Monday 2 April

Tuesday 3 April

Wednesday 4 April

Thursday 5 April

Friday 6 April

Saturday – Sunday, 7 – 8 April

"WACOT Special Edition"
The rest of the weekend's education news

 

Monday 2 April

• The West Australian
  
  
  • OBE 'levels' caned by experts (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "The State's controversial outcomes-based education system came under fresh fire yesterday when the head of the Curriculum Council labelled the much-maligned "levels" as useless for assessing students and it emerged that a new university course says levels are a fundamentally flawed way of marking pupils.

    "A University of WA post-graduate course on educational assessment, measurement and evaluation that started this year identifies the OBE levels system as an inadequate way of gauging schoolchildren's progress.

    "Levels might be useful for curriculum planning but they are too broad to be useful for assessment," UWA education dean and council chairman Bill Louden said yesterday.

    "Professor Louden said the measurement experts who taught the new UWA course, which looks at different way of measuring achievement, believed levels were an imprecise way to assess students. "What the (education) department decides to do in terms of managing its staff is another matter," he said. Education Minister Mark McGowan abandoned the use of levels between one and eight in new Year 11 and 12 OBE courses earlier this year because they were inadequate for ranking students for university.

    "Mr McGowan also said lower school reports would not use levels.

    "He said recently that teachers up to Year 10 could return to traditional marking methods after a damning review of OBE implementation found it had not improved students' results, despite vastly increasing teachers' workloads. But OBE critics say it was a sham because teachers would still have to rely on levels to arrive at the grades A-E that will appear on students' reports.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said Mr McGowan was pretending that OBE had been abandoned, even though the discredited levelling system was still in use. [emphasis added]

    "But Mr McGowan claimed grades had to be linked to levels to ensure consistency between schools.

    "The Government wants to ensure marks have meaning which is why there must be a set of common standards that people are able to judge against," he said.

    "The changes we have made allow teachers to use the assessment method they are most comfortable with."

    "But the president of People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes, Marko Vojkovic, said that was "an absolute con" - teachers still had no choice on whether or not they used levels.

    "Mr Vojkovic said levels were so broad that most students received the same level and hence the same grade." [emphasis added]

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• BBC News
  
  
  • Teachers' rights law takes effect
    
    "New legal powers for teachers and schools in England to restrain and discipline unruly pupils have come into effect.

    "The law sets out teachers' right to break up fights and to confiscate items like mobile phones.

    "The changes are intended to put an end to what teachers' unions call the "You can't tell me what to do" culture.

    "It is also hoped the legislation will help tackle cyber-bullying via mobiles and the internet.

    Restrain and remove

    "Previously, teachers had been allowed to restrain pupils under common law, with the same authority as parents.

    "But the new law explicitly states that teachers have the right to physically restrain and remove unruly pupils, and impose detention, including sessions outside school hours and on Saturdays.

    "Teachers will be able to discipline pupils outside school too - if they see children behaving badly on public transport, for instance.

    "The new powers are enshrined in the 2006 Education and Inspections Act - much of which comes into force on 1 April.
    
    "Ministers believe the common law powers are too vague.

    "The general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Steve Sinnott, welcomed the changes, but said the government should do more to explain them to schools and to parents.

    "Meanwhile, ministers are also planning an advertising campaign aimed at tackling bullying via the internet and mobile phones.

    "Research funded by the government estimates that a quarter of young people have experienced this sort of cyber bullying."

    From BBC News Online at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • From top to bottom, book aims to teach children to own their bodies
    by Adele Horin
    
    "Sex education should start in preschools and child-care centres because pedophiles were targeting younger children, an expert in child abuse prevention said yesterday.

    "Holly Brennan, of Family Planning Queensland, was speaking before the launch of a picture book for children aged three to eight that uses explicit language for genitals and talks about inappropriate touching.

    "Ms Brennan said the book, Everyone's Got a Bottom, arose out of concern that sex education in primary schools was not compulsory, and came too late for many children. "Australian research shows the average age of sex abuse victims is nine when abuse first starts," she said.

    "ABC Learning Centres, the nation's biggest provider of private child care, has said it will not buy the book. "We respect the right of families to discuss private issues in their own way and in their own time," a spokesman said.

    "Ms Brennan said parents, libraries and other child-care centres had shown interest.

    "Australia's pre-eminent sex abuse researcher, Professor Freda Briggs, an adviser on the project, said preschool children were deliberately targeted by some pedophiles because they were too young to withstand cross-examination in court.

    "In other words, the [pedophiles] are unlikely to be punished," she said.

    "The picture book is believed to be the first in Australia to use the words vulva, vagina, penis and testicles in the context of teaching young children about self-protective behaviour.

    "Published by Family Planning Queensland, it is a gentle story about three siblings learning to talk together about their bodies, and who can touch them.

    "It might be a person that I know and like. It is still not OK for them to touch or ask to see my private parts or to show me theirs," it says.

    "Ms Brennan, the project co-ordinator, said age-appropriate sex education should unfold gradually from birth, starting with the use of correct names for genitals. "If you communicate without shame from the start, you encourage children to do the same."

    "She said children should be taught early that they owned their bodies, and how to identify "wrong" touching. This would put them be in a better position to reject abuse or report it later on. Running through the book is the refrain: "From my head to my toes/I can say what goes."

    "Evidence from Professor Briggs's research with 84 convicted child molesters shows they preyed on children who knew least about their rights. Boys especially were told the abuse was "sex education". Her research has also shown children feel they cannot report "rude" behaviour because it means using "rude" words that could get them into trouble."

    Written by Tess Rowley and illustrated by Jodi Edwards, the book can be bought through www.fpq.com.au.

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Editorial
    Teaching Tolerance
    
    Montgomery is a pioneer with a new sex education course.
    
    "What schools should teach children about sex is always controversial. Small wonder that so many places dodge the issue by teaching nothing or very little. Not so Montgomery County, where school officials bravely broke new ground last month with a pilot program that explores homosexuality and other issues of sexual identity. There is fierce opposition, but school officials are right in their resolve to offer a curriculum that promotes tolerance and acceptance.

    "The effort to update sex education dates to 2004, when a citizens advisory group deemed Montgomery's sex ed program horribly old-fashioned. Among its recommendations was discussion of sexual orientation and demonstration of the use of a condom. A costly, emotional and at times comical -- yes, we are thinking of the cucumber video -- battle resulted. As The Post's Daniel de Vise reported, a determined group fought the Board of Education at every step. It went to federal court to block a previous version that was in fact problematic.

    "School officials learned a lesson from that bungled effort. The new curriculum was painstakingly developed, with the help of medical consultants and a 15-member citizens advisory group. The revised lessons have been attacked from both sides. The conservative citizens group believes that an alternate view of homosexuality as immoral should be presented while more liberal members of the community think the curriculum should offer more to students who might be confused about their sexual identity. School is not the place for ideology -- either from the right or the left. Any parent who doesn't want his or her child exposed to the lessons can simply refuse permission, and an alternative lesson is provided. The curriculum is posted online and schools hold special informational meetings for parents.
    
    "A challenge to the program is pending before the Maryland State Board of Education. State School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick was careful not to prejudge the case, but it was encouraging that she noted the value of teaching tolerance. If there are weaknesses with the new lessons, it is likely that they will be detected in the field tests. There will be a chance to fine-tune any issues before countywide implementation, planned for fall.

