Monday 10 September

Tuesday 11 September

Wednesday 12 September

Thursday 13 September

Friday 14 September

Saturday – Sunday, 15 – 16 September

 

Monday 10 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Unionist to retire (page 7)

    "Teachers' union president Mike Keely will not run for the top job at the next union election in October.

    "State School Teachers Union senior vice-president Anne Gisborne will stand for the president's spot, with secondary school teacher Andrew Bell vying for her current position.

    "But if the team representing the "unity ticket" is elected again, Mr Keely, 63, would still be involved in negotiations for pay increases because he is running for the second vice-president position."
    
    From The West Australian

    
    

  • School swipe card plan faces department block (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "The Education Department is blocking State schools from using new fingerprint and ID card technology that has cut truancy rates in at least one private school by up to 50%.

    "About 5 private schools are using swipe cards, electronic rollcalls and automatic SMS messaging to alert parents if students are absent without explanation. The technology has dramatically cut absentee rates.

    "Newman College business manager Des Hardiman said unauthorised absences had dropped nearly 505 since the system was introduced 6 months ago.

    "Students use their swipe card, which doubles as a student identification card for use on public transport, only if they arrive late to school or need to leave early. The machine produces a print out with a picture of the student and their reason for absence which the pupil takes to class.

    "The company that supplied Newman's system, Academy Attendance, claims the Education Department is blocking schools from using its swipe card or fingerprint logging system because it will not allow them to be linked to software used in most State schools.

    "This means that data collected electronically would still have to be typed manually into the school's administration system.

    "Academy national marketing manager Vladimir Ostashkevich said public schools in every other State had been able to use swipe card technology. He said about 30 WA State schools were waiting to introduce them.

    "We have schools that want this really badly but the department has not allowed us to get an interface written," he said. "it is bizarre and there is obviously a lot of politics at play."

    "Perth Modern School deputy principal Don Cook confirmed his school was keen to introduce fingerprint technology even though it did not have a big problem with absenteeism. "It would be quicker, the kids wouldn't have to get cards and they wouldn't lose cards," he said. "Because we are a selective school, we want to be leading at the front with our use of technology."

    "But Education Department finance deputy director general Peter McCaffrey said its computer system was one of the most complex and sophisticated in Australia and any additional software bought by schools had to be compatible.

    "It recently awarded a tender for an SMS messaging system to South Australian company MGM Wireless to alert parents when students were absent. Academy made a bid for the text message contract but its system was considered too expensive.

    "Public schools are able to make decisions on purchasing software and many do decide to do so," Mr McCaffrey said.

    "However, our system does not allow for one off additions which is why we advertised through the tender process to obtain the best possible SMS system that would not only meet our needs but would be cost effective."

    "The WA Secondary Schools Executive Association is lobbying for public schools to gain access to swipe card technology because it ways they offer a quick and accurate way of dealing with students entering and leaving school."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• ABC National Radio, "Life Matters" with Richard Adey and Federal Shadow Minister for Education and Training Stephen Smith
  
  
  • Performance pay; principal autonomy; publication of student performance information; school funding; and Commonwealth - State funding approach
    
    AEDY: Stephen Smith, the Shadow Minister for Education and Training joins me now. Welcome to Life Matters.
    
    SMITH: Thanks very much. Good morning.
    
    AEDY: Let's start with performance based pay. A lot of parents will be all for this. Why aren't you?
    
    SMITH: Well, because I think the approach that the Government is adopting on performance pay is fundamentally and fatally flawed. Their approach is that you pay teachers on the basis of the results that kids get in the standardised tests in Years 3, 5, 7 and presumably 9.
    
    That doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the teacher actually in the classroom. It tells you a lot about socio-economics. It's not a surprise when we look at those results that kids in higher socio-economic schools do better than kids in lower socio-economic schools.
    
    AEDY: But you could tweak that approach. You could say let's give more money to teachers who boost the results between some of those benchmarks, like Year 7 and 9.
    
    SMITH: Well, again it doesn't necessarily give you an indication as to the quality of the teacher actually in the classroom.
    
    I think your point about looking at improvements that might occur in results from time to time is a sensible thing and a good thing to do. I certainly think that analysis ought to be published and made public.
    
    But I frankly think we have a looming crisis so far as teachers and our teaching profession and teaching skill set is concerned. The average age of our teachers is 50. If you're doing a vocational training stream, either secondary of post-secondary, it's closer to 55. Very many teachers that I speak to suffer from a combination of fatigue or dashed morale, they regard themselves as having been bashed from pillar to post and blamed for educational outcomes unfairly.
    
    I think we've got to start respecting and regarding teachers and the teaching profession more. I think that means we've got to pay them more generally, but we also have to start paying them, in my view, for the specialist skills and accreditation that they have.
    
    We've got a declining skills set so far as the teaching of science and mathematics is concerned. I think if teachers have a specialist skill in science and maths, both in terms of the discipline and in teaching, we should pay them more money for teaching that.
    
    I think we should also contemplate paying teachers more money for where they teach. So if you are teaching in rural and regional Australia, or if you're teaching in a tough school, we should pay teachers more for doing it.
    
    AEDY: So if you're teaching in a rural, tough school, mathematics, you're gong to be paid substantially more?
    
    SMITH: Well, that's my view, because, look, in the immediate post-war years teachers were well regarded. We then went through this terrible adage where the commentary was, 'those who can do, those who can't teach'. What a surprise that we've struggled over the last quarter of a century to attract the best and brightest to the teaching profession. We have to rebuild the teaching profession. And we're not going to rebuild the teaching profession by doing what the Government does, which is to blame teachers or their representatives, whenever they say something has gone wrong with the system and the Government refuses to accept responsibility itself. Secondly, by judging them simply on a snapshot of how kids go in an examination. And thirdly, when you actually look at what the Government's put into the Budget Papers for so-called 'performance pay', all they've produced is that if a teacher goes to a summer school for five days over the summer period, they'll get $10,000. But the Budget outlay is such that it's only available to 0.3 per cent of Australia's teachers.
    
    Peter Costello has made it quite clear that this is a matter for the States. We say the Commonwealth has a role and a responsibility to try and rebuild the teaching profession, rebuild respect and regard for them, and pay them more for the quality work that they do.
    
    AEDY: What about principals having the right to hire and fire? Surely you can't be a really effective leader if you can't do this?
    
    SMITH: Well, I certainly agree with the evidence, the science and the research that says that if you have a principal of a school who is imbued with the notions of quality teaching and learning, that can have a considerable beneficial impact on the quality of teaching in that school. Just as we know that if you engage as a teacher in induction procedures or ongoing professional development or specialist skills accreditation, all these things help, as a rising tide lifts every boat.
    
    So, I strongly believe that a principal should have a substantial say in who teaches in his or her school. But I draw the line at the firing. I don't think it's actually in the principal's interest, let alone the teacher's interest, for a principal of a school to have the firing right. I think that should be done by a different body, a different authority and that's as much in the principal's interest as it is in the teacher's interest.
    
    AEDY: On Life Matters today our guest is Stephen Smith who's the Shadow Minister for Education and Training, and we're talking about Labor's approach to education in the lead up to this election.
    
    You say you want to give parents as much information as possible about schooling. Does this mean that they'll be able to compare the academic records of different schools, their results in benchmark tests, their improvements between those benchmark tests?
    
