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.

Monday 5 January

Tuesday 6 January

Wednesday 7 January

Thursday 8 January

Friday 9 January

Saturday – Sunday, 10 – 11 January

 

Monday 5 January

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • The Latest Doomed Pedagogical Fad: 21st-Century Skills
    by Jay Mathews
    
    "Today on this page, we are ushering in the new year with the hottest trend in pedagogy, the latest program teachers are told they cannot live without. It is called 21st-century skills. Education policymakers, press agents and pundits can't get enough of it.
    
    "I am not so impressed. I have been writing cranky columns about 21st-century skills on washingtonpost.com, calling the movement a pipe dream whose literature should be tossed in the trash.
    
    "Granted, the 21st-century skills idea has important business and political advocates, including President-elect Barack Obama. It calls for students to learn to think and work creatively and collaboratively. There is nothing wrong with that. Young Plato and his classmates did the same thing in ancient Greece. But I see little guidance for classroom teachers in 21st-century skills materials. How are millions of students still struggling to acquire 19th-century skills in reading, writing and math supposed to learn this stuff?
    
    "There are ways, some teachers tell me. Tim Burgess, a physics and chemistry teacher in Alabama, said he tried coaxing students to think for themselves. He laid out clues and let students sort them out together -- and it worked. "Suddenly, it became clear how 21st-century thinking was far more important than the mounds of content we were expected to force-feed our victims (I mean students)," Burgess said. Elena Silva, a senior policy analyst at the Education Sector think tank in the District, concluded that 21st-century skills could improve teaching of the basics, in a report quoted elsewhere on this page.
    
    "However, teachers who say this approach works agree with me that the marketing of the concept has not been entirely honest or wise. A sentence from a report by the Tucson-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills illustrates the problem: "Every aspect of our education system -- preK-12, postsecondary and adult education, after-school and youth development, workforce development and training, and teacher preparation programs -- must be aligned to prepare citizens with the 21st century skills they need to compete." This is the all-at-once syndrome, a common failing of reform movements. They say changes must be made all at once, or else. In this democracy, we never make changes all at once. The past few months of the financial crisis prove that, once again. So please don't tell us we have to. (Ken Kay, president of the partnership, told me that he doesn't think it all has to be done at once, but that is not what his handouts say.)
    
    "I won't discount that good teachers say their students are learning more this way. Many mention a system called modeling instruction, based on the work of Arizona State University physicist David Hestenes. Matt Greenwolfe, who teaches this way in Cary, N.C., sent a student's reaction: "In small groups we would use whiteboards to write down ideas, draw graphs and solve for unknown variables. Using webcams I would take pictures of the whiteboards and post them on the class Web site for everyone to use as a resource. . . . Physics class has helped me look at problems in different ways so I can solve them. If I don't understand the data when it is presented in one way I am able to ask questions and change it, using a method I can understand."
    
    "Greenwolfe said it took him years of effort to learn this, which reminds me of my last personal encounter with what I now realize were 21st-century skills. I needed a science credit to graduate from college. I signed up for Celestial Navigation. I was assured it was a gut, the popular term then for a course that required little or no effort. I was in love, soon to be married, obsessing over what to do with my life, with no time or patience for study. I was a classic case of delayed social development, thinking and acting at age 22 like a typical high school senior. My college treated me like most high schools treat distracted 18-year-olds. It wanted me to graduate. It was not going to let a trivial thing like academic standards stand in the way.
    
    "My final exam would be applauded today by promoters of 21st-century skills. We had to plot a course on a Boston Harbor cruise ship, strategizing, analyzing, collaborating. I don't recall understanding any of what was going on, but I turned something in. As I expected, I got a good grade and a bachelor's degree, despite learning no science.
    
    "That's why I get nervous whenever I hear of some brilliant new teaching method that is going to sweep our students into a new century, wise beyond their years. It takes hard work to teach this stuff, and even harder work, by poorly motivated adolescents, to learn it. Kay told me he knows that, but I don't see the point emphasized in his promotional materials.
    
    "Great educators tell me that teaching and learning are more about relationships than content, more about asking questions every day of everyone in class than depending on students to soak it up on their own. In our poorest neighborhoods, we still have some of our weakest teachers, either too inexperienced to handle methods like modeling instruction or too cynical to consider 21st-century skills anything more than another doomed fad. There might be a way to turn them around, but if there isn't, instead of engaged and inspired students, we will have just one more big waste of time."
    
    From The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
  • The Rush for '21st-Century Skills'
    New Buzz Phrase Draws Mixed Interpretations From Educators
    
    In a seventh-grade science class at Grace E. Metz Middle School in Manassas, 12-year-olds Chris Isaacson and Nathan McCallister were building a bridge out of 30 uncooked pieces of spaghetti. They had drawn several plans. After pushing down on the spaghetti from several angles, they decided that vertical struts were the best way to strengthen their bridge for the test: How many books could it hold before collapsing?
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Arts 'ignored' in national curriculum
    
    "The Federal Government's new national curriculum for schools is focused on the basics of education: English, maths, science, history, geography and languages.
    
    "But a new lobby group says the visual arts, drama, dance and music should also be included.
    
    "The National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) is calling on the Federal Government to include the arts in the work of the National Curriculum Board and Early Years Learning Framework..."
    
    Full story at ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• BBC News [both stories carried in most major UK media]
  
  
  • Ofsted crackdown on dull teaching
    
    England's education inspectors are to crack down on boring teaching because of concerns that a lack of stimulation is leading to worsening behaviour. [See Blog in The guardian, below]
    
    
    
  • UK maths failures 'cost £2.4bn'
    
    Children who are bad at maths at school end up costing the taxpayer up to £2.4bn a year, a report suggests.
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Blog
    A good teacher is an entertainer as well as an educator
    
    Teachers who routinely take dull lessons do children no good and should be put to sleep, says Phil Beadle
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Feature
    International Baccalaureate students set to go
    
    The IB is an internationally-recognised diploma that is an alternative to the VCE, and in 2008 it was offered at 1857 schools in 131 countries. Diploma students are assessed in six subject areas: first language, second language, humanities, experimental sciences, maths and art... In November this year, 2136 students in Australasia are expected to sit their IB exams — 15 per cent more than in 2008.
    
