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Breaking
News: Week of 29 December 2008
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From Monday 15 December 2008 through Sunday 18 January 2009, PLATO's Breaking News coverage is on "Summer Holidays", and will be limited to MAJOR Australian education news items. Major overseas stories will be added if and when time permits. The home page may be updated only once a day, normally in the evening.
We anticipate that full coverage will resume on Monday 19 January 2009.
Saturday – Sunday, 3 – 4 January
- The West Australian
- Test gap wider in high school (page 5)
by Bethany Hiatt
“The performance gap between private and State schools in national tests gets even wider when students reach high school, new official figures reveal.
“A comparison between the number of public school students meeting the minimum standard with the overall WA average – which includes private and State schools – shows that public pupils lag behind by one or two percentage points in Years 3,5 and 7, but by Year 9 the cap widens to as much as 5.5 percentage points.
“Nearly 20 per cent if Year 9s from State schools failed to reach the minimum standard in writing compared with 14.4 per cent of all students, according to recent Department of Education and Training figures.
“And 17.8 per cent of State school Year 9s did not meet the benchmark in punctuation and grammar compared to 12.3 percent of all Year 9s.
“The gap would be significantly wider if the public school average could be compared directly with private schools. But independent and Catholic school chiefs said they could not provide separate figures because they had not been calculated.
“The department said that while more than two-thirds of Year 3 students or 72 per cent, attended public schools, by Year 9 the proportion had dropped to 58 per cent.
“Government schools cater for all students across WA, irrespective of their circumstances, socio-economic background or academic record,” acting school support programs executive director Andrew Thompson said.
“Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said that traditionally, many students who changed from public schools to the private sector made the move at Year 8. The lure of scholarships also allowed private schools to cherry-pick some of the top students.
“But he believed the main reason for students' success was whether parents were interested and involved in their child's education.
“Association of Independent Schools of WA deputy executive director Ron Gorman said the figures showed there was a difference between government and non-government sectors. “Different sectors or schools will be making decisions about how they will address the difference, if that is what the want to do,” he said.
“University of WA education academic David Andrich said it would be worth while doing research that followed individual students.
“If more able students in Year 7 are moving to the private sector on average, then a source of explanation would not be better teaching in the private sector,” he said. “On the other hand, if they were generally of equal ability and then the difference might reflect some better teaching.”
From The West Australian
Table © The West Australian
- The Australian
- Julia Gillard pledges $2.3bn for remote education
by Samantha Maiden, Online political editor
"Julia Gillard has pledged to pump $2.3 billion into improving indigenous education, confessing she was "hit in the guts" by the extent of illiteracy among remote students.
"Promising to slash red tape and allow educators more flexibility to pursue policies that work instead of endless pilot programs "that never end up making a system-wide change", the Acting Prime Minister said yesterday she was determined to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students.
"Ms Gillard said addressing disadvantage was a higher priority for the Rudd Government than an indigenous bill of rights, as proposed by Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson.
"There is a big gap in life expectancy, in educational attainment, between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians," she said.
"That is our focus, not a bill of rights, but practical action to close the gap."
"New accountability measures will force educators to reveal the true extent of literacy and numeracy failure in remote communities and she stressed English must be the dominant teaching medium, not indigenous languages..."
"Ms Gillard said policy-makers in the past had not only failed to empower educators to get on with the job but also to hold them accountable.
"For the first time we are not going to micromanage programs from Canberra; that's been done in the past and often it has ... ended up in small scale pilots which never grew into major national changes," she said.
"We are allowing both non-government and government schools to use the money more flexibly but in an accountability target that means they have to give us the data about how indigenous students are going.
"They have to break that data down showing results for indigenous students. They will be held accountable for the results and we will get the data to measure progress." ...
Full story in The Australian at link
- Foul-mouthed teacher to stay in job
by Milanda Rout
"A primary school teacher accused of swearing at his Year 5 students and allowing them to chase each other around the classroom with a baseball bat has been given the all-clear to continue working with children.
"Victoria's top teaching watchdog has found the man, who is referred to only as RJS, may remain registered as a teacher despite being found guilty of incompetence for failing to adequately supervise students, maintain a safe environment or adequately protect students from harm. It was alleged the male teacher told Victorian Year 5 students, aged about 11, "Don't f..king swear at me" and asked "Why the f..k are you behaving this way in my class and not other people's classes?"
"A disciplinary panel was also told he said to one class, "You are a pack of arseholes"...
Full story in The Australian at link
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Private schools accused of rorting HSC [Lead article]
Up to 30 per cent of students at some elite private schools were given "special consideration" in this year's Higher School Certificate exams, raising questions about whether they gained an unfair advantage. The NSW Board of Studies granted dispensations such as extra time to complete exams, coloured paper, large print and Braille or assistance with handwriting. The claims ranged from students with disabilities and illnesses such as diabetes, to those with unreadable handwriting and sweaty palms.
© The Sydney Morning Herald
- ABC News
- Board of Studies denies HSC provisions 'rort'
The New South Wales Board of Studies has rejected claims that some private schools are rorting the special considerations system for the Higher School Certificate [despite] figures released by the State Government show 25 private schools have more than double the state's average of children receiving provisions at the HSC.
- BBC News
- Lessons 'tougher for male staff'
Schoolchildren are more likely to disrupt lessons if they have a male teacher, a survey suggests.
[Similar stories in most UK media]
- The Guardian
- Strike threatened after teacher is fired for wearing trainers
Teachers are threatening to go on strike at a London secondary school after a colleague was sacked for wearing trainers and tracksuit trousers to work.
- The West Australian
- Op Ed
Teachers befuddled by department's jargon (page 20)
by Zoltan Kovacs
“Jargon is not only an irritant but also can cause trouble: Just ask Keith Brown. He is in a long-running battle with the Department of Education and Training about how it selects teachers for promotion to Level Three status.
“Mr Brown was denied the promotion and blames the jargon used in the selection process. He says he was knocked back once and had another go after but official encouragement to do so, but was denied again. He has retired but continues his battle or more than 10 years for what he believes is his right, earned through a long and highly praised career.
“This column isn't qualified to offer an opinion on whether he is entitled retrospectively to the promotion and has been dudded by the department. However, he makes a compelling case. There is no shortage of people who speak well of him and his work, including highly placed education officials.
“He can produce an impressive list of accomplishments and awards, including the BHP Billiton Australian Science Teachers Award (primary) in 2004 and one of three WA Excellence in Teaching Awards in 2002. He has represented the department at world and Australian conferences on the education of gifted students.
“Mr Brown chose to remain in the classroom rather than seek promotion to administrative jobs. Surely Level Three status is designed to encourage good teachers to stay in the classroom and reward those who do.
“It's hard to shake off the suspicion that something has gone dreadfully wrong here. So let's have a look at the language issue Mr Brown has raised.
“Mr Brown says that by 2005 the Level Three guidelines, riddled with errors, inconsistencies and ambiguities, were found in a department survey to be unintelligible to up to 50 per cent of teachers. Now most reasonable people would assume that this would result in a recommendation for a clarifying rewrite. But here's what the report on the survey came up with: “develop information mechanisms to enhance procedural understandings of the selection process.”