    SMITH: Yes, I think we should provide parents and the community with as much objective information as we can. So far as parents are concerned, I think parents, when they get their school report from the school, they should be able to easily understand how their kid is going in the various subjects, how that compares with other kids in the same class at that school, and when it comes to the National Testing in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, I do think that we should put out, publicly, in a comprehensive way, and in a sophisticated way, all of the information which compares how kids go State by State, school by school, and we should do that in a sensible way, but understanding two things: firstly, that all those exam results do is just give us a snapshot of a particular moment. It's not necessarily the only thing that we can or should look at.
    
    And secondly, I have a very strong view now that all of the comparisons we've been making in the past, you know, how does this school go versus that school, this State versus that State, this system versus that system, they are old and arcane.
    
    The real competition and the real comparison now is what investment we are making in education at every level, as compared with our overseas and international competitors and what are our outcomes that we get at every level, including our schools, as compared with our overseas and international competitors.
    
    AEDY: Well, while we're talking about spending money, a large slab of Federal funding now goes to private schools. Education unions say much more should be directed to public schools. What's Labor's position?
    
    SMITH: Well, we think that we should invest more money in schools generally, whatever their system, whether they're Government, whether they're Catholic, whether they're private, whether they're Independent, whether they're religious or secular.
    
    We won't be taking a dollar off any school. We've made that crystal clear. We strongly believe that the approach we took to the last election, the so-called 'hit-list' was wrong, both in policy terms and in political terms.
    
    We will continue with the indexation arrangements and our aspiration is to invest more money in our schools.
    
    We see some areas of especial need. They include primary schools, in particular needy Government primary schools, schools in rural and regional Australia, Special education is crying out for the application of more resources and Indigenous education remains a national tragedy.
    
    So, we see these areas of especial need and especial targeting and that's in addition to the matter we discussed, or the issue we discussed earlier, which is we do believe that the Commonwealth has a responsibility to start contemplating substantial contributions so far as rewarding teachers for the quality work that they do.
    
    AEDY: Stephen Smith, I just want to finish by talking about approach if you like. The Coalition Government has done a bit of, 'well look, we won't give you the money, unless you do this,' change the report card for example, are you going to take a similar approach?
    
    SMITH: Well, if you look at all the interests in education: Commonwealth, State, Territory, religious, secular, public, private, parents, you've got to get them all chugging along in the same direction. I think one of the real mistakes the Government has made is this sort of, 'we're going to wield a big stick', which has been wielded much more to try and score a political point against a State, against a teacher, or against a union, rather than trying to improve and enhance educational outcomes.
    
    When I first sat down with my State and Territory colleagues, I met a group of people who were crying out to cooperate with someone to try and improve our outcomes. So, my starting point will be: there are a whole range of things that we could and should do by agreement. Of course, when the Commonwealth hands over money, whether that's to the States and the Territories or to the Catholic or Independent systems, we want to make sure that money is spent appropriately and we want to judge that on the outcomes.
    
    So, I think one of the mistakes the Government has made in education, whether it's schools or indeed Universities, has been to try and micro-manage the inputs as much for a political or a perception purpose. I want to start judging the money that the Commonwealth puts in by the improved educational outcomes that we see from our schools and our students.
    
    AEDY: Stephen Smith, thanks for joining us today.
    
    SMITH: Thanks very much.
    
    AEDY: Hope we get to talk to you perhaps during the election campaign as well?
    
    SMITH: Well, I certainly hope so. On more than one occasion!
    
    AEDY: Stephen Smith, the Shadow Minister for Education and Training.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Call for teachers to lift their game
    by Stuart Rintoul
    
    "Linking the school attendance of indigenous children to welfare payments is "a bizarre concept", according to a leading Aboriginal educator whose "tough love" approach at a Queensland school has become a national model.

    "Chris Sarra, whose success at the Cherbourg community has been regarded as best practice in Aboriginal education, said he applauded Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough for "rattling the cage". However, he had grave misgivings about the Government's approach, which he described as "opaque" and lacking substance.

    "Dr Sarra, who has a PhD in psychology and teaching degrees, was the first Aboriginal principal of the Cherbourg school, three hours northwest of Brisbane. During his term from 1998-2005, literacy and numeracy rates and school attendance soared.

    "Dr Sarra said he feared that the federal Government's intervention in the Northern Territory, and a punitive approach to truancy, would reinforce the idea of Aboriginal children as pitiable.

    "He challenged educators to lift their game.

    "Dr Sarra said that schools that "lacked the guts" to exercise authority needed to examine why Aboriginal children were absent and alienated, and teachers needed to ask: "What is it about my classroom that is so boring that they don't want to be here? What is it about my relationship with the child ... that the child doesn't really care if they see me or not?"

    "Dr Sarra said that, while there was undeniable dysfunction in Aboriginal communities, failure should not be regarded as acceptable.

    "He said he was no longer prepared to accept excuses for Aboriginal children's poor education such as drinking and fighting in the home, a father in jail, health issues or child abuse.

    "After seeing what I have seen, I will not accept any excuse any more," he said.

    "If the teacher believes the child will learn, then the child will learn.

    "What it comes down to is believing in your heart and in your mind that Aborigines are better than the negative stereotypes."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Steiner school faces scrutiny
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "A public school offering the Steiner method is under investigation after more than 60 per cent of its prep students failed to meet state government standards for reading and maths.

    "A panel of experts has been assembled by the Victorian Department of Education to investigate the operation of Collingwood College, including whether its Steiner stream can meet government requirements.

    "The review comes amid increasing concern over the move of Steiner into government schools and follows an inquiry into the stream at Footscray City Primary School.

    "Critics have attacked the alternative curriculum for not teaching children to read and write until they are seven and have also questioned the spiritual basis of the system.

    "The 2006 annual report of Collingwood College - where it is believed more than half of the prep to Year 12 students are enrolled in Steiner - shows prep and Year 2 students are not achieving expected levels in text reading. "The results show achievement below those of the like-school group and the state means for Year prep and Year 2," the report says.

    "By Year 10, 82 per cent of students are performing at an expected level for reading and writing. But The Australian understands there are still serious concerns about the performance of the college's secondary students.

    "A Department of Education spokeswoman said a panel had been established to review the "operation" of Collingwood College, which offers mainstream, Steiner, Reggio Emilia and vocational curriculums.

    "She said the panel would look at the effectiveness of the school's programs and the ability of alternative streams like Steiner to meet government guidelines.

    "The spokeswoman said the panel would make recommendations to the department about the school - which is located at the bottom of housing commission flats and has students from more than 70 different postcodes - by December.

    "University of NSW professor of education John Sweller said there was not "one iota" of evidence to support the notion that delaying the introduction of formal reading and writing was beneficial to children.

    "Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia executive officer Rosemary Gentle said the schools had been operating for 50 years.

    "It's absolutely a false premise that the earlier children start reading and writing, the better children will be in the long run," she said. Opinion was divided internationally on the right age to start on formal reading and writing."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • School shrinks week to four days
    
    A senior state high school will move to a four-day week next year in a move designed to provide more flexibility to students completing their HSC.
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • The Monday Education Section was updated earlier today and contains a record 25 stories, including:
    
    
    • A roadmap for history's future
      
      Changes are needed if history is to live up to the billing of a core subject, writes Tony Taylor
      
      "It was George W. Bush who best summed it up in one of his wonderfully barmy quotes. "I think we agree," he asserted cheerfully, "that the past is over."

      "He may not have intended it to come out quite that way, but the comment accurately summarises the attitude of a significant number of educators towards history - a discipline that has rarely been out of the news over the past decade.

      "Since the 1970s, there has been a prevailing orthodoxy in curriculum design, and in faculties of education, that history has no special attributes. It has been commonly regarded as a regressive, elitist throwback to the days of humanities domination in senior school years.

