Monday 26 January

Tuesday 27 January

Wednesday 28 January

Thursday 29 January

Friday 30 January

Saturday – Sunday, 31 January – 1 February

Monday 26 January

• There is not a single mention of education in the online Australian, Age or Sydney Morning Herald.
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In short
      
      "Every year around this time we read of hear of how there is going to be a shortage of teachers for the upcoming school year. These announcements are invariably followed by several letters to newspapers from frustrated teachers seeking positions. Is the Education Department aware of these job seekers, or is it just incompetent in not placing them?"
      
      James Harris, Chidlow
      
      
      
      
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Feature
    Top Picks for Young Readers
    
    Computers, sports, video games, friends, homework -- all are competing for kids' attention. But what about reading for fun? Staff writer Michael Alison Chandler asked local school librarians to tell us which books would make kids slow down long enough to read.
    
    

Tuesday 27 January

• Flashback
  
  
• Western Australia's 'English' course of study: to OBE or not to OBE, perhaps that is the question.
  by Richard G. Berlach & Michael O'Neill , Australian Journal of Education, April 2008
  
  "... One state that stood out from the others in terms of interpretation and implementation protocols was Western Australia. Western Australia was one of the last states to review its curriculum and, when it was finally produced, the Curriculum Framework (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 1998) was arguably one of the more fundamentalist fundamentalist in the country. Proponents adhered narrowly and rigidly to the fundamental principles (listed earlier) of Spady's Paradigm Lost and, in doing so, lost the wider commonsense in his approach that had been so enthusiastically received when his work first appeared. Consequently, education in Western Australia has been shrouded in controversy. For the first five or so years after the introduction of an OBE approach for students from kindergarten to Year 10, teachers were genuinely dismayed with the processes but doggedly persevered... At this time the upper secondary courses were quarantined from the OBE agenda.
  
  "The first wave of the new course of study was into Year 11 (English, aviation, engineering and media studies) in 2006, with preparation for subsequent course roll-out being undertaken. Almost from the inception, criticisms were vitriolic and came in the form of epithets such as 'politically correct'; 'New Age'; 'dumbingdown'; 'pretentious movement' ;'edubabble'; and 'outcomes compelled schooling', to name a few (see, for example, Turner, 2007).Teachers and university educators became increasingly alarmed that a bank of courses which were tried and true, possessed content rigour and were driven by a sequentially arranged syllabus would be jettisoned in favour of vague outcomes buoyed by ephemeral content, which had dubious power of discrimination for university entrance (Alder 2007; Kessell, 2006)..."
  
  [Addressing the English TEE exam, following a detailed question by question analysis]: "The point we are attempting to convey is this: in the end, this exam is very much an assessment of intellectual reflexes rather than an attempt to assess knowledge gained through detailed study..."
  
  Conclusion
  
  "English, the flagship of the courses of study, has epistemic shortcomings that we believe are the result of an inadequate conceptualisation of curriculum. Under an OBE regime, the little agreed understanding regarding the core of the curriculum has resulted in the absence of a reference point for developing satisfactory examination protocols. This absence has permitted a fundamentalist push in the direction of beliefs such as
  
  * de-emphasising spelling, grammar, punctuation and other previously indispensable building-blocks of functional literacy
  
  * seeing immediate experience as having pre-eminence over a structured response to a prepared body of work
  
  * privileging process and applied knowledge over substantive content
  
  * emphasising writing per se rather than what is written about;
  
  * reducing rigour as teachers are removed as the gatekeepers of core curriculum knowledge, becoming instead 'a guide on the side'
  
  * providing amazingly broad student choice that then makes the task of comparing student performance problematic.
  
  "The examination, a powerful symbol, sends important messages to the students, teachers and the community about what is valued and important. The English course of study paper signifies that preparation, effort, hard work and thorough, diligent teaching are not important when two-thirds of the paper can be answered with very little specific preparation.
  
  "Hirsch (1996) described OBE in America as the transformation of a reasonable idea into impractical vagueness through to progressivist antipathy regarding subject-matter knowledge. Ten years after these words were penned, the English COS examination is proof positive that such a curriculum orientation is alive and well in Western Australia. [emphasis added]
  
  "English is but one course of study that has attracted severe criticism. In response to acute public pressure, the Curriculum Council set up a system of teacher juries to examine some 40 proposed courses. The juries consisted of experienced subject teachers who embarked on the task of vetting and then providing guidance on the readiness for implementation of the planned courses of study. Early in May 2007, the juries recommended that over half of the proposed courses be delayed, subject to further investigation (West Australian, 2007, p. 1).
  
  "A commitment to achieving greater epistemic clarity in the areas of curriculum conceptualisation prior to engaging in implementation would likely have yielded a different result regarding the reception of the courses of study. It may still not be too late to bring greater level of design integrity to the entire process of curriculum development in Western Australia. A good starting point might be a scrutinised investigation of the desirability of OBE itself as the theoretical tool for interpreting the notion of curriculum."
  
  Well worth a read !
  
  
  
• The PLATO online poll on the new CoS

  
  
  
  

• The West Australian
  

  • Scramble to get 118 teachers for State schools (page 10)
    by Amanda Banks

    “The Education Department is scrambling to find 118 teachers less than a week before children return to classrooms.
     
    “Statistics compiled on Thursday showed no school was short more than two teachers and some districts, including the Kimberley, had all positions filled.
     
    “The Fremantle-Peel district has the most vacancies but also a big number of schools.
     
    “Education Minister Liz Constable said yesterday she was “cautiously confident” the 118 vacancies — down from 169 less than two weeks ago and less than the 134 last year — would fall further before the term began.
     
    “Offers were sent to teachers to fill many of the jobs and a strong advertising campaign had contributed to reducing the vacancies.
     
    “There is also some hard evidence, but we don’t have the numbers yet, that people who may have wanted to retire have not,” she said.
     
    “State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said the extent of the shortage would not be known until schools reopened on Monday because figures would be adjusted in line with enrolments. “If they have surplus staff in one school then they will look to move people out and go to places where there is not enough staff,” she said.
     
    “Ms Gisborne said she understood some teachers delayed their retirement or returned to work because of the global financial crisis. "The story also seems to be that people are returning from overseas and I would hope that may draw back teachers," she said.
    
    “There were 134 vacancies at the start of school last year.”

    From The West Australian at link
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • In Short: Classroom saving?

      “I noticed in Saturday's The West Australian that the Education Department advertised for seven administrative positions with a total wage bill of $619,396. I guess the 3 per cent saving demand by the Treasurer will come from the classroom, not Silver City.”
      
      Patrick F. Whalen, Yokine
      
      
      

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Principals fight to hire who they want
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "Principals will keep fighting for more autonomy to hire teachers after the State Government backed down from its decision to give them more control.
    
    "The NSW Teachers Federation signed a three-year staffing agreement last week which protects the transfer system that allows teachers to move to more desirable locations after serving time in a regional area.
    
    "As part of the agreement, the State Government has retained preliminary arrangements it introduced last April, which allow principals to alternate between advertising teacher vacancies and accepting teachers at the top of the service transfer list. A plan to phase out service transfers from next year has been abandoned.
    
    "The president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Jim McAlpine, said he was pleased the dispute had been resolved, removing the threat of a two-day teacher strike when students returned to school later this week, but he would continue to lobby for principals to have choice once the staffing agreement ended in three years.
    
