Monday 16 June

Tuesday 17 June

Wednesday 18 June  Twomey Report released

Thursday 19 June

Friday 20 June

Saturday – Sunday, 21 – 22 June

Monday 16 June

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    

    • In short

      “One of the fundamentals of government is that all information concerning an issue is tabled to allow an informed decision to be made.  This is not the case in the teachers’ dispute.  The Twomey report is being withheld (using some lame excuse to justify this), not allowing the community and decision makers a chance to consider whether the teachers or the Government are right or wrong in their long-running dispute.

      “Keeping the report secret is both an abuse and misuse of the Government’s power; it must be released.  At least then the Industrial Relations Commission will be able to consider if the threatened strike action by teachers is in any way justified.”

      Mal McFetridge, Safety Bay
      
      

    • Out of Touch

      “It is hard to imagine how the Department of Education and Training could become so out of touch with its duty to the public.

      “In your report (13/6), DET said “the proposed industrial action was not in the public interest”, was “distracting staff” and “detracting from the proper operation of schools”.

      “It is in the public interest that education is properly managed and resourced.  It is not in the public interest that there should be a serious shortage of teachers caused by poor pay and conditions.  All teachers care about the welfare of the students in their care and of course they are distracted by the current situation.  What thinking person wouldn’t be?  Teachers cannot sit back and do nothing when the education of their students is under threat.  When DET starts acting in the public interest, education will be able to flourish."

      Robin Taylor, Carine
      
      

    • Ready to fight

      “The Education Department says industrial action is “distracting staff”. Well, what distracts me most is the way I am undervalued and treated contemptuously by this arrogant Government.

      “I am “distracted” by young teachers who are paid so poorly (due to the erosion of professional pay) that they can’t afford rental costs and will probably never be able to buy a house.

      “The department also says that “tension is becoming more evident” in schools – it is anger, not tension that we feel, anger fuelled by the Government keeping the truth about the teacher shortage secret.

      “No one wants to lose pay in strikes but if I do, it will because I, like thousands of my colleagues, value public education and are prepared to fight for it.”

      Andrew Bell, Woodvale
      
      

    • Fast-tracking an insult

      “I refer to your report (Fast-track scheme to train more teachers, 7/6).

      “I was bemused and insulted to read about Education Minister Mark McGowan’s latest proposal to fast-track experienced professionals into our schools, using a short three-month “summer school” in what took me and most teachers four years to gain a thorough understanding of the diverse roles of the teaching profession.

      “Of course the universities will be happy to oblige, because they will see increased funding.  I have worked personally with graduate diploma students in one of our universities.  My role was to instruct them in the English curriculum area of primary school education.

      “Within my class I had an equal mix of four-year trained Bachelor of Education students and “experienced professionals” with backgrounds including architecture, engineering and physiotherapy completing a one-year graduate diploma which was certainly “fast-tracking” in my book.

      “Most of these “fast-trackers” were only getting a small piece of the bigger picture and were confused about the teaching roles that they would be stepping into the following year, where basically they would have to learn the hard way, on the job and by their mistakes.

      “I these professionals think that teaching will be a change of lifestyle, well yes, you will definitely experience that, with little time to enjoy your weekends and holidays, your stress levels will rise and you will have less quality time to spend with your families.

      “If they think that teaching will fit in around their children, they will soon learn that school may finish at 3.15, but most teachers continue working way beyond that and in their holidays.  So my advice would be to hold onto your well-paid job and don’t waste your time.

      “Come on, Mr McGowan, instead of dumbing down teaching pre-service education and creating a workforce of teachers that won’t stay around for long, when they quickly realise that they have been thrown in the deep end and set up for failure, start rewarding the ones that are doing the job and doing it well.  Raise our salaries and attract those truly interested in the profession and the future of our children.”

      Therese Cianfrini, Kardinya
      
      

    • Predictable
      
      “Education Minister Mark McGowan is becoming entirely predictable.  His bellicose and belittling comments about teachers are exacerbating a crisis of confidence in the State education system.

      “In the face of dire teacher shortages, he refuses to address issues of teachers’ pay and work conditions.  Like Pontius Pilate, he tries to wash his hands of the issues to an industrial court that will take six moths or more to hear submissions and come to grips with the detail.

