Monday 12 May

Tuesday 13 May [Federal Budget]

Wednesday 14 May

Thursday 15 May

Friday 16 May

Saturday – Sunday, 17 – 18 May

 

Monday 12 May

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers test the mood for strike (page 3)
    by Michael Bennett

    "Parents are facing the prospect of teacher strikes over the next fortnight as the teachers' union prepares to canvass its members to gauge whether strike action will be the next step in its pay dispute with the State Government.

    "WA State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said yesterday that the appetite for strike action would be measured by a survey distributed to members this week after a hearing tomorrow at the WA Industrial Relations Commission where the union will voice its serious concerns in respect to the pay negotiations.

    "Ms Gisborne said comments made at the weekend by Education Minister Mark McGowan, which alluded to no further increases in funding for teachers' salaries following the $639 million State Budget allocation, were extremely distressing in the current climate.

    "The allocation for the teachers' enterprise bargaining agreement in the State Budget was on par with a December offer rejected by teachers.

    "In the context of the commentary from the Treasurer following the State Budget and the comments by the Minister, I imagine the survey will be of greater significance," Ms Gisborne said. "We would be looking at various types of activity that would take teachers out of schools, along the line of strike action.

    "I think it is extremely distressing for the union and its members and I dare say all employees of the (education) department because everybody gets covered by the same terms and conditions."

    "The Government's last offer was close to a 14 per cent rise while the union is pushing for a 20 per cent-plus pay rise over three years.

    "The union will also head to the commission today in an attempt to resolve the issues surrounding the national literacy and numeracy tests.

    "A boycott of the tests imposed by the union was lifted last Thursday following commission orders but inflammatory remarks made in a letter to schools by the Education Department's John Serich have angered union members.

    "Mr Serich said teachers who failed to administer the tests to students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 would have their pay docked until they resumed full duties.

    "The union will communicate its concerns to the Education Department this morning before heading to the commission.

    "Ms Gisborne described the move by the department as heavy-handed and unnecessary.

    "We will be raising our concerns at the heavy-handed nature of the department attempting to deal with this issue," she said. "We are concerned that there may be a turnaround and an attempt to sanction members who for whatever reason may choose not to be doing the test."

    "Mr McGowan declined to comment before the commission hearings."

    From The West Australian
    
    

    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Accurate report

      "I must thank The West Australian for its accuracy of reporting. When the principal of a Catholic college in Karratha was frustrated by the difficulty of securing staff, Education Minister Mark McGowan stated that he was "well aware of the challenges involved in staffing regional schools" (report, 9/5).

      "Of course he is aware of the problem but he is not prepared to do anything about it because he is afraid of rocking the ALP caucus boat.

      "Mr McGowan knows what to do about the disastrous teacher shortage in WA because he is one of the few people who has read the $480,000 Twomey Taskforce report.

      "Instead of doing the honourable thing and at least releasing the document, our Minister attacks the integrity of teachers.

      "Meanwhile, Victoria has awarded significant pay rises to its teachers to make them the best paid in our land. I wonder if the WAIRC, will be allowed access to the Twomey Report as it considers the worth of a WA teacher's pay claim?"

      Andrew Bell, Woodvale
      

      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Literacy test threat to NSW funding
    by Stephanie Peatling
    
    "The Federal Government is threatening to freeze NSW out of its scheme to fund disadvantaged schools because the State Government is refusing to hand over individual schools' results from national literacy and numeracy tests.

    "About 1 million students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will sit the tests over three days this week in an attempt by state and federal governments to gain a clearer picture of how students are faring on numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

    "But the State Government has accused the Federal Government of wanting to take "too simplistic" an approach to work out which schools are in the areas of greatest need.

    "As well as giving parents a chance to see how their child is faring, the tests will help the Federal Government in its plans to introduce a national curriculum.

    "The row has all the elements of the dispute that bedevilled relations between NSW and the previous federal education minister, Julie Bishop, who threatened to withhold funding to the state system until the NSW Government toed the line.

    "The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, said this week's tests were "the first time we have genuinely had a national test".

    "In the past there have been state-based tests and attempts to moderate them. Now we will have a more comprehensive set of information," Ms Gillard said.

    "Despite calls for a "plain English" approach to report cards, students will not be graded using the familiar A to E system. Instead, a series of 10 bands has been developed. Each band has a description of the types of exercises required to pass it. [emphasis added]

    "The bands will also be used to highlight bright students who would benefit from accelerated programs and to pick out poorly performing students who may need remedial teaching.

    "Ms Gillard said that she had "broad agreement" from state and territory education ministers that they would also make available to the Federal Government the performance of individual schools.

    "That information will be used to determine areas of need."

    "The Federal Government wants to use the information to direct funding to schools with students who may need more help because they have language difficulties or other learning impediments.

    "The NSW Minister for Education, John Della Bosca, met Ms Gillard to discuss the issue last week but remains unconvinced the results of the tests should be used to determine where funding is directed.

    "A spokesman for Mr Della Bosca said although NSW was supportive of national testing it was "too simplistic" to use one test as the basis for funding.

    "It's quite a blunt instrument. We need to be more sophisticated," the spokesman said.

    "Mr Della Bosca is also concerned the information would be used to develop league tables based on schools' performances.

    "The existing education funding arrangement between state and federal governments runs out later this year.

    "Talks have begun about how best to allocate money for the next four-year funSding period."

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    Memo Kevin Rudd: this is not a campaign budget
    
    In education, Labor will have to recast the funding formula for private schools, to remove the no-disadvantage provision under which more schools are now funded as exceptions than are funded according to the rules. It must bring order to Howard-era anomalies such as federally funded technical colleges.
    
    
    
  • Avoiding the flue: schools told to open windows to clear the air
    
    As snow swirls around school classrooms in the Blue Mountains this winter, students are being advised by the NSW Government to leave the windows wide open for the sake of their health.
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • The Monday Education Section has 12 stories this week, including these five:
    
    
    • The big trade off
      by Caroline Milburn
      

      "Broadening the curriculum to try to stop teens from dropping out of school has not been as successful as governments had hoped.

      "A national study shows that over the past 10 years policy efforts to lift low school-retention rates have focused on expanding trades and vocational education at senior secondary level. But the study says the approach needs questioning because schools are not having a big effect in improving the number of students who complete year 12. About 75% of Australia's students finish secondary school, a figure below that of many European countries.

      "Despite substantial increases in participation in vocational education in schools and other policy initiatives, school retention has increased only marginally by about three percentage points since the mid-1990s," reports the study by Dr Gary Marks, a senior research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research.

      "The study, published recently in the international education journal School Effectiveness and School Improvement, is the latest and most comprehensive examination of the factors that influence when a student leaves school. It analysed interviews with 8905 students aged 17 and 18 in 2005 who had sat Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in reading, maths and science when they were 15. They came from 315 schools in the government and independent sectors.

      "The study's findings reveal a student's academic performance is by far the most important influence on whether he or she leaves school before completing year 12. It is four times more important than the next most influential factor - a student's socioeconomic background.

