Monday 11 February

Tuesday 12 February

Wednesday 13 February

Thursday 14 February

Friday 15 February

Saturday – Sunday, 16 – 17 February

Monday 11 February

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Year 12 ranking figures shows dip (page 16)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Year 12 tertiary entrance scores fell across the board last year, with public schools recording the biggest drop, new figures show.

    "Tertiary entrance ranking data for students from State, Independent and Catholic schools, obtained from the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre under freedom of information laws, reveal that the median tertiary entrance rank for all schools dropped nearly two points in 2007 compared with the previous year, from 82.3 to 80.50.

    "Independent schools showed a similar drop, from 86.30 to 84.50. State schools dropped 3.25 points compared with 2006, from 80.10 to 76.85, while Catholic schools showed a slight increase, rising from 81.40 in 2006 to 81.55 last year.

    "A TER is a rank between 0 and 99.95, devised from a combination of final exam scores and school assessments, which indicates where a student is placed in relation to all other students in a year group.

    "Public and independent schools chiefs attributed the fall in median rankings to an increase of about 300 students in each sector doing the TEE last year.

    "Association of Independent Schools executive director Audrey Jackson said the plunge in results reflected the increasing diversity among private schools, which now included many low-fee paying schools as well as the prestigious colleges at the top end.

    "In those schools, the profile of students is perhaps less totally academic than some of those high-fee, long established schools," she said. "I do believe that the change in median TER is directly related to the increase in the number of students."

    "Education Department school support programmes executive director David Axworthy said: "The fall in the median TER for public school students can be linked to the increase in the number of students choosing to undertake a TEE pathway." But Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard noted that results in Catholic schools improved, despite a similar increase in student numbers. "I think we're putting a great emphasis on looking at data and using that to inform how we can do things better," he said.

    "The data also shows that independent schools were the most successful at getting their students into their first choice of tertiary study, with 68 per cent of students who applied to university receiving an offer to the course they listed as their top preference. Public and Catholic education sectors had a matching success rate, with 64 per cent of students from those schools offered their first preference.

    "Individual school rankings show that public Woodvale Senior High School and independent St. Stephen's School had the highest proportion of students obtaining their first choice of university course, with 81 per cent of students offered their first preference. Catholic school Mazenod College was second with 79 per cent.

    "Woodvale SHS principal Paul Leech attributed the school's success to its teachers and counselling staff who made sure students had a realistic understanding of how to get into their preferred course at university or TAFE.

    "Students from St. Hilda's Anglican School for Girls achieved the highest median TER of 93.6, with 68 per cent of its students offered their first course preference."

    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Teacher in knife attack calls for guards at school (page 17)
    by Bethany Hiatt and Christiana Jones

    "A high school teacher who fought off a 15-year-old alleged knife attacker in front of hundreds of terrified Secret Harbour students wants school security guards.

    "Design and technology teacher Peter Allen was one of three teachers police allege challenged two teenage boys trespassing on Comet Bay College last Thursday.

    "One boy allegedly pulled a knife from a friend's backpack and threatened Mr. Allen, 42, after he refused to let them approach students on their morning break.

    "Yesterday, Mr. Allen said he narrowly escaped injury when he grabbed the teenager's forearm to fend off the boy's attempts to stab him with a serrated steak knife.

    "The two 15-year-olds charged over the incident allegedly told police they went to the school to see friends and carried the knife for personal protection.

    "Still shaken by the ordeal, Mr. Allen said schoolyards were increasingly being targeted by intruding teenagers carrying weapons and seeking fights with students over out-of-school disputes.

    "He said the rise in weapons use by teenagers meant teachers were more at risk than ever. "I don't think they're becoming more violent but they're more prepared to take a knife or use anything that's at hand rather than just keep it to their fists," Mr. Allen said.

    "He said the trend had sparked fear among teachers, who were increasingly relied on to protect students against invading armed intruders. "They're coming to get someone… and people like me end up between them," Mr. Allen said. "We now are thinking we have to assume the worst when strangers visit on site."

    "Mr. Allen said teachers would feel safer with on-site security guards. "The kids might lurk around the school for a while and a security guard doing a perimeter patrol might put them off or see them," he said.

    "State School Teachers Union President Anne Gisborne said the union would back the use of security guards if it made teachers feel safe in their workplace.

    "If a school determines there are safety issues for both teachers and students, one of the solutions could be the notion of looking at the appointment of a security guard at the school," she said.

    "Education Department schools deputy director-general Margery Evans said security guards were occasionally deployed at schools when staff or students' safety was threatened.

    "Depending on the nature of the threat, guards may remain at the school for a few hours or a few days," she said. "It is extremely rare for any school to experience an ongoing threat to safety that would warrant the appointment of a full-time security guard."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Spending fails to raise literacy (page 17)
    
    See very similar stories in today's Australian, Age and Sydney Morning Herald [below]
    
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • Teaching shortage is a furphy

      "Thank you so much for the letter (Left in Limbo, 6/2). We were beginning to think our daughter was the only one not offered a job with the Education Department this year.

      "Yes, we too have heard a continuous litany regarding a teacher shortage but we too have serious doubts on the validity of this. Our daughter did her first year teaching in an isolated country school, but she was told this was the way to start.

      "She thoroughly enjoyed her time teaching in the country, but her position was filled this year by a permanent teacher. So not only did she lose her job, but her house as well. She too has her furniture and all her worldly goods in storage, she has had to move back in with us, her parents, and put her life on hold with a huge HECS debt to pay.

      "She has since been offered two days a week at a school, but this is after chasing work all over Perth with absolutely no help from the Education Department staff. Our daughter went back to university to do a teaching degree as a mature age student first and foremost because she loves teaching and secondly because she was told there was a "terrible teacher shortage."

      "This broad statement is unbelievable because we know of many teachers unemployed and looking for work outside the career for which they are trained. They all have a terrible debt and are disillusioned with the Government.

      "These teachers have been left in limbo. When will something be done about the terrible mismanagement in the staffing of our schools?

      "Are we going to lose all these teachers overseas or interstate because the Education Department doesn't care? We ask Mr. McGowan to give these teachers jobs and a bit of pride and respect and help them, not leave them in limbo."

      Liz Quinn, Woodvale
      
      
      

• ABC News
  
  
  • Research on class sizes wrong: Teachers union
    
    "The State School Teachers' Union has rejected research which suggests bigger class sizes do not affect literacy and numeracy skills.

    "The research from the Australian National University says literacy and numeracy skills have not improved over the last 40 years, and blames the focus on smaller classrooms.

    "It says spending more money on better teachers would be a more effective way to improve reading, writing and arithmetic.

    "But union President, Anne Gisborne, says she does not agree with the conclusion that teachers should take on more students.

    "Taking onboard larger class sizes, and I think that's one thing we would not be in favour of, I think there's fairly sufficient evidence to indicate that smaller class sizes are essential," she said."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed / Blog
    We need smarter teachers
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "It's time to stop equivocating on education. We need teachers, good teachers. We don’t have enough and we’re not training enough.

    "If Kevin Rudd is to bring on an education revolution, we need to stop focusing on flagpoles in the playground and a computer for every student and start focusing on teachers.

    "The latest piece of research to come from social researchers and economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan is alarming in its finding that students today have poorer reading and maths skills than their 1960s counterparts. [that story follows]

    "A tremendous injection of funds into education - more than 250 per cent extra over the past 40 years—has failed to translate into improved student learning.

    "The money has not gone into teacher salaries, which have dropped relative to other professions, making teaching a poorly paid, low-status job and not the first career choice of the nation’s brightest. This is the biggest challenge in revolutionising education: attracting the most academically able into teaching.

