Monday 26 May [BCA teacher pay proposal]

Tuesday 27 May

Wednesday 28 May

Thursday 29 May

Friday 30 May

Saturday – Sunday, 31 May – 1 June

 

Monday 26 May

• The Australian
  
  
  • Double teacher pay: business [Lead National Story]
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Big business has called for the top rate of pay for teachers to be almost doubled under a national system of accreditation to raise the status of the profession.

    "The Business Council of Australia also supports setting a minimum university entry score of 75 for teaching courses and is considering establishing a scholarship scheme to encourage the brightest students to become teachers.

    "The policy paper released today by the BCA sets out a five-point plan to recognise outstanding teachers and keep them in the classroom, and to lift the standard of the profession.

    "A key recommendation of Teaching Talent, prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research, is overhauling the salary scale for teachers and establishing a national certification scheme recognising four levels of proficiency.

    "It would raise the present highest salary level from about $70,000 for the most experienced classroom teachers to about $130,000.

    "Salary may not be a strong reason why current teachers have chosen to teach, but it is a strong reason why many abler graduates choose not to teach," the paper says. "Who really believes that a top salary for classroom teachers of about $70,000 means we place sufficient value on teachers' work to attract the best university graduates?

    "There is no justification for assuming ... that our society can continue to get away with not paying teachers what they are worth." [emphasis added]

    "The BCA says the first step in improving educational standards is to attract the best people into teaching, and it calls for a review of the current system that fills teaching courses regardless of academic ability.

    "The entry score into primary teaching courses in some universities is less than 60 per cent although some have scores higher than 80 per cent.

    "(This) means Australia is recruiting substantial numbers of primary teachers from the middle third of high school graduates rather than the top third," the paper says.

    "The current practice whereby universities are free to enrol students in teacher education courses until they fill course quotas, regardless of academic ability, clearly needs to be reviewed."

    "The BCA "strongly endorses" the recommendations made in two parliamentary reports for raising entry standards, including setting entry scores at a minimum of 75 and all primary teaching students having studied English, maths and science in Year 12.

    "The BCA scheme sets out ratios of pay for each level, with the top teachers receiving 2.5 times the starting salary, which is close to $50,000 in most states. [emphasis added]

    "The present salary scale is flat compared with other professions, with teachers reaching their highest level of about $70,000 after only eight years.

    "Teaching graduates would be given provisional registration and expected to attain the level of registered teacher within three years after meeting state and territory competency standards. Under the BCA scheme, registered teachers would be paid 1.25 times the starting salary, which is close to $50,000 in most states.

    "The initial stages of teacher registration would be handled by the states and territories but the BCA argues for a voluntary national system for the top two levels, overseen by an independent national teacher accreditation agency.

    "The standard for accomplished teacher would reflect the standards expected of teachers after 10 years in the profession, and they would be paid twice the starting salary.

    "Leading-teacher status would be based on a track record of leading and managing colleagues in initiatives to improve student learning and welfare and would be paid at 2.5 times the starting salary.

    "The proposal is modelled on the NSW Institute of Teachers and the BCA estimates it will take 10 years to establish a national certification system."

  From The Australian at link
  
  Similar stories in The West Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC News
  
  Full BCA report, BCA press release and ABC radio interview at this link
  
  ABC Radio Interview with Julia Gillard on the BCA Report (from her website):

  "While New South Wales Education Minister John Della Bosca has dismissed the Business Council paper as "unfunded" and "unworkable", his federal counterpart, Julia Gillard, welcomes the report..." [but NO commitment to higher pay for teachers... See report from ABC News, below... Web]
  
  

  BCA Report: Teaching Talent: The Best Teachers for Australia’s Classrooms Executive Summary - The quality of teaching is the main driver of successful student learning outcomes. - Australia's teaching profession and its schools constitute an infrastructure that is critical to its survival in an increasingly global economy. - Every student deserves teachers who are suited to teaching, well trained and qualified, highly skilled, caring and committed to moving forward the learning of their students. - One of the main roles of leadership in professions is to build a framework for professional learning from registration to advanced levels of standards, and systems for providing assessments and certification for members who reach those standards. It is important, therefore, to strengthen leadership in quality teaching at the wider professional level as well as at the level of the individual school. Education in Australia is still highly bureaucratised, and it is time to question whether bureaucratic management of schools by state education departments is sufficient to deliver the kind of leadership that influences teachers' practice significantly or improves student learning outcomes. - Stakeholders are unanimous that the first step in achieving improved outcomes in education is to attract the best people into teaching. - Salary may not be a strong reason why current teachers have chosen to teach, but it is a strong reason why many abler graduates choose not to teach, and this is cause for considerable concern if we want our education system to remain among the best in the world. There is no justification for assuming from this that our society can continue to get away with not paying teachers what they are worth. Research studies also constantly confirm that salary and working conditions are the main reasons why many good teachers leave the profession. - Present arrangements in teaching do not encourage, reward or indeed require advanced professional learning. - It is clear that there is a broad consensus that action is needed to radically strengthen procedures for recognising and rewarding teachers who reach high teaching standards. - Who really believes that a top salary for classroom teachers of about $70,000 means we place sufficient value on teachers' work to attract the best university graduates? Who really believes that the typical office spaces in which teachers are expected to prepare and assess student work and carry out their business are indicators of an attractive and esteemed profession? - Attracting enough people into teacher education and attracting people of suitable quality are two major issues that tend to work against each other. Any decline in the attractiveness of teaching is cause for concern, particularly if this results in universities lowering entry standards to fill their allocated quotas for teacher education students. When decline in the attractiveness of teaching as a career coincides with projected teacher shortages, this increases the pressure for entry standards to fall. This is the situation we face at present. Entry standards to teaching must not be allowed to fall further. Rather, they should rise. - The next step is to prepare future teachers through teacher education programs that meet the highest standards. It is becoming clear that the most effective way of achieving quality and consistency will be through a system of national accreditation of teacher education courses. - There is a pressing need for a unified national approach to managing teacher demand and supply. - There are no cost-neutral ways to ensure that in the future Australia will have a teaching profession equal to the best in the world. But there will be major costs if we do not. Fortunately, there is broad public recognition of the need for better pay and conditions for teachers. This is conditional, however, on guarantees that it will be linked to sound evidence of improving teacher quality and professional performance. - Newly conceived career paths are needed for the teaching profession to ensure that teachers have strong incentives to engage in the type of professional learning that leads to high teaching standards and improves student learning outcomes. Salary structures for teachers need to be more effective as instruments for promoting widespread use of successful teaching practices. - Although there is strong agreement that teacher quality is fundamental, it is currently difficult to find evidence of coherent, concerted, coordinated policy efforts at state and federal levels focused on teacher quality. Accountability for ensuring quality teachers and school leaders is unclear and diffused. - Education policy needs to focus more clearly on what matters most to student learning - concerted, long-term policies and strategies to assure quality in the teaching profession. We know that good teachers matter, but we must start to act as if we really believed it.

   

  • No excuses for indigenous students
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "The indigenous community has to discard the misguided notion that gaining an education makes them less Aboriginal.