    "Initial reviews from students judged the lessons to be, if anything, a tad boring. As one student said, "nothing new." That may be because the schools stuck to a strict script out of concern about the inevitable court challenge. It may be that today's more worldly eighth- and 10th-graders have already gotten their sexual education from movies and television. Or, as we like to think, maybe it's because this generation of students is already far more tolerant and understanding than any that preceded it."

    From The Washington Post at link
    
    
    
    
• The Times
  
  
  • Class like ‘boot camp’, teachers’ leader says
    by Alexandra Frean
    
    "Primary schools are more like boot camps than a place for learning for 10 and 11-year-olds, who are drilled to take national tests to the point of exhaustion, a union leader says today.

    "Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, is to tell the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth that the system of national testing and school league tables is failing a generation.

    "Hundreds of thousands of Year 6 children are spending hours every day preparing for their national Key Stage 2, or Sats, tests, in English, maths and science next month.

    “This is not education, this is training — and the consequences are catastrophic,” she says. “They lead to a period of exhaustion, not only for the teacher, but also for the pupils who are route-marched through to Level 4.

    “We know that real learning does not take place in boot camp Year 6 classes.”

    "Dr Bousted will also use her speech to call for Ofsted, the schools watchdog, to be stripped of its powers of inspection so that the job of monitoring school performance can be handed to independent advisers working for the local authority.

    "She believes that Ofsted’s main aim — to improve school standards — has been a complete failure, but accepts that Ofsted is now the most influential force in English schools..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    Similar stories in The Guardian and The Independent
    
    
    

  • Schools drop Holocaust lessons to avoid offence
    by Alexandra Frean
    
    "Teachers are dropping controversial subjects such as the Holocaust and the Crusades from history lessons because they do not want to cause offence to children from certain races or religions, a report claims.

    "A lack of factual knowledge among some teachers, particularly in primary schools, is also leading to “shallow” lessons on emotive and difficult subjects, according to the study by the Historical Association.

    "The report, produced with funding from the Department for Education, said that where teachers and staff avoided emotive and controversial history, their motives were generally well intentioned.

    “Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship,” it concluded.

    "However, it was concerned that this could lead to divisions within school, and that it might also put pupils off history."

    From The Times at link
    
    
    
    
• OnlineOpinion.com
  
  
  • Shakespeare versus the bus ticket
    by Dr Brian Moon
    
    "In the current furore over changes to the teaching of English, a number of commentators have accused "postmodern" theorists of destroying the study of English literature (see for example, Dumbing down: outcomes based and politically correct—the impact of the culture wars on our schools, Donnelly 2007).

    "One of the dramatic claims made in the debate is that postmodernists see no difference between studying Shakespeare and reading a bus ticket or an SMS message. Educational standards and cultural traditions are at risk if postmodernists gain control of the curriculum, we are told.

    "Critics can even point to curriculum examples that seem to prove their point: such as Western Australia's forthcoming Literature Course of Study, which includes opportunities for students to study graffiti, among other kinds of text.

    "Contrasting English literature's greatest icon with such a mundane and ephemeral object as a bus ticket or a text message certainly makes for a striking argument. The claim is all the more effective because the literature-versus-bus-ticket argument has not been made up: it actually comes from the work of one the best-known theorists, the Marxist critic Terry Eagleton (Literary theory: An introduction, 1983). I have repeated it myself (Criticism in the postmodern age. CCI512 Seminar, Moon 1987), as a way of illustrating some points about post-structural approaches to literature. But context is everything, and the devil is in the detail. What sounds like an alarming assertion becomes much less scandalous when the reasoning behind it is revealed and understood.

    "The point that many commentators have failed to grasp is this: there is more than one way of studying those cultural phenomena that we call texts, or writings, or literary works..."
    
    Brian Moon teaches English Curriculum studies at Edith Cowan University, in Western Australia. He is the author of a number of books for teaching English, and is a former state English examiner.
    
    Full story at OnlineOpinion.com at link
    
    
    

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • "Monday Education Section": not yet updated
    
    
    
  • Principals face court challenge
    
    The state's powerful teacher union is in a multimillion-dollar court battle designed to stymie a rival industrial group's attempts to represent state school principals.
    
    
    
  • Cyber cop starts internet beat as bullies run rampant
    
    Victoria's first "cyber cop" reported for duty yesterday as part of a pilot program designed to tackle the soaring problem of cyber bullying.
    
    
    

• The Australian
  

  • Classics sped up for bored gamers
    
    It's official: the YouTube generation just can't sit still long enough to enjoy a competitive board game. The makers of Monopoly and Scrabble are speeding up their games to make it possible for a winner to emerge before a teenager gives in to the urge to go off and text his mates.

Tuesday 3 April

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Schools hide truth about kids' marks [Front Page Headline]
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "The Education Department has told teachers it is acceptable to hide students' failures from their parents because it may not be in the children's best interest to reveal the truth about their poor performance.
    
    "Teachers have been advised they can override a computer program which assigns students grades if they felt the parents did not need to know their child had been awarded an E grade, which would show they had failed to meet the minimum acceptable standard.

    "A document posted on the department's website last week said "it is not in the best interests of the student" to tell parents their child received an E. But the department told The West Australian yesterday this was "an editing error" and that the document should have said that teachers could choose not to tell parents the child received an E only "if it is not in the best interests of the student to report this information to parents".

    "Asked to explain the criteria by which teachers decided whether the truth should be hidden from parents, department curriculum standards executive director Chris Cook said: "Students who are at educational risk may be provided with a tailored teaching plan developed in collaboration with their parents.

    "Schools may choose to report to parents student performance related to this plan rather than use an E grade."

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop attacked the department's advice, repeating her demand that parents be given plain English A-E report cards.

    "Parents expect to know how their children are doing at school and opting out is a decision for parents to make, not the school independently of parents," she said yesterday.

    "It is particularly concerning that parents of children who are most in need of assistance would have vital information withheld from them."

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Rob Fry said parents were entitled to know if their child was under-achieving at school. "Why have an E grade if you don't use it?" he said. "I thought we were supposed to be open and frank."

    "Mr Fry said if the information was not going on the report, schools needed another way to tell parents. [This is ludicrous; "we'll conceal if from the report and tell parents in a different way"??? Thank you, Sir Humphrey! Web]

    "State School Teachers Union executive member Clive Kelly, who is also a primary school deputy principal, said the department was concealing information from parents. "If they want a reporting system based on grades, why don't they want some of the grades there?" he said.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said it was incumbent on schools to inform parents if their child was struggling."

    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Alston cartoon (page 14)
    
    
  
  © The West Australian

  
  

  • ALP pledges literacy, numeracy teachers (added 2:05 pm)
    AAP
    
    "Primary schools could employ specialist literacy and numeracy teachers under a Labor proposal to improve student results.

    "Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith said a Labor government would work to ensure all students could add, subtract, read and write.

    "This strategy may include placing specialist literacy and numeracy teachers in primary schools, in a similar vein to specialist subject teachers that already exist in high schools.

    "Mr Smith's comments follow the release of the 2005 national assessment results, which found almost one in five Year 7 students failed to meet numeracy benchmarks, and one in 10 did not achieve reading standards.

    "The assessment showed the proportion of students failing to meet literacy and numeracy benchmarks increased the longer they stayed at school, with results gradually deteriorating between Years 3, 5 and 7.