    "While service transfers "should be part of the mix", Mr McAlpine said, "there should be greater opportunity for local selection". He said the federation's acceptance of the staffing arrangements introduced last year meant principals could now advertise some teaching positions without fear of retribution from the union.
    
    "The former education minister, John Della Bosca, and the Director-General for Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, said last year that they would not back away from a decision to allow school principals to overlook low priority teacher transfers and advertise for staff from 2010.
    
    "But a long-running industrial dispute with teachers forced the Government's hand last week when it reversed its decision."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Teaching of phonics receives boost
    
    Government announces funding to run phonics programmes aimed at helping every child to learn to read
    
    Local authorities are to get £9m to run phonics programmes for young children, the schools secretary, Ed Balls, confirmed today.
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Indigenous school attendance program 'discriminatory'
    
    The Northern Territory Education Union says a Federal Government trial program linking school attendance to welfare quarantining is discriminatory.
    
    
    
  • ACT teachers' average age drops
    
    The ACT Education Department says its recruitment activities have reduced the average age of teachers by four years.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
• 'Unfit' teacher banned for a year
  
  A former teacher who did nothing as her 16-year-old students pulled a Jackass-style stunt by setting up tables as a bowling alley and "bowling" a student on a computer chair into furniture could be back in the classroom within a year... Victoria's top teaching watchdog found the teacher, Tania Webber, was seriously incompetent and unfit to teach, but has suspended her for only 12 months.
  
  
  
• The Wry Side
  No such thing as a carefree [school] lunch
  
  "Well, there's this teacher," [my 7 year son old] ventures hesitantly. "She's got this new white uniform she wears at lunchtime with a big red LM onit." ... "It stands for Lunch Monitor. She comes to our class and checks what's in our lunchbox and if it's not healthy she takes it off us and throws it in her big wheelie bin. The wheelie bin's got letters on its side too, JF. JF. Junk food," he says.

 

Wednesday 28 January

• The Australian
  
  
  • Must try harder on education, Kevin Rudd told
    by Andrew Trounson and Angus Hohenboken
    
    "Two-thirds of voters do not believe the Rudd Government is investing enough in public schools, despite Labor promises of an education revolution.
    
    "The verdict is delivered in a new poll to be used by unions to push for greater federal funding for public education in the lead-up to the May budget.
    
    "The poll of 1001 people was taken early this month after the announcement of Canberra's deal with the states to boost school funding. Of the respondents, 211 had children in public schools.
    
    "According to the Australian Education Union survey, 78 per cent agreed that public schools were doing a good job but were under-resourced. And 77 per cent agreed that there wouldn't be an "education revolution" without Canberra substantially boosting funding for public education.
    
    "Parents with children attending public school rated one-on-one attention and smaller class sizes as the most pressing areas for improvement.
    
    "Under the agreement with the states, Canberra will invest $14 billion over four years in the state-funded public sector, with the funds tied to new transparency and accountability measures.
    
    "Across all schools, the Government is spending almost $1 billion to boost the quality of teachers and improve numeracy and literacy, and $1.1 billion is allocated for schools in disadvantaged areas.
    
    "Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday announced $719 million in funding under the national agreement for NSW's education system.
    
    "Joining NSW Premier Nathan Rees, Ms Gillard said the funds would be directed towards the "all important issues of literacy and improving teacher quality and making a difference to disadvantaged schools".
    
    "A further $635 million would be allocated to primary schools, effectively bringing in an extra $100 a child. [Now that will revolutionise education! Web]
    
    "Asked whether there were adequate resources available to keep up with rising enrolments in public schools, Ms Gillard said the Government aimed to make sure both public and non-government schools were able to offer "great quality education".
    
    "We do see movements from time to time between the various school systems and there are some predictions about likely movements this year," Ms Gillard said, referring to the impact the economic downturn would have on private education.
    
    "Clearly we'll work with our state and territory colleagues, but the new resources that we are talking about today are substantial new investments in schooling."
    
    "AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos said the poll results showed the union had public backing for its campaign and it would restart its TV advertising campaign that ran late last year.
    
    "While the funding boost announced in November was welcome, Mr Gavrielatos said it wasn't enough to make up for past chronic underfunding.
    
    "This campaign will continue until such time as our public schools are fully and adequately funded," Mr Gavrielatos told The Australian.
    
    "A recent report by educational economist Adam Rorris suggested capital spending at public schools would have to be boosted by $2.2 billion a year if Australia was to close the gap on per student spending with the UK and US.
    
    "Mr Gavrielatos has said that demand for public education is likely to rise at times of economic hardship as parents cut costs.
    
    "But Kathryn Edwards, assistant executive director of the Independent Schools Council of Australia, said that it was too early to judge whether the downturn was affecting enrolments: "In November, the anecdotal evidence was that we weren't going to be affected, but (given economic conditions have worsened) we can't be certain that is going to be the case."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Renaissance of the sciences as student demand increases for courses
    
    Significantly increased demand for science and engineering would help meet critical skills shortfalls and aid reconstruction of the financial system, leading science, engineering and maths deans said this week.
    
    
    
  • No sign of election but Queensland campaigning begins
    
    Education is shaping up as a major election issue.
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Gillard backs plan for student practice tests
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard says she supports practice testing for Queensland students.
    
    "The State Government has accepted a recommendation by education consultant Geoff Masters that students use last year's national tests to practise for this year's testing.
    
    "Ms Gillard says it is Queensland's decision.
    
    "Mr Masters has recommended that in preparing for the literacy and numeracy testing, students have access to previous tests," she said.
    
    "I think that's an idea of merit because obviously the literacy and numeracy tests that have been prepared are there to reveal strengths and weaknesses."
    
    "Ms Gillard has announced that 363 Queensland schools will get funding in the second round of the Commonwealth's computer fund and that the Commonwealth will foot the bill for software and maintenance costs."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Catholic teachers to stop work in pay battle
    
    New South Wales Catholic school teachers are planning to take industrial action next week after they were unable to reach agreement on wage negotiations.
    
    
    
  • Govt details second round of school computer funding
    
    
    
  • Not so fast: minimum leaving age raised
    
    The New South Wales Government is planning to raise the minimum school leaving age to 17 from next year.
    
    
    
    
• The New York Times
  
  
  • Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education
    
    Washington — The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget.
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Web gives homework hard edge
    by Heath Gilmore
    
    "Access to the internet is altering drastically the way primary and secondary students complete their homework.
    
    "Joanne Orlando, of the School of Education at the University of Western Sydney, said yesterday that students were being assigned more high-level homework that drew on their computer skills for research and presentation.
    
    "Special arrangements were made for children without a computer at home, but they were increasingly at a disadvantage.
    
    "Ms Orlando, who studied the use of computers in primary and secondary schools over five years, said students were asking their parents to provide guidance for free-wheeling, high-tech presentations.
    
    "Parents helping with homework is an age-old issue," she said. The issue of parents who did not, or could not, help with homework was something confronting teachers all the time.
    
    "Just because a child may have a computer does not fix that. The issue remains."
    
    "She said computers were not essential for homework but that "in our society computer skills are highly valued, and so is developing those skills at home".
    
    "This may mean that students will use PowerPoint rather than the old-fashioned sheet of cardboard and teachers will assess the content of the project as well as the suitability of methods they have used to present the information."
    
