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Breaking
News: Week of 5 November 2007
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Saturday – Sunday, 10 – 11 November
- The West Australian
- OBE accounting rewrite urged (page 12)
by Bethany Hiatt"The professional bodies representing WA's accountants have demanded that the Curriculum Council appoint university academics to rewrite a new outcomes-based education accounting course because they feat the existing syllabus fails to provide enough detail for teachers to prepare students adequately for Year 12 exams.
"The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and Certified Practising Accountants Australia last month withdrew from a Curriculum Council reference group for the new accounting and finance course because they had lost faith in the syllabus development process.
"While the institute and CPAA consider our support integral to the success of the new syllabus, it is increasingly evident that the approach adopted by the council in developing the accounting and finance course of study is materially different to that we would envisage," institute general manager Con Abbott said in a letter to council chief executive David Wood, a copy of which has been obtained by The West Australian.
"Mr Abbott said the only way to resolve the "current impasse" was for the council to agree to set up an independent panel of university academics to rewrite the course.
"The new accounting course is due to be introduced to Year 11 students in 2009 if it can win support from accounting teachers. A "teacher jury" rejected the course earlier this year, delaying its planned 2008 implementation, and a recent vote on whether teachers believed the revised syllabus was workable barely scraped 50 per cent support.
"In a submission to the council, the industry groups said implementation would be problematic unless the new syllabus won two-third majority support from teachers.
"We remain of the view that the current syllabus is not sufficiently prescriptive in terms of the level of detail and topics to be covered to satisfy us that parity between different schools can be achieved to a point where reasonable assurance exists that students from different schools and diverse backgrounds will be equally prepared for the same Statewide external exam," the submission says.
"Mr Wood said he did not believe it was necessary to convene a group of university experts to write a course for schools.
"In their letter, the Institute of Chartered Accountants have provided very clear advice, much of which has already been incorporated into the proposed course," he said. "Other points raised by them will be incorporated early next week."
"Business Educators of WA president Liz Criddle said the accounting course was not being written just for university entrance so it should be worked on by a group representing broad interests."
From The West Australian
Most teachers to miss elite $100,000 pay packet: Liberals (page 12)
by Jessica Strutt"The vast majority of teachers would miss out under the State Government's plan to pay elite teachers more than $100,000 a year to help combat the teacher shortage, the Opposition said yesterday.
"Shadow education minister Peter Collier said while he welcomed the move, the only way the Government would retain teachers was to offer a significant salary increase across the board to all teachers.
"He said there were only 200 secondary and 300 primary school level-three teachers who could be eligible to earn the new executive teacher salary.
"Cabinet has signed off on a $600 million four-year Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, which includes a $100,000 pay packed for executive teachers.
"Under the plan the Government intends to promote 50 teachers a year from the current highest level, three pool, [sic] to the executive group. [emphasis added]
"Mr Collier described Education Minister Mark McGowan's announcement as window dressing, saying it was too little too late.
"This is a classic case of the devil being in the detail... the reality is that a vast majority of teachers will be ignored by this announcement," he said.
"It is very, very hard for teachers to get to level-three status... less than a third of applicants that apply for level-three status annually get it. Teachers don't even bother going for it because it's virtually impossible to get.
"It's all good and well to have these announcements to create a headline for a day but in the classrooms across the State on Monday the conversation won't be 'isn't it wonderful that 500 teachers are getting $100,000', the conversation's going to be 'what about us and why am I going to stay.'
"If you were to go and ask the standard classroom teacher what they are going to get out of this (EBA offer), 70 to 75 per cent would say absolutely nothing.
"I welcome all of these incentives but they do not address the very real problem... we are facing a potential disaster in our classrooms within five years unless we have some very bold decision making with mainstream classroom teachers."
"Mr McGowan said every teacher would receive a big pay rise under the EBA but some would receive more if they were doing tougher jobs.
"I don't apologise for targeting this EBA at certain groups, particularly those in difficult locations and also those that have stayed in the workforce for a long time," he said.
"Asked if he thought teachers would accept the EBA, Mr McGowan said: "We've certainly fired our best shot... this is the most generous pay rise for teachers in memory." [emphasis added]
"Under the EBA offer, WA graduates and grade-two teachers would be the highest paid in the country."
From The West Australian
- Teacher pay deal a slap in the face, says union [4 November, online only]
AAP
"A multi-million dollar pay deal for West Australian school teachers has been labelled a “slap in the face” by the industry’s peak union."WA Education Minister Mark McGowan unveiled a pay deal for the state’s 22,000-strong teaching workforce on Friday.
"The deal would ensure senior teachers were the highest paid in Australia, first year teachers were the highest paid in the nation and exemplary teachers would be paid more than $100,000 a year by 2011 as an incentive to stay in classrooms.
"More than 100 senior principals would receive a $16,000 annual pay rise and teachers in the toughest remote, country and city school would receive special bonuses under the deal, Mr McGowan said.
"But State School Teachers Union of WA president Mike Keely said the offer was nothing but “headline-grabbing” and would do nothing to retain experienced teachers.
"It would meet with a negative response from union members, Mr Keely said.
“The minister’s package offers the vast majority of classroom teachers absolutely nothing until February 2009,” he said.
“Beginning teachers have been provided with a 7.5 per cent increase and those at the top of the table will do well but for the majority of the state’s teachers, this offer is a slap in the face.
“Those who have been doing the hard work for years to maintain our system have been ignored.”
"WA has faced a teacher shortage this year and has been actively trying to lure teachers from interstate and overseas.
"Mr McGowan said the government had been listening to the union over the course of the year before making the offer.
“The government has made the offer in good faith and we will have further discussions with the SSTU about the detail of the proposed agreement,” Mr McGowan said.
"SSTUWA executive members will meet this week to respond to the offer and negotiations between the union and the department will continue this week."
From The West Australian online at link
- Letter to the Editor (page 22)
- In Short
"My sister taught in regional and metropolitan Education Department schools for seven years and then took maternity leave to start a family. Now some four years later she has tried to get back into a regional primary school in a town that has more than six public primary schools.
"She has jumped through all the department hoops with application forms etc. being tediously completed and numerous phone calls to try to sort out a job in any of the schools for next year.
"She is a brilliant teacher who loves the job. The department has still not been able to confirm a position for her after more than 10 weeks of communication and so now she has given up and taken a job in a private school. There goes another one."
