships. Mine live with us (thankfully) and his with their mother. She lives quite a distance away. I have always been concerned about the children particularly the way she is so blasé about safety. The children (at the time) were aged 10, 5 and 3 ½ with and additional “stepbrother” of 6. The 10-year-old daughter was expected to not only collect all three boys after school, but walk home with them to an empty house until an adult would return around 5pm. Obviously the youngest was in kindy, so would only be in company with the others two days of the week.
      
      “My partner and I are serving police officers and are unfortunately not so blasé about the calibre of people in society. We raised the issue with the mother. However, she failed to address the issue. This arrangement terrified us, to the extent that on occasion we would make the hour-long drive to ensure they were safe.
      
      “In an effort to fix the problem in a roundabout way, I contacted the principal of the school and questioned him on on the school's duty of care. I was astonished and disgusted at the reply.
      
      “To digress slightly, my children are of similar age, my eldest is 10 and youngest is 6. If I wanted my children to walk home from school, meeting me at the house, I could not, because the school will not release the youngest into the care of the 10-year-old. Which is how I assumed the other school would be. I was mortified that the school could release not only the five and six-year-olds to the 10-year-old, but also a 3 ½-year-old.
      
      “After a lengthy and heated conversation, where I pointed out to the principal the repercussions of them failing to adhere to their duty of care with the children at the school, I was told that once school is over, its duty of care ends.
      
      “I pointed out a possible scenario with the children walking home alone, getting lured into a vehicle or bush by a sick individual and becoming the victims of something best left unsaid. Again, he pointed out  that the duty of care ended with the siren.
      
      “I raised with him the logic, that surely the Education Department had a “blanket” duty of care policy? I certainly know that the police service does. Our duty of care extends past the next day, so how could a school not be responsible for small, innocent children? At least until an adult was available?
      
      “I explained that maybe rather than wait for such an atrocity to occur and then fight the legalities of the tragic situation, the school/Education Department should look into adjusting the policy.
      
      “This never happened. Since the discussions with the school earlier this year, the oldest child has chosen to live with us, which has forced the mother to make other arrangements for the other children.
      
      “But I have no doubt that if she chose to pass the “honour” on to the now seven-year-old, the school would have no issues in releasing the other two into his care.
      
      “So, in summary, the fact that the school where the incident took place “escorted” a man found on the premises and did not inform the police not only that he had been at the school, but who he was, does not surprise me in the slightest.
      
      “It saddens me that this has occurred, it disgusts me that innocent children, and in essence their parents, have been led to believe that school is a safe place. Not so.
      
      “The horrific incident involving little Sophia should have been a wake-up call to us all, but the memory seems to have faded. Dante Arthurs may be have been apprehended this time, but the judicial system will give him some pathetic punishment because of the ridiculous truth-in-sentencing laws, which will enable him to fine-tune his next one so the poor victims won't be able to tell on him.
      
      “Given that the situation is a strong possibility, vigilance is paramount. Evil people exist, evil people will get what they want if good people believe they are safe.”
      
      Name and address supplied
      
      
      

• ABC News
  
  
  • Teachers vow to delay school year
    
    Public school teachers across New South Wales have voted to strike for the first two days of the 2009 school year unless the State Government doubles its pay offer.
    
    
    
  • NT teachers pay dispute comes to an end
    
    After more than 15 months of negotiations, the Northern Territory's Education Union has agreed to accept the NT Government's pay offer... The union's Adam Lampe said that 55 percent of sub-branch members this week voted to accept a pay rise of 12 percent over three years, which will be backdated from September 2007.
    
    
    
  • Education Union brands school funding plan corrupt
    
    The Australian Education Union has described the proposed system for funding schools for the next four years as corrupt.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Care for kids or lose cash, bad parents warned [Lead National story]
    by Patricia Karvelas, Political correspondent
    
    "Bad parents will lose control of welfare payments under a radical plan to extend restrictions beyond indigenous communities to dysfunctional white families.
    
    "Welfare controls could be introduced across the country next year after the Rudd Government revealed it would adopt a national model from a choice of three systems currently under trial.
    
    "Trials of the latest option will begin on Monday in Western Australia, where parents whose children are considered at risk - in white and black families - will have 70 per cent of their welfare payments controlled.
    
    "The federal Government has signed off on a plan with the West Australian Government that allows child protection authorities to begin the quarantining of welfare payments almost immediately.
    
    "Family and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said that by the middle of next year the Rudd Government would determine which of three welfare-control models was the most successful.
    
    "The three options include the new trial in Western Australia, the Cape York trial where a Family Relations Commission has the authority to haul welfare recipients before a hearing to decide how best tomanage their affairs, and the controversial mandatory 50 per cent quarantining system blanketing the Northern Territory..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • New music school to be truly national: Peter Garrett
    
    Peter Garrett killed off one classical music institute yesterday and gave birth to another. As predicted in The Australian, the Arts Minister signed a memorandum of understanding with Melbourne University to create the Australian Institute of Music Performance.
    
    Related story in The Age
    
    
    
  • Libraries' need of renewal an open book
    
    When Canberra announced a one-off $300 million for councils to spend on their communities, Carol Bouwens dared to hope her libraries might get a look in. The acting mayor of Marion, 10km southwest of Adelaide's CBD, is faced with a booming young population seeking cheap family entertainment, and two libraries in urgent need of renewal. "It's not just about books any more it's about everything -- the internet, computers," Ms Bouwens said. "But we're unfunded, so it really is just a wish list."
    
    
    
  • Student guild in Murdoch University row
    
    Murdoch University's Guild of Students has accused the chancellor of threatening to withdraw or withhold funding unless it tones down its activism.
    
    
    
  • Restrict research to elite, says Go8
    
    Australia's top universities will lose their global position unless research investment is concentrated in the hands of proven performers, according to a survey of international research funding trends by the Group of Eight.
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Downturn clarifies the case for public school funding
    by Lyndsay Connors and Jane Caro
    
    "All over the world, people are tightening their belts. Visit any shopping centre and, despite a rapidly approaching Christmas, you will find it easy to get a parking space and easy to get served. As the value of investments plummets, super shrinks, big business makes plans to shed jobs, small businesses start to look shaky and ordinary people look to their budgets and begin to make hard decisions.
    
    "Those decisions include whether they can afford to send, or continue to send, their children to private schools.
    
    "There is already anecdotal evidence that many public schools, particularly in middle-class areas, are experiencing a surge in enrolments. Some private schools are losing pupils, according to recent reports. If the economy continues to contract we can reasonably expect this trend to accelerate. [emphasis added]
    
    "The downturn, and its effect on household budgets, is a timely reminder why public schools are uniquely important to any nation's future. They are the only schools that remain open to every child of school age, despite fluctuations in family fortune. You may lose much in a shrinking or stagnant economy, but at least your children need not lose their education..."
    
    Lyndsay Connors is adjunct associate professor at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Education, and Jane Caro is co-author of The Stupid Country: How Australia Is Dismantling Public Education.
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • Teachers stop for two hours
    AAP
    
    "Public school teachers across NSW will leave classrooms for two hours from 9am today to attend stopwork meetings.
    