      “Meanwhile, Mr McGowan hides the Twomey report that he commissioned to advise him on how to address teacher shortages.  One of the key recommendations surely is to make salaries and conditions far more attractive.  It is disingenuous of him to now pretend that solutions can be determined by legal argument.  His actions continue to alienate the education workforce.

      “The intransigence of the Government speaks volumes about its lack of concern for our wonderful government schools.  The community should be concerned that a central building block of our society is being dismantled. Government schools provide for the needs of most of our children.  Their success underpins the success and social cohesion of the community.  The haemorrhaging of teachers out of the system should be ringing loud alarm bells.

      “Every informed commentator agrees that teachers across the government and private sector need a major pay rise to attract more people into the profession.  The only one who believes the Government offer is adequate is Mr McGowan.

      “It is a sign of his desperation that he now floats the idea of people needing just three months to become a teacher.  What an insult.  As a teacher, I have six years of university training.  Would you want doctors, dentists, engineers, nurses or car mechanics to have their training reduced to one third of the current requirement?”

      Ken Wadley, Leeming
      

      
      
  • 300 Rudd computers for rich school (page 18)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    “One of  WAs wealthiest Catholic schools will receive more than 300 computers under the Rudd Government's computers in schools program.

    “John XXIII College, a well equipped school in Mt Claremont which charges fees of about $5000 a year, will receive 308 computers in the first round of the program.

    “Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard described schools that were successful in the first round as "schools that were most in need" because they had only one computer to eight or more students.

    “Other well-resourced Catholic schools to receive first-round funding included Aranmore Catholic College for 182 computers, Ursula Frayne Catholic College for 151, Kolbe Catholic College for 229 and St Brigid's College with 218. Smaller schools such as Sacred Heart School in Beagle Bay and St Mary's College, Broome, also received funding.

    “Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said John XXIII was not the most expensive Catholic school but it had the highest socioeconomic score out of all WAs Catholic high schools. The score measures the income of the community from which a school draws its students. Mr Dullard said the decision on which schools received funding was based on a national audit of the ratio of computers to students in each school.

    “No school would be disadvantaged because if they did not receive computers
    in the first (round, they could apply for subsequent rounds. "On the surface of it you could say that it's not fair and equitable, but really when you look at it, it is," he said ,"It was done very objectively and recognising that every school over the first two tranches of this will actually get their ratio of one (computer) to two (students),"

    “John XXIII principal Anne Fry said the decision was based purely on statistics and the fact that most of its computers were more than four years old.
    State schools that received first round funding were mostly in the country.

    “Association of Independent Schools of WA deputy executive director Valerie Gould said some schools chose not to apply for their full entitlement of computers in the first round because they could not afford the associated infrastructure costs for extra wiring, cabling and network connections.”

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Education database raises privacy fears [late update: online only]
    AAP
    
    "A photograph and details of every state school student in Queensland will be posted online by December this year, raising fears of privacy breaches and the risk of pedophiles hacking into the database.

    "Information including photographs, personal details, career aspirations and off-campus activities as well as student performance records for 480,000 public school children will be on the state government's intranet database, dubbed OneSchool.

    "Education Minister Rod Welford said the system would be available only to the school's principal and an individual student's teacher.

    "Four Queensland teachers were recently arrested in an international investigation into an internet-based child porn network.

    "Queensland Council for Civil Liberties vice-president Terry O'Gorman said parents should be concerned, because the OneSchool system could put students' privacy at risk.

    "There was no risk that pedophiles could hack into the database to target children, Mr Welford said.

    "It will be limited to people at the school who are responsible for managing the student's time at school," Mr Welford told ABC radio.

    "So I can assure parents there is absolutely no security risk with this site.

    "It's not a public internet site.

    "It's not like Facebook or any other Google internet site that you can access."

    "Parents wanting access to their child's records on the database could approach their school, he said.

    "At present, records were kept partly on paper and partly on computer, a system which was not as secure or as efficient as OneSchool would be, he said.

    "If we don't put a student's information on this database, it will be much more difficult for teachers to provide efficient service to that student."

    "But Mr Welford conceded it would be possible to keep a separate record on paper for those who did not want their details on the database.

    "The system was already in operation in some schools, Mr Welford said.

    "It's gradually being rolled out," he said.

    "As schools have their wiring and computer systems upgraded to handle this new OneSchool system, then schools are being installed with it."

    "The information would be kept as long as children were in the school system, both primary and secondary, he said.