Name and address supplied
- The Age
- Op Ed
Fostering inequality
by Peter Browne
"... As the OECD report puts it, paying for education in the US brings greater benefits than paying for education in most countries, including Australia. That's another way of saying that the longer term benefits of education in the US are strongly linked to the amount a family spends on their children's schooling. In Australia, we're fortunate that the gap between the benefits of private and public education is still not a major contributor to the persistence of inequalities across generations."That could change. The Federal Government has made no secret of the fact that it wants to encourage parents to spend more on education, and if its policies are successful, the public education system will increasingly come to resemble a safety net rather than the quality mainstream option. The signs are already there: between 1995 and 2004, the proportion of education spending contributed by government in Australia fell from 79 per cent to 73 per cent, the lowest level of any OECD country except Japan and the US.
"The other reason that paying for education brings better results in the US relates to entrenched income inequality. Among the 12 countries highlighted in the OECD report, the US has the most unequal distribution of income — much worse than Denmark or Sweden and significantly worse than Australia. According to the report, in countries with highly unequal incomes, the evidence suggests that "education gives access to jobs which are more highly paid (relative to other jobs) than is the case in countries with a narrower distribution of income". ...
Peter Browne is editor of Australian Policy Online at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research.
Full story in The Age at link
- Op Ed
I feel guilty my son is at a public school
by Leslie Cannold
For every dollar the Federal Government spends on a child in public school, $5.63 is expended on a child in a Catholic or other non-government school.
Yes, Leslie, and for every combined Federal and State dollar spent on a child in public school, around 60 cents is expended on a child in a Catholic or other non-government school. Web
- Cyber harassment of teens rife [The same story is also in today's Sydney Morning Herald]
More than a third of teenage girls in Australia have been sexually harassed via the internet, and more than a quarter admit cyber-bullying other girls, according to a new survey released yesterday.
- The Australian
- Unis urge end to 'crazy' tax on scholarships
The nation's leading universities yesterday called for the abolition of a tax that renders worthless scholarships for disadvantaged and rural students.
- The Age
- The Monday Education Section has updated with 9 articles, including:
- Time to end the general rule
by Denise Ryan
"Some primary teachers should become specialists to allow schools to better cope with the increasingly crowded curriculum, says an expert on quality teaching."Professor Stephen Dinham, the new research director for teaching and leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research, is calling for significant changes to primary teacher training so that some can become specialists rather than everyone being a generalist.
"Many studies of quality or effective teaching have demonstrated the need for teachers to have strong, deep subject matter knowledge," he says.
"Professor Dinham admits many people resist the idea of specialist primary teachers.
"Whenever I mention this, the usual reaction is shock and horror that primary schools could adopt the perceived worst aspects of high schools — multiple teachers, teaching subjects rather than students and the tyranny of the bells."
"But he says many primary teachers already specialise on an ad hoc basis and students often have more than one teacher.
"In my experience, high schools today are more orderly than primary schools.
"The primary school day is fragmented with numerous disruptions and changes of activity, and these are more intrusive than in the typical high school."
"He says primary teachers struggle to cover the curriculum. Science is particularly problematic as many teachers lack the expertise to teach it effectively.
"Professor Dinham advocates a narrowing of the curriculum to reduce the pressure on primary teachers to teach the core curriculum plus society-related topics.
"He describes expectations of primary teachers to cover so much material as "unreasonable, if not untenable".
"His view echoes that of the Australian Primary Principals Association, which found in its recent national study that primary schools find it almost impossible to fit everything into the curriculum.
"Professor Dinham is advocating two broad teaching specialisations, one encompassing maths, science and technology, with emphasis on numeracy.
"The other would include the humanities, with emphasis on literacy. Some subjects such as physical education would be common to both.
"We will continue to need the generalist primary teacher but I believe that two broad teaching specialisations would attract suitably talented people to teaching, including some presently deterred by the breadth of the primary curriculum, and enable greater depth in teacher education, teaching, and teacher professional learning.""The trainee teacher could specialise in several ways: do a degree in the relevant subject area, then do one or two years of teacher training; do a four-year education degree that incorporates their specialist area; or complete a concurrent double degree in, say, science and education.
"As specialist teachers joined schools, they could team teach with generalist teachers or release them from some subject areas, allowing them to specialise in turn.
"Professor Dinham reached his "heretical view" that there were advantages in making the primary years more like secondary education after serving as a committee member on the Commonwealth Government review of teaching and teacher education in 2002-03 and as a result of his own research.
"Before joining the Australian Council for Educational Research, Professor Dinham worked for 18 years in postgraduate teacher education in three NSW universities.
"He expects some educators to resist his proposals but says the standard of primary teaching must be raised.
"It is clear that many current concerns, such as secondary student achievement, post-compulsory retention and attracting suitable people to university courses for careers in maths and science, have their origins in the quality of teaching our young people receive in primary schooling," Professor Dinham says."
From The Age at link
Rising chorus backs merit pay
by Caroline Milburn
Employers support demands for a better deal for teachers
"The push for a national merit pay scheme for teachers has gained momentum with another peak business group's call for reform."The Australian Industry Group has backed the Business Council of Australia's call for better salaries for the nation's top teachers.
"Heather Ridout, the group's chief executive officer, says the skills shortage in the wider economy has led the business community to take more interest in education.
"She says her organisation, with 10,000 employer members nationwide, now has the same number of people advising companies on education and training as it does on industrial relations matters.
"It's because of the skills shortage," Ms Ridout says. "There's a huge desire in the business community to see Australia lift its game in terms of the education league tables — we're a middle-ranking player at the moment but we should be a top-order player.
"There are a lot of things that need to be done to attract people to the teaching profession and to provide stronger rewards for those teachers who are very good at what they do."
"The business council has called for dramatic improvements to teacher salaries as part of a reform to lift the quality of teaching.
"In a recent speech to mark his retirement as the council's president, Michael Chaney said the best teachers should be paid $130,000 a year, otherwise the profession would continue to be an unattractive career option to many of the brightest university graduates.
"Mr Chaney said Australia still had many highly competent, dedicated teachers. "But it is inevitable that unless we do something about the unattractiveness of teaching as a career, we will see a steady decline in teaching standards," he says.
"The top salary for teachers is about $68,000. Mr Chaney proposed a performance ranking system against national standards, which could see half of teachers paid above this level, in stages. The top 5 per cent of teachers could be paid up to $130,000 a year.
"The business council estimated pay increases for both public and private-sector school teachers would be about $4 billion, paid from Commonwealth, state and territory government coffers.
"Mr Chaney said Australians should not tolerate the system, in which the best teachers are paid about the same as mediocre teachers, with most reaching maximum salary after about 12 years. Nor was it credible to argue it was too difficult to work out who the best teachers were. He said principals should have greater autonomy to reward excellence. "I know that if you go into any school, everyone knows who the best teachers are."
"Dr Lawrence Ingvarson, an expert on merit-based pay schemes, says the comments from business leaders reveal how quickly consensus is growing for a dramatic overhaul of the teaching profession..."