    Similar story in The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Sweaty palms? Get real!
      
      "The recent special provisions debate on these pages is a spectacular example of an elephant that has long been in the room and has suddenly started trumpeting the truth about rorting ("Teaching students how to rort the HSC is an appalling lesson", January 3-4). Certain schools dedicate resources to making special provisions seem reasonable for students who, in other schools, would get short shrift from the teachers in the pastoral care team: when you deal daily with the needs of traumatised refugees from various African nations or 13-year-olds in the care of DOCS, the needs of a student with sweaty palms seem ridiculous.
      
      "Wipe them and keep writing! Some special provisions applicants need to grow a backbone, get out in the real world and meet the challenge."
      
      Julie Hamilton, Hunters Hill
      

 

Tuesday 6 January

• The West Australian
  

  • More schools snub OBE and turn to IB (page 11)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “More Catholic schools plan to offer the globally recognised International Baccalaureate program as an alternative to WA's outcomes based curriculum.
    
    “Corpus Christi College, in Bateman, will use the IB middle-school program with Year 7s for the first time this year and Stormanston Catholic College, a new girl's school to open in Joondalup in 2011, will offer all students the IB program, starting with Years 7 and 8.
    
    “Lesmurdie girls' school St Brigid's College recently became the first Catholic school in WA to adopt the highly-regarded program for its middle-school students.
    
    “Australasia IB regional representative Greg Valentine said other Catholic schools in WA had expressed interest in IB programs.
    
    “You just get to a stage where you get a critical mass,” he said. “Once you get a few schools doing it, just the professional contact that people have immediately exposes other people to it.”
    
    “Mr Valentine said many schools were attracted by the fact the program was used in 131 countries. “The best of what's happening in education around the world can be shared with us, so we don't work in isolation,” he said.
    
    “Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said schools were trying to offer parents more choice and a point of difference. Another two or three Catholic schools were considering the IB program, but he would not name them.
    
    “Stormanston and its new brother college St Ambrose are the first single-gender Catholic schools established in WA in 70 years.
    
    “St Ambrose would not offer the IB and its classroom layout would be different to the configuration at Stormanston, which was specifically designed to cater for the program, Mr Dullard said.
    
    “We don’t have a fixed view (on whether schools should offer the IB), as long as it conforms with the curriculum framework, which it does,” he said. “There's no right or wrong in all of this. The question is, is it worth the extra money spent on it and do you get better results and I don't think anyone really knows the answer to that.”
    
    “The Catholic Education Office website says the IB program will be the keystone of Stormanston's “progressive educational philosophy”.
    
    “Students in the middle years study eight subject groups: maths, arts, science, humanities, physical education, technology, their language and a foreign language.
    
    “Uniting Church schools Scotch College and Presbyterian Ladies College, which already offer the IB junior and middle years programs, are preparing to introduce the challenging IB diploma to Year 11 and 12 students in the next two years. Two Montessori schools and the International School of WA also offer the IB diploma.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Age
  
  
  • Arts group hits out at curriculum
    by Miki Perkins
    
    "A new coalition of arts organisations is calling on the Federal Government to include visual art, dance, drama and music on the national curriculum or risk depriving students of their cultural heritage.
    
    "The Government is producing a national curriculum from kindergarten to year 12 for English, maths, history, science, geography and languages to be implemented by the end of 2010. But the newly formed National Advocates for Arts Education says the Government should include the arts in the work of the National Curriculum Board.
    
    "We really want to see their inclusion for both their intrinsic and their instrumental effect on the curriculum," spokeswoman Julie Dyson, also head of Ausdance, said.
    
    "The arts contribute to numeracy and literacy in ways that have been proven and encourage a rounded education. If they're not in the national curriculum up front, there is a tendency for resources to be diverted to other areas."
    
    "The Senate passed a $28 billion schools funding bill, which included the national curriculum, on the final sitting day of Parliament last year.
    
    "But Ms Dyson said her group was told that subjects such as music, visual art, dance and drama would not be considered among the first two phases of the new curriculum.
    
    "National Curriculum chairman Barry McGaw said determinations about which subjects to include were the responsibility of the Council of Education Ministers.
    
    "The more subjects are included, the more other subjects feel they want to be in too," Professor McGaw said."
    
    From The Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Call for indigenous health worker college
    
    Efforts to improve Australia's woeful record on Aboriginal health are being held back by poor co-ordination, and greater strides could be made by setting up a national college bringing together medical, nursing and other professionals. Under a plan put forward by a Darwin psychiatrist, the national college of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health would for the first time take charge of the credentialling, education and championing of Aboriginal health workers, who work in many communities in a variety of nursing and paramedical roles.
    
    
    
  • Playing outdoors protects young eyes from myopia
    
    The hours spent in front of the PlayStation or at the computer play no role in ruining a child's sight, with Australian researchers finding that being cooped up indoors is what gives children glasses. Children should spend two to three hours a day outside to prevent them becoming short-sighted, says a study by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Vision Science.
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Students see scales of justice in baccalaureate
    
    Some students are opting for the International Baccalaureate instead of the Higher School Certificate to avoid having their marks in humanities subjects scaled down.
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Graduates turn their backs on careers in the City
    
    The global economic crisis has led hundreds of elite graduates to eschew careers in finance in favour of lower-paid but "safer" jobs such as maths teaching, it emerged yesterday.

 

Wednesday 7 January

• The West Australian
  

  • Possible education cuts kept secret (page 4)
    by Sean Cowan and Bethany Hiatt
    
    “The Education Department has refused to hand over documents that could reveal what cuts it is considering to meet the State Government's demand to slash spending by 3 per cent, saying it would not be in the public interest.
    
    “Departments have until mid-January to report to Treasury how they will save the money, but The West Australian applied under Freedom of Information laws for Education Department documents containing cost cutting ideas put forward by department executives.
    
    “The department refused to hand over two documents, including an email from the Department of Treasury and Finance to the Education Department's training resource allocation section.
    
    “Staff of the agency put forward their opinion and advice for the purpose of deliberative process required to establish the best course of action to be taken,” the department's FoI chief Susie Brown said.
    