    "Mr O'Gorman told AAP the OneSchool online database could put students' privacy at risk.

    "The various information available (on the database) is considerable. It includes a child's behavioural patterns and their career aspirations," Mr O'Gorman said.

    "Putting all this information on one massive database with high volume access is putting students at risk of having their details intruded by others.

    "This wouldn't happen in the private school sector, but because this is a state school system people feel they have less say."

    From The West Australian online at link
    
    
    
    
• SSTUWA
  
  
  • The facts about the current dispute [15 June]
    
    "You need to know what is happening in public education because the future of our children and the future of Western Australia is at stake. Something that every parent needs to know! The current dispute between State School Teachers’ Union and the State Government follows months of misleading and mischievous media comments by the Minister for Education and Training Mark McGowan.  In September 2007 the Teachers’ Union placed a log of claims to the department at the start of negotiations. It included salary increases, changes to class sizes, changes to DOTT time(planning and preparation time) and improvements to rural housing for teachers who work in country areas. The Government refused to discuss the issues seriously -in fact it misled the community on a number of occasions about what it was offering..."
    
    [a pretty reasonable summary... Web]
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • Public school funding short by $8.4bn
    by Justine Ferrari, Education writer
    
    "Government investment in public school facilities is about one-third the amount spent by the private school system, representing a shortfall of $8.4 billion, equivalent to $1.2 million for every public school, a report commissioned by the Australian Education Union has found.

    "The report estimates $22 billion on top of current levels of state and territory investment would be required over the next 12 years to enable public schools to match the average expenditure in the private sector.

    "The report, Rebuilding Public Schools: Investment Targets for 2020, was written by an independent education economist, Adam Rorris, who has worked for the UN, the World Bank and international development agencies. He was previously the manager and principal analyst of the Schools Resourcing Taskforce, which advises federal, state and territory education ministers.

    "Federal and state governments allocate more than $10,000 a year for each public school student, compared with $6000 for each private school student.

    "However, in a comprehensive look at national capital expenditure in both public and private schools, Mr Rorris found that while private sector investment grew substantially in that period, government spending was static.

    "Over the three years the report's authors studied the issue, the average amount spent by private schools rose from $1380 to $1560 per student in 2008 dollars, while spending by the states and territories only increased from $537 to $542 per student.

    "The report says the largest differences in spending between the public and private sectors are in the three biggest states of NSW, Victoria and Queensland, which have total funding gaps of about $3 billion, $2 billion and $1.5 billion respectively.

    "In 2005, the NSW Government spent $426 per public student on capital works, while private schools in the state spent $1492 per student.

    "The Victorian Government spent $540 per public student, compared with private sector funding of $1743.

    "The report's findings also highlight research in the US and Britain that found school facilities had a significant impact on the performance of students and teachers, and noted that both countries had embarked on significant programs for school building.
    
    "Mr Rorris called for a rethink on the way Australian schools operate, pointing to trends in the US and Britain where schools are becoming hubs for a range of community services.
    
    "Schools need to be redefined and repositioned as more than just 9am-to-3pm school facilities," he said.
    
    "There's a historic opportunity to extend the role and position of the local public school."
    
    "He said British schools would offer a core set of extended services by 2010, including childcare, parenting support and community access to IT, sports and arts facilities.
    
    "In Western Australia, the economic boom has prompted the state Government to embark on the next round of new school buildings, and the chance to reconfigure public schools for the 21st century.
    
    "One such model is Ellenbrook Senior College, a comprehensive high school in the northern suburbs of Perth, which was built in partnership with the local council, the City of Swan. The school opened last year to Year 7 and 8 students, and will gradually grow a year at a time until it houses about 1500 students from Years 7 to 12.
    
    "Principal Leigh Cottrill said the school's philosophy was to make close links with the community. The school's library, for example, doubled as a community library and was staffed with school and council librarians.
    
    "It allows students to go in after school or on weekends and access the college's network and online information, plus all the additional resources in a community library," Mr Cottrill said. Similarly, the school's performing arts theatre, which is up to industry standard, and the recreational facilities including gymnasium, sports oval, tennis and basketball courts are jointly managed with the council. [emphasis added]
    
    "The report says the annual capital investment in public schools nationally is about $2.1billion, and would need to rise to $4 billion a year to match the private sector investment.
    