Full story in The Age at link
- Flunking the technology test
Why, in this computer age, are students using paper and pen in their exams, asks Christopher Bantick.
- Letters to the Editor
- Now for the real story
"Dr Cannold, you need to sharpen your research skills. In 2004-5, Victorian government schools received $4.5 billion from the federal and state governments. Victorian independent schools received $1.57 billion. Each state-school student costs the two governments $9700 annually, while an independent-school student cost them $4547. Sorry to spoil a good story for you."
Robert Bradshaw, Melton West
- Give parents a choice
"While a strong case can be made for more funding for state schools, Leslie Cannold fails to mention two important facts: state governments are responsible for state schools and the total state and federal funding per place is less for private schools than state schools.
"Further, Cannold claims "only the wealthiest parents in the community, and the most religious" make educational choices. Many parents who are neither wealthy nor religious make sacrifices to make their choice happen. And even if Cannold was correct on this point, less funding of private education would not make all schools better.
"Finally, she notes in relation to her own son that "ideological resistance persists to catering for kids who need extension rather than remediation". This does not sound like a funding issue. Rather, it strengthens the case for giving parents more, not less, choice in education."
John-Paul Fenwick, Carnegie
- Fund schools so all can benefit
"Congratulations, Leslie Cannold (Opinion, 5/11), for referring to one of the election campaign's many "unmentionables": the inequality of funding for public and private schools. The undermining of public education is echoed in the Government's destruction of other public services, especially health, aged care and child care. First, starve them of funds, then denigrate them. Then — in the name of choice — direct funds to private providers and the Government's agenda of increasing privatisation is achieved. One other point of vital concern: the state school used to be an important centre of community life but has been largely replaced by ghettos of wealth, religion, even race, based around the clientele of private schools. Poor fellow, my country."Betty Birskys, Kawana, Qld
- A life from a laptop
"Leslie Cannold, you need to get with Labor's program. Just think what your son will be able to do with his laptop computer. You say he is fond of art. On the web, he can tap into the whole world's rich store of art. His passion for sport will be fulfilled by logging into his favourite sports person's Facebook. As for knowledge, that's just a quick cut and paste from Wikipedia. And when he is bored, he can divert his attentions to a parent-approved educational computer game. In fact, your young "Kevin" does not need to go to school. Think of the savings to the Government's bottom line if all parents ditched their old-fashioned thinking and got on with the "education revolution".
Trevor Kerr, Blackburn
- Focus on teaching
"The problem with the debate about teachers is two-fold. First, it ignores the needs of all students, apart from those who are lucky enough to get a high-performing teacher. Second, it focuses on teachers rather than teaching. It is high-performing teaching that produces better outcomes. Fortunately, this second insight provides a way forward to address the first problem. By focusing on improving teaching across the board, we can improve outcomes for all students. We now know from research evidence what it is that high-performing teachers do. Political parties should focus on ways that these practices can be shared, rather than simplistic pay increases for a small number of teachers."
S. G. Boydell, Fitzroy North
- Give students a break
"Why are tertiary students a non-issue when it comes to both major parties' campaigns? Are there not enough young voters to make us an interest group? We incur HECS debts while shouldering part-time jobs to pay for books and transport.
"I understand that making education free is no longer in the best interest of our economy, surely HECS and the cost of books could be made tax-deductible."
Marina Lou, Southbank
- The West Australian
- Letter to the Editor (page 22)
- Exciting offer
"$100,000 for top teachers! I just can't wait to find out what Mr McGowan will pay teaching administrators who have been at the pointy end of the teaching shortage, dealing with behaviour problems and trying to manage teachers who have limited teaching experience or no formal teaching qualifications.
"I'm just so excited by the mystery package that I have my pigs all fuelled up and ready for take-off."
Andrew Bell, Woodvale
- ABC News
- McGowan up-beat about filling regional teacher vacancies
"Western Australia's Education Minister, Mark McGowan, says he is hopeful almost 400 responses from interstate teachers to an advertising campaign will allow the State Government to fill some of its vacant remote and regional positions."The WA Government has struggled to fill country teaching jobs, with 70 teaching positions still vacant across the state at the start of term four in October.
"Mr McGowan has described the expressions of interest as "a good start", but admits the Education Department needs to ensure that transfers into applications.
"He admits high profile cases of inadequate accommodation in regional areas do make the job difficult.
"We do provide housing for teachers throughout country Western Australia," he said.
"There is obviously cases where the housing isn't of a good enough standard for the individual, but we are working very hard to overcome that.
"The important thing is that we offer teachers from other states a good job, a good pay rate."
From ABC News at link
- Minister defends teacher recruitment campaign
"The Education Minister Mark McGowan says an advertising campaign aimed at attracting teachers from the eastern states is working with hundreds of people expressing their interest."The campaign targets both experienced teachers and graduates in a bid to fill teacher vacancies in Western Australia.
"At the start of term four last month, the Education Department still had 70 vacant teaching positions across the state.
"Mr McGowan says the campaign is a success because many of the almost 400 expressions of interest are for more challenging remote and regional positions.
"We offer a growth state and we offer jobs for family members," he said.
"It is a good start and we're certainly hopeful that it will convert to many teachers throughout country WA."
"But Mr McGowan has admitted that high profile cases of inadequate accommodation in regional areas do make the job difficult.
"We do provide housing for teachers throughout country WA and there is obviously cases where the housing isn't of a good enough standard for the individual but we are working very hard to overcome that," Mr McGowan said.
"The important thing is that we offer teachers from other states a good job, a good pay rate."
From ABC News at link
- The West Australian
- Letter to the Editor (page 23)
- Our solution
"Your report (3/11) said there was a new plan to pay teachers $100,000.
"The title "executive teacher" says it all. We all know executives sit in offices and tell everybody to do things. What I want, and what schools want, are teachers who are in the classroom all day, dealing with the tough, naughty and difficult students who need special directions and guidance from teachers.
"We do not need executive teachers swanning around telling the classroom teachers what to do. I want the executives in action, in the classroom with a class of students who need his or her special executive teaching abilities.
"We are already aware that we have many executive teachers in Silver City - they gave us outcomes-based education, the unit curriculum and other sundry wonderful structures, all of which are spectacular failures.
"No, don't give us more "executive teachers", give us motivated, honest, well-paid teachers who see a future as a teacher, not another executive strutting around with his or her shingle on an office desk."
Benjamin Seabrook, Roleystone
- The Australian
- VCs drop lifeline to language studies
by Luke Slattery
"The University of Western Australia is expected tonight to approve a scheme to boost the entry scores of Year 12 language students as key vice-chancellors within the Group of Eight attempt to hammer out a rescue package for languages other than English."The group's chairman, University of Western Australia vice-chancellor Alan Robson, told the HES that the university would play its part in moving Australia "away from its monolingual mind-set".