    "One of the nation's most respected indigenous educators, Chris Sarra, has called on the Aboriginal community to ensure children take their rightful place in the Rudd Government's education revolution.

    "Ahead of his address to the National Press Club today to mark Sorry Day, Dr Sarra said Australian society had to stop making excuses for Aboriginal students being chronic under-achievers who failed to attend school, and expect the same of them as any other student.

    "He said the Aboriginal community had a responsibility to embrace the education revolution and discard any idea that it threatened indigenous culture.

    "We have to stop making excuses now and stop thinking schools are turning our kids into being like white kids," he told The Australian.

    "We have to understand the more educated we become, the greater the scope for us to enhance our culture and sense of Aboriginal identity." ...

    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Too early to comment on teacher pay rise calls: Gillard
    
    "Education Minister Julia Gillard says it is too early to say if the Federal Government would support a top pay rate for teachers of $130,000, as the Business Council of Australia (BCA) suggests.

    "A new report for the BCA calls for two new levels for teachers - one paid at up to $110,000 per year and the highest up to $130,000.

    "It also says the levels should not be linked to student test results because that is not an accurate measure, but instead teachers should be encouraged to apply for higher accreditation to recognise their own professional skills.

    "Ms Gillard says the federal and state governments aim to agree on a new plan for teachers' pay in December.

    "We're already hard at work with our state and territory colleagues, working out how we can improve teacher quality and how we can reward excellence in teaching," she said.

    "Every policy and plan of the Government has to be be worked through carefully and costed - and of course we will be doing that work."

    "The Education Union has welcomed the Business Council's report.

    "Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos hopes the report will focus the Government's attention on investing in education.

    "The Rudd Government has policy on this, which broadly reflects this proposal. What's lacking from the Rudd Government is money on the table."

    "Earlier Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith said change was needed to lift the standard of people applying for the job.

    "We need to get the best and brightest into teaching and when we get them in we need to keep them in there," he said.

    "Putting computers in schools, the schools will welcome [that] but - as one teacher said to me recently - they're not of much use if we don't have the teachers there.

    "The quality teachers will make the difference in the classroom.

    "There's nothing more important than the quality of our teachers and this is where the focus of any education revolution should be."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • WA Minister not concerned by teachers' salary report
    
    "Western Australian Education Minister Mark McGowan says he is not concerned about the implications of a new report calling for teachers to be paid up to $130,000.

    "The State School Teachers Union has been embroiled in a pay dispute with the Government since late last year.

    "A report by the Business Council of Australia calls for two new levels of teacher, one paid at up to $110,000 a year and the highest up to $130,000.

    "Mr McGowan has defended the Government's pay offer.

    "These ideas are fine in theory but you need to work within a budget and you need to make sure you put more teachers in the work force for longer," he said.

    "That means making sure all of our teachers are well paid, but especially rewarding those going to difficult locations."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Teachers' pay call 'ludicrous': NSW Govt
    
    "New South Wales Education Minister John Della Bosca has described as ludicrous a proposal to raise some teachers' salaries to $130,000 a year.

    "The Business Council of Australia is calling for the boost to teachers' pay, saying many talented people are avoiding the profession because of the low salary.

    "But Mr Della Bosca says raising salaries to $130,000 a year is unrealistic.

    "Suggesting we double teachers pay with no prospect of paying for it, I'm afraid, is just a bit of pie in the sky," he said.

    "The Business Council's plan calls for two new levels for teachers - one paid at up to $110,000 per year and the highest up to $130,000.

    "It also says the levels should not be linked to student test results because that is not an accurate measure.

    "The council says teachers should instead be encouraged to apply for higher accreditation to recognise their own professional skills.

    "The State Government says the plan would cost it more than $2 billion a year

    "But Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran says teachers have been undervalued for too long.

    "It is a large funding package but it is time for governments to invest in the teaching profession," she said.

    "Governments over the years have refused to put in funding because there are a lot of teachers. Governments have refused to recognise the value that those teachers have in the community."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  
  
  • Call to put CCTV in high schools (page 15)
    by Aleisha Preedy
    
    "Installing closed-circuit television cameras in WA high schools would help control bullying, vandalism and drug trafficking, according to WA Secondary Executives Association president Rob Nairn.
    
    "Mr Nairn said schools that reported many cases of antisocial behaviour would benefit if security cameras were introduced after Victorian principals said they had led to a marked decrease in bullying when installed in 95 per cent of State schools.
    
    “If there’s something happening and we have the technology to stop it, with common sense, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be pursued,” Mr Nairn said.
    
    “Most shopping centres are under video surveillance. Yes, there needs to be a commonsense approach, but I can see how security cameras would be beneficial.
    
    “If security cameras could assist with any negative issues that occurred in schools that would be a positive step.”
    
    "A Department of Education and Training spokesman said some WA State schools at risk of damage and vandalism had used temporary security cameras but there were no plans to introduce them permanently to help monitor bullying.
    
    "State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne called Mr Nairn’s idea an intrusion on privacy and that any “Big Brother-type” security system could put students and teachers at risk of misinterpretation.
    
    “Once you put in place these sorts of measures where you are having people observed 24 hours a day, that can impede the development of good relationships between teachers and students and there’s always a risk the information on cameras can be taken out of context and used for other less savoury matters,” she said.
    
    “If there was a need for security cameras, it would need to be done in a restricted way and the location of these cameras would need to be carefully considered and done in consultation with teaching staff.
    
    “I would also think parents would be concerned about the risk the information and footage could be badly used if put into the wrong hands.”
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • In Short
      
      "I'm very proud to an old Ionian after reading Wednesday's The West Australian. I think it is a very bold move for Ms Herley to challenge what the students at most western suburbs schools think they are entitled to. The Year 12 ball is an event that certainly needs reassessing. In a world that seems increasingly less concerned with challenging the norm, I put my full support behind Ms Herley and Iona Presentation College."

      J.Swarbrick, Nedlands

      
      
      
• The Age
  
  
  • Editorial
    Better education for all students must be the goal
    
    Private schools should not dismiss out of hand federal government ideas for a new funding model.
    
    "Ten years ago a newly elected federal backbencher gave his maiden speech in which he raised the many problems that he believed beset the country's education system. As Prime Minister a decade later, Kevin Rudd still speaks passionately about the power of education, describing it as the engine room of equity. Indeed, his "education revolution" is a major plank in his government's social policy.

    "Last week, Mr Rudd's Education Minister, Julia Gillard, advanced federal Labor's apparent commitment to reform in this area when she raised the possibility of a new funding model for private and public schools. In a speech to the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, she announced that a review of the current funding model for private schools would be finished by 2012 — funding that she said the Government would maintain until that time — and that she expected new arrangements to begin from 2013.

    "What exactly these new arrangements will be is not yet entirely clear, but would be developed around the idea that the way in which private schools are funded should be extended to those in the public system, a system that educates the greater majority of Victoria's children.

    "Under the current socio-economic status formula, private schools are funded according to the income, occupation and education of parents within the school's census district. If this system were to be applied to public schools, Ms Gillard believes they would be better equipped to serve their communities, communities that vary greatly in their social and economic make-up.