    "The NSW Teachers' Federation said the industrial action was being held to protest against the State Government's pay offer, which the union said effectively cuts wages and conditions in schools and TAFE colleges.
    
    "The meeting will determine industrial action in the federation's "Staffing, salaries and standards" campaign.
    
    "The stopwork is in direct defiance of the Industrial Relations Commission, which last week suggested the meeting be conducted outside school hours.
    
    "They will inevitably cause unnecessary disruption to students' education and parents," Michael Coutts-Trotter, the director-general of the NSW Department of Education and Training, said on Friday.
    
    "The federation's acting deputy president, Gary Zadkovich, said his organisation had "a responsibility to fully inform our members of the department's offer and our reasons for rejecting it".
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Study of Reading Program Finds a Lack of Progress
    
    Students in the $6 billion Reading First program have not made greater progress in understanding what they read than have peers outside the program, according to a congressionally mandated study.
    
    
    
  • Rhee Proposes Parent Academy, Better Security
    by Bill Turque
    
    "Revamped security and discipline policies, more specialized schools, a "Parent Academy" to help District parents take charge of their children's education and the possibility of more school closures are part of the long-term vision proposed by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in a new document..."
    
    "The report also addresses at length the issue of parent involvement and is at one point bluntly critical of families for accepting, even supporting, mediocre schools.
    
    "Too many of our students' parents are uninformed consumers of public education who blindly support the District's public schools without full knowledge of the significant deficiencies of the schools," the document says.
    
    "It proposes outreach measures, including information and training sessions, covering everything from adult literacy to parenting skills. The plan raises the idea of collaborating with other community-based organizations to open a "Parent Academy" that would teach parents "the full set of basic skills necessary to be a successful participant" in their child's education..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • 10 per cent of pupils fail to master maths
    
    More than 30,000 children are finishing primary school every year with the mathematical ability of a seven-year-old, a report says today. The 11-year-olds are four years behind in maths skills when they arrive at secondary school, despite £2.3bn a year being spent teaching the subject.
    
    
    
  • Pupils' excuses keep up with technology [late update from 18 November]
    by Chris Court
    
    "Schoolchildren have always been inventive when it comes to excuses for not handing in their homework - and now they are increasingly blaming technology, a new survey revealed today.
    
    "According to the research by PIXmania.com, the average British teacher hears 15 homework excuses a week.
    
    "That works out at 6.5 million excuses a week across the country - with 1.3 million of these related to technology.
    
    "Over the last 12 months the 1,000 UK-based teachers surveyed said they had seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of tech-related excuses being heard in the classroom.
    
    "The top five most popular tech-related reasons for not doing homework are:
    
    
    • My computer crashed and I lost it;
    • I finished my homework but then I deleted it by accident;
    • I could not print it out;
    • My internet was down so I could not do any research;
    • I lost my laptop.

  "Teachers revealed other tech-related excuses including:

  • My dad's computer was hacked by the Russians and they stole my homework;
  • A burglar stole my printed-out homework along with the computer;
  • The PC exploded when our dog went to the toilet on it;
  • I accidentally tipped a bottle of cider over the computer and it broke.

  "Contrast that with a selection of pre-technology excuses:

  • My mum put my homework in the washing machine, and then burnt it as she tried to iron it dry;
  • The wind blew my homework into a pond, and then a swan ate it;
  • My brother drove off with my homework in his lorry, and then he lost it in France.

  "The study revealed 70 per cent of school teachers noticed an upsurge in the number of pupils blaming technology for not doing homework.
  
  "And 68 per cent of pupils are now submitting school work typed on a computer - making it far easier to blame technological faults.
  
  "The amount of work being done on PCs and laptops is also making tech-related tales more believable to teachers, with one in four admitting they were less likely to challenge them.
  
  "Sue Cooke, assistant headteacher at Wallington County Grammar School, Surrey, said: "Initially I think teachers were more likely to believe technology related excuses but we are definitely wising up to their tech trickery.
  
  "We are having to become more tech-savvy ourselves so that we are able to offer the kids advice to assist those who are genuinely having problems with their computer."
  
  "Managing director of PIXmania.com, Ulric Jerome, said: "To help teachers and students alike, we have created the PIXmania Tech-NO-Excuses Guide, a downloadable advice sheet for teachers to share with their classroom that will teach students useful tips such, as how to set a computer to AutoRecover to ensure that work no longer goes accidentally missing before kids have a chance to hand it in."
  
  From The Independent at link
  
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • Softly spoken Byrne aims to be a loud Monash voice
    
    He is a softly spoken neuroscientist with a penchant for fly-fishing and classical music, but when Edward Byrne takes the reins as Monash University's vice-chancellor next year, do not expect him to shy away from some of the difficult issues confronting Australia's higher education system.

    Hours after his new job was announced yesterday, Professor Byrne — currently a vice-provost at University College London — was quick to raise concerns about the lack of funding for Australian universities, and the level of access for students from poor families.

Thursday 20 November

• The Australian
  
  
  • Students lose if low-performing schools shielded
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Students in low-performing schools have the most to gain from publicly reporting their results, with a report by the Centre for Independent Studies arguing this is one of a suite of reforms required to improve education.
    
    "In a paper released today, CIS research fellow Jennifer Buckingham says that arguments against so-called league tables protect schools at the expense of students and parents.
    
    "Ms Buckingham says the concern is only about revealing the schools that do not perform well, not the high-achieving schools, for fear of stigmatising the students and damaging a school's reputation. "This argument holds no water," she says. "In essence, it says that students in under-performing schools will be fine as long as nobody knows they are getting a poor education.
    
    "It protects schools, and the people responsible for them, at the expense of the children and families they are meant to serve."
    
    "Ms Buckingham says education departments already know which public schools are under-achieving and that publicly identifying such schools is crucial to turning them around.
    
    "These schools are allowed to under-achieve year after year, and under-serve hundreds of children, with no redress," she says. "Public identification will put schools and the governments responsible for them in the spotlight, and force improvement in these schools through the weight of public pressure.
    
    "What is worse, short-term loss of face or long-term neglect? Some schools may go through pain initially, but when 'problem schools' have been publicly identified in the past, students have ended up better off."
    
    "The paper says Australia has already laid the groundwork for a school reporting program, with national tests starting this year in literacy and numeracy and the establishment of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to oversee the tests and the reporting of results.
    
    "It says the Australian Government is in the enviable position of being able to learn from the experiences of other countries, and cherry-pick features from different systems.
    
    "Education Minister Julia Gillard has pointed to the model of rating groups of like schools adopted in New York City, and has organised a trip to Australia next week by the city's schools chancellor, Joel Klein. New York schools are awarded a grade of A, B, C, D or F weighted for student improvement, with schools receiving a D or an F facing closure if they fail to improve.
    
    "The CIS paper cautions against overplaying the value of student progress because it can distort the way schools are portrayed, with some very high-achieving schools in New York given an F because their students, already at the top, failed to improve.
    