      "The odds of school leaving for students at the fifth percentile (towards the bottom) of the distribution of average test scores are a staggering 50 times the odds of school leaving for students at the 95th percentile," the study says.

      "The study also examined factors at the school level, such as student attitudes to school and teachers, disciplinary climates, mean test scores and differences between schools to see what effect they had on the likelihood of a student dropping out of school.

      "It found that schools do not have a strong independent influence on early school leaving, with attendance at a non-government school making only a marginal difference in the likelihood of a student finishing year 12 compared with the other individual student variables included in the study, such as PISA scores.

      "A lot of people think that if they send their kid to a particular school they will do brilliantly, but most schools are much the same," Dr Marks says. "There are schools at the extremes of the spectrum. Some schools do much better than expected, given their student population, in getting their kids to complete year 12, while some do much worse than expected. But most schools are in the middle and have no relative effect on improving student retention rates."

      "The Rudd Government has promised to boost school retention rates to 90% by 2020. As part of that strategy, it will spend $2.5 billion on building new trade centres in all of Australia's 2650 secondary schools.

      "However, Dr Marks' study warns that increasing the vocational component of schools is unlikely to attract many potential early school leavers. "Since school leavers are predominantly low achievers, it is unlikely that an extra year or two in the predominantly academic environment of upper secondary school would be beneficial," the study says.

      "Resources would be better directed by providing appropriate post-school education and training once they have entered the labour force."

      "Dr Marks says the findings of his study also point to the need for education authorities to intervene earlier in a child's schooling to identify literacy and numeracy problems and offer better remedial programs. However, he says, many struggling students faced with staying at school or getting a job and earning money choose the latter option.

      "In policy circles people say, 'Oh, if only we could make year 12 more interesting for these kids, they would stay'. But when you ask kids why they leave, more than half say to get a job or to start an apprenticeship. They want to be independent."

      "The study also warns that broadening the vocational curriculum in government schools could be counterproductive and weaken the public school system by spreading its resources and staff too thinly.

      "A study released last year by a Monash University researcher showed that the average ENTER score of government schools that offered the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning had declined compared with government schools that did not offer the vocational courses.

      "There's a danger in asking government schools to do everything," Dr Marks says. "The non-government sector is not going to do it, they're not going to offer a comprehensive vocational educational program.

      "Can schools really cater for students who want to do medicine and students who want to be a car mechanic . . . Rather than putting a technical wing in every high school the Government would be better off putting money into vocational education and training in specialised institutions such as TAFEs."

      Dropping out

      "Students are more likely to leave school before completing year 12 if they are:

      • Academically weak
      • Male
      • From a low socio-economic backgroun
      • From an Anglo-Saxon backgroun
      • Live outside the main capital cities
      • Live with a single parent or in a blended family"

    Source: Do Schools Matter for Early School Leaving? ACER

    From The Age at link
    
    

    • OpEd
      Myths drive 'failing schools' ploy
      by Graeme Smithies
      

      "A recurring theme of current educational debate is what should be done about "underperforming" or even "failing" schools. Schemes to pay higher wages to "high-performing" teachers to work in such schools - as well as regular calls by politicians for improved "accountability" - reinforce the view that a number of schools fit this "underperforming" category. The latest State Government blueprint seems to be based on this same assumption.

      "I have never seen a definition of what constitutes an underperforming school, but those who use the term generally imply that the academic performance of its students, as measured by VCE results or literacy and numeracy testing, is below expected standards, or the standards achieved by schools in different suburbs.

      "The implication is that teachers at such a school are not doing their jobs well enough - and if they work harder, improve their methods or are replaced by better teachers, the problem will be solved.

      "The concept of the underperforming or failing school is based on a number of myths. The first is that student performance is entirely dependent on what happens in school, and that it is a consequence solely of the activities of teachers and principals and not of any factors outside the school.

      "The second myth is that all students come to school equally prepared, with equal ability and with equal levels of motivation, so that all they need is excellent teaching to excel.

      "At the end of 2006, I retired after 35 years as a teacher and administrator, mostly in schools in the so-called "disadvantaged" northern suburbs. After the school at which I was vice-principal was closed in 1992, I spent the next 11 years attached to the Northern Metropolitan Office of the Education Department, relieving in principal-class vacancies, mostly in the northern suburbs.

      "In all I worked in almost half the secondary schools in the north, for periods varying from one term to a full year. In that time I did not see one instance of a school I would describe as "underperforming", let alone "failing".

      "I did see many students who could be described as "underperforming" and as educationally disadvantaged, but this "underperformance" was almost entirely due to factors outside the school. For more than 40 years researchers have identified a variety of socio-economic factors that can influence a child's educational performance. Proponents of the underperforming school fallacy seem to ignore these factors.

      "Students who start school with the best chances of ultimate success will come from a home where the parents are well educated and where education is highly valued; where the child's imagination and cognitive development have been stimulated and enriched by a wide variety of play and other creative experiences; where English is the first language, and the parents and other adults with whom the child has contact have strong linguistic skills in the English language.

      "They will come from homes where the child is read to frequently, the parents read and are seen to enjoy reading, and there is a large variety of reading matter; and the child has had at least a year of pre-school experience before starting school.

      "The absence of any or all of these factors will affect a child's readiness for school. Lower parental levels of education, limited linguistic ability, lack of reading and books in the home, little use of the English language in families of non-English-speaking backgrounds, high levels of family unemployment and non-attendance at kindergarten are all more prevalent in the northern and western suburbs.

      "It follows that larger numbers of children arrive at school less well prepared than is likely in more affluent areas.

      "What this means for schools and teachers in the "disadvantaged" parts of Melbourne is that they will encounter a wider range of abilities in their students, and the proportion of students who are starting a long way behind their peers is likely to be much higher.

      "Many teachers in some of our disadvantaged suburbs first have to teach some children how to hold a book, because they have never seen one in their homes. Teachers attempt to take into account the differences between students when developing their teaching programs, but those starting a long way behind often never really catch up.

      "Most primary schools employ programs to assist students experiencing literacy difficulties, but such programs have to be attempted within the staffing and resource limitations applied by the department.

      "The fact that significant numbers of students never really catch up is an indication that insufficient resources have been provided to schools attempting to overcome student disadvantage- not an indication of underperforming teachers and principals. The needs simply exceed the available resources.

      "Secondary schools also face greater difficulties in the northern and western suburbs. Students who have fallen behind in primary schools will often become negative and disruptive influences as they hit adolescence.

      "Secondary teachers also design their teaching programs to cater for a wide range of abilities, but even the best teachers will find some students so resistant to any program as to be effectively unteachable in a normal classroom. A small number of alternative settings are provided, but these are too few, with long waiting lists.

      "Northern-suburban schools have thousands of excellent teachers. They may have smaller numbers of high-achieving students, but those students do as well as students in any other suburb.

      "The apparent underperformance by many of the students in those schools is a direct result of factors outside the control of the school - the socio-economic, demographic and family factors that children have experienced before they start school, and which they continue to experience in the 17 hours of every school day that they are not at school.