    "Having smarter teachers will also protect schools from becoming hostage to educational fads. While the ANU study was unable to determine the causes behind the lack of improvement, it is worth noting that the past four decades have seen the rise of so-called “progressive” education.

    "Under its auspices, traditional teaching methods, condemned as being “chalk and talk”, have been shunned. Instead, the teaching model advocated by education faculties is one in which the teacher is a guide and the students steer their own learning.

    "Under this model, the “whole language” approach to the teaching of reading took hold, which held that reading was as natural a skill as speaking and so there was no need to teach children the component sounds making up words.

    "It is time the education debate focused on improving the skills of our teachers and lifting the academic calibre of the profession. A better system, rewarding quality, is part of the solution, as is better training and support for beginning teachers.

    "The problem is not what to do but having a government that is willing to do it.

    "Over to you."

    From The Australian at link [read and post comments at that link]
    
    
    
  • Students trailing those of the 60s
    by Justine Ferrari and James Madden
    

    "Teenagers' reading and maths skills have declined over the past four decades, despite education spending per student more than doubling.

    "A study by Australian National University economists released yesterday suggests 14-year-olds today are, in learning terms, about three months behind their counterparts in the1960s.

    "The researchers from ANU's Research School of Social Sciences suggest the piling of resources into creating smaller classes, at the expense of paying more for better teachers, could be to blame.

    "Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan say the fall is not due to demographic changes, such as an increase in non-English-speaking migrants. In fact, the decline is even more marked after those changes are taken into account.

    "Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday the Government's national action plan for numeracy and literacy would address the shortfall.

    "The Rudd Government understands that literacy and numeracy skills are the building blocks of a good education," shesaid.

    "But Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith said the report highlighted why "a real education revolution needs to be more than delivering computers in boxes to schools".

    "Dr Leigh said the findings suggested the boost to school funding over the past 40 years had been misdirected.

    "In the 1960s, the Beatles were the biggest story around; since then we've moved on in technology, the labour market and Australia has become more productive," he said.

    "I was surprised to see test scores haven't risen. There's a whole lot more money put into Australian schools and we don't seem to be getting more out of them in terms of literacy and numeracy."

    "The study estimates that real spending in schools rose 258 per cent per student between 1964 and 2003. If productivity in schools is estimated as the money spent for each point on the literacy and numeracy tests, the researchers estimate that their productivity has fallen up to 13 per cent between 1975 and 1998 and by 73 per cent since 1964. This is in contrast with productivity across the economy, which rose by 34 per cent from 1975 to 1998 and by 64 per cent from 1964 to 2004.

    "Dr Leigh said cutting class sizes by about 10 per cent over the past 40 years had increased the number of teachers in schools. At the same time, teachers' salaries were allowed to fall in comparison with those of other professions, also by about 10 per cent.

    "The newly announced head of the National Curriculum Board, Barry McGaw, agreed that trading teachers' salaries for smaller class sizes across the board was not the best decision.

    "Professor McGaw, director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne and architect of the OECD international student tests, said a better move would be to have some very small groups of students offset by some larger ones.

    "Professor McGaw said the study's findings were in line with the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment, conducted among 15-year-olds, with the latest study showing a fall in reading scores among Australian students at the top level.

    "We have to target our investment better," he said.

    "The ANU study compared the results of national numeracy tests undertaken by 14-year-olds in Year 9 in 1964 and in 2003, and in literacy and numeracy tests taken in by 14-year-olds in Year 9 in 1975 and 1998.

    "Dr Leigh said students today might be performing better in skills not measured in the 1960s such as verbal communication or social skills."

    From The Australian at link

    Similar stories in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
    
    
    
    
  • 'Back to basics' key for Aboriginal schools
    by Luke Slattery
    
    "The nation's most prominent Aboriginal academic, Marcia Langton, has called on federal, state and territory politicians to acknowledge the "comprehensive and systemic failure" of Aboriginal education and to implement back-to-basics reforms.

    "Professor Langton, foundation professor of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, said there had been inadequate recognition of the "parlous" state of Aboriginal education and the "entrenched poverty" that flows from it.

    "Reading Kevin Rudd's remarks about education, you would swear the biggest problem facing the nation is digital deprivation," she said. "There's been insufficient recognition of Aboriginal education by a prime minister who pledged an education revolution for all Australians. Are we not Australians?"

    "She said the failures, reflected in the fact that less than 48 per cent of indigenous students met national benchmarks for numeracy in Year 7, while only 27 per cent of remote Aborigines met the literacy benchmark, could be sheeted home to federal, state and territory government inaction.

    "She called for "clear and regular testing and reporting" on the performance of Aboriginal children, and a sustained attempt to build relationships between remote Aboriginal communities and schools.

    "We need a structured curriculum, an emphasis on the students' capacities and competencies as well as the gaps and weaknesses in their learning, and intervention strategies to ensure children at the end of each year have learnt the required curriculum," she said. "If that means putting them into a special class then that's what you have to do.

    "So many of the unionists and the politically correct folk in the cities have such a poor understanding of the extremely low levels of literacy and numeracy in black communities and the poverty that stems from it.

    "They throw their hands up and say this (hard-line approach) is an abuse of human rights. But it's not. It's standard practice around the world."

    "Professor Langton criticised Aboriginal communities for their failure to ensure children attended school. "Nothing would be achieved without regular school attendance," she said.

    "An anthropologist with a PhD from Macquarie University, Professor Langton said several generations of Aborigines had been the victims of "ideological experiments" that had failed to deliver literacy and numeracy in the classroom. The time had come for specialised teacher training with a back-to-basics emphasis for remote communities, she said.

    "Teachers need special training for this. We need teachers trained to work in remote-areas schools where the existence of Aboriginal languages, poverty and lack of social capital are the obstacles to children learning the pedagogy developed in the cities for kids with lots of social capital. When we train teachers, it's not enough to impart some fuzzy notion of Aboriginal children's special needs. We need to know precisely what those needs are."

    "She praised the achievements of the earlier generation of missionary teachers who recognised the importance of English while respecting Aboriginal languages. "The Aboriginal kids of that generation learned English because it was drummed into them in structured classes," she said.

    "Her remarks are supported by a paper on Aboriginal literacy released last year by the Cape York Institute, which acknowledged a "literacy crisis in Cape York without historical precedent", and conceded: "Many grandparents in Cape York communities possess greater functional literacy than their grandchildren."

    "The paper found more than 100 indigenous students leave Cape York schools every year unable to read at or above the minimum level expected for their age. "At every year level, indigenous students are up to four years behind the non-indigenous average." In some Cape York schools, less than 21 per cent of indigenous students achieved minimum benchmarks."

    From The Australian at link
    
    

    • Education a goldmine of opportunities
      
      Marcia Langton finds racism, by which she means not only common-or-garden bigotry but a language, a discourse, a way of looking at the world, "completely tiresome". And as she draws on the cigarette that seems always to hand, her spirits flag. "Australia is an extremely racist country," she sighs through a plume of smoke.

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Loophole keeps schools in clover
    by Anna Patty, Education editor
    
    "Private schools identified as receiving an already too-generous share of government funding are exploiting a loophole to claim even more money from taxpayers - simply by building more campuses.

    "Among the biggest winners is the Exclusive Brethren, a controversial sect which has established 16 campuses around NSW, a secret review by the federal Education Department, leaked to the Herald, reveals.

    "The review singles out the MET School at Meadowbank, run by the Brethren, as an example of what it sees as schools getting an unfair advantage. It is the parent school for the other 15 campuses. Only one of these, at Kellyville, is within 50 kilometres of the parent school. One, Lavington, is 600 kilometres away in Albury.