    "The report says public accountability and school choice are deemed important as well."
    
    From The Australian at link [see following Editorial on the same issue]
    
    Also see similar story in The Age, and the Op Ed by Jennifer Buckingham in The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Put students first
    
    Schools rated 'F' in Florida have made strong gains
    
    "Even in states that publish students' results and comparisons of Year 12 outcomes between schools, parents receive the information only after their child has left school. In moving to make more information about schools available, the Rudd Government is in the fortunate position of being able to draw on the best of overseas systems while avoiding the mistakes.
    
    "In a paper released today, Centre for Independent Studies research fellow Jennifer Buckingham makes a convincing case for adapting aspects of the systems that are working well in New York and Florida. In the latter, where school ratings were introduced in 1999, the biggest improvements have been achieved in schools that once received F grades. The improvements in students' test scores in such schools now exceed the national average.
    
    "In tackling what Julia Gillard calls Australia's "long tail of educational under-achievement", it is interesting to see that minority students in low socio-economic schools have gained most under Florida's system. Parental choice is important in that state, with parents allowed to shift their children from failing schools to better-performing schools.
    
    "In Australia, critics of so-called league tables, especially teachers' unions, have long argued that publishing details of school performance would stigmatise students in low-performing schools. But as Ms Buckingham says: "This argument really says that students in low-performing schools will be fine as long as no one knows they are not getting a good education."
    
    "Public accountability, she points out, creates the impetus for schools and governments to concentrate their efforts on the quality of teachers and teaching. To be fully effective, a system that holds schools accountable for their performance should also give them greater flexibility to hire the best possible teachers. Published data on schools should help precipitate a genuine education revolution from the ground up, school by school."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Push for English causes Aboriginal backlash
    
    Governments risk poisoning their relationship with Aboriginal people by clumsily pushing through a threadbare policy mandating that children in remote schools are predominantly taught in English, Arnhem Land's most experienced Aboriginal educator has warned.
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Tough love for all
    
    Extending income management is an important reform
    
    The Rudd Government's extension of income management of welfare payments beyond indigenous families to dysfunctional white families is a significant reform. After boosting fresh-food consumption and reducing substance abuse in Northern Territory indigenous communities to date, the move should enhance the health, education and life prospects of thousands of disadvantaged white children.
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Most Talked About: Children's Welfare
      Pulling purse strings not a good parenting solution
      
      Three Letters at that link
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Every good parent deserves truth
    by Jennifer Buckingham
    
    "State governments have reams of data about schools, but parents - and anyone else interested in education - get to see little of it, at least in any meaningful form. Take this year's Higher School Certificate results. They will be released next month, but parents will again struggle to get any sense of how well particular schools are doing, as the statistics published by the NSW Department of Education are meagre, only the number of high achievers in year 12 from each school.
    
    "For the past decade, the think-tank I work for, the Centre of Independent Studies, has called for state governments to publish detailed information on all schools so parents can compare their achievements.
    
    "Earlier this year, the Federal Government announced its intention to use "co-operative federalism" to provide parents and the public with information about school performance, in the interests of "transparency and accountability". The question now is how best to go about it.
    
    "A trip to New York earlier this year by the Education Minister, Julia Gillard, was highly influential on her thinking. The New York Department of Education's schools chancellor, Joel Klein, will be in Australia next week spreading the word about his school reporting and accountability scheme.
    
    "The department gives all schools an annual report card with information and statistics, including academic performance. Each school is compared to the average for all schools in the city and to a group of "like schools" with similar demographic characteristics.
    
    "The most contentious aspect is the overall letter grade to each school - A, B, C, D or F. Schools that persistently receive failing grades face strong sanctions, including closure. The program is still in its infancy, but initial research indicates that schools given F and D grades improved performance substantially the next year.
    
    "A similar scheme was introduced in Florida in 1999. Studies of its impact found schools receiving an F made bigger improvements in in subsequent years than other schools. Florida's overall test score gains have exceeded the national average by far, and the biggest gains were for minority groups. In 1999, 53 per cent of the state's fourth-graders achieved the "basic" level or better in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Last year, 70 per cent did. Over the same period, the proportion of students making the "advanced" level doubled.
    
    "Other countries make school performance information public to varying degrees. The OECD's report on the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment - which tests reading, maths and science - looked at the characteristics of different education systems.
    
    "It found students in schools that publicly posted their external exam results performed significantly better than students in schools that did not. That remained the case even after accounting for the demographic and socioeconomic background of students and schools.
    
    "Providing information is only part of the equation. There must be rewards and consequences. Rather than state sanctions, the best approach is for a government to set standards for educational performance, against which parents and the public can evaluate schools and make informed choices. The Florida system combines accountability with parental choice. Students in failing schools are given the option to attend one that performs better. If a school closes, it is because it has lost the confidence of parents and the community, not because of government decree.
    
    "Performance reporting inevitably raises the spectre of league tables. Most arguments against reporting are based on concerns about low-performing schools, and the possibility they will be stigmatised. What this argument really says is that no one should know students in low-performing schools are getting a poor education. But students in these schools have the most to gain. Identifying them may cause schools some initial pain, but history suggests that the long-term outcomes are positive.
    
    "Test results can be influenced by factors beyond the control of schools, but there are ways to provide information which is sensitive to such circumstances. And while there is much to like about the New York and Florida systems, we don't have to adopt them wholesale. Australia could have a system of school report cards which are easy to understand, but without the contentious grades. We can learn from the flaws of other countries' systems, and create a reporting system that is as meaningful and fair.
    
    "Parents and the public have been kept in the dark too long."

    Jennifer Buckingham is a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney.
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

• The West Australian
  

  • Schools told donations can stay secret as $28b in grants stalls (page 6)
    by Andrew Tillett
    
    “Education officials have promised that schools will not be forced to identify donors when they reveal their funding sources after schools told a Senate inquiry that such a move would promote private school bashing.
    
    “The inquiry was also told some private schools would not reopen after summer and have to sack teachers if the Senate did not pass $28 billion in taxpayers’ funding.
    
    “The four-year funding deal for private education is in jeopardy after schools complained they would be forced to sign up to a new national curriculum and reveal their sources of funding.
    
    “At the hearing in Canberra yesterday, Australian Association of Christian Schools chief executive Bob Johnston said benefactors could be reluctant to donate if they were to be named. He said a business seen to support an independent school could be boycotted by opponents of private education.
    
    “The issue of the public-private divide is not going to go away by the publication of data,” Mr Johnston said. “If anything, that’s going to pander to those who are philosophically opposed to non-government schools.”
    
    “Independent Schools Council of Australia executive director Bill Daniels and its Victorian deputy chairman Heather Schnagl also attacked the move to make schools divulge funding sources.
    
    “We consider this to be intrusive and unnecessary and will almost certainly lead to a divisive public debate,” Mr Daniels said.
    
    “Dr Schnagl warned the funding information was likely to be distorted.
    