      "The concept of the underperforming school is simply a tool for politicians to disguise their own unwillingness to provide appropriate resources to the education system to help lessen the impact of social inequality."

      Graeme Smithies is a retired teacher and assistant principal who spent about 25 of his 35 years in schools in the northern suburbs.

      From The Age at link

      
      
    • Schools open to scrutiny after same-sex ban
      by Christopher Bantick
      

      "The decision last month by Brisbane's Anglican Church Grammar School - commonly known as Churchie - to ban same-sex partners from attending a year 12 formal raises two important questions: The first is whether the all-boy school was right to do so; the second, did this amount to discrimination?

      "In response to the first question, the school's headmaster, Jonathan Hensman was unambiguous: "The senior dinner dance is an opportunity for our young men to escort young women in a formal school environment. We don't intend to change our practice..."

      Full story in The Age at link
      
      
      

    • Call to save campus services
      by Bridie Smith
      

      "University students have called on the Federal Government to include funding in tomorrow's budget to soften the impact of voluntary student unionism or risk the collapse of more essential student services on campuses across the country.

      "As the Government considers the findings of an inquiry into the impact of voluntary student unionism, the national student body called for urgent financial help to tide student organisations over while a new model of funding was established..."
      

      Full story in The Age at link
      
      
      

    • Mind your language
      by Denise Ryan
      

      "'Did you have a good weekend?" Teacher Mary Nicholls asks the class of 12 refugees and one migrant to repeat these unfamiliar English words after her. The students, mostly from Burma and Sudan, cautiously reply. "Yes, thank you. How about you?"

      "It's the first lesson for one student, while another has been attending this class for nine months. Some students didn't know how to hold a pencil when they arrived and, having never gone to school, are illiterate in their first language. Others learnt some English at school or in refugee camps.

      "Welcome to a beginner class in spoken and written English at the Croydon campus of Swinburne University of Technology. This diverse group is receiving 510 hours of free English lessons under the Federal Government's Adult Migrant English Program..."
      

      Full story in The Age at link
      
      
      

  • Op Ed
    We're teaching children, not fattening pigs
    by Maureen Douglas (principal of Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill)
    
    "If you want to fatten a pig, you don't keep weighing it. This analogy for what is happening in American schools was made by Jon Scieszkca, a highly regarded children's author and US ambassador for children's literature.

    "Now it's time for us in Australia to be mindful of what has happened to teaching and learning in American and English schools since the introduction of national curriculum and high-stakes standardised testing.

    "This week, as children in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 face national literacy and numeracy tests, I think it's time to stop and ask what we want for our students. Of course we want our students to be literate and numerate, but I think we want a lot more.

    "At Spensley Street Primary School, we have used Terry Johnson's "traits of a successful learner" to describe the characteristics we want our students to develop over seven years of primary schooling. These include encouraging students to be thoughtful, industrious, generative, empathetic, strategic, to be prepared to take risks, to have knowledge and self-esteem.

    "Primary school is a unique and important time in our children's lives, a time when they are developing an understanding of themselves as learners and as friends. We want to give them time to develop; we don't want them labelled as "successes" or "failures" so early in their formal education. We want to respect and nurture this unique time in their lives.

    "We know that students learn in different ways, at different rates and have differing strengths and skills. In a primary school we want to acknowledge this diversity and cater for the whole child.

    "Research from the United States and England, where tests have taken on "high stakes" status, has produced evidence of overwhelming negative impact on students, teachers and schools.

    "I found it confronting to see what happened in classrooms during a recent trip to America. I was struck by the rigidity of classrooms, geared to preparing and teaching to the test. Play times were limited to no more than 30 minutes per day; students were streamed according to their ability and openly named as the top group, the middle group and the bottom group and removed from their home group for "drill" sessions for large parts of each day.

    "For students who fail, there are special programs before and after school and throughout the summer. Teachers talked to me about the breakdown in the trusting relationships with their students because their focus has moved from students to instilling the content of the test.

    "I watched many classrooms where students were being drilled and given sample multiple choice tests that encouraged them to believe that there is only ever one right answer. I watched as students read, not for enjoyment and not books, but excerpts of texts.

    "As they read they were expected to follow the drill sheet that told them to follow a set procedure: read the questions three times, "slash the trash" as they read, underline the key words. Teachers talked openly about students being turned off reading.

    "In England, researchers have found that teachers are leaving the profession in droves because of their sense of disillusion about a system that undermines teacher judgement in favour of test results.

    "Teachers are losing the ability to make judgements about students and plan appropriate programs. That is why head teachers are asking for the responsibility of assessment to be handed back to schools rather than the current national testing program.

    "A national testing program is not the answer, nor is it the way, as Education Minister Julia Gillard suggests, to give the "best understanding of what's happening in our education system". Nor will national tests "make sure we're keeping the system working the way we want it to".

    "I want to suggest that the key to successful schools and successful students is the teaching staff — all the research tells us that. It is foolish to ignore teachers' perspective about students' achievement. We are the ones who, in partnership with families, are in the best possible position to make sound professional judgements over time and using a variety of assessment tools.

    "It's time for politicians to walk the talk rather than rely on simplistic tests to make judgements about students' and schools' performance. Let teachers demonstrate their skills. Let's not go down the path that has clearly failed in both the US and England because you certainly don't fatten a pig by constantly weighing it.

    From The Age at link
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Tough principals

      "Poaching principals is good policy" (Letters, 10/5) contains a couple of serious flaws that need addressing. Given that private schools are havens of selected students and where expulsion is preferred to counselling for poor behaviour, it would seem reasonable to assume that their principals would lack the ticker to handle the state school omnibus down the street.

      "Contrary to the notion of "scant understanding of present trends in pedagogical research", state principals undergo a rigorous examination of their modernity during their selection process. Many of them could claim a major role in the development of the VCE, which private principals still find difficult to come to terms with."

      Graeme Lee (retired principal), Fitzroy
      
      

    • The tried and true

      "There is nothing new in the "explicit teaching" method that principal John Fleming is using to teach young students (The Age, 10/5). In fact we were using it 50 years ago. Now it is critical to use both inquiry-based teaching and the explicit method. There are still only so many ways of instilling knowledge and a love of learning into children, while maintaining the ability to use every teaching method tried and tested to match each child in the classroom.

      "It is a pity, however, that this inspirational principal has been lured to the private school system when the disadvantaged students at the Bellfield Primary School could benefit so much more than the Haileybury students. While the students of Haileybury will no doubt gain, it is certainly a loss to the state system when we lose a principal of John Fleming's calibre."

      Annie Young, Bendigo
      
      

    • Furthermore
      
      "Leftist ideologues in the ALP know that one way to bring Catholic schools to heel is to cut funding (Age, 10/5). This is happening now, and is the thin edge of the wedge. Supporters of Catholic education should be aware of what the State Government is up to."