    "Ms Orlando said teachers were being less explicit in their guidelines for projects to give greater freedom to students to use their computer skills, and children now turned to their parents to help generate ideas, assist with grammar and punctuation, and set parameters.
    
    "Computers and the internet offer such amazing diversity in terms of the diverse skills that children of all ages can complete. Thankfully, the majority of primary and secondary schools have now become interactive and dynamic places where students have the opportunity to further develop the computer skills they have already acquired at home and pass these skills on to their peers."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • Parents make moves on top schools
    
    Parents are buying houses in areas close to desirable schools and intervening more than ever to ensure their children are positioned for success in their education, University of Sydney research has found.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Disabled students pursue neglect claims
    
    The State Government and the Catholic Education Office are being dragged through the courts in at least 18 separate cases by disabled students who claim they have been neglected at school and lag far behind their peers.
    
    
    • Learning problems and dreams denied lead to court
      
      
      
  • Choice of school an anxiety
    
    The right to choose your child's school — portrayed as a virtue by successive federal governments — is actually a source of much anxiety for many middle-class parents, according to a new book.

 

Thursday 29 January

• The West Australian
  

  • Tests show dire state of NW schools (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “The dire state of education in the North-West has been laid bare by figures which show that just one Year 7 student in Halls Creek reached the minimum benchmark in a national punctuation and grammar test.
    
    “A comparison of school results published by the Department of Education and Training and compiled by The West Australian shows the stark contrast between schools at different ends of the spectrum.
    
    “Wembley Downs and Kapinara Primary Schools were the only out of the hundreds listed in which every student achieved the minimum national standard in every one of the 15 categories tested.
    
    “Another 20 schools which also draw students from high socioeconomic areas got more than 95 per cent of their students to equal or better the minimum benchmarks on national literacy and numeracy tests which students sat in May last year.
    
    “But country schools like Halls Creek District High School are still struggling, with just 5 per cent of Year 7s reaching the benchmark for punctuation and grammar.
    
    “Results were better for numeracy, with 79 per cent of Year 7s reaching the benchmark, though this was still well below the WA State school average of 93.6.
    
    “Fitzroy Crossing DHS also struggled in most categories, with just 6 per cent of Year 7s achieving the minimum standard in writing. Halls Creek principal David Faulkner said he did not place much credence on the one-off tests which students did for the first time last year, adding:
    
    “Our own data shows there have been significant improvements in learning outcomes across the school in the past 18 months due to improved attendance.”
    
    “Kapinara principal Jane Rowlands said even though the school drew its students from wealthy City Beach, that was not the sole reason for its success.
    
    “There are so many little cogs in the wheel,” she said. “It's not just one thing, it's having everything and being able to put it all together.”
    
    “Ms Rowlands said good teaching was the key contributor, followed by close examination of test data each year to see where improvements could be made.
    
    “The school focused heavily on language basics in the early years, making sure there were no gaps. Education Minister Liz Constable said she aimed to lift Aboriginal students' performance through new early intervention strategies.
    
    “The State Government recently launched a $4.67 million package to lift literacy and numeracy standards in public schools.”
    
    [plus a 4-page liftout: government primary schools 'league tables']
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Elite colleges ‘get too many free computers’ (page 6)
    by Andrew Tillett
    
    “Some of WA's wealthiest elite private schools will get hundreds of new computers courtesy of Kevin Rudd and taxpayers.
    
    “Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday rolled out the second round of the Government's $2 billion Computers in Schools program, with 151 WA schools to share 15,520 machines.
    
    “The new computers, to be delivered in coming weeks, means all schools should meet the Government's target of one machine for every two students in Years 9-12.
    
    “But a breakdown of the allocation reveals that some of Perth's best resources and most expensive schools have received a generous allocation. Christ Church Grammar School will get 197 computers, Scotch College 178, Iona Presentation College 164, St Hildas 137, Trinity College 173, Aquinas College128, Christian Brothers College 99 and Methodist Ladies College 98.
    
    “WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry, who represents public school parents, said the allocations cast doubt on the fairness of the Government's program. He said many private schools could tap into their own funding sources, such as fees or donations, instead of relying on taxpayers.
    
    “It begs the question how the Government can justify putting so many computers in what are exclusive schools,” Mr Fry said.
    
    “But Association of Independent Schools of WA executive director Valerie Gould said every school had been audited based on government guidelines to determine their entitlement so they would reach a ratio of one machine for every two Year 9 to 12 students.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    See similar stories in The Australian and The Age
    
    
    

  • ‘Rich kids to gain’ by volunteer HECS plan (page 19)
    
    The Opposition says rich children living with their parents will be the only people to benefit from a Federal Government plan to cut HECS debts for university students who take up volunteer and charity work.

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    Also see similar story in The Australian
    
    
    

  • Big bills as kids demand top brands (page 6)

    Parents are under increasing pressure to fork out for a dizzying array of branded back-to-school products or worry that their children will be teased in the playground.

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    Back school plan with money
    
    "The State Government's idea of raising the school leaving age to 17 will not meet many objections. Many people will be surprised to learn that it is still only 15, when all the other states have long adopted 16 as the cut-off for compulsory schooling. The question is whether the Premier has really thought through the ramifications of this good idea, and can apply the resources to turn good intentions into good outcomes.
    
    "As Mr Rees and educationists mention, the present evidence is that students who stay on for the full high school experience have a much better chance of success at work later in life. Early school leavers earn less over their working lives, and are more likely to be unemployed. A better educated workforce can be the driver of a stronger economy.
    
    "But if those students who now drop out at 15 are now forced to stay at school without getting engaged, that statistical link will disappear - along with the some of the academic environment for those kids who do want to get the most out of their schooling.
    
    "The NSW Greens MP, John Kaye, points out that just a one-year increase in the leaving age would add another 24,000 students to public school enrolments, meaning that annual funding would have to increase by some $253 million to avoid a fall in per capita spending. But how it is spent is important.
    
    "Some of the students who stay on will get past the often unmotivated mid-teen years and re-engage with the academic side of things. Most, we suspect, will find more interest in very practical courses and experiences. Some of this will be met by the Rudd-Gillard effort to infuse more trade and technical courses into high schools. The extra stay-on students will at least get their own laptop to play around with. But the state must now reverse the withdrawal of the TAFE system from providing entry-level trade courses for 16- and 17-year-olds that has been forced by funding cuts in the past two years.
    
    "The new leaving age from 2010 will not help Mr Rees massage the state's unemployment figures during the recession, which is already upon us. Unskilled, poorly educated youngsters dropping out this year will be the worst hit by hiring freezes and cutbacks in the retail sector. But we take the Premier's proposal as a sincere one. Let's now see the plans rolled out to make the two extra school or training years a productive investment, both for the student and the state."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    • Minimum school leaving age jumps to 17 [late (4:49 pm) 28 January update]
      
      
      
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Chaos rules in class
      
      "Raising the mandatory school leaving age may have been thought of with the best of intentions ("School leaving age rises to 17", January 28). However, the unintended consequences of forcing people to stay at school until this age may include a detrimental classroom environment in which those who do not want to be there can disrupt the learning of other students.
      
      "The last two years of school are essentially preparing students for university entrance. Not all students have the capacity or inclination for higher education. We should provide better options for vocational training (in addition to tertiary preparation) once a student reaches 15."
      
      Marie dela Rama, Newington
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Elite private schools take big bite from laptop plan
    
    Free computers will be handed out to some of the nation's most elite private schools under the federal Government's $141 million computers-in-schools program.
    