    “But the Education Department’s national education systems manager Carol Nicoll told the inquiry schools would not have to name every donor.
    
    “Instead, they would most likely have to list their funding in broad categories, such as income from fees and levies, scholarships, fundraising, donations and grants.
    
    “Dr Nicoll said public disclosure of funding sources would help parents decide whether schools offered good value for money and performance.
    
    “Mr Daniels told The West Australian that independent schools were worried Parliament would not pass the funding Bill this year with about $2.7 billion due to go to private schools in January.
    
    “Some schools will close,” he said. “About 50 per cent of the Commonwealth grant to independent schools comes in January.
    
    “The union has already contacted us to ask, ‘What is going to happen?’ because under the law we’ve got to pay (salaries) but there will be no money.”
    
    “The department said it was working on back-up plans to support schools if the funding Bill was not passed in time.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Well Said
      
      “Congratulations to Zoltan Kovacs for his brilliant essay (English tongue licks message language, 15/11).  I award him 10 out of 10, or 100 per cent, or grade A+, or the top level or outcome (whatever that may be).
      
      “The English language is alive and , as always, coping brilliantly with all the diverse demands made upon it by changing societies. I hope that all English teachers have saved the essay for future use in their upper school English classes. (I am a retired head of an English department.)”
      
      Wilma Venville, Bicton
      
      
      

• The Age
  
  
  • Reading time key to success
    
    Children from disadvantaged families aren't fated to have problems in making the transition from home to school, a study has found. Parents just need to read to them several times a week and limit their TV viewing.

    The findings come from a study to be released today by the Smith Family and conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
    
    

  • University standards on the decline, admit teachers
    
    University teachers admit the quality of education students are getting is worse than it was five years ago, placing growing pressure on the Rudd Government as it prepares for a massive shake-up for the nation's tertiary sector.
    
    Months before Education Minister Julia Gillard announces sweeping changes to the nation's universities, a new survey of more than 3000 staff has painted a bleak picture of education quality and morale.
    
    
    
  • Primary children forced to relocate
    
    Dozens of children have been kicked out of their primary school and forced to relocate because of building delays in one of the State Government's flagship education projects.
    
    
    
  • School funds may have provisos
    
    The body representing Christian schools has expressed fears the unfinished national curriculum — which private schools will have to adopt as a condition of their Commonwealth funding — may ban the teaching of intelligent design.
    
    The executive officer of the Australian Association of Christian Schools, Robert Johnston, said children should be encouraged to critique the science of evolution and he was worried the national curriculum could prevent schools from exploring alternative theories for the development of the universe.
    
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • More than third of schools failing pupils, Ofsted warns
    
    One in ten 11-year-olds are still leaving primary school without reaching the level expected of their age group in English and maths, Ofsted's annual report found.
    
    And more than half of England's teenagers are still leaving school without five good GCSEs, including English and maths.
    

 

Friday 21 November

• The West Australian
  

  • Big rise in unqualified teachers (page 19)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “The number of unqualified people who have applied to teach in WA schools has almost doubled in the past year in another indication that many schools are struggling to find enough trained teachers.
    
    “The WA College of Teaching annual report, tabled in State Parliament last week, has revealed that 503 people applied for a “limited authority to teach (LAT)” in the 2007-08 financial year compared with 267 the previous year.
    
    “All teachers must be registered with WACOT to work in WA. People without teaching qualifications who have specialist skills can still be granted a limited authority to teach if they are offered employment by a school which can prove that a fully qualified teacher is not available.
    
    “Teaching students who have completed their university course work but have not received their final results can also qualify for limited authority to teach if a school agrees to employ them.
    
    “The authorisation can be granted for between two weeks and two years and not all applications are successful.
    
    “State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said the increase in the number of applications was due to WA's acute teacher shortage.
    
    “Any figures that indicate that we don't have fully qualified teachers in front of students certainly I think do have to be of concern to government and to various employers,” she said.
    
    “It's data that nobody can run away from and I think it flags to government that there continues to be an issue (with shortages) and they do have to seek resolution around this matter.”
    
    “Ms Gisborne said that before WACOT's existence, there were no limits on the number of unqualified people teaching in classrooms and no way to know how many there were.
    
    “Independent Education Union secretary Theresa Howe, who is also on the WACOT board, said some students could be disadvantaged because they were not being taught by qualified teachers.
    
    “As a union we'd be concerned about the number of LAT's being issued because we think that employers should be offering attractive salaries and work conditions to attract people to these areas  of shortage,” she said.
    
    “Ms Howe said it was contradictory for an agency that existed to make sure teachers were qualified properly to then permit unqualified people to teach.
    
    “The WACOT report said its overall membership increased by 4174 this year. Director Suzanne Parry was overseas and not available for comment yesterday.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Duty of care boundaries
      
      “Your letter (When children are obviously at risk 19/11) points to a fundamental misunderstanding of who is responsible for children.
      
      “Schools are institutions of education. They are not child-minding centres. When their educational role is finished it is parental responsibility to ensure duty of care of their own children. If parents choose to put career, financial security or their own needs before their children, they take the consequences. The choice to have children has been a correlative responsibility to care for them. Schools, police and governments may assist parents but ultimately it is their choice to bring children into the world and so their responsibility to guarantee their safety.
      
      “This issue, together with the alarming incidence of depression in young children in your report (Modern life puts mental stress on WA's Kids 18/11) suggests it is perhaps time to seriously reappraise the value we give to parenting and acknowledge that we just have to give our children a lot more time and attention than we have come to accept as satisfactory.”
      
      Stephanie Woods, Wembley
      
      

    • Losing direction
      
      “The letter about children being at risk (19/11) is thought provoking. Although in full agreement with the writer that the safety of children should be our first concern, I am a little baffled to understand why the school should assume responsibility for the pupils after the final siren. I am sorry to say but, little by little, we are losing all sense of direction and priorities.
      
      “For example, posters in the Karrakatta cemetery car park warn patrons to lock their vehicles and not to leave any valuables in them. Shouldn't the sign be saying something like: “Burglar be aware that cameras are being used and that, if caught stealing, you may face up to ten years in jail labour.”?
      
      Mario Rapanaro, Dianella
      
      
      

• The Australian
  
  
  • Schools debate misses the real issue ... funding
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "A typical primary school receives less than $2 a week per student to buy teaching resources such as readers, maths equipment, pencils, crayons, paper, art materials and sporting equipment.
    
    "For principal Terry Fisher, also president of the Wollongong Primary Principals Council in NSW, debates over league tables, accountability and public versus private schools miss the real problem in education -- an extreme lack of funding.
    
    "Mr Fisher, principal of Woonona Public School, north of Wollongong, said schools in disadvantaged areas rightly received extra funding, but even typical schools such as his struggled with inadequate resources.
    
    "We are good at making do, at surviving," he said. "But we shouldn't have to make do; we should be able to have the funds we need."
    
    "Woonona Public School is a middle-sized school of about 350 students from middle-class backgrounds with no real social or cultural disadvantage who perform above the state and national average in literacy and numeracy tests.
    