      Peter D. Surkitt, Hawthorne
      
      
      

• ABC News
  
  
  • Interview with Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard
    National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy
    
    
    
    
• The Daily Mail
  
  
  • School improves exam results after introducing 8-minute lessons for all GCSE subjects
    
    "A school has seen its GCSE science results improve after introducing 'bite-sized' lessons just eight minutes long.

    "Now the method, which boosted results by an average of half a grade, is to be used for all subjects.

    "Pupils aged 13 to 15 at Monkseaton Community High School will have an eight-minute lesson followed by a ten-minute break for sport or word games.

    "The lesson will then be repeated, using a different teaching method.

    "The Tyneside school is thought to be the first in the UK to adopt the "space learning" system, based on U.S research suggesting the memory develops most effectively with repeated short bursts of learning.

    "School headmaster Paul Kelley said: "It may seem bizarre to teach an eight minute lesson, break for 10 minutes to dribble a basketball and then repeat the process, but it works.

    "In rigorous evaluation, students show improvement regardless of subject, teacher or their ability."

    "The school hit the headlines in 2000 when pupil Laura Spence was rejected by Oxford despite a prediction of five A grade A-levels."

    From The Daily Mail at link
    
    
    
    
  • Pupils are 'being harmed by test overload', MPs warn
    by Rebecca Camber and Laura Clark
    
    "An obsession with testing threatens to damage a generation of schoolchildren, MPs are warning.

    "An influential report will recommend the national testing regime be scaled back.

    "In its first major report since forming last year, the Commons schools select committee is expected to say tomorrow that the current system is not fit for purpose.

    "The MPs will point to concerns that children spend too much time being drilled to pass tests at the expense of real gains in their knowledge and understanding.

    "Under the current mass testing, backed by the Government, pupils face compulsory tests in the three Rs at seven, 11 and 14. [Sounds familiar!  Web]

    "On the eve of publication, chairman Barry Sheerman condemned the testing culture.

    "The Labour MP told the BBC's Panorama programme: "There's something wrong with the amount of testing and assessment we're doing, the quality of testing and assessment and the unseen consequences for the whole school culture.

    "It is still a culture where the success of a child, of a teacher, of a school, is linked to testing, testing, testing, that is the problem."

    "He also attacked proposed reform of the Sats system, under which pupils would be tested at any time from the age of seven. Mr Sheerman said that would put them under continuous pressure.

    "The all-party committee is expected to recommend a greater role for teacher assessment and a consideration of a sampling approach which would see only a percentage of pupils tested each year.

    "Panorama also interviewed teachers and pupils for tonight's programme.

    "But Schools Minister Jim Knight MP has defended Sats.

    "He said: "I look at the fact that our results are improving year on year and standards in our schools are rising, and part of the reasons for that are tests and tables."

    From The Daily Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • 'Dreamtime' over in Aboriginal studies
    by Justine Ferrari and Lauren Wilson
    
    "Dreamtime is no longer an acceptable term to describe the collection of Aboriginal creation stories, and should be referred to as The Dreaming or The Dreamings.

    "And the structure of traditional Aboriginal society should not be described as primitive - but as complex and diverse, and the term "native" should be replaced by "indigenous groups" or "language groups".

    "Advice for teaching indigenous students, which has been prepared by the West Australian and South Australian education departments, contains lists of appropriate words to describe Aboriginal people and culture.

    "The West Australian document, part of its Aboriginal Perspectives Across the Curriculum project, contains the headings "less appropriate terminology" and "more appropriate terminology", and sets out unsuitable words and their substitutes..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link

Tuesday 13 May

• Federal Budget articles related to education [all late updates from The Australian website]
  
  
  • Schools funding boost for education revolution
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    

    "Schools will receive a 12.5 per cent boost in funding over the next four years, with the bulk of extra spending funding the Education Revolution measures unveiled by the Government in the election campaign last year.

    "As part of its commitment to ensure every four-year-old has access to high-quality early childhood education in the year before they start school, the Rudd Government is funding the development of a national preschool curriculum taught by a qualified early childhood teacher.

    "The budget allocates $126.6 million over four years to train and retrain early childhood teachers and workers including incentives to improve their qualifications such as waiving TAFE fees and national accreditation standards for child care.

    "The Government is also investing an extra $200 million in its program to provide computer access to every student in years 9 to 12 and has cut literacy and numeracy programs introduced by the Howard government to fund its own National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy, worth $577.4 million over four years.

    "The quality of school facilities is addressing through $457 million for capital works and $1.7 billion in total over four years to be spent on maintenance and infrastructure.

    "Kevin Rudd's insistence that Australian students need to speak an Asian language receives $62.4 million over three years under the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools program, providing extra classes in high schools, teacher training and support and specialist curriculum for advanced students.

    EDUCATION SNAPSHOT
    The Government is pursuing long-term reform across the whole education system, including early childhood education and care, schooling, vocational education and training, and higher education.

    Education Investment Fund
    The Government will establish an Education Investment Fund (absorbing the Higher Education Endowment Fund) with an initial allocation of about $11 billion for higher education and vocational education and training facilities.

    'A cooperative approach'
    The Government is working with the States through COAG to develop long-term reform plans to boost the quality of education and training. The key goals include:
    
    Iimproving access to high quality early childhood education and care
    Providing greater flexibility to schools to lift student outcomes
    Lifting teaching quality
    Creating a fl exible and competitive national vocational training system
    Boosting the skill level of the Australian workforce
    
    Early childhood education
    $534 million over five years for universal access to a preschool year for all four year olds by 2013.
    $337 million to improve quality of, and access to, early childhood education and care, particularly for disadvantaged children.
    
    Schools
    
    Investment in schools includes:
    $1.2 billion over five years for the Digital Education Revolution to deliver computers and communications technologies to all Year 9-12 students
    $2.5 billion over 10 years for Trade Training Centres in Schools
    $577 million to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for students
    $62 million over three years for the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program
    $20 million to establish a National Curriculum Board.
    These initiatives will assist in lifting the Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate to 90 per cent by 2020.

    Higher education
    $500 million by 30 June 2008
    $626 million to reduce the cost of studying maths and science at university and to reduce HECS-HELP repayments for science and maths graduates who undertake work in a related field
    Skills and workforce development
    $1.9 billion to deliver up to 630,000 additional training places over five years.

    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • $11bn in unis cash bonanza
    by Stephen Matchett
    

    "Universities are among the few winners in tonight's budget, with Education Minister Julia Gillard announcing an immediate injection into the system of $500million.

    "The one-off Renewal Fund is intended to help universities "rebuild their campus infrastructure after 11 years of Howard government neglect".

    "The unexpected announcement is an early dividend from a new $11 billion resource, the Education Investment Fund, which adds $5 billion in new money to the previous government's $6 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund.

    "We are unlikely to see vice-chancellors dancing in the streets, that would be too scary, but we'll be dancing privately in our offices and lounge rooms," said RMIT University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner.

    "Commentators across the sector welcomed the new emphasis on infrastructure with Innovative Research Universities Australia chairman John Yovich putting the maintenance backlog at about $1.5 billion.

    "Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers said the budget provided an "overall very welcome down payment on the higher education component of the education revolution".