    "School facilities (in the government sector) have been in long-term decline," it says.
    
    "In many cases it is questionable whether many schools are up to the task of providing a suitable education for children.
    
    "A great deal of our current public school infrastructure cannot effectively meet the needs of schooling."
    
    "Looking to 2020, NSW will need an additional $8 billion to match private sector investment, Victoria an extra $5.7 billion and Queensland $3.4 billion. South Australia would have to lift its current projected allocation of $848 million to $3.6 billion.
    
    "AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos called on the Rudd Government to fund a large-scale schools capital building program through its $20 billion Building Australia Fund.
    
    "When it comes to investment in infrastructure, investing in our public schools and students is the most important infrastructure investment a government can make," Mr Gavrielatos said.
    
    "He said Education Minister Julia Gillard wanted to end the public-versus-private divide in the education debate, and one constructive way of doing that was to rebuild public schools.
    
    "Kevin Rudd has proposed a model where family and child health, welfare and care services are organised around schools.
    
    "The report argues that the funding imbalance puts public school students at a disadvantage.
    
    "These funding imbalances nurture resentments and create a divide between sectors that is both unnecessary and damaging to education," Mr Rorris says.
    
    "The imbalances damage public schools by creating a resource incentive for families to move their children towards the private sector."

    From The Australian at link
    
    See similar AAP story in The West Australian online
    
    
    
    
  • The poor cousins in hunt for funds
    by Justine Ferrari
    
    "Public and private schools are becoming misnomers.

    "Public schools are primarily funded by government but increasingly rely on private contributions from parents, whether as a term-based fee or through fundraising to pay for a music teacher.
    
    "Private schools are primarily funded through fees and church contributions, but they too receive government funding, about $6.3 billion this year and growing. By 2012, the federal government will give more money to private schools than universities.
    
    "No one will be surprised to learn that private schools often have better, bigger and newer facilities - but these are subsidised by taxpayer money.
    
    "Yet as the Rebuilding Public Schools report shows, governments are not even close to spending as much on public schools as the private sector invests - they spend one-third the amount on capital works.
    
    "Governments are letting down public school students by failing to take seriously the quality of school environments, the standard of facilities and their suitability to teach in the 21st century.
    
    "It is a core responsibility of government to provide a universal high-quality school system.
    
    "The public school system by and large is the one educating the socially disadvantaged. [emphasis added]
    
    "Education is widely acknowledged as the key to overcoming social disadvantage, and benefiting the nation economically in the long term. Indeed this maxim is now one of the major policy planks of the federal Government.
    
    "To expect the public school system to achieve this with its present resources is unrealistic.
    
    "The federal Government wants to end the divide between public and private schools. To do this the standard of public school facilities must be raised.

    "Public schools are expected to compete with private schools for students, but they cannot compete with inadequate - not just rundown - facilities.

    "An exodus from government schools is under way. The public school system will look second-rate because it is given second-rate treatment by governments." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Australian at link
    
    
    

  • State facing chaos if pay talks fail
    by Jamie Walker
    
    "Public sector unions will wreak havoc in South Australia unless 11th-hour talks avert a strike byteachers, as well as an impending walkout of key hospital specialists.

    "Premier Mike Rann faced a test of nerve as the teachers' union vowed to ramp up its campaign for a 21 per cent pay increase over three years, in defiance of a state Industrial Relations Commission recommendation to abandon tomorrow's one-day strike.

    "With the resignation of up to 115 emergency department consultants and anaesthetists due to take effect from next week, Mr Rann's 4.4 per cent target for public sector salary rises in 2008-09 is under pressure.

    "A big win for the militant SA teachers would have national implications, with the potential to trigger flow-on public sector pay claims in other states. Teachers in Western Australia are pushing for a 20 per cent pay increase over three years, and have rejected a counter offer of 13 per cent.

    "In May, Victoria's public school teachers secured pay rises of up to 15.2 per cent. The deal, worth an estimated $2 billion, came after pace-setting increases of between 14 per cent and 31.4per cent to Victorian police.

    "Australian Education Union state president Correna Haythorpe said tomorrow's teacher strike was almost certain to proceed. It will close an estimated 530 of 600-odd state schools, creating expense and disruption as working parents scramble to find alternative childcare arrangements or face taking the day off.