    "I think there's so much more we can do to improve our kids' performance," Mr Smith told Network Ten.

    "Teachers do a great job, but we've got to start giving teachers more specialist skills in literacy and numeracy.

    "We've got to start having specialist literacy and numeracy teachers."

    "The younger children learnt the basics, the greater their chance of success later in life, he said.

    "A spokesman for Mr Smith later said the idea had its genesis in a report released in December 2005, Teaching Reading, which made important recommendations about the teaching of literacy in Australia.

    "The report urged each school to identify a specialist literacy teacher to help their fellow teachers monitor students' literacy as part of ongoing classroom learning.

    "Mr Smith's spokesman accused Education Minister Julie Bishop of blaming the states for problems instead of acting in response to the report.

    "Ms Bishop has been vocal lately about her desire to see improvements in literacy and numeracy teaching.

    "From next year, Year 9 students will join those in Years 3, 5 and 7 in sitting national literacy and numeracy exams."
    

    From The West Australian Online at link
    
    Stephen Smith Op Ed in The Sydney Daily Telegraph
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 17)
    
    
    • It's child abuse
      
      "For the fourth time in less than two years we read a damning report on OBE and levelling (OBE levels caned by expert, 2/4).

      "The Andrich report, the Tognolini report, Bill Louden's report and now the UWA statement all condemn the fundamental basis of OBE-levelling students.

      "If the Curriculum Council and DET continue to follow this failed system in spite of all the evidence against it, it amounts to nothing less than academic child abuse."

      Patrick F Whalen, Yokine
      

      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Plan for colleges before university
    by Lisa Macnamara
    
    "Thousands of school-leavers with average Year 12 scores would be funnelled into US-style "community college" courses instead of heading straight to university, under a radical strategy to free up hundreds of millions of dollars for the tertiary sector.
    
    "Under the new proposal by Swinburne University vice-chancellor Ian Young, school leavers would have to score greater than 65 per cent to be accepted into university or face studying an associate degree at TAFE before they could gain entry on to campus.

    "Almost all of the students who have a (Tertiary Entrance Ranking) greater than 90 go to university now, so the way the system is going to be expanded is there's going to be more and more students who are less prepared going to university," Professor Young said yesterday.

    "That means that universities are going to get bigger and bigger and they're going to be filled up with students who are less well prepared for university. And if you look at those students, there's a strong correlation between their TER and success rate at university."

    "Professor Young will present his "pathways" initiative at a higher education summit in Melbourne today, likening it to the US-based community college system.

    "The community college pathway is viewed by many US students as a desirable path to a degree," his paper says.

    "It is both less expensive and provides a better educational preparation than progressing directly to university."

    "If implemented nationally, the proposal could result in one in five students heading to the feeder courses rather than directly to university..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    Similar story in The Melbourne Age
    
    
    

• The Times
  
  
  • Baccalaureate ‘overvalued’ against A level
    by Alexandra Blair, Education Correspondent
    
    "Complaints about the International Baccalaureate (IB) and vocational qualifications have prompted a fundamental review of the points system that values all sixth-form qualifications. With the introduction of specialised diplomas, the A* grade at A level and the rival PreU qualification next year, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has concluded that the system of weighting final qualifications is no longer fit for purpose.

    "By 2010, the grades of sixth-formers are expected to be measured according to a new tariff, which will judge a student’s “knowledge, attitudes and skills” and intends to compare more fairly A levels with group awards such as the International Baccalaureate.

    "The change was made in response to complaints from several leading independent and state schools over the valuation by Ucas of the baccalaureate in comparison with the A level. A top score of 45 in the IB is worth 6½ A-grades at A level.

    "This measurement pushed schools that use the IB to the top of the school league tables and prompted Tony Blair to offer £26,000 each to a hundred state schools to cover the costs of its introduction. A spokesman for Ucas said: “The current tariff was introduced in 1999 and reflected a very different curriculum. There are more different qualifications coming in and we wanted to be more inclusive. It is very difficult to compare single qualifications with large overarching group awards. So the review is about ensuring the tariff system is consistently fit for purpose.”

    "The new system will judge qualifications on how they develop a student’s knowledge, learning, commitment to their course and skills that are deemed by university admissions staff to be important.

    "It is unclear whether sports and community activities, which are part of the IB, will be valued in points..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    
    

  • To fail them all their days?
    
    As police investigate allegations of bullying at a top independent school, Ben Locker and William Dornan argue that public schools are snobbish anachronisms that do not equip pupils for the modern world
    
    
    
    
• The Independent
  
  
  • Schools to be given early warning if standards slip
    
    Hundreds of "coasting" schools, which are in danger of failing their inspections, are to face a crackdown by the Government.
    
    Similar story in The Guardian
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Daily Telegraph
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Invest in education
    by Federal Shadow Education Minister Stephen Smith
    
    "Last week's test results on the numeracy and literacy skills of Australian kids showed between one in five and one in 10 kids are struggling with one of the three "Rs'' - a deeply concerning result..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Daily Telegraph at link
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Herald Sun
  
  
  • Schools offered bribes
    
    Desperate parents are trying to bribe principals with overseas holidays and donations to get their children into government primary schools.
    
    

  
  

Wednesday 4 April

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Principals join forces to consider OBE delay (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "A mutiny is brewing among State school principals over WA's controversial outcomes-based education system, with a group of them yesterday calling on their professional association to quiz members on whether new OBE courses should be delayed.

    "The West Australian has learnt that about 15 principals are writing to the WA Secondary School Executive Association, which represents about 300 principals and deputy principals, asking it to canvass other school leaders on whether they think 40 OBE courses due to start next year should be delayed.

    "The move could mark a key turning point in the OBE debate, given that State school principals have never spoken out publicly against implementation of the new courses.

    "Leaders of influential private schools last year launched scathing attacks on the way the State Government pushed ahead with OBE implementation in Years 11 and 12.

    "Some State school principals have expressed misgivings privately but all have toed the official line so far.

    "It is understood the principals believe schools need more time to bed down the eight OBE courses already in place in Years 11 and 12 before adding to the list.

    "They are also concerned that courses are being implemented without being tested on smaller groups of students and before problems with assessment and exams are ironed out.

    "The principals requested that they and their schools not be identified because they fear retribution from the Education Department. [emphasis added] [I anxiously await Peter Collier's speech on that little gem! The Minister's silence has been deafening!  Web]

    "Association president Alison Woodman said she would survey WA's 100 public high schools by email if members wanted her to.
    
    "I'd be the last to want to stifle opinion. If they want to know the extent of support of lack of it, then I think it's very important that we do the survey," Ms Woodman said.

    "She said new variables, such as the shortage of high school teachers, had put extra pressure on schools after the OBE timeline was put in place. [But perhaps OBE has something to do with the current shortage of high school teachers?  Web]

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said independent teacher juries recently appointed by the WA Electoral Commission would assess all new senior school courses.

    "If people want to comment on the courses they can provide submissions for consideration by the juries until Friday, April 13," Mr McGowan said.

    [But why didn't the Minister immediately guarantee that DET would not be allowed to victimise principals who speak out?  Web]

    "President of People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes Marko Vojkovic said he was pleased that State school principals were finally speaking out.

    "Mr Vojkovic said the Government should have learnt from the botched implementation of OBE English, which was now being taught to Year 12s.