“This seems to have made Mr Brown's point for him. Asked to comment, the department said it was unable to discuss any of Mr Brown's assessments because details of staff were confidential – fair enough.
“However, in 2005, 50 per cent of teachers who responded to a survey asking about the guidelines did so positively and said they gave them the information they need to know about the stages of the selection process,” the department's workforce executive director John Serich said.
“Again, this seems to support Mr Brown's argument: if half the teachers responded “positively”, then the other half didn't and presumably teachers in this group had problems of some sort with the guidelines.
“A 50 percent satisfaction rating on something as important as this to teachers is hardly a result to crow about and would seem to demand something more decisive (and comprehensible) than the “information mechanisms” line. Mr Serich said: “Teachers in general are encouraged to apply and in particular those who are unsuccessful at their first attempt are encouraged to re-apply. The department has run numerous information sessions through district education offices about the Level Three classroom selection process, including the Fremantle district where Mr Brown was located. Many teachers have taken part in these and the feedback has been positive.”
“The following question may seem naïve or picky but in the circumstances it has to be posed. If the guidelines are transparent and readily understood by the teachers for whom they were written, why in heaven's name has the department had to run “numerous information sessions”?
“The department also said in 1055 teachers had achieved Level Three status and that the only complaint it received was from an applicant was from Mr Brown. However, it chose not to respond to another element of Mr Brown's complaint put to it by this column, which, in summary, is that the department should be a model of plain English but befuddles its teachers with incomprehensible jargon.
“That's a pity because it would have been interesting to know the department's view on the sort of language it uses in dealing with staff on professional matters, and how this sits with the wider obligation to ensure that the school system it administers promotes and teaches to students the use of clear, precise language. In other words, do the education bureaucrats believe they have an obligation to set a good example and show leadership on this?
“The language of Level Three documents provided by Mr Brown is – to the layman at least – obscure, stilted and ambiguous. Mr Brown has complained to the Ombudsman's office about all this and continues to seek action from it.
“The Ombudsman's office raised the question of language with the department in a letter in April 2007, though it did not make formal recommendations. It said it would be useful to look at some specific issues raised as a result of its inquiries into Mr Brown's complaint, including improving the clarity and readability of the guidelines. The department has said a review has been finished and the Ombudsman's office has been told of the result, but gave no detail.
“This has become a complex and murky dispute. Mr Brown's next move is to try to arrange a meeting with Education Minister Liz Constable. She is unlikely to interfere in a promotion matter, but has the authority to ask the department to arrange for an independent look at whether the Level Three selection process is equitable and whether Mr Brown had a fair go. The case for such and inquiry looks overwhelming.”
From The West Australian
- Teachers worried over mandatory abuse reports (page 6)
by Dawn Gibson
“The head of the State School Teachers Union has grave concerns about a plan for blanket mandatory reporting of child abuse, saying the Government needed to be careful that it did not force teachers to act as police officers.
“While union president Anne Gisborne did not go as far as urging the State Government to abandon the proposal, she believed teachers had serious reservations about the way sweeping mandatory reporting laws would work.
“New laws requiring teachers, police, nurses and doctors to report suspected cases of child sex abuse will come into effect on January 1.
“Child Protection Minister Robyn McSweeny plans to expand the legislation next year to require these professionals to report all forms of child abuse, including physical abuse and neglect.
“Even though teachers were trained to deal with the new child sex abuse reporting regime at Education Department professional development sessions, Ms Gisborne was concerned some could be overly anxious about their responsibilities.
“The could result in trivial matters being reported as suspected abuse.
“While nobody wanted children to be put in jeopardy, mandatory reporting could create further problems, including the potential for serious cases to be overlooked amid a mass of reports on less pressing incidents.
“I have full confidence that, when teachers may have had concerns in the past, they have been raised with the relevant persons and acted upon,” Ms Gisborne said.
“Mrs McSweeny said the Government had committed $68 million to ensure the seamless introduction of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse and she believed professionals were well prepared for the change.
“The Department for Child Protection has been allocated $43.9 million, with the rest shared between the police, Department of Health, Education Services and the Department of Education and Training.
“Also, 80 new DCP staff were recruited to respond to reports and operate the new service.
“Professionals will have ongoing support, including access to a range of resources such as information packages, online training, workshops, a mandatory reporting website and a 24-hour telephone helpline,” Mrs McSweeny said.
“Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said in June that police did not have the resources to enforce the new laws but Mrs McSweeny said the police service had assured the DCP it was now fully prepared for the change.
“Police received $5.2 million under the funding package. Mr O'Callaghan was unavailable for comment.”
From The West Australian
- The Australian
- Year 12 students in state schools push for exam aid
by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
"The number of students granted special consideration in their Year 12 exams is rising, with the largest increase in those citing medical or learning difficulties coming from government schools.
"While independent schools apply for special provisions at twice the rate of their public counterparts, the number of applications granted to NSW government students last year jumped 10 per cent.
"Overall, about 6.8 per cent of HSC students were granted special provisions, ranging from large print or braille exam papers, extra time, supervised breaks to take medication, or the use of a writer.
"Last year, 6.5 per cent of HSC students received such help, up from 5.9 per cent in 2005.
"The biggest group of students attended independent schools, about 10 per cent of their HSC candidates, compared with 5 per cent of public students and 7 per cent of Catholic students..."
Full story in The Australian at link
Related article in The Sydney Morning Herald [plus eight Letters: more smoke than light, not transcribed]
- $10,000 discount for maths, science degrees under HECS changes [late update: online only]
Degrees in maths and science will be offered at discounts of more than $10,000 under changes taking effect on January 1. The changes will slash the cost of HECS charges for students studying these degrees from $7412 to $4162 a year, substantially reducing the cost of a three-year degree. Graduates who take up primary school teaching positions will be eligible for a refund of about half their HECS-HELP repayments for up to five years. This would amount to an individual benefit of up to $1500 per year for five years.
- Letter to the Editor
- Quadrant Online [December 2008]
- Education
Chairman Rudd's Education Revolution
by Kevin Donnelly
The Rudd Government is committed to creating an education revolution to build a world-class education system, which would establish Australia as one of the most highly educated and skilled nations. This commitment recognises the central role that education plays in the economic and social strength of our nation. Education not only drives productivity but also empowers individuals to reach their full potential, and helps overcome disadvantage.
—Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, Quality Education: The Case for an Education Revolution in Our Schools
"Since being elected in November last year the ALP government has signalled education as a key priority, in terms of both what the government wants to achieve and how it wishes to be judged by the electorate. Given that twelve months have elapsed since the election, it is timely to evaluate Prime Minister Rudd’s so-called education revolution and its impact on schools.