      "Furthermore, the argument ran, it was non-functional, it lacked contemporary relevance and it concerned itself with an uncritical study of great events and great people.

      "Malcolm Skilbeck set this unhealthy trend in motion with a "courageous" speech to the inaugural annual conference of the History Teachers Association of Australia in 1976. He declared - confidently, if inaccurately - that "historical understanding, by contrast with knowledge of the classics, does not depend on the mastery of esoteric skills.

      "Given some interest, a minimum level of literacy (which presupposes a very minimal capacity for rational thought) and application, anyone can understand history."

      "How wrong can they all have been, these critics of history, whose ideology lingers even today, these pioneering purveyors of those narrow mantras of what constitutes functionality, relevance and the socially critical. Their view of history seems to be based on how they were taught (badly) in the 1960s?

      "They sat in their history classes, learning about one damned thing after another, long before the advent of the Schools History Project in the UK in the 1970s, with its emphasis on use of evidence, explanatory open-endedness and in-depth studies. And well before the growth of social history, indigenous history, public history and feminist historiography as major forces in university history departments.

      "This was also prior to the work of North American history educators Sam Wineburg (on historical thinking), Peter Seixas (on historical consciousness, a different thing) and Keith Barton (on history education and national identity) that showed that school history does have unique and complex attributes - and that it cannot be left to founder as a minor and disparaged element in the curriculum, often taught by general-purpose teachers who may well think that history is just knowledge about the past.

      "What are the special attributes that set history apart? To begin with, it is essentially different from other associated disciplines because of its adductive nature (speculative, imaginative, vicarious, persuasive) and its idiographic underpinning (it deals with individual events and individual matters of fact).

      "As one history teacher pointed out in the 1999-2000 National History Inquiry, history is different from social science, which looks at generalisations. We look at those generalisations and add "however", "nevertheless", and "but".

      "This position actually places the discipline of history in contrast with other social science subjects such as sociology, psychology and economics..."
      
      Full story in The Melbourne Age at link
      
      
      

• Letter to the Editor
  
  
  • Teacher wimps
    
    "Garry Bickley asks when will teachers have decent pay and conditions (Letters 8/9).

    "That's easy: when they stop being wimps and actually stand up for themselves.

    "Relative to average earnings, Victorian teachers have accepted a pay cut of $31,000 since 1975.

    "They have accepted limited-tenure promotion positions that facilitate the abuse and exploitation of teachers in leadership positions.

    "They have accepted a cut in secondary staffing of almost 2000 compared with both the 1981 Liberal staffing ratio and the 1992 Labor ratio.

    "They have accepted a dramatic increase in teaching loads and the total abolition of the time allowance pool (deductions from teaching for time-consuming leadership responsibilities) and thus have less time to devote to the children in their care.

    "When I was the timetabler at Hampton Park Secondary College, I was able to organise the school with a maximum teaching load just under 18 hours a week — the legal maximum before 1992 — and with the capacity for a decent time allowance pool — also a legal requirement before 1992."
    
    Note: The following two paragraphs were omitted from the published Letter but provided by its author:

    ‘As a direct consequence of the last EBA which teachers overwhelmingly endorsed, the teachers in that school, despite having the good sense to vote against the proposed agreement, suffered increased teaching loads, longer periods, totally inadequate time allowances and the abolition of their agreed advisory committee.

    ‘I’d like to think that teachers have learnt from their past weakness, but I’m not holding my breath.’
    
    Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Center Focuses on Teachers, Not Test Scores
    by Valerie Strauss
    
    D.C. Group's Mission Is to Reinvigorate, Retain Educators
    
    "... Relating to students, handling difficult administrators, designing inventive lesson plans and working well with colleagues are among the topics hundreds of teachers are tackling as part of a training effort by the D.C.-based center, which was founded to help teachers become better at what they do.

    "Its mission is to improve student achievement by concentrating on the development of teachers, keeping new teachers excited about their profession and reinvigorating veterans through intensive training. The approach is unusual in the world of school reform, where efforts often focus on curriculum, administration and standardized testing, education reform experts said..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

Tuesday 11 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Pay, rural housing top teachers' list (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Higher pay for teachers, improved housing and more classroom assistants are expected to be among recommendations stemming from task force inquiry into ways to tackle WA's growing teacher shortage.

    "Task force chairman Lance Twomey said it would comment on issues such as salaries and allowances which it handed its preliminary report to Education Minister Mark McGowan next month.

    "A final report is due in December but it was not clear when it findings would be made public.

    "Negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement should be well under way by the time the task force report was public. "But we will certainly be commenting on money matters, so (that includes) salaries and allowances and housing and child care, all of which take money," Professor Twomey said. "Additional non teaching staff, other teaching methodologies, all of that will come up along the way."

    "About 15 public forums held across the State and more than 270 submissions had revealed 5 broad areas of common concern, including money, problems with a monolithic bureaucracy, poor leadership or lack of mentors, heavy workloads and coping with abusive and disruptive students.

    "Professor Twomey, a former Curtin University vice chancellor, said teachers were forced to waste too much of the precious teaching time on tasks that could be done by non teaching support staff, such as administration and managing disruptive students.

    "It does seem that teachers are asked to be surrogate parents in many circumstances and the problems they have with child behaviour are really tough," he said. "I think we've got to look at other things you can do, perhaps an extra person in the class, a teaching assistant, who is skilled to deal with it."

    "I'd be surprised if we don't recommend something down that direction."

    "The quality of housing in remote areas had emerged as a big issue and teachers were often last behind other public servants when government housing was allocated in country towns. "All sorts of other groups get much better away from home allowances than teachers get," he said. "And I think we've got to do something about that too."

    "Professor Twomey said career progression for teachers was limited and they were battling heavy workloads. "Most teachers work quite a long week and they're doing an awful lot of jobs that aren't teaching, something like 25 tasks on a routine basis that could be done by other people," he said.

    "He predicted that flexible education using new technology was the way of the future. "You can have interactive computer driven classes," he said. "You can have chat rooms, podcasts, there's a whole host of stuff like that. That clearly needs to be ramped up a lot."

    "State schools were scrambling to find enough teachers to fill more than 260 vacancies at the start of this year and are still down about 60 teachers.

    "Recent department forecasts said WA could face a shortfall of up to 3000 teachers by 2012, with one in three likely to retire in the next 5 years."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Calculator ban for TEE Maths (page 3)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Fears of declining standards will almost certainly lead to a ban on calculators and notes in a section of the TEE maths exam, which it is hope will also lead to a renewed focus on learning times tables.

    "A Curriculum Council maths reference group has recommended that Year 12 students sit the exams for new maths courses in two parts.

    "Under the proposal, the first third of the exam would test students' basic skills and knowledge and they would not be allowed to use calculators or notes.

    "Supervisors would collect their papers before handing out the remaining section, in which students would be permitted to use calculators and other resources such as formula sheets. Students are now allowed to take two double sided pages of A4 notes into TEE maths exams. The changes would take effect after new senior school maths courses start in 20090.

    "Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said universities had noted that students' maths abilities had slipped in recent years, but the calculator ban "will help to focus on the basic algebraic skills and lift standards".

    "The council would make its final decision on the reference group's proposal next month, after consulting schools and the Mathematics Association of WA. But it is unlikely that the council will turn down the proposal which also has the backing of Education Minister Mark McGowan.

    "Council member and Murdoch University maths lecturer Ken Harrison said he was confident the proposal would be approved. The council had already decided that students would use cutting edge computer algebraic system calculators instead of graphics calculators in 2009.

    "MAWA president Michelle Ostberg, who is also a member of the maths reference group, said teachers and university lecturers wanted to see a calculator free section in the exam to ensure students' algebraic skills were not lost with the introduction of the new technology.

