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Breaking
News: Week of 6 April 2009
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Saturday – Sunday, 11 – 12 April
- The West Australian
- Parents fail to teach kids basic skills: Constable
by Kim MacDonald
"Some parents failed to teach their children the basic social skills needed to attend school, Education Minister Liz Constable said yesterday.
"While this was a bigger problem in lower socioeconomic areas, Dr Constable said young children across all suburbs were turning up to school unable to take themselves to the toilet, dress themselves or eat at a table.
“There are problems where children come to school without those skills,” Dr Constable said.
“I was at a conference this morning with childhood experts where a couple of these issues were looked at.”
"Dr Constable said part of the problem was that parents were not putting in the time needed to teach children such necessities. But in some cases it was because of a lack of support to learn parenting skills.
"She said it was possible that modern conveniences had also affected early childhood development. One theory was that parents were not toilet training toddlers as early because of the trend towards disposable nappies, which were easier than previous generations.
"Dr Constable said the State Government, in partnership with the Commonwealth, would open nine parenting centres in WA to provide help and support for the parents of children from birth to the age of eight.
"State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said teachers had to deal with a rising number of socially undeveloped children in primary schools.
“In some cases both parents are working, often because they have to, and life just moves at a fast pace,” Ms Gisborne said.
“It may be that the discipline of sitting down to a meal at the table, and access to television and other thing like that can fall by the bye because families are rushed for time.”
"British research by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said adults were not giving time and energy to raising their children properly.
"The research, to be published today, said children were turning up to school lacking the verbal and social skills needed to behave properly.
"This included an inability to dress themselves, use a toilet properly or eat at a table.
"The research found the problems were not just in lower socioeconomic areas, but were also found in children who came from homes with television, computers and game consoles.
"The report said parents were not raising their children properly."
From The West Australian
Related article at ABC News
- State school absenteeism on the rise
by Dawn Gibson
"The rate of absenteeism has steadily increased in public schools across WA in the past three years as the education system fails to cope with chronic truants at risk of dropping out.
"Thirteen out of 14 of the State's education districts recorded a rise in non-attendance during 2008, compared with 2007, Education Department figures show. The biggest increases were in country areas, specifically in the Pilbara, Mid-West, Goldfields and Albany. There was a slight improvement in school attendance in the Kimberly which has the State's worst truancy record.
"While overall non-attendance remains low. 9.2 per cent, and can be partly explained by authorised absences for reasons such as illness, the State School Teachers' Union is concerned the rae has risen consistently since 2006.
"Also, this figure masks the records at some country schools, particularly in the North-West, where teachers often consider themselves lucky if more than half of their class turn up.
"Education Minister Liz Constable has been under pressure to reveal her strategy to tackle truancy after shelving plans for a “no school, no welfare” trial in Cannington. Shadow education minister Michelle Roberts said Dr Constable had abandoned the concept without delivering an alternative solution.
"She urged the Government to consider more initiatives that involved education officials working closely with other government agencies, including police, to ensure children from disadvantaged attended classes. SSTU general secretary David Kelly said any increase in truancy was a concern. More work was needed to pinpoint the reasons. The union is opposed to linking truancy to suspension of welfare payments.
"Dr Constable said she was working on anti-truancy strategies in collaboration with Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin. She was in favour of other towns adopting a scheme being trialled in Kununurra, which involves business owners refusing to server unaccompanied children during school hours.
"David Axworthy, the Education Department's executive director of school support programs, said about 60 per cent of absences were cases where parents had given a valid reason. If a teacher was concerned that a child was missing a lot of classes, the school would initially work with the family to solve the problem."
From The West Australian
- Rich school bias mars $46m fund: teachers
by Kim MacDonald
"The teachers' union claims $46 million in government funding for school renovations is poorly targeted, with some needy public schools getting only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that went to wealthy privates schools such as Scotch College.
"The State School Teachers' Union said the Federal Government's decision to allocate funding of up to $200,000 for each school based on student population discriminated against some needy schools.
"SSTU president Anne Gisborne said some public schools were older than their wealthier private schools and were more in need of repairs.
“Some of these schools don't have the parent population who can work around the year to raise funds for repairs, as can parents in Dalkeith,” Ms Gisborne said.
"Under the program, PLC, Scotch College, Wesley Grammar, Christ Church Grammar School, Aquinas College and Iona Presentation College each got $200,000 for refurbishments.
"But State schools such as Kenwick, Nannup District High School and Dandaragan Primary School got only $75,000 each for refurbishment because their student populations were smaller.
"A spokeswoman for Education Minister Julia Gillard defended the allocation, claiming government schools received 67 per cent of the funding, Catholic schools got 22 per cent of the funding and Independent schools got 11 per cent of Round 1 National School Pride program.
“The $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution os obviously also designed to stimulate local economies and support local jobs,” she said.
"State Education Minister Liz Constable welcomes the first round of funding which provided funds for 330 schools. Ms Constable said it would help clear a $166 million backlog."
From The West Australian
Similar stories from other newspapers, plus related article at ABC News
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Op Ed
Competition policies will leave only losers in our schools
Kevin Rudd is continuing John Howard's focus on market forces in education, writes Trevor Cobbold.