"The first thing to note about education under the ALP government is that its approach to public policy is highly centralised and bureaucratic—all roads lead to Canberra. While the Constitution gives control of school education to state governments and the Commonwealth government neither employs teachers nor owns any schools, since being elected the Rudd–Gillard government has announced a range of policies and initiatives calculated to exert control over state and territory education systems and government and non-government schools. Chief amongst these are:• the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (largely replacing the existing eight state and territory curriculum bodies)• a national curriculum (involving both content and assessment, kindergarten to Year 12 and mandated for government and non-government schools)• a National Partnership on Quality Teaching initiative• a national accountability and performance reporting framework• a National Partnerships Program to address socio-economic disadvantage
• a National Action Plan for Literacy and Numeracy
• a National Schools Assessment and Data Centre
"Once implemented, the above policies will lead to a significant shift in how schools operate, including: what is taught and how it is assessed; teacher training, professional development and registration; how schools and teachers are evaluated and rewarded in terms of performance; and how school funding is decided. The Commonwealth government has also signalled that it will pressure schools, government and non-government, from kindergarten to Year 12, to abide by ALP policy in areas like promoting equity and overcoming disadvantage and promoting a cultural-Left view on issues related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture, the environment, cultural diversity and difference, Asian studies and the class war.
"Given the ALP’s antipathy to non-government schools, it should not surprise that much of the agenda underlying Chairman Rudd’s education revolution is directed at weakening the position of Catholic and independent schools, in terms of both funding and their power to act autonomously and free from government interference and constraint. While nowhere near as obvious or blunt as Mark Latham’s hit list of so-called wealthy private schools, the Rudd–Gillard campaign against non-government schools represents a greater danger, as it is cloaked in the guise of conservative education values and supporting parental choice.
"The Rudd government’s attack on non-government schools is especially misguided, as research suggests one of the most important characteristics of stronger performing education systems is a robust and well resourced non-government school sector. Choice, competition and diversity are key ingredients to educational success. While Kevin Rudd’s education revolution embraces all aspects of education from early childhood to Year 12, from what is taught to how teachers are trained and rewarded, from using computers to making students Asia-literate, the following focuses on the ALP’s plans for the national goals for schooling and Australia’s national curriculum.
Kevin Rudd’s Five-Year Plan
"Evidence that the Rudd government intends to centralise control and to enforce a cultural-Left view of education on Australian schools can be found in the National Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians—Draft (described as a new declaration for a new century) and the associated MCEETYA Action Plan 2008–2012. The two papers detail the ALP’s philosophy and values underpinning education, especially curriculum, and will set the direction for all Australian schools over the next five years. The national educational goals paper replaces the 1999 Adelaide Declaration and will act as a blueprint guiding the work of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA)—the peak body including all of Australia’s education and training ministers.
"The action plan commits governments, schools and school sectors to implementing Kevin Rudd’s education revolution in areas like early childhood education, improving the quality of teaching and school leadership, raising standards, addressing equity issues and making schools and systems more accountable in terms of performance. It should be noted that most of these initiatives are copied from the failed education agenda that Tony Blair forced on British schools.
"Notwithstanding the claims of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard to being educational traditionalists (see “Getting the Schools Back to Basics”, Quadrant, June 2008) the national goals paper embodies a New Age and politically-correct view of education. The preamble, as with much of what currently passes as curriculum policy, repeats clichés about “global integration and interdependence”, “technological change”, “environmental pressures” and the “digital age”—ignored is that education must deal with continuity as well as change and that human nature is the same now as when Greek tragedies were first performed.
"Similar to Australia’s failed politically correct, outcomes-based education model of curriculum (for a description, see “The Dubious Quest for a National Curriculum”, Quadrant, September 2008) the national goals paper argues that education must celebrate diversity and difference, students must become Asia-literate, and all must “respect Indigenous cultures and the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as a valued part of Australia’s heritage and its future”. As with previous attempts to develop a national approach to curriculum, such as the Keating government’s statements and profiles of the mid-1990s, one searches in vain for any mention of Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage or what we owe to the institutions, language and culture inherited from the United Kingdom. Instead of identifying and celebrating those cultural values and beliefs that we hold in common and that ensure stability and peace, schools are told they must teach respect and appreciation for “cultural, social and religious diversity”.
"Julia Gillard, in addition to being Minister for Education is also Minister for Social Inclusion and a member of the Fabian Society, so it should not surprise that the national goals paper emphasises education’s role in overcoming disadvantage. Under the heading “Promoting equity: a foundation for achieving our goals”, schools are told that they must provide an education free from “discrimination based on gender, language, sexual orientation, pregnancy, culture, ethnicity, religion or disability, and differences arising from students’ socioeconomic background or geographic location”. One wonders what the impact of such a policy will be on the enrolment practices and curriculum of schools committed to the Christian faith—no doubt, as a condition of Commonwealth funding, such schools will be made to enrol students from a diverse range of religions and sexual orientations and curriculum will have to adopt a politically correct attitude to diversity and difference, based on the concept of cultural relativism and the belief that all lifestyles are of equal value. [emphasis added]
"A second example of the national educational goals paper enforcing an ideologically driven view of education and disadvantage is the statement that all young Australians have the right to “achieve not only equality of opportunity but also equity of outcomes”. Equality of opportunity has long been accepted as one of the cornerstones of Australian education; where the national goals paper goes further is to argue that education must engineer a situation where all students and groups of students, regardless of ability, interest or motivation, achieve the same equitable outcomes. It should not surprise that Julia Gillard’s call for equity of outcomes mirrors the call of the one-time Victorian Minister for Education, Joan Kirner, for equality of outcomes. Like Joan Kirner, Julia Gillard is a prominent member of the Socialist Left faction of the Victorian ALP.
"Given that the Rudd government has stated that one of the indicators of school performance will be the extent to which schools overcome socio-economic disadvantage, it should also not surprise if, in the future, funding is diverted from so-called privileged non-government schools to government schools serving disadvantaged communities, on the assumption that such government schools are in greater need and, according to critics of non-government schools, better able to foster increased equity and social cohesion.
"The MCEETYA Action Plan 2008–2012 also represents a highly centralised and bureaucratic form of Commonwealth control over education. Much like the grandiose and ambitious plans characteristic of Communist Russia and Maoist China, the plan boldly proclaims that governments and bureaucracies have the solution to Australia’s educational problems and that all schools, parents and students need to do is to commit to the government-inspired action plan and all will be solved. Again and again, throughout the document, the statement is made that all school sectors must commit themselves to the various government-inspired and mandated proposals and initiatives.
"The Rudd government’s thirst for micro-management is best illustrated by its plans to improve teacher quality. Under the heading of “Improving the quality of teaching and school leadership”, the government signals that it will push for nationally agreed teacher standards, registration, professional development, performance pay and accreditation of accomplished and leading teachers. Given that the reforms, in all likelihood, will be managed by Australia’s education establishment, represented by the very bureaucracies, subject associations, schools of education and assorted fellow travellers responsible for recent failures like “outcomes-based education”, the chances of anything improving are minimal.
"Notwithstanding ALP state and federal governments’ rhetoric about a back-to-basics approach to curriculum, it is obvious that the national action plan adopts a progressive and New Age approach (like the much condemned outcomes-based-education model). When describing what needs to be done to strengthen the middle years of schooling it says, “The middle years of schooling require a distinctive and developmentally appropriate educational program to meet young adolescents’ cognitive, physical, emotional and social needs …”. The characteristics listed include giving students control over learning, adopting a pedagogy best suited to middle-year students and structuring a curriculum, in relation to students, that is relevant to “meaningful life events, experiences and questions that are of concern to them”. Once again, the content of important subjects is subservient to the world of the student.