    "University of WA mathematics and statistics head Les Jennings believed too many students depended on calculators. "They forget their arithmetic skills and they forget their algebraic skills, so we need something there to keep teachers and students in mind of the fact that have to retain a little bit of stuff in their heads," he said.

    "Professor Jennings said the change to final year exams would also force younger children to learn their times tables by heart."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Teachers 'shut out' of school history debate
    by Jewel Topsfield
    
    "History teachers claim the Federal Government has shut them out of the development of a national Australian history curriculum for high schools, alleging the politically sensitive document is being "drafted in backrooms".

    "The History Teachers Association of Australia has written to federal Education Minister Julie Bishop and Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith, claiming it was "increasingly concerned" about what was happening with the proposed national curriculum.

    "The letter says the association, which represents 4000 teachers, feels it has been sidelined from the process.

    "Our prime concern is about not being consulted about the draft curriculum," association president Nick Ewbank said. "There is no way we can develop a meaningful curriculum when it is drafted in backrooms."

    "The Government commissioned Monash University's Professor Tony Taylor to develop a model history curriculum for years 3 to 10 following the Australian history summit in Canberra last year.

    "However, The Age understands Prime Minister John Howard was unhappy with Professor Taylor's draft, which included questions and milestones, and history taught from indigenous perspectives.

    "This is not what Howard wanted at all," a source told The Age. "Howard may like milestones but he certainly doesn't like questions. Too ambiguous. Too much debate. Too much thinking . . . he wanted just the facts, the dragnet version of history."

    "Mr Howard has repeatedly lamented that a "methodical narrative style" of teaching history has been abandoned and replaced by a "fragmented stew of themes and issues".

    "In June, the Government announced a four-member panel had been appointed to review the draft curriculum.

    "Members included right-wing political commentator Gerard Henderson, who has written a history of the Liberal Party, and conservative historian Professor Geoffrey Blainey - who in 1993 coined the phrase "black armband view of history" to describe the portrayal of European colonisation as shameful.

    "Howard intervened to regain control and set up his panel of stooges whose job it is to dismantle Taylor's design," the source told The Age.

    "The other panel members were Australian National University senior fellow Nicholas Brown and NSW Board of Studies inspector Jennifer Lawless.

    "However, NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca barred Ms Lawless from being a member of the panel. Mr Della Bosca claimed the panel was biased.

    "Ms Lawless was eventually replaced by former Presbyterian Ladies College principal Elizabeth Ward.

    "A spokesman for Ms Bishop said the minister was considering the letter and would respond in due course."
    
    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Children's TV must be better than just junk
    by Jenny Buckland, CEO of the Australian Children's Television Foundation

    There should be a public digital channel catering for the needs of children.

    The Australian Children's Television Foundation believes the time is right for the establishment of a dedicated public broadcaster children's channel — an ABC digital channel — with the support of the Commonwealth. The vision is to create a free-to-air digital destination for Australian children, a place where children know they will always be able to access content made for them, where content is predominantly Australian and where programs are scheduled at the times when they are watching, including during children's peak viewing times — the early evening.
    
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Teachers want 'bad-child' ban [10 September]
    by Xanthe Kleinig and Tory Shepherd
    
    "Teachers want primary students with extreme behavioural problems banned from mainstream schools.

    "The South Australian Primary Principals Association is calling for an estimated 50 students with "extreme behaviours" to be taught in separate, specialist facilities.

    "Some children are so violent they are a "constant danger" to classmates and teachers, association president Glyn O'Brien says.

    "The situation is escalating, with 1400 dangerous incidents reported to the Education Department from last year.

    "Records obtained by The Advertiser reveal violence including:

    "A Year 7 boy in the Riverland threatening to murder staff and students.

    "A Year 6 boy hit, punched and kicked an unidentified person and threw a brick, narrowly missing the assistant principal at a school in Salisbury.

    "A Year 2 boy was "physically abusive" to staff in Salisbury.

    "Children can be put in a "learning centre" for up to 10 weeks of intensive rehabilitation but are returned to normal schools, regardless of their progress.

    "As a final step in school behaviour management some are "excluded" and sent to another local primary school or their homes.

    "Significant extra resources, including training for teachers, extra staff, and purpose-built facilities, are needed on site, Ms O'Brien said.

    "SA Association of Parents Club president Jenice Zerna said: "They should be where they can be taught by the people that are appropriate, that have the skills."

    "The State Government has started a program with staff training, behaviour management coordinators and professional support for 120 of the most challenging students. "This is the most comprehensive student behaviour management program in many years and it will give schools greater support in dealing with students with persistent behavioural issues," Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said."
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Fears of soft sell in class resource book
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "Corporate giant Johnson & Johnson is marketing its products to schoolchildren in a book being used in NSW classrooms.

    "The State Government said schools were free to use the material at their discretion, but the Opposition said this was sanctioning commercial advertising.

    "The Coalition spokesman for education, Andrew Stoner, said the Department of Education should not allow schools to continue using material containing commercial products.

    "Clearly the line has been crossed when corporate giants like Johnson & Johnson can target their marketing material directly into classrooms with the tacit agreement of the Education Department," he said.

    "By staying mute on this issue, the State Government is sanctioning blatant commercial advertising within the school system."

    "The 48-page curriculum resource called BodyWhys provides information on personal development and includes photographs of Johnson & Johnson skin care, dental and sanitary protection products.

    "In the chapter on feminine hygiene, Stayfree products are pictured and described in the following way: "Stayfree Ultra Thins give you full protection in an ultra-thin pad and have wings to help keep the pad in place".

    "A chapter on pimples includes a photograph of 12 Johnson & Johnson skin care products. Images of Reach toothbrushes and dental floss accompany sections on brushing and flossing..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Preschool nerves put health at risk
    by Kate Benson, Medical Reporter
    
    "Preschoolers are getting anxious about school up to six months before they start, putting themselves at risk of heart attacks, strokes and depression in later life, researchers say.

    "A study by psychologists at the University of Bath, in England, found some preschoolers showed high levels of cortisol, a hormone which is released under stress, prompting concerns they were damaging their body's ability to regulate anxiety for the rest of their lives.

    "Cortisol is normally quickly absorbed but when stress is chronic it remains in the system - and functions not essential to survival, such as digestion, learning and rational thinking, are shut down.

    "If a child is stressed for a long period, the part of brain responsible for shutting down cortisol production, the hippocampus, is permanently damaged, leaving the child prone to anxiety-related disorders such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, depression and circulatory problems.

    "One of the researchers, Dr Julie Turner-Cobb, said it was a mystery why children would worry about an event occurring so far in the future and the 105 preschoolers in the study may have been picking up on their parents' anxieties..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Students slugged by extra charges
    
    University students are struggling to pay fees and charges imposed above the cost of tuition, as their cash-strapped institutions seek to minimise their own expenses.
    
    
    
    
• The Times
  
  
  • A million French teachers can't be wrong [5 September]
    by Charles Bremmer
    
    Why are French school teachers always so miserable?

    "I will not be popular with my teacher friends for taking another shot at an education world that seems permanently angry, defensive and resistant to change. But it's time for a new swipe because most of France's 12 million school children returned to classes yesterday -- including my two teenagers -- and Nicolas Sarkozy used the occasion to upset the teaching establishment with a call for a change of attitude.