"Speaking a language other than English improves your ability to speak and write English and is an important part of what it means to be an international citizen," he said. "It also deepens cultural understanding."
"Robson expects the scheme to be approved by the academic council tonight.
"Meanwhile, advocates of measures to boost language study at school and university have been stunned by a decision of the Australian Primary Principals Association to exclude LOTE from its new charter of core subjects.
"The association, which claims to represent 7000 schools with a combined attendance of two million pupils, has decided to offer four core elements in a pared-down national curriculum: English literacy; maths, science and social education.
"Roland Sussex, professor of applied language studies at the University of Queensland, said it was unfortunate that the principals had failed to make a commitment to languages in schools at a time when universities were considering ways to improve their support.
"Making the study of second languages optional puts Australia on the edge of international thinking on primary curriculum," he said.
"Studying at least one second language is widespread in primary schools in Europe and Asia.
"The principals had a tremendous opportunity to show leadership and international understanding of the needs of present and future Australian school children. Instead, the principals have dropped the ball and given away a penalty."
"Critics of Australian language policy compare the near universal second language learning in Europe to the fact that only 13 per cent of Year 12 students here take a language other than English.
"Only half the school population has any instruction of any kind in a language other than English, while the number of languages other than English taught in higher education has more than halved since 1997.
"The Group of Eight, which earlier this year released a communique from its national language summit describing language education in Australia as "seriously inadequate to our emerging needs and far beyond comparable levels in our peers and competitors", has been debating the merits of LOTE bonuses for school-leavers.
"It is believed a stumbling block to date has been the insistence of some vice-chancellors on a comparable support package for maths and science students, although sources within the group insist it will continue to explore ways of boosting language study.
"The universities of Melbourne and Adelaide already have LOTE bonus schemes, while the Australian National University makes second language study compulsory for all students of international degrees."
From The Australian at link
- Reworking Shakespeare just for kids
While many high school English teachers argue Shakespeare is too difficult for all except the elite student, celebrated children's author Andy Griffiths and Bell Shakespeare company are boldly taking Shakespeare into primary schools.
- Boom's blow for foreign students
The federal Government may have to step in to shore up second-tier universities deprived of foreign student income by Australia's historically high currency, commentator Simon Marginson has warned.
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Lectures online for YouTube generation
by Harriet Alexander, Higher Education Reporter
"The university that offers two of the three most expensive undergraduate degrees in Australia is now offering some of its classes free."The University of NSW will publish lectures on its own YouTube channel, opening them to the masses and allowing students to access them without leaving home, under an arrangement with the video-sharing website.
"It is the first university in Australia to do this and it follows the University of California, Berkeley, in granting public access to what was once the exclusive domain of its students. But there was no substitute for interacting in a classroom with other students and academics, said Patrick Stoddart, the manager of research and innovation in the university's learning and teaching division.
"Rather, the aim was to publicise what it was doing in its research, use interactive teaching methods and reach potential students.
"YouTube is one of the places where our students are already at," Mr Stoddart said. "As new students come through, that's where we know they're looking. It's also to get the university's content out there." The channel, which started running about two weeks ago, allows the university to post videos about current research, talks given by guest speakers and clips about learning and teaching initiatives.
"The university is negotiating with Google to open a second channel this week, which will host student content as well as the public's, including virtual tours, revues, videos and student work.
"It will not be compulsory for academics to post their lectures on the site, but the channel formalises the techniques used by many lecturers at the university and elsewhere, who are already posting their lectures on YouTube or making them available for podcasting.
"Universities have been reluctant to give students free rein to create material for the web that will appear under their prized coats-of-arms, fearing that in an environment better known for satire and subversion than public relations they might embarrass their institutions.
"Mr Stoddart said the university had put the concerns aside. "We don't want to censor what the students are saying, unless it's derogatory or racist or sexist," he said. "We did discuss … whether or not we should have editorial control and we thought: 'No', if we're going to have a real student voice and a real student channel like the other student press it should be the genuine students."'
From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- The West Australian
- OBE exam did not cover lessons taught: teachers (page 14)
by Bethany Hiatt
"Teachers of the Year 12 outcomes based education media course have attacked the first TEE media paper as more than 10,000 English students who have borne the brunt of problems caused by the State Government’s hasty implementation of the controversial system prepare to sit for their final exam today."The English course has been at the heart of the OBE furore but attention also will be focused on student performance in two other OBE courses begun in Year 12 this year, engineering studies and media production and analysis.
"Angry media teachers met yesterday to detail their complaints to the Curriculum Council about the first OBE media exam that about1000 students did last Friday. They said the exam was poorly constructed and did not adequately examine material students had covered in Year 12.
"St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls head of media Julie Bull said the paper was supposed to cater for students in stage two and those doing the course at the more demanding stage three.
From The West Australian at link
"But the paper had almost no questions on art house cinema, film history and other areas which the stage three students had covered, which had left them floundering, Ms Bull said.
“They weren’t given the opportunity to extend themselves,” she said.
"A State school media teacher, who did not want to be named, said parts of the exam were completely different to what students had been led to expect from the sample paper published by the Curriculum Council. “The paper lacked the rigour and depth that we were expecting,” he said.
"Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said he had not received complaints about the media exam paper. “Council will review the exam paper and student responses to it over the next few weeks,” he said.
"About 160 students will sit for the first OBE engineering paper next Tuesday.
"Today marks both the first and last time that students will do the English exam in its current format, after the OBE course was dismissed as “flawed” by a panel of teachers set up to assess it .
"The Curriculum Council last month agreed to make significant changes to the course for next year while it developed a completely new course to be taught in 2010 after the so-called “teacher jury” said the course had such major problems it needed rewriting. The jury said the structure of this year’s exam would not reflect the content of the work pupils had studied in the past two years.
"However, English Teachers Association president Wendy Cody said the controversy over the course meant teachers would have made doubly sure their students were amply prepared for the exam. Teachers had been reassured at Curriculum Council marking seminars that the paper would not contain surprises.
"Premier Alan Carpenter and former education minister Ljiljanna Ravlich initially rejected widespread calls to postpone the introduction of OBE to Years 11 and 12 to allow problems to be fixed and pushed ahead with English, aviation, media and engineering in 2006. But a threat by teachers to boycott OBE courses forced them to delay the implementation of other subjects due this year until 2008. Most have since been pushed back to 2009 because they were rejected by teacher juries."