"One of the great strengths of Australia’s non-government school sector is that it embraces a range of schools reflecting diverse educational philosophies, including Montessori, Steiner, various faith schools and more traditional schools that embrace a competitive, academic approach to the curriculum. If the national goals and action plan are forced on all schools, such diversity will be lost as schools committed to a discipline-based, teacher-directed pedagogy will be forced to make the curriculum student-centred and immediately contemporary and relevant. In addition, those non-government schools that are judged as failing to meet ALP governments’ views about equity and overcoming disadvantage will also lose funding. [emphasis added]
"Evidence of increased government control and antipathy to non-government schools is also illustrated by the approach taken to what is termed “increasing accountability and transparency”. While all schools, especially non-government, currently collect and make public information related to a number of indicators, including results in state and national literacy and numeracy tests, post-school destinations for students, staff morale, curriculum focus and financial and enrolment details, the Commonwealth government’s approach represents a significant escalation.
"Schools and sectors will be made to collect data to establish the degree to which they have implemented government policy, each Australian child is to have a “unique student identifier” to track his or her performance during the compulsory years and beyond, and schools must agree to make public information related to their “philosophy and approach to supporting [students’] intellectual, physical, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development and wellbeing”. The data collected by the Commonwealth government will be used to direct resources—a code for gathering information to justify reducing funding to supposedly privileged non-government schools in favour of government schools serving disadvantaged communities. In fact, compared with many other OECD countries, Australia’s education system is already highly successful in overcoming disadvantage.
Outcomes-Based Education Revisited
"Australia currently has eight separate models of school curriculum. While there are common characteristics, they reflect state and territory differences and variations. As demonstrated by the last twenty years or so of curriculum development, in diversity and local control there is strength as, generally speaking, it is impossible to force all schools and systems to adopt a centrally determined one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum. While the then Keating Commonwealth government sought to impose its national statements and profiles on schools, Victoria and New South Wales, given their autonomy, were able to escape the worst excesses of what is now generally agreed to have been a dumbed-down and politically-correct approach to curriculum. Such freedom and flexibility are now under threat.
"The Commonwealth government has established an interim National Curriculum Board to develop a curriculum, initially in English, mathematics, science and history, to be ready for implementation at the start of 2011. All states and territories will be made to implement the Rudd government’s national curriculum (from kindergarten to Year 12) as will Catholic and independent schools. (As part of the Schools Assistance Bill 2008 tabled in late October in the Commonwealth parliament, non-government schools will lose their funding if they refuse to teach this national curriculum.) Not only will implementation of the national curriculum be a condition of funding, in addition, all schools will be monitored and publicly evaluated in terms of how successful they are at achieving the performance standards associated with the national curriculum.
"The Rudd government has given the task of developing Australia’s national curriculum to the same cultural-Left education establishment and educrats responsible for the last mess. The Chair of the National Curriculum Board, Barry McGaw, is a close friend of the ALP, having completed a number of projects for previous ALP governments in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and organised the launch of Kevin Rudd’s education policy at the University of Melbourne in the lead-up to the last federal election. Professor McGaw is also an advocate of absorbing Catholic and independent schools into the state system of education on the basis, supposedly, that non-government schools promote social instability and reinforce educational disadvantage. The Deputy Chair, Tony Mackay, for some years has worked with the London-based left-of-centre think-tank favoured by Tony Blair, Demos, and supported Australia’s adoption of outcomes-based education. Tony Mackay is also head of the Australian Curriculum Studies Association, a professional group that argues there is no crisis in education and that complaints about falling standards are a media beat-up orchestrated by conservative commentators and newspaper editors eager to improve circulation. [emphasis added]
"Evidence that the process has been captured by the cultural-Left can be found on examining who is leading the development of the subjects due to be implemented at the start of 2011. The ex-communist and apologist for a black-armband view of history, Stuart Macintyre, is in charge of the history curriculum. With English, the lead academic, Peter Freebody, is a well-known advocate of critical literacy, where students are taught to deconstruct (analyse) texts in terms of power relationships and the rights of victim groups. The prospects for science are no better, as the academic in charge, Denis Goodrum, advocates a progressive and New Age approach to the subject, one that devalues essential content and formal teaching, and argues that education must be made entertaining and immediately accessible and relevant.
"The background paper setting the context in which the national curriculum will be developed is titled The Shape of the National Curriculum: A Proposal for Discussion. Much of the paper contains extracts from the National Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians—Draft, previously discussed. Much like Australia’s outcomes-based-education (OBE) curriculum (otherwise know as Essential Learnings), the national curriculum paper undervalues the more academic, discipline-based approach by arguing that schools must teach competencies and skills associated with what are described as general capabilities. [emphasis added] In a re-run of the failed Mayer Competencies developed during the early 1990s (fortunately, that had minimal impact on schools) the paper argues that generic capabilities will be embedded in the English, mathematics, science and history curricula developed for schools. The paper also argues in favour of a number of cross-curricula perspectives that have a decidedly politically-correct flavour, including cultural sensitivity, sustainable living, developing an Asia-Pacific perspective, and respect for other cultures.
"One of the weakest aspects of OBE relates to assessment and reporting. Valuing self-esteem is more important than telling students they may have failed; high-risk, summative testing is replaced by continual diagnostic assessment, and students are no longer ranked one against the other or against norm-referenced standards. Running a marathon race provides an example; under the more traditional format contestants would be ranked first to last with the top performers rewarded. Under OBE, where the criterion for success might simply be finishing the course, regardless of the time taken or the placing, all would be winners.
"In all probability, the new national curriculum will continue an OBE approach. When describing the achievement standards associated with the national curriculum (defined as the quality of achievement that is expected), for example, the paper suggests assessment has three functions: establishing the quality of learning that students are expected to achieve, providing a language teachers can use to discuss assessment with students and parents, and assisting in identifying under-performing students. Ignored is the need to have an assessment system to rank students in terms of achievement and to provide a competitive ethos in which top performers are recognised and rewarded. [emphasis added]
"In addition to the background paper, specific papers related to English, mathematics, science and history have also been released. The papers provide further evidence of the danger in imposing a national curriculum. While cloaked in a back-to-basics, traditional approach (recognising the need to teach grammar and phonics), the English paper is flawed and ideologically driven. Mirroring the ALP government’s worldview, the paper suggests that Australian society is “pluralistic and changing”, characterised by “diversity and dynamism” and that a major function of education is to promote equity (especially related to socio-economic and indigenous status). Once again, change is emphasised over continuity and what the nation holds in common is ignored in favour of diversity and difference.
