Monday 1 October

Tuesday 2 October

Wednesday 3 October

Thursday 4 October

Friday 5 October

Saturday – Sunday, 6 – 7 October

 

Monday 1 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers willing to risk sack over fee (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "State Government hopes that teachers would quickly succumb to threats to pay compulsory registration fees have been dashed, with some teachers saying they are prepared to run the risk of being sacked for non-payment until at least the end of the year.

    "Despite the teacher shortage that has crippled some government schools, the Education Department warned last week it would sack teachers who refused to pay the $70 fee to the WA College of Teaching by the end of the month.

    "It instructed principals to draw up contingency plans to deal with resulting teacher shortages.

    "Most of the 3000 teachers who have so far refused to pay have said they would do so when a date was set for an election for teacher representatives on the WACOT board.

    "No election date has yet been announced but WACOT has said it will publish election details on Friday and the WA Electoral Commission has confirmed it has a draft timetable in place for a postal election which would close on December 10.

    "However, it has now emerged that some teachers also have other objections to paying the fee.

    "Greg Williams, acting head of teachers group People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes, which will field candidates in the WACOT election, said some teachers would not pay until the election was over.

    "Theres a whole swag of them out there who have absolutely no faith in the process," he said. "Its ludicrous that people who have been teaching for 20 years quite successfully, then the Government invents a registration body, and suddenly theyre not allowed to be teachers."

    "Despite being a single mother with a mortgage and four children, Christine Kelly has put her job on the line for the sake of principle.

    "Ms Kelly, who has worked in State schools for more than 30 years, said WACOT had been foisted on teachers who did not want another bureaucracy that did nothing for them. "They appear to have no platform whatsoever," she said.

    "Doctors have the AMA and every time there is bed shortage theres a public face that says something."

    "An English teacher who has experienced some of the worst problems stemming from the bungled implementation of outcomes-based education, Ms Kelly said she thought WACOT would have backed classroom teachers.

    "Weve been sent to the edge with the new course because its a failed exercise and we dont have any public face, weve had no voice, weve had nothing," she said. "The whole things been a sham."

    "She said administrators at her south of the river State high school had offered to cover fees for those who had not paid to avoid losing some of their best teachers. But she said they and Education Minister Mark McGowan had missed the point. It was about the principle, not the amount.

    "Mr McGowan has attempted to call the teachers bluff, saying nobody would sacrifice their job for $70.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said WACOTs failure to hold an election after three years in operation had become a symbol of teachers general disenchantment."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Harassment
      
      "Your headline said "Teachers face mass sackings over fees" and that if several thousand teachers do not pay a fee of $70 to the WA College of Teaching, there is a fair chance they could be sacked.

      "I have always thought that governments are strongly opposed to this type of harassment and this is why the new IR laws are supposed to protect people from the "no ticket, no start" mentality.

      "Oh well, good enough for some I suppose."

      Grant Weber, Northam
      
      

    • Get real on teachers
      
      "I read that yet again the Education Department is prepared to abandon people it should be supporting (Teachers face mass sackings over fees, 28/9), having once more set itself up as an adversary to those without whom it could not properly exist.

      "The WA College of Teaching seems to be little more than a new level of bureaucracy that represents a quite unsubtle way of compulsorily extracting money from teachers while offering nothing much in return except a threat of the use of undeserved power..."

      "[WACOT is] a college of teaching in name only and controlled by the Education Department, a Government shoebox that has yet to meet its obligations regarding elections to college positions. The department is in charge of proceedings and the true professional members and potential members stand on the periphery. Furthermore, when challenges to WACOT's non-membership Government-anointed authority have appeared it is said to have retreated to the old nonsense about being unable to do anything but put the legislation into effect and thereby shoot itself in the foot by sacking 3000 teachers. Try telling the standards committee of any half decent professional group that they should run their college in such a fashion.

      "It is clear that WACOT is not a true professional college at all. It is a government body within another government body and has a name that is a deception.

      "If it is the desire of the State Government to craftily apply a means of siphoning money from a captive sector before allowing members to practise their profession, it should just say so and be honest. If it is the desire of the Government to create a few more self-financing jobs for another plank of clerks, come clean.

      If it is the desire of the Government to help facilitate for teachers a proper college through which professional development and standards can be formulated, from and with the advice of the actual practitioners of that profession, then it should ask the teachers to form their own peer-controlled collegiate body and trust them to do it themselves..."

      "It is time for the Department of Education to set about improving its reputation and time for the State Government to think about this matter in an intelligent manner."

      A. Cavanaugh, Bunbury
      
      

    • Legal threats
      
      "In response to your 27/9 report on teachers, it needs to be known that this is not the first time that the legal fraternity has tried to impose themselves on the education sector.

      "As a head of department in a respected private school in Perth, I was present at a briefing on the possible, impending precedent of legal action against schools which failed to realise the potential of students, about 10 years ago.

      "Certain cases from interstate and overseas were cited in order to reinforce the dramatic and financially catastrophic implications of such a procedure; in a word, "scare-mongering". It was, and is, merely the legal profession attempting to stretch its wings and increase its potential client base over a previously "untapped source of revenue"...

      Andrew Wilson, Merriwa
      
      
      

• The Sunday Times online
  
  
• Still more Reader Comments on Teachers face sack over $70 fee
  
  The rank stupidity of the Education Dept in threatening to cause total meltdown of Public Education is indicative of the level of competence that the higher echelons of this Dept has displayed for several years. The total stupidity of OBE has consumed hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted resources and resulted in many totally dysfunctional schools where students leave for all purposes illiterate and innumerate, but with totally inflated ideas of how good they are. This is being followed with new Upper School courses of study that are also deeply flawed, as evidenced by the English course that is without credibility a matter of weeks before the TEE. WACOT, the teacher tax body, serves absolutely no purpose bar keeping a superannuated union boss and sundry others off the streets where they might be a traffic hazard. It has demonstrated almost total incompetence in the three years of its existence, despite almost the only thing it had on its agenda was registering teachers. It even believes that many teachers commute daily from Afghanistan, as that is a default setting on its registration process. The organization is loaded with Govt appointees so that, even with an election, it is unlikely teachers will actually have more than a token voice. Old Lill, the previous Minister, also has prohibited preferential voting, lest that lead to any real democratic process. When it comes down to it, WACOT is yet another unnecessary bureaucratic organization, staffed with incompetent functionaries, and I doubt any teacher would pay their $70 tax willingly. I certainly hope the teachers refusing to pay maintain their stand and force the Education Dept and Minister to eat humble pie.
  Posted by: john of Busselton
  
  As one of the refuseniks, I can say that most of us have with-held our fees because a much delayed election for WACOT was cancelled during the actual vote, based on a technically that no-one has clearly explained and against the clearly expressed Electoral Act that says such things should not happen. It is an unheard of thing in Australia, and I am not the only one to conclude it was because the vote was going the "wrong way". It is the tip of the iceberg for an education system that has been run into the ground, dumbed down with OBE nonsense, and where teachers are bullied by their employers at every turn. Discipline in too many schools has been allowed to get out-of-hand, teachers in many schools are forbidden to remove disruptive students from the classroom; sometimes this alone makes a mockery of doing any real teaching at all. Year 12 English has become the disaster that was predicted, specialist high school teachers are in short supply, but even in areas of shortage can find themselves assigned to classes they have not been trained to teach. It is an unholy mess, and it needs fixing soon. And it is getting worse! No wonder teachers are voting with their feet. This last threat, and there have been many over the years, and, for me, the last straw. The Electoral Commission has not announced any timetable, yet they are rushing through with this collective punishment with no regard of the effect on morale, and, if teachers are dismissed, no concern whatsoever on the effect on students during the final term of the year. I believe we have good reason to withhold our fees until a fair election has begun, we are not being unreasonable. A first step would be to stop WACOT's bullying by legal injunction. If any lawyer would consider donating their talents for the public good in this matter, please contact me (my email address can be found on PLATOWA.com ).
  Posted by: Greg Schofield of Kalamunda
  