    "English is an absolute fiasco because we rushed into it before the entire Year 11 course was ready," Mr Vojkovic said." [emphasis added]

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • McGowan orders teachers to report children’s poor grades to parents (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan has ordered the Education Department to abandon its policy of concealing some students’ poor marks from parents, saying teachers should no longer hide the truth.
    
    "The West Australian revealed yesterday that the department had advised teachers to override a computer program which assigns grades if they felt it was not in the students’ best interests for their parents to know they had got an E grade.
    
    "An E grade is assigned to students who fail to meet the minimum acceptable levels.
    
    "But Mr McGowan told Parliament yesterday that parents were “absolutely entitled to all and any information about the performance of their children”.
    
    "He said schools should develop tailored learning plans in consultation with parents for students with special needs, but those plans did not release schools from their obligation to provide information to parents.
    
    "Mr McGowan said that in some instances it might be desirable to withhold results from students rather than undermine their self-esteem, but that would be done only with the parents’ agreement. “In order to remove any confusion about these objectives, I have directed that the department’s policies and procedures on this issue be reviewed to ensure they are clear and in complete accord with Government policy,” he said.
    
    "He directed Education acting director-general Sharyn O’Neill to review department policy to ensure parents were informed if their child got an E grade.
    
    "A document posted on the department’s website last week said it was not in the best interests of the student to tell parents the child got an E grade. But when The West Australian queried this, the department said it was an editing error and the paper should have said teachers could choose not to tell parents their child got an E if it was not in the student’s best interests.
    
    "The WA Council of State School Organisations and the State School Teachers Union deplored the policy, saying there was little point in a reporting system based on grades if some grades were not used.
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop and WA shadow education minister Peter Collier said parents should know the truth if their children were struggling at school."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    PC madness in move to hide student failures (page 20)
    
    "The English novelist and essayist C. S. Lewis is widely quoted as having observed that failures are fingerposts on the road to achievement. He was a wise and deeply thoughtful man. Failure is an integral part of life and no one can escape some degree of it. It can be a powerful learning experience and a stimulus for achievement.

    "Yet is seems the Education Department, for its own perverse bureaucratic reasons, would seek to deny it. The idea of failure has been anathema to education bureaucrats for some time, as had been evidenced by the outcomes-based education levels fiasco. The drive to conceal or disguise it could be put down to self-interest: if no one is seen to fail, no one is held accountable. [emphasis added]

    "It is also a manifestation of the politically correct doctrine that denies the validity of distinguishing among students on the basis of ability, work and accomplishment. This kind of trendy madness is exemplified in the department's advice to teachers that it is acceptable to hide students; failures from their parents because it may not be in the children's best interests to reveal the truth about their poor performances. The sheer presumptuous arrogance of this idea that critical information about students can be withheld from parents is breathtaking: so much for the supposed partnership between school and home in the education of children.

    "The ostensible commitment to plain English A-E report cards becomes a sham when it comes to reporting Es, because the teacher is assumed to have superior judgment over parents about what is in a child's best interest. Did it not occur to anyone in the department that this sort of concealment, even if it is clothed in the hypocrisy of supposed concern for interests of children who fail to make the grade, stinks of dishonesty and can only work against the interests of the students concerned? Did anyone stop to think what institutionalised dishonesty would do to the school system?

    "Of course, having concealed failure, it is easier for the system not [to] have to do anything about it. And people wonder how some youngsters can go through school without gaining an adequate knowledge of their language. Failure is an alarm signal that a student is struggling. If this is not noted, reported to parents and acted on, it can become an ingrained habit and condemn young people to lesser lives than they had the potential to enjoy.

    "At least Education Minister Mark McGowan has implicitly acknowledged this by moving to correct the department's abysmal failure to meet its obligations to students and parents."

    From The West Australian
    

    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Teachers’ pay fails the test of fairness (page 21)
    by Tony Rutherford
    
    Solving the critical shortage of teachers should focus on making the job more rewarding, pay-wise especially
    

    "The bad news on the education front continues. We started the school year with a shortage of some 250-odd teachers. Now we have the news that in five years’ time, there may be a shortage of something like 3000 teachers.
    
    "The detail isn’t very clear, and the numbers don’t seem very reliable. The overall figure is said to cover both the public and private systems, that is perhaps surprising. And projections made over five years can be subject to all sorts of changes. But there can be no doubt that the teacher shortage will continue to get worse. Indeed, the figure of 3000 may well understate the potential crisis. As Mike Keely, from the State School Teachers Union, has pointed out, the new superannuation regime may well see a big number of older teachers dropping out of the system in July.
    
    "It’s a subject that comes up in all sorts of different contexts. Last week, for instance, the Productivity Commission noted the very low numbers of students leaving school without useful skills in maths and the physical sciences; it pointed to the shortage of teachers in these subjects, and mentioned the idea of increasing pay for teachers in such key areas.
    
    "Doing away with monolithic, across-the-board pay scales is a hot favourite policy option with the Federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, who is pushing very hard to get performance-based pay for teachers included in the current Federal-State funding arrangements.
    
    "In all this, however, the emphasis is mostly on improving teacher performance, rather than simply hoping that merit pay (as it is now usually called) would help retain more teachers in the system.
    
    "Interestingly enough, Labor’s shadow minister for education Stephen Smith seems to have given Ms Bishop’s proposals his support, although whether that support will survive his next meeting with the teacher unions or not is an open question. There is also quite a lot of support for the idea of merit pay for teachers among academic researchers, both in Australia and abroad. That is not at all surprising; it is not much more in the end than recognition of the simple fact that good employers reward performance.
    
    "That said, it all gets very difficult very quickly. If any policy idea very clearly demanded a light hand and a swift and sure touch, it is this.
    
    "But given that our State education bureaucracies are apparently not very good at administering anything very much, it is difficult to see how any of these schemes are not going to be turned into complex, slow and over-regulated bureaucratic nightmares. And then there is the awkward matter of deciding who controls the rewards. Simple improvements in externally-administered tests is one way; measuring “value-added” is another; peer review is possible; leaving the whole matter in the hands of principals is one more that has been tested.
    
    "Indeed, they have all been tested and found workable to one degree or another. (And the research throws up some incidentally interesting points, such as the weak correlation between teachers having higher degrees and their measured teaching performance.)
    
    "Ms Bishop apparently favours a blend of peer review and improvements in test scores.

    "But in the public school system, reality very quickly asserts itself. Teachers are not, of course, independent agents. They operate in the real world of individual schools. To be effective they need an environment which supports them. Some, probably a minority, have such an environment; some, probably most, do not. Some teachers, for instance, can count on a school where basic discipline, such as paying attention in class, can be taken for granted.
    
    "Time in class is time spent teaching. Good principals and senior staff can establish the right ethos quite quickly, even in some fairly unpromising socioeconomic circumstances.
    
    "Teachers in these schools will stand a much better chance of doing well under a regime of merit pay than teachers in the rest of the system.
    
    "We come back, eventually, to where we started: the forecast shortfall in the numbers of teachers, an issue which raises all of these same questions, questions in which WA’s Department of Education seems quite uninterested.
    
    "There have been some fairly tentative investigations into why teachers are leaving, but there is a reluctance to accept the answers.
    