"The paper undermines a commitment to literature by adopting an expanded definition that includes multi-modal and digital texts as well as images and non-print texts. Critical literacy is still present, as is the influence of theory, as illustrated by how literary studies is now taught at the tertiary level. The paper does acknowledge the need to teach grammar, but it fails to clarify whether the model adopted will be a traditional one or the more politically-correct model represented by a functional linguistics approach. Many readers will remember being taught traditional grammar—including parts of speech and how to write grammatically correct sentences, along with correct punctuation. Much like critical literacy, functional grammar is all about analysing language in terms of power relationships. Nouns are renamed as “participants”, verbs are described as “process” and adverbial clauses and phrases are changed to “circumstances”. Such is the confusing and arcane nature of the terminology associated with functional grammar that Bob Carr, when New South Wales Premier, had it banished from the state curriculum.
"The science paper is also flawed. It argues against teaching essential knowledge and facts by suggesting that education must be made contemporary and relevant to students’ interests. As with OBE, entertainment replaces learning as teachers are told they must centre science teaching on controversial issues related to everyday experiences and so-called real-life situations. Memorisation and formal, competitive testing are also out the window as teachers are told that assessment must be diagnostic and formative. The more traditional subject-based approach, described as a “content-based summative approach”, is frowned upon and the paper argues that “a knowledge-laden curriculum” leads to a superficial understanding of the discipline. Ignored is the impact of state and territory classrooms being forced to adopt an OBE approach, an approach that has led to falling standards as evidenced by remedial classes at the tertiary level and academics having to water down first-year subjects in mathematics, physics and chemistry. [emphasis added]
"On being interviewed by the Australian when the history paper was released, Stuart Macintyre boasted that the approach taken was balanced and free from bias—he even went as far as challenging critics to find evidence that the view of history teaching presented was in any way ideologically driven. On first reading the history paper, compared to how history was dealt with under the banner of the OBE-inspired Studies of Society and the Environment, one can detect a more traditional flavour. The paper argues that history, as a distinct discipline, should have a strong narrative focus and that students should be taught facts, dates and the importance of significant historical figures. There is an acknowledgment that Australia has inherited many of its institutions and cultural practices from Western Europe and that religion is an important aspect of the subject.
"Balanced against such positives, under the heading “History for the twenty-first century”, is the list of historical influences on Australia’s development as a nation. The list includes the usual cultural-Left touchstones, including celebrating multicultural diversity, the need to value Aboriginal culture and adopt an Asia-Pacific perspective, concern about the environment and the need to embrace information and communication technology (ICT). When detailing what will be taught in junior secondary school in Australian history, chief among the areas covered include “immigration, women’s rights, the Vietnam War, Indigenous rights and contemporary political history”—no doubt all interpreted from a Left perspective.
"The Member for Warringah, Tony Abbott, pointed out that one searches in vain for any mention of what we owe to British institutions and cultural practices or the central role Christianity has played in the evolution of Western civilisation. Unlike Zhou Enlai who, on being asked the significance of the French Revolution, reportedly answered it was too early to tell, the history paper gives the subject a decidedly contemporary focus when it states that it “stretches from the distant past to the present”. That the subject is in danger of being watered down is also evidenced by the call to embrace cross-curricula perspectives such as literacy, numeracy, ICT, languages and Asian studies, the arts, as well as civics and citizenship. Clearly, the history paper is weighted towards a cultural-Left view of the subject, but whether the syllabuses written next year will make the situation more biased, only time will tell.
The British Experience
"Much of Kevin Rudd’s education revolution is copied from Tony Blair’s education agenda—everything from early childhood education, to a national curriculum, to making information about school performance public and efforts to improve teacher quality. That Australia is copying the British experience should not surprise. In opposition Kevin Rudd fashioned his renewal of the ALP on Blair’s success with New Labour. A senior Labour Minister, David Miliband, visited Australia before the election and counselled Rudd and other senior members of the ALP about the best way to gain electoral success. In education, the contacts between Australia and Britain are strong. The ex-Director of the New South Wales Education Department, Ken Boston, has for some time been head of the London-based Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, while Tony Mackay, Vice-Chairman of Australia’s National Curriculum Authority and President of the Australian Curriculum Studies Association, is close to the leftist think-tank Demos. Tom Bentley, a past Director of Demos, has worked at the senior policy level in Victoria, in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and is now a senior adviser to Julia Gillard.
"The grim news for Australian schools is the mounting evidence that Blair’s education revolution has failed. Investment in early childhood education, instead of helping the disadvantaged, benefits the middle class. Teachers are still demoralised and it is impossible to staff schools in difficult areas. National testing and intrusive accountability measures have drowned schools and teachers in bureaucracy and led to a narrow curriculum. Examinations like the A Levels have been watered down and made easier to pass, and many independent schools have organised to introduce their own senior school certificate. Performance in most international tests has failed to improve, and educational disadvantage appears more entrenched than ever.
Competition, Diversity and Choice
But being pro-market, pro-business and pro-globalisation means working for a society where citizens are not dependent on the government … And it means smaller government and an end to the paternalism that nourishes political correctness, promotes government interference and undermines freedom and personal responsibility.
—Rupert Murdoch, 2008 ABC Boyer Lectures
"In opposition to Kevin Rudd’s centralised, bureaucratic and micromanaged education revolution is a view of education that supports competition, diversity and choice. Australia’s education system, compared to most other OECD countries, provides parents and students with a good deal of flexibility and choice among schools. Evidenced by the growth in the non-government system over the last twenty years, the freedom to choose Catholic and independent schools is especially valued by parents and students.
"Based on the 2007 ABS figures, between 1997 and 2007 the number of students attending non-government schools grew by 21.9 per cent, while the rise in government school students was 1.7 per cent. Across Australia just over 30 per cent of students attend non-government schools, with the figure in some states rising to over 40 per cent at Years 11 and 12. Unlike state schools, which are highly regulated and controlled by government, non-government schools are free to respond to the market and have autonomy over key areas like staffing, school culture, curriculum focus and how best to meets the needs and aspirations of their school communities.
"Studies carried out by the German researcher Ludger Woessmann, identifying the characteristics of stronger performing education systems as measured by international tests, single out school autonomy and a robust and properly resourced non-government school sector as key indicators. While acknowledging the need for accountability (such as external, competitive examinations where school performance can be measured), Woessmann in a number of studies emphasises the need for choice, competition, decentralisation and autonomy: “The bottom line of the evidence from international achievement tests on competition from private schools is that students perform better in countries where more schools are privately managed.” Woessmann refers to US research into the impact of initiatives like vouchers and charter schools that concludes that children from disadvantaged communities especially benefit from school choice. While teacher unions argue that all schools need in order to raise standards is increased funding, Woessmann argues that additional investment, by itself, is not the solution. Closer to home, of interest is that one of the background papers to the 2008 Commonwealth budget (“Statement 4: Boosting Australia’s Productive Capacity: The Role of Infrastructure and Skills”) concludes that parental choice in education and school autonomy are significant factors in raising standards.
"The benefits of school autonomy are especially evident in the recent experience of school reform in Sweden and the Netherlands. In the early 1990s, the state-controlled Swedish education system was deregulated and since that time there has been a dramatic increase in the number of non-government schools—rising from 107 in 1992 to 576 in 2004. The number of students attending Swedish non-government schools has increased from 1 per cent of the school population to 7 per cent. David Cameron, the leader of the British Conservative Party, recently announced that school choice would be a significant plank in the party’s policy platform. Such is the failure of many of the state-sponsored initiatives introduced during the Blair years that the debate in Britain now centres on how best to free schools from government regulation and control and to open schools up to market forces.