  I cannot believe this story. After more than 30 years of teaching, I feel that "our" Minister, DET and this WACOT bureaucracy, has made teaching an absolute joke in this state. It is not the $70, but it is the fact that this organisation has been operating for more than 3 yers, and we do not have 10 classroom teacher representatives on the Board. The Minister talks about making teaching more professional. Why can't this WACOT body, be for just teachers - not all the "hanger ons" that are currently on the board. We want to control our own profession and if we pay for it, that should be the case. Now I am led to believe there is no appeal process in the new regulations. Perhaps a lawyer from say Slater and Gordon, or another Law practice, would act for teachers, and really show this arrogant Minister and DET, that they are a pack of bullies. If there is such a willing lawyer, could he/she attend the Plato Meeting on 12 October, details on the Plato Forum. Also the Journalists from The Sunday Times, and The West might like to attend. Dr Parry, the Director of WACOT will be in attendance.. I love being a teacher, but I don't like being threatened and bullied. All teachers and parents should attend this Plato meeting, fi you really are concerned about the state of education in WA and the continuing shortage of good, quality teachers.
  Posted by: Jenny of Peerth
  
  tmz_99 of Perth says: "Fair is fair, a professional standards body is certainly needed, and somebody needs to fund it. If teachers are smart (as they should be) they should have enough investments on the side to not worry about $70 anyway." You have missed the point - it is not the $70 but the total lack of anything like professional standards emanating from WACOT. It is about its inability to hold a proper election and allow teachers a direct voice in their profession.
  Posted by: Greg Schofield of Kalamunda
  
  We humble and devoted members of the 'Bored of Management' of the West Afghanistan Caliphate of Taliban (WACOT) have decided to cut off your hands if you don't pay us our tax which feeds our camel. It is written.
  Posted by: the will of God
  
  I am a male Primary School teacher. A rarity in itself! After 24 years of highly successful teaching and unbelievable support from parents of the chn that I teach , I continue walking closer to the EXIT door. Much appreciation to the hundreds of letters from parents that I have received over that time in recognition of my "exceptional skills." I know that you would be aghast if this job loses an exceptional teacher. OBE, bullying in the workplace, putting up with some lazy, over indulged chn, an uncaring Dept of Ed and pitiful pay have taken their toll. The truth is- We have chn to feed of our own and mortgages to pay. I'm telling you now...7 out of 10 teachers would walk out the door tomorrow if they didn't have chn and a mortgage to fund. Time the public realised this and time those teachers and Admin teams that hide behind the Dept of Educ woke up and supported the rest of us. And "whinging teachers of Perth"...don't comment on something you know very little about. It makes you look like a MUG!
  Posted by: Dullsville
  
  Parents! Some of your children's teachers are unable to spell or do basic mathematics. If they are also unable to stand up for themselves on basic human rights such as being able to insist on value for money spent, then what are they teaching your children?
  Posted by: Are principles Dead?
  
  
  
  
• The Northern Tasmanian [formerly The Launceston Examiner]
  
  
  • Teachers to vote on wage increase
    by Nic Price
    
    "Tasmanian teachers would receive substantial salary increases, aligned with interstate teachers, as part of a "generous" Government wage offer, says Education Minister David Bartlett.

    "Mr Bartlett said the Government would provide at least $50 million extra for wages over the next three years under the deal.

    "In return, teachers in the North would be required to work three extra days next year (200 in total), and two days more in 2009 and 2010.

    "The State executive of the Australian Education Union will meet to consider the offer today and make a recommendation to members at meetings around the State this week. Teachers will then vote whether to accept the deal.

    "Mr Bartlett said beginning teachers earn about $47,000, and could earn up to $54,600 in 2011 under the offer.

    "Top teachers earn about $68,000 and could earn up to $80,000 in 2011.

    "This Government is investing heavily in education ... I believe the union will take a positive message to their members," Mr Bartlett said.

    "AEU State president Jean Walker said the Government's offer was deficient in some areas.

    "We don't believe that they've sufficiently met our log of claims," she said.

    "Some things haven't been addressed although we would acknowledge there's been some improvement in resources for inclusion and behaviour management."

    "Last week, Mr Bartlett promised $12 million over three years for support for special needs students.

    "The money was reallocated from administration as part of the Student At The Centre programme.

    "Mr Bartlett said the Government would continue to work on a range of issues - including behaviour management, inclusion, promotional pathways, and teacher workload - put forward by the AEU, but said many of them were beyond the Government's capacity to fund.

    From The Northern Tasmanian at link
    
    
    
    
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Hand-Held Calculators' Milestone Number
    by Michael Alison Chandler
    
    On 40th Birthday, Classroom Role Still Questioned
    
    "... But as the technology continues to advance, a question remains: Are the devices helping or hurting students? Educators are deadlocked over whether calculators are helping create a more numerate society capable of claiming the next technological breakthrough or making students technology-dependent and mathematically insecure.

    "The United States lags in international math exams. Top performers, including Singapore and China, put more emphasis on mental math and memorization and introduce calculators to the curriculum later than the United States does, said Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, who has researched how calculators affect student achievement.

    "Today's students "maybe are not so great at computing numbers on the back of a notebook," said Jerry Merryman, 75, a co-inventor of the hand-held calculator, as he stood before a velvet-encased 1967 prototype during a ceremony at the Smithsonian Castle last week. But he said calculators have expanded "their reach and grasp" of mathematics..."
    
    "Some teachers say calculators make it possible for students who struggle with basic math concepts to explore higher math.

    "Kids whose arithmetic skills may be weak can rely on calculators to do that work, and they can still do algebra," said John Mahoney, a math teacher at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in the District and a consultant for Texas Instruments. "It's just like word processing. There are people who can't spell . . . but word processing can allow them to express things well and be creative," he said.

    "But the concern is that students rely on calculators too much..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link

Tuesday 2 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    School lessons lost on teachers’ silly bullies
    by Paul Murray
    
    "There’s the stuff you learn in school that helps you pass exams. And then there’s the stuff you learn in the schoolyard, which helps you get through life.
    
    "One of those schoolyard lessons is that you should never make a threat that you don’t intend to — or can’t — carry out.
    
    "The certain result of that sort of behaviour, before political correctness began to rule the roost in the playground, used to be a good hiding and endless humiliation.
    
    "The threat by the Education Department that teachers who are refusing to pay the $70 registration fee to the WA College of Teaching will be sacked was one of those puffed-up boasts that makes you question the sanity of those behind it. [emphasis added]
    
    "Further threatening them with $10,000 fines treats teachers like militant construction workers infected with blue flu.
    
    "This school year started with front-page stories about staff shortages and the situation has just got worse as the year rolled on with the discontent among teachers over a host of issues — including the intransigent OBE wrangle which is now a millstone around the Carpenter Government’s neck — growing to alarming levels.
    
    "Any sensible analysis of where the power lies in this current equation would put it resolutely in the teachers’ corner. Going through with the sacking threat toys with the unthinkable act of shutting schools.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan suggests in weekend news reports that he had no knowledge of the department letter to principals threatening to sack teachers who don’t pay the fee.
    
    "Mr McGowan’s ignorance is implicit in his comment that the letter was “overly legalistic and heavy-handed”. Surely no Minister in his right mind would have allowed such a letter to go out had he known the contents?
    
    "However, not knowing how such a sensitive issue would be handled is nearly as big a ministerial sin as being party to such a ham-fisted and empty threat.
    