    "But a common disappointment was lack of action on services and income support for students.

    "National Union of Students president Angus McFarland was "shocked and disappointed" that out of $7 billion in new funding for universities, "not one cent" would go to restore essential student services.

    "Unlike the HEEF, which could outlay income only from interest, the Rudd Government's combined treasury will have no annual cap on allocations. The EIF will begin to operate in the 2009 financial year, giving the Government ample opportunity to adopt, amend and advocate the outcomes of the higher education and research reviews now under way, before committing its funds.

    "While the EIF will be managed by the board of guardians of the commonwealth's overall investment body, the Future Fund, the new resource will have its own board advising Gillard and Innovation Minister Kim Carr on funding applications.

    "The Government said: "This means that substantial investment can be made in our educational institutions in the coming years, transforming the capacity of these sectors to educate and train Australians."

    "However in a move that some in the sector will find ominous, vocational education institutions will also have access to the new fund, as well as universities and research institutions. This engagement with the technical and further education sector is in addition to the $2.5 billion over 10 years committed to trade training centres in schools.

    "HEEF board chairman Phil Clark, who has been asked to help oversee the transition to the new fund, welcomed the new broader endowment structure and the end to an inflexible reliance on earnings.

    "The $11 million is good but the totally integrated framework (of the new fund) is the real winner; most people will miss that," he said.

    "Mike Gallagher, executive director of the Group of Eight universities, said the willingness to spend capital from the endowment fund represented "a major shift". "Otherwise it would just be this drip (of interest earnings) over many years, a couple of hundred of million a year," he said. "We're billions behind the rest of the world."

    "Dr Withers welcomed the one-off, $500 million infrastructure renewal fund as "a surrogate for proper indexation of block grants".

    "National Tertiary Education Union president Carolyn Allport said it was "a very good budget for higher education ... it certainly exceeded our expectations.

    "The education revolution has started," she said.

    "Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations president Nigel Palmer said: "Promises were honoured but opportunities were missed. CAPA was disappointed that the APA stipend rate and the award duration were not increased.

    "The EIF is the standout announcement among an otherwise lacklustre collection of largely expected announcements delivering on election promises.

    "As anticipated, the Government has established 11,000 new commonwealth supported student places in place of the full-fee paying berths for undergraduates.

    "It was not clear last night whether the Government expects universities to bear any loss between fee income lost and what the commonwealth allocates to fund places in the various cost bands.

    "And in a decision that will disappoint university administrators and many student activists there is no mention of supplementary funding or a HECS-style fee arrangement to pay for campus services previously provided by compulsory student union fees. However "student amenities" are one of the areas, along with libraries, laboratories and lecture theatres, eligible for the immediate $500 million cash injection.

    "The overall budget theme of education as the engine of economic growth is reflected in a range of small funding measures intended to expand student numbers in areas where skill shortages are emerging or anticipated."

    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • Swan gets mixed grades from educators
    by Brendan O'Keefe
    

    "A leading educator praised the budget and said it was taking education in the right direction.

    "Professor Ian Chubb, vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, said universities were finally receiving the funding for infrastructure they had needed for so long.

    "All in all it's an excellent package and it's heading in a significant way in the right direction,'' Professor Chubb said.

    "I think that they've made some judicious and wise investments in higher education.''

    "He said the $5 billion education infrastructure fund would help universities compete in the international market for talent.

    "He welcomed the extra places for students and praised the government for keeping its election promises.

    "That's not something we're used to,'' he said.

    "Meanwhile the Australian Education Union welcomed the Budget but said it did not go far enough towards boosting public education.

    "Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said a more dramatic investment was needed to lift overall student performances, and address underachievement.

    "While funding their election commitments is welcome, it fails to address years of chronic underfunding and systematic neglect, courtesy of the Howard government,'' Mr Gavrielatos said.

    "He said the education future fund looked too far to the future.

    "Quite frankly what we require is an investment in education right now,'' he said.

    "Mr Gavrielatos said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had previously noted the need to boost indigenous, rural and special education, but the government had not done so in the budget.

    "It's a pity that those areas have not received a dramatic investment in education,'' he said."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • Full fee ban 'akin to bar on private school places'
    by Brendan O'Keefe
    

    "The abolition of domestic full-fee places at Australian universities was akin to banning secondary students from private high schools, a critic of the Labor policy has said.

    "University of Sydney vice-chancellor Gavin Brown said cutting fee-paying places would cost the institution $30million in the first four years and $20million a year after that.

    "The Labor policy was due to start next year.

    "In November, Labor promised universities between $300million and $400million in compensation.

    "Universities criticised the policy, saying it would force them to either cut staff or to rely more heavily on fee-paying international students, or both, to recoup lost income..."

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    

  • Students in protest raid over cuts to arts staff
    

    About 50 Melbourne University students protesting against academic staff cuts at the arts faculty yesterday invaded a building in an attempt to disrupt a university council meeting, trying at one stage to break through security guards blocking a liftwell.
    
    
    

  • $56.4m for indigenous literacy
    

    In keeping with the Government's commitment of ensuring the basics are right, the main strategy for halving the gap in school performance between indigenous and non-indigenous students is a $56.4 million program to expand the delivery of intensive literacy and numeracy programs.
    
    
    

• Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard's media release on the budget
  
  
  • An Education Revolution to secure our economic future
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers can swap to avoid tests (page 4)
    by Beatrice Thomas

    "State schoolteachers will not have their pay docked for refusing to administer the national reading, writing and maths tests provided they swap duties with another teacher who will oversee the exams, under an agreement brokered at the WA Industrial Relations Commission late yesterday.

    "The State School Teachers Union and Education Department emerged from a one-hour conference with Commission Jennifer Harrison to confirm that teachers would be allowed to swap so they could avoid administering the tests provided the arrangement was approved by the principal.

    "The tests - known as the National Assessment Plan Literacy and Numeracy exams for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 - are sure to go ahead after the union issued a directive on Friday to lift a boycott.

    "The Education Department immediately warned that teachers who simply refused to administer tests without alternative arrangements would have their pay cut. A letter to schools by Education Department human resources executive director John Serich on Friday angered union members by warning that teachers who failed to administer the tests would have their pay docked until they resumed full duties.

    "Late yesterday, Mr Serich issued a statement saying: "Teachers who have made an acceptable arrangement with their principal to perform other teaching duties while the tests are under way will not have their pay docked. Where teachers simply refuse to administer the testing without alternative arrangements acceptable to the principal being in place, their pay will be docked."

    "Union president Anne Gisborne said she was happy with the outcome, saying the resolution would allow teachers to convey their concerns while abiding by the commission's order last week.

    "Alternative people will be taking the class and supervising the implementation of the tests," she said.

    "The SSTU had lodged an application for an urgent hearing yesterday morning, arguing that the department's circular attempted to "create undue stress among its teachers", was "unnecessarily intimidating" and failed to "foster and promote good industrial relations with its employees".

    "Mr Serich said he was confident teachers would approach the tests professionally and put the needs of students first.

