From Monday 17 December 2007 through Sunday 20 January 2008, PLATO's Breaking News coverage is on "Summer Holidays", and will be limited to MAJOR Western Australian education articles, editorials, Op Ed pieces and Letters to the Editor. Important national stories from The Australian [and if time permits, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald] will be included whenever possible. The home page will be updated only once a day, normally in the evening.

We anticipate that full coverage will resume on Monday 21 January 2008.

Monday 7 January

Tuesday 8 January

Wednesday 9 January

Thursday 10 January

Friday 11 January

Saturday – Sunday, 12 – 13 January

 

Monday 7 January

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor (page 23)
    
    
    • Students' use of mobiles a worry

      "The YouTube video of a fight at Rockingham High School can easily be misconstrued, judging by the comments of viewers of YouTube.

      "Who controls the education system today? It seems the students will take control if something is not done before schools start this year.

      "Videos of this sort can undermine the system - and especially teachers - by students' mobile phone "productions".

      "Technology has overtaken the system and education policy is way behind. Teachers need protection from such "productions" in their classrooms. No wonder teachers are leaving in droves. Mobile phones should have been banned in schools when they first came out.

      "This "toy" is corrupting the minds of children and many parents have lost any control over their teenagers. The last decade of "fear" endorsed by the Howard government has given marketeers an opportunity to take advantage of the consumers.

      "Today, mobile phones are cunningly marketed as a false sense of protection for all who own one.

      "Protection that a mobile supposedly offers all who fall for this cunning practice is a fallacy and needs to be exposed by education policy and legislation pronto.

      "A mobile phone is a useful tool when it is in the hands of responsible people."

      Mary Jenkins, Spearwood
      

 

• The Australian
  
  
  • Wisdom really does increase with age
    from The [UK] Sunday Times
    

    "New findings seem to contradict one of the most widely accepted assumptions about ageing: that the human brain is at its most powerful between the ages of 18 and 26.

    "Scientists have discovered that intelligence, instead of peaking in our youth, remains stable and in some respects gets sharper as we grow older. The researchers found that verbal skills continued to increase for at least two decades beyond the age of 20, while arithmetic ability remained constant.

    "Their work suggests that many assumptions made by employers, policymakers and educational institutions about ageing need to be rethought.

    "Verbal ability appears to keep increasing over time," said Lars Larsen, a psychologist at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, who led the research. ..."

    Full story in The Australian at link

Tuesday 8 January

• Curriculum Council
  
  
  • Year 12 School Data 2007
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In Short

      "Education Minister Mark McGowan is to be commended for beginning to bring reason and sense to our beleaguered education system. However, for him to say, "So now we have a system based on content, syllabuses, exams and traditional marking" is far from the truth for Years 1-10. The current curriculum, assessment and reporting policy mandates that assessment in Years 1-10 be unequivocally tied to the ambiguous levels that mean little to student, teacher or parent; and the new content via new syllabus is merely an optional resource for individual teachers. There are many miles to go before we see the "return to the traditional standards" that Mark McGowan says he has already achieved."

      Fiona Walker, Mt. Nasura
      
      

    • Dummy Spit

      "So Matt Birney is quitting politics because on a salary of a mere $195, 000 (including allowances), it is "an expensive hobby".

      "Like many present-day politicians, he has a greatly inflated opinion of his value to society. Politicians frequently trot out the old argument "pay peanuts and you'll get monkeys".

      "Arguably the four greatest premiers of the last 60 years (Bert Hawke, Sir David Brand, John Tonkin and Sir Charles Court) all came through a system where a backbencher was paid the same as a top-of-the-table classroom teacher."

      Laurie Sutton, Wilson
      
      

    • Stigma in classrooms

      "The labelling of special needs pupils as potential "disruption" in a proposal to review government policy is disheartening (Disabled pupils face school ban, report 20/12).

      "Even if the term "disruption" was merely, perhaps, the use of inappropriate semantics, this resembles the stigma of exclusion that was borne by past generations. How can a single student cause a "disruption"? Is this unrest created by the noise or motion of the wheelchair, the presence of equipment such as a laptop, the possibility that a special needs pupil may need extra time to complete assigned tasks, or the expression of a desire to learn by a student who may "look different"?

      "I recently graduated as valedictorian (bachelor of laws degree with first-class honours) while living with cerebral palsy and being confined to a wheelchair (Accolade for top student who did it the hard way, 26/12).

      "I never considered myself to be a "disruption in class" and am confident that my co-students, teachers and lecturers would never have perceived me in this light.

      "I had a teacher's assistant and tended to ask more questions than other classmates. However, this curiosity rose from my love of learning, rather than my physical disability - and my "inquisitive mind" was not out of place, given the positive learning environment promoted by the education system.

      "Motivated teacher's assistants often also aid mainstream students (with difficult subjects or topics) after the needs of the special needs pupil are met, thereby potentially providing an additional staff member. I encourage the education system and/or government to assess the needs of every student so that lessons are intellectually stimulating and appropriately challenging for all."

      Maria Mansour, Queens Park
      
      
      

• ABC News
  
  
  • Private schools outperform public schools in TEE
    
    "The Department of Education and Training has defended its record after newly released data revealed just two state schools made it into the top ten for 2007.

    "St Mary's Anglican Girls School ranked number one, based on the highest number of TEE students scoring in the top third of the state.

    "St Mary's was followed by St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls and Christchurch Grammar.

    "Manjimup Senior High School was the best performing state school at number eight.

    "The department's director General Sharyn O'Neil has defended the performance of public schools.

    "Public schools and parents sending children to public schools can expect that students there will be provided with every opportunity for those students to achieve well," she said.

    "I think what we would say is regardless of where students have studied, in catholic schools, independent schools, in public schools their achievements are highly regarded and we'd like to congratulate them all."

    "Top ranked schools: (Based on the percentage of students obtaining TEE results in the top third of the state.)"

    1. St Mary's Anglican Girls' School
    2. St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls
    3. Christ Church Grammar School
    4. Methodist Ladies' College
    5. Hale School

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• Quadrant Magazine [January – February 2008 issue]
  
  
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • The Plight of Teachers

      "Peter Ryan’s nasty spray against teachers as “traitors” (November 2007), while par for the course these days, should not be allowed to stand unchallenged.

      "It is true that Victorian parents did vote for candidates who “connived in the degradation of our schools” in 1992 and 1996, but by 1999 they had realised how much damage had been done and elected a new government which has gradually rebuilt the system.

      "Teachers do not “have control of the education system”. If they did, it would be far better disciplined and far better resourced. They have been sidelined by the trendy Left, which has been allowed to lower standards, and the nasty Right, which has been allowed to take away resources and impose the time-wasting absurdities of business jargon.

      "Teachers are not, in the main, “narrowly educated and amazingly ignorant”. Many of them have scored well in Year 12 and demonstrate a high degree of intellectual ability in their university studies. I have been fortunate to teach future teachers this year who display the “candour, enthusiasm, decency and innate intelligence” that Mr Ryan seems to want to grant all young people, except for those studying teaching.

      "Rather than pursue “naked self-interest”, teachers have time and time again caved into state governments that have made their lives worse. Teachers at the top of the scale in Victoria are now paid more than $31,000 less than in 1975, relative to average earnings. The secondary pupil-teacher ratio, at 12.0:1 in 2006, provided almost 2,000 fewer teachers than both the 1992 Labor ratio of 10.8:1 and the 1981 Liberal ratio of 10.9:1. The maximum teaching load was pushed up by retrospective legislation in 1992 and left there by the current Labor government.