    "The same goes for the new head of the department, Sharyn O’Neill, who came into the job several months ago offering a shake-up of the upper echelons. This is her first big test and she has flopped.
    
    “Ms O’Neill said the department would continue to use “imaginative approaches” to ensure enough teachers were available to staff schools during the growing teacher shortage,” The West Australian reported on September 5, as Ms O’Neil was seen to be stamping her authority on the organisation.
    
    "Back in July, the newspaper used FoI laws to get hold of departmental reports predicting a looming crisis because 38 per cent of teachers, about 4800, would be eligible to retire in 2009 and 2010. The department knew it was holding dud cards in any game of bluff poker with the teachers.
    
    "So, against this background, how do we make sense of the threat to sack up to 3000 teachers who object to the $70 fee? Well, you can’t because it’s nonsensical.
    
    "The only logical approach by the Minister and his new director-general would have been to quietly arrange for the registration fees to be held over until they had sorted out the running of the WA College of Teaching, which, incidentally, many teachers seem to view as an unnecessary piece of window dressing.
    
    "But the teachers’ legitimate complaint is that they should not be required to pay the fee until the college fulfils its obligation to hold elections to allow them to gain representation on the board.
    
    "Elections were planned for last November, but were abandoned due to “legal complications”.
    
    "Having apparently learnt nothing in the schoolyard, those responsible for this debacle also seem to have picked up little in the schoolroom either, especially about the American Revolution.
    
    "So face the front McGowan and O’Neill. Today’s lesson is on a fundamental piece of American history.
    
    "Back in the 1760, American colonists who opposed British rule did so under the slogan “No taxation without representation”. The term originated in Boston and one local politician, James Otis, also coined the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny”. It led to the Boston Tea Party which sparked the Revolution.
    
    "End of lesson. But it should not need to be said that we ignore history at our peril.
    
    "The teachers are well within their rights to refuse to pay what amounts to a tax until an election date is set to give them the say they have been promised in running the college. After all, the first WACOT elections should have been held three years ago.
    
    "Against this reasonable position, WACOT has arrogantly said its board will meet on October 26 to draw up a list of the teachers to be deregistered for failing to pay, making it illegal for them to teach in a State or a private school.
    
    "Premier Alan Carpenter is not known for taking good advice. But as a former education minister with an intimate knowledge of the department and how teachers think, he must know that this issue has been dangerously botched.
    
    "Mr McGowan says he doesn’t have the legal capacity to intervene. That may be the black letter case, but it’s also bunkum.
    
    "There needs to be a political solution to this crisis, not a legal one. It requires some leadership and common sense, two commodities that are in very short supply in the Carpenter Government.
    
    "Now is the time for Mr Carpenter to show that he learnt something in the schoolyard and stop the bullies threatening the teachers."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    
    
    • Silver City lynch mob chooses a fine day to hang teachers
      
      "Exquisite timing by the Education Department if it carried out its threat to sack hundreds of teachers if they fail to pay a $70 registration fee by October 26.

      "The irony is probably lost on the Silver City bureaucrats but most chalkies would know that October 26 just happens to be when they celebrate World Teachers' Day.

      "The fee was originally due by April 30 but some teachers have refused to pay until the registration body, the WA College of Teaching, fulfils its obligation to hold elections to allow teachers to appoint representatives to the board.

      "WACOT's board is due to meet on World Teachers' Day, when it will draw up a list of the teachers to be deregistered for failing to cough up the cash.

      "Perhaps the board members could meet in the morning and knock off the day with a champagne breakfast to celebrate the big day.

      "Then they could get down to the serious task of determining which teachers they would be happy to see lose their job."

      • Internationally, World Teachers' Day is celebrated on the first Friday in October. But, because it coincides with school holidays in Australia, it is celebrated each year on the last Friday in October.

  
  From The West Australian
  
  

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    There are NINE Letters on the WACOT TAX Fiasco. Eight of them support teachers; one supports the State Government.
    
    
  • In Short

    "The only time that the Minister, the department and WACOT refer to teachers as professionals is when they want us to shut up and do as we're told."

    Arthur Barrot, Northam
    
    

  • "Education Minister Mark McGowan certainly has a funny way of promoting the status and professionalism of teachers. Most peculiar."

    Paul Keenan, Maylands
    
    

  • "Why doesn't the Education Department do something really stupid like pay the $70 registration fee for the 3000 unregistered teachers? $210,000 is a very cheap price to pay to avoid the massive disruptions and costs the Education Department will incur if it perfunctorily goes ahead and sacks the teachers. If it can't find the funds, it can always phone Treasurer Eric Ripper: he has got plenty of our money to spare."

    Phil Shepherd, Mt Taarcoola
    
    

  • "I'm not a teacher but I find it remarkable that the Department of Education and Training is considering sacking teachers for non-payment of a paltry $70 registration fee. All the more remarkable considering that it has been trying to lure retired teachers back to work because there is a shortage of teachers!"

    J. Quinn, South Perth
    
    

  • The principle

    "The loss of even one teacher for not paying fees to WACOT would consign this non-representative and totally unnecessary "boys and girls" club to the proverbial scrapheap.

    "Christine Kelly's moving letter (29/9) displays true professionalism and care. "Our" Minister dismissively refers to the fee and states that no teacher would risk deregistration because of this.

    "For once, he is right. It is not the money - it's the principle - and people fight and die for principles. Unfortunately, there is little principle left in the Education Department which has continued to drag its reluctant and tiring workforce through this ghastly mess that is OBE."

    Rob Thompson, Manning
    
    

  • The only way

    "It was with great surprise that I read the Education Minister's comment that he did not believe that teachers would sacrifice their jobs for a $70 WACOT fee. This misses the point to a worrying degree.

    "The miners of the Eureka rebellion did not give their lives for a 30 shilling gold license. Their stand was for a voice against an undemocratic organisation.

    "Similarly, the teachers of WA are asking for the election that they are entitled to, yet have been denied for more than a year. Withholding their fees is their only means of protest.

    "This same law does not insist that they be deregistered just yet, but WACOT seems determined to take a provocative and pusillanimous action of which police commissioner Rede in 1854 would have been proud.

    "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat its mistakes."

    Richard Ewing, Eaton
    
    

  • My solution

    "I have a simple problem with the looming crisis about teacher registration. The teachers who are going to be deregistered and hence sacked are currently teaching in the classroom. It must be obvious that they are capable of doing so because they were registered by WACOT.

    "Does not paying a fee suddenly make teachers incompetent? I would think not. They are registered. However, they are protesting against the continuing fiasco that is the WACOT election soap opera. They are protesting against the only registration body without member-elected representation.

    "WA recognises de facto couples with much the same rights as married couples, but without the paperwork. Why not have de facto teacher registration? Teachers, who are recognised as being competent but want to protest against the injustices of the WACOT system, could be granted de facto registration. They are already in the classroom and, since April, they are already not financial. Why the need to sack them now? Hold an election or make their registration classified as de facto."

    Patrick F. Whalen, Yokine
    
    

  • Government shirks responsibility

    "The comments in your editorial (29/9) about the farce involving the Education Department, WACOT and the hundreds of teachers who appear to be standing up for their rights reiterate what I and most other contributors to these pages have been saying for many years: this State Government is abrogating its duties.

    "We have a shortage of teachers and many of the buildings and equipment at our schools are in need of replacement..."

    "Without the parents and citizens organisations at each school, our children would be without equipment and comforts vital to their education. Last, but by no means least, we have an assistant police commissioner organising working bees to paint the inside of buildings to save the Government $20,000 (Inside Cover).

    "While all these good people do these wonderful jobs the Government will always abrogate its responsibilities.