    "The staff rooms at some schools are like one of those Lotto adds: “One Powerball and I’m out of here”. Desperate teachers put aside their qualifications and experience and head off to careers in real estate or mining companies or lunch bars.
    
    "For some — for too many indeed — the thought of another year coping with unruly kids, aggressive parents and unsympathetic principals and deputies is just too much.
    
    "And, of course, the concern is not just that the system is losing numbers; equally important, the system is losing its most valuable asset, its older and most experienced teachers. Any response to the projected crisis which does not look directly at this particular aspect of the problem is bound to fail.
    
    "And any response which does not try to isolate the problems of failing schools — schools with a poor ethos, with declining numbers and declining standards — is similarly bound to fail. Of course, this is a circular problem. There will be a shortage of teachers not only because teachers are leaving in big numbers, but because there aren’t enough good students going to university with the idea of becoming a teacher. [emphasis added]
    
    "And one reason why that is so is that too many of those who might think of teaching as a principled and socially useful vocation have just seen exactly what a teacher’s life is like.
    
    "Dedication against the odds is not these days an attractive option. That thought in itself should be enough to prompt some serious thought and some equally serious action."

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
    
  • State fees rip off grants to schools (page 3)
    by Graham Mason
    
    "The State Government is skimming millions of dollars from Commonwealth grants to schools for projects such as sport facilities, air-conditioning, assembly areas and playgrounds.

    "Federal Education, Science and Training Minister Julie Bishop has written to State Education Minister Mark McGowan over her concern that funding from the Investing In Our Schools Program is going to State coffers in the name of management fees and contingency charges.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier estimated the State Government had pocketed nearly $8 million under the scheme, enough to pay for 150 teachers a year..."

    "In contrast, Catholic and independent schools applying for Federal funds keep the full amount with neither the Catholic Education Office nor the Association of Independent Schools seizing any of the money.

    "In her letter to Mr McGowan, Ms Bishop asked him to ensure that no project management fees or charges were paid to State government authorities for IOSP projects.

    "It is outrageous that the State Government would seek to rip money out of a Federal grant designed to fix up neglected State government schools. Charging excessive fees for purportedly managing projects such as putting up a shadecloth is scandalous." Ms Bishop said. [emphasis added]

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Rob Fry said it was particularly galling that [the Department of Housing and Works] was ripping out more than 20 per cent to manage some country school projects.

    "The State Government should ensure that every cent that schools are granted by the Commonwealth goes to the school, not into other areas of Government coffers," he said..."

    From The West Australian

    Based upon a speech by Peter Collier in State Parliament on 29 March 2007: Click here for the full details in Hansard
    
    
    

  • More teachers under cloud of complaints (page 52)
    by Jessica Strutt
    
    "The Education Department is failing to get on top of a backlog of complaints against staff in schools and TAFE colleges, despite the Government establishing a new unit to investigate allegations of misconduct.

    "Answers to questions in the Upper House of Parliament reveal that the Education Department has 158 outstanding complaints, after if received 41 new complaints but resolved just 28 outstanding complaints since November..." [emphasis added]

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said it was unbelievable so many teachers were living under a cloud due to the inefficiency of the department of finalise investigations into misconduct allegations.

    "Mr Collier said that it was inconceivable that the department could not fast-track the complaints, especially as there was a teacher shortage and many of the teachers who were subject to a misconduct allegation were probably being kept out of classrooms. Education Department acting director-general Sharyn O'Neill said the department was still in the process of recruiting 28 expert investigators to pursue allegations of staff misconduct..." [Remember, Peter: The words "fast", "quickly", "rapidly", "timely", "efficiently" and "fairly" are not in the DET vocabulary. {Does that make them 'Foundation Level'??}  Web]

    From The West Australian

    Peter Collier's Question, and Ljiljanna Ravlich's [represent Minister Mark McGowan in the Upper House] Answer, are available on Hansard at this link [scroll down a bit]
    

    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Editorial
    A welcome addition to the education debate
    
    Australia's tertiary education system is under enormous strain and needs fresh ideas.
    
    "The vice-chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, Ian Young, has made a valuable and timely contribution to the debate on tertiary education. Professor Young, in his paper Building Better Pathways to Higher Education, released this week, has assessed the state of higher education and the consequences of leaving things as they are — not only for institutions, but for students and the country.

    "As Professor Young points out, the sector's importance extends beyond learning to its impact on Australia's economic future. "As modern nations progressively become knowledge economies, the proportion of our population which progresses from secondary school to tertiary education will increase," he writes. "Modern societies increasingly require large numbers of well-educated and highly skilled employees." Over a decade from 1989, the number of school-leavers going on to higher education has risen by 10 per cent and, at present, more than half of school leavers go on to university or TAFE.

    "Professor Young believes that a new approach is called for in how students go to university. He suggests a minimum score — an ENTER of 65 — and those who do not achieve it should do a HECS-supported associate degree at TAFE, as a pathway to university. It is an idea with merit.

    "The vice-chancellor bases his proposal on the grounds that the university system has changed enormously in Australia since it was established. No longer is it only for the elite few. Also, Professor Young believes ENTER scores are not a reflection solely of academic ability but are influenced by socio-economic factors. Teenagers from wealthy suburbs are more likely to do well.

    "He also warns of a "funding treadmill" on which universities have found themselves. "Had it not been for the spectacularly successful full-fee paying international student market, Australian higher education would be in a diabolical position," he writes. One-quarter of students enrolled last year at universities were foreigners, and about 700 overseas-focused colleges have been established. The international student market is worth about $10 billion.

    "Professor Young's warning echoes that of many others, including Melbourne University's vice-chancellor Glyn Davis. A year ago Professor Davis estimated government funding per student was two-thirds of that provided in 1976. Last week Professor Davis unveiled a dramatic overhaul of curriculum for Melbourne University that cuts the number of undergraduate degrees and moves professional courses such as law to graduate level. However, he conceded that the university will lose students by the change, which is scheduled to take effect next year. The two vice-chancellors differ, however, on this approach. Professor Young in his paper criticises the "Melbourne model", saying "it is an even more elite system than the one we have at present".

    "Education is one of the key areas in which this year's federal election will be fought. Both the Labor Party, steered by leader Kevin Rudd, and the Coalition, steered by minister Julie Bishop, have tried to steal a march on the other. Mr Rudd launched his revolution in January standing outside his old primary school in Queensland. Since then he has released policies on private and public schools sharing facilities, establishing a national curriculum, cuts to HECS to tackle the shortage of teachers and skilled tradespeople, and on preschool education. Ms Bishop has weighed into issues of performance-based pay for teachers, a national curriculum, and workplace reform in universities.

    "A good education system — at primary, secondary and tertiary level — is a cornerstone of society. How governments fund education is a reflection, too, on what priority they bestow on that responsibility. This country's spending on higher education, as a percentage of GDP, is below the OECD average. Beyond Labor and the Coalition trying to score political points, education is an issue fundamental to Australia's future. Professor Young's contribution to the direction in which it should proceed is welcome."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Rudd curriculum 'weak'
    by Jewel Topsfield
    
    "A core curriculum introduced into Queensland schools while Kevin Rudd was the state's top public servant was "weak and insipid", an academic has said.

    "Mr Rudd commissioned Professor Kenneth Wiltshire to chair a review of the Queensland curriculum in 1993 when the Opposition Leader was director-general of the Queensland cabinet office.