      "If “pedagogical slums” exist, I have never see or heard of one. Teachers are decent people who work hard for their students in stressful, under-resourced and often poorly led schools. They do not deserve the regular slander they receive from the likes of Peter Ryan.

      Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge, Vic.
      
      
      

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Congress Is Urged to Enhance 'No Child' Law
    
    Bush Promises to Veto Any Bill That Weakens 'Accountability' of Education System
    
    The law calls on public schools to ensure that all children are proficient in reading and math by 2014, requiring testing annually in grades three through eight and once in high school. It has been praised for revealing pockets of struggling students, especially those who come from poor families, are minorities, have disabilities or are learning English. But the law has been criticized for its emphasis on testing and for what some say has been a lack of funding. A ruling released Monday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit revived a lawsuit that is challenging the law as an unfunded mandate, the Associated Press reported.
    
    
    
    
• The Guardian
  
  
  • Parents of special needs pupils forced to go private [from 6 January]
    by Anushka Asthana, education correspondent [The Observer]
    
    "Parents whose children have special needs such as dyslexia or Asperger's syndrome have been giving up holidays, meals out and new clothes to fund costly private education following an 'exodus' from state schools.

    "Over the past decade the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in private schools has almost trebled, with an extra 52,594 taking places, according to a report by the Bow Group, the centre-right think tank. It says that children with special needs account for 83 per cent of the growth in the independent sector since 1997.

    "The number of children with SEN going private has increased by 300 per cent since the government started reducing statementing and closing special schools," said Charlotte Leslie, co-author of the report. "That cannot be a coincidence." ...

    Full story in The Guardian at link

Wednesday 9 January

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Girls wipe floor with boys in TEE [Front page headline]
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "High school boys failed to outperform girls in any Year 12 subject and the State's elite private girls' schools have again dominated TEE rankings, in further evidence of a divide between the sexes in classrooms across WA.

    "The results have heaped pressure on the State Government to segregate the sexes in certain classes in WA's public schools in a desperate bid to stop boys becoming second-class citizens in the State's education system.

    "The inequality in the classroom revealed yesterday by the annual high school TEE league table will spark fresh interest in a little-known trial of single-sex classes being run in five public schools.

    "St. Hilda's Anglican School for Girls was the most successful school in 2007, leading four other girls' schools which ranked in the top 10.

    "The table, released yesterday by the Curriculum Council, ranks schools according to the percentage of full-time students who studied four or more TEE subjects and scored a scaled mark above 75 per cent in at least one subject.

    "St. Hilda's, Methodist Ladies College, Presbyterian Ladies College, St. Mary's Anglican Girls School and Perth College also rated in the top 10 in a second table, which is based on the percentage of TEE students whose average mark was in the top third of all scores. All five girls' schools have consistently ranked in the top 10 in the past five years.

    "Other data released yesterday provided more proof that boys are struggling to keep up with their female classmates, with girls outgunning boys on school work completed through the year. The in-school assessments comprise half of a students' final TEE mark.

    "An analysis of the grades awarded by schools shows there was not one subject in which boys did better than girls in 2007. Girls clearly outperformed boys in 28 of the 112 subjects offered in Year 12, including those in which boys traditionally shine such as calculus.

    "In the remaining subjects there was either no significant difference between the sexes or there were too few students to compare.

    "WA boys' education consultant Ian Lillico urged the Government to consider splitting the sexes in certain subjects in State schools.

    "It has to be done carefully but is effective in subjects where girls clearly outperform boys, such as in English, languages and Social Studies," he said.

    "Mr. Lillico warned that the change would have to ensure low-achieving boys were not lumped together as a group because it could compound "anti-learning attitudes", such as "real men don't read books."

    "In 2006, the Carpenter Government launched a three-year trial of partial sex segregation at Mirrabooka, Rockingham, Hampton and Eastern Hills senior high schools and Yule Brook College in Maddington.

    "Then education minister Ljijanna Ravlich committed the Government to establishing some single-sex schools to give parents more choice in the government school system if the trial was deemed a success.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said a decision would be made when the trial ended at the end of the 2008 school year."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • St. Hilda's secret to success is variety (page 16)
    by Phillipa Prior

    "St. Hilda's Anglican School for Girls has returned to the top of the TEE league tables, jumping from eighth in 2006 to first last year.

    "Seventy-three of the 135 St. Hilda's students, or 54 per cent, had a scaled mark of 75 per cent or more in at least one TEE subject.

    "Parents who pay about $14,000 a year per child at the school - or a staggering $27,000 for a boarder - can find comfort in the knowledge their dues appear to have paid off.

    "Dean of Curriculum Pam Garnett put the success down to a "culture of excellence" which encouraged each student to achieve her best in the areas they were passionate about.

    "A robust extracurricular programme, maximum class sizes of 25 students and an after-school tutoring centre which was particularly popular the day before exams contributed to the result, she said.

    "Dr. Garnett admitted St. Hilda's was well resourced and could perhaps offer opportunities other schools could not.

    "We try to provide them with lots of experiences to develop confidence and leadership capabilities…They become more connected with the school if they're involved with all those extra activities," she said.

    "The school tracked academic performances closely and gave support in literacy and numeracy but most learning was done before Year 12.

    "Dr. Garnett denied there was pressure to achieve high results, saying it was more important students enjoyed school life. "If they're enjoying what they're doing, they tend to do well."

    "Private girls' schools were prominent in the top 10 with Methodist Ladies' College second, Presbyterian Ladies' College fourth and St. Mary's Anglican Girls' School sixth."

    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Special Liftout: How your school rates
    
    
    • Year 12 School Data 2007
      
      
      
    • Elite school for boys calls for comparison ban (liftout page 2)
      

      "The head of one of Perth's elite private schools has called for a ban on the publication of data that compares the academic achievement of schools.

      "Christ Church Grammar School principal Garth Wynne said the tables, published today, were "shallow and unhelpful".

      "Despite Christ Church students performing well this year, and ranking fifth on the tables, Mr. Wynne said making that information public added nothing to the quality of education.

      "The measures used fail to take into account the particular circumstances of individual schools and their communities and are completely unrepresentative of much of what is truly important in education," Mr. Wynne said in a letter to The West Australian.

      "Statistics on TEE performance help schools plan for improvement and assess their own results over time, and allow top-performing students to be rewarded for their achievements, according to Mr. Wynne. But that information was misused when creating tables that compared schools with each other.

      "These tables present a confused message to the community of what is 'valuable' in education," he said.

      "Education Minister Mark McGowan said Mr. Wynne's point was valid because the tables were often misinterpreted. But the Government would continue to release them in a format that gave a balanced snapshot of how schools were performing around WA.

      "Mr. McGowan said a variety of factors, including differences in ability, cultural and language background, educational background of parents and economic differences, needed to be considered when judging a school's performance.

      "Shadow education minister Peter Collier did not oppose the tables, but did not believe top-performing schools should be published in rank order.

      "I think it's really dangerous to make a value judgment on schools because academic performance is perceived as being the ingredient of success or otherwise in a school," Mr. Collier said.
      