    “The matter deleted relates to the 'efficiency dividend'... (and) the efficiency dividend process is a work in progress with the department still to report to Government on how savings will be achieved.
    
    “I consider it too early in the deliberative process to release any such information; as release of incomplete information while the deliberative process is continuing would be counter- productive and misleading and not in the public interest.”
    
    “Ms Brown refused to release an email from the department's corporate management and accounting section to the deputy director-general of finance and administration. A Treasury email was attached.
    
    “She did release a letter from the Community and Public Sector Union, sent to the department on October 13, asking whether the department would share the burden of savings across the agency or confine them to particular areas, what effect the cuts would have on service delivery in the country, how they would affect contract employees and whether it intended to leave vacancies unfilled.
    
    “CSPU secretary Toni Walkington said the department had not replied and had told her it could not respond until after it had discussed proposals with Education Minister Liz Constable.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Baccalaureate boss tips new WA interest (page 17)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “The head of the International Baccalaureate Organisation in Australia has predicted a surge in demand for the globally recognised program as more WA schools realise its advantages.
    
    “While Australasia IB regional representative Greg Valentine would not say WA schools were taking up its programs because of disenchantment with outcomes-based education, he conceded they probably would not make the change if they were completely satisfied.
    
    “We would prefer to think that people move to the IB because of the quality of the IB, not because they're dissatisfied with something else,” he said.
    
    “He expected the number of schools offering IB programs in WA to double of even treble in the next few years. There are six WA private schools offering IB programs with two more Catholic schools set to start this year and in 2011.
    
    “Mr Valentine said other State governments supported introducing IB programs in public schools.
    
    “The very first school in Australia was a government school and that's been doing the program for 28 years,” he said. “The only schools that do it in the ACT are government schools. There are more government schools in South Australia that do it then independent schools.”
    
    “But he had not been approached by the WA Department of Education and Training or by any individual schools.
    
    “State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said any move to introduce IB programs in public schools in WA should be treated with caution because it could undermine a national curriculum and would involve extra costs for taxpayers.
    
    “If you're offering that (the IB), then you're diversifying professional development, pre-service education and there's a whole range of matters like that that need a closer look before anybody started to say we need to be offering something as an alternative to what we've already got on the table,” she said.
    
    “Mr Valentine said discontent with their curriculum pushed a number of schools in Victoria towards the IB in the 1990s, but he had no evidence of that in WA.
    
    “The IB was standards based rather than outcomes-based. Main differences between it and State curriculums included the requirement for all students to study a second language, broad study across all learning areas and a stronger international focus.
    
    “Mr Valentine said schools were also attracted by the program's quality assurance and professional development offered to teachers.
    
    “Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said the IB program was similar to WA's outcomes-based education system because it allowed students to follow their own interests.” [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• ABC News
  
  
  • Public school enrolments 'show faith in system'
    
    The New South Wales Education Minister says new figures showing an increase in enrolments at public schools shows parents have faith in the system.
    
    More detailed story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • Credit crunch warning for schools
    
    The economic downturn could be about to hit schools and children's services, a government committee has warned. "Serious economic problems" could undermine investment in education and related services, the Children, Schools and Families Committee report said.
    
    Related stories in The Guardian and The Independent
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Children of the rainbow need support
    
    It's time to break the silence surrounding the autism spectrum.
    

 

Thursday 8 January

• Curriculum Council
  
  
  • Year 12 School Data 2008 [includes "League Tables"]
    [It's a 75 page .pdf file]
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Review into performance of public schools
    
    "The Education Minister Liz Constable has promised to review a program which was set up to improve the performance of public schools in Tertiary Entrance Exams (TEE).
    
    "Same-sex and private schools have once again out-performed public schools in the TEE.
    
    "For the second year in a row, St Mary's Anglican Girls' School ranked number one, with the highest number of TEE students scoring in the top third of the state.
    
    "St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls and Christchurch Grammar followed closely behind.
    
    "Shenton College was the top performing public school, ranking number 11 on the league table.
    
    "Three public schools ranked in the top 20, but none appeared in the top 10.
    
    "The Director General of the Department of Education and Training, Sharyn O'Neill says she's not concerned that only three public schools ranked in the top 20.
    
    "The relative order on tables such as this remains pretty constant with some falling in, falling out from year to year," she said.
    
    "Ms O'Neill says state school students have improved their performance in the TEE over the past 5 years.
    
    "The previous government set up a program specifically designed to push up the rankings of public schools by working with high achievers.
    
    "Dr Constable is not surprised by the results but has signalled a review.
    
    "This has been what we've seen over many years so it's not a surprise," she said.
    
    "It's important to me to see schools performing at the highest level possible and for some, the results may be disappointing.
    
    "I want to see all schools doing well and all students doing as well as possible."
    
    "The President of the State School Teachers Union, Anne Gisborne, is urging caution.
    
    "I think review is always good, but we need to be cautious that we don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," she said."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Private schools take the honours in TEE rankings
    
    Same-sex and private schools have once again out-performed public schools in the Tertiary Entrance Exams.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Hitch our science wagon to the stars
    by Kenneth Wiltshire
    
    "Why do clothes dry more quickly on a windy day?" This was just one of the questions asked of us at high school by our wonderful science teacher. He captured our imagination, set us off on bold experiments and made science alive and relevant. And this is precisely what Australia needs to rediscover, because science in this country is in the doldrums.
    
    "This year offers a good opportunity because it has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy and the study of stars is the perfect vehicle to rekindle interest in science.
    
    "Deep down everyone is fascinated with the heavens.
    
    "On top of that the great astronomer Galileo, for whom the year is being commemorated, is the perfect personality to arouse the interest of students and adults alike. He was a man of conviction who pursued his discoveries despite enormous opposition, oppression and vilification.
    
    "Enrolments in science subjects have been declining alarmingly in Australian schools and universities for some time. In schools it is partly because of a lack of good, imaginative science teachers and the fact that science has not been presented as relevant in the curriculum.
    
    "There also seems to be an irrational fear of science and scientists. A promising science teacher is snapped up by companies and governments offering salaries way above that of the teaching profession.
    