    "Of the funding from the federal and state governments, it receives about $105,000 for operating expenses, including utilities, urgent minor maintenance, casual teachers, and student resources.
    
    "The amount allocated for utilities, $24,000, is almost as much as the governments provide for student resources, about $27,000.
    
    "When spread across the 350 students at Woonona, it provides $76.62 a year for every child, or $1.91 a week.
    
    "Any money not spent can be used by the principal in other areas, but Mr Fisher said little was left over.
    
    "In addition, the school receives special-purpose grants that are tied to specific programs covering learning assistance for struggling students, teacher professional learning and a computer co-ordinator.
    
    "A spokesman for NSW Education Minister Verity Firth said the state Government, which provided the bulk of funding for public schools, would spend $11,000 on each public school student this financial year.
    
    "He also pointed out that the department paid for schools' big expenses, including teachers' salaries, capital works, major maintenance and cleaning.
    
    "Funding expert emeritus professor Max Angus from Edith Cowan University in Perth, who co-authored a seven-year study into primary school resources, said some low-fee Catholic and independent schools would have even less than $2 a week.
    
    "Professor Angus said part of the problem for Mr Fisher was the heavily centralised system in NSW, which restricted principals' decisions on how to spend their funding.
    
    "Generally, about one-third of primary schools are doing OK and can do most of the things they're expected to; one-third find it tough to do everything, and one-third, mainly those in low socio-economic areas, can't deliver on all the expectations of schools," he said.
    
    "Primary schools are very tightly funded; there is no fat."
    
    "Public school education for the next four years is expected to be finalised at the Council of Australian Governments meeting next week, and federal president of the Australian Education Union Angelo Gavrielatos said it provided an opportunity to redress the imbalance in funding of the public and private school sectors.
    
    "Mr Gavrielatos, who has written to the premiers and chief ministers ahead of the meeting, said private schools' funding was guaranteed with a bill before the Senate that continued the funding model of the previous government, of which about half all private schools were exempt.
    
    "The bill includes the continuation of payments of $2.7 billion over and above what private schools would be entitled to were the funding formula properly applied," he said.
    
    "In the meantime, the suggestion is that public schools will have to carry the burden of the world financial crisis."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Indigenous elder Calma backs income-management trial
    
    Aboriginal elder Tom Calma has backed a trial beginning in Western Australia on Monday under which parents whose children are considered at risk -- in white and black families -- will have 70 per cent of their welfare payments controlled.
    
    
    
  • Lindsay Tanner finds praise for school that beat him
    
    Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner will tonight make peace with a violent chapter in his past in an extraordinary speech to be delivered at the boarding school where he was beaten as a child.
    
    
    
  • Protest over more Victorian universities job cuts
    
    Industrial unrest at Victorian universities is set to worsen after La Trobe University warned staff that voluntary job cuts weren't meeting targets, raising the prospect of compulsory layoffs.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • School attack 'horrifying'
    
    A Year 8 student at a secondary school in Melbourne's south-east could lose his spleen after a sickening schoolyard attack that may lead to the alleged bully facing expulsion and criminal charges.
    
    "I want the kid expelled and I want to press charges..." [the boy's mother] said... The school's assistant principal, Helen Brown, said the incident was regrettable... "Bad behaviour is simply not tolerated at this school. Two students have been suspended and face possible expulsion pending a parent meeting."
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Schools no place for intelligent design
      
      "Robert Johnston, of the Australian Association of Christian Schools, is worried that "intelligent design" might be banned in schools (The Age, 20/11). It can still be taught in Sunday School, where creationism has always been taught. It merely has no place in science classes, and any school teaching it as science should be stripped of its public funding.
      
      "Johnston thinks children should "critique" evolution. Darwinian evolution has been "critiqued" by the best minds in biology for 150 years. He also fears a curriculum that "prevents the teaching of anything". What other religious nonsense would he like taught as science — a flat earth, a geocentric world, angels pushing the planets?"
      
      Tim Saclier, Leopold
      
      
      
      
• ABC News
  
  
  • Protesting won't help, Govt tells teachers
    
    The South Australian Government has warned teachers that today's after school rally will not benefit their argument for better pay and a new school funding model.
    
    Teachers are upset that the IRC cancelled today's strike at the last minute.
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Reading too much into school statistics spells trouble
      
      "Jennifer Buckingham argues that New York's system of school performance reporting is a success because "schools given F and D grades improved performance substantially the next year" ("Every good parent deserves truth", November 20).
      
      "This is the phenomenon known as regression to the mean. Schools that have unusually low or high rankings are more likely to move towards the middle the following year.
      
      "This pattern indicates that the system is not measuring the actual worth of a school but just natural random fluctuations in the performance of students.
      
      "You would get the same effect if you measured students' average height. Schools with unusually short students would tend to have taller students the next year. But it seems unlikely that measuring children makes them grow.
      
      "Schools occasionally have high or low end-of-year results. As teachers, we cannot control all the factors that lead to these results. Nor should we try. Time we spend chasing a single year's result on a particular assessment is time we do not spend planning for long-term change and improvement.
      
      "There are all kinds of factors that can affect a single year's result. Was there a big party the night before the NAPLAN (National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy) testing? Did a family of five hard-working siblings arrive at the school? Did a talented learning support assistant get her Diploma of Education and move to another school? Did the school decide to have a spelling bee this year?
      
      "It is also important to look closely at what is being tested. The NAPLAN testing, which began this year, has a heavy emphasis on spelling. You might say this is because spelling is important and valued. But I would say it's because spelling is easy to test.
      
      "As an English teacher, if I wanted to make my life easy all I would teach would be spelling and grammar. All my assessments would be in exam format. My marking would be done in minutes. But I know that if I do that I will never be able to assess students on certain essential skills. These include the ability to speak publicly, to research ideas in depth and to plan and redraft a piece of writing to publication standard.
      
      "These skills will never be on national testing because they are not practical to test. Any league table will move emphasis away from skills that are useful in the real world towards memorisation and skills that are useful in the exam hall."
      
      Brendan Sullivan, Page (ACT)
      
      
      
    • Those clever Finns could teach us a thing or two
      
      "We all deserve the truth, but Jennifer Buckingham did not deliver it with her comments on the academic results of New York schools ("Every good parent deserves truth", November 20). It has not been proved that publishing students' results lifts the results of poorer performing schools.
      
      "The New York model has been criticised by education professionals here and overseas. Indeed, the teachers in many of these schools warn against implementing such a model.
      
      "If Julia Gillard is intent on improving educational outcomes, why doesn't she look to Finland - the country with the best literacy results? And why does Finland consistently perform so well? Perhaps because of its intense promotion of reading since 2001; targeted programs for students who have performed at a lower level; guaranteed equal learning opportunities for all students; professional development of teachers; and lower teacher-student ratios. The truth is, quality education needs quality planning, quality teaching and quality funding."
      