      

    • Also from the liftout:
      
      
      • Vital information if used correctly
        
        
      • All-rounding pays off
        
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • More must be done to 'sell' public eduction: Union
    
    "The State School Teachers Union says rankings which showed private schools outperforming public schools prove more must be done to sell public education.

    "Private Schools took the top five spots in a ranking of schools released yesterday by the Curriculum Council of WA.

    "Only two public schools made it into the top ten.

    "The Education Department says the results reflect the fact that state schools must accommodate students from different backgrounds.

    "The new President of the Teachers Union Anne Gisbourne agrees, but says parents need to be made aware of what public schools have to offer.

    "There is no doubt that there is further work to be done by both department and government to highlight the many advantages that occur by students attending public schools and the opportunities that they have,' she said.

    "She says the previous Federal Government's education funding policy is also to blame.

    "That has very much pushed that notion of privatisation and it could be argued has skewed the funding in such a way that it has assisted and encouraged parents to move into the private sector."

    "Rob Fry from the West Australian Council of State School Organisations says raising the leaving age means public schools are teaching more students vocational courses, and the rankings do not take into account students studying non T-E-E subjects.

    "The raising of the leaving ages has had the additional impact of additional students being in the schools not just to focus on doing TEE unit subjects but also to undertake VET in school courses," he said.

    "Public schools do not have a choice of the students they accept or reject, every student that knocks on the door of a public school is given a place and an opportunity of study, and I think that based on that there is more pathways available now for students."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Technophone teachers wasting millions [late update from 8 January]
    

    "Britain's state schools spent £1 billion ($2.25 billion) on cutting-edge information technology last year but 80 per cent of them are failing to make full use of it, according to experts.

    "Pupils now handle equipment worth thousands of pounds, with some using laptops, interactive whiteboards or hand-held smartphones. The Government claims that Britain is a European leader in installing IT in the classroom.

    "However, Becta, the Government’s adviser on IT in schools, says that many teachers are intimidated by the equipment and struggle to cope, and that children have a better understanding of how it works.

    "Britain is one of the biggest spenders per head on technology in schools worldwide, according to Becta — formerly the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency — and the amount is growing each year.

    "Yet Andrew Pinder, its chairman, said: “We are achieving nothing like the impact that we should from this technology. We spend more than other countries but not enough schools are using technology effectively.” ....

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Extend loans to foreign students
    by Gavin Moodie
    
    "Australia should offer income contingent loans to international students. That way, the country would combine its fourth biggest export with its best higher education policy export.

    "Income contingent loans were introduced in Australia in 1989 as HECS and have become one of our great higher education policy innovations..."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    The sector isn't really on the slide
    by Tony Shiel
    

    "Contrary to the alarmist headline "Sector slips in international rankings" (HES, December 5, 2007), there is very little cause for concern and much to celebrate in the results of 2007 editions of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University index and The Times HES-QS world university rankings.

    "In the article, Luke Slattery uses two data points to reveal that "an overall decline in the higher education sector's international performance highlights the challenge faced by the new Rudd Government in achieving its education revolution". Two data points do not constitute a trend.

    "When we look at the Shanghai Jiao Tong results over a five-year period (2003-07), the outcomes highlight that although Australia does not enjoy the privilege of having a top-50 university, it can be suitably proud that nearly half its university sector is positioned within the top 500.

    "In 2003 we had 14 universities in the top 500, now there are 17. During the same five-year period, one university has improved its position by more than 100 places (Flinders) while another three have moved up to a higher band (Western Australia, Adelaide and Macquarie). Only two universities have moved down a band over the five-year period (Monash and Tasmania)..."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Special treatment for foreigners
      
      "With regards to your article "Students not penalised for copying" (HES online, December 21), this is far from an isolated incident.

      "I used to teach a masters level IT course run by a university in Queensland.

      "One semester, I failed 15 out of a class of 17 students for blatant plagiarism. Large passages of their submissions were copied from the internet; they made no attempt to rewrite any of it and didn't bother to cite sources for their information.

      "Every one of those 15 was an international full-fee paying student.

      "When I reported this to my superiors, they told me to let them deal with it.

      "It was swept under the carpet and that piece of assessment was wiped from the record.

      "After that semester I resigned.

      "I see no excuse for plagiarism from masters students, regardless of their country of origin.

      "There are certainly other instances of individuals plagiarising (cheating); however, the special treatment afforded to international full-fee paying students in these situations is well beyond that afforded to Australian students. "
      

      Name withheld
      
      

    • Learning concerns addressed
      
      "Your article "Little Action on English" (HES, November 28) suggests that Australian institutions are not likely to take action to ensure improvements in the English language competence of international students.

      "On the contrary, representatives of the international education industry who attended the national symposium in August identified a clear action agenda to address legitimate concerns about aspects of the preparation, selection and education of international (and, let it be noted, Australian) students.

      "This action includes the strengthening of in-course language and academic support for international students (as well as domestic students); the monitoring of performance to ensure that international students maintain an adequate level of English competence during and on completion of study; development of more effective mechanisms to audit students' English language entry and academic progression standards; and a priority research agenda, determined in consultation with industry, governments and with Australian employer and professional groups, to inform any needed improvements.

      "The key stakeholders are committed to investing the resources required to carry out these and other actions, to ensure quality outcomes for international students. "
      

      Dennis Murray, Executive director International Education Association of Australia, Melbourne
      
      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Report into school funding revealed
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    

    "A secret federal report into funding for private schools has found that many are receiving more than their fair share of taxpayers' money.

    "The Herald understands the federal Education Department's review of private school funding has identified entrenched inequity in the Commonwealth system. The report, which was completed last year but kept under wraps by the Howard government before the November election, recommends transitional arrangements to wean some schools off inflated levels of funding.

    "The Rudd Government - which made an election promise to maintain the existing system that delivers more than $6 billion in subsidies to private schools each year - is now faced with the department's own criticism of the funding system, which measures each school's entitlement according to the wealth of families who attend.

    "The report found that many schools are being overpaid as part of the Howard government's "no losers" policy which ensured no school would receive less money than it had in the past.

    "That was despite a review in 2004 that found the socio-economic status (SES) of some schools had improved, entitling them to less money.

    "About 60 per cent of independent and Catholic schools have had their funding maintained at artificially inflated levels and are exceptions to the rule of the funding formula.

    "The Australian Anglican Schools Network said new schools were not able to access the same levels of funding as older schools that have had their funding frozen at historic levels.

    "The network's president, Peta Smith, has said a review of inequities in the Commonwealth funding model was long overdue because some schools had government funding maintained at levels that new schools in the same area could not access.

    "In her confidential submission to the Commonwealth inquiry into the SES funding scheme, she said the system of funding schools at artificial levels was unsustainable.

    "Funding maintenance is not sustainable in the long term as it ignores the logic of needs-based funding being assessed on the SES score that is at the core of the SES model," the submission, obtained under freedom of information laws, says.

    "However, Ms Smith said there were some schools that needed to have their funding maintained.

    "Christian Schools Australia has been arguing for a greater share of funding for its low-fee schools and hopes to strike a similar deal to that achieved by the Catholic school system, which will receive $12 billion in funding in the present four-year funding agreement, which runs to the end of this year.

    "The Greens NSW MP John Kaye said the department's review was bad news for the Rudd Government.

    "In order to take the heat off the education issue in last year's federal election, they committed Labor to the SES funding model without worrying about its deep flaws," Dr Kaye said. "Now they will have to work their way out of trouble, probably by burying the report and papering over the massive cracks in private school subsidies."