- Union no to elite teacher deal (page 4)
"The teachers' union yesterday rejected a State Government pay offer that would see elite teachers earning more than $100,000 a year by 2011. State School Teachers Union vice-president Anne Gisborne said last night the union's committee would not even put the offer to teachers."Effectively, the offer is not providing any financial remuneration to more than two thirds of the teaching force until 2009," she said. "In the context of attempting to deal with the teacher shortage, attraction and retention, we think this is not the right move. There are a significant number of people who have been doing the hard yards and they have been left on the shelf for another 12 months."
"Ms Gisborne said the union would continue to call for salary rises for all teachers to make them the highest paid in the country by the end of the next agreement. NSW teachers at the top level of automatic progression on the pay scale earn $75,000 a year compared with $67,000 in WA."
From The West Australian
- The Sunday Times Online / PerthNow
- WA teachers reject government's pay offer [7 November late update]
by Paul Lampathakis
"Teachers have rejected the WA Government's pay offer - saying they need a $4500 to $5000 pay rise from next year."WA State School Teachers Union president Mike Keely said the Government's offer last week would see only 50 elite teachers getting the much-discussed $100,000-plus salaries.
"Mr Keely also said most teachers wouldn't see any extra cash before 2009, other than an already-agreed raise in February.
"He said the union welcomed the offer of increased allowances for teachers in difficult schools and about 7.5 per cent extra for starting salaries for graduates.
"But it will not provide any incentive for experienced teachers to stay in the system," he said.
"It will not provide any incentive for those people who are capable of retirement right now. There is nothing in this agreement for teachers for a whole year.
"Yet the next year is the year when this minister (Mark McGowan) and this system, desperately need to have every teacher in the system ... in front of a class''.
"He said the minister's offer had not addressed other major issues such as housing for country teachers, and planning and preparation time for primary school teachers..."
Full story in The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link [plus reader comments]
- Few study ancient history (page 14)
"The number of students choosing to study ancient history has plunged nearly 30 per cent since last year, new figures reveal."Curriculum Council statistics show that just 220 students are enrolled to sit the TEE ancient history paper next week, compared with 312 last year.
"Asked whether ancient history could be phased out altogether if numbers continued to fall, Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said he hoped not. Reasons for the drop included 2004 changes to university requirements which meant students could choose English as their sole humanities subject.
"The Curriculum Council will work closely with history teachers, professional associations and school systems to encourage schools to continue to offer this interesting subject," Mr Wood said.
"Ancient History Association president Peter Harmsworth said student numbers would have been significantly affected by the council's push to include ancient history in the same outcomes-based education course as modern history.
"That decision had been reversed, but students had received conflicting information when choosing senior school courses in the past two years. Thewy were told they could not choose to study both ancient and modern history.
"Our hope is that now we have our own course that is quite clearly able to be studied alongside modern history, that trend will be reversed," Mr Harmsworth said."
From The West Australian
- The Dominion Post [NZ] / Stuff.co.nz [6 - 7 November]
- Shift from facts to 'using knowledge' in new curriculum
by Erin Parke (with NZPA)
"New Zealand's new school curriculum, featuring an emphasis on students thinking for themselves and a strong environmental component, was launched at Parliament House today after a three-year consultation process."The new-look New Zealand curriculum puts a fresh focus on the environment, Te Reo Maori, sign language, statistics, and learning a second language. Helen Clark said she was confident the curriculum, which condenses seven documents into one, has the support of teachers and principals.
"Consultation on the new curriculum involved input from more than 15,000 New Zealanders, with 10,000 submissions made on the final draft ... it is one of the most comprehensive consultations ever made."
"(It) represents a shift away from focusing on knowing facts and figures to knowing also how to use knowledge effectively and apply it outside the classroom."
"The curriculum introduces five key competencies that students need to "contribute to society" and will be developed across all subject areas - thinking; using language, symbols and texts; managing self; relating to others; and participating and contributing.
"These stand alongside the NZC's values framework, which include excellence, innovation, enquiry and curiosity, diversity, equity, community and participation, ecological sustainability, integrity and respect.
"Other new features include the formal recognition of Te Reo Maori and Sign Language as official languages and the higher status given to learning a second language.
"Statistics is given more emphasis within Mathematics, and the Treaty of Waitangi is mentioned explicitly in the curriculum's overview, purpose, principles and values.
"Education Minister Chris Carter said the new document was flexible and gave schools space to consult with communities, whanau and families about how the curriculum should be put into practice.
"The redevelopment of the NZC began in 2002 as a result of the recommendations of the Curriculum stocktake report.
"Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said her party had pushed for changes to the draft on sustainability and the Treaty.
"Ms Fitzsimons said under her party's post election deal with the Government the Greens had also secured $13 million for environmental education.
"She would have preferred that sustainability was defined as a core curriculum principle and would continue to push for that.
"Mr Carter said schools would be supported to implement the new curriculum over three years until 2010 with workshops, online resources and other support.
"Teacher unions were previously supportive of the draft curriculum but some schools questioned whether they would get additional resources to implement new areas such as second language teaching."
From Stuff.co.nz at link
- The Age
- Letter to the Editor
- Too much support
"Poor Leslie Cannold ("I feel guilty my son is at a public school", Opinion, 5/11)! She can't afford to send her son to private school! If you don't like your local state school, Ms Cannold, perhaps you should find another one — there is no longer a rule about using the nearest school, as there used to be. Your "support" for the state system has a huge "but" attached. "Oh, yes, those teachers are doing their best, poor dears … except the art teachers … and then there's the ideology … but they can't compete with private schools and they just aren't good enough for my boy."
"As a state school teacher, I'd like to beg you: please stop supporting us so much!"
Sue Bursztynski, Elwood
- The West Australian
- English teachers attack first OBE exam (page 3)
by Bethany Hiatt
"English teachers opposed to the controversial OBE system have attacked yesterday's Year 12 TEE English exam saying students could have done the paper without having read a single book."The English Teachers Forum, a group loosely representing reachers opposed to OBE who broke away from their professional association, said yesterday's exam did not reflect the course that students had studied.
"The main complaint I have is that it is possible to do this exam not only without ever referring to texts that you have studied in class, but it is actually possible to do this exam without ever having read a single book," forum spokesman Denis McMahon said. "An examination of a course must test the course."
"But peak professional body the English Teachers Association said it was a fair paper that gave students plenty of options.
"English was one of the first OBE subjects introduced to senior school and yesterday was the first exam in the new format.
"Mr McMahon, a State school senior teacher, also claimed that many of the questions used sloppy wording that failed to give students a clear understanding of what was required.
"A question in the writing section asked students to "create the document" to which an image of a man lying against a Jeep could be attached. He said it was theoretically possible for a student to respond with a three word advertising caption because the question was so vague.
"But association president Wendy Cody said the paper gave students choices between questions requiring traditional essay skills and those that encouraged more creative writing. "The questions in the reading section were broader than we were expecting which is probably a good thing," she said.