      Sharon McGuinness, Thirroul
      
      
      
    • "Jennifer Buckingham writes that the OECD found "students in schools that publicly posted their external exam results performed significantly better than students in schools that did not". Is she hoping to mislead us into concluding that public posting led to the good results? Why didn't she put it the other way round: schools that did well in external exams were more likely to publicly post than schools that did not?"
      
      Glen Coulton, Marmong Point
      
      
      
    • "Jennifer Buckingham says "students in failing schools are given the option to attend one that performs better". It seems we are talking only about densely populated areas. What happens in country towns with only one state school if the school is classified as "failing"? Will the whole school be bussed to a neighbouring town? Then will the teachers from the "failing" school - which must be closed - all have to transfer to this school?"
      
      Jan Kent, Farmborough Heights
      
      
      
    • "Jennifer Buckingham's implicit assertion that our schools' problems can be measured accurately and resolved by comparing HSC results demonstrates a woefully inadequate understanding of the responsibilities teachers have to the overall growth, nurturing and development of children. That 12 years at school can be reduced to a set of exams at the end is simplistic and insulting.
      
      "You want to find out how to improve education? Go ask the professionals. There are plenty of us."
      
      Geoff Eagar, Toowoon Bay
      
      
      
    • "Does Jennifer Buckingham think the most responsible parents are those who want to "compare the achievements" of schools, with the ultimate aim of shopping around to find the one that will deliver the most for their child?
      
      "There is nothing wrong with wanting a good education for your child, but in a fragmented society like ours that is so dominated by self-interest, perhaps we need to recognise the virtue of families being committed to their local school. The creeping marketisation of education seems to have elevated the ethos of "choice" well above an ethos of fairness for all and a commitment to community."

      Lisa Watts, Randwick
      
      

Saturday – Sunday, 22 – 23 November

• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Education is a global currency
    Excerpt from Ruper Murdoch's Boyer Lecture
    
    The division between the haves and have-nots is now about skills and knowledge, not wealth, says Rupert Murdoch.
    
    "In the new economy, the people that companies are craving - and are willing to pay for - are people who add value to their enterprises. That means people with talent and skills and judgment.
    
    "Talent and skills and judgment are part of what economists call human capital. Human capital is a broad term. It includes formal skills; for example, a degree in computer science or the ability to speak a foreign language. But human capital is much more than this. It also includes things such as good work habits, the judgment that comes from experience, a sense of creativity, a curiosity about the world and the ability to think for oneself. Free societies succeed because the people who have these skills are free to use them to advance themselves, their enterprises and society.
    
    "It's true that some people manage to develop these skills on their own. For the most part, these people are highly driven self-starters. They exist in every society. And they are also very rare.
    
    "For every Steve Jobs who drops out of college and founds a company such as Apple, for every Jim Clark who leaves high school and starts up Netscape, for every Peter Allen who drops out and becomes a successful entertainer, there are tens of thousands of others for whom leaving school early means shutting the door forever on opportunity, and permanent condemnation to an underclass.
    
    "For most of us, the best path to success is through an education that will allow us to fulfil our potential. That begins by setting high expectations, adhering to real standards and ensuring that when you do leave school, you leave with the tools that will help you get ahead in life.
    
    "These tools begin with the basics of any education: the ability to read and write, to add, subtract, multiply and divide, and to use these basics to acquire other, more advanced skills..."
    
    "That leads me to my second point: what we ought to do about it.
    
    "Most of you are well aware of the public debate about education. And you will be well aware that there is a whole industry of pedagogues devoted to explaining why some schools and some students are failing. Some say classrooms are too large. Others complain that not enough public funding is devoted to this or that program. Still others will tell you that the students who come from certain backgrounds just can't learn.
    
    "The bad schools do not pay for these fundamental failings. Their students pay the price because they are the victims when our schools fail. And the more people we graduate without basic skills, the more likely Australian society will pay the price in social dysfunction: in welfare, in health care, in crime. We must help ourselves by holding schools accountable and ensuring that they put students on the right track.
    
    "As a rule, we spend too much time on avoiding failure. The real answer is to start pursuing success. Developing countries seem to understand this. When I travel to places such as India and China, I do not hear people making lame excuses for mediocre schools. Instead of suggesting that their students cannot learn, they set high standards and expect they will be met. And they have crash programs for more and better schools..."
    
    "My point is this: the children of poor people always have fewer options than the elite. That's true whether you live in Sydney or Shanghai or San Francisco.
    
    "For these people, a solid education is the one hope for rising in society and levelling the playing field. If we have any real sense of fairness, we owe these children school systems that hold them to high standards. However tough their schools may be, the world is going to be tougher and less forgiving.
    
    "That is one reason I have two key criteria for education programs that News Corporation supports: schools must be focused on achievement and they cannot make excuses for why some students are supposedly poor scholars. In America, the children whose futures are being sacrificed tend to be those who are stuck in rotten schools in the inner cities. In Australia, by contrast, the children who suffer the most tend to be those in our rural areas and outer suburbs. But whether urban or rural, no government of any decent society should be effectively writing off whole segments of the population by refusing to confront a failing education bureaucracy..."
    
    "Sometimes I think that because we are doing well enough for most people, it's easier to close our eyes to the tens of thousands of children we are betraying. We have too many people who secretly believe the gap between those who are getting an education and those who are not is something that cannot be changed. So they blame the difference on demographics or race or utter inevitability.
    
    "A basic education - and the hope for a better life that it brings - ought to be the first civil right of any decent society."
    
    Edited extract. Rupert Murdoch is chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation, publisher of The Weekend Australian. Hear this Boyer Lecture, titled Fortune Favours the Smart, in full at 5pm tomorrow on ABC Radio National's Big Ideas or at abc.net.au/rn/boyerlectures. All lectures will be published by ABC Books in December.

    Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
    
    

  • Federal-state tensions on rise
    
    The Rudd Government has deferred part of its reform agenda for vocational training as it concentrates on using its depleted surpluses to try to clinch a deal with the states over crucial multi-billion-dollar funding deals on health and education at next Saturday's Council of Australian Governments meeting.
    
    
    • Feature
      Quest to streamline the nation
      
      If Kevin Rudd comes to be seen as a reforming Prime Minister, then it is most likely to be as a result of his pet project to fix the federation. Rudd nominated fundamental reform of the federation, also known as ending the blame game, as one of his priorities on the day he was elected Labor leader almost two years ago. A year into his first term, it is a challenge that looks as daunting as ever...
      
      On top of the base levels of funding, there will be national partnership payments that will pay largely on results such as improved waiting times for elective surgery and in emergency departments, and raising teaching standards. These are at the sharp end of the reforms the commonwealth is pushing, operating as a carrot for states that meet benchmarks and a stick - in the form of payments withheld - to those that do not.
      
      
      
  • Shock drink ads air for schoolies
    
    The first shock images in the federal Government's $20 million assault on binge drinking go to air tomorrow night -- eight months after Kevin Rudd promised to "scare the living daylights" out of complacent young drinkers.
    