"As far as education policy is concerned, the Rudd Government has given John Howard and David Kemp another term in office. It is completing Kemp's vision to subject education to the rule of market forces.
"This is paradoxical. Labor opposed Kemp's policies, such as the expansion of private school funding under the SES model, fewer restrictions on new private schools and reporting results of individual schools. Not only has Labor maintained privatisation and competition policies, but it is extending them by publishing tables of school results.
"Julia Gillard's "new progressive approach to schools" is to implement Kemp's goal to efface the difference between the public and private sectors. According to Gillard, "the old progressive assumptions about the roles of different schools and the nature of disadvantage don't hold".
"Advocacy of the special role of the public sector to ensure universal access, social equity and democracy in education is disparaged as a "sterile" and "fractious" debate, as it was by Howard and Kemp.
"As under Howard, private schools share in all new initiatives despite much lower proportions of disadvantaged, indigenous and special education students. Private schools even get a windfall gain on these students, because their government funding is already linked to government school costs, which are higher because of their larger proportions of these students.
"It is paradoxical that the Prime Minister criticises markets for creating the worst economic crisis in 80 years and advocates greater regulation. Yet when it comes to education, he and his Education Minister are intent on extending the market.
"The Government's key market innovation in education is to publish tables of school results, which inevitably means ranking schools on performance. Mr Rudd says this is designed to get parents "to walk with their feet"; that is, he wants to make the market work better.
"His ultimate market discipline is to subject schools to a form of bankruptcy proceeding. Schools that fail to improve will be subject to "tough action", including firing principals and senior staff, and closing schools.
"Another paradox is that the Government is drawing from the failing British and American market models, rather than the most successful education system in the world - Finland - which has rejected the market approach. This is despite the fact that Australian students are six to 12 months ahead of British and US students but about a year behind Finnish students in reading, mathematics and science.
"The justification for ignoring Finland is that it has a relatively homogenous population and faces an easier education task than Australia. So, Australia must look to Britain and the US because they have more diverse populations. But the evidence on the achievement of British and US immigrant/ethnic and disadvantaged students shows this is a furphy.
"Australia has a higher proportion of immigrant students than these countries, yet has the best results for immigrant students of all OECD countries and is well ahead of those in Britain and the US.
"The most disadvantaged students in Australia have much higher average outcomes in reading, mathematics and science than those in Britain and the US. Australian disadvantaged students are six months or more ahead of those in Britain and 18 months ahead of those in the US.
"But Australia can do better. Our results are much lower than those of the most disadvantaged students in Finland, who are some 12 to 18 months ahead of Australian students. Overall, Finland's most disadvantaged students are more than 18 months ahead of those in Britain.
"Finland also has the lowest achievement gap between rich and poor students in the OECD. In contrast, the US has the largest gap and Britain has the third-largest.
"All this suggests that we have something to learn from Finland in its rejection of the market in education.
"The lesson is confirmed by research studies, which demonstrate that reporting school results and greater competition do not lead to significant improvements in student achievement, but greater inequality.
"A review of research studies published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago last year found students who exercise choice do not experience achievement gains and that school choice does not induce public schools to improve performance.
"As a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Steven Levitt, says of school competition: "The theory sounds great, but evidence confirming it has been hard to find." A study by the London School of Economics found "competition does not seem to be generally effective in raising standards".
"Almost 25 per cent of students from low-income families in Australia do not achieve expected international proficiency standards. There has been no improvement in recent years under the new rules.
"If we persist in promoting a market in education, it is likely to exacerbate existing achievement gaps. The dismal results in Britain and the US after 20 years of experimentation show Australia is gambling with its high levels of achievement."
Trevor Cobbold is the national convener of Save Our Schools.
From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- The Australian
- Private schools' stimulus bonanza
by Lex Hall
"Dozens of the nation's wealthiest private schools have been awarded handouts of up to $200,000 each in the Rudd Government's $830 million stimulus funding package for schools, with work on thousands of improvement projects to start within weeks.
"Almost 6000 government and non-government schools have won funding - of between $50,000 and $200,000 each - in the first round of the $1.3billion National School Pride Program.
"Included in the initial round are some of the nation's most expensive schools, including Sydney's King's School, which will receive $200,000 to construct outdoor sporting facilities and student amenities.
"Sydney Grammar gets $200,000 for a new library, while Knox Grammar gets $200,000 towards sporting grounds in the junior school.
"In Melbourne, Scotch College secured $200,000 for vision-impaired safety and landscaping projects, while Melbourne Grammar School will use its $200,000 for a "sustainable building comfort project".
"Brisbane Grammar won $200,000 for "new changerooms and related work", while Adelaide's St Peter's College receives $200,000 to convert an old gymnasium into a drama and performance centre.
"There was also money for public schools across the nation, including some of the smallest schools. Mutdapilly State School, southwest of Brisbane, with just 50 students and three teachers, will create a community learning garden and refurbish four classrooms.
"These projects will create demand for tradespeople in thousands of communities across Australia," Education and Employment Minister Julia Gillard said in announcing the successful 8663 projects that would be receiving a share of the $828.7 million.