    "Ms Gillard said she did not believe the existing funding arrangements properly served the best interests of schools, students, teachers or families. Indeed, she described the current funding system as one of the most complex and confusing in the developed world. She could also have easily added that it is also one of the most divisive, engendering what can only be described as a kind of smouldering class enmity.

    "The minister is to be congratulated for an idea that, refreshingly, moves beyond the public/private school division. If the Government's research is accurate, the distribution of wealth, occupation and education levels is changing, the result being that some private schools now serve poorer communities and some government schools cater for those that are more affluent.

    "Therefore, there is much to recommend a funding model that responds to changing demographics and better targets disadvantage by allocating money where it is most needed. Funding based on community need rather than systemic difference makes sense and should be seriously considered by those involved in directing the future of Victoria's schools.

    "Ms Gillard's announcement that she will make public the forthcoming socio-economic status scores that will be used to determine school funding levels for 2009-12 is also to be endorsed. It will help increase the transparency of who gets what and why, and will go some way to help alleviate the tension between the two sectors.

    "Non-government schools have been quick to question the Government's proposed changes, speculating about a major upheaval in funding that could leave them not as well off in the future. Shadow education minister Tony Smith has even raised the spectre of a reappearance of Mark Latham's so-called hit list of 67 private schools whose funding would have been sharply cut under ALP policy — a policy that was a major factor in Labor's drubbing at the 2004 election.

    "But they have jumped the gun. Under Ms Gillard's nascent policy, the private school system as a whole would be no worse off — it is the distribution of money to individual schools that would be different, some might even say more equitable.

    "A review of the way in which schools are funded is appropriate. The current model, introduced by the Howard government in 2001, and which guaranteed that no school would lose money, clearly has problems, not the least of which is its inconsistency. Indeed, according to an Education Department report, the model is not being applied fairly to all schools, with two-thirds of Catholic and a quarter of independent schools receiving more money than they were entitled to.

    "Ms Gillard is heading in the right direction to create a fairer schools funding system, one that, in turn, could lead to a better education for all Victorians. That is not something that should be too easily dismissed."
    

    From The Age at link
    
    
    
  • The Monday Education Section has nine articles, including:
    
    
    • P-12 schools 'could do better'
      by Caroline Milburn
      
      "Most of Victoria's growing number of prep to year 12 schools are not fulfilling their potential.

      "A review commissioned by the State Education Department into state, Catholic and independent P-12 schools found most have not developed or improved as they could have because they continue to operate as if they are separate primary and secondary schools.

      "There is little evidence that P-12 schools are developing a plan for seamlessness or of continuity, or even identifying the characteristics or qualities of a seamless curriculum across the P-12 spectrum," the review says.

      "Victoria has about 190 P-12 schools that provide both primary and secondary education, with more than half operating in the independent school sector. Most are in regional Victoria. However, the number in urban areas is growing because of changes in demographics and the merger of schools with dwindling enrolments.

      "The review found few P-12 schools, apart from some small rural ones, are taking advantage of their structure by offering a unified curriculum, cross-age tutoring and programs, and sharing staff expertise across the year levels of prep to year 12. The overwhelming reason that P-12 schools gave for not planning their curriculum on a P-12 basis was cultural differences between the primary and secondary sectors. The review found the differences were underpinned by:

      • Teacher education courses that traditionally train teachers in only one sector.
      • Different industrial awards for primary and secondary teachers.
      • Each sector using different approaches to learning.

    "Phil Brown, whose organisation, the Country Education Project, co-ordinated the review, says education authorities in government and non-government school sectors have been slow to provide policy leadership on P-12 schools, given the number of such schools has been steadily rising over the past 30 years.

    "It's a bit sad that we have not progressed the potential of P-12 schools that can allow kids and teachers to move up and down a school with a lot more freedom than is usually the case," says Mr Brown, the project's CEO. "A year 5 kid who is extremely talented in maths could be working with year 8 kids. A whiz-bang VCE teacher could provide deep and rich content learning in primary school. There are a lot of ways to transpose a teacher's skill base and teaching strategies to different levels of a school. It's happening in some schools but, unfortunately, not in many."

    "The review found middle-years policy initiatives by education authorities have led to some P-12 curriculum planning and sharing of staff across years 5 to 8. However, Nicholas Abbey, chairman of the review's research reference group, says many schools that adopt such an approach still rely on the traditional divisions that characterise primary and secondary schooling.

    "We found there was a movement away from primary and secondary schools being co-located in a P-12 school to the development of three mini schools in a P-12 with an assistant principal attached to each one. From a management perspective that makes sense, but there's also a concern that you end up with a segregated P-12 model rather than developing a learning continuum," Mr Abbey says.

    "There are some examples of good practice, like middle school work, which often involves primary and secondary teachers working together. But no school yet has been able to take on the broad, big package of P-12 schooling and what a unified curriculum would look like."

    "The review, The P-12 Education Research Project, examined the curriculum and organisation of 50 government, Catholic and independent P-12 schools statewide last year. Its findings were sent to the Education Minister, Bronwyn Pike, in September.

    "The Government has asked the Country Education Project to establish a committee of members from all school sectors to investigate how the review's recommendations could be implemented."

    http://cep.org.au/

    Learning Curve

    What the review recommended:

    • Teacher training courses should be changed to focus on three learning stages: prep-4, years 5-9 and years 10-12.
    • All teacher trainees should be trained in at least two of the three stages and be prepared to teach in at least two of the stages in schools.
    • Teacher unions, the Victorian Institute of Teaching and employers from each sector should create one industrial award for all teachers in P-12 schools.
    • P-12 schools and education authorities need to establish a system to encourage and support curriculum planning across the prep-12 spectrum.
    • P-12 schools should establish a network to share best practice in teaching and curriculum innovation.

    Source: The P-12 Education Research Project.
    
    From The Age at link
    
    

    • Chasing down infinity
      
      One of our favourite quotes comes from the writer Oliver Goldsmith: "Wherever the doctrines of infinity enter into philosophy, knowledge ceases, and we talk at random". And it seems to be true. Infinity inspires all manner of fear and confusion and nonsense. Can anything worthwhile be said at all?
      
      
    
    
    • An ear to the classroom door
      

    Dear Ms Gillard,

    I realise your hectic schedule doesn't allow for many school excursions. So I am asking you to come on a short virtual tour with me. So much education research must pass your desk, too many models - Swedish, Scottish, American, English etc - so I am not going to burden you with statistics. Well, only a very few. Instead, why don't we walk, drive, listen to a couple of kids, think, meet some teachers, have coffee and talk school.
    
    

    • Warning: learning can kill
      by Carl Zimmer, New York Times
      

      'Why are humans so smart?" is a question that fascinates scientists. Tadeusz Kawecki, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland, likes to turn around the question.

      "If it's so great to be smart," Dr Kawecki asks, "why have most animals remained dumb?"