    "If you know the set-up, skip this paragraph: France has a uniform national education system commanded by a single Ministry. Almost 850,000 primary and secondary teachers are civil servants, and 145,000 more work in private schools. They all impart a national syllabus that is heavy on knowledge but light on encouraging imagination. There is little sport or other non-classroom activity. Despite Europe's second highest per capita spending on primary and secondary education (after Sweden), French kids perform modestly by European and world standards. French teachers, who largely support leftwing ideas, see themselves as guardians of the egalitarian republic. They complain but hate anyone touching their status quo.

    "Sarko did that yesterday, dropping in on a Loire valley school at Blois. He delivered a lecture that was guaranteed to anger the unions who despise him as a rightwing philistine.

    "The president's unwanted medicine for an educational "Renaissance" is being sent as a 32-page letter to all 993,000 professeurs and instituteurs. "The time for a new start has come," says Super-Sarko. "We have delayed it too long."

    "Teachers must stimulate children and help raise their self-esteem. "For too long, education has neglected the personality of the child (because) knowledge has been put above everything else," says Sarkozy. That might sound odd to parents in, say, Britain and the USA where the pendulum swung long ago towards feel-good education, but it's needed in France. I am tired of seeing the spirits of my bright 13-year-old crushed by joyless teachers who send her home with scores of zero in dictation. "Her problem is she's operating dans une optique d'échec -- in a mindset of failure," the French teacher at her eighth arrondissement school told me the other day..

    "Sarkozy wants more values and discipline and respect for teachers, with children standing up when they enter the classroom. He also wants more sports and arts activities less time in the formal classroom.

    "The teachers unions were groaning before Sarko had finished speaking. They have been here before, with a string of back-to-basics reforms and governments who see teachers as ageing sixties revolutionaries. Gérard Aschieri, boss of the FSU, the main teachers' union, dismissed the Sarkozy letter as "beneath the challenges of today." The schools, he said, need more staff and resources and extra help to deal with disorder in the poor urban zones.

    "The Sarkozy letter's "great failings" include failure to address social inequality, said Aschieri. In one of those ideological niggles that tell you everything, Aschieri accused Sarkozy of elitism because "he talks about 'sport' but not about 'physical and sporting education'."

    "The teachers are already furious with Sarkozy because their profession has taken a hit with his scheme for trimming the civil service. Their giant ministry, which employs 1.2 million staff (yes, 1.2 million), is to lose 17,000 jobs next year. Sarkozy and his government say they know that teachers, once a noble profession in France, are underpaid and suffer from declining public esteem. The answer, they say, is better performance.

    "Sarkozy has a long list of revolutionary things he would like to do but cannot because they will bring the strike-happy unions onto the streets. These include loosening the rigid limits on class-room time, performance-related pay, comparison among schools and the right of schools to hire and fire their own staff.

    "As it is, there is a fair chance that the teachers will strike this winter over Sarkozy's plans to include them in a new law imposing minimum service during public sector strikes.

    "Perhaps I am being unfair. There are many dedicated, excellent teachers and the rigorous French system does help the cleverest children shine. But the faillings are obvious for anyone who comes in contact with the system."

    From The Times at link

 

Wednesday 12 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Teacher crisis needs more urgent response (page 20)
    
    "Teachers have long identified aspects of their profession which needs improvement. At the top of their list are heavy workloads, poor pay, badly behaved students and a bureaucracy which has become increasingly distant from the classroom.

    "Few students are choosing teaching as a career and this year the State has been unable to fill all teaching positions. It has had to hunt overseas for qualified teachers to plug some of the gaps.

    "The sense of disgruntlement among the profession has spread to the wider community. Teaching no longer is seen as the attractive career it once was.

    "Yet there seems surprisingly little State Government urgency in addressing what looms as a significant danger in the next few years. There are predictions that the teacher shortfall by 2012 could be as high as 3000, a figure which would create havoc in the education system.

    "A task force set up to investigate ways of tackling the shortfall has held 15 forums and heard 270 submissions. A preliminary report will be given to Education Minister Mark McGowan next month, with the final report due in December.

    "But there is no word on when the final report will be made public, suggesting that the Government is in no hurry to start work on its recommendations. Another academic year will have passed with no more than tinkering around the edges of the systemic problems which face the teaching profession.

    "Surely the Government should be on its toes, ready to react as quickly as possible, if it is to avert a looming crisis and reassure teachers that their legitimate concerns are being taken seriously.

    "The issue highlighted this week by task force chairman Lance Twomey are not new. Accommodation in country towns, for instance, has long been a problem for teachers and has long been unaddressed. It is an unfortunate certainty that the subject will arise yet again when the next school year starts.

    "In one area of education, however, it appears that common sense has triumphed. By 2009 students sitting one section of their TEE maths exam will be banned from using calculators and notes. This is a response, albeit a belated one, to growing concerns that students are too reliant on calculators and have a poor grasp of mathematics concepts and even of basic skills like times tables."
    

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In Short

      "So, the Curriculum Council finally admits there is a problem (Calculator ban for TEE maths, 11/9). The council chief notes that "….students' maths abilities had slipped in recent years". It is no coincidence that this has happened since the introduction of OBE in WA."

      Patrick F Whalen, Yokine
      
      

    • "With the recent talks about the ability of our young students to be able to do simple maths problems without a calculator, the simple fact is that two-thirds of students can't do the maths and the other 50% can."

      Justin Jordan, Coolbellup
      
      

    • The forgotten school

      "In the light of the recent reports about the overcrowding crisis (we see that word a lot when referring to a State Government system, don't we?) in the northern corridor schools, I have to ask the Education Minister; why is it that two high schools, namely Carine and Churchlands, are bursting at the seams due to State Government inept planning while another high school within an easy commuting distance to both of them has been left to wither on the vine?

      "Which one is that,, you may ask? Why, it's Balcatta High School. This is a school which, in its heyday, looked after the educational needs of about 1600 students (albeit with transportable classrooms used). How many does it have today, you might ask, Minister? Well, as of last Friday, there was a grand total of 486 students registered there.

      "A quick look at the map will tell you two things. One is that BHS is easily accessible by bus from virtually any area that now feeds that crushing student load on to Carine and Churchlands high schools.

      "So would there be a problem to route a few buses and transport a couple of hundred students from each of those schools to even out the load, Minister? Or is there another reason for the abandonment of BHS?

      "Are you aware, Minister, that the principal's office at BHS has stunning elevated views of the city? Hmmmm, what a lovely little piece of real estate that would make for some developer and Eric Ripper to do a deal over, as was done with Scarborough Beach High School. Yes, yes, empty classrooms and classes with 8 students in them make you wonder how much longer it will be before BHS is declared "no longer viable" (government speak for "let's sell it") and the bulldozers move in. Or will common sense prevail and the student enrolments of the 3 State schools mentioned above be re-apportioned. Oh, sorry, my mistake for mentioning common sense and the State Government in the same sentence."

      John Bowes, Carine
      

      
      
      
• ABC News
  
  
  • Teaching lobby group threatening industrial action
    
    "A lobby group vying to gain control of the State School Teacher's Union is threatening to launch industrial action over pay and conditions.

    "The group PLATO, or People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes, was at the forefront of a campaign against Outcomes Based Education last year and will run for positions when union elections are held at the end of this month.

    "The teachers current industrial agreement expires next year and PLATO President Marko Vojkavic wants to launch a work-to-rule campaign soon, which would see all extracurricular activities like excursions and camps cancelled.

    "We actually believe that for one reason or another the current union has sort of been distracted," he said.

    "The union is an industrial body that should be looking after the welfare of its members first not trying to solve all of education's problems."

    "The President of the WA Council of State School Organisations, Robert Fry, says teachers must consider children and parents before launching any action.