    "But Professor Wiltshire said his recommendation of a core curriculum failed because it was never properly defined, was designed by the same bureaucrats who had run the old system and was allowed to be "dumbed down". "The core curriculum ended up weak and insipid," he said.

    "He warned that pledges to introduce a national curriculum in the lead-up to the federal election were "just dot points which are not worth a crumpet" unless they were properly followed through."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link

    
    
    
  • Scholarship blitz as uni ditches old-school model
    by Farrah Tomazin and Adam Morton
    
    "All Victorian schools will be asked to nominate their best students for Melbourne University scholarships under an ambitious plan to keep the Parkville campus both equitable and elite as it shifts to a US-style teaching model.

    "Under what vice-chancellor Glyn Davis calls the "most generous and wide-ranging scholarship program" ever offered by an Australian university, all schools will be asked to identify promising students in years 10 and 11 on the basis of their academic ability and "all-round" leadership skills.

    "Those who do well in year 12 by obtaining an ENTER score "in the 90s" will be offered a place in the university's new wave of undergraduate courses, with the chance to study overseas as part of their degree.

    "The scholarship program is part of the university's transition to the two-tier "Melbourne Model", which will eventually see it slash its number of undergraduate degrees from 96 to six and move professional courses such as law to graduate level.

    "When the model is phased in from next year, an unprecedented number of HECS places will be offered to graduate students, double degrees will be eliminated, and student numbers will go up in the short term but eventually be cut.

    "Full details of the university's scholarship program will be unveiled at an official launch in two weeks. Deputy vice-chancellor Peter McPhee said: "What we're going to do is create a scholars program for all schools, whereby students in their later years will be identified by the school for a range of their potential — not just academic.

    "The idea is that we would be making it possible for every school in Victoria to identify several students. Now of course, some students either won't want it, or they will go to another university, but we think it will be a good way of identifying them as outstanding people and offering that opportunity." ...
    
    Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Academic reputation under cloud [Same story also in today's The West Australian]
    
    Some of the world's top academics have warned the Federal Government that Australia's reputation as a leader in mathematical science research and education is under threat.
    
    See similar story in last week's Australian Higher Education Supplement
  
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
  • The Higher Education Supplement has 19 articles, including:
    
    
    • Blueprint for smarter teacher training
      
      A new report opens the door to long-awaited reform, writes Malcolm Skilbeck
      
      "Rich and financially generous in its recommendations, last month's Top of the Class report into teacher education also lists federal, state and public authority inquiries on this subject since 1979. Including the present report, the figure tops 100, with innumerable recommendations.
      
      "Tactfully, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training observes that while some have had substantial results, others have crept in through the back door, as it were, or have been overlooked. Thus longstanding problems remain; this committee maps out a set of policy objectives to address them.

      "The committee's analysis and recommendations revolve around five issues:

      * Shaping a high-quality national system.

      * Sharing responsibilities on a model for partnership between teachers, academics and the community.

      * Sustaining career-long learning and high-quality performance.

      * Building the research-knowledge base.

      * Funding.

      "Two issues the standing committee chose to avoid are:

      * The content of teacher education; what is taught and learned.

      * Education of teacher educators.

      "The analysis draws primarily on submissions and evidence in hearings. In the spirit of received wisdom in social and economic policy, the committee sees its recommendations as ways to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness, nationally and internationally competitive standards and consistently high quality. These terms have become a mantra in policy inquiries but the committee's funding recommendations could be a means to replacing incantation with substantive change, at least from a federal government perspective..."
      
      "A national research fund is proposed to be distributed on a model similar to that of the National Health and Medical Research Council. Noting the dearth of solid Australian research on effectiveness of teacher education programs, the committee seeks to strengthen the knowledge base.

      "But what kinds of research may achieve this and what of the uses proposed by the committee for research expenditure?

      "The committee could usefully have drawn on international research including analytical and empirical studies in other countries, notably the US and Britain. In recent years this work has yielded conceptual tools and procedures for defining quality and determining effectiveness.

      "Reflecting on this, on the value of alternative strategies for educating teachers and ways of conceptualising quality, may have caused the committee to be sceptical about the bold machinery claims being made for a single national system, a uniform (or consistent) set of national professional standards and common accreditation procedures governing teacher registration.

      "As in the national curriculum debate, we are in danger of confusing broadly agreed national aims and frameworks and a family of acceptable procedures with a one-size-fits-all model. For teachers and increasingly diverse student populations, we have to be sure that the emerging national system sustains rather than smothers creativity, innovation and the kind of diversity that nourishes distinctive and unique qualities in people and educational settings.

      "The committee has too readily accepted the boosterism of Australia's large and powerful body of orthodox system builders.

      "While the report shows how education - and teacher education in particular - suffers in existing national research funding arrangements, it does not adequately take up the question of just which elements of teacher education should be immediate targets for increased funding.

      "A longitudinal study of the effectiveness of different models of teacher education across Australia is recommended. This could be of great value. Unfortunately, the time scale proposed (from selection to throughout the teaching career) is all too likely to fall victim to changing funding priorities..."
      
      "In expressing its surprise at the paucity of research into the effectiveness of different models of teacher education, the committee pointed a way ahead: continue studies, already well under way in the Australian Council for Educational Research.

      "Good. But may it not have paused to ask whether the aforementioned national system of standards, accreditation and the like will foster experimentation, diversity and many little truths as distinct from one big truth (or possible falsehood)?" ...
      
      "Of the other main recommendations, the committee's support for teachers' continuing, sustained professional learning beyond initial training needs little justification.

      "Teaching has had a patchy record of continued professional learning. The committee pinpoints systemic weaknesses in induction and in the provision, take-up and application of advanced, university-based studies and job-focused training.

      "Despite outstanding examples of diploma-higher degree programs and large federally funded programs of continuing professional learning, teaching has not been in the forefront of moves to universalise lifelong learning through systematic, structured study.

      "Teachers are not as a matter of principle commonly supported or rewarded by employers for advanced qualifications, any more than their classroom performance is formally rewarded. It is still a widespread belief that a regime of ad hoc, short courses with a strong job focus is sufficient. This has been to the detriment of educational scholarship in universities and of the development of the research culture that the committee is recommending, and helps explain the lack of uptake of research by teachers..."
      
      "Here is an opportunity to generate momentum for teacher curriculum change: more research-based and intellectually challenging, better articulated with experience in the field and more serviceable as a foundation for lifelong professional learning.

      "This is a nettle yet to be grasped, but this report has opened the door sufficiently for it to happen not through the emerging bureaucracy of national standards, accreditation and so forth but in intellectual inquiries, led by alliances of school practitioners, academics and concerned citizens."

      International education consultant Malcolm Skilbeck is a former deputy director for education with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      

    • Scrap fee caps, says uni chief
      
      Price caps on university fees cannot be defended on equity grounds and should be dumped, according to Labor leader Kevin Rudd's favourite vice-chancellor. Demolishing one of Labor's core arguments for HECS relief at the next election, Melbourne University's Glyn Davis has warned that rising prices have not stopped poor students attending university.
      
      
      
    • Limits on campus funding attacked
      
      Policy-makers need only compare the funding arrangements for Australia's secondary schools and universities to realise price controls on campus are a disgrace, University of Technology, Sydney vice-chancellor Ross Milbourne has declared. During an impassioned speech about sector diversity at a higher education summit in Melbourne yesterday, Professor Milbourne slammed federal government policies that are promoted as generating diversity.
      