      "Dr Kawecki and like-minded scientists are trying to figure out why animals learn and why some have evolved to be better at learning than others. One reason for the difference, their research finds, is that being smart can be bad for an animal's health."

      
      
      
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • A mature approach to teaching
    
    Why shouldn't older people with life skills be encouraged to teach? The [NSW] National Party leader, Andrew Stoner, thinks they should.
    
    "... We must reduce the barriers to mature-age workers joining the teaching profession. For NSW Education Week, the Liberal-Nationals have put forward two innovative suggestions in a discussion paper.

    "First, the education system needs to recognise non-education-based work experience in determining remuneration.

    "For example, a mathematician with 15 years' industry experience should not start as a graduate teacher. There needs to be recognition of life experience.

    "Secondly, we have suggested the creation of a new pathways program that would enable lateral entry into the profession. Select students would be able to study a Diploma of Education while earning a salary..."
    
    The full discussion paper will be posted at this link
    
    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    

  • Youngsters tough critics, says award-winning author (25 May)
    
    Literature for children and young people is just as challenging to write as adult fiction and the critics are just as tough, says award-winning author James Roy.
    
    
    

  • Elite school students get more special help in HSC
    
    Scores of elite private schools in NSW have won "special consideration" for their HSC students facing the gruelling exams, raising questions of whether they are gaining an unfair advantage.
    
    
    
  • New selective classes for city's west, regions
    
    Western Sydney and regional NSW will be first in line for 600 new selective high school places. The State Government wants selective classes at 14 comprehensive schools including Parramatta High, Blacktown Girls and Boys high schools, Wyong High, Grafton High and Armidale High.
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Literature opens the door to compassion in our brief lives
    by Junot Diaz
    
    "Let us give thanks to librarians. When I was young and knuckleheaded, fighting against being poor, against being brown, against being an immigrant, against being rejected by my father, it was a librarian assigned to a tiny precinct in Central New Jersey who took the time out of her work and with care and arid enthusiasm introduced me to the wonder of books and in the process, I would argue, saved my life..."
    
    Junot Diaz teaches creative writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao. This is an edited transcript of the closing address he gave yesterday at the Sydney Writers' Festival.
    
    
    
    
  • Letter to the Editor
    
    
    • No merit in priority staffing

      "Ned Manning (Letters, May 24-25) supports a centralised staffing system in which teachers gain priority transfers to the area of their choice after working in less favourable locations. Many people would be unaware that much of teacher staffing in NSW is still based on a priority system rather than merit selection. So permanent teachers - regardless of merit - can be appointed over a temporary or casual teacher. Staff coming out of head or district offices can be appointed to schools regardless of merit and these anomalies will still be retained. It is up to the Government and the Teachers Federation to come up with a system that supports hard-to-staff schools and does away with a system that in many cases does not provide the best person for the job."

      Sue Daniels, Hunters Hill
      
      
      

• The Times
  
  
  • Schools in revolt over under-5s curriculum
    by Alexandra Frean, Education Editor
    
    "A powerful coalition of England’s leading independent schools is demanding that the Government scale back its new national curriculum for the under-fives, claiming that it violates parents’ human rights by denying them the freedom to choose how they educate their children.

    "The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents 1,280 fee-paying schools educating more than 500,000 children, has written a blistering letter to Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, complaining that the new curriculum will mean that the education of under-fives is subject to greater government interference than that of any other age group.

    "A leaked copy of the letter, seen by The Times, says that the curriculum, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, will compromise its member schools’ independence. “This clumsy intrusion into the early years’ curriculum of independent schools is both unjustified and unnecessary. More importantly, this interference conflicts with the rights of parents to privacy in their home life, which includes the freedom to choose how they educate their children and to educate them free from the control of the state,” the letter states.

    "The letter, copied to the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, also complains that the framework is likely to hold back children’s progress and to lower standards. George Marsh, who is headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School in South London and chairman of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said he was concerned that the framework might eventually herald greater interference in the curriculum for older children..."
    
    Full story in The Times at link
    
    
    

• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Teachers' Pay Raises
    
    A 4.4 per cent pay rise brings Washington, D.C. starting teachers' salary up to US$ 42,369 [A$ 44,063].

Tuesday 27 May

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Teachers offered $17 to clean up classrooms (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "The depth of WA's labour supply crisis has been highlighted by the revelation the education department is so desperate for cleaners it is offering teachers $17 an hour to stay behind after class to clean two schools in Karratha.

    "The Department of Education and Training confirmed yesterday that teachers at Karratha Senior High School have been asked to help out by cleaning classrooms, emptying rubbish bins, wiping desks, vacuuming and washing floors.

    "A Karratha branch of the State School Teachers Union said a similar request had been made at Karratha Primary School.

    "The union branch said teachers at both schools had been cleaning without pay when required for years. Sometimes students were asked to step in when cleaners were unavailable, the union claimed.

    "Union members at the high school have refused the request and decided they will no longer clean their classrooms.

    "In a letter sent to Education Minister Mark McGowan, union members said they were concerned that the filthy state of the school was jeopardising the health of students and staff.

    "Some rooms are left unclean with bins overflowing for well over a week," the letter states. "Some areas of the school, including the school gym receive cleaning once or twice a term."

    "The branch said the school now had just one cleaner trying to keep up with a school containing more than 650 students and about 50 teachers, when it required at least four.

    "We feel now that students in our care will suffer an accident or illness directly related to the cleanliness of these areas," the letter said.

    "SSTU president Anne Gisborne said the Government had to find a solution because cleaning was not with teachers' job descriptions.

    "As it is they're struggling to keep ahead of things with their workload and to expect teachers to turn around and undertake to clean the buildings in which they work is totally inappropriate," she said.

    "Health and wellbeing of teachers and students in the school may be at risk and that will not be satisfactory to the school community."

    "The department's acting executive director of infrastructure, Mal Parr, said like all businesses in the Pilbara schools in Karratha were having trouble finding and employing cleaners.

    "While the Department of Education and Training would prefer to employ permanent cleaning staff, it is investigating the use of contract cleaners for Karratha schools on a short-term basis," he said. "These cleaners are expected to be in place within the next couple of days."

    "In late 2006, the department paid more than $100,000 to fly four cleaners from Perth to Karratha to clean the high school for a month because it could not find any locals to do the job."

    From The West Australian
    
    Similar story on ABC News
    
    The full ECU Report [2.5 MB .pdf]
    
    

    • What Anne Gisborne should have said:
      
      "It is an absolute insult that this government would even consider offering trained professionals well below award rates to clean their own classrooms. If this unhealthy and unsafe situation is not immediately remedied, I will be advising that our members walk off the site indefinitely on full pay. It is the responsibility of every employer to provide a safe and hygenic environment for their employees." [Marko Vojkovic on the PLATO Forum]
      
      
      
      

  • Disillusioned police and teachers looking at other jobs: survey (page 6)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "A third of police and a quarter of teachers are actively looking for jobs outside their profession because they are so disillusioned with their work, a new study has found.

    "The Edith Cowan University wellbeing of the professions survey, which canvassed more than 21,000 police, nurses and teachers last year, will reveal today that 34 per cent of police and 24 per cent of teachers are looking for new jobs.