    "The Rann Government has offered the 13,500 public school teachers 9.75 per cent over three years, but Ms Haythorpe said this would not keep pace with inflation. "It is nowhere near what we are looking for," she said.

    "She added that teacher union members had backed rolling work stoppages from next month unless the state improved its offer.

    "Tomorrow's 24-hour strike is the first in 12 years by South Australian teachers.

    "Ironically, the prospect of a public sector pay breakout, which could feed into wages generally, fuelling inflation, is being boosted by competition between the states for frontline service providers such as teachers, nurses and doctors.

    "Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said his state would be keen to recruit disaffected South Australian medical specialists.

    "The 44 emergency department specialists who tendered their resignations last week, timed to take effect on June 26, want added benefits to take the annual base pay of a standard level-9 consultant from $313,000 to $425,000. The state's current offer would increase the base salary to $356,000.

    "The Government was advised last night that 56 anaesthetists would quit along similar lines, while the Royal Australian College of Surgeons said a number of surgeons had resigned in the past week out of disillusionment with the state system.

    "State Health Minister John Hill called on their union, the South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association, to provide full details to allow for contingency planning.

    "Potentially, this could involve cancellation of some elective surgery, Mr Hill said yesterday.

    "The doctors' tactics to tender forward-dated resignations echoes those used successfully by South Australia's public sector psychiatrists last year, and has been denounced as "blackmail" by Mr Hill.

    "Fending off the poaching bid from Queensland, he said: "I am confident the South Australian health system and the state Government's package for doctors will stand up against any other health system in Australia."

    From The Australian at link
    
    Also see the articles in The Adelaide Advertiser
    
    
    
    
  • Teachers find ways to go full bore with the Bard
    
    While debate continues over what place, if any, Shakespeare will have on the national English curriculum, Ms Lord is one of many English teachers who hope a revised curriculum places more emphasis on the classics than on multi-modal, pop-culture-based texts.
    
    "I don't think we should dumb down or water down the syllabus because we're concerned with the ability of our students." she said. "Of course students today have the capacity to learn Shakespeare - teachers and curriculum drafters have just been a bit lazy."
    
    
    
  • Food's on and children keen for school
    
    The federal intervention into remote Northern Territory communities has meant that nutrition programs exist in almost all remote classrooms in the Territory, but teachers at Papunya had recognised the importance of feeding children at school many years earlier.
    
    
    

© The Australian

• ABC News
  
  
  • New 'flexible school' to operate all year long
    
    "A new prep to year-12 school is being launched in the city of Melbourne today.

    "The private school will operate between 7am and 7pm and is is aimed at giving working families a flexible educational option.

    "Eltham College will run the school, which is expected to operate year round, and feature before and after school care.

    "David Warner, the CEO of the new Melbourne City School, says the school will operate outside normal hours.

    "People who live and work in the CBD are looking for a school that will provide caring with schooling," he said.

    "What we will be setting up is a 52 week a year school, where both school and before and after school care will be converged."

    "He said the city needs a school that is relevant to students in the 21st century.

    "They have very different access to the information that's available in the world to people of even five, ten years ago," he said.

    "They want schooling that will actually work with them and their world, rather than the schooling that just simply says this is the curriculum, this is the subject, this is what we're going to teach you."

    "Junior classes will be running at the school next year while the senior school is expected to open in 2012.

    "The school will have special classes in Chinese language immersion and robotics."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Cautious support for new teachers' code
    
    "The Queensland Teachers' Union has given cautious support to plans to develop a new code of ethics.

    "The Queensland Government says the new code will give families and students confidence that teachers are working to the highest standards.

    "But the union's Steve Ryan says there is already a code in place.

    "As everyone in the community would know, 99.9 per cent of teachers follow that code to the highest integrity," he said.

    "The problem is that these things come up from time to time and it does detract from other issues and teachers want to be supported in the classroom rather than simply having this thrown at them all the time."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Qld public schools suffering with underfunding, union says
    
    "The Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) says the Federal Government should take responsibility for fixing rundown schools across the state.

    "A report commissioned by the Australian Education Union (AEU) shows Queensland private schools are receiving about $1,000 more per student per year for capital investment than public schools.

    "QTU president Steve Ryan says the quality of public school education is suffering from underfunding.

    "I came across a primary school principal recently who had to take $3,000 of curriculum money and readdress that to pay his electricity bill," he said.