    "Mr Carpenter, I call on you to stop being a front man for the people behind the scenes (Messrs McGinty and Ripper) and show some gumption and be the leader you have been elected to be. Use some of the huge Budget surplus to fix the shortages in this State before the disintegration of essential services becomes irreparable. It appears the money is there - we don't have any shortage in the Treasury, do we?"

    Kevin Mullane, Baldivis
    

    
    
  • Voting issue a furphy

    "The letters by Christine Kelly and Andrew Bell (29/9) cannot go unanswered. While I agree that WACOT has problems, especially with the communication of its ethos and its enforcement so far of teachers who refuse to pay membership fees, I think the issue of being able to vote for members of the board is a furphy.

    "I have to pay my driver's license but I don't get a vote on who becomes the police commissioner. My wife pays her yearly $70 occupational therapy registration board fee without fuss and doesn't vote on board members. [I think the writer is missing the point that the WACOT Act guarantees teacher-elected board members.  Web]

    "The importance of WACOT in its professional representation role, however, cannot be understated. All, repeat all, other professional bodies insist that their practitioners are registered. This gives the public the confidence to know that when you consult a doctor, lawyer, dentist, occupational therapist and the like you are absolutely assured that the person you are dealing with is fully trained and fully competent.

    "Teaching should demand no less. I understand that WACOT has already removed teachers who have no qualifications and screens teachers to make sure their qualifications are correct and up to date. This issue has nothing to do with workloads and the other extraneous issues mentioned in the other letters on these pages. This is about teachers becoming professional and having a body to promote the profession. [Which WACOT does SO well!  Web]

    "I suspect the main reason that the remaining people have not paid is that their wallet is locked on close. The vast majority of teachers have paid their fees and the Department of Education needs to support the teachers who are prepared to support their profession."

    Ross Paton, North Perth
    

   

Other education news

• Education staff face limbo in acting roles (page 12)
  by Keryn McKinnon

  "Nearly 40% of senior department of education and training staff are acting in their positions, raising further concerns that the WA school system lacks direction and is in a state of turmoil.

  "Documents obtained by The West Australian reveal 286 of 749 central office staff at level 5 and higher, or those earning about $50000 and more, are in temporary jobs, filling the positions while they are being advertised or while the people who usually carry out the role are on secondment or leave.

  "A quarter of the senior staff have been in temporary jobs for at least 3 months and 13 employees have been doing someone else's jobs for longer than a year.

  "The documents, prepared at the end of July, also show some directorates have numerous people working in acting capacities, including the section charged with overseeing behaviour, standards and well being in schools, where 13 staff members hold acting jobs and the directorate responsible for inclusive education, where 17 employees are in acting positions.

  "Nine directors or executive directors responsible for the most senior jobs in the department including curriculum standards, aboriginal participation, planning and resources and infrastructure, are in acting roles.

  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said yesterday the figures were unbelievable and provided more evidence of a department lacking direction and vision. Mr Collier said medium and long term planning would be extremely difficult for someone holding a job in an acting capacity only.

  "These areas are the most significant in terms of educational delivery," he said. "These sorts of issues are the forefront of the problems that are permeating our education system at the moment."

  "The department has been battling one crisis after another from a teacher revolt over OBE and a state wide teacher shortage to the sacking of former director general Paul Albert over major problems with its complaints management unit.

  "The latest issue dogging the department is a threat to sack teachers refusing to pay a $70 registration fee to WACOT by the end of this month.

  "Acting human resources executive director John Serich defended the staffing situation, saying acting positions were balanced with employees' needs for security and stability at work.

  "SSTUWA president Mike Keely said now more than ever teachers needed certainty and continuity."

  From The West Australian
  
  
  

• Warning on school SMS plan (page 12)
  by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor

  "The State government will spend close to $1 million over the next 5 years sending mobile phone text messages to parents of WA school children, but the SSTUWA warns the scheme won't go ahead if it means more work for principals and school leaders.

  "Education minister Mark McGowan confirmed yesterday that the State had last week let a tender for the supply of the messaging service to South Australian company MGM Wireless but company director Mark Fortunatow said training was critical to the success of the programme.

  "It is very much a change management process that the school needs to go through in order to realign their school operations to use text messaging effectively as a mainstream school to parent communication," Mr Fortunatow said. "It's software with a great deal of training and education and development for school leaders and principals."

  "SSTUWA president Mike Keely said principals and other school leaders were already bogged down in retraining.

  "At the moment they're buried in bureaucratic workload and change and if this is a further workload I think you'll find it won't be done," he said. "I think school leaders and principals at the moment are absolutely under the hammer like their staff and I don't think they'll be looking forward to a great deal of training about this thing."

  "Mr Keely said the union would be looking to the government to provide clerical staff to operate the new system. "You provide the clerical support staff to enter the data and it gets done. I must say I'd express great concern if teachers and school leaders are going to have to undergo a lot of training because there aren't enough people in schools to provide support and relief at the moment," he said.

  "But WA Council of State Schools president Rob Fry said the system would reduce the workloads for school administrators.

  "In some of the bigger schools especially in the middle of winter you can have 50 or 60 kids away. This system saves time and gets messages out very quickly. If you have to use phone calls it might be two hours before you get to your child," Mr Fry said.

  "Mr McGowan said her expected the system to reduce workloads for staff across a range of areas.

  "The aim of this is not just about truancy and attendance but it is a communication tool between schools, teachers and parents which I certainly hope will enhance parents' participation in the children's education," he said.

  "If parents don't want to give their mobile phone numbers they don't have to but I think most people would because obviously if there's an issue with your child you want to know about it pretty quickly."

  "As well as emergency and truancy information, parents will receive notices about sports days, parent teacher nights, special events, open class opportunities and other school related business.

  "But Mr McGowan said the system would complement rather than replace traditional school notes.

  "He said the system would be rolled out to 400 of the State's 770 primary and high schools in the first 6 months of next year. MGM's messageyou software is used by about 300 schools across Australia, including many in WA. Parents in remote areas will miss out on the service because of poor mobile phone reception."

  From The West Australian
  
  

  • Truants to get busted via SMS [online only, updated at 1:30 pm]
    by Phillipa Perry
    
    "Parents will soon be informed if their child is playing truant via SMS messages sent from the child’s school as part of a new $950,000 State Government contract.

    "Education and training minister Mark McGowan said the five-year contract with MGM Wireless would help WA’s public schools fight truancy in 2008.

    “Western Australia has one of the highest rates of mobile phone ownership in the world and it makes sense to put this technology to good use, in improving communication between parents and schools,” Mr McGowan said.

    “This new technology will inform parents when their children are absent from school, but it will also allow schools to inform parents of school projects, important events in individual classrooms, parent-teacher nights and tips on how to help with their child’s education.”

    "Mr McGowan said the new technology would also free up teacher time spent on day-to-day follow up of absent students.

    "He said the technology was already being used in 46 schools throughout WA with a great deal of success.

    “The contract which I am announcing today will allow those schools, as well as prospective new schools, to save a great deal of money on SMS messaging,” he said.

    “The contract will also offer schools the option of additional features such as electronic roll marking.”

    “I expect around 400 schools (around half the State’s public schools) will welcome this new technology and sign up for implementation in 2008, but decisions will be made at the local level.

    "Some schools may find it extremely useful while others may prefer other methods of communication.”

    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Mark McGowan media statement
    
    
    
    
• Talent study tips shortfall in education [Business section, page 43]
  by Leon Gettler

  "Australia is behind the pack in attracting and developing talent and is likely to slip further because of the education system, a global study has found.

  "The first global talent index (GTI) which survey 30 countries places Australia 6th as an attractive place for talent - behind the US, Sweden, Canada , Germany and France.