      
      
    • Extra entry options pose risk
      
      The tyranny of the tertiary entrance rank is receding as universities accelerate the shift to alternative selection methods to better target the students most likely to succeed. But the fairness of uniform admissions procedures is at stake, student choices are being distorted and some students may be being set up for failure, leading admissions expert George Cooney has warned.
      
      
      
  • Op Ed
    Kirsten Storry: Excuses fail our neediest students
    
    Good schools do make a difference to vulnerable young lives in remote communities
    
    "In remote community schools, children often miss one or two days of school a week. Most cannot do maths or read at their age level, and few learn to do so beyond the level of an eight-year-old. As many as half do not make the transition to secondary school and only a handful obtain a Year 12 certificate.
    
    "Too often, schools make excuses. Some say that even well-managed schools with good teachers have little influence over attendance, are unable to disguise the plain hard work involved in phonics and times tables, and have little chance of overcoming the destructive consequences of family dysfunction, violence and chronic poor health.

    "Yet some good schools report much higher rates of attendance, achievement and retention.

    "So, what is working in good schools in remote indigenous communities? Can good schools make a difference to vulnerable young lives?

    "Some good schools enrich the supply of quality education. Evidence-based remedial skills programs, secondary school readiness programs and secondary boarding schools are among the initiatives that have shown the potential to achieve results.

    "Take evidence-based literacy programs, for example. Research has shown that whole-language instruction alone is not effective for 20 to 25 per cent of children. They need intensive, systematic instruction in decoding the printed word.

    "Ken Rowe of the Australian Council for Educational Research is co-authoring an evaluation of literacy methods in Northern Territory schools. "If you give kids basic skills via explicit instruction," he says, "they take off like rockets."

    "Some good remote schools are seeing the results..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Times
  
  
  • Teachers to sue over online humiliation at hands of pupils
    by Alexandra Frean, Education Editor
    
    "Teachers are threatening to sue websites that allow pupils to post abuse and humiliating videoclips and photographs taken on mobile phones on the internet.

    "One of the worst cases involved a woman teacher who discovered that a photograph of her face had been superimposed on a naked body and circulated. Another teacher learnt that a female pupil had posted lies about her sex life on the internet. Other teachers have had cleavages or underwear photographed while they were bending over.

    "The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) annual conference in Bournemouth heard that websites such as RateMyTeachers, a US-based site that encourages pupils to post comments about teachers and school online, and the file-sharing site YouTube, were making teachers’ lives a misery.

    "Lesley Ward, who teaches at Intake Primary School in Don-caster, South Yorkshire, described RateMyTeachers as the “evil twin” of Friends Reunited, saying that it allowed pupils to perpetrate a “spiteful and vindictive” form of assault.

    "Alan Bellchambers, who teaches at a primary school in Thurrock, Essex, said sites like RateMyTeachers were obscene. “We should demand that it be banned and be made illegal by any legislation possible,” he said.

    "Andy Brown, a drama teacher from Northern Ireland, cautioned that some teachers might even be losing out on jobs because employers were using such websites to help to select candidates..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    Similar stories in The Guardian and The Independent
    
    
    

• Long hours in nurseries 'can lead to anti-social toddlers'
  
  Toddlers who attend nurseries for 35 hours a week are more likely to display anti-social behaviour and be worried and upset, research for the Government suggests.
  
  
  
  
  
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Loudoun Tunes Up Its Sales Pitch in Quest for Teachers
    
    After opening 34 schools in 15 years, Loudoun County officials are used to duking it out with other school systems for teachers. But in a shrinking labor market, the search gets tougher each year. With four schools opening in August and more than 800 vacancies to fill by then, officials are more desperate than ever for an edge in the hyper-competitive, buttoned-down world of teacher recruiting... they are trying to inject a dose of glamour into a profession that typically involves low pay and middling respect.
    
    
    • Starting Pay for Teachers [Remember: US$]
      
      
      
      
• The New York Times
  
  
  • A Great Year for Ivy League Schools, but Not So Good for Applicants to Them
    
    Harvard turned down 1,100 student applicants with perfect 800 scores on the SAT math exam. Yale rejected several applicants with perfect 2400 scores on the three-part SAT [those are equivalent to a TER of 99.95], and Princeton turned away thousands of high school applicants with 4.0 grade point [straight A] averages. Needless to say, high school valedictorians were a dime a dozen... Harvard College received applications from 22,955 students, another record, and accepted 2,058 of them, for an acceptance rate of 9 percent.

Thursday 5 April

• The West Australian Online
  
  
  • Teachers threaten to strike over shortage [added at 4:15 pm]
    by Sam RIley
    
    "The union representing the State's school teachers has threatened to go on strike next term if the State Government does not take urgent action to address WA's teacher shortage.

    "State School Teachers Union secretary David Kelly said the Government had been dragging its feet in making up what they believe is a shortage of 3000 teachers in the State's education system.

    "Mr Kelly said the Government needed to provided adequate pay and condition packages to attract teachers who had left the education system back into rural areas.

    "Teachers have reached the end of their tether, especially where these shortages are occurring, where teachers haven't had a break now for a whole term," he said.

    "So, they are at the end of the line and they want something done and they want it immediately done before the commencement of term two."

    "With a spike in the cost of rental properties in mining areas in the State's north, Mr Kelly said the Government urgently needed to provide packages that addressed the problem of finding adequate affordable housing for teachers.

    "Accommodation is in such short supply and again this is lack of planning," he said.

    "At the beginning of each year we have teachers staying in motels and camp schools and this is supposed to be a profession that we care about."

    "The union has called for the Minister and the executive of the Education Department to convene a summit immediately after Easter to address the issue.

    "Mr Kelly said the conditions in the country, particularly in the Goldfields and the Pilbara, had become so bad that the union predicted the Department would face a higher than usual resignation rate this year, further exacerbating the current teacher shortage.
    
    "Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said he had initiated a review of recruitment procedures look at the problem and advise on ways to improve recruitment policies.

    "We have also established a high level taskforce headed by former Curtin University Vice-Chancellor Lance Twomey to look at supply and demand for teachers over the long-term," he said.

    "But he laid much of the blame for the teacher shortage at the feet of the Federal Government, saying a failed bid for HECS relief for teaching graduates had compounded the situation.

    "There is always more to be done and we have requested the Commonwealth for assistance in providing HECS relief for graduates willing to work in the country, but they have refused to help," Mr McGowan said.

    "Next week I will present a paper at the national meeting of State, Territory and Commonwealth Education Ministers calling for a national strategic approach to the issue.

    "This is a national problem and there needs to be a coordinated approach to the issue if we are to have a highly talented, skilled teaching workforce in the future."
    
    From The West Australian Online at link

    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Literacy project attacked
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The federal Government's flagship program to combat rising levels of illiteracy has been condemned as being mired in the past and an embarrassment.
    
    "Literacy experts yesterday described the $21 million program as a waste of money that repeated errors of the "whole language" approach to reading and ignored research on the most effective way to teach children to read.

    "Chairman of the Government's National Inquiry into Teaching Literacy, Ken Rowe, said the tutorial resources failed to teach basic skills required to read, such as the relationship between sounds and letters.