    "If they were called new schools, they would not qualify for the same generous funding. But as "campuses", they keep it.

    "The report says that MET School already receives more assistance than it is strictly entitled to under the federal formula for funding private schools. That, in itself, is not unusual.

    "As the Herald revealed on Saturday, the review points out that half the nation's private schools are funded above their entitlement under this formula, which measures each school's need according to the socio-economic status of the regions where families of its students live.

    "The department is critical of the "inequities" being entrenched because these schools, under a deal struck with the Howard government, have had their funding maintained at the same level as before the SES system was introduced in 2001.

    "The overfunding has cost taxpayers more than $2 billion over four years and, according to the review, will cost $2.7 billion over the next four-year funding cycle, starting next year.

    "But schools such as MET have been able to extend this generous treatment even further by establishing the campuses. "A pattern is emerging among Funding Maintained schools to establish campuses in preference to new schools," the department review says.

    "A campus of a school has the same funding status as the parent school and where the parent school is Funding Maintained, this provides a funding advantage for the newly established campus."

    "If the campuses were to be established as new schools, it says, they would be assessed on their socio-economic needs and funded accordingly.

    "Under current laws there is no restriction on where a non-government school may set up a campus, provided it is accredited by the State Government and in the same state. The review says the loophole should be investigated before the next four-year funding agreement, from 2009, is settled later this year.

    "A spokeswoman for the MET School, Jacqui Van de Velde-Gilbert, said the campus network had nothing to do with funding incentives and was "perfectly legal". She said the school had established 16 campuses, including the parent school, in NSW to centralise governance, administration, teacher networking and education programs, ensuring they were consistent. Some schools were in poorer areas and would attract high levels of funding in their own right.

    "Had the campuses set up as stand-alone schools, they would have struggled to continue without access to the central support," she said.

    "The school's decision to develop this model was based on need. Families in particular areas requested help in establishing educational facilities for their children, not on the basis of funding."

    "The NSW Greens MP John Kaye said the Melrose Park School in South Australia was also an Exclusive Brethren school and included in the Funding Maintained category.

    "Its Mt Gambier students are counted under the Funding Maintained system even though they are at a separate campus, established well after the SES system was introduced," Dr Kaye said.

    "Despite having previously criticised the Funding Maintained system as unfair, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, locked Labor into keeping it before the federal election.

    "The Department of Education's internal review of the funding for private schools was commissioned by the Howard government and completed last year.

    "The Rudd Government refused to release it to the Herald under a freedom of information request. The leaked report recommends dealing with the extra funding by gradually taking money away from many schools until they receive their correct entitlement.

    "Dr Kaye said: "Any claims to having implemented an SES-based model are a sham as long as almost half of all private schools are sheltered from the formula."

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  
  
  • Op Ed
    In black and white, the unfairness of school funding
    by Gerard Noonan
    
    "Memo: Julia Gillard, the Education Minister and Lindsay Tanner, the Finance Minister.

    "There are rare times in public life when a single secret document unearths a $2.7-billion rort. By anyone's calculations, that is a stupendous amount of money, and any good government would swoop on it immediately.

    "For years many powerful people have been quietly embarrassed about the obvious flaws in the federal government's approach to distributing Commonwealth revenue to non-government schools. You do not have to be a rabid secularist to argue that the government's socioeconomic status (SES) system of distributing money to the private school sector - mainly but not entirely the large Catholic school system - is flawed.

    "Even concerned Catholic intellectuals and fair-minded supporters of a public/private funding mix for the nation's 9000 schools have accepted something is seriously wrong. But they have remained, for the main part, silent.

    "Now, an explosive document produced in the bowels of the previous Coalition government's public service has surfaced. It is explosive, because it lays bare the stark fact that $2.7 billion in public money will be given as a gift to private schools - over and above the amount those same schools would have been entitled to if the SES formula was properly applied.

    "It is a little complicated, but the SES system of allocating funding to private schools calculates the relative wealth of the parents of all students in a school (based on the wealth of the area where they live) and comes up with an amount per school. The theory is that the poorer the parent body, the more the school gets.

    "But because the introduction of the SES system was controversial, there was a guarantee that any school that received less than it had under the previous formula would have their funding maintained. As new problems arose in 2001, other schools were classified as "funding guaranteed". All that meant was that they were guaranteed the amount they used to receive, even though the SES formula said they should get less.

    "What the internal departmental document has shown is that over the intervening years at least six in 10 private schools were classified as either funding guaranteed or funding maintained. And as the document showed, one unnamed school will receive $23 million over the next four years more than it would be entitled to receive if the SES system was operating properly. That is more than the entire budget to run four or five public high schools.

    "This is not the pro-government schools lobby talking, or the Greens political party. The calculations come from a group of faceless bureaucrats in Canberra just doing the numbers, safe in the knowledge that their calculations were unlikely to see the light of day.

    "How did we get to this extraordinary point? School funding is a politically volatile issue, and politicians are loath to stir up the powerful lobby groups determined to protect their own interests.

    "So, Ms Gillard, as Education Minister, this is one on your watch, and it clearly needs fixing. And Mr Tanner, with your Finance Minister's hat on, this large misallocation of tax monies must surely be of interest.

    "A suggestion: the two ministers might put a call in to some of the people who are directly affected. Try Monsignor Tom Doyle, of the National Catholic Education Commission, or Cardinal George Pell or Archbishop Philip Wilson, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and ask them whether they think that the funding system is really in the interests of a church given to supporting the underdogs and the dispossessed. I have a hunch you will be surprised by the response.

    "Perhaps you could try Bill Daniels, of the Independent Schools Council of Australia, or Tim Hawkes, of the Kings School, and ask them why they believe that "funding maintained" and "funding guaranteed" should have any place in a national education funding system that aims to distribute scarce resources fairly to ensure all children get a roughly equal start in the great journey of life."

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Monday Education Section has 13 articles: a few are worth a look, including:
    
    
    • Teachers' marks 'harm' profession
      by Caroline Milburn
      

      "Low academic standards among students entering teaching degrees are harming the profession and schools, according to education training experts.

      "ENTER score cut-offs for teaching degrees were as low as 56 for some university courses, while others had cut-offs in the low 60s, figures released by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre last month showed. And fewer school leavers want to become teachers. The data revealed a 6.8% fall in the number of Victorian students choosing to study teaching this year.

      "Professor Stephen Dinham of the Australian Council for Educational Research, says the figures are part of a national trend showing a worrying fall in the entry standards for teaching courses since 2005.

      "We need people with high intellectual capacity in teaching, and ENTER scores of 56 are too low," he says. "You're not doing anyone any favours by taking people with those sorts of scores. When they get to university they really struggle - I've seen it first-hand. They soak up the time of teacher education courses that provide them with remedial courses in literacy and numeracy to try to get them through.

      "And there are flow-on effects: some of the brighter students become disengaged in the first year of their teaching courses because their fellow students are really battling to cope with the work. Some of these brighter people then leave teaching and transfer to another degree . . . The time has come for governments to intervene to make teaching more attractive."

      "Professor Dinham, the council's research director of teaching and leadership, says strategies to enhance the appeal of teaching could include fixing a minimum cut-off score, making all teaching degrees graduate entry and increasing teacher salaries.

      "Maybe we have to forget about taking people straight from school and making them into teachers. People need more of a substantive content base behind them: doing a more generalist undergraduate degree gives people the chance to find their feet and handle university work. By the time they're ready to enter a graduate teaching course they're a bit older, with more life experience."