"South Australia, which won approval for all 486 projects it submitted for the first round of funding, has vowed to complete its program by the end of the year. "The cash injection will allow hundreds of school improvement projects to be started before June," state Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said yesterday.
"Both sides of Queensland politics welcomed the $195.3million allocated to 1359 of the state's schools.
"NSW says the $277.5 million it won for 2005 schools in the first round will create about 1000 jobs. Education Minister Verity Firth says maintenance work might not be "particularly glamorous" but it was important to the everyday life of all schools.
"Applications for round two close on May 8 this year.Additional reporting: AAP
A list of successful schools is available at http://www.buildingtheeducationrevolution.gov.au
From The Australian at link
Similar story in The Sydney Morning Herald (but all NSW examples)
- Labor agenda hit hard by financial crisis: Tanner
Paid maternity leave and higher education spending could be dumped or substantially deferred in next month's budget, with Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner yesterday admitting that falling revenues and skyrocketing unemployment had altered the Government's agenda.
See related story in The Age (follows).
- BBC News
- Teachers report widespread abuse
Four in 10 teachers have faced verbal or physical aggression from a pupil's parent or guardian, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.
Similar stories from most major UK media; also see detailed article in yesterday's Guardian / Observer
- The Age
- Cabinet sharpens its axe for budget
At a Council of Australian Governments meeting later this month, Mr Rudd and state leaders will discuss a proposal aimed at keeping kids out of the jobless queues by lifting school retention rates and ensuring everyone under 25 has access to a training place. "I will not stand idly by and watch a generation of young people have their potential, their talents and their enthusiasm wasted in an economic downturn," Mr Rudd told a community forum in Melbourne's south-east.
- Letter to the Editor
- A matter of balance
"Regarding "Unis packed to the rafters" (The Age, 4/4). The point about staff-student ratios — that the average tutorial size is more than 20 students to one teacher, up from with 12:1 in 1990 — is valid. There also needs to be an honest assessment of what classes should look like and how that can be funded. Small discussion classes are valuable — although, more often than not, under-preparation by students is as much of a problem as class size.
"I am one of the 56 per cent of students who have sat on the floor during lectures. It has not affected the quality of my education to any great degree, and it only happened in one or two of the 40 units I have taken. Horror stories about overcrowding are usually because of late transfers into subjects and timetable clashes, rather than lack of space. I have also had tutorials with fewer than 10 students and attended lectures in half-empty theatres. If there are 30 students in one tutorial, often it is because there are only five in another one held at a less convenient time.
"The point about casual tutors being underpaid and overworked is nonsense. I have worked as one. The main challenge is learning how to teach students who come with varying levels of preparation, involvement and interest — particularly when many departments provide limited supervision and support."
Tim Armstrong, Brunswick West
- Of possible interest
- Millions allocated to protect pupils from race-hate attacks [The Sydney Morning Herald]
- Op Ed: Uni is over, now for the real education [The Sydney Morning Herald]
- Four Letters on Laptops are irreparably damaging our moptops [The Sydney Morning Herald]
- The Australian
- Letters to the Editor
- April fooled again
"One could be excused for thinking the article “Next: career counselling for toddlers” (4-5/4) arrived three days too late. Looks like I’ve been April fooled again. But then perhaps Kate Castine of Principals Australia may have been directed to a circus career, or perhaps one leading to an appointment as Australia’s first female astronaut had she had the benefit of “career development concepts” as surely her postulations cannot be of this world.
"The scary thing is, however, that there is likely to be an academic or bureaucrat out there who is of a similar persuasion and likely to endorse it."
Daryl Bailey, Maryborough, Qld
- Young children easily look beyond stereotypes [late update from 6 April]
Eight Letters at that link
- The Guardian
- Feature
Practising what he preaches
He's been labelled Britain's most successful headteacher after turning around 'the worst school in the country'. What is William Atkinson's magic formula?
- Of possible interest
- School sex abuse inquiry widened [The Australian]
- Film school joins NIDA for birthday movie [The Australian]
- Probe has watch on 20 colleges [The Age]
- Warning on 'unviable' broadband [The Age]
- The Australian
- Editorial
A belated start for national broadband
After a false start, the Government has the makings of a plan
- Kevin Rudd's $43bn fast web gamble as Government warns Telstra to co-operate or face break-up
Similar articles and Editorials in all major newspapers
- ABC News
- WA schools funding row erupts
"The WA Opposition Leader Eric Ripper says he is deeply suspicious about the schools which have received first round funding under the Federal Government's economic stimulus package.
"Mr Ripper says it appears that schools in the electorates of the Premier, Treasurer and Education Minister have received a disproportionate amount of the $46 million in funding allocated at the weekend.
"He says only two schools in his electorate of Belmont received funding compared to ten schools in the Premier's electorate of Cottesloe.
"Mr Ripper has called on the State Government to explain whether it had any role in selecting which schools received first round funding.
"You've got the Premier with ten schools, the Treasurer with 14 schools, what's going on here," he said.
"Is it just luck? Or has there been some systematic bias in the process.
"The Minister needs to explain.
"It looks like a rort when you see the figures, please explain minister."
"The Minister for Education Liz Constable says the State Government was not involved in the funding decisions.