    "That's the sort of thing that is happening at the moment because schools are chronically underfunded and so we've got a basic need of electricity in this case outweighing the curriculum."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
    
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Bosses urged to consider strike dilemma
    by Lucy Hood, education reporter
    
    "Employers should be sympathetic to working parents caught up in tomorrow's teachers' strike and let them stay home to look after their children, the state's peak business body says.

    "Thousands will be forced to use annual and carers' leave, sick days or call on grandparents, as more than 11,000 teachers go on strike over the teacher pay dispute.

    "Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said employers should allow workers a day's carers' leave or the option to work from home.

    "Employers and workers should understand the strike is the action of a third party . . . and that these things do occur," he said.

    "I hope the productivity (loss) to the state is minimised by good working relationships between workers and their employer."

    "South Australian Primary Principals Association president Steve Portlock said all parents had been notified by their school if it was to close, stay open or offer a modified program.

    "A modified program means children won't be in their normal classrooms but be given a more relaxed (schedule) than normal."

    "An Education Department spokeswoman said it was up to individual schools to determine whether out of hours school care services were still available.

    "Negotiations between the State Government and the teacher's union broke down on Friday following a hearing at the Industrial Relations Commission which recommended, but did not order, teachers "desist" from strike action.

    "The Australian Education Union wants a 21 per cent pay rise over the next three years. The Government has offered 9.75 per cent – or less than half – over the same period.

    "Both the AEU and the State Government yesterday said they were willing to continue negotiations. But AEU SA Branch president Correna Haythorpe said they would continue only if Industrial Relations Minister Michael Wright and Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith were present.

    "We need the decision-makers at the table," she said. "It's been a very difficult decision to take stopwork action; however, we feel we have little choice because the Government has not given us a good offer." [emphasis added]

    "A spokesman for Mr Wright said the State Government's "experienced negotiators" were the most appropriate people to handle the union's agreement.

    "The strike does not affect private or Catholic schools."
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    

  • Over 11,000 teachers set to strike [15 June]
    
    "More than 11,000 public school teachers are likely to participate in South Australia's first 24-hour teachers' strike in 12 years this Tuesday.

    "Kindergartens, schools and TAFEs will be affected, with schools left to make their own arrangements for student care on the day.
    
    "Both the Australian Education Union and the government say they are willing to continue negotiations over the pay and conditions dispute, but neither appears willing to give any ground.
    
    "The AEU wants a 21 per cent pay rise over the next three years as well as extra funds to reduce class sizes and retain staff.
    
    "The government has so far offered a 9.75 per cent pay increase over the same period.
    
    "The Industrial Relations Commission on Friday recommended but did not order that teachers not proceed with the strike.
    
    "AEU state president Correna Haythorpe said teachers were "absolutely going ahead with the strike'', but as recently as yesterday had indicated a willingness to meet again with industrial relations minister Michael Wright.
    
    "I made it clear we are prepared to meet only if the minister is in the room,'' she told AAP today.
    
    "We are more than prepared to discuss these matters but they need to bring us a new offer.''
    
    "She said she had not heard back from Mr Wright.
    
    "A spokesman for Mr Wright told AAP the government was happy to keep negotiating but the negotiations were always conducted by departmental representatives who were familiar with the process and details of the individual agreement.
    
    "The ball is really in the union's court,'' the spokesman said.
    
    "It's up to them where we'll go from here.''
    
    "The spokesman said each school would make their own individual arrangements for student care on Tuesday.
    
    "About 85 per cent of the state's 13,500 AEU members voted for the strike." [emphasis added]
    
    From The Adelaide Advertiser at link
    
    
    
    • Operations in jeopardy
      
      Adelaide's public hospital pay dispute has escalated dramatically with the mass resignations of 56 anaesthetists now threatening hundreds of scheduled operations.
      
      
      
      
• The Washington Post
  
  
  • Gaithersburg School Tailors Teaching To Help Students Cope With Disorder
    by Daniel de Vise
    
    "The first day of kindergarten found Alex Barth in the principal's office. The teacher had asked students to draw self-portraits. Alex had wanted to draw his in red crayon. There was no red crayon. Alex had melted down.

    "Alex was a capable child with superior intelligence -- and no end of eccentricities. He would flee noisy school assemblies. He couldn't bear the smell of the cafeteria. By the end of first grade, his mother was spending much of the day at Alex's side.