"Churchlands Senior High School head of English Rob Jeffreys said he was pleased the exam was more rigorous than the sample papers had been. Some Churchlands students were relieved the exam was easier than expected. Andrew Brand and Gwilym Lummis, both 17, said they could not have done the exam without having studied. "You needed to know about your texts," Andrew said.
"Nikil Eastgate, 17, said the course allowed students to focus on movies and other media rather than just analysing literature. "I reckon it's been a really fun course," she said.
"Curriculum Council chief executive David Wood said the English exam went smoothly and feedback from schools had been positive."
From The West Australian
- Tie funds to education success: CCI (page 3)
by Amanda Banks
"Public schools which perform well would be rewarded with more funding under a radical plan by WA's peak business group to improve students' skills and ease the critical labour shortage which it fears will undermine the potential of the resources boom."A discussion paper released by the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry recommends government funding for schools should be tied to "positive outcomes" in a bid to encourage and reward creative approaches to education.
"There needs to be a much stronger link between performance and funding increases," the report says. "This needs to be linked to the performance of individual schools compared with nationally consistent standardised tests. This will foster a system that is innovative and responsive to the needs of students and business rather than the opinions and policies of bureaucrats."
"Chamber chief executive John Langoulant said the system should not be used to penalise schools which did not perform well, but should reward schools which excelled or improved.
"Mr Langoulant said benchmark tests in literacy and numeracy were a key area which should be used to provide funding incentives. He said improving students' performance would mean they stayed at school longer and helped provide a skilled workforce.
"It would enable schools to be assessed both against other schools and in terms of improvements in their own school," he said.
"Mr Langoulant said principals and teachers should also be given more autonomy to tailor course content to student needs and respond to the demands of business. The proposals, contained in a report which urges immediate action to address the prediction that WA will need 400000 more workers in the next decade, come a month after BCA president Michael Chaney called for a performance based pay system for teachers.
"Education minister Mark McGowan said he would not support a system which provided financial rewards to schools on the basis of literacy and numeracy outcomes. Funding was based on need and tailored to schools which had identified problems such as students with behavioural issues and learning difficulties.
"Such a scheme could result in a two tiered system whereby schools in the higher socio economic areas received more funding and those in disadvantaged areas received less," he said."
From The West Australian
- The $42 million ghost school (page 3)
by Mark Drummond
"This [photo in newspaper] is the new $42 million Gilmore College which is being built to replace the old and soon to be demolished Kwinana SHS."But rather than being full of students when the new school year starts in February, the Education Department's new southern showpiece could well be empty.
"Builder BGC construction is ready to hand over the first three blocks of Gilmore College to the Department of Education and Training on December 17 - and agreed schedule designed to enable teachers to move in computers and equipment for the new year.
"However, in an oversight which raises fresh doubts about the Carpenter Government's ability to manage its $20 billion capital works programme, someone forgot to arrange for the power to be connected, along with the water, sewerage and telephones.
"BGC Construction general manager Gerry Forde said that while the Department of Housing and Works had done "a wonderful job" delivering Gilmore College in time for the scheduled December 17 handover, it could not be commissioned because the Department of Education and Training had not arranged with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure for the land to be subdivided so utilities could be connected.
"It's a government building held up by bloody government," Mr Forde said. "It's just absolute bloody nonsense."
"A Department of Housing and Works spokesman confirmed yesterday that land on which Gilmore College was being built still had to be subdivided "by way of an application to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure" and that any further delays in that process could delay the completion and commissioning of the new school "and thereby the occupation dates for the buildings".
"Education Department finance and administration deputy director general Peter McCaffrey revealed yesterday that the land had not been subdivided because the Education Department and LandCorp had each presumed the other was handling the matter, even though it was 4 years since the then education minister Alan Carpenter had announced plans for the new Kwinana education facilities.
"Mr McCaffrey said the situation had come to light only a few weeks ago. "It's certainly something we'd normally have done a bit earlier," he said. He was "pulling out every stop" to fast track the subdivision process so the titles could be issued and the electricity, water, sewerage and the telephones connected to the school in January in time for students to move in on schedule in February.
"However he said there was no guarantee that could happen in time. "I'm reluctant to say that in this building climate," he said."
From The West Australian
- Letter to the Editor
- I agree
"Benjamin Seabrook (Letters, 7/11) says the "plan to pay executive teachers $100,000" is not the solution. I agree. I would also add that it should be contested by every parent with children in either primary or high school who are struggling with literacy problems. The education system needs radical changes - not just more money paid to teachers."Certainly the solution is not more highly trained teachers in executive roles but a simple solution of putting more people at grassroots level. This can be attained by employing two well-trained teachers' assistants for every teacher so that there are three adults per classroom with a ration of adult-to-child of about 1-7. Children need personal care, constant supervision and assistance and monitoring of progress in a school environment. The teacher would be relieved of time-consuming administrative duties.
"With more use of computerised learning programs in high schools we should adopt the lecture-tutorial system. One executive teachers preparing the lecture using high-tech media methods and the teachers and teachers' assistants (the same ratio as the primary system) managing the tutorials.
"Of course, there would need to be money spent on modifying building and adding lecture theatres; so why not also spend money on creating lunch rooms, too, so that children can eat their lunch in a sheltered environment in the same way as every adult in the workforce is entitled to do.
"Education and developing life skills is about adapting to a changing environment - something the Education Department and many teachers have not yet grasped."
Joan Hill, Kardinya
- The Australian
- Op Ed
The square route to hell is paved with good intentions
by Frank Devine
"Watch out for radical maths, which may be coming to a school near you. Also known as "social justice maths", it is a teaching theory, gaining momentum in the US, which seeks to use mathematics as a form of instruction in social justice issues."For example, in studying fractions, a student might be asked to "compare how money spent on military operations could be used to support other important causes (for example, if a bomb costs $10 million and it costs $10,000 to provide health care for an entire family for a year, how many families could get health care for the cost of this bomb?)."
"To understand averages, "take data for US casualties in Iraq for the past 12 months and calculate a monthly average from the perspective of a military recruiter and an anti-war activist".
"In case this last example causes mathematicians to advance from white knuckles to chest pains, I should reveal that both examples are drawn from the most radical end of radical maths.
"Specifically, they come from the syllabus of El Puente (The Bridge) Academy for Peace and Justice, an accredited public high school in Brooklyn, New York, whose teachers are called "facilitators". El Puente is the throbbing pulse of the social justice maths movement.
"Last May, one of its facilitators, Jonathan Osler, who is also founder of the blog radicalmath.org, arranged a conference called "Creating balance in an unjust world: math education and social justice". About 400 mathematics educators, including a number of university professors, attended it. New York magazine pointedly headed its report on the conference, "Weighting for Lefty".