"She says that was handled by the office of the Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard.
"Well I think it's a bit of a fantasy in the Leader of the Opposition's mind, that there's some sort of conspiracy here," she said.
"There was a process, and the process has been worked through and will be worked through during the next two rounds."
From ABC News at link
- MP criticises school funding 'bias'
"A local Member on the New South Wales south coast has accused the Federal Government of bias in the allocation of maintenance funding for schools.
"Twenty-nine schools in the Labor electorate of Cunningham and 32 schools in Throsby received funding under the National Schools Pride Program.
"But the Liberal Member for Gilmore, Joanna Gash, says only 12 schools in her electorate received any money.
"She says the former Coalition government's approach was fairer and more generous.
"There were some schools that received $200,000 and of course our limit was $200,000 and $150,000, but a lot of schools received less than that," she said.
"I'm very concerned to see only 12 schools out of our 60-odd schools that we have in the region received funding."
From ABC News at link
- Anti-gay bias remains, warn SA Greens
Greens MP Mark Parnell says private schools in South Australia will still be able to discriminate against gay teachers because changes to equal opportunity laws do not go far enough.
- The West Australian
- School builders stir up banned pesticide
by Amanda Saunders
"Children at a Perth primary school have been exposed to a pesticide considered so dangerous it was banned 22 years ago.
"The exposure was revealed after recent earthworks near their classrooms stirred contaminated dust.
"One mother of Lockridge Primary School students claimed several staff and students became sick after dust was stirred up last month by groundworks at a construction site near classrooms.
"Tests at the construction site revealed that dieldrin, a chemical used to kill termites until it was banned in 1987, was present in concentrations well above what is considered safe..."
"Education Department spokesman James Thorn said dieldrin was found in concentrations of 0.37 mg/kg, compared with the 0.2 mg/kr level considered safe by the Government, but the contamination presented no health risk to students or staff.
"A Health Department spokeswoman said it was aware of the situation and was confident the Education Department was managing the issue appropriately." [emphasis added]
Well that would be a first! Web
Full story in The West Australian
- Perspectives of brush brilliance by TEE artists
by William Yeoman
"When Zoe Crook discovered that she and three other TEE students from Geraldton Grammar School had been chosen to exhibit in this year’s Year 12 Perspectives, she could not believe it.
“It’s amazing, especially considering we’re from a rural area,” she said. “But we did have a supportive teacher and we worked really hard.”
"Zoe said her self-portrait, Mixed Signals, was about how confusing contemporary society can be for a young person.
“Discovering yourself is a difficult thing, especially when you have different people telling you what to do and what to be,” she said. “That’s why I’m facing myself in the painting, trying to figure out who I am.”
"One of the most popular exhibitions in the Art Gallery of WA’s calendar, Year 12 Perspectives shows work by TEE art and design students from across the State. It includes work from young Japanese artists as part of a cultural exchange program.
“The Japanese works are really impressive,” Zoe said. “They give you an idea of what kids are into over there, which is really cool.”
"The International Foundation for Arts and Culture sponsors two Year 12 Perspective grants of $5000 each, one for equipment or research and the other to travel to Japan for further study."
From The West Australian at link
- The Age
- Lack of fight protocol cited
Victoria's teacher watchdog has failed to advise teachers on how to deal with dangerous schoolyard fights, says a teacher who was penalised over a notorious student brawl.
- Teacher deemed unfit for his job
A secondary school teacher who wrote his female student a poem and gave another student chocolates has been stripped of his teaching registration.
- The Guardian
- Union condemns six-month teacher training scheme for ex-bankers
by Anthea Lipsett
Government's programme to fast-track unemployed City workers into schools will demean profession, says teachers' union
"Teachers today condemned and rejected government plans to introduce six-month teacher training programmes for unemployed bankers.
"The fast-track scheme for teachers in England announced by the schools minister, Jim Knight, last month was strongly condemned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) conference in Liverpool, which said the programme would "demean the profession" and was "ill advised and wrongly motivated".
"Andy Garner from Calderdale, who is proposing the motion, said: "Teaching is not an escape for the unemployed. It demands compassion and dedication. To those who take up Jim Knight's kind offer to jump the queue of the long-term unemployed, you businessmen are experienced now in redundancy. Good job. Redundancies are rife in schools and colleges."
"Julia Neal, ATL's immediate past president and chair of the standing committee for the education and training of teachers (Scett), said the profession had fought very hard to make teaching a graduate profession.
"I really doubt you can accelerate teacher training like this," she said. "It takes time to become a teacher no matter how talented you are. Teachers need time to prepare and understand child development, they need to understand the history and philosophy of education as well as having the experience of carefully prepared and structured practice."
"She said unions had to fight against "hair-brained schemes" that would arise from the recession and lead to children getting a "third rate education".
"Every child matters, but not if you can give them education on the cheap," she added.
"Roger Lister, ATL member from Dorset, said: "This suggestion is not only ill conceived but if implemented would carry nothing but problems to our schools and children."
From The Guardian at link
- Censorship row over Carol Ann Duffy poem dropped from syllabus
Teachers have attacked politicians' meddling in the national curriculum and the censorship of English literature, warning against the schools secretary, Ed Balls, winning the power to dictate what pupils read and learn.