    "Robyne Barth soon learned her son had Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Children with the disorder, known in shorthand as Asperger's, might have strong academic gifts but deficiencies in such social skills as carrying on a conversation and playing with others at recess..."
    
    "The program at Diamond Elementary is one of several in Montgomery County for children who have average to above-average intelligence but are coping with developmental disabilities. It addresses one of the most vexing problems in special education: What to do with a child who is disabled but capable of work at or above grade level? Such programs are unusual in public education. Because children with Asperger's often are bright and capable, albeit with some behavioral quirks, schools tend to assign them to regular classrooms, either missing or misdiagnosing their disability..."
    
    "The program, with two teachers and four aides serving 15 children, focuses on two goals: teaching students to recognize and cope with manifestations of their disorder, such as a panic attack in the gymnasium or uncontrollable restlessness in math class; and easing them into regular classes to the greatest extent appropriate, a process called mainstreaming, which drives special education across the country..."
    
    "Asperger's falls at the mild end of the autism spectrum, a range of disorders characterized by impairment in social interaction and communication. By varying estimates, Asperger's affects anywhere from one in 30,000 people to one in 200..."
    
    Full story in The Washington Post at link
    
    
    

• The Guardian
  
  
  • Government urged to follow Sweden in adopting international GCSEs
    by Anthea Lipsett
    
    "The government has been criticised for denying state school pupils access to International GCSEs (IGCSEs).

    "A study - Swedish Lessons - from the independent think tank Civitas attacks the government for creating a growing "educational apartheid" in refusing state funding for the tougher exams.

    "It claims children in Sweden, where IGSCEs are approved, will leave school with better British qualifications than state school pupils in the UK.

    "Science IGCSEs are seen as more challenging than normal GCSEs and are used increasingly in British independent schools because of their internationally recognised high standards.

    "They are not, however, accredited by the government regulator Ofqual, which means the qualification is not eligible for public funding and therefore cannot be offered by state schools.

    "The report's author, Civitas researcher Nick Cowen, said: "The fact that state schools are forced to teach a narrow curriculum and offer less valuable qualifications due to bureaucratic edicts is bad enough.

    "But now we are faced with the likelihood that Swedes will be emerging from their state-funded secondary schools with better British qualifications than the majority of British pupils are even allowed to attempt.

    "This is what political interference by successive British governments in the school curriculum has led to." ...

    Full story in The Guardian at link
    
    
    
    
  • Clegg pledges to scrap Sats
    
    The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, will pledge to scrap national Sats tests and call for a shorter school curriculum in a speech attacking the government's "one-size-fits-all" approach to education.
    
    Similar stories on BBC News and in The Independent
    
    
    
    
• Education Minister Mark McGowan media statement
  
  
  • Academy Awards for Education offer $375,000 in prize money
    
    [more like "Academy Award Bullshit", Mark... Web]

 

Tuesday 17 June

• ABC News
  

  • Teachers ordered to drop industrial action
    
    "The Industrial Relations Commission has ordered the state's teachers not to withhold student reports from parents.

    "Members of the State School Teachers' Union had planned to withhold hard copies of student report cards from all primary and secondary school students.

    "The Commission has also ordered the union not to participate in rolling half-day stoppages."
    
    From ABC News at link

    More stories from ABC News
    
    

    • Summary of WAIRC Order
      
      Commissioner Jennifer Harrison today issued an order that the State School Teachers Union of W.A. (Inc) (“SSTU”) and its members lift bans on reporting to parents at the end of Semester 1, 2008 and the Commission also ordered that the SSTU lift its resolution that its members participate in rolling half day stoppages.

      On 12 June 2008 the Department of Education and Training notified the Commission that it was in dispute with the SSTU over existing and threatened industrial action in relation to a new industrial agreement.

      After hearing from the parties Commissioner Harrison decided that as the parties were unable to reach agreement on a replacement industrial agreement and as the issues in dispute were soon to be put before the Commission for arbitration it was appropriate that SSTU members refrain from taking industrial action whilst a new agreement was being arbitrated.

      The Commission refrained from issuing orders with respect to teachers undertaking activities such as attendance at camps and country week [e.g. Directive 1].
      
      
      

• Twomey Taskforce Interim Report
  
  
  • Between June and September, the Taskforce received over 250 submissions and conducted a total of 15 forums across both metropolitan and regional areas. Informed by these activities and other sources, I met with the Hon Mark McGowan, Minister for Education and Training, on Monday, 15 October 2007 to report to him on the progress we are making.
    