  "According to the study, Australia will move to 5th by 2012 as an attractive place in terms of personal disposable income, growth in employment, gross domestic product and technical skill base. But the study, put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit, with the cooperation of global search firm Heidrick and Struggles, also reveals Australia will slip from 7th to 8th place in terms of its compulsory education.

  "H&S's managing partner for Asia Pacific, Gerry Davis, said Australia was an exporter of executive talent, but senior overseas executives also increasingly saw Australia as an exciting place to enhance their careers.

  "The survey shows the one weakness that needs to be addressed - the quality of our education system," he said. "More investment needs to be made to keep us globally competitive. We are sitting on the edge of the greatest growth engine the world has ever seen in China and India, and we need to ensure that our skills are constantly refreshed."

  "According to the study, China will gain 2 positions from 2007 to 2012 and the quality of China's environment to nurture talent will improve from 22 to 14.

  "According to some estimates, China, which has been growing at about 11%, faces a talent deficit of 70000 executives over the next decade.

  "The problem is this comes at a time when Europe is forecasting a net labour shortfall of nearly 100 million workers and the US a shortfall of 40 million."

  From The West Australian
  
  
  

• Teachers part of $6.6 million plan to combat allergies [online only, updated at 11:45 am]
  by Phillipa Perry
  
  "Teachers and childcare workers will be able to give adrenaline shots to the increasing number of West Australian children who suffer from potentially fatal allergic reactions as part of a new State Government plan.

  "Premier Alan Carpenter said the WA government had committed $6.6 million to the plan, which also included a training program for teachers and childcare workers, instructing them on how to handle an allergy emergency.

  “At the moment teachers and childcare workers can only give adrenaline to a child who has been diagnosed with a severe allergy, when parents have given consent and staff have been trained to do it,” Mr Carpenter said.

  “Because anaphylaxis can occasionally occur in a child who has not been diagnosed with an allergy, changes to the legislation will allow a teacher or childcare worker to give adrenaline in an emergency situation.”

  “New legislation will also allow adrenaline EpiPens to be added to first-aid boxes at all schools and childcare centres.”

  "He said the new legislation would be introduced to Parliament next year.

  "Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can be triggered by the exposure to certain foods such as peanuts, fish, shellfish, milk, eggs, wheat and soy.

  “The potentially life threatening symptoms include breathing difficulties, swelling of the tongue and throat and loss of consciousness,” Mr Carpenter said. “With severe allergies affecting 2 per cent of Western Australian children, most schools and childcare centres will be called on to manage at least one child who is at risk of anaphylaxis.”

  "Mr Carpenter said the training program would be developed over the next 12 months and implemented across the State over the following three years.

  “The importance of this program is to standardise the teaching so that we know that every teachers or the majority of teachers or people working in childcare centres have the same knowledge and know how to recognise and how to use an EpiPen,” Richard Loh, head of the immunology department at Princess Margaret Hospital, said.

  "Melissa Lang of Forrestfield, whose daughters Ebony, 7, and Emma, 4, both suffer from allergies said the changes would give her some peace of mind.

  “This will help anyone who is going to look after children,” she said. “It’s going to give them a much better understanding and it’s going to be across the board so it’s not just selective teachers who have been advised by parents of children’s allergies.”

  "Mr Carpenter said the Western Australian Anaphylaxis Service, which would reduce the waiting time for a child to see an allergy specialist from nine months to four weeks, would be developed over the next 12 months.

  "A community awareness campaign would also be launched as part of the plan. Specialist allergy training would also be provided for an extra four to six general practitioners a year as well as a specialist telephone advice line for GPs.

  "The plan followed a review into the management of anaphylaxis in schools and childcare centres by the Anaphylaxis Expert Working Committee."

  From The West Australian at link
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• History lost in new school charter
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "A new primary-school charter has ditched history as a core subject in favour of the broader "social education", which includes geography, the environment and civics.

  "The Australian Primary Principals Association yesterday launched its final version of the charter, which is designed to drop courses such as bicycle safety and animal care and focus on the key areas of English, maths, science and, now, social education.

  "A draft version published in August named history as the fourth area, but after consultation with principals and teachers in government, independent and Catholic schools, it was included in social education, which as well as geography and the environment will include other cultures and places, and how decisions are made in Australia.

  "APPA president Leonie Trimper said the association was not entirely happy with the name "social education" and was working on a different title.

  "But she said it was not intended to mimic the high school subject of Studies of Society and Environment, which states and territories have agreed to drop in favour of traditional disciplines.

  "We had feedback that history was far too narrow and conjured images of students just learning dates," she said.

  "The emphasis is on children learning about their identity and stories about significant Australian events and people, but the thought was we needed to have some geography to do that, and people also wanted to include the term environment."

  "The federal Government has spearheaded a campaign to make Australian history compulsory in Years 9 and 10.

  "Associate professor of history and politics at the University of Wollongong Gregory Melleuish said primary schools risked repeating the mistakes of SOSE in high schools, and history should remain a distinct subject.

  "The danger with social studies is that it becomes vague and wishy-washy, and another way of indoctrinating kids with the fashions of the day," he said.

  "If you include history under social education, then it will get submerged under things like climate change and ecology and all the '-ies' of Western society.

  "History can be taught in a relatively objective fashion; some of these other things I just wonder how objectively you can teach them."

  "Professor Melleuish said one way of engaging young students in history was to teach it through the lives of exemplary people.

  "But History Teachers Association of Australia president Nick Ewbank said it was important for primary students to be taught a range of content areas and skills so it was understandable that it might not be viable to have history as a distinct subject.

  "History is an important part but it's not the only part of a sensible humanities curriculum and I can understand why the primary principals have done it this way," he said.

  "The charter also broadens the purpose of science to help "children to make informed decisions about the environment and their health and well-being".

  "The draft charter was criticised for underplaying the importance of the arts, music and sport in primary schools and the final version emphasises that the core "is not intended to imply that other learning areas are unimportant".

  "The charter is a response to the curriculum in primary schools becoming cluttered with non-essential courses in social problems traditionally the province of families and the community.

  "It will be given to federal, state and territory governments and the APPA will lobby education ministers to adopt it at their next meeting."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  • Related stories in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
  • Australian Primary Principals Association Press Release: Charter on Primary Schooling
    
    
    
    
• Multiplying problems
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "Memorising basic mathematical facts is undervalued by teachers, according to a study that shows only a minority intend to set questions in every lesson to practise and improve the automatic recall of facts such as the times tables and common sums.

  "A survey of primary school teaching students presented to a conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia found maths exercises to help children memorise the basics were seen as the least valuable lessons and their perceived value fell during the course of the degree.

  "Mathematicians emphasise that the ability to immediately recall basic mathematical facts and routine operations is essential to understanding the science at higher levels. The study, by Anne Scott of the Australian Catholic University, surveyed nearly 350 student teachers, 163 at the beginning of their primary teaching degree and 186 at the end. Fewer than one in two graduating teachers intended to use memorisation tasks in 75per cent or more of their lessons, compared with 71 per cent of teaching students at the beginning of the course.

  "The study says teacher educators promoting the use of interesting and challenging tasks in maths "may devalue the contribution of tasks that encourage the fluency and automaticity of simple number facts or the practice of skills".
  
  From The Australian at link

  
  
  
• Steiner students 'unable to cope' with maths testing
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "Children enrolled in the alternative Steiner education curriculum are "overwhelmed" by literacy and numeracy testing, says a Victorian state school in excusing its poor academic performance.

  "Up to 80 per cent of Year 3 students at Mornington Park Primary School, south of Melbourne, failed to reach state government standards for maths and more than half are not achieving at or above "expected levels" for reading.

  "The school, which offers a Steiner stream, admitted the results were of "concern", especially given a further 70 per cent of students did not reach state benchmarks for maths in Year 5.