    Similar story in The Age
    
    
    
  • Gains in indigenous reform but tough days lie ahead
    
    Kevin Rudd inspired many when he apologised to the Stolen Generations, but as the end of the year approaches some Aborigines have lost faith after the Government refused to soften its approach and wind back radical reforms.
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Truancy hits all-time high
    by Paul Lampathakis, education reporter
    
    "The number of children skipping classes has soared to an all-time high at WA high schools with 717,000 unauthorised half-day absences this year.
    
    "The Education Department confirmed a rise of about 30,000 incidents compared with 2007, even though there were only about 2172 extra secondary students in 2008.
    
    "Department insiders told The Sunday Times that some children had not been to school for more than a year and many had avoided school for months.
    
    "WA Education Minister Liz Constable, and teacher and parent groups said they were seriously concerned about the safety of unsupervised children, possible anti-social behaviour and also students' future prospects if they missed lessons.
    
    "The rise -- which saw nearly 83,000 more half-day absences this year than in 2005 -- comes despite the launch of a pilot program by former education minister Mark McGowan, which had about 100 schools texting parents when their children didn't attend school.
    
    "Department insiders said caseworkers often felt "powerless'' to tackle truancy because they could only pursue cases in which they had a likelihood of success because the process was so costly.
    
    "Aboriginal children in particular "slipped through the cracks'', the sources said.
    
    "Parents often took children on holidays during school time.
    
    "Children sometimes "fell off the list'' when they were supposed to go from primary school to high school.
    
    "I've known of kids to be away from school for more than a year,'' one source said.
    
    "Quite a lot of kids have missed so much school they end up in education support, which is normally for physically or intellectually impaired kids.'' [emphasis added]
    
    "The sources said parents were rarely prosecuted, even though they could be fined up to $1000 because it was illegal not to send children to school.
    
    "WA State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne called on parents to take responsibility for their children's education and attendance.
    
    "She said truancy could exacerbate misbehaviour and missing lessons would hold students back in later life.
    
    "But she also said some students might play truant because they were struggling with lessons, or were not suited to conventional classes.
    
    "Additional targeted programs to improve numeracy and literacy, and alternative programs might help.
    
    "Ms Gisborne also said parents needed more support to improve parenting skills.
    
    "Rob Fry, president of peak parent group the WA Council of State School Organisations, said responsibility for children wagging school sat "squarely'' with parents.
    
    "Mr Fry said more programs were needed to encourage children from differing backgrounds to attend, saying vocational education had succeeded in doing that in the Kimberley education district.
    
    "Dr Constable said she was "very concerned'' about having children "on the streets'' and unsupervised by schools or parents.
    
    "But she said figures had improved in the Albany, Bunbury, Esperance, Kimberley and West Coast education districts.
    
    "However, the Mid-West, Canning, Goldfields, Pilbara, Swan, Fremantle-Peel, Midlands, Narrogin and Warren Blackwood education districts had worsened.
    
    "She said new behaviour- management strategies would soon be announced and she wanted more support for early schooling, where problems started.
    
    "Education Department bureaucrats tried to play down the increase, saying it was "probably'' related to 2008 being the first year when the compulsory leaving age was raised to 17 and the increase of students." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Boost lifts school work
    by Glen Milne
    
    “Teaching standards will be raised across the country.
    
    “The States are set to get an extra $500 million in federal funding next week – but only if they agree to left teaching benchmarks in schools.
    
    “It's understood all states and territories have signed on to the deal, to be unveiled at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra on Saturday.
    
    “A draft copy of the so called National Partnership Agreement, seen by The Sunday Times, specifies that the states will receive $150 million for so called “facilitation” funding.
    
    “There will be an extra $350 million on top of that in “reward funding” for states that reach specified improvements in teacher development.
    
    “The aim of the agreement is for students to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards with the ultimate goal of seeing “Australian students excel by international standards.”
    
    “The agreement sets out to “deliver system-wide reforms targeting critical points in the teacher 'life cycle' to attract, train, place, develop and retain quality teachers and leaders in schools and classrooms.
    
    “The agreement will begin operation in January and run for three years.
    
    “But if states choose to opt out during that period, the commonwealth reserves the right to pursue the program by funding the non-government sector to boost teaching standards. [emphasis added]

    “The draft document says that to get the additional funding the states will have to:

    • Agree to new professional standards for teachers and give added recognition and reward to quality teachers.
    • Develop frameworks to guide continuous professional learning for teachers and school leaders, as well as signing up to a national accreditation system for pre-service education courses.
    • Agree to national consistency in the accreditation and certification of accomplished and leading teachers, with action to improve the cross-border mobility of teachers.

  “The states will also be encouraged through the system of reward payments to create new staffing classifications for high-quality teachers.
  
  “In April, as the agreement was being developed, Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said: We know that one of the single biggest determinants of educational outcomes is the quality of teaching and we want every Australian child to be in a world-class school with a world-class teacher.”
  
  From The Sunday Times
  
  

  • Op Ed
    Too many holes in Rudd Government internet filter
    by Glen Milne
    
    [Note: This item appeared in The Sunday Times newsprint version but is not available on its website. I have lifted the same article from The Sydney Daily Telegraph website.]
    
    "Let me begin by pointing out the link between male impotence and the ongoing development of Internet policy by the Rudd Government.
    
    "Right now Labor is committed to examining the introduction of a mandatory filtering system for all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Australia in order to fulfil an election promise.
    
    "A six-week trial is due to commence before the end of the year.
    
    "The stated aim; to black out illegal content such as child pornography. But this mandatory filter would also apply to "other material'' or "unwanted content''.
    
    "Who would decide what came under the latter two legal categories is unclear.
    
    "If Australia adopts such a system it will be the only Western democratic country in the world to have done so.
    
    "There have been limited small-scale attempts in Britain and Scandinavia, but only on an "opt in'' basis and run voluntarily by local ISPs.
    
    "Which brings us to male impotence. When researchers in the UK examined filters and tapped in the word "socialist'' they were blocked.
    
    "Why? Because "socialist'' also contains the product name
    
    "Cialis'' - an anti-impotence drug, fakes of which are often sold on-line.
    
    "Closer to home former Communications Minister Helen Coonan tells a similar story.
    
    "The Department has its own filter system for obvious reasons. But when the then minister tried to order some strawberry muffins online she also was blocked.
    
    "The filter didn't like the word "muff''. [emphasis added]
    
    "These two examples underline why there's growing opposition to Labor's filter plan; it is simply too draconian and will have far too many unintended consequences, especially when you consider Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is talking about potentially blocking 10,000 or more sites at ISP level.
    
    "While cracking down on child pornography makes a good positive headline for the Government, consider the counter arguments.
    
    "The Australian ISP industry code already has child protection obligations.
    
    "They are obliged to offer customers filters - such as Net Nanny - for use in their homes.
    
    "The take-up rate is only about three per cent - a figure that does not suggest panic levels among parents who believe that supervision is the best regime to embrace.
    
    "To back this, look at the Australian Communications and Media Authority site blacklist which currently stands at 1200 and includes predominantly child porn and ultra violent sites.
    
    "The existing blacklist has been developed as a result of public complaints and ACMA receives only about 70 complaints per month.
    