- BBC News
- Private schools 'feel downturn'
Up to 30 independent schools have closed or are due to close in the coming months because of the economic climate, a teaching union has said.
- Of possible interest
- Nurses to pay for training [The Australian]
- Universities hit by lack of income [The Australian]
- Publisher Pearson targets English testing [The Australian]
- Women on front line of language preservation [The Australian]
- Op Ed: Your child's gifted, you say? That's nice, my kid has nits [The Age]
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Portables cement schools divide
by Anna Patty, Education Editor
"NSW independent schools are planning new architect-designed brick libraries, halls and classrooms, but public school students will have to settle for portable buildings in the State Government's rush to spend its share of the $14.7 billion Federal Government stimulus package.
"The Association of Independent Schools, NSW, has engaged a team of architects and town planners to provide advice on designing brick structures in non-government schools, which have been discouraged from buying portable buildings.
"The State Government says it has ordered about 170 prebuilt libraries and portable classrooms called "modular design rooms" that sit flat to the ground, unlike the older style demountables on stilts.
"We wouldn't be encouraging schools in our sector to purchase demountables," said Geoff Newcombe, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools NSW.
"The new buildings will need to fit in with the general ambience and feel of the schools. We are encouraging schools to use local builders and trades people."
"The head of the Australian Secondary Schools Principals Association, Andrew Blair, said he was "immensely disappointed but hardly surprised" with the decision of NSW and other state governments to purchase portable buildings.
"In an age of market choice, why would you turn around and deliver demountables in a time when there is serious money being delivered for school infrastructure?" he said.
"The public will see further evidence of a public school system not treating its staff and students in the way that independent schools may do." ...
Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- The Australian
- Op Ed
Trust the power of technology
by Ziggy Switkowski
... Science fiction writer and futurologist Arthur C. Clarke posed the following situation: "Imagine a spacecraft heading off for a distant star. Even travelling at the highest speed allowed for by the current state of the art, it would still take many centuries to reach its destination. And before it had completed half its journey, it would be overtaken by a faster vessel, the product of a later century's technology."
Worth a look
- Letters to the Editor
- Most Taled About: National Broadband
Six Letters at that link
- The Guardian
- Primary teachers call for homework to be scrapped
Three and four-year-old throwing tantrums because they cannot cope, association says
Teachers will tomorrow call for homework for primary school children to be scrapped as a waste of time for children and teachers.
- Of possible interest
- Fourth teacher charged over Knox 'sex abuses' [and police have indicated more former teachers from the private boys' school are likely to be arrested in coming days] [The Australian]
- BBC News
- English 'losing out' to literacy
"English lessons are dying out and being replaced by literacy, the leader of a teaching union claims.
"Children no longer have the freedom to read for pleasure or express themselves in writing, says Mary Bousted of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.
"Children were reading extracts rather than whole books and this meant the love of reading was being lost.
"The government insists whole books are read and says it is committed to making reading part of children's daily lives.
"Dr Bousted told delegates at the ATL's annual conference in Liverpool: "English is no more. It has been replaced by a newcomer - literacy.
"Literacy, as a subject, is based on the naming of parts. Children rarely read whole books; they read parts of books - extracts.
"These extracts are mined for adjectives, and adverbs, and active verbs, and nouns. The belief is, once the parts have been named, then they can be used, independently in the children's writing.
"But they cannot choose what they will write; they cannot choose the form they want to write in - that would be far too dangerous."
"She added that the concept of pleasure had gone.
"I don't want to get misty eyed about the past, but it is clear to me that something important has been lost - for both teachers and taught.
"And that is the heart of the subject - the subject which is dear to my heart - the subject of English."
"She said Ofsted had encouraged a literacy strategy without speaking and listening, because the former chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead had convinced ministers that these were not needed.
"For those children who spend their lives at home cocooned in front of the television, interacting with no-one, this loss will be incalculable," Dr Bousted said.
"The former English teacher also complained that teachers' lives were "being made a misery" by a constant regime of inspection and "ridiculous" control.
"Is there any profession which is more watched over, more regulated and more directed than teaching?"
"Lessons had become a "common pattern", she said. She painted a picture of teachers obeying a dictated formula for every lesson, which included:
• starter, middle section and plenary
• explanation of learning objectives
• pace and activity
• interactive learning
"Such rigid structures were causing teachers to lose their professional pride and feeling of autonomy.
"And children were "bored rigid" by the same lesson structure again and again, she added.
"The government denied teachers were over-inspected, and said literacy had not led to the death of reading and the enjoyment of language.
"The government is firmly committed to making reading a daily part of children's lives and we have a range of initiatives to encourage all young people to take an interest in reading for pleasure," a spokeswoman said.
"It is right that schools should come under rigorous scrutiny and assessment by a body independent from ministers.
"This makes sure that parents can be confident standards are being maintained, that achievements are properly celebrated and that any problems can be identified and resolved."
"A majority of parents valued inspections, she added.
"Dr Bousted did however, praise the government's work to raise standards and help the most deprived children.
"There is much to congratulate this government for," Dr Bousted said.