    "Competition within the crowded curriculum is another factor, the quintessential example being geography, which some time ago switched stables from science to humanities in an endeavour to stress its relevance to humans, but in the process it then had to compete with history and the other social sciences, and nearly disappeared altogether.
    
    "All is not well within the university sector either. Science faculties have been struggling for students and funding for some time. Many have been renamed, regrouped or refashioned in a defensive strategy. The Rudd Government's recent announcement of lower Higher Education Contribution Scheme fees for students undertaking science degrees will be of some help, but it is really a piecemeal measure.
    
    "The fundamental problem is a lack of appreciation in our culture of the importance of science. [emphasis added] Despite the array of Australian Nobel prize winners in the sciences, particularly in medicine, and the number of Australian women who have won the UNESCO-L'Oreal prize for women in science, our scientists remain basically unknown to the general public, which is more familiar with our sporting heroes or film and rock stars.
    
    "Governments and the private sector have been pumping funding into applied science and technology as well as the all-important efforts to commercialise our scientific research discoveries and innovations, but the funding of pure science has languished. Australia now lags the world in the conduct of pure scientific research and this means that our gene pool of scientific knowledge is under threat and offers no incentive for curiosity-led research of the kind Galileo and his heirs have pursued over the centuries, to the benefit of the world at large.
    
    "Astoundingly, the Rudd Government, as one of its first belt-tightening measures, cut the budget of the CSIRO, our best known scientific research body, which has won world acclaim in so many fields. Past Labor governments have been champions of the CSIRO but this Government seems to be taking the same line as Coalition governments before it.
    
    "The well-known former federal science minister Barry Jones must be shaking his head in despair at his party's policy direction, which is contrary to all his past efforts.
    
    "Apart from the CSIRO, our universities, the only other truly independent source of scientific research, also face an uncertain future.
    
    "The Rudd Government is yet to decide on models of funding for research in the sector, and the system is based on a crazy pattern of dubious ranking systems for publications, a miscellany of linkage arrangements, co-operative research centres that apparently are now going to have a "social good" mission (so far not spelt out) attached to them, and a funding formula for PhD students that offers little incentive for universities to take on more of them.
    
    "Indeed there has been a dangerous tendency to force universities to seek private sponsorships for scientific research: this builds up worthwhile partnerships between academics and the business world for the benefit of the economy, but also poses a threat to the objectivity and independence of the academic community. Where academics have tenure removed from their appointments, this creates an even more insecure environment for scientific researchers.
    
    "For scientists, there are challenges aplenty. Explaining the purpose and results of their research is one. It seems to be a facet of human nature that the deeper a person is enmeshed in their research, the smaller their ability to explain it. This becomes crucial in the science-policy interface, as we are witnessing in the climate change debate, where the science underpinning the policy options is being called into question around the globe and just one small shift in research findings, or one small element of misunderstanding, could prove crucial to the planet's survival.
    
    "Not since scientists had to advise governments on the use of the atomic bomb in World War II has the science-policymaker interface been so important. This also throws up the values and ethics of the scientists, as it is too easy for governments to skew scientific inquiry by rigging terms of reference for their policymaking.
    
    "When Ross Garnaut (from the "dismal science" of economics) advised the Government on emissions reduction policy, he tempered his recommendations with global and political realities, a dangerous practice for the uninitiated, and one in which the values and premises must be made abundantly clear.
    
    "These are issues with which our scientific academies have to grapple but, sadly, in Australia they also do not figure strongly in public debate. In Europe and Asia, on the other hand, governments turn for advice automatically to the academies, which enjoy significant prestige.
    
    "UNESCO, which is the leading UN agency for the International Year of Astronomy, is also hoping that the year will enable scientists to contribute to world peace and understanding through international co-operation on the great issues facing our planet: the morality of scientific research, the linkage of science to intercultural understanding, and the need to make scientific research relevant to policymakers.
    
    "The education system is the place to start. There could well be a potential Galileo in every school: we need to establish suitable conditions for them to be identified and to flourish. The answer this year is in the stars."

    Kenneth Wiltshire is J.D. Story professor of public administration at the University of Queensland.
    
    From The Australian at link

    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • Computer-esque books to lure boys
    
    "Books illustrated with computer- generated images are the latest attempt to get boys to enjoy reading.
    
    "Oxford University Press (OUP) claims the "truly boy-friendly" content and structure of its Project X books will appeal to boys up the age of nine.
    
    "The books have been tested in 2,000 schools and can be used interactively through CD-Roms and whiteboards.
    
    "But critics dismissed the publications as "ghastly" and a shallow attempt to mimic computer games..."
    
    Full story at BBC News at link


© Oxford University Press



• The Washington Post
  
  
  • D.C. Reduces Number Of Unqualified Teachers
    
    Nearly 800 D.C. public school instructors are teaching classes outside their licensed area of expertise, fewer than in previous years but still far more than in other school systems in the region, and a violation of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires "highly qualified" educators in each classroom. [emphasis added]
    
    [Given Julia Gillard's fascination will all things educational from the US, perhaps she'll adopt such a policy here! Web]
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
• Melbourne Uni falls out of favour
  
  A year after the introduction of the new Melbourne model, the number of Victorian year 12 students who put Melbourne University first on their list of tertiary preferences has slumped... [In its US-style curriculum revamp last year, Melbourne University abolished 96 undergraduate degrees and replaced them with six broad options: arts, science, commerce, environments, music and biomedicine. Students can specialise in subjects like law and medicine at graduate level.]

 

Friday 9 January

• The West Australian
  

  • Private schools trump State in vocational training stakes (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “Fresh questions have been raised about standards in State schools, with private schools are now proving twice as successful at vocational training, an area of education which has traditionally been a strong point of the public system.
    
    “The analysis of the 2008 Year 12 results, released yesterday by the Curriculum Council, also showed that State schools' performance in the TEE had slipped compared to previous years.
    
    “Two-thirds of the top 50 rated as the best at helping their students attain vocational education and training qualification last year were independent and Catholic schools.
    
    “Just 18 State schools appeared in the top 50 compared to 32 private schools, even though the there are more State schools overall. Two years ago, when State schools dominated the rankings with 32 in the top 50 compared to 18 private schools.
    