    "The union will canvass its members this week to gauge whether strikes will be the next step in its separate pay dispute with the State Government.

    "The department and union will be back at the commission today to report on the progress of negotiations.

    "The union will use the meeting to raise concerns about comments by Education Minister Mark McGowan which alluded to no further increases in funding for teachers' salaries after the $639 million State Budget allocation last week."

    From The West Australian
    
    Similar story on ABC News
    
    

  • SSTUWA Update
    
    
    • DET Backdown on docking pay
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Backdown on school 'league tables'
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The Rudd Government is backing away from its election commitment to publish the results of individual schools in national literacy and numeracy tests, which would have allowed "league tables" comparing schools across the nation.

    "Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday said the results of the first national literacy and numeracy tests, which start today, would be provided to parents and schools but not be available more widely.

    "When asked on ABC radio yesterday if schools' results would be available to parents outside that particular school, Ms Gillard said: "At this stage, what parents are going to get is their own report card. We're talking to state and territory governments about the best use of this information."

    "In the week before the federal election, Kevin Rudd and then education spokesman Stephen Smith released a policy document called Federal Labor's Commitment To Lift School Standards.

    "Under the sub-heading of Greater accountability, the document says: "A Rudd Labor government will publish the annual results of individual primary and secondary schools on national reading, writing and numeracy assessments for students in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9. Publication of school performance information will form an integral part of federal Labor's plan to improve literacy and numeracy ..."

    "The states and territories have agreed to provide the results of their schools to the commonwealth for the first time. But there is no agreement that they be published, with Queensland, NSW and South Australia adamantly opposed to so-called league tables. [emphasis added]

    "When asked about the election commitment, a spokeswoman for Ms Gillard said broad agreement had been reached with the states and territories for the commonwealth to receive results school by school. "Building on this agreement, we will be working with our state and territory colleagues to deliver our election commitment in full."

    "But The Australian understands that Queensland and NSW have agreed to provide school-by-school results to the federal Government on the condition that they are not used to help in the compilation of league tables.

    "NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca also opposes the results from the literacy and numeracy tests being used to identify disadvantaged schools for extra funding.

    "Mr Della Bosca yesterday said league tables were a "silly idea" and that using literacy and numeracy results to determine disadvantaged schools funding was too simplistic.

    "Each NSW school already reports to the school community on how the school is performing in a number of areas, including performance and standardised tests," a spokesman said.

    "Queensland Education Minister Rod Welford said the state had agreed only to provide school-by-school results to assist the commonwealth in identifying schools and students most in need of extra assistance.

    "We have always unequivocally rejected the proposition that league tables of schools for this narrow set of tests should be published," he said.

    "They're not representative of anything in relation to the school. It would be misleading and deceptive. They won't be published in the first year and what happens after that is still to be discussed."

    "South Australian Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith supported the existing practice where schools published information for parents in their annual reports.

    "I remain opposed to league tables," she said.

    "The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs yesterday released the agreed approach to national testing, signed by the commonwealth, and all states and territories except NSW.

    "The Australian understands that NSW refused to approve the release after receiving it at 5pm on Friday without any prior consultation and after its suggested amendments were rejected.

    "The release also details a system of 10 bands of achievement for student performance stretching across the four grades, and sets the lowest band as those Year 3 students failing to meet national benchmarks.

    "It is understood there was no prior consultation with the states about the number of bands for grading student results, nor where they should be set."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    See related story in The Age
    
    
    

  • Testing time for remote students
    by Natasha Robinson
    
    "Maj O'Neill, principal of the remote St Francis Xavier School at the Northern Territory community of Daly River, reckons sitting her students down for today's inaugural national literacy and numeracy testing will be a bit like "getting a tooth pulled".

    "You have to get through the pain to have the benefit later," she told The Australian from the community, 220km southwest of Darwin.

    "The pain lies in confronting the large gulf in the ability to read, write and count that exists between indigenous children in Daly River and privileged, non-indigenous children in the capital cities.

    "But for Ms O'Neill, the benefit will be that the teachers, bureaucrats and governments in charge of closing the gap in indigenous disadvantage will finally have the proper data to be able to see just how big the job ahead of them really is.

    "Anxiety exists among teachers and the education union about the national assessment program, which replaces the Territory's Multi-level Assessment Program.

    "Previously, teachers exercised a degree of discretion during the testing process, sometimes sitting a Year 5 student down to a Year 3 level test, or helping students by reading the questions for them. None of that will be allowed under the national testing model.

    "The Australian Education Union's Northern Territory president Nadine Williams said yesterday that concern also existed about the content of the tests and whether the questions would be relevant to the knowledge base of remote indigenous students.

    "If you don't start from where a child has their knowledge base, then the result is failure," Ms Williams said.

    "National benchmark figures on literacy and numeracy are already bad in the Territory, where fewer than 20 per cent of indigenous students at remote schools meet the national benchmark for reading.

    "Some fear that under the new national testing regime, the figures will be worse.

    "But the education department's deputy chief executive of education services, Ken Davies, said yesterday that the national test results would be structured so as to move away from the pass or fail model of a child either meeting benchmark or not.

    "Under the new results model, students will be placed in a band scale of achievement, meaning that their progress will be able to be tracked.

    "This is about building a way forward and it is certainly not about dooming kids to continuous failure," Mr Davies said."

From The Australian at link

• Op Ed
  Lower age of voting
  by Phillip Adams
  
  Hence my suggestion of a compromise. Non-compulsory voting for 16 and 17-year-olds.
  
  The arguments for L-plating at our polls begin with the undeniable fact that in 2008 many high schoolers know a hell of a lot more about politics, global and national, than their parents, who need to be compelled to apply the be-stringed pencil of Australian democracy to a ballot paper. My 16-year-old and her high school pals are years ahead of the 16-year-olds of my generation, for whom Menzies, Chifley and Calwell might have been the names of obscure elements on the periodic table.
  
  
  

• The Age
  
  
  • Questions over schools test
    by Farrah Tomazin
    
    "Parents will get unprecedented information showing whether their children are high or low achievers as part of Australia's first national literacy and numeracy test.

    "But the three-day program, which begins today, has already proved controversial, with some union teachers refusing to administer the exam and education experts questioning its value.

    "About 1 million children in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in the test over the next three days, as state and federal governments seek a more accurate snapshot of how students fare in reading, writing and maths.

    "For the first time, student achievement will be measured across 10 new bands for each of the key subject areas.

    "Parents will eventually get a report card showing how their child measures against national benchmarks, and also what "band" their child is in for their year level.

    "Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the findings would allow governments to direct resources to where they are needed most.

    "Obviously this is a tool that helps us identify where additional assistance is needed," she said.

    "But in some states or territories — including the Northern Territory and South Australia — union teachers are opposing the test, or refusing to take part in protest against their governments over school resourcing or teacher wages.

    "In Victoria, the education union called off plans to boycott the test after securing a $2 billion wage deal with the Brumby Government last week.

    "Others doubt whether the program will provide valuable information to parents.