"It has put its money where its mouth is."
"But it was still telling teachers what to do."
From BBC News at link
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Rush for buildings: schools fear costs
by Anna Patty, Education Editor
"Schools claim they could negotiate cheaper prices from local builders to improve the quality of prefabricated libraries and classrooms being transported from as far as Victoria.
"The NSW Teachers Federation has surveyed its membership and found widespread concern with the estimated costs and quality of prefabricated school libraries and classrooms that the Department of Education and Training has ordered in bulk.
"They are concerned they have been forced to overlook cheaper options provided by local builders because the purchase of new buildings is organised centrally by the Department of Education and Training.
"The State Government has been forced to rush plans to take full advantage of its share of the Federal Government's $14.7 billion school building program, designed to stimulate the economy. NSW was allocated $2.7 billion and submitted a final list of proposed projects yesterday.
"The deputy president of the Teachers Federation, Gary Zadkovich, said schools believed the rush had resulted in quick-fix solutions.
"The Commonwealth Government, while trying to provide economic stimulus across the state, has constructed a timeline that is far too pressurised and tight for schools," he said. "Council planning won't be possible because schools are being rushed into making decisions."
"Quotes for the prefabricated buildings were high because they had to be brought from interstate, and local contractors should have the opportunity to compete, he said..."Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- Letters to the Editor
- Flush with facilities versus nothing to flush
"Mia David asks what is wrong with schools having "lavish sporting and arts facilities" when any parent can make a "significant donation towards bettering the facilities at a school".
"No one objects to schools having lavish facilities. What I object to is schools that patently need no financial help being handed extra cash when there are schools that lack basic facilities, such as adequate toilets (my local high school).
"Leaving aside the question of differing levels of disposable income, I think you would agree that most parents don't expect to have to make "significant donations" to ensure their children have toilets."
Alison Woof, South Hurstville
- "Mia David writes that "there is nothing preventing any parent … from making a significant donation" to improve school facilities.
"I was principal of Warrawong High School for 12 years. There was a very simple reason preventing its parents from making a significant donation: they lived in one of the most impoverished areas in urban Australia and didn't have much money. I further note that, under the Federal Government's provision for school-facility improvement, Knox Grammar gets $200,000 and Warrawong High School gets not one cent.
"I think that we have become a very strange society."
Noel Beddoe, Kiama
- Of possible interest
- Detroit Plan Would Shut Schools, Cut 600 Teachers [The Washington Post]
- NUT chief Christine Blower criticises government for education failures [The Guardian]
- Teachers to vote on Sats boycott [BBC News]
Saturday – Sunday, 11 – 12 April
- The West Australian
- Op Ed
Why the cane’s not the answer for our schools
by Zoltan Kovacs"A kindly soul without a molecule of malice in her wondered out loud the other day whether the epidemic of gratuitous brutality in our society was somehow associated with the abolition of the cane in schools. The uncharacteristic thought was prompted by a report of yet another unprovoked vicious attack, evidently aimed to cause serious injury for no known purpose.
"That sort of view is common enough among angry and disaffected callers to talkback radio programs. However, there are also signs of an increasingly punitive mood gathering among people with generally more moderate views, but for whom the constant awareness of rampant violence causes distressed bewilderment.
"For many of them, Easter is a time of moral and spiritual stocktaking, but for police is will be business as usual as they gear up today for another weekend of bloody mayhem in the pubs and on the streets. We don’t seem to be able to celebrate any public occasion, including our national day, without reports of bloodshed.
"However, the return of the cane is not the answer. Using violence to try to convince people that the use of violence is wrong makes no sense, especially to young people who are finely tuned to detect adult hypocrisy. The abolition of the cane was recommended in 1984 by the Beazley committee on WA education, which noted that “… it is a curious anomaly that the only people subject to corporal punishment under the authority of the law in the State are schoolchildren. Corporal punishment of criminals, no matter how serious the crime committed, has long been abolished”.
"Its chairman, Kim Beazley Sr, said then that education of children was almost always the result of an alliance between home and school. The terms of the alliance were not explicitly stated, but “it is assumed that the home will support the work of the teacher and will help the student realise that the work of the school is significant in determining the prospects of the young person”.
"Twenty-five years on, there is reason to question that basic assumption in many cases. There is plenty of evidence of many homes routinely defaulting on the education alliance. Schools are used to being blamed for society’s ills and having their curriculums loaded with courses ostensibly designed to overcome them – and then being accused of not paying enough attention to the basic skills. Surely, the time had come for society to focus on its rightful expectation of parents.
"When it is a fairly common experience to see and hear small children running amok on trains and in supermarkets under the indifferent eyes of adults who are supposedly responsible for them, we are impelled to question just what standards we should demand from parents. By the time children become teenagers, many tend to congregate in loud, foul-mouthed groups in public places where they seem intent on making a deliberate show of offending against common decency. Such behaviour is not confined to the poorer suburbs.
"Even more worryingly, it is reported that there has been a 32 per cent increase in attacks on teachers across WA in the past two years, with 543 assaults reported last year. At the same time, it comes as no surprise to learn that the number of children under State care has doubled over the past 10 years and that the Department for Child Protection is trying to recruit 250 foster carers to meet a rising demand for them.