    Similar story in The Age

  
  
  © The Age
  
  

  • Government to offer HECS discounts for people who volunteer for community work [late 28 January update]
    
    While the full details of the plan are still to be worked out with volunteer groups, a spokeswoman for senator Ursula Stephens, parliamentary secretary for social inclusion and voluntary sector, said the government would soon announce a broad framework for the plan.
    
    
    
    
• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • Parents failing depressed teens
    
    Depression is the common cold for today's teens and they rely on friends, rather than parents, for guidance, a leading psychologist has warned.
    
    
    
  • Church schools can ban gay staff in South Australia
    
    Church schools will retain the right to refuse to employ gay teachers in South Australia under a watering-down of proposed anti-discrimination laws.
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • 'Too many' cannot read and write
    
    An "unacceptably" high number of people in England cannot read, write and count properly, MPs have warned. The Public Accounts Committee said in 2007 51,000 pupils left school without a GCSE of at least D-G in maths and 39,000 left without this in English.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Classrooms go green in local education revolution
    
    When principal Martin Culkin started at Dandenong High School a decade ago it was run to the old-fashioned "cells and bells" model.

 

Friday 30 January

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Parents need lessons on the grading system (page 20)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "WA school reports have become an elaborate sham but parents don't realise they are being conned. Children get grades on their reports which are supposedly linked to a common standard across the State. But for children in Years 1 t o10, those grades are built on shaky foundations which don't hold up under scrutiny.
    
    "While parents like the concept of grades, what many don't know is that the grades which appear on State school reports and most private school reports are nothing  like the traditional grades which were once used to rank students' achievement within a class.
    
    "Many of the problems arose when former Howard government education minister Brendan Nelson insisted that schools use A to E grades in response to parents' calls for reports they could understand. In a move that has been as successful as trying to staple together wet strands of spaghetti, WA's Education Department tacked Dr Nelson's grades onto its outcomes-based curriculum framework, which tries to describe a student's learning in developmental stages. [emphasis added]
    
    "Under WA's system, grades are derived from generic “levels”, a student assessment tool which has already been dumped from Years 11 and 12 because they were considered to be an unreliable and invalid measure. And yet levels are still being used up to Year 10, even though hey no longer appear on public school reports because the were considered too confusing for parents.
    
    "University of WA education professor David Andrich – a world expert on assessment methods – wrote a report in 2006 that found that the levels ere too crude for measuring student achievement. That report, when it was eventually released, played a pivotal role in the Carpenter government's decision to stop using levels in the high-stakes final school years.
    
    "What many don't realise  is that the research which helped Professor Andrich reach his conclusions was done with primary school pupils. He says the same arguments for ridding upper school of levels hold good for Years 1 to 10. How can we ignore someone of Professor Andrich's international standing when he expresses grave misgivings about student assessment?
    
    "Levels are an attempt to break learning down into equal units to measure a  child's development along a scale – something the experts say is impossible. There are eight levels which are meant to describe student achievement across 12 years of schooling.
    
    "Using levels to assess students' work is about as meaningful as saying let's measure students' height by description, so we can say James is taller than the table but he's not yet taller than the door.
    
    "Millions of dollars have been spent on training teachers in “making consistent judgments” where they examine student work samples and agree on their level. But because levels are just a broad verbal description, teachers interpret them differently.
    
    "The belief is that the consensus didn't process gives levels consistency. But it's ridiculous to assume that just because teachers have agreed on something their judgment is either reliable or accurate. People used to agree the Earth was flat, but their consensus didn't make them right.
    
    "Teachers are then expected to use “grade allocation resources” (commonly referred to as “smarties charts” because of their use of multi-coloured circles) which tell them what grade a student should get depending on which level they are working at. They enter separate levels for each outcome in a subject in a computer program which combines them using another complex but ultimately meaningless process and spits out a grade.
    
    "Let's take an example. Using the smarties chart, Year 3 student Jasmine is given a B for the reading outcome in the English learning  area because her work is considered to be “consistently level 2, sometimes level3”. She also gets an A for writing and a B for listening and speaking.
    
    "The computer assigns each of those grades a numerical value, from five for an A down to one for an E, giving Jasmine a score of 13 which equates to an overall grade of B for English.
    
    "But this elaborate points system used to arrive at the ultimate grade relies on numerals that mean nothing because they are just labels. They have no more numerical value than the number on your mailbox. Averaging all the mailbox numbers in a suburb will not give you a sensible street location.
    
    "The Education Department claims that many teachers are now familiar with levels and like using them.
    
    "That's like saying I prefer driving at 90 kmh in 70 kmh zones – but just because I like speeding doesn't make it the right thing to do.
    
    "It says teachers also have the choice to override the computerised grades, if they wish. So some  teachers are using one method and others a different one.
    
    "The Carpenter government took the bold step of throwing levels out of Years 11 and 12. But it refused to go further, hoping they would eventually fade away without anyone having to admit that much of the time, money and effort invested in OBE since the mid-1990s had been wasted.
    
    "The debate over levels has been characterised a sold dinosaur teachers resisting change. In reality its a clash between those who rely on anecdotal, subjective judgments and those who prefer objective, empirical data. [emphasis added]
    
    "Use of levels contradicts the department's own assessment policy which says reporting should be “reliable and valid”. What message does it send our children when educators are forced to favour ideology over evidence? The State Government already has a mandate to force changes. Liberal Peter Collier pledged to abolish levels when he was shadow education minister in February 2007 and again last year during the election campaign last year. But the person who got the portfolio, Liz Constable, has been slow to act. And unless she is willing to tackle the department bureaucracy, parents will continue to be conned."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • What’s the point?

      “I’ve seen some pretty pointless exercises, but your publication of a primary school ranking ranks near the top (29/1).

      “Just what is the point? Is it to show one school might be better than another? Is it to put pressure on teachers at poorly-performing schools?

      “There are other variables that come into play in these types of rankings, such as the type of community the school is located in, the level of funding the school receives and the level of educational support provided at home.

      “All it does is create a them-and-us mentality. Far better to focus on the overall results.”
      
      Greg Smith, Fremantle
      
      
      

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • More than 700 WA graduate teachers jobless
    by Paul Lampathakis
    
    "More than 700 WA graduate teachers will be jobless at the start of the school year, says the WA Opposition.
    
    "Reacting to news that WA would be only eight teachers short when schools re-open on Monday, Opposition education spokeswoman Michelle Roberts said it was alarming that 704 graduate teachers who had been encouraged into the profession were now without a job.
    
    "Education Minister Liz Constable is asleep at the wheel if she hasn't put in place plans to prioritise places in the education system for our young local teachers," Mrs Roberts said today.
    
    "It is disappointing that so many Western Australian graduate teachers find themselves without a job at a time of great economic uncertainty.
    
    "I would be interested to know if the Department of Education and Training offered any priority to the graduates as a result of the recruitment drive."
    
    "Mrs Roberts said 111 interstate teachers and 53 teachers from overseas had been offered jobs ahead of our home grown WA graduate teachers.
    
    "It is also alarming that the economic downturn and changed retirement prospects for many Western Australians have not been factored into any of the recruitment or management strategies as a matter of urgency," Mrs Roberts said.
    
    "Liz Constable and the Department of Education and Training should be looking at ways to employ these graduate teachers immediately otherwise they will be lost to the system forever.
    