      "Professor Dinham's comments reflect a growing concern among educators and the community about the low status of teaching as a profession. A Senate inquiry into education and academic standards released in September last year found teaching had long since ceased to attract its fair share of the best and brightest students entering universities nationwide each year.

      "Some of the biggest teaching schools are accepting entry-level students with TER scores so low as to be equivalent to failure in other states," the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee inquiry report said.

      "It cited another report also released last year - the House of Representatives committee inquiry into teacher education - that revealed signs of declining academic entry standards for students entering education faculties. The teacher education report said one example of falling standards showed that "only four out of 31 universities required year 12 mathematics at any level, with another eight being content with year 11 mathematics levels".

      "An expert on literacy and numeracy training, Professor William Louden, says students entering teaching courses with low scores are unlikely to have a strong understanding of mathematics or be sophisticated writers and readers - making it hard for them to become effective teachers, especially at secondary school level, where mastery of complex material is vital.

      "How can you teach year 12 physics if you didn't do well at school?" says Professor Louden, dean of the University of Western Australia's graduate school of education. "Intellectual ability is not an absolute guarantee of good performance as a teacher, but if you want children to learn effectively you must have mastery of the subject matter, whether it is via the quality of your first degree or via the quality of your year 12 performance."

      "Last year's Senate inquiry found that many universities were confident in their ability to instil enough academic rigour over the four years of an undergraduate bachelor of education to cover the gap between poor or mediocre school results and what is expected at graduation. But the Senate report doubted whether that would reassure the community.

      "Professor Louden, a board member of the Australian Council of Deans of Education, says the report was right to raise doubts about whether teacher training courses can turn most struggling students into accomplished graduates. Australia does not have a national teacher accreditation system that assesses whether graduates have the skills to begin their careers.

      "It would be better for everybody if we were not relying on each university putting their hand on their heart saying things are terrific," Professor Louden says.

      "In the absence of any serious national teacher accreditation, we don't know whether that's the case. For the sake of the profession and in the public interest it would be better if somebody other than the person running the teacher training program is prepared to vouch for the quality of its outcomes."

      "Professor Toni Downes, a spokeswoman for the Australian Council of Deans of Education, says poor salaries for teachers and the recent push to attract teacher trainees from more diverse backgrounds could be the reason why some courses had low ENTER cut-off scores.

      "We are concerned when ENTER scores get to the point where the cut-offs are too low, but students who have just made it into courses are either brought up to scratch or they don't make it through," she says.

      "Nevertheless, the council earlier this month asked federal Education Minister Julia Gillard to fund the establishment of a national database to track the academic progress and graduation outcomes of all trainee teachers. Currently, data on student intakes, failure rates and other academic outcomes are kept separately by each institution.

      "The data repository for teacher education data will be used for research on who comes in to courses, how they do and what happens to them," says Professor Downes. "We don't know if 60, 70 or 80 is a magic cut-off score. This will give us a better picture of what is going on and how to improve things."

      "The call for a central database reflects a broader shift towards greater scrutiny of teacher training in an era of high drop-out rates for first-time teachers in schools. Almost a quarter of teachers quit the profession within five years.

      "Professor Downes says the council has backed proposals for a national accreditation scheme for undergraduate and graduate teacher education courses.

      "She agrees that Government and education authorities should also develop a nationally consistent, transparent way of demonstrating that graduates have high standards of literacy and numeracy and know how to teach them."

      Raising the bar

      Recommendations from the Senate inquiry on how to improve the quality of schools:

      • The Federal Government should restructure teacher training courses to encourage and require aspiring secondary teachers to start their studies in arts, science and other relevant disciplines before undertaking specific studies in education by degree or diploma.
      • Schools and school systems should take specific steps to improve teacher professional development in mathematics.
      • The Minister for Education should encourage Universities Australia to make administrative, cross-disciplinary changes to allow education faculties to use experts elsewhere in the university, who could give specialist tuition to trainee teachers in their teaching discipline.
      • The Education Minister should take up with Universities Australia the need to encourage a more rigorous and evidence-based approach to the preparation of trainee teachers in literacy and mathematics method.
      • The Government should improve teacher pay to raise the profession's entry standards and retention rates by providing incentives.
        

        Source: 2007 Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee inquiry report into academic standards of school education.
        
        From the Age at link
        
        

  • Education Section: Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Good news and bad news

      "Teachers are justified in their campaign to restore the pay and working conditions stolen from them over the last three decades, but Red Bingham is wrong to say that the Labor Government has done nothing in education (Letters, 4/2).

      "In its first two terms, it employed an additional 5193 teachers and funded schools to cap prep to year 2 classes at 21 pupils each. It also allocated $1.4 billion for capital spending on schools.

      "It restored the teacher registration system by setting up the Victorian Institute of Teaching, giving teachers professional recognition at last, and repealed the ministerial ban on teachers debating educational issues in public. It also restored teacher representation to principal selection panels so that they now have one person on them who actually knows the school to which the principal is to be appointed.

      "It brought back the academic disciplines of history and geography after the previous government’s mess known as Studies of Society and the Environment, provided the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning as an alternative the VCE and introduced the most rigorous reporting system I ever saw.

      "The Labor Government’s record in education is far better than the previous Liberal government’s, though it has some distance to go to be as good as the Labor government of the 1980s was."

      Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge
      
      
      

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Online Courses Aim to Prevent Dropouts
    
    Online courses are part of the Arlington Mill High School continuation program, designed to help at-risk students get a diploma.

 

Tuesday 12 February

• The Australian
  
  
  • Op Ed
    Aboriginal education should be front of mind
    by Luke Slattery
    

    "One of the key moments in my intellectual formation, such as it is, occurred in 1992 when I was given the opportunity to explore the state of remote-area Aboriginal education for The Age in Melbourne.

    "I spent a week eyeballing schools in Darwin and its environs, such as Manangrida, before flying east over Kakadu and the Gulf in a single-engined plane, dropping from the skies into small isolated settlements whose names now escape me, as well as big gritty mining settlements such as Groote Island.

    "The journey also took me to the Central Desert in winter, the horizon a slice of russet and blue; to Yipirinya, heartland of bilingual education; and to more conventional schools near Hermannsburg where they focus on the three Rs and do a pretty good job.

    "What I saw on that visit saddened and appalled me, searing itself into my mind like a frontal lobe branding. I saw Aboriginal kids of 13 learning how to count to 10 with handfuls of sticks; playground equipment twisted into bizarre shapes, classrooms hacked with machetes; and a multi-million-dollar special purpose college empty of children because the local parents had binged on grog the night before. The teachers were sad and angry. The kids were absent. It was a mess.

    "Since then I’ve been unable to listen to the opinions of well-meaning white intellectuals on race relations without bridling at their ignorance. Stuck in sentimental value systems that seem to valorize Aboriginality over humanity, they condemn any measure that might transgress received notions of self-determination, carry a whiff of paternalism, or simply fail to meet the approval of black community leaders. But they just don’t know how bad things are. Whatever informs their politics, it’s not a feeling for the concrete realities of Aboriginal society.

    "Shortly after the Howard government’s controversial intervention I had dinner at the home of a Sydney couple who fiercely condemned the operation as a political stunt. There may have been some truth in this: Howard was an intensely political animal who didn’t lift a finger without testing the electoral temperature. I suspect that right across Sydney similar conversations were animating the dinner table that night: a great venting against the fascist at the Lodge.