    "Their lack of alignment with the recommendations (of the inquiry's report) is extraordinary," he said. "They're putting the cart before the horse. And the horse is making sure you're explicitly and directly teaching basic skills."

    "The literacy inquiry under Dr Rowe, from the Australian Council for Educational Research, championed the return of phonics to teach reading rather than the whole-language method, based on the belief that reading develops naturally, like speaking.

    "Literacy expert Kerry Hempenstall, an educational psychologist at RMIT who has been conducting research into the teaching of reading for 16 years, said the resources were "so distant from current research findings, they're something of an embarrassment".

    "It seems to just be a rehash of the same old stuff that's got us in this situation in the first place," he said. "It could be interpreted as a whole-language model. It doesn't have the sort of direct, explicit teaching of the critical aspects of beginning reading."

    "The program announced in last year's budget provides $700 worth of one-on-one reading tuition for students who fail to meet minimum national literacy standards for Year 3 and is an extension of the Tutorial Voucher Initiative unveiled by the federal Government in 2005.

    "The reading resources were produced by the the Curriculum Corporation, a quango of state, territory and federal governments that is a not-for-profit organisation owned by all Australian education ministers.

    "The tender for the program was awarded by the federal Education Department, which in selecting the Curriculum Council overlooked a proven remedial reading program that had also bid for the tender, MULTILIT.

    "MULTILIT (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy) was developed over 10 years by literacy researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, underpinned by research evidence and based on intensive and systematic teaching in three main areas – phonic skills, recognising sight words and regular, supported reading.

    "An evaluation of the program funded by the federal Education Department in 2000 found that low-progress readers in Years 3 to 6 gained about 20 months in reading accuracy and comprehension after less than two hours of a MULTILIT program a day over two terms. [emphasis added]

    "Dr Rowe said Curriculum Corporation's resources were based on a constructivist approach to learning that set problems to allow students to discover the basic skills they required.

    "Explicit phonics programs build up sounds and letters, perhaps focusing initially on listening to the sounds in spoken words, rhymes and the beginning of words. Dr Hempenstall said they typically ran along the lines of: "Here's the letter M, here's the sound, let's practice this sound. Here's another letter, A, here's another sound, let's build up a few of these letters to make some words. M, A, T, and we have mat."

    "It's building up rather than implicit teaching which is breaking down, which starts with a story and points out features," Dr Hempenstall said.

    "The first module of the Curriculum Corporation's resources starts with a story called "Moving House" and follows with a series of questions about the story before focusing on individual sounds.

    "It's a homage to phonics," Dr Hempenstall said. "But simply adding phonics to your program so it appears as though you are up to date isn't the issue. Phonics isn't a magic bullet; it depends very much on how it's structured."

    "Education Minister Julie Bishop yesterday said the resource kit went to open tender and was awarded by the department on merit. [But some clown decided that proposal "had merit".  Web]

    "She said the development of the kit was guided by the literacy report, and two of the committee members – Macquarie University dean of education Alan Rice and University of Western Australia dean of education Bill Louden – were consulted on its development.

    "The two yesterday defended the resources as following the five principles outlined by the literacy inquiry. Professor Rice said the tutors using the materials "may not necessarily be highly qualified teachers" and some might be volunteers.

    "Professor Louden said the material was highly explicit and was intended to provide only a small amount of support.

    "I see it as supplementary; it doesn't replace good teaching by the child's actual school teacher," he said."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Shortage of uni places negligible, says Bishop
    
    Education Minister Julie Bishop has dismissed as "negligible" by historical standards the number of Australian students missing out on a university place.
    
    For a different point of view, see Stephen Smith's speech yesterday to The Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit and/or the following story in The Age
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Labor eyes cuts to spiralling HECS fees
    by Adam Morton
    
    "The ALP has flagged further cuts to university fees if it wins the federal election but admitted there was no proof rising costs were deterring students from tertiary study.

    "Speaking at a higher education summit in Melbourne, Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith said he and Kevin Rudd were "long-standing policy sceptics when it comes to HECS". [Click here for the speech]

    "While admitting the "jury was out" on whether rising student debt was a disincentive to poorer families, he ruled out a Labor government letting universities set their own HECS rates.

    "Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis this week repeated his call for fee limits to be abandoned, saying there was no evidence tuition costs turned potential students off.

    "The Government might be in the business of putting HECS up again — we're not," Mr Smith said after his speech.

    "We're looking at further HECS relief, whether that's HECS relief across the board or in a targeted way."

    "As part of its so-called "Education Revolution", Labor has already announced it would cut HECS rates for science and maths courses by more than $3000 a year, and offer remissions to graduates who went on to work in those fields.

    "Mr Smith said university funding had declined in international terms under the Howard Government and would rise under Labor, but did not say by how much.

    "Education Minister Julie Bishop said Australia had one of the most equitable university systems in the world, citing the student welfare system and income-dependent, deferred HECS loans.

    "Ms Bishop called on universities to fight to free themselves from state regulation, made possible after the High Court ruled federal industrial relations laws over-ruled the states."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Research points the finger at PowerPoint [4 April]
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    Required reading for all Curriculum Council PD presenters!!
    
    "If you have ever wondered why your eyes start glazing over as you read those dot points on the screen, as the same words are being spoken, take heart in knowing there is a scientific explanation.

    "It is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you in the written and spoken form at the same time.

    "The Australian researchers who made the findings may have pronounced the death of the PowerPoint presentation.

    "They have also challenged popular teaching methods, suggesting that teachers should focus more on giving students the answers, instead of asking them to solve problems on their own.

    "Pioneered at the University of NSW, the research shows the human brain processes and retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written form, but not both at the same time.

    "It also questions the wisdom of centuries-old habits, such as reading along with Bible passages, at the same time they are being read aloud in church. More of the passages would be understood and retained, the researchers suggest, if heard or read separately.

    "The findings show there are limits on the brain's capacity to process and retain information in short-term memory.

    "John Sweller, from the university's faculty of education, developed the "cognitive load theory".

    "The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster," Professor Sweller said. "It should be ditched."

    "It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

    "The findings that challenge common teaching methods suggest that instead of asking students to solve problems on their own, teachers helped students more if they presented already solved problems.

    "Looking at an already solved problem reduces the working memory load and allows you to learn. It means the next time you come across a problem like that, you have a better chance at solving it," Professor Sweller said.

    "The working memory was only effective in juggling two or three tasks at the same time, retaining them for a few seconds. When too many mental tasks were taken on some things were forgotten."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    

    • Reader Responses [5 April]
      
      Don't dump PowerPoint

      "When I use PowerPoint, the screen is filled with images, headings and things we say together ("Point 1: it's time to ditch PowerPoint", April 4). The rest is in my notes only. It works well. Perhaps the issue is that PowerPoint, like any other tool, has been misused by those who do not understand what they are doing. It needs refining, not dumping, as it is easier than handing out paper and firing up the overhead projector."

      David Neilson, Invergowrie

      
      "As has been said: power corrupts, PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."

      Sophie Kunze, Penrith
      
      
      

• The International Herald Tribune [Americas Edition]
  
  
  • Jury awards $1.4M to teacher who was punished for refusing to change failing grades [30 March]
    Associated Press
    
    "Baton Rouge, Louisiana: A Louisiana school system must pay more than $1.4 million (€1.05 million) to an English teacher who was suspended and demoted after refusing to change t