    "The most worrying impact of this "filter overkill'' is its contradictory impact when it comes to Labor's overall digital policy.
    
    "On the one hand the Government has embarked on a hugely ambitious scheme to introduce a national high-speed broadband service.
    
    "Yet the proposed filter system will pull in the opposite direction, slowing down Internet access.
    
    "The previous Coalition Government conducted lab tests on the effects of Internet speed.
    
    "Those tests found that depending on the filter used, overall Internet degradation would be between 2 per cent and 87 per cent, with generally the more accurate filters being the slowest.
    
    "According to industry sources if mandatory filtering is introduced on the scale Conroy is proposing, Australia will be back to the days of dial-up speeds..." [emphasis added]
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    

    • System fails some
      
      "We support “Welcome path to uni” (your say WA, November 16). We have experienced how easy it is for good students to fall between the cracks.
      
      "After settling in Perth in the early 1970s to further our daughter's education as a veterinary nurse, we were called to her technical college to be informed,” This kid is wasting her time and your money”.
      
      "But in 1977, our daughter was rewarded as top veterinary nurse and represented our state, becoming second best in Australia. She went on to help teach microsurgery to doctors in Royal Perth Hospital and to nursing administration.
      
      "We are proud of our daughter's achievements, but were left with unanswered questions about those empowered to decide who goes forth and the criteria used."
      
      R & A Pass, Upper Swan
      
      

    • Red poppy
      
      "My efforts to buy a Remembrance Day poppy at fuel outlets, newsagents and supermarkets had a negative result. The youngsters at the service counter were confused by my request. This custom will disappear because of the lack of interest in Australian history by our Education Department."
      
      B S Pink, Gosnell
      
      
      

  • Police strike on schoolies
    
    Two dozen disappointed schoolies hoping for an early start to celebrations have been thrown out of Dunsborough. Local accommodation providers had made a deal with police not to take schoolie bookings until today. But some school leavers tried to slip under the police guard. They were rounded up and sent packing.
    
    
    
  • Staff promised $2000 spotter's fee to recruit nurses
    
    WA's biggest private hospital is offering staff a $2000 spotter's fee to help recruit nurses and midwives.
    
    
    
    
• WA Today
  
  
  • Rent relief for Broome bureaucrats
    
    The Shire of Broome is considering subsidising its employees' rent by up to $325 per week [$16,900 per year] because housing costs in the Kimberley tourist town have soared so high.
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Teachers to continue action despite strike ban
    
    The teachers' union says next week's planned rolling stoppages will not go ahead in South Australia, but it is determined to continue its industrial campaign into next year.
    
    
    • Minister defiant as teachers turn to harassment tactics
      
      South Australia's Industrial Relations Minister Paul Caica says he is not intimidated by the education union's new harassment tactics.
      
      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • From music theory to conspiracy theory
    
    Why has the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne lost its funding?
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Justice denied
      
      "The student suffering a lacerated spleen after being kicked by an older boy (The Age, 21/11) deserves justice. The principle apparently thought the appropriate response was to suspend the perpetrator. It is an insult to the victim for her to say "bad behaviour is not tolerated by this school" when the perpetrator has not even been expelled. Who is she kidding?
      
      "People wonder why violence seems to be on the increase in society. Perhaps part of the reason is that children see their idols get away with violence on the football field and then get away with it themselves in the school yard.
      
      "The appropriate reaction to any kind of assault should be to call the police. I don't care if the assailant is a high school student, a footballer, a husband or a priest."
      
      Paul Henry, Murrumbeena
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Tackling a big learning curve [late update: online only]
    
    A new approach to early education is already here and it looks promising, writes Maxine McKew.
    
    "The collapse of ABC Learning has led many in the sector to speculate on the post-ABC world and what it might look like for the 1 million children using approved care.
    
    "The good news is that the future is on its way. In some parts of the country, it has already arrived.
    
    "Child-care centres are becoming early-learning centres, and not before time. It is an approach that removes the false distinction between care and learning. As Professor Frank Oberklaid and Professor Fiona Stanley keep saying, babies come out of the womb ready to learn.
    
    "Our job as policymakers is to ensure young children have access to a calm, stimulating environment run by professionals. We need to start thinking about early learning in the same way we think about our school system. And schools across the country are doing just that, putting maximum thought into the design of buildings and programs for pre-primary children.
    
    "More and more when we think of our local school we will also think of it as a place where our youngsters will be able to spend time with well-trained early-learning educators who will help them develop cognitive, social and behavioural skills..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • St Andrew's head worn out by meddling clergy
    
    The head of one of Sydney's most prestigious Anglican schools has revealed that his decision to quit and take a job in Canberra is due, in part, to the "fatigue" he has experienced while struggling with some key members of the Sydney Anglican diocese.
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Your call is well down our list of priorities
    
    "Your call is important to us" has become one of those automatically suspect phrases, joining "the cheque's in the mail" and "your bank is pleased to announce service improvements"... Clearly a customer's call cannot be important or a computer would not be answering the phone. So why not be honest? "We couldn't care less about you or your call, frankly. Go away." ...
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Language cure in NT schools could be fatal
      
      "It is sad to see Julia Gillard giving public backing to the ill-conceived decision of the Northern Territory Education Minister, Marion Scrymgour, to institute something close to an "English-only" program in the territory's schools that have "two-way" programs using indigenous language as well as English.
      
      "In backing this policy, she is hammering another nail into the coffin of Australian indigenous languages, already recognised as the most endangered languages in the world.
      
      "The bilingual programs in territory schools have had resounding success in supporting these threatened languages. The programs allowed indigenous people who do not have English as a first language to attain great heights academically and professionally on the basis of their own language and culture as well as mainstream language and culture.
      
      "The performance of two-way schools has not been worse than other comparable schools: many English-only schools in indigenous remote communities have performed badly. This does not bode well for the "cure" for educational ills prescribed by Ms Gillard and Ms Scrymgour in bringing even more failed programs into bilingual schools.
      
      "The failures of the education system are real enough but are due to systemic factors in the community and education system - not to people learning in two languages.
      
      "Two-way schools have become scapegoats for educational failures that have different causes. These English-only policy directions follow in the footsteps of recent ideological campaigning to blame indigenous cultures for a range of ills.
      
      "What Ms Gillard says about English being essential in contemporary Australia is not disputed by anyone but this goal can equally - or better - be reached by teaching English in two-way schooling where an indigenous language is the mother tongue.
      
      "The two-way policy safeguards and supports the surviving small number of indigenous languages. The Gillard-Scrymgour policy could be a fatal blow to the languages and mean the rapid loss of a key element of our cultural heritage."
      
      Patrick McConvell, Macquarie (ACT)
      
      
      
      
• BBC News
  
  
  • Teacher guilty of 'incompetence'
    
    A primary school teacher has pled guilty to charges of serious professional incompetence... She now faces being struck off after admitting failing to manage pupil behaviour and plan lessons.

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This page last updated 17 April, 2009 11:03 PM