    "Dr Kaye said it was outrageous the federal government review was conducted behind closed doors and that the final report had been buried.

    "More than $6.2 billion is distributed each year to private schools under current arrangements and this is tipped to rise to more than $7.5 billion by the end of the next funding period," he said.

    "With such large sums of money and such massive impacts on public education, the Government has an obligation to publish the results of the review."
    

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • College seeks fees for suspended courses
    by Harriet Alexander, Higher Education Reporter
    

    "A private college being investigated under the Immigration Act is demanding students continue to pay fees of up to $5000.

    "The Sydney International College of Business's courses in commercial cookery, hairdressing and hospitality have been suspended by the NSW Education Department and it is forbidden from accepting payment from current students until its accreditation is restored.

    "The NSW Vocational Education and Training Registration Board is considering whether to deregister the college.

    "The college's troubles threaten to leave hundreds of international students in breach of their visa conditions and thousands of dollars out of pocket.

    "One student, from India, said the college was refusing to refund up to $2000 he'd paid in October for a course that had not yet started and which he no longer wished to do in case the college's registration was cancelled."

    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Separatism in our schools can be solved by reworked curriculum
      
      "Governments increasingly encourage Australians to place children of similar backgrounds together in schools: some for the powerful and privileged; most for people with strong religious requirements.
      

      "We cannot deny a separate Islamic school at Camden when we encourage schools for Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Uniting, Coptic Orthodox, Brethren, Ananda Marga and Scientology.

      "Government policy is unsustainably destructive because it encourages separatism - fertile ground for ignorance, intolerance and social conflict. The OECD now recognises "social cohesion" to be an important area for schooling policy development.

      "But it would be unfair to require all children to go to public schools, which are hostile places for those whose religion is an important daily feature. Public schools are the only public places where it is forbidden to practise one's sectarian beliefs - an inconvenient truth for us who champion them.

      "Australia has a fractured schooling system, and it needs to be replaced.

      "Perhaps we could reconstruct schools to offer two layers of curriculum from the earliest years of schooling. An "essential" layer, comprising themes that Australia's citizenry regards as essential to the common good, and an "elective" layer, which matches curriculum specialities to family and student interests - including sectarian teachings.

      "From a two-stream curriculum structure we might develop schools that can respond to Australia's two biggest schooling problems: poor outcomes for students of low socioeconomic status and high levels of student boredom. A welcome byproduct would be the appearance in the same school of chapels with crosses and/or half-crescents and/or Stars of David.

      "These schools would offer a coherent national curriculum and system. This could be managed by an Australian schools commission, whose make-up would reflect a cross-section of society. It would overcome the fury generated by schooling systems scrapping and conniving for funds from the same Treasury. It would not fund public schools that deny religious freedoms, or church-based schools that separate and divide our society, or schools for the privileged that reproduce power elites in the most undemocratic ways. It would manage a cohesive system of Australian schools with a curriculum supporting the common good and a parallel curriculum supporting speciality and preference. "

      Van Davy, Pearl Beach
      
      

    • Enrolments the key to assessing fairness in funding
      

      "Many questions arise when funding is viewed alongside school enrolments ("School fees to rise as government grants soar", January 5). The average funding increase for the schools listed in your report is about 25 per cent, yet only half the schools appreciably grew over this time. One school has scored a 93 per cent increase in NSW government grants when its enrolments actually fell by about 20 per cent.

      "Federal funding defies rational explanation. Newington, Abbotsleigh, Ravenswood, MLC and Meriden scored funding increases of between 20 and 40 per cent, yet with lower enrolments. Enrolments at The King's School and Trinity crept up at about 5 per cent but their funding increased by more than 40 per cent.

      "The private school funding regime now borders on high farce."

      Chris Bonnor, Cherrybrook
      
      
    
    
    • Enrolments the key to assessing fairness in funding
      
      "Funding of non-government schools is a fixed, smaller percentage of the amount spent on students in government schools. As governments meet cost increases in public schools, a percentage flows on to non-government schools.

      "Recent years have seen substantial increases in teachers' salaries well above the inflation rate. The flow-on of this amount accounts for much of the increase noted by the Greens.

      "Second, non-government school funding is made on a per child basis. As enrolments increase so does a school's government grant, because every child is entitled to some public contribution to their education. Without showing enrolment increases the Greens' histrionics about funding are laughable - their list includes start-up schools whose enrolments by definition are increasing rapidly.

      "The omission of enrolment figures alone makes the Greens' analysis useless for any purpose other than propaganda - and this is clearly their intention. Next time let's see this information where it belongs - on the opinion page. It certainly is not news. "
      

      Stephen O'Doherty, Chief executive officer, Christian Schools Australia, Macquarie Park
      
      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • School opponent denies being anti-Muslim [late update from 8 January]
    AAP
    
    "The leader of a residents group which opposes plans for an Islamic school on Sydney's southwestern fringe says the issue is not one of religious intolerance.

    "Spokesman Emil Sremchevich said hundreds of Camden residents had attended heated public gatherings because they felt their democratic rights were not being observed.

    "We're a community of 30,000 people and the majority so far has expressed a negative sentiment towards this proposal.

    "Therefore, we seek a referendum on this issue and for council to give us polling rights to say 'yay or nay,'" Mr Sremchevich told the Nine Network.

    "Camden residents need to be given the rights to chose what type of development they want in their area."

    "Mr Sremchevich said census data showed there were fewer than 200 muslims living in Camden and the area had two public high schools which were half full.

    "The community would be equally concerned about plans to place a Catholic school on the proposed rural site, he said.

    "The majority rules, the governments are elected by the majority ... if the minority doesn't like it, bad luck," said Mr Sremchevich, who represents the Camden McArthur Residents Group.

    "He blamed media focus on commentary from "rednecks" and a heated meeting organised by an unaligned far-right group for depicting the issue as one of religious intolerance.

    "Any issue like this that involves a potential religious intolerance will bring people in from the outside who will obviously put their two dollars worth of propaganda in," he said.

    "... Forget the religious issues here, forget about Muslim or non-Muslim issues here, that is not the issue.

    "The basic issue underlying this is us to be able to say to the council, 'Look, we elected you here, we want you to represent us because at the end of the day that's what you do'."

    "Islamic education adviser Silma Ihram said the Islamic school was needed to cater for outer southwestern Sydney's growing muslim population.

    "Building muslim schools in Australia was a key way to oppose Islamic extremism, and related violence, Ms Ihram said.

    "For Muslims, the biggest problems we have, what people are afraid of, is those who are ignorant in the religion who start propagating things (which are) dangerous to society, as we have seen overseas," Ms Ihram told Nine.

    "The best weapon against that is information and a good education, teaching kids in Muslim schools that are registered by Australian authorities, supervised by Australian authorities, teaching the Australian curriculum."

    "Ms Ihram said the proposed school, which would cater for up to 1,200 students when complete, would allow the students to "learn to be good Muslims in an Australian environment".

    "We want to make sure that as many as possible of our future leaders are educated in what Islam is really all about without sending them to Pakistan or anywhere else."

    "The school's development application is before the Camden Council and a decision is not expected until March."

    From The Age at link

Thursday 10 January

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teacher shortage unknown (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    Union says shortage could leave 15,000 pupils stranded. But Minister says he doesn't know the extent of the problem.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan admitted yesterday he had no idea how many children would be left without a teacher when school resumes next month.