    “Students who study VET certificates at school can get industry qualifications in areas such as construction, business, aged care and information technology.
    
    “Those with higher-level vocational qualifications such as Certificate IV can go straight into jobs after leaving schools, or in some cases, university, where they also could get exemptions for part of their university course.
    
    “The table ranked schools based on the percentage of students who achieved a full vocational qualification in 2008.
    
    “Shenton College was the highest ranked State school on the TEE measures, 11th on a table showing the proportion of students from each school whose average marks were in the top third of all scores. Just three schools were in the top 20, compared to four last year, and 12 in the top 50.
    
    “This was despite the Department of Education and Training spending about $250,000 each year on revision programs for Year 12 students and $100,000 on providing advice to schools on interpreting and using Year 12 performance information.
    
    “There were five State schools in the top 20 on another table ranking students according to the percentage of students who studied four or more subjects and achieved more than 75 per cent in at least on subject.
    
    “Department of Education and Training director-general Sharyn O'Neill said standards had risen in 2008 for all students, including those who were not university-bound. “We have schools and students achieving a higher level than we've ever seen before,” she said. “I think what we're seeing here is a lift in rigour of vocational education and training.
    
    “She conceded that State schools had previously dominated achievement in vocational training but said more private schools were no offering training courses in response to the need for skilled workers.
    
    “Ms O'Neill said the vocational education table was misleading because it did not include the achievement of many students only part-way through higher-level qualifications and would continue them after leaving school.
    
    “Association for Independent Schools of WA executive director Valerie Gould said more private schools were now seeing vocational training as a viable path for students.
    
    “It leads to really good outcomes when they leave school,” she said. “And if they go on to further education and training, it doesn't close the university door.”
    
    “Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said all schools were getting better at recognising students' needs and putting them in the appropriate courses.
    
    “Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said although there had been a slight decrease in the number of students in vocational education, more of them were taking higher level qualifications.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• ABC News
  
  
  • Regional schools perform well in TEE
    
    "Regional high schools have made up eight of the 50 highest performing schools in the Tertiary Entrance Examinations.
    
    "MacKillop Catholic College in Busselton was the highest ranked country school, coming in at number 22.
    
    "Manjimup Senior High School and Mount Barker Community College were the only public regional schools to make the list.
    
    "Another six schools from Bunbury, Geraldton, Albany, Mount Barker and Australind were also included.
    
    "The Department of Education and Training's Sharyn O'Neill has praised the efforts of students and staff at Manjimup Senior High, which came in at number 28.
    
    "I think Manjimup has been represented on tables or data for some time ... Manjimup is recognised as a quality school across a range of factors," she said.
    
    "North-west schools failed to rate highly in overall academic achievement.
    
    "However Hedland Senior High School ranked in the top 50 schools for vocational education with 88 per cent of students gaining a VET qualification.
    
    "Newman Senior High School was also singled out for praise by Education Minister Donna Faragher for its continually high graduation rate.
    
    "Newman Senior High School ... has recorded a hundred per cent graduation for the fifth consecutive year," she said."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Outsiders among WA school winners
    
    Rich private schools again dominated Year 12 results - but poorer and country schools were also big winners, says Catholic Education chief Ron Dullard.
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Big salaries fail to attract school heads
    
    Up to £120,000 a year still not enough to compensate for high-pressure positions
    
    Similar stories in all major UK media
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • Private school exodus 'expected'
    
    Government action to prepare schools for a predicted influx of pupils from the private sector is being demanded.
    
    Again, similar stories in all major UK media
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Superintendents' Budget Proposals Foretell Grim Times for Area Schools
    
    Fairfax County Superintendent Jack D. Dale unveiled a $2.2 billion annual budget yesterday for the area's largest school system that would shave the current spending level by freezing salaries, increasing average class size by half a student or more and cutting hundreds of teaching, counseling and other positions. [emphasis added]
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Reforms top of the class
    by Julia Gillard
    
    "... As a result of the COAG decisions last November, Australia now has a package of landmark reforms to enable all schools across Australia to strive for excellence...
    
    "In November last year I was pleased to welcome Joel Klein, the chancellor of schools in New York, to Australia. Klein is someone who believes in and has implemented a number of reforms to provide parents, teachers, principals and taxpayers with transparent information about what is happening in their local schools.

    "While Australia needs to come up with its own set of transparency arrangements, I think it is important to look at what is being done overseas.

    "New York is a city with pockets of very great wealth and pockets of very great poverty and disadvantage, and Klein's model has made a difference to those pockets of poverty and disadvantage..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    [Op Ed or political advertisement? You can decide... Web]
    
    

  • Childhood obesity epidemic a myth, says research
    

    The rise in childhood obesity has halted, defying warnings that it is an "epidemic" that is out of control. Obesity rates among children levelled off around 1998 and have remained steady ever since, exploding the myth that children are becoming more overweight than ever before.
    

    • Editorial
      Intellectually flabby
      
      Obesity warnings are not always accurate or appropriate
      
      
      
  • Microsoft's mouseless revolt: new touchscreen system
    
    Microsoft has developed a touch-screen operating system that could signal the end of the computer mouse.

 

Saturday – Sunday, 10 – 11 January

• The West Australian
  

  • TEE highs and lows for private schools (page 2)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    “Private schools not only took out all 10 top places in the 2008 TEE league table – they also made up the half the schools at the bottom of the list.

    “High-fee independent schools in the western suburbs dominated the table, based on the ratio of students achieving an average score in the top third. But five low-fee independent schools appeared in the bottom 10.

    “This was a big increase compared with independent schools' performances over the previous four years, with one or none appearing in the bottom 10 in each of those years.

    “The five schools, in no particular order, were Strathalbyn Christian College in Geraldton, Georgiana Molloy Anglican School in Busselton, Living Waters Lutheran College in Warnbro, Carmel Adventist College and Thornlie Christain College.

    “Metropolitan State schools comprised four of the other five schools among the lease successful in the 2008 TEE, according to comparison data released by the Curriculum Council.

    “Association of Independent School of WA Valerie Gould acknowledged that no matter how hard all schools, some schools had to be ranked near the bottom.