"School choice is not restricted to affluent countries. As noted by the British academic James Tooley, school choice is increasingly popular in Third World countries:
“research, both from India and from other developing countries, suggests that private education in general is more effective (at least in terms of student achievement in key subjects), even when controlled for socio-economic class and the background variable of students.”
"Kevin Rudd is proud of his ability to speak Mandarin and to empathise with the Middle Kingdom. Based on the Commonwealth government’s plan to centralise control and micromanage state and territory education departments, sectors and schools, it should be obvious that speaking Mandarin is not the only thing Rudd has taken from his years working in China.
Dr Kevin Donnelly is a freelance education writer and the Director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies. His most recent book, Dumbing Down, is published by Hardie Grant.
From Quadrant Online at link [Note: The author posted the article in full on the PLATO Forum, giving us implied permission to transcribe it here.]
For a printer-friendly version, use this link
- BBC News
- Downturn 'boosts teacher numbers'
There has been a huge increase in the number of people interested in becoming teachers since the start of the so-called credit crunch.
- The Washington Post
- Downturn Puts Strain On School Boundaries
As the economic outlook grows increasingly bleak, school systems in the Washington region are delaying construction and even considering shuttering schools, moves that could force wide-scale shuffling of students among campuses and disrupt deep connections that students and families have to neighborhood schools.
- The Australian
- Discounts on maths and science uni courses [fleshed out from yesterday's online-only update]
by Samantha Maiden, Online political editor
"Discounts of up to $10,000 will be offered on maths and science university courses from January 1 in a bid to attract students.
"The reform is one of a raft of changes the Rudd Government will introduce from tomorrow covering the law, welfare and fares.
"They include a new means test for the baby bonus that will limit eligibility to couples who earn a combined $75,000 or less in the six months after the baby is born.
"For the first time, same sex couples will be able to claim a range of welfare entitlements, including the couples rate of the Medicare safety net, which qualifies families for a reduction in out-of-pocket medical costs.
"From January 1, the Rudd Government will move to implement its longstanding election pledge to abolish full-fee degrees in Australia, blowing a multi-million-dollar hole in the budgets of many cash-strapped universities. The discount degree plan will slash the cost of HECS charges for students studying in maths and science from $7412 to $4162 a year.
"Graduates who take up primary-school teaching positions will be eligible for a refund of about half on their HECS-HELP repayments for up to five years. This would amount to an individual benefit of up to $1500 a year for five years. Students who study maths and science and go on to become primary-school teachers could secure further reductions, halving the cost of the degrees.
"The HECS policy changes are designed to encourage more students to study maths and science, but some academics argue that such discounts do not shift student choices.
"University of Western Sydney vice-chancellor Janice Reid said: "Any reduction in HECS is to be celebrated. But the experience we have is that the interest in science and maths education really starts at school.
"So I think any efforts to lift enrolments has to be complemented by outreach into schools."
"ANU vice-chancellor Ian Chubb said giving discounts on the degrees was a positive move. "Anything that makes science degrees more popular is a good thing; we need more scientists," he said. "But whether it will work, that's always a question you can only answer when you try it."
"Most students do not pay HECS upfront. Rather, they delay payments until they graduate and repay their debts through extra tax payments.
"The full-fee degree scheme allows students whose marks failed to get them a place in their preferred course to gain access by paying full fees, which total more than $200,000 a year for some medicine courses.
"To compensate universities for the abolition of these places, the Rudd Government will provide funding for 11,000 new university places in areas of national priority.
"Wayne Swan said the changes represented a strong reform agenda.
"All year we've been on about building a more modern, competitive economy and making things fairer for families, pensioners and carers," the Treasurer said.
"From tomorrow, important building blocks are being laid for that."
From The Australian at link
- The Guardian
- Credit crunch brings switch from private to public sector jobs
by Anthea Lipsett
• Finance workers among those seeking security
• Teaching, civil service and charities likely to benefit
"Private sector professionals are flocking to once-unfashionable public service jobs perceived to offer status, security and solid pensions during the economic downturn, new figures suggest.
"Increasing numbers of commercial sector employees are considering changing to jobs in teaching, charities and the civil service that offer the chance to "give something back". England's Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) has reported a 40% increase in recruitment inquiries to its website since the credit crunch began in March, a rise of six percentage points since September.
"The TDA puts the increased interest, particularly among finance professionals, down to the tough economic climate. Its figures show the TDA has beaten its overall recruitment target by 2% and the number of people eligible to teach maths is up 25% on the same period last year..."
Full story in The Guardian at link
- The Age
- Disabled student takes state to court
A Victorian teenager with multiple disabilities is suing the Education Department for discrimination, claiming it failed to provide him with a full-time education.
- Unis lobby for fully funded research
Universities are launching a campaign to convince the Rudd Government to fully fund world-class research in next year's budget despite the shrinking surplus.
- PLATO's New Year's Resolutions
- The Canberra Times
- Op Ed
Choice would bring a true education revolution
by Kevin Donnelly
"On being elected as leader of the then Opposition in 2006, and now as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has signalled education as a key policy issue. Mirroring then British prime minister Tony Blair's cry of education, education, education, Rudd and Julia Gillard define their Government's success in terms of overcoming disadvantage, raising standards and making Australia's education system more internationally competitive.
"Over the past 12 months state and federal Labor-dominated governments, both through the Council of Australian Governments and the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, have launched a raft of policy initiatives and funding agreements.
"The list includes computers and trade centres for schools, a national curriculum, teacher accreditation and performance pay, school accountability, National Partnership programs in literacy and numeracy, and overcoming disadvantage and funding agreements for government and non-government schools.
"The first point to be made about Rudd's revolution is that while the rhetoric sounds good employing, as it does, conservative slogans such as accountability, academic rigour, school choice and back to basics implementation has failed.
"The cost of Rudd's election promise to deliver a computer to every senior school student has blown out by millions of dollars and the difficulties surrounding building, staffing and developing a curriculum for trade centres have quickly become apparent.
"A second observation is that all roads lead to Canberra. Even though the Federal Government neither employs teachers nor owns schools, policy is highly centralised, top-down and bureaucratic.
"Beginning in 2009, all schools will have to deal with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority; a National Schools Assessment and Data Centre; a national accountability and performance reporting framework; a National Partnerships program; a national curriculum (involving content and performance standards) and a National Partnership on Quality Teaching.
"It's true that the Howard government tied initiatives such as A-E reporting and school flags to funding, but the Rudd Government has taken compulsory micromanagement to an even more intrusive and burdensome level.
"Currently, Australian schools are free to implement a state-mandated curriculum or its equivalent. Under a Rudd regime all schools, government and non-government, will be forced to implement the yet-to-be-devised national curriculum, kindergarten to Year 12.
"True, there will be some degree of flexibility in terms of teaching styles and shaping what is taught to local needs but, as a condition of funding, all schools will be made to teach a centrally prescribed curriculum, no matter how substandard or flawed.