    "Now would be an ideal time to reduce class sizes and address teacher workload issues."
    
    "But Dr Constable said the employment of 523 graduates for the start of the school year was ``absolutely consistent with what had happened in previous years, under the previous Labor government''.
    
    "Through the course of the year, this number will double approximately - just like it has in previous years,'' she said.
    
    "In 2005, 488 graduates were employed at the start of the year, 948 were employed by the end of the year.''
    
    "She said that in 2006, 557 graduates got jobs at the start of the year and 1072 by the end.
    
    "In 2007 the figures were 536 and 1101, and in 2008 they were 634 and 1131.
    
    "Graduates are always given priority,'' Dr Constable said.
    
    "This year's overseas and interstate teachers were recruited by the previous Labor Government, of which Michelle Roberts was a senior figure.
    
    "Did Mrs Roberts raise these concerns in Cabinet?
    
    "All overseas and interstate teachers are placed in hard-to-staff schools in regional areas. The great advantage for regional communities is that these teachers are all experienced.'' 
    
    "Dr Constable said it was difficult to see how she had been "asleep at the wheel", given that in the short time since she had become minister, she had resolved the teacher pay crisis that Labor had not been able to conclude in two years and the teacher shortage that Labor had not fixed in more than three years of trying.
    
    "Earlier today at a media conference to announce the small teacher shortage, Education Department director-general Sharyn O'Neill was asked about teachers who had been unable to get jobs.
    
    "Ms O`Neill said it was only the beginning of term and teachers left jobs, became pregnant, took leave and retired.
    
    "So we take on teachers everyday, this is an ongoing process,'' she said.
    
    "There will be other vacancies as time goes on and we'll be wanting to place other people in those positions.
    
    "People who are interested in working with this (Education) Department, we want you to be with us and we'd ask you to continue to check in with us as we will with you.''
    
    "Ms O'Neill told the media conference that there were only four full-time and four part-time teaching positions still vacant across nearly 800 public schools."
    
    [Why are there ANY vacancies if 700 new teachers are without jobs?  Web]
    
    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    Similar story on ABC News
    
    
    
  • Late Update:
    WA schools strike cancelled
    
    WA schools have averted a strike by administrators which was to hit when schools re-opened on Monday.
    
    
    • Earlier:
      School administrators strike over support resources
      by Paul Lampathakis
      
      "Thousands of WA children face disruption when they return to school on Monday because of a strike among administrators.
      
      "Among services set to be crippled by the stop work action on February 2 are the functioning of libraries and science labs, enrolments, transfers between schools and the payment of school fees.
      
      "The Community and Public Sector Union - which represents about 2000 school administrators - says the dispute is not about more money, but about getting the State Government to properly resource school support functions, after 18 months of failing to do so.
      
      "Our members are stressed and overworked,'' said CPSU branch assistant secretary Jo Gaines, adding that more strikes were on the horizon if matters were not resolved.
      
      "(Our members) are at a level of anger and frustration at the failure of both the Education Department and the Government to recognise the level of contribution they make to children's education in this state.
      
      "Without proper administration, you cannot keep teachers in classrooms and this will affect the Government's capacity to introduce their Classrooms First strategy.
      
      "The union met with Education Minister Liz Constable in November and December, and advised her both times of our intention to strike if there wasn't some Government response on these issues.
      
      "To date nothing's changed. We've given them ample opportunity. We've given them months of notice about this.''
      
      "Ms Gaines said at an emergency Industrial Relations Commission conference on Wednesday, the IRC recommended that the strike not take place, while conceding that there were workload issues.
      
      "But she said a meeting of union delegates on Thursday rejected the recommendation so the one-day strike was due to proceed.
      
      "Another conference at the commission was due to be held at noon today where the IRC may make orders that the strike is cancelled.
      
      "Ms Gaines did not want to pre-empt the union's decision should such orders be made.
      
      "This strike will create disruption, but we don't do this lightly,'' she said.
      
      "This has been an issue that has been well documented in joint reviews with the department which identified the extent of the problem some 18 months ago.
      
      "The department has failed to act on the implementation of the recommendations.
      
      "One significant recommendation is that there be an additional 280 staff across WA schools.''
      
      "Ms Gaines said critical administrative services in schools - already buckling under the pressure of staff shortages - were being further threatened by continued under-resourcing.
      
      "She said there were also additional demands from Government policies to shift functions from teachers to support staff.
      
      "But she said that despite years of negotiation between the department, the Government and members - which included school registrars, business managers, school support officers, library officers, laboratory technicians and information technology support staff - the situation remained unchanged and continued to compromise the delivery of quality education in WA.
      
      "Neither Dr Constable nor the Education Department could be contacted last night, but in December Dr Constable said of the dispute: "I have had two good meetings with union representatives in recent times and I am aware of the issues involved."
      
      "In December, teachers resolved a long-running battle over salaries and conditions with the Government, which will mean raises of more than 20 per cent over three years for most in that profession."
      
      From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
      
      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • Editorial
    Schools waiting for the real revolution
    
    Free computers won't eliminate social inequities.
    
    "Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard likes to argue that education policy must look beyond the old rivalries between Australia's government, Catholic and independent schools. "We aren't on about schools systems," she said in a television interview last year. "We are about the school performance and quality of every school."
    
    "If only it were so. Apart from the national curriculums being devised for core subjects, the most prominent element in the Rudd Government's self-styled "education revolution" has been its election pledge to increase the numbers of computers in schools. The Government is delivering on that pledge — but in the process it appears to be entrenching, not diminishing, the differences between poorly resourced government schools and wealthy private schools.
    
    "As The Age reported yesterday, elite private schools are conspicuous beneficiaries of the second round of funding announced under the computer policy, which will result in 141,600 computers being distributed to 1394 schools. According to a spokeswoman for Ms Gillard, more than 60 per cent of the allocated funds — almost $82 million — will go to government schools. So phrased, the policy might not seem inequitable. But it can fairly be asked why the distribution to such well-resourced institutions as Penleigh and Essendon Grammar (294 new computers), St Kevin's College (282), Caulfield Grammar (215) and Haileybury College (118) is so plentiful. That is a Victorian selection, but the pattern is repeated nationally — Canberra Grammar will get 107 computers, Sydney Grammar 100 and Brisbane Grammar 176.
    
    "These are all schools that charge substantial fees, and it is a reasonable surmise that students whose parents can afford such fees are probably already from computer-using households. So, although the list of beneficiaries certainly includes government schools, too — Dandenong High (395 computers), Glen Waverley Secondary College (361) and the selective-entry Melbourne High School (385), for example — it may be doubted whether these high-tech handouts amount to any kind of revolution.
    
    "In the first round of distributions, the federal Education Department issued guidelines declaring that the funds would be directed to secondary schools that were most in need of information and communications technology. That prescription, however, was qualified by a statement that the assessment would be based on "the school's ability to ensure the equipment purchased can be operational in a timely fashion" and "the school's capability to support and implement the proposed procurement". In other words, schools that already had sufficient desktop space for computers, along with appropriate cabling and power supply, would be at the head of the queue. Successive distributions are presumably moving down the queue, but it is not apparent that the differences in resources between government and non-government schools, and between elite and other non-government schools, are disappearing in consequence.
    