    "While the teachers' union maintains that a shortfall of up to 600 teachers means more than 15,000 State school students could be left stranded, Mr. McGowan's office said it had no figures on the likely extent of the problem.

    "After a disastrous start to the school year in 2007, when State schools struggled with a shortfall of more than 260 teachers, the department brought its graduate recruitment programme forward six months and pushed to recruit teachers from overseas and interstate in a bid to avoid a repeat of the debacle this year.

    "But a spokeswoman for Mr. McGowan said it was too early to estimate this year's shortfall. "We do not have any figures available at this stage," she said. "Idle speculation is completely counterproductive."

    "Education Department acting human resources executive director John Serich said it would not have an accurate picture of the number of vacancies until after school administration staff returned to work later this month and it received notice of all resignations and retirements.

    "Therefore it is inappropriate to try to tie us down to an exact figure for the start of the school year," he said.

    "State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne is standing by her estimate that schools could be up to 600 teachers short.

    "Because we haven't got a settled (enterprise bargaining) agreement, which may well have made people think twice, we think the teacher shortage will be up around about that," she said.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier accused Mr. McGowan of being secretive.

    "As far as teacher numbers are concerned, they must have some fairly accurate approximate numbers," he said.

    "Mr. Collier said Mr. McGowan had already dismissed the union's estimate as inaccurate.

    "If that's the case, then he's got an idea of what the actual number is, or he wouldn't make that comment," he said.

    "At this stage, three weeks out of the start of the academic year, if the Minister and the department have no idea of reasonably accurate figures in terms of the teachers shortage, it really does put a question mark over the efficiency of the department."

    "The reluctance to reveal the extent of the shortage comes as negotiations are set in motion again on a new enterprise bargaining agreement for teachers.

    "Nearly 90 per cent of union members rejected the State Government' s second EBA offer last month and it is unlikely a new EBA will be agreed before school starts, even if the Government puts forward a third proposal before then, because the union will wait until teachers have returned from holidays to consider it."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Howard's idea of history to be made history (page 13)
    Canberra

    "The Rudd government is expected to scrap plans to force the States to introduce compulsory Australian history classes in Years 9 and 10 from next year.

    "It is also expected to dump a controversial model Australian history syllabus released by former prime minister John Howard in October on the eve of the election, after it was being overly nationalistic and "barely teachable".

    "A spokeswoman for Education Minister Julia Gillard said that although history would be a compulsory component of the national curriculum for parts of the secondary school years, the Government would work collaboratively with States and Territories, rather than impose things on them.

    "Australian history is a critical part of the curriculum and should be included in all years of schooling, not just for a few years in a secondary school," she said. The Government would work with the States and Territories to implement a rigorous national history curriculum for all students from kindergarten to Year 12.

    "It also would refer the former government's Guide to Teaching Australian History in Years 9 and 10 to the National Curriculum Board.

    "States accused Mr. Howard of waging a phoney "culture war" and playing politics when he announced in October that high schools would have to teach 150 hours of Australian history - and it would be a condition of $42 billion in Federal money. The detailed course, overseen by a four-member panel including conservative historian Geoffrey Blainey and political commentator Gerard Henderson, listed more than 70 significant events ranging from indigenous settlement to the Sydney Olympics.

    "Professor Tony Taylor, whose draft was the basis for the panel, said he believed the model Australian history syllabus would be "dropped like a hot potato". "I think it's dead as a doornail," he said. "The prime minister's final document was too close to a nationalist view of Australia's past."

    "He was highly critical of changes to his draft. Although it was not the political sermon some feared, the model syllabus was too heavy on content and teachers would have found it hard to race through. "I think that was almost entirely a Howard push," he said. "It's too close to nationalism, too removed from a Kevin Rudd, regional and global view." He believed the new Government would take a broader view and make history, rather than stand-alone Australian history, a central part of the curriculum."

    From The West Australian
    
    See related story in today's Australian
    
    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Experts reject reading study
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Leading Australian education experts continue to reject scientific evidence that teaching phonics improves reading skills in children.

    "The latest results from a seven-year Scottish study show that children taught how to put sounds together to read words, called synthetic phonics, had significantly better reading skills than their peers taught using analytic phonics, breaking whole words into their constituent sounds.

    "But eminent Australian literacy researcher Allan Luke, from the Queensland University of Technology, questions the validity of using evidence-based research in assessing teaching methods. Professor Luke, a former director-general of the Queensland Education Department and ministerial adviser on education, has dismissed scientific studies showing the benefit of phonics.

    "Speaking at a curriculum symposium last month, he said the studies provided no evidence that alternate methods had failed.

    "Opponents of a phonics approach in teaching reading argue that it fails to enhance students' reading comprehension.

    "The seven-year Scottish study found that, under the synthetic phonics approach, students' reading was 42 months ahead of the average for their age and spelling was 20 months ahead.
    But their comprehension was a more modest 3.5 months ahead, which researcher Rhona Johnston said was due to a substantial number of students coming from socially disadvantaged areas.

    "To counter the criticism, Professor Johnston, now at the University of Hull in England, and her colleague Joyce Watson, at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, compared a group of 10-year-olds from Clackmannanshire with a similarly disadvantaged group of students in England.

    "The Scottish children read words 24 months ahead of what is expected for their age while the word reading of the English students was on target. In spelling, the Scottish children were six months ahead of their age compared to the English students.

    "In comprehension, the Scottish children were on target for their age, while the English students were 6.6 months behind.

    "Literacy expert Kevin Wheldall, from Macquarie University, said phonics taught children how to decode written language and was a necessary first step in learning to read.

    "Comprehension comes from a good understanding of spoken English, but if you can't decode words, then it doesn't matter how good your listening comprehension is," he said. "(Critics) seem to be determined not to believe the evidence."

    "Professor Luke made his comments at a curriculum symposium last month hosted by the Australian Curriculum Studies Association in conjunction with the Queensland teachers union, state education department and the Queensland Studies Authority, which sets school curriculum.

    "Professor Luke's paper argues that the troubled No Child Left Behind program in the US to improve reading skills, which prescribes a phonics approach and standardised testing, shows such an approach would fail in Australia. It says consistent in both countries "has been the rise of a 'gold standard' of evidence-based research as the major criterion for deciding what will be considered 'valid' as evidence of success in literacy teaching".

    "It begins from what we term the phonics hypothesis: that there is scientific evidence that literacy achievement can be improved through systematic curricular approaches to pedagogy that emphasise 'alphabetics' or phonics," the paper says.

    "There is little recognition of the host of contributing factors identified in ethnographic, case-based and quantitative literacy research. Factors like home-school transitions and access; the variable impacts of community cultural and linguistic background; the effects of poverty; the increasing incidence of special needs; and the impacts of differential school resourcing."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Half of us lack modern world skills
    by Stephen Lunn, Social affairs writer
    

    "Half of all Australians lack the minimum reading, writing and problem-solving skills to cope with life in the modern world.

    "A new survey on life skills by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals 46 per cent of the population, or seven million people, would struggle to understand the meaning of newspaper and magazine articles or documentation such as maps and payslips.

    "And 53 per cent reached just the second of five levels in a practical numeracy test, while 70per cent, the equivalent of 10.6million people, only managed to progress to level 2 in a series of problem-solving exercises. "Level 3 is regarded by the survey developers as the minimum required for individuals to meet the complex demands of everyday life and work in the emerging knowledge-based economy," said the ABS report, Adult Literacy and Life Skills.