"Schools and teachers have every reason to be suspicious. Not only do the background and framing papers adopt a new-age and politically correct approach, but the curriculum development process has been captured by the very individuals and associations responsible for Australia's dumbed down outcomes-based education model of curriculum.
"As a result of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and related MCEETYA Action Plan 2009-2012, schools will also have to comply with ALP-inspired policies related to overcoming disadvantage and to teach environmental, indigenous, multicultural and gender issues from a cultural-left perspective.
"To achieve this, the Melbourne Declaration states that schools must provide schooling that is free from discrimination based on gender, language, sexual orientation, pregnancy, culture, ethnicity, religion or disability, and differences arising from students' socio-economic background or geographical location.
"No doubt, as a condition of government funding, Catholic and independent schools will be pressured to adjust their enrolment procedures and curriculum to reflect the ALP's commitment to equity, social justice and acceptance of diversity.
"Based on a call for increased accountability and transparency, all schools will also be forced to make public details related to finances, management, enrolment, staffing and educational philosophy and learning outcomes.
"In addition to compliance cost, given the campaign against non-government schools being orchestrated by the Australian Education Union and Andrew Blair, the president of the Australian Secondary Principals Association, the likelihood is that such information will be used to reduce funding.
"Rudd portrays himself as a staunch defender of parents' right to choose Catholic and independent schools. In one interview he even said that if parents were not happy with a school they should vote with their feet.
"The test of the ALP's new-won commitment to choice will be the Government's position on the 2009 review of the Howard government-inspired approach to funding non-government schools, the socioeconomic status (SES) formula.
"Over the past 12 months the Fairfax press, via The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has a run a series of articles attacking the SES formula. Critics argue that non-government schools are over-funded and that the formula is inequitable and flawed.
"Ignored is that one of the success stories of Australia's education system is the presence of a robust and diverse non-government school sector, especially in the ACT, where 42 per cent of students attend Catholic and independent schools.
"Research suggests that non-government schools, based as they are on promoting competition, choice and diversity in education, not only best meet the needs and expectations of parents, but also achieve strong academic results.
"Instead of Labor's empty rhetoric about accountability and raising standards, a real education revolution would involve freeing all schools, government and non-government, from provider capture.
"Following the example of city academies in England and charter schools in the US, the policy should be one of giving schools the autonomy and flexibility to manage themselves and to best meet the demands of their communities.
"If Rudd and Gillard are genuinely concerned about overcoming educational disadvantage, in addition to schools being made autonomous, vouchers or tax credits for school fees should be introduced.
"Australia already has a de facto voucher system, where government funding follows the child to whatever non-government school is attended. On the grounds of equity and social justice, it makes sense if more parents are in a financial position to choose such schools."Dr Kevin Donnelly is director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and author of Dumbing Down.
From The Canberra Times at link
- The Australian
- Editorial
Rudd revolution should start today
In 2009, the Prime Minister must implement real reform
The easy option for Mr Rudd in 2009 will be to act only in the context of an emerging crisis, to explain that every spending decision is essential to protect jobs and to bundle politically driven proposals with sensible policies in the hope that nobody will notice the difference.... [But] Education Minister Julia Gillard has already shown how it can be done in the way she is pushing state ministers to accept that accountability is essential in education.
- Gillard hails training places
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard has claimed 700,000 new government-funded training places should help cushion the effects of rising unemployment, but has come under Opposition pressure to show where real jobs are being created.
- Letters to the Editor
- Poor educational standards
"Julia Gillard’s statement ("Gillard’s $2.3bn for remote education”, 29/12) of surprise about how the poor educational standards among indigenous children felt to her like a “hit in the guts” shows how far our political leaders are removed from the grim realities and disadvantages of life in remote Aboriginal Australia. One can only hope that the proposed funding will be used prudently and effectively."
Michael Gracey, Wembley, WA
- "Julia Gillard’s $2.3billion pledge to improve Aboriginal literacy is commendable but how does she plan to reduce truancy rates to make the program meaningful?"
David Crommelin, Strathfield, NSW
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Minister to rethink HSC special provisions
The NSW Minister for Education will meet high school principals and the Board of Studies in the new year to consider reviewing contentious special provisions for Higher School Certificate students.
- The Australian
- WA 'not ready' for child sex reporting
Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse has come into force in Western Australia amid warnings that the child protection department is not prepared and there could be a repeat of the experience in NSW, where the system was swamped with reports.
- Grin and bear it: private schools lift fees
The cost of a private school education will soar this year, with some of the nation's top schools increasing their tuition fees at a time when household budgets are tightening. Despite receiving $28 billion from the federal Government over the next four years, private schools are raising their fees by an average of 7 to 8 per cent, andby as much as 14 per cent in some cases. The most expensive school in the nation is Geelong Grammar in Victoria, which this year will charge parents almost $29,000 for a Year 12 student.
Very similar story [but with some WA examples] in The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
- The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
- State 'not ready' for child sex reporting [again, adapted from The Australian article]
Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse has come into force in WA amid warnings that the child protection department is not prepared.
- The Age
- More money promised for uni research
A 10-year plan to strengthen innovation and university research will be launched by the Federal Government this year despite the worsening economic crisis.
Saturday – Sunday, 3 – 4 January
- The Sunday Times
- Brendon Grylls calls for country education upgrade
by Anthony Deceglie
"Nationals leader Brendon Grylls says poor education is the biggest issue facing regional WA as TEE results reveal a disturbing gap between country and city.
"Vowing to fix the inequalities, Mr Grylls said the time for finger pointing was over and pledged to use hundreds of millions of dollars from the Royalties for Regions scheme to better serve country students.
"Not a single student from a country high school featured in the top 40 TEE students for 2008, for which general exhibitions are awarded based on the average of five scaled TEE marks.
"Country students made up just 8 per cent of the 531 Year 12 students awarded a Certificate of Excellence.
"This was despite regional students making up almost a quarter of all Year 12 students.
"The certificates are given to students who achieve at least 10 "A'' grades in their final two years of high school in year-long subjects or courses.
"Mr Grylls said some country schools and teachers were set up to fail because of an "ingrained, inbuilt systemic problem'' concerning a lack of funding and resources.
"Mr Grylls promised parents he would urgently meet with Premier Colin Barnett and Education Minister Liz Constable to push for reforms to improve country schooling.
"Eight out of 10 times the reason someone packs up in the country and moves to the metropolitan area is because of education,'' Mr Grylls said.
"Parents with kids in Years 2 and 3 are starting to think about this.
"When mum and dad put their head on their pillows at night they are thinking five years in advance about where their education will take their kids. [emphasis added]"I know so many professional families that will only do time in the bush until their kids get to high school.''
"From 2003-07, there was an average of two students from country schools in the top 40 TEE students.
"But this is the second year in a row that country schools have failed to deliver even one top-40 TEE student.
"In 2007, country students made up 11 per cent of the Certificate of Excellence winners.
"The TEE figures also paint a bleak picture of the education system's success in getting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to enter university.
"Out of the 11,902 students sitting the required four or more TEE exams needed to qualify for university in 2008, only 52 – 0.5 per cent – were indigenous.