    "An education revolution worthy of the name ought to have as its aim the provision of genuine equality of opportunity to every Australian child. This goal should not require restricting public support to one kind of school only, and in that sense Ms Gillard is right to say that conflict between systems should be consigned to the past. That won't happen, however, if fundamental questions of equity and disadvantage are ignored.
    
    "The Government continues to follow its predecessor's "socio-economic status" (SES) funding model for private schools, which calculates levels of subsidy based on the postcodes of each school's catchment area. That is a dubious measure of a school's wealth, and until public funding of private schools is again calculated on the basis of need Ms Gillard's vision of an Australia where the differences between school systems do not raise issues of social equity is likely to remain just that — an aspiration, not a reality.
    
    "For that aspiration is to be realised, governments must ensure that the choices parents make are not choices between best and second-best, which means maintaining an adequately funded public education system. Governments may insist that they are doing this, but the schools data released yesterday by the Bureau of Statistics, which show a continuing drift away from government schools, suggests that parents do not agree."
    
    From The Age at link
    
    
    
  • Parents abandoning public schools
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Many parents are abandoning public education, with the number of students enrolling in private schools continuing to outstrip enrolments in government schools.
    
    "Secondary school enrolments grew by 13,569 between August 2007 and August last year, but most of those students — almost 12,000 — opted for independent or Catholic schools instead of the public system, according to data released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
    
    "The data represents a trend in education over the past decade: the government school system has grown by 1 per cent since 1998 while the non-government sector has grown by 21.9 per cent.
    
    "Educators warned yesterday that more parents would flock to private schools — and that public education, which caters for 64 per cent of the nation's students, would become increasingly residual — unless state and federal governments provided more investment and support.
    
    "We should be worried about this because, in the end, it's socially divisive — we're creating a class system," said Melbourne University professor of post-compulsory education and training Richard Teese.
    
    "The preliminary Schools Australia data also showed:
    
    ■The number of teachers in public secondary schools fell in Victoria, while in independent and Catholic schools the number increased. This is despite last year's wage deal with the State Government, in which some public school teachers won pay rises of up to $10,000 a year.
    
    ■Government primary school enrolments fell by almost 5500 between 2007 and 2008, yet government secondary school enrolments increased by 1668.
    
    ■Enrolments increased by 3670 at Catholic secondary schools and by 8231 at independent secondary schools.
    
    ■More indigenous students are enrolled in schools. But national retention rates for all year 10 to 12 students did not change (75.6 per cent), and fell in Victoria (81.8-80.9 per cent).
    
    "Acting federal Education Minister Brendan O'Connor admitted the stagnated retention rates were a "serious concern". The Government has pledged to lift retention rates to 90 per cent by 2020, but he said "targeted, enduring and well-resourced programs are needed if we are to reach this ambitious goal".
    
    "In Victoria, the continuing drift to private schools led Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon to accuse the Government of mismanaging public education.
    
    "But Education Minister Bronwyn Pike's spokesman hit back last night, saying the state had invested $7.3 billion in schools and education since 1999.
    
    "The data comes despite some Victorian principals reporting that, in the past few months, a growing number of private school families had expressed interest in sending their children to public schools due to financial hardship.
    
    "Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said he expected the drift to private schools to slow as more families struggled to meet rising education costs."
    
    From The Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Limit makes certificate pointless, say teachers [late 29 January update]
    
    The delivery of senior school education in NSW needs to be overhauled to support an increase in the minimum school leaving age from 15 to 17, according to principals and teachers... High school principals yesterday welcomed the move to increase the school leaving age, but said the new requirement, along with new national testing for year 9 students, had made the existing year 10 School Certificate redundant.
    
    The president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Jim McAlpine, said students should instead be given an "exit certificate" documenting their achievements until they leave school after year 10 or year 11. He said a new English course would need to be introduced in years 11 and 12 for students not interested in going to university. [emphasis added]
    
    
    
  • Census nets a new demographic - the iGeneration
    
    Each new generation is smarter, more likely to live in a city and less likely to observe any religion, according to a new breakdown. And there is a new pigeonhole for people aged 20 and under - iGeneration, or those people who do not remember life before the internet.
    


© The Sydney Morning Herald



• Letters to the Editor
  
  
  • Forced to stay at school
    
    "I am a 15-year-old year 10 student in NSW, and after hearing the decision to raise the legal school leaving age to 17 ("School leaving age rises to 17", January 28) I am left wondering who it's really going to help.
    
    "School is not the ideal environment for everyone, and kids who do not want to be in a classroom are not going to be productive. On top of this, they are going to hinder the learning of kids who actually want to be there.
    
    "There is usually a reason kids leave. Rather than aimlessly forcing everyone to stay in school, why don't the Government and schools try to figure out why kids are leaving early and do something about it?
    
    "Incentives and programs, rather than just a law, could be offered to encourage students to stay in school of their own will, because having students in schools because they want to be there and not because they have to is going to be what makes a difference. A blanket law is never going to solve anything."
    
    Micaela Bassford, Kirrawee
    
    
    
  • "Every day in NSW there are hundreds of under-15s who do not attend school. Despite the best efforts of teachers they remain chronic non-attenders. Although they are a minority they are prominent in the juvenile crime statistics and have few employment prospects. Most probably will end up in prison. They remain on the roll because they cannot officially leave school until they are 14 years and nine months, but because authorities are reluctant to take further action they are able to defy the law.
    
    "Most of the debate on the raising of the school leaving age to 17 has centred on the need for a curriculum change to cater for the needs of the less academic students. What is also needed is some teeth in the new law and more alternative educational facilities to cater for the drop-outs. Merely raising the school leaving age will have little benefit for many students unless the issues causing youth disaffection are also addressed.
    
    Brian Jeffrey, Gunnedah
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
• Indigenous school results show chances are remote
  by Brad Norington and Susannah Moran
  
  "Federal and state governments are under pressure to boost resources for indigenous school students after the Productivity Commission reported that they were dramatically behind on key education benchmarks.
  
  "The needs were greatest for indigenous children growing up in remote and very remote communities, where performances in reading, writing, maths and science were poorest.
  
  "According to the results of literacy and numeracy tests reviewed by the commission as part of its Report on Government Services, learning outcomes for indigenous students declined as remoteness increased.
  
  "The performance gap between indigenous students and all students also increased as remoteness increased.
  
  "The overall proportion of assessed Year 3 students who achieved the benchmark for reading across Australia was in the range of 91.9-94.9 per cent.
  
  "For Year 3 indigenous students, the proportion fell to between 76.6 and 84.8 per cent..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  
• Women ahead of men by degrees
  
  Women have closed the gender gap in university qualifications, with more females than males in Generations X and Y holding bachelor degrees.
  
  
  
• Letter to the Editor
  
  
  • Reluctant school learners
    
    "Let us hope that the NSW Government is more successful with its proposal to increase the school leaving age to 17 than it has been with its failed policies on roads, trains, ferries and hospitals ("Minimum leaving age set to be raised to 17”, 28/1).
    
    "Most young people respond well to schooling but some will rebel if they are forced to stay at school for an extra two years. As reluctant learners, they become classroom nuisances and disrupt the learning environment of others who want to be there.
    
    "Schools should not be seen as repositories for unemployed youths. Unless the Government is prepared to fund special programs that capture the interests of such youngsters and prepare them for interesting post-school life, the policy is doomed to fail."
    
    Brian O’Donnell, Burradoo, NSW
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Teachers join general strike in France
    
    Thousands of teachers are joining today's one-day national strike in France, the latest move in a series of industrial actions to protest against job cuts, government reform plans and decreased purchasing power because of the economic crisis.