    "I noted, however, my friends’ complete obsession with the political dimensions of this crisis, and their equally complete failure to concede, at any level, the tragedy that provoked it. Dominating their narrative were strong emotions about Howard expressed with great certainty. Conspicuously absent was any sense of sadness, anger or compassion about the suffering in these communities. Though still ambivalent about aspects of the intervention, my own perspective is fed by vivid memories such as those sketched out above and the sure knowledge that time has done little to alter the general picture. Something needs to be done at a systemic level to bring Aboriginal schooling into the mainstream of Australian society.

    "Despite the best efforts of teachers, principals and education bureaucrats, Aboriginal children, as a whole, suffer from dramatic under-achievement. Unable to read and write, they are rushing headlong into the maw of drug abuse, lassitude, violence and depression. Without literacy and numeracy they lack post-school options; they also deprive their community of future leaders.

    "Aboriginal education is this country’s greatest shame. But it also, for reasons unknown to me, languishes in some blind spot of the white psyche. Presented with visual evidence of the hardship and brutal poverty of life in remote Aboriginal communities, most Australians see the need for a powerful policy response. But school is the least glamorous of institutions (something most of us would rather forget), and few journalists poke their head into remote classrooms let alone bother to question what goes on there. Aboriginal education is not exactly front-of-mind. But for a society that claims to value the mind - and isn’t this what the Rudd revolution is all about - it should be."
    

    From the Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Finding extra treachers and paying them is the difficulty
      

      "Justine Ferrari ("We need smarter teachers", 11/2) avoided saying better paid teachers but pointed out that the increases in expenditures of recent years have not ended up in salaries. Nor, I would bet, in discretionary expenditures at schools.

      "Where will these better trained teachers come from? Plucked from the nursing staff at public hospitals? Stolen from the floors of the stock exchanges or enticed from the ranks of better paid plumbers?

      "Even then who will train this throng? Who will pay them a decent wage and how will they fund it? And who will supervise them and support them in their first years on the job? Who will give them the best tools and show them how to use them? And pay for them to do so? And who will reward them?

      "Let’s be fair - some greater consistency in curriculums is coming and more comparable performance information. That is like being handed the human-capital burger without the filling. Where is the rest of the stuff? The leadership, the training, the learning tools and the partnership between teachers and employers to make these benefits endure?
      
      Alan Ruby, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, USA
      
      

    • "Justine Ferrari is right. For the past 10 years I have lectured to a group of postgraduate teachers at Flinders University. One of the topics I have raised is their future in a globalised world.

      "Teachers will be in a challenging and rewarding global environment and so will their students. Both must have the skills to succeed. Failure will produce a Third World Australia and a philistine society.

      "Teachers will need to upgrade their knowledge and skills on a lifelong basis to remain employable and better paid. They will become highly differentiated in remuneration and status. The best, with postgraduate qualifications, will be leaders in their field. It is sad to think that it is the teachers’ union that has brought teaching to this parlous state.

      Jim Wilson, Beaumont, SA
      
      

    • "Nicole Kidman claims she got paid “nothing” by earning $1100 a week from Margot at the Wedding. As a teacher, working full-time on a self-funded sabbatical scheme, I earn $666 a week. For this I did four years at university, 10 years of annual reviews, and countless unpaid extra hours. Meanwhile, we have no fans or air-conditioners, the roof leaks and we don’t have enough desks.

      "I have no objection to individuals being rewarded for talent, but how can we foster Australia’s future actors, musicians, writers, doctors, lawyers, scientists or parliamentarians if teachers are fatigued and demoralised?

      Louisa John-Krol, Clayton South, Vic
      
      
      

• The Age
  
  
  • Teachers to stand firm on pay rise
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Teachers are demanding more than recent pay rises for nurses and police, warning Premier John Brumby they may thwart his plans to revamp schools unless they get a better deal.

    "The Age revealed on Saturday the Government was planning to use sensitive enterprise bargaining negotiations with teachers to push through reforms, including giving top teachers pay bonuses to work in struggling schools and putting tighter controls on pupil-free training days to ensure they are not being wasted.

    "The education union has warned before Thursday's 24-hour, state-wide strike that teachers would not co-operate with the Government unless they get a new wage deal — and one that exceeds the pay rises for nurses and police last year.

    "Teachers want an annual 10% wage rise over the next three years, but the Government is offering an increase of 3.25%. Last year, after heated industrial disputes, nurses were given pay increases of between 3.6% and 6.1% over four years, while police received an annual 5% wage rise over the length of their agreement.

    "Australian Education Union branch president Mary Bluett said Victorian teachers were the lowest paid in Australia, and had not had a pay rise since October 2006.

    "We're not going to settle for 5%," she said. "There's no way. The depth of anger out there is just enormous, and the longer this dispute goes on … there is also a very real danger that the workforce will not want to co-operate with the Government's new reform agenda."

    "Up to 25,000 teachers are expected to walk off the job on Thursday in pursuit of more money, smaller class sizes and better working conditions.

    "The Age believes the Government plans to use enterprise bargaining talks with the union to push through reforms designed to lift student performance, including:

    • Creating new, highly paid principal positions to help struggling schools.
    • Giving high-performing teachers and university graduates financial incentives to work in disadvantaged areas.
    • Investigating the operation of pupil-free days that give teachers time away from the classroom for professional development and training.
      

  "Matt Nurse, spokesman for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, said the Government wanted to lift standards in schools and find better career pathways for teachers.

  "But giving teachers a 10% wage rise and better working conditions would cost taxpayers $8 billion, he said.

  "If we agreed to this claim we would have no money left for new classrooms, new technology or libraries for our students," Mr Nurse said.

  "We will continue to discuss a new enterprise bargaining agreement with teachers once they return to the table and many things are up for discussion."

  From The Age at link
  
  
  

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    No marks for school funding
    

    "The leak to the Herald of a confidential Department of Education document has revealed what everyone associated with education funding has known for some time: that the system under which federal funds are allocated to private schools is broken and needs wholesale reform. What is new is the detail: from the department's findings we can now see just how bad matters have become.

    "The formula by which schools are assessed for federal funds is based not on the wealth of families who send their children to the school, but the wealth of the communities where those families live. There are good reasons for that, and left to operate normally the rules would ensure a more equitable distribution of funds. What has undermined its fairness is the stipulation since the scheme began in 2001 that no school will receive less money than it did the previous year.

    "The result: annual grants to half the private schools in the country are no longer assessed according to the formula. Taxpayers are paying $2 billion more than they would if the formula was strictly observed. We have described this objectionable state of affairs as a system of inherited privilege, in which the privileged are institutions, not individuals.

    "As a piece of public administration, the present means of funding private schools is an embarrassment, and acknowledged as such even by some of those who benefit from its flaws. Such a fair-minded outlook is not, however, universal. As the Herald has reported, this defective system has been exploited further by some institutions that are prepared to finesse the rules to ensure the maximum advantage to themselves.

    "During his bid for the prime ministership in 2004 Mark Latham drew up his infamous hit-list of wealthy private schools that were to have their funding cut. His political ineptitude allowed the unfair system to survive: the resulting furore allowed the Howard Government to capitalise on private school parents' fears and ensure that the problem persisted for another term.

    "Similar fears may be aroused anew by an attempt at reform, yet reform must proceed. Integrity must be restored to school funding. At the very least the formula must be observed without exceptions. Change may have to be phased in, to prevent sudden shocks and fee increases, but the public will have to accept that some schools will soon lose some of their grants so funds can be directed where they are needed more."

    From the Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Rudd to review school funding
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    

    "The leak to the Herald of a confidential Department of Education document has revealed what everyone associated with education funding has known for some time: that the system under which federal funds are allocated to private schools is broken and needs wholesale reform. What is new is the detail: from the department's findings we can now see just how bad matters have become.