    “Most of the schools ranked lowest were in low socioeconomic areas and had few students. This meant that just a few low-achieving students could skew the results downwards.

    “She said 2008 was the first year that Georgiana Molloy had offered Year 12 and Strathalbyn was also relatively new to Year 12.

    “Schools running Year 12 for the first time often found it difficult because teachers were inexperienced wit hthe rigours of the TEE and students had not developed an academic culture.

    “Ms Gould said parents chose schools for a range of reasons, including pastoral care and the types of activities on offer outside the classroom, not just on TEE results.

    “These kids haven't failed,” she said. “Because most of those schools have a good graduations rates, most of their students will probably be able to make their way either on to university or further education and training.”

    “Department of Education and Training director-general Sharyn O'Neill said State Schools had consolidated their performance last year.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Editorial
    Parents' faith in public schools must be justified (page 20)

    “The annual debate over the merits of private versus public education has a new focus this year with news that private schools now dominate vocational training education, an area where State schools previously had done better.

    “The defenders of State education can, with some justification, claim that their private counterparts have inherent advantages, in better facilities, the right to expel disruptive students and, in come cases, selective enrolments.

    “Parents of children at State schools need to be assured of just one thing: that regardless of circumstance their child will be able to achieve to the best of their ability. If that promise cannot be made, and kept, then the public system is failing.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Alston [9 January]

  
  © The West Australian
  
  

  • Budget plunges into red as wage bill soars [Front Page headline]
    by Peter Kerr

    “The State's financial position is deteriorating rapidly, with figures released last night showing that an explosion in public sector wages had pushed the Budget into deficit in October.

    “The Budget recorded a $17 million deficit for the month compared with a $458 million surplus at the same time last year, after the public sector wage bill ballooned 17.8 per cent and revenue slumped by 8 per cent.

    “The extent of the turnaround in WA's finances will fuel concerns about the State Government's commitment to the controversial royalties for the regions program and its ability to deliver major infrastructure projects while maintaining key services.

    “Shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt said the Government's rhetoric on spending was at odds with the sharp increases in wages it had granted to teachers that had not been linked to productivity increases.

    “He said it was essential that any Government cuts targeted waste and extravagance, not key services. “This certainly is a wake up call to the Barnett Government to come in from their holidays and do something about the State's finances,” he said…” [emphasis added]

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    

  • TEE Liftout: How Your School Rates
    

    • Strong teachers, strong results (page 2)
      by Bethany Hiatt

      “Shenton College took the honours this year as the top-ranked public school in the State.
      
      “It ranked 11th on the table based on the percentage of students who achieved an average score which was in the top third in WA.

      “It also ranked in eighth place on a separate table based on the percentage of students who studied for or more TEE subjects and scored a scaled mark of more than 75 per cent in at least one.

      “The college produced two general exhibition winners, Vinayak Hutchinson and Joshua Izaac, and three subject exhibition winners.

      “Principal Michael Morgan said that though the tables were a simplistic measure of a school's performance, he was pleased at the enormous effort students and teachers had put in.

      “He said the format of the league tables did not allow for reporting on the progress students had made or the value added by a school.

      “I do believe very strongly that quality schools have quality teachers,” he said. “Shenton has a very strong set of teachers.” [emphasis added]

      “Last year's head girl Grace Megroz, 17, who was also in the State debating team, said all her friends had achieved results that exceeded their expectations.

      “She took a pragmatic approach to study, making sure she did well enough to meet her goal of a place in arts/law at the University of WA while reserving time for a social life.

      “I think we were given enough support to achieve our individual goals,” she said. “A lot of people that I know who did really well did what they loved – they did their drama or media or ancient history – and weren't caught up in doing the 'suicide six' subject to get prestige.” The six were applicable maths, calculus, chemistry, physics, English literature and economics. “
      
      From The West Australian TEE Liftout
      
      

    • Tables the principals want to keep secret (page 3)
      by Bethany Hiatt

      “In the face of private school opposition, we published key academic data. Bethany Hiatt reports.

      “These are the tables that private school principals don't want you to see. They compare the academic performance of every high schools in the State based on their results in Year 12 exams. They also highlight their achievements in non-TEE subjects and graduation rates.

      “Independent school principals have traditionally opposed the publication of the results, saying they provide only a one-dimensional view of school performance, and this year the WA branch of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia took the unprecedented step of taking out a newspaper advertisement to condemn the practice.

      “League tables have the potential to be divisive in pitting school against school; sector against sector and gender against gender,” it said. “The compare students who have every opportunity for success against those with limited access, resources and opportunity.”

      “The heads also refused to comment on their school's achievements, even though their members took out all the top 10 places in the TEE table.

      “We really don't think it's a reasonable measure of assessing school performance,” AHISA chairman the Rev. Andrew Syme said.

      “This has a high correlation to socioeconomic status and there are fantastic people in both Catholic, independent and State schools and a lot of those people will never appear in this and they're judged on this, but that's not a fair judgment.”

      “The principals say tables such as those reproduced here are shallow, put too much emphasis on academic performance and fail to reflect all the variables that make up a rich education.

      “However, an analysis of trends in graduation rates over the past seven years reveals that annual publication of tables may have had a positive influence on schools.

      “In 2000, just 16 per cent of schools had a graduation rate of 95 per cent or more. Most schools have since put strategies in place to increase the number of graduates.

      “By 2008, 51 per cent of schools achieved a 95 per cent graduation rate.

      “And the fact that percentages went up across the board in 2008 indicated the bar has raises on all measures, with schools having to work even harder to achieve top rankings.

      “One possible conclusion could be that this improvement may not have occurred if the information had not been made public.

      “The Curriculum Council started releasing the school comparison data voluntarily in 2006, after the State Government acknowledged that it was in the public interest to do so.

      “And with the Federal Government planning to release school comparisons of literacy and numeracy test results for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 for all schools, private and public, late this year, it would appear that WA's private school principals are fighting a rearguard action.”
      
      From The West Australian TEE Liftout
      
      

    • Girls back state system (page 5)
      by Bethany Hiatt

      “Churchlands Senior High School students Quan Lau and Shannon Kendall are passionate supporters of the public school system.