    "Yes conditions are important. Work conditions, pay conditions all of those things have got to be considered, but at the same time they've got to part of the solution not just part of the problem,' he said.

    "The President of the State Schools Teachers Union, Mike Keely, says the union is not opposed to industrial action, but talk of work to rule action is premature.

    "We take only action the that is necessary," he said.

    "We consult regularly with the parent community, we make ourselves very clear about what needs to be done and if action needs to be done to achieve a good outcome for teachers and schools that's when we take it."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • The Higher Education Supplement has 10 online stories today, including:
    
    
    • Private uni bonanza
      by Catherine Armitage, Higher education editor and Milanda Rout
      
      "The latest round of higher education place allocations cements a plan by John Howard for private providers to be as important in tertiary education as they are in school education.

      "Of 375 new teaching places announced by federal Education, Science and Training Minister Julie Bishop yesterday, more than 50 per cent went to Christian institutions including Avondale College (NSW), Tabor College (Adelaide and Melbourne), the University of Notre Dame (Sydney and Perth) and the Christian Heritage College (Brisbane).

      "These colleges won just over 10 per cent of the 2300 new commonwealth-supported places, or 260 places, including 200 for teaching and 60 for nursing.

      "Last year private colleges received a lower proportion, just 6 per cent of 4600 places.

      "Ms Bishop defended the allocations, saying they were for places in accredited courses in areas of national priority.

      "In contrast with recent years, when regional and outer metropolitan campuses subject to low student demand have been favoured in the allocation of new places, Group of Eight universities featured prominently this year. The University of NSW, Sydney, Adelaide, Monash, Melbourne and the University of Western Australia all were granted more than 100 places each.

      "Ms Bishop said allocations were based on national and state priorities and fields of workforce shortage. There are more new places in engineering than any other discipline, at 560, followed by nursing (395) and science (390).

      "Ms Bishop said all institutions that applied and were eligible had been granted places. An unprecedented number, 15, did not apply..."
      
      "Last year several regional universities including Southern Queensland and James Cook struggled to fill their places, as did Edith Cowan University in Perth. The Government has also revealed figures showing private providers are blitzing public universities in the market for full-fee paying domestic undergraduate places. [emphasis added]
      
      "Contrary to a recent erroneous media report seized on by the Australian Labor Party and National Union of Students, the number of domestic full-fee paying students in award courses at public universities has risen a modest 6.9 per cent, comparing enrolments for the first half of 2005 with the first half of 2006.

      "That category of enrolments increased by 24 per cent for the private universities, Bond and Notre Dame, during the same period..." [emphasis added]
      
      Full story in The Australian's Higher Education Supplement at link
      
      
      See also: State critical of uni place allocation in today's Melbourne Age
      
      

      • Christian schools hail 60 new berths
        
        
        
        
    • Technology that can save science
      
      Science units struggling with low enrolments could be saved through a new collaboration project, according to Graham Pegg of Charles Darwin University, [who] said web and video conference technology was good enough to make such collaborations work.
      
      
      
      
    • Five-year fear for fund
      
      Universities may have to wait five years before they can rely on grants from the Higher Education Endowment Fund, government senators have warned in a Senate committee report.

 

Thursday 13 September

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Accountants write off OBE (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    School finance course will not teach students what they need to know for university, professional bodies say

    "The State Government's bid to repackage its controversial outcomes-based education policy has been dealt another big blow by two industry professional bodies walking away from the consultation process set up by Education Minister Mark McGowan.

    "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and Certified Practising Accountants Australia have withdrawn from a Curriculum Council reference group for the OBE accounting and finance course because they feat it will not give students the grounding they need to study business at university.

    "The course is due to be introduced to Year 11 students in 2009 but the groups say the development process is flawed and the council is ignoring their concerns about a lack of detail.

    "CPA Australia WA divisional director Aidan O'Grady said the groups were concerned that high school accounting students would go to university without having spent enough time covering key topics.

    "The details and the substance of the course haven't been made clear to us," he said. "We are not sure that the current curriculum as it stands will allow them to develop the skills that they need to take into university study."

    "The new accounting and finance course was to have begun next year but was delayed by a "teacher jury" which said it would not be ready..."

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    

  • State seeks Federal move on shortage of teachers (page 16)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    

    "The Federal Government must do more to tackle the teacher shortage on a national scale, the State Government warned yesterday.

    "WA Education Minister Mark McGowan has written to his Federal counterpart Julie Bishop calling for her to set up a national campaign to improve the status of teaching, based on a successful British campaign..."

    Wasn't that WACOT's role? It's interesting that WA is experiencing the most serious shortage. Clearly OBE, massive workloads, stress, poor remuneration, DET's callous indifference, the Curriculum Council's heavy-handedness and the WACOT fiasco have absolutely nothing to do with it. Web

    Full story in The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • In short

      "I cannot understand why not one of our Government ministers can make a decision on their own. Do they not possess any semblance of general knowledge?

      "Why did Mr McGowan have to appoint a task force to hold 15 forums, all around the State, and take 270 submissions to find out why there is a shortage of teachers (report, 11/9)? Mr McGowan, take a walk down Hay Street Mall, ask anyone you come across that same question and you will find it is because teachers are underpaid and don't want to be drafted to the country because of substandard living conditions. That little exercise would have saved the State quite a few thousand dollars."

      Geoff Vickers, Greenwood
      
      
      
      

• The Melbourne Age
  
  
  • Schools produce 'illiterate' students
    by Jewel Topsfield
    
    "Australian teenagers commonly complete secondary school without a firm grasp on how to construct a complex sentence, a Senate committee is believed to have found.

    "In a provocative report to be released today, the committee is believed to have expressed alarm at the fact that some students can go through six or more years of school and emerge functionally illiterate.

    "The majority report is expected to say that trainee teachers are more concerned with classroom management than teaching theory, and they often feel ill-prepared for the classroom at the end of their degrees.

    "The inquiry, by the Senate's standing committee on education, was announced in February, hours after Prime Minister John Howard said some school curriculums contained "incomprehensible sludge".

    "The timing of the inquiry prompted claims that it was a politically motivated exercise in bashing Labor states — claims believed to have been echoed by Labor members of the committee in a dissenting report.

    "The Age believes the report will cite evidence that students emerging from secondary school with restricted vocabulary and without a firm grasp of complex sentences somehow manage to go on to higher education.

    "It is believed the committee found much dissatisfaction with the bachelor of education degree, mainly due to the poor grounding offered in some university subject disciplines.

    "The report is likely to recommend that the lobby group Universities Australia encourage a more rigorous and evidence-based approach when educating trainees on methods of teaching literacy and maths.

    "It is also expected to recommend that federal and state education ministers negotiate a comparable year 12 certificate with common national standards that could be assessed in public exams.

    "The report is believed to say that researchers have shown that the quality of teaching is the single most important influence on students' performance.

    "However, it is likely to say the lack of a definition of teacher excellence hinders recognition and rewarding of teachers, specifically in terms of academic achievement.

    "The committee is expected to recommend a review into the remuneration of teachers to encourage more people into the profession and improve retention rates.

    "Under a future Coalition government, the states would be forced to introduce performance-based pay for teachers, a common national curriculum in key subjects and public year 12 exams in order to receive their share of $42 billion in federal funding from 2009.

    "The day the inquiry was announced, Mr Howard said the teaching of English had been allowed to drift into a "relativist wasteland", and that text messages and Big Brother were robbing children of their cultural heritage.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has also repeatedly criticised standards in state schools.

    "The inquiry received 73 submissions and held eight public hearings across the country.

    "An education psychologist at RMIT University, Kerry Hempenstall, told the inquiry that the written expression of his postgraduate students was generally poor and he often fixed basic spelling and grammatical errors in their assignments.