"Radical maths hasn't yet taken root, so to speak (this is an insider joke with which I hope to curry favour for my views with orthodox mathematicians), in Australian classrooms.
"However, a lengthy paper by Jonathan Osler was recently posted on a commonwealth Department of Education search site.
"Mathematics for Children: Challenging Children to Think Mathematically by Janette Bobis (a Sydney University education instructor), Joanne Mulligan (of Macquarie University) and Tom Lowry (of Charles Sturt University), which is used extensively in postgraduate education courses, contains this ominous passage: "We believe that the development of mathematical understanding is a dynamic process which is not only influenced by contextual factors, such as gender, ethnicity, Aboriginality and the socio-economic background of individuals but also determined by the social interreaction occurring through the process."
"Will Morony, executive director of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, while arguing no brief for El Fuente methods, sees merit in linking maths teaching to topical issues.
"A lot of kids in their early teens, or approaching that age, find maths difficult and boring and can't see the relevance of it to their own lives," Morony says. "It's a stage when they're also very idealistic. They want to see everybody getting a fair go."
"He recalls vividly, from a conference of Australian maths teachers seven years ago, a "perfect" scenario for enlivening a lesson in statistical analysis with a fair go theme: "A class is planning a visit to Canberra. What should they see there -- Parliament House, the War Memorial, the National Gallery, the ANU campus, the National Library, the High Court?"
"Everybody in the class writes down their choice, in order of preference. Then each calculates a consensus from these votes and the class agrees as a group on what to go and see.
"Good lesson, I agreed, but wouldn't regular reference to topical issues in maths teaching leave the road clear for individual teachers to ram their own ideological prejudices into the heads of their young students -- and wouldn't topicality get in the way of the students learning about actual mathematical systems and theories?
"Morony offered a commendably idealistic counter: "Our members love maths and really want the kids to learn. Most of them would make sure maths always came first." Unfortunately I'm not convinced. One only has to think of whole-word teaching of literacy, and the tragic, brute-force elimination of phonics, to see how an inventive idea can rage as out of control as a bushfire.
"Or, for that matter, consider the corruption of English teaching that developed from deconstructionist theory -- students invited to discuss Othello from the point of view of a lesbian, or a Melbourne Cup jockey, or a wharfie, or whatever.
"At Osler's conference in May, a university instructor led a workshop on the analysis of a Barbie doll's proportions.
"From it, he said, students would learn about "body size self-worth images, eating disorders, multicultural issues".
"But why, one frets, could they not learn about these things in one class (optional) and maths in another?
"Morony says the concept of topical maths teaching is "fertile ground for us to keep exploring".
"They should explore very, very cautiously and I think, regrettably, that parents need to be very, very afraid."
From The Australian at link
- Students being 'turned off' reading
by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
"Students' lack of interest in reading books has been cited by English teachers as one reason to rethink the push to introduce more Australian literature in school."An article by former president of the national English teachers association David Homer says even university students of English and the humanities are reluctant to read the texts required for their courses.
"Studying written-down literature is not ... what a lot of students want to do," Mr Homer said.
"Many are voracious readers of other things and avid consumers of other postmodern media products. For many years now, university arts and humanities departments have been operating on a play-pretend basis. Everybody knows that nobody is doing the reading."
"Mr Homer retired about three years ago as a lecturer in English from the University of South Australia and is a former president of the International Federation for the Teaching of English and the Australian Association for the Teaching of English.
"He says English and the humanities faculties are stuck in the 1980s and fail to take into account 21st century reading habits, which include the viewing of film, television and the internet.
"In the article, Notes From a Square Table, published in the latest NSW English Teachers Association journal, mETAphor, Mr Homer criticises the recent roundtable on Australian literature, hosted by the Literature Board of the Australia Council, for pushing a nationalistic, coercive agenda and ignoring modern forms such as film.
"The Literature Board held a roundtable discussion in August with 20 eminent authors, publishers, teachers and academics on ways to promote the study of Australian literature.
"Angered that it was not included in the forum, the AATE accused the board of a "manic pursuit of the so-called culture wars" and of excluding the association as a stance against the way literature is taught in schools.
"The recommendations by the roundtable included establishing a group of distinguished writers, teachers and scholars to compile a list of Australian literary works for study in schools.
"Mr Homer says he "read with horror the proposal that 'professional scholars of literature' should be involved in the designing and supervision of English curricula in schools".
"You'd need to pick them bloody carefully because most of them wouldn't know how," he says. "Departments teaching English in Australian universities parted company with school English, even at year 12 level, going on 30 years ago."
"Deputy chair of the Literature Board and senior lecturer in literature at the University of Queensland Peter Holbrook yesterday disagreed with the assertion that many students did not want to read books and said the problem was the way English was taught in schools.
"Quite frankly, if I was going through some of these English courses as a kid, it would turn me off literature because they seem very dull to me, very programmatic and that's the problem," Dr Holbrook said. "I hear stories and others hear stories about students who love literature and love reading being completely turned off by English in schools."
From The Australian at link
- Eight Aussie unis in world's top 100
The Australian National University at No 16, followed by the University of Melbourne (27) and the University of Sydney (31), were the top three performers.
- The Economist
- The great experiment [8 November]
Bringing accountability and competition to New York City's struggling schools
Worth a read. Web
Saturday – Sunday, 10 – 11 November
- The Weekend Australian
- Rudd to focus on favourite subject
by Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
"Kevin Rudd's education revolution will include a big funding boost for primary schools, universities and research."As the campaign heads into the final fortnight, the Labor leader is preparing to switch the debate to his core strength of education.
"Labor's campaign launch next week will focus on policies delivering early intervention for struggling students and closing the gap between spending on primary and secondary schools.
"Liberal strategists remain concerned the Coalition has let Mr Rudd dominate the education debate, allowing Labor to neutralise the negative voter reaction to former leader Mark Latham's 2004 "hitlist" for private schools.
"Despite hopes the Government's $5 billion university endowment fund would cut through, internal Liberal Party research has found it simply switched the election debate to Labor's strong suit.
"After promising to maintain the Howard Government's private school funding model until 2012, Mr Rudd will attempt to silence internal criticism that he has offered too little to help struggling students at public schools.
"Universities will also secure financial backing to encourage research collaboration with business, and compensation to cover the cost of Mr Rudd's pledge to abolish full-fee degrees.
"Earlier this year, Mr Rudd was forced to clarify his policy on full-fee degrees, saying he would, if elected, phase them out from 2009 but allow existing students to complete their degrees.
"The new phase-out plan would come with a big compensation bill for an incoming Rudd government, costing an estimated $500 million over four years.