    "The survey of almost 9000 people, which included a written life-skills test, was also done in seven other developed countries. Switzerland and Norway came out well ahead of Australia, while the US ranked much lower across all age ranges. Italy was the poorest-performing country of those participating.

    "One stark difference in Australia was gender. Women were stronger at understanding written material than men, but males were better at understanding documents such as maps.

    "And when it came to numbers, women did considerably worse.

    "While 53 per cent of men achieved (the acceptable) level 3 or higher, only 42 per cent of women managed the same. And almost twice as many men as women reached the top levels of the numeracy test.

    "Management consultant and social commentator Wendy McCarthy said the results were further evidence Australia was becoming a society increasingly divided into two classes.

    "Ms McCarthy said a decade of neglect of the public education system was to blame.

    "It's a huge opportunity lost," she said. "It clearly demonstrates that if you don't invest in public education, except as a safety net, if you don't make it sexy, interesting, exciting, a way to get into the next world, you will slip back - and that's what's happening to Australia.

    "We will look back over the last 10 years and realise with some horror how much we overemphasised the value of the individual and overlooked the common denominators in our society."

    "The ACT was the best-performing state or territory in terms of literacy and numeracy, followed by Western Australia and South Australia. Tasmania performed worst. While people whose first language was not English achieved lower literacy scores than the general population, comparisons with a 1996 survey show considerable improvement in literacy levels of this cohort."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Rudd to keep private funding model
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    

    "The Rudd Government will continue the current funding arrangements for private schools for the next four years despite a scathing report from its Education Department recommending that some schools have their funding cut.

    "Acting Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard in Melbourne yesterday reiterated Labor's election promise to maintain the current indexation model for determining funding for non-government schools.

    "What we've said is we're keeping the current formula," she said.

    "That was our commitment and we'll be sticking to it. We wanted to give schools certainty and we've given them certainty with that commitment."

    "Funding for non-government schools is governed by the socioeconomic background of their students, which is determined by matching census data with students' addresses.

    "But about 60 per cent of independent and Catholic schools are exempt from the funding formula under the previous government's policy that no school would lose funding when the new model was introduced in 2001.

    "A departmental review commissioned by former education minister Julie Bishop is understood to conclude there is no justification other than historical reasons for continuing the existing funding arrangements.

    "It is understood that the internal review, which has not been released, makes about six recommendations described as "hard-hitting", including taking money away from some schools that receive more than they would under the SES model.

    "Under the arrangements, a large proportion of schools have their funding maintained, meaning it is indexed to ensure they receive the same amount they would have under the previous funding arrangements.

    "Schools are also guaranteed funding won't fall should their socioeconomic status change from one census to the next.

    "During the election campaign, Labor promised to maintain the SES funding arrangements, including the exemptions, for the next four-year funding agreement to run from next year to 2012. It has also promised to fund schools according to need without taking one cent off any school.

    "Ms Gillard yesterday refused to be drawn on whether the funding arrangements were flawed or would be reviewed beyond 2012.

    "But she said the neediest schools would benefit first under Labor's education policies.

    "We've got big promises to deliver: a billion-dollar fund for computers and information technology in schools, trades training centres in every secondary school in this country," she said.

    "We're going to deliver those big promises and we're going to make sure in delivering them that they get to the schools in greatest need first."

    "The Australian Education Union, which represents government school teachers, yesterday labelled the funding model corrupt and called for the SES model to be abandoned.

    "Acting federal president Angelo Gavrielatos called on the Rudd Government to abandon its commitment to the current arrangements, which he said entrenched inequity and were unsustainable.

    "The current private school funding model is distorted, corrupt and discredited," he said."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Gillard backs history classes for all
    AAP
    

    "Education Minister Julia Gillard says the federal Government supports Australian history being a compulsory component of the curriculum for "all years" of schooling.

    "But she stopped short of endorsing the model syllabus recommended by a panel set up by the former Howard government.

    "Instead the work of the Australian History Reference Group will be referred to the Government's proposed national curriculum board, a spokeswoman for the minister said today.

    "Australian history is a critical part of the curriculum and should be included in all years of schooling, not just for a few years in secondary school,” she told AAP.

    "The Government will work co-operatively with the states and territories through Labor's national curriculum board to implement a rigorous, content-based national history curriculum for all Australian students from Kindergarten to year 12.”

    "The comments followed a Fairfax report today that the Rudd Government was expected to scrap plans to force the states to introduce compulsory Australian history classes in years 9 and 10 from next year.

    "The new Government was also expected to dump the history syllabus released by former prime minister John Howard on the eve of the election after it was criticised for being overly nationalistic and “barely teachable”, it said.

    "Ms Gillard's spokeswoman said the Government supported history being a compulsory component of the curriculum for “parts” of the secondary school years.

    "She said the Prime Minister had welcomed the release in October last year of the Guide to Teaching Australian History in years 9 and 10 by the reference group.

    "Gerard Henderson, a member of the reference group, is confident the federal Government will still proceed with the introduction of the history syllabus.

    "At the history summit we looked at some of the curriculum that was being taught in some of the states and it was absolute sludge,” Mr Henderson told ABC Radio today.

    "What you really had was a view among some conservative politicians, some Labor politicians that something ought to be done.

    "I think it (history curriculum) will be taught because there's a great deal of opposition from within the states to what is being taught in the history syllabus.”

    "The controversial history syllabus was strongly criticised by Labor state governments at the time of its release.

    "But Mr Henderson said it was not criticised by federal Labor.

    "(Treasurer) Wayne Swan actually praised the final report - said it was very fair to Labor - and I've never seen any criticism from anyone saying it wasn't.”

    "There is broad bi-partisan support for reform in this area although it is not surprising that (Education Minister) Julia Gillard would want to take a different tact to the way (former education minister) Julie Bishop did it.”

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

• Education Minister Mark McGowan Media Statement
  
  
  • Campaign to unearth school gardeners and cleaners
    
    The Carpenter Government will undertake an advertising campaign to recruit more cleaners and gardeners in public schools over the coming weeks.

    Launching the new recruitment campaign today, Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said about 50 cleaners (20 in the metropolitan area, 30 in regional areas) and 20 gardeners were needed for public schools around the State.

    Mr McGowan said the $40,000 radio and press advertising campaign would kick off on Sunday and run for one week with a subsequent week in early February.
    
    Full statement available at this link

Friday 11 January

• The Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Quality is paramount
    
    Studies point the way for the education revolution

    "More than two years after the definitive National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy established beyond doubt that "direct systematic instruction in phonics during the early years of schooling is an essential foundation for teaching children to read", influential Australian education experts, who shape the way trainee teachers are taught to teach reading, are still in deep denial. Yesterday's revelation by The Australian that Queensland University of Technology professor Allan Luke has dismissed scientific studies proving the benefits of phonics highlights the magnitude of the challenge confronting the Rudd Government in implementing its much-vaunted education revolution.

    "Scientific evidence in support of phonics is convincing, with a seven-year Scottish study finding that children who were taught how to put sounds together to read words were several years ahead of average in reading and months ahead in spelling and comprehension. Surveys of newly graduated teachers across Australia show that most flounder about how to teach reading, despite its being the foundation of all learning. State education systems and universities training teachers must be encouraged - or made - to adopt the best practices in literacy teaching. Yet Professor Luke's attitude is indicative of the implacable opposition the Rudd Government, like the Howard Government before it, will meet if it tries to break free of the equality-of-outcomes philosophy that has dogged schooling for a generation. Labor might be better placed to draw the states, teachers' unions and universities into the process, but it must be prepared, sooner rather than later, to impose its commitment to quality and rigour.