    "This was a big increase on a similar survey in 2005, in which 20 per cent of police and 15 per cent of teachers were actively seeking other employment.

    "In 2005, 78 per cent of teachers and 73 per cents of police said they often thought about quitting, planned to look for another job in 12 months or were actively looking for one. Last year, that had dropped to 66 per cent of teachers and 55 per cent of police.

    "The study found most police officers, nurses and teachers regarded their professions as having little status or prestige and few believed that parents would back their child's decision to enter those professions.

    "In the latest survey, half the police, nurses and teachers reported feeling emotionally drained, had difficulty sleeping and often felt reluctant to meet the demands of the working day.

    "Nurses and teachers reported a stronger sense of making a difference in other people's lives than police.

    "ECU researcher Brian English said even though police, nurses and teachers were strongly motivated, they were concerned about work pressure, stress, work-life balance and pay.

    "The issues that seem to be emerging, particularly for police and teachers, are around whether we can assume any more that people are going to continue to go into these professions as jobs," he said.

    "Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said though many officers said they were thinking about quitting, very few were leaving.

    "The resignation rate had halved from 33 in January to 16 in April and applications were at a two-year high.

    "He said offenders were more violent than they used to be but police were getting more support.

    "Police Union president Mike Dean said police were frustrated at wages, conditions, the courts and lack of public respect.

    "State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne was concerned that little had been done after the 2005 survey, with employers taking advantage of teachers' willingness to sacrifice themselves for their students.

    "Department of Education and Training director-general Sharyn O'Neill was pleased that many rating had remained positive during a challenging time for teaching.

    "Health Department acting chief nurse Ruth Letts said it was clear that many nurses were feeling workload pressure. She was pleased that many felt positive about personal accomplishment and job image."

    From The West Australian
    

    Similar story on ABC News
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Editorial
    Suddenly business cares about teaching
    
    "At the recent 2020 Summit, the lavishly remunerated head of Macquarie Bank, Allan Moss, famously declared himself astonished at the low salaries paid to teachers. Now the Business Council of Australia (BCA) has called for salaries of the best teachers, stuck at about $70,000, to be lifted above $100,000. It sounds fine - but unfortunately it has about it some of Mr Moss's vague otherworldliness. As John Della Bosca's spokesman said bluntly: the council preaches lower taxes, then floats an idea that will cost NSW billions a year.

    "Certainly good teachers should be paid more - and for all the reasons the Business Council sets out. Good teachers are vital to a good education system, because they are instrumental in improving the performance of students. The education system in turn is central to a modern economy. Some people are attracted to teaching through altruism, not salary - but not enough to supply quality teachers in sufficient numbers. Altruism does not by itself make a good teacher and in any case it is profoundly unjust for a society to try to obtain good teachers on the cheap by exploiting individuals' altruism. Our society has been doing just that for some time now. The result: alongside the dedicated and the talented are other teachers on the same low salary for whom the profession was a last resort, and who are merely going through the motions to stay on the payroll. How to reward the former and discourage the latter? Step one: pay the best teachers more. Step two: reorganise the pay structure to encourage the best students into teaching, and the best teachers to move up the ladder. [emphasis added] As the BCA - not a body usually associated with tax-and-spend policies - acknowledges, this will be expensive: about $4 billion for the whole country. The council also decries the over-bureaucratised administration of state education systems - then proposes a new level of bureaucracy, in the form of an accrediting body to certify the two superior grades of teacher who will earn more. Both propositions may have parents and taxpayers scratching their heads.

    "The main obstacle to this well-intended but patchy proposal will probably come from the teachers' union. The bodies which have opposed the Howard government's performance-based pay ideas and the Iemma Government's proposals for school-based staff selection, not to mention the idea of transparent performance-based ranking of schools, will not take kindly to the BCA's super-teachers - unless it means a pay rise all round. And that is out of the question." [emphasis added]

    From The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
  • Schools escape rort check
    by Gerard Noonan and Anna Patty
    
    "The Federal Government has been forced to admit it checks only a tiny percentage of independent schools for exploition [sic] of its controversial $12 billion school funding system, despite evidence it is being rorted.

    In response to a Herald freedom of information inquiry, the Education Department said it audited only 2 per cent of the nation's 2200 private schools each year - just over 40 schools - to check for fraudulent enrolment claims.

    The issue came to light recently after the Herald revealed that The Lakeside Christian College secondary college in Tweed Heads had claimed double its number of students to earn extra education funding from the state and federal governments..."

    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link
    
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Teaching options

      "I am a new teaching graduate. At least half of my fellow graduates were mature-age students, with partners and children settled in Sydney. The nature of my husband's job makes it impossible for us to move to the country. If I was 21 and had no commitments, I would not hesitate to do so, as Ned Manning did (Letters, May 24-25). But that is not an option for me, or many of my fellow new teachers. Do I not deserve to even apply for a full-time permanent position in Sydney because I started teaching at 33?"

      Belinda Daley Neutral Bay
      
      

    • Education systems are failing our boys and young men
      
      "This is Education Week - a time to reflect on the successes and failures of the education system. One of its failures that rarely appears in the media is the way schools and universities are failing our boys and young men.

      "During the 1960s and '70s, research identified that girls were not equally represented in retention rates to year 12 and were less likely to go to university. The social roles of women had restricted their opportunities to participate in the public sphere. This inequity led to initiatives by the federal government and state education departments to ensure that girls' needs were met, culminating in the National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australian Schools in 1987.

      "Soon there was proof of success. By 1989 slightly more females (49.6 per cent) than males (48.3 per cent) were continuing to tertiary study. By 1990 there was a substantial increase in all students staying at school until year 12, with a majority being girls. In 1992, retention rates were 10 per cent higher for girls (82 per cent) than boys (72 per cent).

      "However, there was a developing concern that these gains for girls were not the result of integrating the differing needs of boys and girls to the benefit of both, but had come about through neglecting boys' needs.

      "In 1994, the NSW Government Advisory Committee on Education, Training and Tourism commissioned an inquiry into boys' education under Stephen O'Doherty. His report identified a range of reasons for concern and suggested ways to improve educational outcomes for boys. However, it was subjected to sustained attack from influential policy makers. Sue Walpole, then federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, argued that attention to boys should be less focused on measurable disadvantages, and more concerned with "correcting" the poor behaviour of males.

      "Her attempt to divert attention from concerns for boys to concerns about boys seems to have been successful. By 2002 the Australian Council for Educational Research listed continuing deterioration of outcomes for boys in education and other social arenas linked to school experiences, including poor progress in literacy, higher drop-out rates and discipline problems.

      "The gender gap between boys and girls for participation in year 12 and higher education has continued to widen. Between 1993 and 1999, the proportion of female enrolments at university increased from 53.3 per cent to 55.2 per cent, while male enrolments decreased from 46.7 per cent to 44.8 per cent. Almost 50 per cent more females than males graduated from Australia's universities in 2006.