      “Quan, 17, won a general exhibition for her results in English literature, maths, applicable maths, calculus, chemistry and physics and was the State's top female student.

      “I don't think that going to a public school necessarily puts anyone at a disadvantage,” she said. “Public schools are just as good as some private schools.”

      “Churchlands was one of three State schools to appear in the top 20 schools, based on the proportion of students with average results in the top third of WA…”

      “Churchlands principal Neil Hunt said he was pleased with the school's performance because it had such a big group of Year 12s. Out of 205 students who sat the TEE in 2008, 98 were in the top third of WA.

      “Most of the private schools in the top 20 had between 130 and 170 TEE students, while Carmel School and John Calvin Christian College had 41 and 20 students respectively.

      “We're a government school that takes all comers and we have a lot of students that have aspirations to do the TEE that maybe shouldn't but they still end up doing it because that's their right,” he said. “Part of the problem is because we've been doing so well over the past few years we're getting more and more kids into the school.”
      
      Full story in The West Australian TEE Liftout
      
      
      The League Tables are avaiable on the Curriculum Council website at this link [75 page .pdf file]

      
      
      
• The Sunday Times
  
  
  • Private, public schools clash over education standards (page 4)
    by Paul Lampathakis, education reporter
    
    "Tensions have boiled over between rival private and public schools - with the independent sector claiming its teachers work harder and longer.
    
    "But amid debate over this week's Year 12 results, a top public school principal hit back, saying government-school teachers were at least as committed, often under tougher conditions, and that rich private schools "cherry picked'' good students to boost academic success.
    
    "Association of Independent Schools of WA executive director Valerie Gould said high-fee private schools got and retained good-quality teachers because they often paid more than government schools and had better conditions.
    
    "That means that teachers feel a greater commitment to the school and the students,'' she said.
    
    "I think they work harder and they take it personally.
    
    "Somewhere like Hale (School) or Christ Church (Grammar School), the average teacher would be back at that school at least one night a week.
    
    "They would be at the school probably most days easily by 8 o'clock in the morning.''
    
    "Such teachers worked in holidays and gave up free periods, lunchbreaks and time after school for students needing extra help.
    
    "You can say that should happen in every school, but I know it doesn't,'' Ms Gould said.
    
    "I drive past Churchlands (Senior High School) every day when I'm going home and I'm very rarely going home at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
    
    "Hale's car park is still full. The only people at Churchlands are the phys-ed staff and the music staff, probably because they're having music programs.
    
    "I used to drive past Shenton College and the kids at five to three were streaming out.''
    
    "Ms Gould said pivotally, independent schools appointed their own staff and worked hard to keep good teachers with better pay and "generous'' professional development allowances.
    
    "Government-school teachers were on a set pay scale and government schools had to take the teachers they were given.
    
    "But Churchlands principal Neil Hunt – whose student Quan Lau was No.2 in the 2008 TEE rankings and was WA's top female and government-school TEE student – disputed claims private teachers worked harder and longer.
    
    "We have teachers that start at 7 every morning and we have many that are there till 6 at night,'' he said. We have teachers give up their free time to run homework classes in the library and that goes till 5.''
    
    "A high level of teacher commitment wasn't limited to well-off public schools such as Churchlands.
    
    "I spent five years at a low socio-economic area school at Swan View,'' Mr Hunt said.
    
    "The teachers worked just as hard as where I am now and the different pressures they had to put up with were simply amazing.
    
    "But we never got anything like the Churchlands results because the potential of those students was far less in terms of reaching high academic achievement, because they were from a totally different background.''
    
    "Mr Hunt said government schools also ended their year two or three weeks later than private schools and Churchlands teachers frequently worked during holidays.
    
    "He said many private schools excelled because they attracted good students – many from high socio-economic backgrounds who would do well anywhere – through factors such as scholarships.
    
    "Perceptions that non-government schools were better also attracted such students.
    
    "They do cherry pick, they do get the best kids out of the primary (school) sector,'' he said, adding that Hale's Joshua Ho – who was sixth in the 2008 TEE rankings – was at Churchlands until the end of Year 11, where he had averaged more than 90 in his subjects.
    
    "Ms Gould said few scholarships were given at independent schools and few schools selected students based on academic ability.
    
    "Ability to pay fees and waiting lists were big factors for entry.
    
    "Tensions between advocates of the private and public systems were inflamed when the Curriculum Council incorrectly named a private school student as the top female for 2008, instead of Ms Lau.
    
    "Ms Lau, 17, who had a Tertiary Entrance Rank of 99.5 – the highest score possible – said: "Public schools provide a good solid education, so you don't have to waste thousands of dollars paying for a private school.''
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
    
  • Kids slip education net (page 9)
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    "Laws to keep WA students at school until they are 17 have failed to keep thousands of teenagers off the streets.
    
    "The Sunday Times can reveal that at least 3600 people aged 17 were not registered at a school or TAFE, or in approved training or employment in 2008 - the first year the law said they should be.
    
    "Education Minister Liz Constable pledged to investigate after this newspaper showed her the data.
    
    "Previous minister Mark McGowan called the legislation - which was passed in November 2005 to raise the school leaving age from 15 to 16 in 2006, and to 17 in 2008 - "the most important change in WA's education system in 40 years''.
    
    "The December 31, 2008, figures also showed that a further 1008 youngsters were in approved employment without training.
    
    "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood was concerned teens might be going into jobs without enough education and that jobs without training might not offer good career prospects.
    
    "For kids who are just in employment, if you've got a kid in Year 11, or late Year 10 leaving school without the required literacy and numeracy skills, is that the right thing for the country?'' he said.
    
    "He was also concerned that so many 17-year-olds were unaccounted for in the latest figures – comprising about 12 per cent of the 30,236 total.
    
    "Dr Constable shared Mr Wood's concerns, but was encouraged that the figures showed nearly 90 per cent of all 17-year-olds were either in school, training, or approved jobs in 2008.
    
    "David Wood is right to be concerned that teenagers who opt for employment when they are 15 or 16 may not have the necessary general coping skills to succeed in the general workforce,'' the minister said. "This is certainly an area we will need to monitor.
    