    "Senior Canberra education bureaucrats warned that young Australians were inadequately prepared for the 21st century.

    "The committee's Labor senators, in their dissenting report, are believed to say the Government has commissioned 22 reports on standards and teacher education since 1998, but has failed to act on them.

    "They are also believed to claim the inquiry did not take into account the Federal Government's failure to fund programs adequately or to provide constructive policy to raise standards."
    

    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    The complete majority and minority reports are available from this link.
    
    
    
    
  • Teachers to go back to school
    by Bridie Smith
    
    "Deakin University will today be named as one of six universities selected by the Federal Government to host a national summer school for teachers in January.
    
    "The contentious initiative — part of a four-year $102 million program announced in the May federal budget — will send up to 1000 of the country's best teachers back to school to boost their skills in one of five areas: literacy and numeracy, Australian history, English, maths and science.
    
    "Deakin University in Geelong, the only Victorian university participating in the scheme, will host the English summer school. The science school will be at Flinders University in Adelaide, and the literacy and numeracy school will be at Wollongong University in NSW and Edith Cowan University in Perth.

    "Canberra's Australian National University will host the Australian history summer school, and the maths summer school will be at the University of New England in Armidale, NSW.

    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has said the schools would play "a pivotal role" in the professional development of teachers.

    "Teachers who complete the all-expenses-paid 10-day training program, which includes travel and accommodation, will also get a $5000 bonus.

    "But critics have questioned the logic of a plan that rewards high-performing teachers, rather than helping struggling teachers.

    "Australian Education Union state branch president Mary Bluett said the plan was an election-year stunt.

    "You don't lift standards by taking the best and giving them more professional development, it just doesn't make sense," she said. "It's more about rhetoric than substance."

    "Labor education spokesman Stephen Smith said just 0.3 per cent of Australian teachers would be able to take part in the program each year.

    "Federal Labor believes in rewarding quality teaching in the classroom, but unlike the Howard Government's fundamentally flawed approach, that requires a comprehensive strategy," he said.

    "Applications for the summer schools close on October 17."

    From The Melbourne Age at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Unis question Rudd's HECS plan [late update from 12 Sept]
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "Kevin Rudd's plan to rein in the "out of control" Higher Education Contribution Scheme has been questioned by universities, who say providing more income and living support to students could be a much better option.
    
    "They argue that there is little evidence that HECS fees are a major deterrent to students and that the dollars would be better spent topping up Youth Allowance and providing additional scholarships.

    "The Opposition Leader promised in an interview with The Australian on Monday to reduce the burden of HECS debt by providing a “more reasonable framework”.

    "Mr Rudd said he felt the HECS scheme was out of control and prevented children from working-class families going to university.

    "Apart from cutting HECS for maths and science students, which Mr Rudd had already announced, the Opposition would not give any further details on how it would relieve the HECS burden until closer to the election.

    "Universities Australia incoming chairman Richard Larkins said bumping up income support for students would be the most effective way of increasing access to university for working-class students.

    “It would be great if HECS was reduced, but if there is only a limited amount of funding available, it would be more effective to provide more income for poorer students at university,” he said.

    “In terms of the equity outcomes and the number of dollars spent, it would probably be better going into student support while studying at university.”
    
    "Professor Larkins, who is also the vice-chancellor at Monash University, pointed out that HECS was a deferred loan scheme so it didn't have a direct impact on students while they were studying.
    
    "Professor Larkins said there was “no strong evidence” that HECS was a financial disincentive for students.

    "He also said that any reduction in HECS funding should not mean a decrease in government funding to universities.

    “It would be great if we could reduce the HECS burden but not at the expense of universities,” he said.

    "Group of Eight universities chairman Alan Robson said the bigger problem for students was trying to support themselves while at university.

    "Professor Robson said the age of independence to qualify for Youth Allowance should be decreased from 25 to 18.

    "He said research showed students were increasingly struggling to support themselves through university.

    “The number of students taking out loans to cover living expenses have doubled since 2000,” Professor Robson said.

    "A student survey conducted by Universities Australia found 70 per cent of full-time undergraduates students work.

    "The survey found one in eight students regularly go without food because they cannot afford it, and 40 per cent of students said working affected their studies."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Loosen curbs on our liberty
    
    This is an edited extract from correspondence in Quarterly Essay Issue 27 (Black Inc, $14.95). John Hartigan is chairman and chief executive of News Limited, publisher of The Weekend Australian. While not on education per se, it certainly reminds me of what's happening in WA at the moment, when the Education Ministers says he's "not answering questions", DET pretends that any warm body in front of a class shows there is no teacher shortage, etc. Web
    
    The main threat to freedom of speech comes from governments' choke on the flow of information, not from any individual politician... Some of the worst examples of the erosion of free speech can be seen in the adoption of spin at all levels of government and business. Debates on issues as important as this should be conducted with a view to achieving change rather than polarising positions so that problems simply become entrenched.
    
  
  
  
  
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • To Speed Grading, Tests Will Be Multiple Choice
    by Nelson Hernandez and Daniel de Vise
    
    Essay Questions Slowing Graders
    
    "Maryland plans to eliminate written-response questions from its high school exit exams to address long-standing complaints about how slowly test results are processed, state education officials said yesterday.

    "Beginning in May 2009, the Maryland school system will phase out "brief constructed responses" and "extended constructed responses" -- questions requiring a short or long written answer -- from its four tests covering algebra, English, biology and government, said Ronald A. Peiffer, the state's deputy superintendent for academic policy..."

    Full story in The Washington Post at link

 

Friday 14 September

• The Australian
  
  
  • Teachers need more than just a degree
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Four-year education degrees should be abolished and high school teachers should be required to complete an arts or science degree before studying specific education courses.

    "This was the finding of a Senate committee report into the academic standards of school educators, tabled yesterday.

    "It warns that teacher training focuses excessively on teaching methods and behaviour management, and neglects the disciplinary content of subjects.

    "The committee heard a great deal of adverse comment on the performance of teacher training faculties in universities," the report says.

    "It was said that in many institutions, discipline content was minimal, and that subject method was largely concerned with the interpretation of curriculum documents and with course planning.

    "Evidence was almost overwhelming that without a safe level of subject content, teachers lack confidence in their ability to teach, and this is obvious to school students."

    "Chair of the Senate committee on employment, workplace relations and education Judith Troeth said the committee was concerned by the lack of content taught in straight education degrees. "I think the emphasis has swung too far toward how to teach rather than what to teach," she said.

    "We should do away with Bachelor of Education degrees except as post-graduate qualification. Teachers would need more than just an education degree to get a teaching position". [emphasis added]

    "The Government and the Opposition said yesterday they would consider the recommendations. However, Education Minister Julie Bishop questioned the benefit of transferring teacher training from vocational teaching colleges to the education faculties in universities.

    "It has resulted in a more academic approach to teacher education that has not necessarily promoted higher standards," she said.

    "Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith said encouraging teachers to undertake studies in relevant disciplines such as science and maths before completing their formal studies in education was "well worthy of consideration".

    "This should not, however, be considered as the only relevant or required pathway into the teaching profession," he said.

    "It's important that teachers have a firm grasp on the subject matter they teach."

    "The report, which was commissioned in February, has been criticised as an attempt by the Government to attack the Labor states as part of its ideological battle over the standard of schools.

    "In a dissenting report, Labor senators argued the inquiry was politicised, saying it was so broad that it was "too ambitious an undertaking". As a result, any conclusions should be treated with caution.