      "Given that the academic outcomes for girls were turned around in less than 10 years, it is worrying that 15 years after the first report on boys' education, the situation for boys is deteriorating. This suggests that efforts to improve educational outcomes for boys to date have been either misguided or poorly implemented.

      "It is high time we start to fix the education systems that are failing our boys and young men so badly."

      Greg Andresen, Men's Health Australia, Bondi Junction
      Michael Woods, University of Western Sydney
      
      

    • Schools doing what's best for their students

      "Why are "elite" private schools being criticised for getting their students
      a fair go ("Elite get most perks in HSC", May 26)? Surely it's a good thing when a school identifies that students need extra support. The Board of Studies makes the decision to allow dispensations for HSC exams based on analysis of the facts by professionals. Maybe the real question is why government schools aren't doing a better job in identifying their students' needs."

      Adrian Rees, Strathfield
      
      

    • "Given that the criteria for special provisions for students with special needs in the HSC are well known, publicly available and assessed by a committee independent of any school, if there are worthy students who are not given these provisions, one has to ask whether their principals are failing them."

      Jenny Allum, Head of School, SCEGGS Darlinghurst
      
      

    • "The process of applying for special consideration is time-consuming for schools and students, and the cost of medical assessments and reports by specialist doctors, psychologists and occupational therapists is prohibitive. No wonder special-needs students in many schools are failing to be identified and fall through the cracks."

      Inge Close, Fairlight

      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Paying our teachers
    
    Business wants to lift the status of the profession
    
    "When big business calls for a substantial pay rise for teachers so the profession's status can be raised, we are inclined to think there must be a good reason. The Business Council of Australia wants to encourage bright students to take up teaching so standards can be improved and schools and universities can deliver a better and more productive potential employee. That's all well and good: the economy needs a skilled and well-educated workforce.

    "An assumption behind the BCA's policy paper is that good teachers don't have sufficient financial incentive to stay on the job when they reach the top of the pay-scale, which happens after only eight years. If they quit to find better remuneration elsewhere, it's a net loss to the school system. The paper also assumes that talented students are not being attracted to teaching because of relatively poor salaries: another loss. The question that needs to be asked is whether doubling the top pay level from $70,000 to $130,000 is going too far.

    "An argument in support of the BCA's idea is that if society pays peanuts to those charged with educating our children, we will get candidates who have low motivation, little talent and not much interest in nurturing inquiring minds. Merit-based pay works for teachers and students. It attracts bright students into the profession and it gives teachers the incentive to work more effectively to lift student standards. There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate this works. If we can get better teachers by paying them on their merits, that would be a net gain."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    

  • Academic condemns Aboriginal bureaucrats
    
    Tackling indigenous disadvantage was being hindered because tens of thousands of people employed in the "Aboriginal industry" were simply collecting their salary and serving out time instead of tackling the hard issues, according to a leading Aboriginal academic.
    
    
    
    

• The Times
  
  
  • Schools to be graded by number of pupils going on to university
    
    Schools would be assessed on how many students they send to university under proposals being put to an influential body set up by the Prime Minister. University entry data could be used to create rankings of schools according to the number of their pupils who reach higher education.
    
    
    
    
• The Daily Mail
  
  
  • Now pupils can take an A-level in being a teenager under new exam board plans (26 May)
    by Laura Roberts
    
    "For anyone who spent two years poring over the intricacies of the War of the Spanish Succession to scrape an A-level in foreign history, it may be best to look away now.

    "You might have felt duty bound in those days to ration the time you spent shopping, listening to pop music or discussing dates.

    "But there is no such problem for today's teenagers...because they can get a qualification in it.

    "As part of a controversial A-level in popular culture, pupils will learn about the tradition of kissing in cinemas and ponder such questions as "is skateboarding better than polo?".

    "The qualification, being offered by the country's biggest exam board from September, also entails a study of celebrity body images and allows pupils to write about clothes and hairstyles.

    "One assignment requires them to "explore the relationships between cinema-going and dating" with the aid of source material like The Drifters hit Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies.

    "Another asks students to describe the cultural significance of their bedrooms and friends.

    "The A-level in "communication and culture" is billed by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance as "excellent preparation" for higher study.

    "The course spec insists the "everyday is worthy of study" but critics are concerned it will lack academic rigour.

    "They also warn it could help schools maintain strong league table positions while sidelining disciplines such as history and English literature.

    "Coursework topics for study in 2008/09 include "retail therapy".

    "Students can opt to compile a project titled "explore the meanings of shopping', where they will have "clear opportunities to engage with primary sources" - like "shopping mall food halls".

    "Meanwhile pupils opting for "popular music as cultural communication" can investigate sources such as "CD recordings".

    "Further areas of study include the cult of celebrity, body modification, forms of communicating including texting, computer games, graffiti and street art.

    "Students will be encouraged to explain the difference between "high" and "popular" culture while tackling the poser "Is skateboarding better than polo?"

    "And they will also be invited to discuss why their mobiles or iPods are "important" to them.

    "Critics condemned many of the topics covered as unsuitable for A-level study.

    "Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: "Many parents and employers will consider this a waste of school time and expect an A-level covering 'culture' to concentrate on great literature, art or music."

    "The A-level replaces AQA's A-level in communication studies, which features on lists held by some universities of subjects considered poor preparation for degree courses.

    "An AQA spokesman said the syllabus had been approved by the exams watchdog Ofqual.

    "Communication and culture is a dynamic area of study with a strong contemporary orientation," she said.

    '"A central theme of the specification is an exploration of the meanings and practices of everyday life."

    From The Daily Mail at link
    
    
    
    
• American Educator [American Federation of Teachers], Summer 2007 issue
  
  
  • Uncovering Academic Success
    by Karin Chenoweth
    
    "Can it be done? Can schools help all children learn to high levels, even poor children who typically enter school far behind their more privileged peers? Is it even possible?
    
    " As a longtime education reporter and columnist, I knew the answer was yes, but I knew it as an article of faith rather than actual knowledge. I had never actually seen such a school. I had seen glimmers of hope in the fifth-grade classroom of Linda Eberhart, where African-American boys and girls from a very poor section of Baltimore met state math standards at higher rates than any other school in the state. I had seen hope in the extraordinary kindergarten class of Lorraine Gandy, who could boast without fear of contradiction that in 30 years she had taught just about every one of her students to read. I had also seen hope in a couple of schools that were committed to educating every child. But a whole school where the average poor child and child of color could walk in from the neighborhood and be pretty sure he or she would learn to read and do math and otherwise succeed academically? That I had never seen..."
    
    Full story in The American Educator at link
    
    
    
    
• The Age
  
  
  • Penalty ruled out for uni lecturer
    by Cameron Houston
    
    "A Melbourne University investigation into the conduct of senior lecturer Paul Mees has ruled out disciplinary action against the outspoken academic after he branded the authors of a report on privatisation "liars and frauds".

    "Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said some of the "procedural grounds of appeal" had been upheld on the basis that Dr Mees had resigned from his position as transport planning lecturer and further steps would be required to resolve the matter.

    "Last night, Dr Mees said he intended to proceed with legal action against the university over breach of his employment contract that protects his right to free speech."