    "That must include building on and improving uniform testing, clear reporting to parents and transparency in publication of schools' results. While NSW and Victorian parents can look at published Year 12 results to compare schools, Queensland parents, for instance, are largely in the dark, with only very broad Year 12 comparisons released. Teachers' unions have long railed against public accountability, but that stance has been debunked by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment, which conducts comparative international testing. As Justine Ferrari points out in The Australian today, PISA has found that students in schools where student-achievement data is regularly made public score substantially higher than others.

    "Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday promised a rigorous, content-based national history curriculum from kindergarten to Year 12, but stopped short of endorsing the model syllabus recommended by the Australian History Reference Group set up by the Howard government. Until it has something better to replace it, the Government should be wary of scrapping the model course released by the Coalition, designed to be taught in Years 9 and 10, with the Australian story covered in 10 chapters with 70 "milestone events". Ms Gillard will collaborate with the states about history, but if this means protracted delays and the kind of sludge taught in Studies of Society and the Environment courses in most states instead of narrative-based history and factual geography, the education revolution will be a dud.

    "The Coalition's curriculum was criticised for including too little about the rest of the world, but it was a useful starting point. Handing out laptops will be the easiest part of the education revolution. "

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Op Ed
    Studies confound left-wing teachers
    by Kevin Donnelly
    

    "It comes as no surprise that Allan Luke, an academic at the Queensland University of Technology, cites the apparent failure of the US No Child Left Behind initiative as an argument against the phonics approach to literacy and increased testing and accountability in schools, writes Kevin Donnelly.

    "Luke made his opinions clear in a 1998 paper titled “Literacy debates and public education: A question of crisis?” and his recent work has followed suit. Contrary to the evidence, Luke argues there is no literacy crisis and that a phonics approach, based on teaching children the relationship between letters and sounds, is flawed.

    "The 1998 paper suggests those worried about falling standards, especially conservatives such as former Howard government education minister David Kemp, want to allow “dominant social groups to organise and regulate the lives of the disadvantaged and subaltern groups”. Kemp, of course, was responsible for introducing national testing.

    "According to Luke, monitoring standards and ensuring schools are effectively teaching children how to read and write is a ploy to open schools to market forces and to further entrench the position of non-government schools.

    "In the debates surrounding the best way to teach literacy, two schools of thought contend.

    "There are the progressives committed to whole language and critical literacy, where learning to read is apparently as natural as learning to talk. Children use pictures, cartoons and a words context to guess meaning. Reading is a political act, because texts are often used to marginalise disadvantaged groups.

    "The second school of thought includes advocates of phonics. Phonics is defined as a sounds-based approach that first teaches children the sounds of letters and how they blend into words, before moving to letter combinations that make up words. Phonics advocates argue that learning to read is unnatural and that any definition of literacy should be relatively simple and straightforward.

    "In "A map of possible practices: Further notes on the four resources model", Luke defines literacy and how it should be taught, and makes it clear which side of the debate he favours. Luke argues, in the jargon much loved by progressives: "We do not view how to teach literacy as a 'scientific' decision, but rather as a moral, political and cultural decision about the kind of literate practices that are needed to enhance peoples’ agencies over the life trajectories and to enhance communities’ intellectual, cultural and semiotic resources. Literacy education is ultimately about the kind of society and the kinds of citizens/subjects that could and should be constructed."

    "Given Luke's antipathy to phonics and the increased testing and accountability advocated by the US No Child Left Behind initiative, it is no surprise he argues the initiative has failed and that Australia should not go down the same route.

    "He outlines his position in "Learning lessons: What No Child Left Behind can teach us about literacy, testing and accountability."

    "As suggested by its title, Luke bases his hostility to phonics and testing on one US project. Ignored are a wealth of government inquiries, including the UK Rose report (2006), the New Zealand Government report "Let’s All Read" (2001), and the Australian National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy (2005), all of which argue that a whole language approach to literacy is insufficient and that greater attention must be given to phonics.

    "When arguing the US approach has failed to raise standards, Luke also makes the mistake of ignoring the results of the 2007 report by the Centre on Education Policy that evaluated NCLB’s effectiveness (he only refers to the 2003 report). As noted by Kerry Hempenstall, an associate professor at Melbourne's RMIT, the 2007 report suggests that standards in the US have improved since the implementation of NCLB.

    "In most states with three or more years of comparable test data, student achievement in reading and maths has gone up since 2002, the year NCLB was enacted,” Hempenstall writes.There is more evidence of achievement gaps between groups narrowing since 2002 than of gaps widening.

    "During last years election campaign, Kevin Rudd described himself as an economic conservative. Based on the ALP's election promises for a back-to-basics approach to curriculum, holding schools accountable and mandating the inclusion of phonics in all teacher training courses, he could also have described himself as an educational conservative.

    "The real test for the Rudd Government over the next year or two will be whether it can implement its conservative education agenda. Based on the teachings of Luke, and other like-minded devotees of the cultural Left, the outlook is far from clear. "
    
    Kevin Donnelly is the author of Dumbing Down, published by Hardie Grant Books.

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Pupils do better with public testing: OECD
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    

    "Publicly ranking students' performance and requiring them to sit external examinations boosts their results, according to the biggest international survey of academic ability.

    "Teachers' unions have been strident critics of the public reporting of student results, in particular comparing the performance of different schools. The unions have also argued against the introduction of national literacy and numeracy tests.

    "But the results of the Program for International Student Assessment, conducted every three years among 15-year-olds by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, show a consistently higher performance in schools that keep track of student performance on a public level.

    "The report says external exams assessing students against a set standard, as occurs around Australia except in Queensland and the ACT, puts students about one school year ahead on the PISA scale.

    "The impetus provided by external monitoring of standards, rather than relying principally on schools and individual teachers to uphold them, can make a real difference to results," itsays.

    "PISA itself has encouraged countries not to take internally assessed education standards for granted and is now indicating a strong effect ... by subjecting schools to external assessment with publicly visible results."

    "Students at schools that publicly posted their students' results scored 14.7 points higher in the PISA science tests. When demographic and social factors were taken into account, the rise was still a significant 6.6 points.

    "By contrast, informing parents of their child's performance relative to other students or national benchmarks increased scores by 4.7 and 4.2 points, which was not statistically significant. Reporting results relative to other schools had a negative effect, lowering scores five points, which was also not statistically significant.

    "Students set external exams scored about 36 points higher, which, adjusted for demographic and social effects, was 17 points higher and not statistically significant.

    "The report defines external exams as subject-based exams assessing performance relative to an external standard such as Year 12 exams or the national literacy and numeracy tests that start in all states and territories in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in May.

    "Acting federal president of the Australian Education Union Angelo Gavrielatos said extreme caution should be taken in extrapolating general lessons from the OECD report.

    "Mr Gavrielatos said the report failed to take into account differences in school systems such as curriculum, assessment and reporting policies.

    "We certainly believe that student results are the property of individual students, their parents and teachers," he said.

    "Parents have every right to know how their child is performing but no right to know about their neighbour's child. That's in no one's interest.