    "RMIT University associate professor Kerry Hempenstall said the literacy test was badly designed because it only looked at comprehension, and failed to adequately reflect areas that were also important, such as decoding, vocabulary and reading fluency, he said.

    "He also said the multiple choice format of the test gave students a one-in-four chance of getting a question right.

    "If the benchmark were to be set at 25%, then almost all the students will reach the acceptable level," he said." [emphasis added]

    From The Age at link [See the following RMIT media statement for more info]
    
    
    
  • RMIT University Media Statement [12 May]
    
    
    • Expert Comment – National literacy tests

      Children across Australia will undertake a series of tests to examine their literacy and numeracy skills this week but an RMIT University literacy expert says the assessments are unlikely to produce useful information.

      Associate Professor Kerry Hempenstall said the multiple choice literacy task set as part of the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (Naplan) tests for year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students was badly designed for assessing reading achievement.

      “National assessment is a good thing as it enables the evaluation of our teaching system,” Associate Professor Hempenstall said.

      “Too often informal assessment done at school fails to reflect the child’s true literacy development – we see many children in the RMIT Clinic with significant reading problems despite parents having been assured by their school over several years that the child was doing well.

      “However, the current reading test looks only at comprehension so it doesn’t adequately reflect the elements that the science of reading has emphasised as areas of risk, which also include decoding, vocabulary, phonemic awareness and reading fluency.

      “The multiple choice format also gives students a one-in-four chance of getting a question right without having understood a word of the question.

      “If the benchmark were to be set at 25 per cent, then almost all the students will reach the acceptable level.”

      Associate Professor Hempenstall said the reading task needed to be revamped to better reflect literacy development and the benchmark for what constituted acceptable performance in the literacy tests needed to be transparent.

      “Currently, this benchmark can be raised or lowered at whim and no one is any the wiser,” he said.

      “Authorities can lower what they consider acceptable performance and so laud the approach to reading instruction currently being promoted.”

      Associate Professor Hempenstall, an expert on reading development, corrective reading and literacy, is available for comment on the Naplan tests.

      For interviews: RMIT University’s Dr Kerry Hempenstall, (03) 9925 7522 or 0418 357 041.

      For general media enquiries: RMIT University Media and Communications, Gosia Kaszubska, (03) 9925 3176 or 0417 510 735.
      
      
      

  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • I want to know

      "Maureen Douglas (Opinion, 12/5) says that nationalised testing will lead to children being labelled as "failures" and teachers focusing on instilling content. As someone who believes in the value of education, I would like to know, before sending my child into the unknown, how well primary schools in my local area perform in an educational sense, with respect to the national average. I would like all children to be tested.

      "A child who fails an academic test is not a failure, but a primary school where the majority of children are below the national average is failing the children.

      "Similarly, a school that is well above the national average must be doing something right, educationally speaking. If teachers focus on instilling content, that's OK by me. I would like be able to go to a Department of Education website, enter my postcode, and be able to make a fast yet informed decision about which primary school open nights I should attend or avoid. And (shock, horror), I might discover that the private school down the road isn't really doing that much better than the public school."

      Richard Hall, Greensborough
      
      

    • Success and failure

      "What Maureen Douglas proposes is yet another attempt to erode educational standards by pretending that all students can succeed all the time. Children in our schools need to be encouraged to see failure as an event, not a state.

      "Second, it's a fallacy to suggest that national tests preclude a teacher from communicating his/her perspective or using other assessment tools as a complement to the tests.

      "Third, testing is about providing parents, teachers and students with valuable and objective information about their school progress. If a student is having trouble, remedial action can be taken as soon as possible.

      "Finally, it is no coincidence that those who oppose accountability measures are almost always the ones who are being held accountable. Indeed, those who most fervently oppose the testing of students are usually the ones with a keen self-interest in keeping parents in the dark — teachers and administrators."

      Brendan Duong, West Sunshine
      
      

    • Taking up the fight

      "Thank goodness for the voice of sanity: a primary principal who values the state of childhood and the unique nature of each living, breathing child. Thank goodness for a school that aims to develop students as thoughtful, empathetic, risk-taking beings. Maureen Douglas shows courage in continuing to fight for values that once underpinned Victorian education but have been replaced by conformity, standardisation, test preparation and testing." [Thank Goodness... Even if they can't read, write or do sums, they will be thoughtful and empathetic.  Web]

      Lorraine Wilson, North Carlton

Wednesday 14 May

Alston's Budget Overview

© The West Australian

[now replace Wayne Swan with Carpenter, or McGowan, or DET...
substitute "teachers" for "the rich"...]

• The Australian
  
  
  • The Budget 2008 Special Edition contains many articles and opinion pieces, including:
    
    
    • Students at centre of learning future
      by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
      
      "The Labor Government intends to influence the way reading and maths is taught in schools as part of a $577.4 million program to improve literacy and numeracy standards. [see following analysis story]

      "In an Education Revolution budget that provides a real increase of 12.5 per cent for schools, almost $2.2 billion will be spent on school infrastructure and maintenance, and an extra $200 million for the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund promised during the election campaign.

      "The budget commits to Labor's election promises, including $2.5 billion over the next 10 years for trades training centres in high schools, $62.4 million over three years for teaching Asian languages and $1 billion a year for an Education Tax Refund, providing up to $375 a year for primary students and $750 a year for high school students.

      "The Government axed the Howard government's literacy and numeracy programs to help fund its National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy, including tuition vouchers for students failing literacy and numeracy benchmarks, worth $464.7 million over four years to 2011-12, summer schools for teachers, worth $96.2 million over four years, and a scheme to reward schools up to $50,000 for improvements in student results.

      "The budget papers say the National Action Plan is a first critical step in ensuring children have mastered the fundamental learning tools, without which they "will be impoverished learners and unable to contribute fully to society".

      "In a statement, Education Minister Julia Gillard said the plan would use the results from the first national tests in literacy and numeracy, which started yesterday, and evidence from around the world to determine the best methods for improving student proficiency.

      "As an integral part of the National Action Plan, the Rudd Government will provide $10 million to gather research and data to inform an evidence-based approach to literacy and numeracy programs and teacher professional development," she said.

      "Recent public debate over the teaching of reading has prompted a swing back towards teaching children the letter-sound combinations that make up the English language, eschewing the whole-language theories that learning to read is as natural as learning to speak. [emphasis added]

      "The budget papers say a key reform challenge is to improve the quality of teaching that takes place in the classroom and that there is evidence that the literacy and numeracy skills of teachers have been falling.

      "The budget recognises the poorly maintained infrastructure of many schools, particularly in the public system, and allocates $457 million on school capital works and $1.7 billion over four years on maintenance and infrastructure. In addition, the Government will invest $62.5 million over four years on its Local Schools Working Together pilot program, which will encourage government and non-government schools to share facilities.

      "In keeping with the Government's election commitment boosting the study of an Asian language, the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools program will add extra classes in high schools, teacher training and support and specialist curriculum for advanced students.