    "The formula by which schools are assessed for federal funds is based not on the wealth of families who send their children to the school, but the wealth of the communities where those families live. There are good reasons for that, and left to operate normally the rules would ensure a more equitable distribution of funds. What has undermined its fairness is the stipulation since the scheme began in 2001 that no school will receive less money than it did the previous year.

    "The result: annual grants to half the private schools in the country are no longer assessed according to the formula. Taxpayers are paying $2 billion more than they would if the formula was strictly observed. We have described this objectionable state of affairs as a system of inherited privilege, in which the privileged are institutions, not individuals.

    "As a piece of public administration, the present means of funding private schools is an embarrassment, and acknowledged as such even by some of those who benefit from its flaws. Such a fair-minded outlook is not, however, universal. As the Herald has reported, this defective system has been exploited further by some institutions that are prepared to finesse the rules to ensure the maximum advantage to themselves.

    "During his bid for the prime ministership in 2004 Mark Latham drew up his infamous hit-list of wealthy private schools that were to have their funding cut. His political ineptitude allowed the unfair system to survive: the resulting furore allowed the Howard Government to capitalise on private school parents' fears and ensure that the problem persisted for another term.

    "Similar fears may be aroused anew by an attempt at reform, yet reform must proceed. Integrity must be restored to school funding. At the very least the formula must be observed without exceptions. Change may have to be phased in, to prevent sudden shocks and fee increases, but the public will have to accept that some schools will soon lose some of their grants so funds can be directed where they are needed more."

    From the Sydney Morning Herald at link

    
    
• Triple J [ABC Radio]
  
  
  • Male Teacher Shortage [from 4 February]
    
    As we know its a new school year and there's a new government. As soon as the election results were announced - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave his ministers homework. Every Labor MP had to visit two schools before caucus. Sadly that's probably the highest number of adult men to ever walk into classrooms due to a chronic shortage of male teachers in state schools. 2008 sees the number of male teachers plummet further, particularly in primary schools.
    
    Listen to Male Teacher Shortage (mp3, 3.92mb)

 

Wednesday 13 February

• YouTube
  
  
  • Sorry – From Mercedes College
    
    A video created by the students of Mercedes College in support of the Australian "Sorry Day" February 13.
    
    
    
  • From today's The West Australian: Inside Cover (page 2)
    
    
    • Schoolgirls put their sorry into action

      "If you're feeling a bit ambivalent about today's national day of apology, go to YouTube and check out the simple but moving Sorry Day tribute by students from Mercedes College.

      "The video, which is overlaid by Fremantle singer-songwriter Kerry Fletcher's haunting Sorry Song, shows 160 Year 8 students marching on to the school oval and forming the letters S-O-R-R-Y.

      "Principal Theresa Gibson told IC that the school initially baulked at putting the video, which runs for just under three minutes, on YouTube because of the likelihood of negative feedback.

      "But this is so important we're willing to take the risk because we all need educating on this," she said.

      "Maybe the people who think it is wrong to have an apology are the ones who need to watch it."

      "Miss Gibson said her students were all well informed about the Stolen Generation.

      "All the girls were pretty chuffed to be in it. It was done at lunchtime and nobody was put in a headlock and made to join in," she said. "If only one person is moved by the video, it will have been a worthwhile use of the girls' time."
      
      
      

• The Australian
  
  
  • Strike to close 500 schools
    AAP
    

    "A record number of schools will close across Victoria tomorrow as teachers strike for more pay.

    "Australian Education Union Victorian president Mary Bluett said about 25,000 teachers were expected to strike.

    "About 400 of the state's 1575 state schools already had notified the union they would close for the day-long action. More than 100 other schools were expected to join them.

    "We have about 400 notifications already and there are schools that have never closed before that are closed for the day, including a number of secondary schools," Ms Bluett said. "We're going to have a record number of schools fully closed."

    "Because the Howard government's Work Choices legislation stipulated fines for non-union members who strike, about 4000 teachers had joined the union since November so they could take part in the campaign.

    "Under Work Choices, non-union people can't strike or they open themselves up to fines," she said. "Eight hundred and twenty-nine people joined the union yesterday in order to take the stop-work action and since November over 4000 people have joined the union and the reason they are citing is so they can join the campaign."

    "The union is calling for a 10per cent annual wage increase; the Brumby Government has offered 3.25 per cent.

    "Government-funded teachers' wages have been frozen since October 2006, after negotiations for a new wage agreement began in December that year.

    "Ms Bluett said any wage outcome would not be backdated and teachers were already behind their interstate counterparts."

    From the Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Editorial
    Reward value-adding
    

    The academic calibre of teaching must be enhanced
    
    "The next phase of Australia's education debate should be informed by the insights contained in a new Australian National University study, How Has School Productivity Changed in Australia? The landmark study confirmed what the empirical and anecdotal evidence has told parents, employers and teachers for years. That is, teenagers' reading and maths skills have declined over the past four decades, despite spending per student more than doubling. Researchers Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan, from ANU's Research School of Social Sciences, demonstrated that the fall was not due to demographic changes, such as an increase in non-English-speaking migrants. Instead, they blame the fall on the concentration of resources to create smaller classes at the expense of paying more for better teachers.

    "Average class sizes in secondary schools have been reduced from 36 in 1964 to 26 in 2003. This positive trend, ideally, should continue downwards, resources permitting. Teacher quality, however, is a more pertinent issue, with the long-term decline in standards illustrating the problem of "provider capture". Too often in the past, state and earlier federal Labor governments have been captive to the demands of teacher unions as a means of buying off a significant block of voters. Despite the traditional hostility of unions, classroom teachers overwhelmingly support merit-based pay, linking salaries to competence and extra qualifications. Inflationary pressures aside, the key to lifting the status of the profession and classroom standards simultaneously is rewarding good teachers for value-adding. Student results alone would be too blunt a yardstick, but in some areas value-adding could mean improving average results from year to year. In others, it could mean attracting and retaining students who succeed in subjects of national priority.

    "Unless the profession is enhanced by better academic preparation and higher status and pay, initiatives to improve standards will stall. As the report authors point out, teacher earnings in Australia have declined from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s. At present, in an economy with full employment, the best students have little incentive to become teachers. This is reflected in the fall-off in university cut-offs for teaching applicants, which in some states allow students in the bottom third of Year 12 school leavers to enter teaching degrees. While teaching graduates start work on more than $40,000 a year, comparable with many professions, teacher salaries stall after a decade. This disincentive, and the ready availability of alternative jobs, especially for those skilled in maths, science and commerce, explains the profession's high attrition rates. These have forced 43 per cent of secondary principals to require teachers to take on subjects outside their areas of expertise.

    "Smarter, better-trained teachers should also help protect students from becoming hostage to educational fads. While the ANU study did not pinpoint the educational causes behind the fall-off in standards, it is no coincidence that the past four decades have seen a decline of phonics teaching in early literacy, the rise of less rigorous outcomes-based philosophies and a decline in the traditional "chalk and talk" approach. These days, 14-year-olds, the subject of the study, increasingly steer more of their own learning. While the use of computer technology and the best equipped science laboratories are important and warrant more resources, standards will not improve if teachers are reluctant to focus on imparting factual knowledge and inspiring their students to become excited about their subjects. This is why the academic calibre of the profession must be enhanced."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  
  
  • Boom in the hard sciences
    by Guy Healy, Jill Rowbotham and Milanda Rout
    
    "Engineering and science have experienced a growth surge while overall university applications are down as young people flock to the overheated labour market.