  "Student achievement, as measured by the AIM (Achievement Improvement Monitor) test, was moderate in 2006," the school's annual report reads.

  "Low percentages are generally recorded but of significant concern is the overall poor performance in mathematics at both Year 3 and Year 5 levels."

  "The annual report says one of the explanations for the school's poor performance could have been the increasing number of Steiner Year 3 and Year 5 students completing the tests.

  "They are not used to the regimen and the rigour of the testing and may be overwhelmed by the process," it says..."

  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • Primary school revamp backed
    
    A controversial plan to "unclutter" the primary school curriculum has been backed by principals, teachers and parent bodies.
    
    See also related stories in The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald, plus the APPA press release
    
    
    
    
  • Telly tots can become the brat pack: researchers
    
    Television could be turning your children into little monsters. [This is news???  Web]
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • Yes, teachers do deserve more

      "David Campbell (Opinion, 28/9) is right — teachers deserve more for their hard work — more money and more time to do their best job. My wife and I should know — we are now in less demanding jobs, earning similar money to our teaching salaries.

      "I can earn much more in mining and earth-moving than I ever did in teaching. Weekends pay big overtime. As a teacher, leading outdoor education activities, planning or correcting on weekends paid no extra. But we weren't there for the money. Teaching was challenging, creative and fulfilling, because young people are stimulating to be with.

      "My wife and I agree we could never return to teaching, yet we were both assessed as successful, committed teachers. But there was always so much to do and so little time to complete it.

      "You owed it to the kids to give them your best. You wanted them to enjoy learning and to succeed, so you sacrificed your own life. For the future wellbeing of Australia, I fervently hope that all teachers get what they deserve: more money and more time to do their important, tough job."

      Ian de Kam, Ringwood North

Wednesday 3 October

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    WACOT fails teachers’ interests (page 21)
    by Tony Rutherford
    
    "The current controversy surrounding the Western Australian Council of Teaching might well be more or less impenetrable to the average observer of day-to-day politics. It may be consoling to know that it is not much more penetrable to most teachers.
    
    "There is no doubt that WA’s teachers could do with a reputable professional organisation which represented their interests in an even-handed and commonsense way; one which also acted as a guardian of standards and competence among teachers.
    
    "It has been a long time since the teachers’ union carried out the first task with any real credibility. For years now, the union has been compromised by its relationship with the Labor Party and with Labor governments.
    
    "Too many of its office-bearers have used their office as a stepping point to higher things. Labor has too often been able to take its support for granted while Liberal governments, uneasily, can see them as part of the enemy establishment.
    
    "Union activists have tended to be Labor activists, and so confuse their responsibilities to members. Many teachers, disliking the union and the Labor ethos, simply chose not to join, and were thus left, theoretically at least, with no effective voice. So the union has been weak, conspicuously weak, in major issues affecting its membership.
    
    "Its stand on matters of genuine and deeply-held concern, such as OBE, has been arrived at too late and too half-heartedly to be of any real use. It has failed, equally conspicuously, to persuade the present Government to pay teachers adequately for what is, increasingly, an unpleasant and difficult job.
    
    "Matters like these isolate one of the real problems teachers have always faced: they look like professionals, but sometimes act, and are always treated, like salaried wage-slaves.
    
    "WACOT has, if anything, failed a little more conspicuously in representing teachers’ interests than the union. It may well have had something useful to say about OBE but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in my files. Indeed, it is far from clear what it actually does in this sort of area.
    
    "I have heard its rare defenders compare WACOT to bodies such as the AMA and other national professional institutions; but those institutions are, apart from any more obvious difference, genuinely independent professional bodies, equally at arm’s length from either party, and fearless in promoting members’ interests on any issue.
    
    "It’s worth pointing out that you can still be a practising physician and not be a member of the AMA — professional registration is a quite separate matter. WACOT, on the other hand, puts one in mind of the way that professional organisations in places like Soviet Russia used to be set up by government decree.
    
    "It is a weird hybrid, offering compulsory unionism without even the erratic independence of traditional union membership.
    
    "Certainly, WACOT is charged with the maintenance of standards. But that, as far as any outsider can see, is a matter of making sure that appropriately qualified teachers have passed routine police checks, and it hardly requires a bureaucracy and a compulsory membership fee to do that simple task.
    
    "The notion that police checks are central to professional standards is itself a nice indicator of what the bureaucracy really thinks of its drafted membership. And then, more to the point, it has proved itself incapable of organising its own elections, with nearly a year having passed since the last botched and aborted election. This is, legitimately enough, a sticking point for quite a few teachers. The cliche about taxation and representation still does apply, and rightly so.
    
    "But the striking thing about the controversy is the Government’s chosen method of handling it. Instead of negotiating a sensible compromise, which would have delayed serious action until after elections had been held, the Government has waded in with threats and bullying. This is, it has to be said, par for the course.
    
    "Its determination to close its ears to the legitimate concerns of teachers — again, the OBE issue is the best case in point — is now so ingrained that no other managerial technique seems to be contemplated. [emphasis added]
    
    "Quite a few teachers are now (justifiably) cynical enough to suggest that last week’s move was indeed deliberately timed to coincide with the end of third term, so that teachers in Years 11 and 12, having lost their students, could be dragooned into taking on the workload of those facing the sack. They’re probably right, but it is nevertheless a very temporary stopgap. And, as usual, the Government has chosen to use principals as the tools of its brute force approach. That will do wonders for the already rock-bottom morale in so many schools. It will make the task of reasonable day-to-day management just that much harder.
    
    "Perhaps the most bizarre feature of all this is that it is coming from an Education Department which is already struggling (unsuccessfully) to cope with a chronic teacher shortage, with teachers leaving in large numbers and with insufficient new recruits to begin to fill the gaps.
    
    "The department’s initiatives to tempt teachers back into the profession have, predictably, yielded derisory results. If only a few hundred of the dissenters stick to their principles, it will be a major blow. It is beyond belief that neither the Minister nor his department gave any thought to this. It is equally beyond belief that, if they did, they then decided to bluster their way out of it.
    
    "As the controversy was breaking last week, there was another education story which deserved attention.
    
    "According to the department’s own statistics, about 3600 students were suspended for verbal abuse, harassment, physical assault or intimidation of staff. This is an important problem and the statistics ignore the everyday unpleasantness which teachers must tolerate.
    
    "It would seem only common sense that the department would be bending its energies to doing something about this, rather than provoking a factitious dispute with its employees, one which is concerned with utterly irrelevant matters. It would, too, seem to be the merest common sense to begin to tackle all these considerable problems by directly asking teachers, particularly the more mature teachers, just what, within the bounds of reason, could be done to make their job more tolerable and more rewarding.
    
    "But then, common sense doesn’t seem to be a commodity much valued any more by those who make the decisions these days."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Labor plan for one body to regulate all teachers (page 10)
    by Andrew Probyn

    "Australia's 300,000 teachers could be regulated by a single national body as part of a Labor plan to save hundreds of millions of dollars in overlapping State-Federal responsibilities and inefficient funding.

    "But Labor leader Kevin Rudd's pledge to overhaul vocational education if he was elected prompted Government claims that he would cut apprenticeship and TAFE funding.

    "Labor has also tipped changes to so called special purpose payments which specify how States spend Federal funding, including State run education programmes, by focusing the payments on educational outcomes.

    "Mr Rudd said yesterday vocational training was a "murky area" which was ripe for efficiencies, a line that was interpreted by Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb as "code" for funding cuts to programmes aimed at labour shortages.

    "Shadow education minister Stephen Smith said labor was not convinced the current "inter relationship" between TAFEs, apprenticeships and traineeships was the best or most efficient use of funds.