"Perhaps more shockingly, of the 1734 indigenous students who started high school in 2004, only 30 per cent graduated in Year 12 last year.
"In 2004, the number of indigenous students entering Year 8 accounted for 6 per cent of all students.
"Indigenous Affairs Minister Kim Hames said the figures were alarming.
"He said graduation for many indigenous students should be tied to a guaranteed job.
"The school system also had to do more to appreciate indigenous cultural differences, Dr Hames said.
"Country schools also had a dismal showing in the 2008 Subject Exhibition awards, topping only five of the 55 subjects.
"Mr Grylls said a lack of quality country teachers was a major concern.
"I have got schools that have had a new principal every year for the past seven years,'' he said.
"It doesn't exactly fill the wider community with confidence that they are getting the right level of service.
"Royalties for Regions should and will be used to turn that around.'' [emphasis added]
"Mr Grylls said private schools used advertising campaigns to poach the best country students.
"There is a definite mindset that if your kid is showing some potential that you would be doing them a disservice by sending them to a country school,'' he said.
"When the smarter and more talented kids move off to boarding school, it leaves a drain on the local community.
"The kids in the fair to middle range then have no one to aspire to. There is less competition at the top end and it brings everybody down.''
"Mr Grylls said about $600 million from the Royalties for Regions scheme had already been allocated to provide better housing for regional employees.
"A large part of that money would be spent on housing for country teachers." [emphasis added]
From The Sunday Times at link
- League tables ‘flawed’
“The WA branch of the Australian Heads of Independent Schools Association has slammed the use of league tables to rank WA schools.“The tables, due to be released by the Curriculum Council on Thursday, rank schools according to the percentage of full-time students who studied four or more TEE subjects and scored a scaled mark above 75 per cent [sic: it’s NOT ‘per cent’] in at least one subject.
“In an advertisement in today’s The Sunday Times, AHISA said league tables were a limited and superficial measure of student excellence.“League tables have the potential to be divisive in pitting school against school, sector against sector and gender against gender,” the advertisement said. “They compare students who have every opportunity for success against those with limited access, resources and opportunity.” [emphasis added]
“AHISA said its members, which included principals, did not want to comment individually on the league tables when they were released.”
From The Sunday Times
- Editorial
School ratings should be publicised
"The outstanding achievements of the young men and women listed in our Curriculum Council liftout this week should rightly be commended.
"Their hard work has paid off handsomely. Congratulations should also be extended to every student who successfully completed their TEE.
"Education, whether it be completing Year 12, gaining trade qualifications or obtaining a degree, opens up options that are simply not available to others.
"But the publication of this list of award winners will again ignite the debate on whether students, schools, and even states and countries should be compared against each other in their academic achievement.
"This month, annual tables comparing the academic performance of every high school in WA will be released.
"Last month, results were released from the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy tests held in May for all public and private school students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
"They showed WA schools are failing to teach young children to read properly.
"At one school, only 5 per cent of Year 3 students demonstrated they could read at the basic accepted national level
"Last August, after much heated debate, the Federal Government committed to make individual school performance reporting a condition of a new national education agreement to come into effect this year.
"But there exists a strong and vocal opposition to such comparisons.
"The WA branch of the Australian Heads of Independent Schools Association has taken out an advertisement in today's Curriculum Council liftout stating that it doesn't support the publication of league tables
"League tables, the association says, "Have the potential to be divisive in pitting school against school. They compare students who have every opportunity for success against those with limited access, resources and opportunity".
"Advocates of league tables argue that these are exactly the reasons why they are so important.
"If the tool doesn't exist to compare the performance of schools, then how will those falling behind ever be identified?
"More importantly, how will steps ever be put in place to remedy the situation?
"The same for students. How can you even begin to think about assisting a struggling student without first identifying that a problems exists?
"All manner of shields – from privacy to the potential for stigmatising schools as "failures" – have been put up over the years to resist the release of comparative academic information. But these barriers are now breaking down.
"A recent research paper by the Centre for Independent Studies found students in low-performing schools had the most to gain from publicly reporting their results
"At the very least parents – and teachers for that matter – should be armed with the information to allow them to demand improvement through better resources from state and federal politicians.
"All parents would rather their child's school is at least striving to provide a better learning environment than worry they are hiding behind a veil of secrecy.
"The information vacuum that has existed is a dangerous recipe for complacency. Steps are already being taken in the right direction.
"Last month federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the states' agreement to publish data about the relative performance of schools would allow Canberra to identify schools that were struggling to produce adequate outcomes and to inject further resources. The Rudd Government said it would identify the nation's 1500 poorest-performing schools and flood them with $1.1 billion over the next five years in an attack on inequality of access to education.
"The future for these schools now looks brighter. Moving forward, parents should be given as much information as possible about the performance of their children, the teachers who educate them and the schools they attend. It is their right and a clear road to improvement."
From The Sunday Times at link
- Boys lead the way in TEE
Boys led the way in the 2008 Curriculum Council awards, to be announced today by Premier Colin Barnett. They accounted for 23 of the General Exhibitions awarded to the top 40 TEE students, based on the average of five scaled TEE marks.
- Other TEE stories
- ABC News
- Private schools keep fee hikes 'to minimum'
The Independent Schools Association says private schools are limiting their fee hikes because of tough economic times.
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- School fees reality lesson
The most academically elite private school in Sydney has responded to the economic downturn by keeping fee increases to less than half the inflation rate. Sydney Grammar School is expected to advise parents next week it will raise fees by about 2 per cent above last year's fee of $22,491 - well below the inflation rate of 5 per cent.
- Editorial
Teaching students how to rort the HSC is an appalling lesson
Are some private schools rorting the Higher School Certificate? The Herald revealed this week that some private schools were allowing or encouraging up to 30 per cent of their HSC candidates to apply for special consideration when they face the exam, which suggests that they may be. In government schools an average of just 6.5 per cent of students obtain special consideration under the rules set by the Board of Studies. Students at 25 private schools applied for special consideration at or above twice this rate.
- The Weekend Australian
- Letter to the Editor
- It’s in the quality of teaching
"The argument over whether to send one’s child to a private versus public school is ludicrous ("Grin and bear it: private schools lift fees” 2/1). Research shows that the greatest predictor of academic success in school is the quality of the teacher and their relationship with the student."
Michael Carr-Gregg, Balwyn, Vic
- PC Gone Mad: The Independent
- Primary drops 'school' from title
An MP today questioned why a new £4.7m school has dropped the word "school" from its title because it has "negative connotations". Sheffield's Watercliffe Meadow is to be called a "place of learning" instead of a primary school.
- The Sunday Age
- When two is enough: a bush school battles on
The prospect of thousand-kilometre weeks just to go to school was too much.
- The Age [Saturday]
- School experiment leaves pupils to their own devices [also in The SMH]
A class of year 8 students at Shepparton High School are the first in Australia to use the iPod Touch in the classroom for a global "mobile learning" project.
All Alston cartoons are © The West Australian Newspaper
All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers
This page last updated 4 January, 2009 11:23 PM