    "Applications for university entrance are down an average of more than 2 per cent across the country. The softening demand for university education is most apparent in Victoria (down 3.1 per cent) and Western Australia (down 2.7 per cent). In South Australia applications are down 2.1 per cent and Queensland experienced a 1 per cent drop for 2008 start-of-year applications. But NSW applications were up 1.7per cent.

    "Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Peter Coaldrake told the HES that the ability of 18-year-old school leavers to walk into jobs driving graders that pay up to $130,000 in Queensland and Western Australia "is really dampening demand".

    "However, the declines contrast with strong demand for the national priority areas of engineering, science and related technologies, in a development welcomed by university leaders.

    "Applications for engineering and the natural and physical sciences, including maths, physics and chemistry, are up 16.2 per cent in Queensland on the same time last year..."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Unis rely on 'risky' income

    Australian universities need to reduce their reliance on risky income sources such as international students and share market-based endowment funds, says the head of Universities Australia.
    
    
    

• The Age
  
  
  • Teacher defections hit state schools
    by Bridie Smith
    

    "Hundreds of state schools lost teachers last year, lured by higher pay, better conditions and more secure employment in non-government schools.

    "As up to 25,000 teachers prepare to strike tomorrow, a statewide survey shows that almost a quarter of state school principals had a teacher leave to work in a non-government school.

    "But the Australian Education Union said some schools, particularly those on the NSW-Victorian border, recorded multiple losses.

    "It reflects a shortage of secondary teachers and the capacity of independent schools to offer more money and better conditions, including an ongoing contract," AEU Victorian president Mary Bluett said.

    "Victorian teachers are paid $65,414 a year at the top of the classroom scale, compared with $72,454 in NSW.

    "Since December, Geelong's Grovedale College has lost two teachers to private schools, where they can earn up to $10,000 more.

    "College principal Jeff Cooper said: "Both were young, high-performing members of staff and have been offered a substantially higher salary than we are able to offer."

    "He said the experience had been "exceptionally frustrating", because while the school funded leadership programs and re-training for maths teachers, he did not always get a return on his investment.

    "Mr Cooper will be among 46 staff, including three principal class officers, to strike tomorrow, with just six teachers remaining at the school to run some year 7 classes.

    "By last night, the AEU said about 89 schools would close. But with many still to report in, that number is expected to grow.

    "During the stop-work last November, 52 schools closed.

    "An AEU survey of state school principals — a random phone poll of 409 schools last month — also found:

    • Nearly 40% of Victorian public secondary schools had teachers taking classes outside their area of expertise last year.
    • 33% of schools experienced difficulties in attracting teachers and as a result were forced to reduce subjects.
    • 29% of schools experienced problems filling teacher positions last year.
    • 12% of schools reported losing teachers to interstate positions last year.
      

  "The findings come amid a national teacher shortage and follow last October's high-profile recruitment campaign by the West Australian Government to lure Victorian teachers to the boom state.

  "Figures compiled for The Age by WA's education department show that, since the campaign, 13 Victorian teachers have moved west.

  "John Serich, the department's acting executive director of human resources, warned that the campaign would continue as the state moved to plug its teacher shortage.

  "Bayswater South Primary School principal Mary-Ann Williams said the WA campaign had caught her staff's attention.

  "Staff talk about that they are able to get more money in Western Australia and while no one has done it, they are certainly talking about it," she said.

  "Shadow education minister Martin Dixon said the industrial action was a symptom of under-funded Victorian schools and under-paid teachers.

  "Under the current system, the best and brightest teachers are poached and there's nothing state schools can do about it," Mr Dixon said. "That accelerates the downward spiral the government schools find themselves in."

  "The union is seeking a 30% wage rise over three years, smaller classes and a reduction in contract employment."

  From the Age at link

  
  
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Aboriginal flag urged in school tribute (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "WA State schools are being urged to fly the Aboriginal flag today to recognise the Federal Government apology to the Stolen Generation.

    "Department of Education and Training director-general Sharyn O'Neill told principals yesterday that schools should consider the most appropriate way to mark the formal apology for the policy of removing children from their parents.

    "This could include flying the Aboriginal flag, recording the apology to play later in class or holding a special assembly with invited Aboriginal guests, she said in an email sent to all principals.

    "However, The West Australian understands that many State schools will not be flying an Aboriginal flag because they do not own one.

    "Ms. O'Neill said that although there was a range of opinions about the apology, she believed the event should be brought to students' attention.

    "Schools are encouraged to acknowledge the apology over the next week," she said in the email which The West Australian has obtained. "It is a significant event and it is important that students understand the background and meaning of the apology."

    "WA Secondary School Executives Association president Rob Nairn said the apology was long overdue and it was important for schools to acknowledge it. "This is an historical event and I think it is appropriate that schools recognise it within their local circumstances," he said. "Some schools where they have larger Aboriginal populations will do things differently to other schools."

    "The State School Teachers Union said the national apology was a "significant day in Australia's history" and urged all teachers to take part.

    "But a northern suburbs State high school principal, who did not wish to be named, said a decision on how to mark the event would be left to individual teachers.

    "It's certainly an issue that may well be discussed in class where relevant but I don't think most teachers will have anything to do with it because it's simply not relevant to the teaching area," he said.

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Rob Fry said the decision on whether to recognise the apology should be made by school councils and not just principals.

    "Catholic and independent schools are free to make their own decisions on whether to formally recognise the event."

    From The West Australian

 

Thursday 14 February

• Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier Media Statement
  

  • Delay teachers' EBA until Twomey report released
    
    The Carpenter Government should release the Twomey Taskforce Report as a matter of urgency to progress the stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations with WA's teachers.

    Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier said he was sure the report would recommend a significant salary increase for the teaching profession and its other findings would help the EBA negotiations go forward.

    "To that end, I have written (see letter) to the State School Teachers Union of Western Australia (SSTUWA) recommending that they stall further negotiations until the report is publicly available," Mr Collier said.

    "If the union were to delay further negotiations, it may encourage the Education Minister to release the report."

    Mr Collier predicted the Twomey Taskforce recommendations would include:

    • Significant salary increases for teachers
      
    • Increased career opportunities for teachers
      
    • Adoption of smaller class sizes
      
    • Equivalent duties other than teaching time (DOTT) for primary teachers
      
    • More effective behavior management strategies in public schools and
      
    • More efficiency in the Department of Education and Training's head office.
      

  "Each of these issues has contributed to the decline in teacher morale over recent years and contributed to the subsequent numbers shortage within the profession." he said.

  "These issues would be instrumental in the EBA process and should be taken into account during SSTUWA and government negotiations."

  "Minister McGowan has consistently lauded the importance of the Twomey Taskforce and it would be appropriate to publicly release its findings.

  "By not doing so - and having speculation about its contents in the public domain - he risks further confusing the teaching profession and further lowering the morale of its members.

  "The EBA negotiations should be open and innovative, providing WA's school teachers with a precise and confident career path in one of life's most satisfying professions.

  "By delaying the negotiations, the union may hasten the release of this timely report."
  

  Media Contact: Peter Collier - 0414 595 572
  
  
  

• The Australian

© The Australian

• Strike to shut 120 schools
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "At least 25,000 Victorian teachers are expected to spend today out of the classroom while striking against poor pay and conditions.

  "More than 120 schools across the state will close and hundreds more will operate on a skeleton staff as the protest action by the Australian Education Union takes effect.

  "The AEU is demanding a 30per cent pay rise over three years for all teachers and principals after rejecting the state Government's offer of an annual 3.25 per cent pay rise.

  "The protest action follows a strike in November and a stalemate in wage negotiations, with the Brumby Government refusing to budge from its initial offer.