    "But Mr Smith declined to outline an alternative vision saying: "Labor quite openly acknowledges that this examination is best done from government, not opposition."

    "Labor promises to keep the Government's 28 technical colleges but may collapse them into local TAFEs or school systems.

    "Mr Smith said Labor's plan would save $94 million over the next 3 years by reinstating the voluntary student supplement scheme, which was scrapped by the Government in 2004, that let students receiving Commonwealth income support get repayable loans up to $7000 a year by trading in their entitlement to youth allowance or Austudy. Like HECS, the interest free loans are repaid when recipients annual incomes go over a certain level.

    "Shadow State-Federal relations minister Bob McMullan said reforming the way the two levels of government work together was the "next big area of macro economic reform".

    "Labor's plan is understood to involve a single national body to regulate teaching or ensuring all State based regulators are nationally consistent. Currently, WA teachers are regulated by WACOT, set up in 2004. It's 43000 members pay about $3 million towards the college's administration. "

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Stop nonsense

      "Christine Kelly (Teachers willing to risk sack over fee, 1/10) is an outstanding and experienced English teacher. Out school and the government education system cannot afford to lose staff of her quality. I urge the Department of Education and the teachers' union to work to resolve this issue with WACOT.

      "They appear to be seeking confrontation rather than finding a solution to the present situation. They are not representing the views of teachers, which I understand to be their main function.

      "This nonsense must stop and common sense prevail, otherwise I fear for the future of education in this State."

      Dave Bonner, deputy principal, Kensington
      
      

    • WACOT is to blame for this upheaval

      "It is truly unbelievable! Teachers facing the sack because they refuse to pay fees into a WACOT fund - yet WACOT itself failed miserably in getting its own house in order!

      "It is a sham of gigantic proportions and clear signs that WACOT, the West Australian College of Teaching, is itself to blame for this upheaval! Get rid of it: it serves no purpose at all!

      "All this, when there is a glaring shortage of teachers in our schools to educate our children.

      "And why is there a shortage? Obviously, Government harassment, interference and lack of support in its many forms are important reasons. Teachers are feeling unsafe in their classrooms because they are now allowed to deal appropriately with unruly pupils.

      "A lack of proper facilities and remuneration play a part. Bureaucratic interference from a vast army of pen pushers, many seemingly without the slightest idea of what education stands for - and requires - does nothing to assist our teachers in their battles to do the best they possibly can for our children.

      "The OBE debacle has put many of our best educators offside to the point where they have thrown up their hands in despair and said "enough is enough, I am out of here" and they are thus lost to the system, which is screaming out for experienced people.

      "All this is by complete ineptitude of the "authorities". They are to blame, nobody else.

      "Mark McGowan and your band of hanger-ons, take notice!"

      Peter S. Boam, Leederville
      
      

    • And in fairness, here is equal time for the "I haven't a bloody clue and I'm proud of it!" brigade:
      

      • Pay up, teachers

        "Teachers like Christine Kelly (Letters, 29/9) have got no idea. Most professional groups pay annual registration fees to their respective, usually unelected, boards such as the Medical Board and Nurses Registration Board. The AMA and the ANF are unions, similar to the teachers' union. Teachers should pay their $70 to WACOT and get on with it."

        Greg Lumsden, Booragoon

        [No comment from Web: I don't argue with my radishes or turnips, either.]
        
        
        

• Women nervous, men happy when outnumbered
  
  Women feel threatened when outnumbered by the opposite sex, such as in math, science and engineering classrooms, while men enjoy being in a roomful of women, a US study published today showed.
  
  
  
  
• The Australian
  
  
• Op Ed
  In pursuit of a dinosaur
  
  PhDs are a valuable anachronism, writes Kevin Donnelly
  
  "Is the PhD a dinosaur from a previous age of elite education, as Curtin University professor of Australian studies Richard Nile claims in his blog on The Australian's website (Failure of the PhD, August 22)?

  "Based on my experience, undertaking a PhD at La Trobe University in the field of education during the early 1990s, the answer is yes, but so what?

  "When tertiary education has been thrown open to the masses on the assumption that increased participation is an end in itself and the purpose of education is to increase living standards by making Australia more competitive internationally, supporting elitism is not such a bad thing.

  "Not everybody has the ability, commitment and motivation to complete a PhD, in particular to research and write a 100,000-word thesis through several years. If the doctorate is to continue to be regarded as the pinnacle of university study, then its currency needs to be restricted.

  "Much of education is consumed by the tyranny of relevance and measured by its utilitarian value. An added advantage of a more traditional approach to undertaking a PhD is that the exercise is primarily an intellectual one that may not have any practical application or worth.

  "As a secondary-school English teacher with the usual round of lesson preparation, correction and extracurricular responsibilities, undertaking a PhD was not just an additional burden; there was no guarantee further study would make me a more effective teacher or increase my chances of being promoted.

  "Notwithstanding such minuses, there is no doubt if I had the time over, I would jump at the chance of undertaking postgraduate study. Why? Although it may appear old-fashioned, there is no doubt that researching, formulating ideas and developing a thesis is intellectually fulfilling. The excitement and pleasure of discussing and clarifying ideas was heightened by establishing a relationship with a supervisor, an expert in the field and an academic with a vast reservoir of knowledge and wisdom, over four years.

  "Much of teaching is taken up with the practicalities of the classroom and dealing with students on a regular basis; an added benefit of undertaking further study is that one is able to place the routine of one's professional life within a broader perspective.

  "During the '90s, Australian schools experienced the advent of outcomes-based education, with its focus on child-centred learning -- where the interests and needs of the student take centre stage -- and the belief that the process of learning was more important than the content of what was taught. This was also when the academic curriculum was criticised as socially unjust and guilty of reinforcing privilege. Within Victoria, the Higher School Certificate was replaced with Victorian Certificate of Education, and in classrooms across Australia measuring success in terms of pass and fail gave way to self-esteem and creating an environment where all succeeded.

  "To those in the classroom, such changes arrived, generally speaking, unheralded and imposed from on high. As many teachers appreciate, such changes have generally made teaching more difficult.

  "In part, the reason curriculum change has failed is because many of those responsible for imposing innovations no longer teach in schools and have little idea of what works in the classroom.

  "The research associated with writing a PhD allowed me to identify the origins of the curriculum innovations washing over Australian schools and to place them in a theoretical and international context. Better still, by understanding the rationale behind educational change, one is in a position to develop a critique.

  "When business councils and politicians argue that we need to develop so-called higher order skills and deep understanding, it is also the case that undertaking a PhD develops a habit of mind characterised by being able to synthesise ideas, understand concepts and communicate logically.

  "When talking about dinosaurs, it is obvious that my PhD fits Nile's description: I never became an academic, the degree did not have any immediate practical application and it did not lead to extra money when teaching. But in my view its value still proved incalculable based on a belief in education for education's sake."

  Kevin Donnelly is director of Education Strategies in Melbourne.
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• Melbourne masters a US model
  by David Cohen
  
  "The University of Melbourne's plan to reconstitute itself as a US-style institution of higher learning has picked up steam with the introduction of a masters degree modelled after similar North American programs devoted to teaching the teachers.

  "The degree, which the university is touting as the first of its kind for the region, is part of a shift away from specific undergraduate degrees to a bigger emphasis on graduate schools.

  "The qualification will be rolled out next year. A one-year teaching diploma program will be phased out along with many other undergraduate programs, including bachelor degrees in primary and early childhood education.

  "As with the Melbourne model, the name of the university's present academic reform agenda, the new degree was modelled on similar qualifications offered by US institutions, including Stanford University and the University of Virginia, as well as the University of Toronto in Canada.

  "The Australian version of the degree was 18 months in the making, "and we know there will be some finetuning yet to come", said Kaye Stacey, a professor of mathematics education and the new qualification's principal architect.