    From The Age at link

Wednesday 28 May

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Raise uni entry mark to improve quality: teachers (page 4)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "WA teachers believe it is too easy to enter tertiary teacher training courses, resulting in a decline in the quality of graduates, according to their professional registration body.

    "Brian Lindberg, who chairs the WA College of Teaching, said many teachers would back a call by the Business Council of Australia to raise entrance requirements to study education at some tertiary institutions.

    "Certainly the profession believes that the standards for entry are very, very low," he said "There is a major concern in the profession that we are not attracting highly academic students into teaching. The quality of teaching may decline. "

    "But he said State and Territory teacher registration authorities were working with universities to ensure they turned out well qualified graduates.

    "Mr Lindberg also said .teaching salaries were too low, but refused to say by how much.

    "It's extremely difficult to attract people into the profession and one of the reasons people are leaving is because of the salary," he said

    "In a report released on Monday, the BCA said there was a need to overhaul the system governing university courses for teachers because of concerns that entrance scores were too low. It said the current practice of allowing universities to enrol students to fill course quotas, regardless of academic ability, needed review.

    "The report also recommended paying top teachers up to $130,000 a year in a bid to attract quality people into the profession and the introduction of a national certification system to recognise excellence.

    "Universities have denied that entry requirements for education courses are too low. The minimum tertiary entrance rank required to enter teaching varies from 65 at Edith Cowan University to 80 at the University of WA.

    "However, UWA is considering a new five-year primary school teaching qualification next year in a bid to lift teacher quality.

    "UWA education dean Bill Louden said the university now turns out only secondary teaching graduates but it was looking at offering a masters degree in primary school teaching following a three-year arts degree. The program would have a strong clinical focus on how to help children who had difficulty with reading and maths.
    
    "We hope to establish this as a prestigious program and a program that will help students have the choice of all the jobs at the end," he said "So I'm thinking we might attract some people to teaching who wouldn't otherwise choose teaching."

    "But ECU and Murdoch chiefs said just lifting entry requirements would not guarantee an improvement in teacher quality.

    "Murdoch deputy vice-chancellor Gary Martin said he believed that Murdoch's 2008 TER of 70 for education was a strong foundation for prospective teachers.

    "ECU education head Greg Robson said the TER was not the best predictor of teaching ability, but he did not believe students with a rank below 65 would be successful.

    "Curtin University education head Len Sparrow said intelligent students were more able to grasp complex educational ideas.

    "So if entrance scores dropped too low it would be a problem," he said."

    From The West Australian
    
    

    
    
  • Local businesses strike deal to sponsor primary schools (page 4)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    "Primary schools will be urged to form closer ties with local businesses under a new partnership agreement to be announced today between WAs peak employer group and primary school principals.

    "The WA Primary Principals Association will reveal its business-school partnership program with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry at its annual conference, which starts today.

    "WAPPA president Stephen Breen said more schools and businesses would be encouraged to join forces for their mutual benefit from next year.

    "But there would be strict protocols that would prohibit businesses such as fast food outlets sponsoring schools.

    "Sponsorship could involve buying football jumpers, trees for the school grounds or reading books for students.

    "This is a formal partnership between schools and businesses and it might be the corner store or it might be any members of CCI, of which there are 5000," he said.

    "They haven't got any naming rights. There's not going to be any posters of McDonald's or anything like that."

    "Advantages for businesses include improving revenue and building customer loyalty. Mr Breen denied that amounted to free advertising.

    "We're comfortable if it's mutually agreeable between the school community and the business," he said. "We're doing it to get the community into schools and get schools into the community."

    "Mr Breen said research had shown engaging business improved students' motivation and gave busy parents a chance to get involved in their children's school life through their workplace.

    "Some schools had already formed business partnerships but the agreement with the CCI would formalise the process.

    "WA Council of State School Organisations president Rob Fry offered broad support to the initiative.

    "There are big businesses that do put into schools and we don't discourage that because at the end of the day the businesses are the winners of the educated child," he said.

    "So don't think it's unreasonable for some commercial businesses to get involved with supporting education.

    "But he was concerned that some schools would attract businesses wanting to form partnerships and others would not, which could result in inequality.

    "So then you get a have and a have-not situation," he said."

    From The West Australian
    
    Similar story on ABC News
    
    

    
    
  • Editorial
    Dirty Schools will not ease teachers' disillusionment (page 20)

    "Any chance of increasing the number of teachers in WA looks bleaker after the release of a report which says that on-quarter are actively looking for another job. A third of the state's police are doing likewise. Both groups cite disillusionment with their work.

    "In the case of teachers, that will not be helped by a shortage of school cleaners. So acute is the problem that in Karratha the Department of Education and Training is offering teachers $17 an hour to clean classrooms themselves.

    "Teachers have told Education Minister Mark McGowan they are concerned that children's health will be put at risk by classrooms left uncleaned - a situation which is hardly likely to ease their disillusionment."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • School cleaner shortage 'due to ban on contractors' (page 4)

    "A decision to offer teachers $17 an hour to clean their own classrooms in Karratha schools was a result of a State Government decision not to employ contract cleaners, the Opposition said yesterday.

    "Shadow education minister Peter Collier said the decision three years ago not to extend contracts for private cleaners had been made on political grounds.

    "The end result being, if teachers In Karratha want clean classrooms and toilets, they have to do the job themselves," he said. "Is it any wonder the Government is having difficulty getting teachers to go to the country when they are being asked to moonlight as cleaners as well as deal with the enormous pressures of the profession?"

    "The West Australian revealed yesterday that the Department of Education and Training was so desperate for cleaners in Karratha it was offering teachers $17 an hour to clean their schools.
    Karratha high school teachers refused the payment and decided they would no longer clean classrooms. But they were concerned that the filthy state of their school risked the health of students and teachers.

    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said yesterday every industry was experiencing the effects of the labour shortage.

    "He said teachers were offered extra money to clean and declined.

    "The department said it was unaware of other schools short of cleaners. Contract cleaners had been hired to clean the Karratha school until the end of term."

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• ABC News
  
  
  • Behaviour centres for troubled primary school students to be set up
    
    "The State Government has announced the establishment of five new behaviour management centres to deal with 'troublesome' primary school students.

    "More than 300 disruptive primary school students will be placed in the new behaviour centres at Peel, Canning, Fremantle, Swan and West Coast education districts from July.

    "The Government announced the development of a similar plan aimed at difficult high school students earlier this year.

    "The Education Minister, Mark Mc Gowan, says the new centres will replace an existing programme and will receive an additional $2 million a year in funding.

    "He says the Government is not unfairly targeting young children.

    "But at the same time I have an obligation to the broader school population to make sure that schools are harmonious environments, that classrooms are harmonious environments where students can learn," he said.

    Insufficient says opposition

    "The Opposition's Education spokesman, Peter Collier, says having a handful of behaviour management centres across the metropolitan area is not good enough.

    "He says all public schools should have specialist teams to deal with difficult students.

    "What the government needs to do is to have a massive injection of funds to make sure each school is properly resourced," he said.