  "Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Mary Bluett expected the strike to be the biggest in their wage campaign."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• Dad's Army teachers should be kept in class
  by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
  
  "About half of all schoolteachers in NSW are older than 45, the highest proportion of older workers in any occupation, and they should be encouraged to remain working beyond retirement age.

  "A report by the NSW Auditor-General released yesterday shows the biggest group of teachers in NSW schools and TAFE institutes are aged 50 to 54, with similar proportions aged 45-49 and 55-59.

  "The report underlines the challenge for governments around the nation as they cope with an ageing teaching workforce, with about one in three teachers expected to retire in the next five years in NSW alone.

  "Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat recommends the state Government develop measures to encourage mature teachers to remain working, through a phased retirement or by staying on in a mentoring role.

  "Mr Achterstraat said the NSW Education Department's focus on recruiting and retaining younger teachers might be unsustainable amid an ageing population and tight labour market.

  "NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca said the changes to hiring policies allowing principals to advertise job vacancies would encourage younger teachers to apply for permanent positions.

  "But NSW Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran said the proposed changes would force schools to compete for teachers at a time of shortage."

  From The Australian at link
  
  
  
  
• Bligh tests unions over schools PPP
  by Andrew Fraser
  
  "Queensland's union movement is headed for a confrontation with the state Government after Premier Anna Bligh yesterday announced that seven schools in growth areas would be built through a public-private partnership.

  "Ms Bligh told parliament the Government would ask the private sector this month for expressions of interest in building and operating infrastructure for the seven schools on the Sunshine Coast and the outskirts of Brisbane.

  "Unlike other states - notably NSW and Victoria, where toll roads and bridges have been built under public-private partnerships - Queensland has made little use of PPPs to build infrastructure.

  "Ms Bligh said the private sector would take responsibility for the construction and maintenance of the schools over a 30-year contract, but the education services would still be provided by the Government.

  "The tasks to be contracted out to the private sector included building repairs, cleaning, janitorial duties, grounds keeping and security.

  "She said handing responsibility for these services to the private sector would allow teachers to focus on education.

  "These areas have been chosen on future population projects and are key growth areas in the southeast corner," Ms Bligh said.

  "Queensland's union movement reacted strongly. The state's powerful Public Sector Union and the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union will today announce a campaign against the Government over the PPPs.

  "Queensland Public Sector Union general secretary Alex Scott said the Government's move was simply a way to get cleaners and janitors off the state payroll.

  "This is a repeat of what happened in 1996 when the Borbidge government wanted to take the cleaners out of the education system," he said.

  "We had a two-year battle over that, and we eventually won that battle. This is not really a PPP - it's an attack on the wages and conditions of some of the lowest-paid people in the community."

  "The two unions' campaign has been backed by the state's peak union body, the Queensland Council of Unions.

  "As well as changes to the state's PPP regime, Treasurer Andrew Fraser announced that the Queensland Competition Authority would have a six-month deadline to complete tasks allocated to it.

  "The QCA was criticised for taking two years to decide on the pricing regime for the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in central Queensland, leading to delays in investment decisions by the terminal's owners, which in turn created bottlenecks in the state's vital coal-loading capacity."
  
  From The Australian at link
  
  
  

• Gillard bill for more NT teachers
  AAP
  

  "A day after its historic apology, the federal Government is starting the tougher job of improving indigenous education.

  "Education Minister Julia Gillard has introduced legislation to pay for more teachers in remote areas of the Northern Territory.

  "Ms Gillard said the measure would mean an extra 50 teachers this year and an extra 200 over the four years to 2011.

  "The cost this year will be $7.16 million, with a further $56.8 million to be spent in future years.

  "Ms Gillard said there were about 10,000 school-aged children in communities affected by the Northern Territory emergency response.

  "But 2000 of them were not at school and a further 2500 did not stay at school long enough to benefit.

  "Ms Gillard said education was the foundation for productive, rewarding lives.

  “This measure reflects the Government's commitment to ensuring that indigenous students, wherever they live, have access to educational opportunities that are equivalent to their non-indigenous peers,” she said.

  "The measure would also help to meet the government's objective of halving the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade.

  "Debate on the bill was adjourned."

  From the Australian at link
  
  
  

• Aborigines miss rush to uni
  

  The number of indigenous people undertaking tertiary studies increased by a mere 1860 over the decade to 2006, despite universities enrolling record numbers of students.
  
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • State schools to open with reduced staff
    by Farrah Tomazin and Bridie Smith
    

    "Hundreds of public schools will be crippled today when Victorian teachers walk off the job as they push for at least $7000 more in their annual pay packets.

    "About 600 schools will operate with reduced staff and another 113 will shut down completely, forcing thousands of parents to make alternative arrangements for their children.

    "The expected closures are more than double the number of schools that were shut down three months ago, when teachers went on strike over the same issue: an annual 10% government pay rise, smaller class sizes and better working conditions.

    "And in a move that could put more heat on Premier John Brumby — who is offering teachers a 3.25% increase — Catholic school teachers will also meet today to vote on taking another strike on March 7, as a show of support for their public school counterparts.

    "Matt Nurse, spokesman for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, said the Government wanted to give teachers a pay rise "but we need to ensure we have money left over to keep improving our education system".

    "The $8 billion log of claims lodged by the teachers union is unrealistic," he said.

    "If we agreed to this claim we would have no money left for new classrooms, new computers or libraries for our students."

    "But Australian Education Union branch president Mary Bluett said the union would not settle for anything less than pay parity with NSW, where teachers at the top of the classroom scale earn $6938 more than Victorian teachers.

    "Up to 25,000 teachers and principals are expected to take part in this morning's stop-work meeting. About 10,000 of them are expected to fill the seats at a rally at Melbourne's Vodafone Arena, while 150 teachers from schools in the Wimmera region will attend a simultaneous meeting in Mildura.

    "Some parents and principals who were opposed to or did not take part in last year's strike have endorsed today's campaign.

    "Melbourne mother Margie Pledger, whose daughter attends Northcote Secondary College and whose two sons study at Princes Hill Secondary College, said she planned to join teachers as they rallied on the steps of State Parliament this morning to show her support.

    "Helen Skouteris, whose son and daughter attend Bentleigh West Primary, said several parents at her school would be doing the same.

    "Today's strike is the second state-wide teacher stopwork in less than three months.

    "The union lodged its claim with the Government in December 2006, but after a few months of negotiations, talks were suspended by the union at the end of last year with both parties refusing to give ground.

    "Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon blamed the Government for the disruption to schools, saying the strike was "brought about by the inaction of a stubborn, arrogant and out-of-touch premier".

From the Age at link

Friday 15 February

• The Australian

© The Australian

• Teachers vote for strikes in pay dispute
  by Milanda Rout
  
  "Victorian schools face a round of strikes in the coming months after more than 11,000 teachers voted for a campaign of rolling stoppages in support of a pay demand.
  
  "At least 120 schools were closed yesterday and a further 700 were affected when 25,000 teachers walked off the job after negotiations with the Brumby Government reached a standstill.

"Teachers and principals at the state's 1600 government schools want a 30 per cent rise over three years. The Brumby Government has offered 3.25 per cent a year.

"More than 11,000 teachers, dressed in red, packed Vodafone Arena yesterday morning and voted to continue striking.

"They voted to stage a series of four-hour rolling stoppages from February 26 to April 23 if the Government did not put forward an acceptable offer.

"The striking state school teachers will be joined by their Catholic counterparts.

"Staff at more than 400 Victorian Catholic schools yesterday voted to walk out of classro