    "Like all new pieces of legislation, there must be an ongoing analysis of its effectiveness, and this will take place over the next year or so. If we identify changes that need to be made, they will be made.''
    
    "She said employment should be considered "a valued and worthwhile path for many students who struggle in school'' that should not be undervalued.
    
    "Latest figures show 22,142 people aged 17 were in school and 4454 were in TAFE, a traineeship or approved job.
    
    "Separate Year 12 retention rates showed a 4 per cent improvement in 2008, compared with the previous year, with 19,914 students in Year 12 in 2008 from a group of 27,805 who started in Year 8 in 2004.
    
    "In 2007, 19,552 went on to Year 12, from the 28,643 who started in Year 8 in 2003."
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
  • School buses belt up (page 33)
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    “WA will finally get seat belts in ll Education Department-owned school buses by the end of the year.
    
    “But a further 508 orange school buses administered by the Public Transport Authority are yet to get seat belts.
    
    “PTA spokesman David Hynes said 302 orange buses had been replaced or fitted with belts since 2006.
    
    “The authority was on schedule to finish replacing the remaining PTA-controlled buses by 2015, as previously committed.
    
    “The latest decision follows a successful campaign for school bus seat belts by The Sunday Times and its readers in 2005, after a bus crash in Baldivis in which 28 children were hurt.
    
    “Former premier Geoff Gallop bowed to public pressure in November 2005 after the campaign started and said seat belts would be fitted.
    
    “But the timetable for completion shifted from 2010 to 2015 under the previous Labor government.
    
    “Education Minister Liz Constable said the Government decided to replace buses belonging to schools and other WA Government education organisations, under a $30.43 million program.
    
    “The Department of Education and Training received advice that retro-fitting existing school buses with seat belts would not comply with Australian safety standards,” Dr Constable said.
    
    “Therefore, it was decided to replace all buses belonging to public schools, agricultural colleges and the Country High Schools Hostels Association that did not have seat belts.”
    
    “She said 156 buses needed to be replace. Of these, 87 were replaced with new ones with seat belts in 2008.
    
    “The other 69 buses will be replaced by the end 2009,” Dr Constable said.
    
    “Another 32 school buses owned by the department already had seat belts and were not due for replacement.
    
    “A further 23 school buses were leased from contractors and were not required to have seat belts.
    
    “We will not compromise on students' safety – the new buses meet all safety standards,” Dr Constable said.
    
    “WA is the first state in the nation to make seat belts mandatory for school buses.
    
    “It is absolutely essential that all dedicated public school buses have seat belts.”
    
    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    
  • Libs want school principals to hand out condoms (page 5)
    by Anthony Decelgie
    
    "Principals should have the right to give condoms to high-school students if they think they are engaging in unsafe sex, the Opposition says.
    
    "The call comes as 2008 figures show that the Health Department's public awareness campaign has flopped, with sexually transmitted infections continuing to increase sharply.
    
    "Last year 8537 West Australians contracted chlamydia, up from 7738 the previous year.
    
    "Reported cases of syphilis have more than tripled in the past three years. There were 176 cases of the infection last year compared with only 50 in 2006.
    
    "Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook said principals might find themselves in a position where they had to counsel a student about their health risks.
    
    "This may include providing counsel about the use of condoms if the principal believes the student does not have the family support structures to deal appropriately with the issues,'' Mr Cook said.
    
    "Ideally, all counselling of such a personal nature should occur in consultation with the student's parents, but principals may be confronted with situations in which the opportunity for consultation simply doesn't exist.''
    
    "Mr Cook said principals should be able to make a case-by-case judgment on whether to give students condoms.
    
    "Education Minister Liz Constable said schools and principals had no place interfering in the relationship between parents and their children over sexual issues.
    
    "I believe most WA parents would agree with me,'' Dr Constable said.
    
    "I would also make the point that most students in our schools are below the legal age of consent.''
    
    "Mr Cook said it was important that schools made students aware of the dangers and implications of unprotected sex.
    
    "He said the Opposition did not support the introduction of condom-vending machines in high schools.
    
    "The Health Department will soon launch an online training program about sexual health for teachers in rural and remote areas.
    
    "A new website for young people that provides information about preventing STIs and blood-borne viruses will also be available."
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    
    
  • Sex shops shun (page 30)

    Parents want adult stores banned from school zones

    Parents don't want sex shops operating near schools, according to the WA Council of State School Organisations. The council has called on the State Government to restrict where adult stores can set up shop.
     
    Full story in The Sunday Times
    
    
    

• The Sunday Age
  
  
  • AMA seeks sex lessons for 10-year-olds
    by Jill Stark
    
    "Explicit sex education could be compulsory for children as young as 10 under radical proposals to curb Australia's "alarmingly high" rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.
    
    "The Australian Medical Association's state budget submission, obtained by The Sunday Age, urges that mandatory, comprehensive sex education be introduced into all state schools. Topics such as anal sex, mutual masturbation and date rape would be part of the curriculum, and terminology such as "f--k" and "blow job" would be used in classes. The AMA also wants graphic pictures of infections, such as herpes and genital warts, to be shown to warn pupils of the dangers of unprotected sex.
    
    "Opponents fear the classes could "traumatise" young children who are not emotionally equipped to understand explicit material.
    
    "However, the AMA says a frank approach is urgently needed as the incidence of chlamydia among 15 to 19-year-olds has doubled in five years. Gonorrhoea and syphilis are also on the rise and the AMA says 16 per cent of 16 to 19-year-old girls say they have had an unwanted pregnancy..."
    
    Full story in The Sunday Age at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    More sex education please, we're Victorian
    
    In a culture soaked with sexual imagery, from soft-porn advertising and music clips, to explicit and readily available pornography on the internet, Australia is surprisingly coy about educating its citizens about sex. We are not a noticeably prudish society, yet there is something about teaching young people about sexuality, sexual health, sexual differences and sex itself that makes many people squirm.
    
    
    
    
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • Graduates' career choices cut by half
    
    University graduates with degrees in finance, law or accountancy face fierce competition securing a job this year as redundancies increase and employment opportunities dry up.
    

All Alston cartoons are © The West Australian Newspaper
All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers

This page last updated 11 January, 2009 11:05 PM