  "The program would be offered in early childhood, primary and secondary streams. It represented a first in terms of Melbourne University's "innovative concepts", according to Dr Stacey, who said students' relative maturity would also help sharpen their learning experience and finetune their performance asteachers.

  "The personalised learning aspect, of trying to get students to learn how people learn and how that best can be understood in an individual way, is also a first, definitely," Dr Stacey said.

  "The course includes two days in the classroom and three in the lecture hall each week, from which, it is hoped, aspiring teachers will acquire much more of a focus on individualised learning, interventionist practice and technique than previously."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• High school culture 'fosters anorexia'
  
  High schools are promoting values that can unintentionally encourage anorexia, according to new research. University of Western Sydney associate professor Christine Halse found school structures such as strict adherence to timetables, disciplinary protocols and cultural values, including competitiveness and individual achievement, contribute to a climate that potentially fosters anorexia.
  
  Similar story in The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  
  
• Teacher taught students to stab
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "A private school teacher who told students the best way to stab someone was in the kidney because the victim "can't exhale or scream" and described a female student as having "more cushion for pushin"' has been allowed back in the classroom.

  "Victoria's teaching watchdog has deemed that Joel Edmund Roache did not engage in serious misconduct, despite being sacked for the remarks he made to a group of Year 9 boys while on a school camp last year.

  "It is the third controversial finding by the Victorian Institute of Teaching in recent months, and follows decisions to allow an English teacher deemed "seriously incompetent" and a teacher who admitted to binding a child's hands with tape to remain registered teachers..."
  
  Full story in The Australian at link
  
  
  

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    History without more wars
    
    "Primary school principals have long protested that their schools are asked to do too much - to make good all of society's deficiencies in children's upbringing, at the expense of what schools do best, namely teaching the basics. They are right: primary schooling is the essential foundation for more specialised education that children will receive at high school and beyond. Primary schools should concentrate on their basic task and not waste time compensating for deficiencies in children's broader upbringing. Those are problems for families to solve.

    "However, the principals' laudable proposal to get back to basics, set out in a charter on primary schooling, has run into criticism from the federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop. Ms Bishop questions their view of what constitutes the basics. The principals say these are English, arithmetic, science and something called social education. The last element - a combination of basic history, geography and politics - is the problem. Ms Bishop fears for the fate of history.

    "Both Ms Bishop and the Prime Minister, John Howard, have strong views about any watering down of history teaching. Mr Howard devoted part of his Australia Day address last year to a call for "root and branch renewal" of the subject in Australia. It is a part of his more general campaign in the long-running culture wars with which many parents will agree. Ms Bishop organised a history summit to discuss a possible national curriculum. Most of this attention has been on high school history teaching. But yesterday, when the opportunity arose to talk about the primary curriculum, Ms Bishop took it. It is not clear why. Although it is apparent what Mr Howard and Ms Bishop oppose in history teaching practices, the public has been given only a vague idea of what they support.

    "History is an important subject. In high school, it should not be watered down into an amorphous "people in their environment" curriculum. But in primary school, there must be room for teachers to seek to awaken children's interest in this country's story as part of finding out about the society in which they live. In this case, primary schools need not become another battlefield in Canberra's culture wars."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Plans for ads to blitz teacher union
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "The Federal Government has prepared an advertising blitz to counter an election-year campaign by the teacher union over schools funding. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show the plans began a day after the Australian Education Union advertisement went to air on April 11 challenging the level of federal funding to public schools.

    "The $1.3 million union campaign featured a television advertisement with public primary school students clutching Australian flags and cheering as they waited for the Prime Minister, John Howard, to visit their school only to have him drive past.

    "The documents from the Prime Minister's Department and the department of the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, show the Government contacted the ad agency The Campaign Palace and media buyers Universal McCann to prepare a counter-campaign."
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link

Thursday 4 October

• The West Austalian

Note: The website and the analogue newspaper carried different version of the teacher pay rise story, with different authors.

• Pay rise to solve teacher shortage [Front Page Headline]
  Exclusive by Robert Taylor, State Political Editor
  
  "First-year State school teachers will be able to earn up to $70,000 a year [IF receiving the top remote area allowance, $50,000 otherwise] from the start of next year under a radical Labor Government plan to solve WA's chronic teacher shortage..."
  
  "Shadow education minister Peter Collier applauded the move as a "bold initiative" but warned more had to be done to retain teachers in the State school system.
  
  "It's a good start to kick them off on $50,000 but if you're going to retain them you've got to assume that the increase will be reflected in every level above that," he said.
  
  "But Mr McGowan said the Government would concentrate on "those who do the tougher jobs" in its negotiations with the unions over the new enterprise bargaining agreement.
  
  "The graduate rise would not necessarily flow through to other levels, he said. [emphasis added]
  
  "A teachers union spokesman could not be contacted for comment."
  
  Full story in The West Australian
  
  
  
• Pay rise for grad teachers [online version]
  by Phillipa Perry
  
  "Western Australia's graduate teachers could earn up to almost $70,000 a year from 2008, making them among the highest paid graduate teachers in Australia alongside New South Wales and the ACT.

  "The State Government has offered graduate teachers a $50,000 starting salary which they could top up by $19,800 if they chose to work at selected country and remote schools, as part of a radical plan to address WA's teacher shortage.

  "Education and training minister Mark McGowan said the package was estimated to cost more than $60 million over five years and included a doubling of the graduate start-up allowance from $800 to $1600.

  “This means new graduates will receive nearly $3500 extra, independent of any increases negotiated as part of the current or new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), which is expected to be finalised later this year,” Mr McGowan said.

  “When a scheduled 2.5 per cent pay rise for February 2008 is included, graduates will be paid $4600 more than today.”

  "Mr McGowan said graduates were particularly in demand for the areas of maths, science – particularly physics and chemistry – design and technology, home economics, languages other than English, English Literature and agriculture.

  “The public school system has to be competitive against other job opportunities outside of teaching and this is an important step toward achieving that end,” he said.

  "Mr McGowan said he recognised the need to reward existing teachers.

  “We are currently working on a new enterprise agreement to ensure that those doing the toughest jobs are rewarded,” he said.

  “This is the latest of the short, medium and long-term measures we have underway to boost the teaching workforce. I am confident that we will be able to improve the situation over time.”

  "He said the doubling of the graduate start-up allowance would also apply to graduates who began teaching in the public system in 2007, so long as they continued to work at a government school in 2008 and 2009."

  From The West Australian at link
  
  Add / view Reader Comments
  
  
  
• Alston (page 20)

© The West Australian

• Inside Cover (page 2)
  
  
  • Mini-Alston: The State of the State

© The West Australian

• Low marks for teachers' day
  
  "World Teachers' Day is on October 26 (IC, 2/10) but the calendar of events on the WA College of Teaching website is blank for that day.

  "The organisation supposedly improving the morale of its teaching staff and raising the status of the education profession is planning nothing to celebrate World Teachers' Day... they are having NO EVENTS," said Graham, a teacher who asked that his surname not be published because he doesn't fancy a "forced transfer to Meeka".

  "Graham also directed IC to the website's About Us section for a "bigger giggle".

"It carries several interpretations of what WACOT's logo represents. According to one, the globe in the logo represents that "learning is never-ending", its gold colours "the value of learning" and the blue "the depth of understanding".

"Good to see all those $70 fees are being spent wisely. Maybe the three lines represent the three years it has taken to get an election," said Graham, suggesting that IC run a competition for readers to interpret the logo. "It can't be any worse than the dribble on the website."

"Or maybe all those teachers sacked for not paying their fees could design a brand new logo. I need a nice new shiny badge."

 

• Letter to the Editor (page 22)