    "We need effective behaviour management strategies and pastoral care facilities in every one of our public schools." [emphasis added]
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    
    

  • Govt urged to do more on sex education for school children
    
    "The Western Australia Government is being urged to ensure school students are educated about the legal age of sexual consent.

    "The calls come after a 21-year-old man avoided a jail term for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

    "Chief Justice Wayne Martin handed Mark John Marshall a 12-month community based order for having sex with the girl from Kununurra.

    "Marshall admitted he knew how old the girl was but said he was not aware it was against the law to have sex with a girl under 16.

    "WA Law Society spokesman Hylton Quail says schools should be educating students about the legal age of sexual consent.

    "Particularly in remote communities where people might not be aware of the age of consent," he said.

    "Shadow attorney-general Christian Porter agrees.

    "Girls under the age of 16, even if there is what can be construed in normal circumstances, and I put this in inverted commas - 'consent' cannot consent to these acts," he said.

    "Justice Martin has been presiding over a number of District Court cases involving men charged with child sex abuse in Kimberley Aboriginal communities."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Back to basics is best, says Julia Gillard
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Education Minister Julia Gillard has set out her belief in an old-fashioned style of school curriculum based on study of traditional disciplines.

    "In a speech last night to the Christian Schools Group in Canberra, Ms Gillard said studying disciplines such as English, history and maths provided the basis for understanding the world, overcoming social disadvantage and imparting values to students.

    "Ms Gillard, the Deputy Prime Minister, said she wanted students to have a grounding in narrative history so they could make sense of world events; read Shakespeare and modern literature to help them know themselves; and be capable of mental arithmetic.

    "Such an approach in education also gave students "some of the great liberal values that come from study", which was the other important role schools played beyond training a workforce.

    "One of the criticisms often made by educationalists is that, to help disadvantaged children, they are too often prepared to dumb down what is taught," she said.

    "In my view, dumbing down is the cruellest joke we can play on someone who has to battle against the odds to succeed." [emphasis added]

    "Ms Gillard said her life was far from a battle, but coming from an immigrant family from a coalmining village she benefited from studying demanding academic subjects such as English, maths, chemistry, physics and economics.

    "I am a passionate believer in the benefits of the rigorous study of traditional disciplines," she said.

    "Such studies provide the basis for understanding a rapidly changing world. But more than that, they are a civilising and individually uplifting force that requires no economic or social justification.

    "They foster creativity, inquiry, research skills and expression. And they play a big part in imparting values to our young people."

    "Ms Gillard said that, in teaching something as basic as literacy, she was "somewhat old-fashioned" and a strong supporter of a practical and rigorous approach.

    "I think the teaching of phonics, grammar and punctuation are an important part of the learning process," she said.

    "I am even more committed to making sure that what happens in classrooms across Australia is grounded in real evidence of success. Nowhere is this more important than in our effort to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

    "That clarity and rigour is something that we should aim to apply to the whole curriculum and underscores the importance of our national curriculum policy." [emphasis added]

    "Such study engendered values such as: honesty and intellectual courage; standing up for others; aspiration, ambition and humility; and respect for democracy, individual rights and difference.

    "These ideas would be broadly reflected in the new national goals for schooling, being rewritten by the commonwealth, states and territories, and the national curriculum.

    "Ms Gillard said schools were more than institutions for gaining qualifications for the economic good of the individual and the nation, but also had an important moral dimension.."
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    Full text of Gillard's speech
    
    
    

  • The Higher Education Supplement [several articles, none justifying individual links]
    
    

  • Camden Council votes down Islamic school
    
    A plan to build an Islamic school on Sydney's southwestern outskirts was last night rejected by Camden Council, which insisted the decision had been made purely on planning grounds.
    
    

  • Letter to the Editor
    

    • Teachers need a free market
      
      "Unquestionably, in a free market, improved pay should increase the quality of teachers and the delivery of education services generally ("Double teacher pay: business’’, 26/5).

      "However, education is very largely the province of the states and the state school system operates nothing like a free market. True prices for any commodity or service can only be set through free market processes. Substantially increasing teacher salaries would be just as likely to encourage the hacks and time-servers to stay in the job longer, and the teachers unions would ensure that the extra taxpayer funding was not spent productively. The bad teachers would find it just as easy to qualify for the higher pay as the good ones. When the tide comes in, both the good and bad boats float to the same level."
      
      Peter Nugent, Bardon, Qld
      
      
      

  • Comment
    Logan's run leaves Carpenter impotent
    by Amanda O'Brien
    
    "What does it take to get sacked these days? It's no secret the concept of ministerial responsibility has been barely evident for years but the case of West Australian Energy Minister Fran Logan proves it actually no longer exists.

    "Logan's competence as Energy Minister was already seriously undermined by the revelation that he had presided over one of the biggest financial scandals since the dark days of WA Inc, the extraordinary losses of government-owned electricity generator Verve Energy. Its situation is so dire it needs a $1billion taxpayer-funded bailout to sort it out..."
    
    "Alan Carpenter has so far stood by him but the Premier's long-running attempt to portray himself as a white knight determined to clean up West Australian politics "without fear or favour" has been all but destroyed by his inaction over Logan. Carpenter's credibility is at stake..."
    
    "Perhaps the last laugh from Logan's jocular moment goes to Brian Burke, who has long felt the barbs of Carpenter's self-proclaimed quest to clean up the state. With Carpenter now impotent on the issue of standards, Burke's life should get a lot easier."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link

    
    

• Education Minister Mark McGowan Media Statements
  
  
  • Zero tolerance approach on bad behaviour extends to public primary schools
    
    More than 300 highly disruptive primary school students will be subject to intensive intervention and management each year, as part of the Carpenter Government’s zero tolerance approach to bad behaviour in State schools.

    Speaking at the WA Primary Principals’ Association Conference, Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said the Government would establish five primary behaviour centres throughout the metropolitan area, to be operational from July.

    Mr McGowan said the new centres would be located in the Canning, Fremantle, Peel, Swan and West Coast education districts and provide an outreach program to country schools.

    They would build on the success of the secondary behaviour centres, which were established by the Government in June last year as part of a one-year trial project.

    “These centres, which will be fully staffed with psychologists and teachers specially trained in behaviour management, have been established to deal with those students that display persistently disruptive or aggressive behaviour,” he said.

    “They will replace the existing SPER centres and will receive an additional $2million a year in funding.

    “This brings the annual total for the Primary Behaviour Centres to $4million, effectively doubling the previous amount.”

    The Minister said schools were faced with an increasingly complex range of social issues which affected student behaviour and were beyond the realm of school control or influence.

    “It is not the role of teachers to act as parents,” he said.

    “Classroom teachers and students should not be expected to cope with severely disruptive behaviour.

    “This State Government views community safety as paramount and teachers deserve to work in an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.

    “At last year’s WAAPA Conference, I said I would not tolerate violent and aggressive behaviour in schools and that is why I have today announced another strategic initiative to tackle the issue.

    “Furthermore, the behaviour of these few students also adversely affects the progress of other students in the classroom, as well as their own academic and social development.