"Crumbling lecture theatres will also be the target of new policies to improve university infrastructure, with the Labor Party expected to explain how it would spend the Government's $5 billion university infrastructure fund.
"Mr Rudd is expected to boost research training by expanding the number of PhD places.
"Opposition education spokesman Stephen Smith has signalled that closing the gap between the spending per student in primary schools and the spending on secondary students is a key priority.
"The new education policies will build on the tax rebate Mr Rudd announced during the first week of the campaign to help parents purchase computers for children at school.
"Australian Primary Principals Association executive director Patrick McGrath said the funding boost for primary schools was long overdue.
"But he criticised the disparity between the education rebate for primary school children of $750 and the $1500 for high school students.
"I can't go into Harvey Norman and say, 'I've got a primary school student, can I have a half-price computer'," he said yesterday.
"It just perpetuates this myth that it costs less to educate a primary schools kid. The research is clear the more you spend in the early years, the more you save." [emphasis added]
From The Weekend Australian at link
- Libs back ABC kids' channel
by Michael Bodey
"The Howard Government will commit $82 million to establish an ABC children's channel."The Weekend Australian understands the ABC's lobbying for a third channel has been successful, with half the funding ($40 million) being specifically devoted to the commission and production of new Australian content. The balance will be spent on licensing fees and broadcasting costs.
"The digital channel will be available free to anyone with a digital TV, set-top box or digital subscription TV and will screen 15 hours a day between 6 am and 9 pm seven days a week. That provides 5400 hours of distinct children's programming throughout the year.
"It will be free of commercial advertising and will be age-appropriate for children from pre-school up to 17 years.
"Half the programming will be required to be Australian made, some of it including current programs such as Play School and Bananas in Pyjamas.
"It is not known if there will be any conditions placed on whether new content is produced in-house at the ABC or through the independent production sector.
"The as-yet unnamed channel (probably to be known as ABC3) is expected to be on air within months and its establishment is unlikely to be rejected by the ALP if it is elected to government.
"The Government's initiative has a number of disparate benefits. Not only does it provide a welcome boost to a hitherto successful but under-appreciated sector of the Australian screen industry, independent children's production, it also allays growing concerns about the impact of advertising, particularly for "junk foods", on children and the cultural influence of US children's programming.
"The ABC cut its dedicated children's digital channels in 2003 in a bid to save $7 million."
From The Weekend Australian at link
- Letter to the Editor
- Hand-to-mouth literacy
"As a university teacher of English, I read with horror David Homer’s cynical assertion ("Students being ‘turned off’ reading”, 9/11) that in humanities departments everybody knows that nobody is doing the reading. There are students whose overwhelming work commitments drive reading well down their list of priorities, but there are many more whose engagement with written texts is real, transformative and inspiring."Homer’s suggestion that reading should be replaced by the hand-to-mouth literacy of new media sounds less like progress than like the jaded defeatism of disillusion. His understandable exhaustion need not infect what is still in many places a thriving rediscovery of 5000 years of human experience."
Frances Cruickshank, Lecturer in English literature, University of Queensland
- The Sunday Times
- Minister Embraces Hugging (page 15)
by Anthony Deceglie"Education Minister Mark McGowan says Perth high schools that have banned students hugging are being too prudish.
"He made the comment after The Sunday Times learnt some schools had imposed bans because they feared open physical contact would cause promiscuity among students. Some schools are telling students to keep a 30cm distance from the other sex.
"St Mark's Anglican Community School banned hugging earlier this year.
"It is not a written rule," principal Anthony Stopher said. "But at a school assembly our head of senior school said there was no place for hugging and kissing at school."
"We don't want students bringing love affairs into school. Students must behave sensibly and not be all over each other. Some kids have told us they thing the rules are draconian, but they co-operate out of respect to the school."
"Mr Stopher said one reason for the ban was respect for students who felt uncomfortable with that kind of physical contact.
"I'm not a hugging person myself," he said. "Some kids will pretend they are happy being hugged when actually they don't like it. Teenagers won't say 'Don't hug me' because they do not want to be seen as the odd one out."
"He said that though a ban on hugs could be practically enforced, the 30cm rule had merit only as a guideline.
"Kids can't keep 30cm apart when they are walking around the school," he said. "When you have 30 kids walking through a 4m wide corridor it is impossible for them not to touch."
"Mr McGowan said banning students from hugging was being too strict.
"While inappropriate physical contact should not be allowed, I would not want to see students punished for a friendly hug or kiss on the cheek," he said. "Schools need to use common sense."
"WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry, said: "Some schools have made the decision to ban students kissing or touching. As long as it is a decision made in consultation with the parents, then that is fine. But, from a parent's point of view myself, I don't think there is anything wrong with a kiss on the cheek or holding someone's hand, as long as it remains within reasonable boundaries."
"He said banning students' physical contact with members of the opposite sex was more likely to encourage unreasonable behaviour.
"At the end of the day, you want to encourage a friendly environment, rather than oppressing students," he said.
"Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said the Education Department refused to issue clear guidelines to schools about what was inappropriate physical contact.
"There definitely needs to be a line in the sand regarding this issue," he said.
"Otherwise, schools can create rules that are too strong or too weak. Clear-cut guidelines need to be created for all schools."
"An Education Department spokeswoman said it was up to school principals to decide what was appropriate physical contact.
"Issues such as students hugging or holding hands at school are dealt with at the school level," she said.
"While there are no general rules, principals set commonsense guidelines regarding physical contact between students, based on what is appropriate for the school environment."
From The Sunday Times
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Editorial
Press the button to obtain your degree
"The Worm is turning up everywhere. University students are using Worm-related technology which ensures they stay awake in lectures. This may dismay older readers with fond memories of sleeping off the previous night's excesses in the back row of a maths lecture. But these traditional learning methods, however hallowed, must make way for progress. Now, equipped with keypads, students will get to punch in answers to multiple choice questions. The great advantage is that students who can't understand English can participate. They may have only the haziest notion of what is going on (let us be honest - what is new about that?) but they have one chance in five of getting the right answer, earning a degree and becoming qualified professionals. This commendable development, so necessary at a time of skills shortages, also offers a concrete answer to that age-old question: what do universities teach students these days? Answer: A) Nothing. B) Nothing much. C) Can you repeat that? D) Don't know. E) All of the above."
From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
- Law to get tough on truancy [late update from 9 November]
The State Government has prosecuted 100 parents for failing to send their children to school in the past three years, but it has vowed to come down harder on more parents in the future.
All Alston cartoons are © The West Australian Newspaper
All media quotations, photographs and cartoons © their respective publishers
This page last updated 13 August, 2008 0:42 AM