 

Saturday – Sunday, 31 January – 1 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Sham exposed at last
      
      “Bethany Hiatt's article (Parents need lessons on the grading system, 30/1) couldn't be more accurate. Hooray for you Bethany, you have said what most teachers have known and wanted to say out loud for so long.
      
      “Parents, students, educators, politicians, community members, in fact, everyone who cares about children, please read and re-read this article. Bethany explains clearly and sensibly without emotion the “sham” that is school reporting.
      
      “Professor Andrich, a UWA education professor, reported in 2006 how crude levels are for measuring student achievement and yet in 2009 we are still using them. Hasn't the “penny dropped” yet with those who make changes to a grading system that is a joke? We are “playing” with young people's education and lives.
      
      “I have no trust in the unreliable and invalid system of reporting and like many other parents, teachers and students out ere, I want to see a change and soon.
      
      “Liz Constable, I challenge you to say no more “smartie charts” and MCJs (making consistent judgments), instead let's follow the research and use the proved and tested methods of reliable and valid assessment and reporting systems.
      
      “DET does not need to re-invent the wheel to do that and it won't cost the Earth, unlike the past decade of wasted millions on a graded system that fails each and every student and certainly confuses more parents than it helps. Let's move now before one more semester report is released.”
      
      D Clarke, Hamilton Hill
      
      
      

• The Sunday Times
  

  • Fear of unruly pupils

    “Parents are concerned that schools perceived to be dominated by poor, badly behaved or ethnically different students will affect their child's social or learning needs, a study reveals.

    “As about 16,500 students prepare to start Year 8 at WA state schools this week, new research has found underinvestment in the public system is a growing concern for middle-class families.

    “Co-researcher associate professor Craig Campbell found anxiety about the right school started when a child was born.

    “Getting the right peer group is increasingly seen as a key issue in a more dangerous school market and a more dangerous world,” he said. “There is still huge support... for government schools but there is also this resentment. They feel that they can't trust the local government school like they used to be able to.”

    “But WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry said disruptive children were not confined to government schools.

    “You're always going to have disruptive and badly behaved children regardless of where they're from or what school they go to,” he said.

    “Mr Fry said WA government schools had programs to deal with “problem” children.

    “The Sydney University findings, from surveys of New South Wales families and 1976-2001 national census data, are published in a new book, School Choice: How parents negotiate the new school market in Australia.”
    
    From The Sunday Times
    
    
    

  • Big lessons in first day of kindy

    The first day of school is traditionally a traumatic day for children and parents, but experts say it doesn't have to be.

    Full story in The Sunday Times

     

  • Letter to the Editor
    

    • Parents at fault

      “I have experienced both sides of the education debate as a tutor, teacher and parent in government and private schools, and feel there is little difference in the quality of teaching as a result of venue.

      “The quality is the result of the personalities of the students, teachers and parents. As a teacher, I felt the latter was the most important component – and the most neglected.

      “Lack of parental responsibility and support was one of the main reasons I quit teaching.

      “I was asked to tutor many times by parents. Most of the time I advised them their child didn't need a tutor. What was needed was for the child to stop fooling about in class and actually do the work assigned to them.

      “Sadly, this advice was almost always ignored.”

      C Rutter, Forrestfield
      
      
      

  • Holiday computers fire up back-to-school bullies
    by Paul Lampathakis, education reporter
    
    "Summer holidays no longer provide a break from classroom bullying.
    
    "About one in five children has been terrorised during the break, a leading child-behaviour expert says.
    
    "Edith Cowan University's child health promotion research centre director, Donna Cross, says growing access to technology and the popularity of social networking websites mean bullies can continue their cruel schoolyard behaviour via computers and mobile phones.
    
    "Prof Cross said harassment had gone more underground as awareness about bullying had increased. She said research across 40 WA schools had revealed 48 per cent of children had been bullied in some way at least once in the last term of 2008.
    
    "Children are coming out of the holidays and have probably been bullied all through summer - we think about 20 per cent, depending on their age,'' Prof Cross said of findings from recent focus groups and surveys.
    
    "Because these kids have been flaming each other over the holidays, as they come back to school on Monday they'll be angrier than in the past.
    
    "I think the bullying will start much heavier and hotter than it ever has in schools historically.''
    
    "In the past, children would have avoided a lot of bullying during holidays because they were away from the culprits.
    
    "But now children were more likely to be bullied at home than at school because school limited access to technology.
    
    "During the holidays, many would have had weeks of computer access at home and elsewhere, possibly not monitored closely because parents were working.
    
    "Among measures to combat cyber-bullying, parents should monitor how long children were online and place computers where they can see children's behaviour.
    
    "If kids start to look really miserable every time they go online you know there's a problem,'' Prof Cross said.
    
    "Parents also needed computer expertise and should ask children to show them the sites they used.
    
    "They should try to communicate openly with children so they knew their computer passwords and were able to access sites used by their children.
    
    "Parents should make children aware that everything put up on sites or sent on emails was permanently on the internet somewhere and there could be bad consequences.
    
    "Prof Cross said Australia had time to address the problem before it became as bad as in the US, where about 50 per cent of children were being cyber-bullied.
    
    "About 10 per cent of Australian children had been cyber-bullied.
    
    "She had featured on a DVD called Bully Free that provided a practical guide to prevent bullying.
    
    "Education Minister Liz Constable said work being done by Prof Cross - funded by the WA Government's Public Education Endowment Trust - was important and would allow the Government to determine the extent of the problem, its impact on children and what could be done to control it."

    For more information go to: www.bullyfree.com.au/
    
    From The Sunday Times at link
    
    Related story in WA Today

    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Don't be alarmed over school violence reports: Pike
    
    "The Victorian Government says there is no need for alarm over reports of violence in the state's schools.
    
    "Figures show more than 50 schools had to go into lockdown last year because of threats to students' safety.
    
    "But Education Minister Bronwyn Pike says schools are just being cautious.
    
    "There will be precautionary actions taken from time to time across this very big system of ours, but I think that's the right thing to do," she said.
    
    "We want to make sure that parents know that schools are safe places for their children and that schools take incidents very seriously.
    
    "We encourage schools to be proactive in the way they deal with these issues, and of course, to report those things.
    
    "And the reason you're seeing these kinds of figures reported is because we encourage them to be reported."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Teachers in laptop of luxury [Sunday: online only]
    by Lisa Carty
    
    "Every NSW public high school teacher will get a wireless mini-laptop computer just like their senior students.
    
    "The $44 million expansion of the school computers program means teachers will have access to the same equipment and software as students in years 9 to 12. It also provides an extra 20,000 computers for primary schools, ensuring more junior students have access to the latest learning technology.
    
    "Education Minister Verity Firth said: "This means … giving teachers the tools to electronically plan and deliver lessons and collaborate with students in the classroom using the same technology.
    
    "A laptop in the classroom will open up thousands of online curriculum resources and educational applications for teachers.
    
    "Being able to access these resources while in the classroom with students will be of huge benefit for teachers."
    