"Education Minister Liz Constable said this week that children were turning up at school without having been taught the necessary basic social skills, such as being able to take themselves to the toilet, eat at a table or dress themselves. It was proposed to open nine “parenting” centres in WA to help parents of children from birth to the age of eight, she said. However, it seems to be an optimistic assumption that indifferent parents can be persuaded to change their ways through such centres. Absenteeism at schools is also reported to be increasing.
"With all the evident issues associated with young people, the idea that giving schools the authority to belt students would remedy indiscipline and stop them becoming thugs has the superficial appeal of simplicity. However, the real message in corporal punishment is that might is right. It would be far more fruitful to look into why so many parents neglect their responsibilities and what can be done to reverse this dreadful trend."
From The West Australian
- The Weekend Australian
- No education gap, just bad schools in Northern Territory
by Natasha Robinson
"Indigenous parents, demanding a new model of independent schooling in the most remote areas of the nation, are being hampered by the Northern Territory Education Department.
"The department is offering enticements to parents to keep their children in the government school system.
"New classrooms, four-wheel-drive vehicles and increasing staffing levels have been offered by the NT Education Department to communities opting to create independent schools, according to a report.
"One year on from a blistering report that said separatist Aboriginal education amounted to apartheid, the Centre for Independent Studies has analysed developments in indigenous education and concluded that no progress has been made to combat the literacy and numeracy disaster in remote Australia. The report, by emeritus professor Helen Hughes and independent researcher Mark Hughes, debunks the myth that there is an "education gap" between Aboriginal and white children, blaming bad schools for poor results.
"Remote Northern Territory schools overwhelmingly delivered bad results in last year's first national tests for literacy and numeracy, while indigenous students in mainstream schools in other states largely met benchmarks. The results indicated that remote education failures in the NT were "much deeper" than in other states.
"There is no gap between the literacy and numeracy of indigenous and non-indigenous students," the report says. "The gap is between indigenous students in mainstream schools and indigenous students in non-performing remote schools."
"The CIS report says the results of last year's national assessments in literacy and numeracy should be published school by school.
"The report calls for policy reform to tackle inadequate buildings and equipment, the introduction of mainstream curriculums and teaching standards, and teaching to be conducted in English in all classrooms.
"It demands that homeland learning centres -- small "pretend" schools located at outstations that do not have permanent teachers -- must "disappear" within three years.
"Larger homeland learning centres should be given full-time qualified teachers and be converted into normal government schools, while smaller learning centres should close and children should be bussed to larger centres, the report says..."
Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
See the reply by Dr Chris Sarra on ABC News
- Making remote schools work just takes commitment
by Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes
"Indigenous illiteracy and non-numeracy have been recognised as a problem in Australia for more than 20 years. But government targets have gone backwards from "fix the problem in four years" in 1997 to "fix half the problem in 10 years" last year.
"The failure of policy is the result of insisting that illiteracy and non-numeracy reflect an ethnic gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students.
"The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy tests of children in school years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in 2008 proved there was no such gap, but showed a chasm between the literacy and numeracy of children attending remote indigenous schools and all other Australian children.
"In Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT where there are no remote schools, indigenous children's results are the same as for non-indigenous children. About 10 per cent of all children did not sit tests or failed them.
"But for indigenous students in remote NSW schools, failure rates were 25 per cent; in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland they were 50 per cent; and in the Northern Territory they were 75 per cent. When the number of children not sitting tests are added to those failing in the NT, almost 100 per cent of children in remote indigenous schools fail all numeracy and literacy tests.
"NAPLAN results show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who attend mainstream schools in Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT have mainstream achievement levels. While a handful of exceptional remote schools work to mainstream standards, non-performing remote schools deprive their students of the life skills that every Australian needs.
"Low achievement is not a problem of indigenous children but of non-performing remote schools.
"The physical infrastructure of remote schools ranges from recently constructed or refurbished high standard and well-equipped schools to ones that are a disgrace to Australia. While some separate lower-standard buildings and poor equipment are evident in remote indigenous schools in all states, Commonwealth Assistance for Isolated Children allowances, available only where there are no government schools, are paid to parents of children attending Homeland Learning Centres.
"Many Homeland Learning Centres are built of unlined corrugated iron and do not have electricity or ablutions blocks. Unpainted walls and shutters make for gloomy interiors. Septic-tank toilets remain a rarity; "long drop" dunnies are common. Classrooms are typically fewer and smaller than in normal schools. In some schools, there would not be enough desks and chairs if all the enrolled children turned up.
"Separate, substandard curriculums and limited teaching capacities are a second characteristic of non-performing remote schools. Dumbed-down curriculums do not develop literacy and maths skills by building on successive blocks of knowledge.
"Many children are not learning English in early school years, although worldwide research indicates that young children learn languages more easily than older children. Many bilingual programs are thus, in effect, non-lingual, with children not becoming literate in any language. Incentives that reward school attendance have a role to play, but truancy is a matter of law and attendance must be enforced.
"A few exceptional remote schools that follow mainstream curriculums exist. Some dysfunctional parents fail to send their children to school, but many concerned parents are aware that their children are not being educated.