      "The extra money for the Digital Education Revolution brings the total investment to $1.2 billion over five years, and the Government will provide funding for the government and non-government school systems to develop a unified technical framework and fund the administration costs of the non-government bodies handling funding.

      "The federal Government has been engaged in discussions with the states and territories over the funding of the initial costs of installing the computers, including any necessary upgrades, and the ongoing costs of maintaining and providing technical support for the computers."

      From The Australian at link
      
      
      
    • Analysis
      Gillard wants techniques that work
      by Justine Ferrari
      
      "Wondering whatever happened to the Education Revolution? Julia Gillard last night made clear her approach. It's not just about money - it's about challenging questionable teaching methods.

      "The Education Minister has signalled she is prepared to take teachers on where it matters: in the classroom. In a direct foray into the divisive Reading Wars, Gillard is talking about making sure that teachers use proven methods in teaching children how to read and how to add up.

      "The revolution will come in changing the thinking of teachers so they embrace practices based on the evidence of what works and not the latest scatterbrain idea dreamed up by some dusty academic who rarely enters a classroom, much less teaches kids. [emphasis added]

      "The Rudd Government says in its National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy that an evidence-based approach will take primacy.

      "As an integral component of the National Action Plan, the Rudd Government will provide $10 million to gather research and data to inform an evidence-based approach to literacy and numeracy programs and teacher professional development," Gillard's budget release says.

      "This is about what works."

      "The budget papers talk of the importance of ensuring that teacher training is grounded in the evidence, and in the practical skills required of teachers in the classroom.

      "The real battleground facing Gillard will be in the education faculties in universities, which are responsible for training new teachers and seemingly willing to be captured by the latest ideology sweeping the world.

      "Teaching children to sound out words was thrown out in favour of whole-language techniques, teaching reading as if by osmosis. Direct explicit instruction was replaced by student-centred learning -- teachers no longer pass on knowledge and skills, but are "facilitators" for students directing their own learning. [emphasis added]

      "Rote learning of times tables is deemed boring, as are the rules of grammar and spelling, and not fundamental to developing sophisticated skills and understanding.

      "For too long, the education debate has been mired in claim and counter-claim. Pedagogical techniques are rarely subjected to large-scale scientific-standard control testing. Most educational research is quantitative, making assertions based on the experience of a handful of students.

      "In the case of reading, a large control study was conducted a few years ago comparing children in Scotland, taught to read using phonics, and students in New Zealand, taught using whole language. The Scottish children had reading skills a year or more ahead of their New Zealand peers. But these results have been roundly rejected by the whole-language proponents.

      "That is the scale of the challenge facing Gillard: the evidence is not enough to convince the ideologues. The revolution must be as much a cultural revolution as a revolution in education."

      From The Australian at link
      
      
      
    • School result reports backed
      by Justine Ferrari
      
      "The public reporting of student and school results substantially improves performance, the budget papers say, adding weight to arguments in favour of "league tables" comparing schools across the nation.

      "The argument runs counter to recent comments backing away from the idea by Education Minister Julia Gillard.

      "As reported in The Australian yesterday, Ms Gillard has refused to endorse an election commitment that the Government will publish the results of individual schools in national tests of literacy and numeracy, which started yesterday.

      "But in a statement on boosting Australia's productive capacity, the budget papers mount an argument for publishing school-by-school results of national tests, and individual student results. It quotes research from the OECD and other researchers that publicly reporting student and school results, and giving schools greater autonomy, has "significant positive impacts on student performance".

      "OECD research finds that students in schools that publicly release their performance results performed substantially better than students in schools that did not, even after accounting for the demographic and socioeconomic background of students and schools," the statement says.

      "The Government is spending $17.2 million over four years to establish a National Schools Assessment and Data Centre to improve the collection, reporting and analysis of data relating to schools performance and student achievement of educational goals.

      "The budget statement accords with the commitment given in the election campaign by Kevin Rudd and then education spokesman Stephen Smith."

      From The Australian at link
      
      See related story in The West Australian
      
      
      
    • A trio of funds to rebuild a nation
      
      Australia will consolidate and expand a series of sovereign funds, creating a $51billion pool to be used to break economic bottlenecks, combat the rapid ageing of the nation's road, rail, ports and communications infrastructure, lift the delivery of health and education services and provide confidence for future business investment.
      
      
      
    • Instant boost for higher learning
      
      Higher and further education will receive a $5billion injection for capital expenditure and maintenance, with an immediate allocation of $500 million over the next two months.
      
      
      
    • Editorial
      Swan-lite effort comes up short
      
      The budget is responsible but not extraordinary, lacking courage on reform and in deep cuts to spending
      
      
      • Op Ed: Trade-off will make or break Labor [Paul Kelly]
        
        
      • Op Ed: Pressure will remain on monetary policy [Alan Wood]
        
        
      • Op Ed: Spending slayer more a prodder [Jennifer Hewett]
        
        
        
        
    • Op Ed
      Cash alone can't transform unis
      
      According to Julia Gillard, the Government will "transform" universities and training with the budget announcement of an $11 billion investment fund.

      No, it won't.
      
      

    • Op Ed
      Buying time, not a revolution
      
      Despite the Government's rhetoric, this is not an education revolution.

      But it is a first step towards the real reform universities have been awaiting for a decade.

      
      

    • Parents to lose pay if kids miss school
      
      Parents who do not enrol their children or send them to school will have their welfare payments stopped under a plan to be tested in eight communities across the country.
      
      
      
    • National standard for early childcare
      
      The Government will overhaul early childhood services, imposing national standards for childcare centres and for what children should learn, and boosting the educational standards of the workforce as part of its strategy to reorganise the system to provide early education rather than care.
      
      
      
  • Op Ed
    Children destined to fail without the basics of learning
    by Kevin Donnelly
    
    "The usual suspects are arguing that this week's national literacy and numeracy tests are educationally unsound and counter-productive.

    "Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos claims British and American research proves national testing fails to raise standards. Futhermore, he claims it "compromises overall education outcomes because it narrows curriculum by forcing teachers to 'teach to the test"'.

    "Groups such as the Australian Association for the Teachers of English and the Australian Curriculum Studies Association also oppose standardised testing; they argue that telling children they have failed is bad for their self-esteem and such tests focus too much on the basics.

    "Reality check. Most children already know there are winners and losers, and while giving them an honest appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses might upset some, it certainly beats promoting them through school with a false sense of achievement.

    "The basics are the foundation of learning, without which children are destined to failure. Spelling, grammar and punctuation, addition, subtraction, and division, all of which are being tested this week, are prerequisites for further learning, especially for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    "The next time you catch a plane or drive a car, remember that teaching to the test has its benefits. It's good if pilots and drivers have been taught to such a degree that flying and driving, in many respects, becomes automatic.

    "Research into how children best learn also concludes that memorisation, rote learning and mental arithmetic are essential.

    "While testing, by itself, is not a magic bullet, overseas research shows that those foreign students who perform better than Australians in mathematics and science regularly sit tests and face consequences for failure.

    "Since the introduction in the US of the No Child Left Behind legislation - which forces schools to regularly test students - standar