    "Ms Firth said $16 million of state funding and $28 million of federal money would be spent buying laptops for the state's 25,000 public high school teachers and providing an extra 20,000 new computers to primary schools." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald online at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Holding him back can do just that
    
    Every fad has its use-by date, and it seems the middle-class phenomenon of holding children back from starting school may be on the wane. As the latest batch of kindy kids poured through the gates this week, research has been challenging the popular view that delaying entry into school is a recipe for success. The theory was that starting school at an older age would give your child, especially if he is a boy, a leg-up on his peers... But the results are in, and it turns out being older is not a panacea for a boy's ills after all. Researchers at the Michigan State University and the University of Illinois have found holding children back is a waste of time.
  
  
  
  
• The Sunday Age
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • State schools not good enough [Lead Letter]
      
      "Until advocates of public education such as Jane Caro ("Schooled in denial of systemic, creeping apartheid", 25/1) face up to the reasons many parents choose private schools, the public system will continue to lose students. Imagine that the government gave out free cars and people rejected them in favour of ones that they had to pay extra for. You would have to conclude that the government free cars just weren't good enough.
      
      "When parents pay for private education, what they really buy is the company of the other students. They expect these students to be well-behaved and interested in learning, so that the learning of their own children is not disrupted. They expect to get high academic and discipline standards.
      
      "Public schools should have the same high academic and discipline standards that parents expect from private schools. I taught for 32 years in disadvantaged public schools. I await the day that every public school becomes a good school, when spending money on the children in them is not called "throwing money at the problem" but is seen as a necessary investment in staffing schools as well as they were staffed 30 years ago."
      
      Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge
      
      
      
    • Churches should be inclusive not exclusive
      
      "Your article by Jane Caro about segregation in schools according to income, class and race highlights a frightening trend in education in Australia. We are moving inexorably towards a two-tiered system dedicated to the production of inequality, social division and lifelong unfairness.
      
      "I have taught in both the state and private systems and it is irrefutable that church schools make outstanding and diverse contributions to the education system, but the churches need to ensure that schools under their umbrella provide an education system which promotes equality of opportunity rather than extreme privilege, which celebrates difference rather than exclusiveness, and which puts the needs of students above the "big bucks" culture of marketing and overt wealth. In their safeguarding of their own funding, the churches are only showing their irrelevance to the life of this country."

      Bryan Long, Balwyn
      
      

    • Time to review funding
      
      "Jane Caro's timely article should persuade all political parties that the time for a national, objective and expert inquiry into Australian school funding and accountability is long overdue. The last such inquiry in 1973 led to the Karmel Report, which was followed by radical changes in government funding policies. In those days, positive discrimination for the disadvantaged was generally accepted as the way to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots. (But) since the 1980s, political rather than educational and social justice reasons have determined how school funding is distributed."
      
      David Dyer, Ballarat
      
      

    • Creeping comparisons lead perception
      
      "Private education, private income = STATUS. The government encourages testing to reinforce and replicate the existing social structure by using middle-class language and neglects the role society plays in restrictive admission to socioeconomic status. State education is an intellectual reproduction of educational fads and affects the life chances of an already unequal society. Private schools have choices, government schools must adhere to policies. The creeping comparisons inform parents that private is best and government schools have declining standards. The power of the media reinforces the status quo."
      
      Frances Stewart, Carlton
      
      

  • More schools rely on private carers
    
    The increase in commercial operators managing before and after-school care in Victorian primary schools has ignited fears that pupils are forced into "one-size-fits-all" programs.
    
    
    
  • Kids still pushing the linguistic envelope
    
    Technology has chipped into cutting-edge schoolyard speak, writes John Mangan.
  
  
  
  
• The Age [Saturday]
  
  
  • Victoria bottom of class in education funding
    
    Victorian public schools have among the worst student-to-staff ratios in the country, retention rates have fallen, and children are getting less government funding for their education than any other state or territory.
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Studying in a sweatshop
      
      "During this heatwave, when the temperature has soared beyond the point of comfort, a number of Victorian schools have demanded compulsory attendance from all students.
      
      "I attend a private Catholic College in Mulgrave. With the temperature in the mid-40s, it is already difficult to cope. But to do so while keeping up with teachers, with no air-conditioning, forced to wear a school tie and with strictly no water bottles in classrooms is pushing the limits.
      
      "Many private schools, where an annual fee would exceed the price of a decent car, do not have air-conditioning in their classrooms. What degree of heat do students have to tolerate before someone is harmed?"
      
      Daniel Yu, Lysterfield South
      
      
      
      
• CNN
  
  
  • Duncan details $150 billion education stimulus
    
    US Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks to CNN's Campbell Brown about the President's $150 billion increase in federal money for education. Here is the transcript of that interview.
    
    
    
    
• The Weekend Australian
  
  
  • School inaction 'protected alleged abuser'
    
    The nightmare should have ended when the little girl, just nine years old, spilled her secret to the school principal... But it appears nothing was done.
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Court Rules Again for County in School Case
    
    A federal appeals court ruled yesterday in favor of the Montgomery school system in a case that made national headlines four years ago, a dispute over whether public schools provided an adequate education plan to a child with disabilities.
    
    
    
    
• BBC News
  
  
  • 'Reluctance' to identify gifted
    
    Many state schools are unwilling to identify gifted and talented pupils for fear of being seen as "elitist", a report says.
    
    
    
    
• The New York Times
  
  
  • Schools Won’t Require Online Class. Yet.
    by Winnie Hu
    
    "New Jersey education officials are working on an ambitious redesign of the state’s public high schools that is intended to better prepare students for college and the work force in the 21st century.
    
    "The redesign had called for every student — not just those who are college bound — to study Algebra II, laboratory sciences and foreign languages, pass more state tests and complete at least one online course in order to graduate. But education officials recently backed away from the online requirement because of concerns over the cost and whether such courses would meet state standards.
    
    "Tougher courses and testing are hardly surprising — but an online course?
    
    "Online courses were once viewed as a poor substitute for in-class learning, a temporary solution for tennis prodigies, child actors and others who had to miss classes regularly. But in the past decade, virtual courses have cropped up nationwide as public schools have rushed to reconfigure traditional courses — from creative writing to calculus — for the Internet age.
    
    "More than 70 percent of the nearly 15,000 school districts in the United States currently offer at least one online course, enrolling more than a million students last school year alone, said Susan Patrick, president of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, which estimates that online enrollment has increased about 30 percent annually since 1997. “It’s growing faster than any other innovation in K-12 education,” she said..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    
  • Click and Jane
    by Virginia Heffernan
    
    “Did you like this book?” asks the computer. It’s a customer-satisfaction question, but it seems more profound than that.
    
    "We hesitate. Ben, my 3-year-old son, shoots me a puzzled look. The answer should be yes. Ben enjoys what’s on the screen right now: Starfall, an online medley of free learn-to-read activities. But he doesn’t like the question.
    
    “It’s not a book,” he explains, emphatically, to the laptop. “It’s more like a movie or a video.”
    
    "Oh, God. I knew it.

    "In a hundred ways, we pretend that screen experiences are books — PowerBooks, notebooks, e-books — but even a child knows the difference. Reading books is an operation with paper. Playing games on the Web is something else entirely. I need to admit this to myself, too. I try to believe that reading online is reading-plus, with the text searchable, hyperlinked and accompanied by video, audio, photography and graphics. But maybe it’s just not reading at all. Just as screens aren’t books..."
    
    Full story in The New York Times at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Government to nationalise failing private schools
    
    The government will nationalise recession-hit private schools by turning them into state-funded academies, ministers have confirmed.

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

This page last updated 1 February, 2009 11:23 PM