    "Countries like the UK and the US that have high-stakes testing and public reporting of student results in the form of league tables ranking schools are not high-performing countries in the PISA tests."

    "The analysis contained in the 2006 PISA results, released last month, covered 55 countries, including Australia, matching school characteristics with student scores in the science tests, which was the main area examined in 2006, as well as shorter tests on reading and maths.

    "It found that while students in academically selective schools scored substantially higher, streaming students in classes according to their ability within a school lowered their scores by about 10 points, or 4.5 points when adjusted for social effects.

    "(This suggests) such a policy might potentially hinder learning of certain students more than it enhances learning of others," the report says.

    "Commenting on the results, PISA director Andreas Schleicher said the effect of selective schools and grouping students according to their ability was not necessarily incompatible.

    "If you are in a selective school, you do better on average," he was reported as saying. "But if you stratify the entire system, you would not see a positive impact."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • ASIO to protect schools
    by Matthew Franklin and Siobhain Ryan
    

    "Taxpayers are to spend $20 million on high-technology security measures to protect Jewish, Muslim and other schools at risk of hate-based attacks.

    "The Rudd Government plans to order ASIO and the Australian Federal Police to assess risks at all of the nation's schools to identify those with special security needs.

    "Education Minister Julia Gillard confirmed the plan yesterday as Jewish and Islamic community spokesmen said they would welcome help with security measures such as cameras and 24-hour patrols, bollards to restrict vehicle access and shatter-proof glass.

    "Ms Gillard, who is also Acting Prime Minister, said at-risk schools spent large amounts of money providing their own security at the expense of their teaching budgets.

    "Labor would assume responsibility for the costs of schools assessed as being at risk.

    "The Rudd Government believes the resources invested in the provision of a quality education should not be diluted by onerous security needs," Ms Gillard said through a spokeswoman.

    "Priority will be given to existing schools with an already established or identified security need, but all applications will be assessed on the basis of an objective security assessment."

    "Confirmation of the move follows unrest in the NSW town of Camden, on Sydney's southwestern outskirts, which has been the scene of angry protests by locals over a plan to establish an Islamic school.

    "Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported yesterday that tensions were so high that white supremacist groups had planned a rally at the proposed site of the school on Australia Day.

    "The Howard government had offered the Jewish community tax deductibility for security spending on schools and other community buildings such as synagogues.

    "During the election campaign, Labor matched the commitment but also proposed its school grants to apply to all schools.

    "Labor's election policy, published ahead of November's election, committed a Rudd government to guaranteeing the right of all children to safe school environments, regardless of the type of school they attend.

    "In recent times, there have been examples of public and private, religious and secular schools facing particular risk," says the party's policy document.

    "Federal Labor is aware that Australia's Jewish schools, as well as a range of other at-risk religious, ethnic and secular schools, are forced to maintain often elaborate and costly security measures to guarantee the safety of their students."

    "The cost of security could act as "a significant drain" on the ability of schools to provide quality teaching.

    "Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot said the government measures should help pay for the hefty security bills triggered by frequent threats against the Jewish community.

    "It's costing a lot of money. Across Australia, it's many millions of dollars annually," he said.

    "Jewish schools already regularly checked school buses for bombs, and many needed extra measures, from boom gates and retractable bollards to 24-hour CCTV surveillance and security guards, to ensure their students' safety, he said. "We're retro-fitting buildings with specially designed glass, which is shatter-proof, that doesn't become a missile," Mr Goot said.

    "He said the community had longstanding contact with state and federal police agencies about their security needs, which extended beyond schools.

    "You've got synagogues, you've got communal facilities, you've got aged homes and hospitals," he said. "You would have the whole range of institutions that you find in any community, that are a target to agreater or lesser extent."

    "Steve Rothman, the chairman of the co-ordinating committee of Jewish State Schools, said heightened security had already helped to prevent attacks.

    "There have been incidents in the past that, because of surveillance, we have been able to nip in the bud," he said.

    "Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said he hoped Islamic schools in Australia would also receive assistance.

    "There's certainly a need for security at our schools, and especially so during times at heightened tension - if there's something happening outside Australia, or in Australia - and we feel that there is a need for extra vigilance for the safety of our children," he said.

    "Mr Patel, whose federation runs five Islamic schools, said he would like to see security officers at the front gates, at drop-off points or exposed play areas "so we don't have any harassment of our children".

    "But the minimal fees charged by the schools meant they had not been able to afford the extra security until now.

    "Obviously, it's one of those things we have certainly considered we need to employ but because of the fairly tight budgets and the cost implications, we have not done anything," Mr Patel said. "

    Additional reporting: Sanna Trad

    Updated story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Parents set for soaring school costs
    by Milanda Rout
    

    "Parents preparing their children to go back to school face soaring bills of up to $21,000 this year as the cost of tuition, uniforms and books continue to rise.

    "And families of newborn babies better start saving, because new figures show the cost of putting a child born this year through secondary school will top $305,000.

    "School costs have risen at more than double the rate of inflation and come amid warnings to parents to plan early for their child's education.

    "Figures compiled by the Australian Scholarships Group after a survey of parents across the country show families that send their children to private schools will be hit the hardest this year.

    "A private preschool bill will set parents back as much as $6952, a primary school bill could reach $12,561, and sending a child to secondary school will cost them up to $21,112.

    "Tuition makes up the bulk of the expense for private school students, with uniforms and books costing up to $2000 and laptops a further $1764.

    "Families sending their children to Catholic schools will pay less in tuition than their private counterparts, with this year's preschool fees costing $4354, primary school $7317 and secondary $11,445.

    "Parents of government school students are far from spared the expensive costs of schooling, with parents around the country expected to pay up to $5618 for secondary school for the year, $5317 for primary school and $2662 for preschool.

    "They will pay more than $1500 in tuition alone before forking out hundreds of dollars for uniforms, books and laptops. "

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Labor wedded to compulsory history
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    

    "The Rudd Government yesterday rejected suggestions it was dropping history as a compulsory element of the school curriculum, saying it was critical that Australian history be taught throughout a student's schooling.

    "Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is also the Education Minister, yesterday dismissed reports in Fairfax newspapers that the federal Government was scrapping history as a compulsory subject in Years 9 and 10.

    "A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard reiterated Labor's commitment, first made in October, to refer to a national curriculum board the Australian history course developed at the behest of former prime minister John Howard.

    "Federal Labor's position on teaching Australian history in our schools has been clear since October 2007," she said. "The Rudd Government is committed to ensuring Australian history is taught in our schools."

    "Labor's then education spokesman Stephen Smith issued a statement on October 11, in response to Mr Howard's release of the Guide to Teaching Australian History in Years 9 and 10.

    "It says Labor believes history, particularly Australian history, is an essential part of the school curriculum and a key element of the party's plan for a national curriculum and "should be included in all years of schooling".

    "The four-member reference group included eminent historian Geoffrey Blainey and conservative commentator Gerard Henderson, whose involvement was seen as Mr Howard imposing his ideological bent on the subject.

    "The panel was formed by the Howard government after Mr Howard was reportedly unhappy with a curriculum drafted by Monash University history professor Tony Taylor based on a blueprint developed at the Australian History Summit in 2006.

    "Mr Howard also planned to force the states to use the guide in teaching a compulsory 150 hours of Australian history over Years 9 and 10 by making it a requirement of federal school funding.