    "Chair of the Australian Council of Deans of Education Sue Willis said the preferred option for the deans was a three-year discipline-based degree followed by a two-year diploma or degree course in education.

    "Professor Willis, dean of education at Monash University in Victoria, said the majority of high school teachers completed a double-degree in education and a discipline, with only one-third or fewerundertaking the four-year bachelor of education.

    "We're getting contradictory messages. On the one hand we're told teachers aren't classroom-ready when they graduate and on the other hand, we're told we're teaching them too much classroom strategy," she said.

    "Professor Willis said the bigger problem was the high proportion of teachers forced to teach subjects outside their speciality.

    "About a quarter of science teachers did not have science qualifications, while about a quarter of maths teachers did not have a major in maths and almost one in 10 had not studied any maths at university.

    "The report makes six recommendations focusing on the quality of teaching and the curriculum. It recommends that universities foster interaction between education faculties and other disciplines, and adopt a more rigorous and evidence-based approach in training teachers in literacy and maths.

    "The report also recommends a comparable Year 12 curriculum across the nation with common standards and an external exam, and that the Government takes steps to increase teachers' salaries and adopt a pay structure that rewards performance.

    "The dissenting report written by the committee's deputy chair, Gavin Marshall, said Labor had reservations about the timing of the inquiry, given suggestions from the federal Government that "school education is an ideological battleground".

    "It notes that the "majority report refers to the ill-informed coterie of commentators who regularly criticise teachers for their failure to ensure high academic standards".

    "While the Opposition believed the report had highlighted the need to focus on quality teaching and curriculum, it noted with "some disbelief the failure of government senators to fully acknowledge, or seek to address, the link between lower educational outcomes and socio-economic disadvantage".

    "The ALP recommendations include an audit of the 24 reports commissioned by the federal Government over the past 11 years and its response to the recommendations."
    
    From The Australian at link

    
    
  • Analysis
    Tilling old ground timely but limited
    by Kevin Donnelly
    
    "With education nominated by Labor and the Coalition as a significant election issue, the Senate's report is timely.

    "Given debates about performance pay for teachers, school funding, especially to non-government schools, and the adverse impact of outcomes-based education, the report also presents a useful summary of conflicting views.

    "In relation to the report's recommendations, it must be said that many cover old ground.

    "Suggesting that beginning teachers, especially for primary schools, need to be better trained in literacy and numeracy, and that we need better incentives to reward good teachers says nothing new.

    "Over the past 5-10 years, there have been a range of reports onissues such as the best way to teach children to read, how tostrengthen mathematics and science teaching, how state and territory curricula rank against international best practice, andthe effectiveness of teacher training.

    "While tilling over old ground, the Senate report does provide a useful glimpse of some politically sensitive issues that will play out during the forthcoming election.

    "On one hand, the majority report criticises outcomes-based education and argues that a rigorous curriculum and effective teacher training are the best way to raise standards - for all students, wealthy and poor.

    "The minority Opposition report - picking up on arguments put by the Australian Education Union and the Australian Council for Educational Research - instead of blaming falling standards on Australia's dumbed-down curriculum argues that student under-achievement is caused by low socio-economic status.

    "The minority report's solution, reminiscent of the Whitlam government's costly and largely ineffective Disadvantaged Schools Program, is to spend more commonwealth money, especially on government schools. [emphasis added]

    "Encapsulated in the two approaches is a fundamental difference of political philosophy.

    "In arguing against performance-based pay for teachers and describing the Coalition's education agenda as "adversarial and ideologically driven", the minority report also signals some of the Labor campaign themes."

    Kevin Donnelly is director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and author of Dumbing Down (Hardie Grant Books)

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Comment
    The key factor is a good teacher
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "To argue that the education debate is politicised misses the point. The belief in the need for a rigorous education for all students crosses ideological grounds. It is as much a belief of the Left as the Right. A good education can overcome social disadvantage.

    "Parents care little about the accusations flying yesterday between government and Opposition senators about who took the inquiry seriously and whether the Government was pushing an ideological barrow in holding it.

    "Parents care whether their children can read, if their children struggling with maths are given additional support, and that teachers are given the resources and training they need.

    "The education autocracy, from teachers' unions to university educationalists, points to the fact that in two major international studies, Australian students perform among the best in the world.

    "We should celebrate the achievements of our brightest students but, equally, we should not forget the large proportion of students failed by our school system.

    "The federal Education Department told the Senate inquiry that 30 per cent of 15-year-old Australian students failed to achieve the reading ability judged by the OECD to meet the demands of today's society.

    "More than one in 10 15-year-olds, about 30,000 teenagers, rank at or below the lowest level in the OECD test, making them functionally illiterate.

    "This is the challenge facing our nation.

    "Yesterday's report is the 24th on school education in 11 years. The extent of the problem is known. Empirical evidence into teaching strategies provides the solutions.

    "Like the other reports, this one emphasises that the key factor to a good education is a good teacher. And this is where parents start to care what each political party is thinking.

    "Parents will notice which party will pay teachers more, which party will attract a higher calibre of student to the profession, and which party will ensure experimental theories are expelled from the classroom and replaced with proven strategies.

    "As Bill Louden, dean of education from the University of Western Australia, told the inquiry: "Good schools are schools with lots of good teachers."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Learning to read a school's commitment
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "When Maddison Holland was eight years old, her school decided she was unable to learn.
    
    "In Year 2 at an independent school on Sydney's north shore, Maddison's reading level was 18 months behind her classmates.

    "But after only one term of a remedial reading program based on teaching children the phonetic basics of language, her reading is only one year behind her peers. Maddison, now nine, has improved even more dramatically in spelling, which is only six months behind her peers.

    "The Senate report on academic standards of school education highlights the poor literacy skills of many students, often because of poor teaching in the early years. "A lay person is often struck by the fact that students may pass through six or even more years at school and remain functionally illiterate," the report says. "There is ample anecdotal evidence that such people have managed to make it through to higher education."

    "The report recommends a "more rigorous and evidence-based approach to the preparation of trainee teachers" in teaching reading and maths.

    "Specifically, the report talks of the need to train teachers in the letter-sound combinations underpinning English, known as phonemics. "It was also claimed that language teaching did not, in many institutions, include any systematic instruction in phonemic awareness ... as part of teaching children to read," it says.

    "Maddison's mother, Leeza, noticed her daughter was having trouble learning to read from the time she started school. She approached the school but the response was: "What are you doing about it?" The school later questioned whether her daughter was in fact able to be taught.

    "Over the next year, the Hollands took Maddison to a series of tests, after which she was diagnosed with dyslexia.

    "Maddison changed to a government school in Year 2, which Ms Holland said spent more time on literacy and referred them to the Multilit program, which can be accessed through some schools and also privately.

    "Designed by education researchers at Macquarie University, Multilit (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy) focuses on teaching children skills to decode words based on phonemics, sight word recognition and assisted reading to a tutor or parent.

    "For Ms Holland, the experience underlines the importance of good teaching of fundamental skills and having a school committed to teaching all students."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Summer teaching school winners
    by Milanda Rout
    
    "Six universities in four states have been named as the successful providers of the federal Government's new summer teaching schools.
    
    "Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop today announced the winning tenders for the teacher professional development schools in maths, science, history, English, literacy and numeracy.

    "The University of New England, Edith Cowan University and Wollongong University along with the Australian Literacy Educators' Association will host two literacy and numeracy schools.

    "Deakin and Murdoch universities will operate the English school, while the Australian National University will host the history school in Canberra with some help from local historical and memorial organisations.

    "Flinders University and the University of New England have won the tender for both the science and mathematics schools.

    "Ms Bishop called on all teac