"They see that their children are at school only a few hours a day, a few days a week, and that the remote school year is much shorter than that of other schools. Prolonged funerals take children out of school, but so do festivals scheduled in term time. The reinstatement of permits has hidden non-performing schools from most Australians, but not from parents..." [emphasis added]
Full story in The Weekend Australian at link
- Letters to the Editor
- Most Talked About: National Broadband
Eight Letters at the link
- ABC News
- Cultural sensitivity directives 'bamboozle' teachers
"An education expert says teachers are being "bamboozled" by mysticism surrounding Aboriginal children and letting educational standards slip.
"Dr Chris Sarra, director of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute in Queensland, was in Darwin this week addressing 200 principals and senior education department figures.
"He says he told the conference teachers should demand high standards of Aboriginal children, instead of making allowances for cultural differences.
"There is the potential and I believe this absolutely, that the Territory education system can move from one that is perhaps been guilty of creating an underclass to becoming a world class education system," he said.
"Dr Sarra says he read a paper last year directing educators "not to look Aboriginal children in the eyes" because it might somehow damage their psyche.
"He says there is an impression that being culturally sensitive means accepting second rate outcomes from Aboriginal students, but that this approach does the students no favours.
"It presented Aboriginal children as being so mystical and so culturally different and so exotic, to the extent that lots of teachers were overwhelmed by that sort of information and forgot these are actually just kids in schools who deserve an education as much as anybody," he said.
"We can't get to a point where we just cannot see the kids for the black faces.
"We've got to take Aboriginal children as high-potential learners, high-calibre learners with tremendous potential."
Structural review
"Dr Sarra says he has completed a structural review of the Northern Territory Education Department which is currently with the Chief Minister.
"He was commissioned to conduct the review after the former head of the department, Margaret Banks, was sacked by the then education minister Marion Scrymgour in October last year.
"Dr Sarra says it would be inappropriate for him to comment on whether his review recommends redundancies.
"You'll have to wait for the Chief Minister to have a look at what's contained in the report," he said.
"I don't believe it's fair that that education department employees up there should be hearing about any outcomes from me through this forum."
From ABC News at link
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Principals get say in how grants are spent
by Anna Patty, Education Editor
"Primary school principals will be given greater choice in how they spend their capital funding windfall after complaints about the State Government's rush to provide them with prefabricated buildings.
"The NSW Department of Education emailed principals on Thursday night to tell them they would be given greater flexibility and control of up to $3 million in Federal Government grants to replace school buildings and upgrade classrooms.
"The Deputy Director-General of Finance and Infrastructure, Alastair Hunter, said small schools with grants of up to $250,000 under the Federal Government's $14.7 billion program would now be allowed to construct a new building.
"Principals had complained they were able to engage local builders and tradespeople to construct halls and classrooms from bricks and mortar more cheaply than the prefabricated buildings being supplied through the Department of Education.
"The president of the Primary Principals Association, Geoff Scott, said he had a "very productive" meeting on Thursday afternoon with the Director-General of Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, and representatives of the Premier, Nathan Rees, the Minister for Education, Verity Firth, and the Infrastructure Taskforce.
"They listened to the concerns principals have raised," Mr Scott said.
"Mr Scott said principals would also be able to change the maintenance priorities set by the Department of Education. "It means a principal can say, 'I don't want classroom five painted, I want it carpeted instead.' "
"The Department of Education ordered prefabricated libraries and mobile classrooms in bulk to meet the Federal Government's strict guidelines for stimulating the economy. The NSW Government submitted a list of school projects for final approval on Thursday.
"In the rush to meet the strict deadline, principals had complained they were given little choice in building projects.
"Mr Hunter's email to principals said the Department of Education was willing to consider project management by schools, "but only if the school can demonstrate they are … willing to take on all risks and obligations associated with the delivery of the project".
From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- BBC News
- Schools are 'employing bouncers'
Schools are employing bouncers to "crowd control" classes in teachers' absence, a union conference has heard.
- The New York Times
- With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King?
Public service, government, the sciences and even teaching look to be winners, while fewer shiny, young minds are embarking on careers in finance and business consulting.
- The Independent
- Naming and shaming 'hurts weaker schools'
Teacher resignations soar at establishments branded 'failing' by watchdog
The "toxic" intervention of naming and shaming struggling schools is creating more problems for them than it solves. It leads to teacher resignations soaring, heads being sacked and staff taking more time off due to stress-related illness, according to two separate studies published by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) today. As a result, say one in three teachers, the schools' reputations go down in the community and parents refuse to send their children to them. Teachers who work in struggling schools are playing "Russian roulette" with their careers.
- Of possible interest
- Good for a laugh !
Beaches too sandy, fish scare the kids: it's a Fawlty Towers world for some tourists [The Sunday Age]
- Feature: Rudd, the cable guy [The Weekend Australian]
- Node plan was wasteful, Kevin Rudd told [The Weekend Australian]
- Op Ed: When [government gobbledegook] words fail [The Age]
- Op Ed: A state of Big Brother [The Sunday Times] Worth a look!
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All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers
This page last updated 12 April, 2009 10:48 PM