    While the Taskforce has been underway, concurrent reviews into aspects of the public education sector have been undertaken. One of these was the Gerard Daniels review which resulted in recommendations being made to simplify existing recruitment processes within the Department of Education and Training (WA). Strategies have been introduced such as the “Classroom First” strategy, which aims to alleviate pressure on existing teachers by reducing their workload so they can concentrate on pedagogy (i.e. by the reintroduction of a syllabus, returning to traditional methods of marking; reducing administrative requirements, etc). The DET has recently announced an expansion of its scholarship programmes to encourage final year students of education to take up teaching, to encourage education assistants to up-skill and to attract existing teachers to specialise in areas of need. It has also embarked upon a public media campaign to bring the career of teaching to the fore and developed a new website, Teaching WA, dedicated to the attraction and recruitment of teachers.
    
    The Taskforce applauds and fully supports these initiatives, which complement its work and underscore the State Government’s commitment to the education workforce, as evidenced above and by the formation of the Taskforce itself, which is looking at the following areas amongst others:
    
    * Salaries and allowances for school and TAFE staff. Salaries need to reflect the professional nature and the importance of teaching (i.e. the value of education); allowances need to genuinely compensate for varying living and working conditions; realistic incentives are needed to support staff undertaking challenging appointments; and excellence needs to be consistently and broadly rewarded.
    
    * To encourage ambitious teachers to remain in the classroom, a more comprehensive career structure within the public education sector needs to be developed. This should incorporate, amongst other responsibilities, elements of support and mentoring for beginning teachers which need to become more integral to the system.
    
    * TAFE lecturers need to be supported to maintain close contact with their industries and to deliver learning. Strategies need to be developed to help TAFE staff deal with behaviour management issues now that, in some cases, they will be offering courses of study to a younger cohort.
    
    * Workload could be better distributed if more staffing categories were introduced into schools and TAFE colleges. This might involve personal assistants for principals; full-time education assistants to help manage inclusive classrooms; mentors to help new TAFE staff develop delivery and assessment skills.
    
    * Funding needs to be assured so that successful professional development programmes (i.e. classroom management in schools (CMIS)) can continue until methods are embedded in the school or TAFE college culture.
    
    * The status of the teaching profession will be raised by improving conditions in the first place. However, it needs to be recognised that education is a service to the public and principals should have more professional autonomy in leading their schools, underpinned by the provision of centralised support and development.
    
    * This holds as true for TAFE colleges which need more flexibility in recruitment and employment conditions for staff.
    
    * Conditions need to be improved in both the fabric of schools and colleges and, in relation to country locations, the provision, quality and maintenance of housing must be a priority.
    
    This list is not exhaustive and we continue to develop what we see as the major shortfalls and how to resolve them. The majority of feedback provided to the Taskforce has come from people involved in the public education sector. To a great extent, it is the strategies to alleviate the pressure on the public sector that will set in train improvements in the overall status of teaching and increase the number of people choosing teaching as a career. These aspects will carry over positively to the education sector as a whole.
    
    The Taskforce anticipates presenting its final report to the Minister in December 2007, and will be making a strong case for the State Government to support in both word and deed the recommendations it makes in relation to the above and other matters.
    
    LANCE TWOMEY AO
    CHAIR
    MINISTERIAL TASKFORCE
    EDUCATION WORKFORCE INITIATIVES
    
    October 2007
    
    From Education Workforce Initiatives at link
    
    
    
  • Update from the Chair

    The Ministerial Taskforce, Education Workforce Initiatives, concluded its activities in December 2007, when I delivered the final report to the Hon Mark McGowan MLA, Western Australian Minister for Education and Training.

    The Taskforce undertook a comprehensive review of the processes underpinning the supply and demand of teachers and lecturers in Western Australia.  The report was prepared with the assistance of a number of people directly involved in both public and private education and training; it was informed by a great deal of consultation, advice and feedback from the general public, teachers and people connected with the education and training sectors; and it was further developed through personal interviews and a review of associated literature.

    The Taskforce believes that the recommendations in the report provide a useful guide for the Government of Western Australia to enable them to take the necessary steps to ensure that the education and training environment operates effectively for all teachers, lecturers and students.

    While I continue to keep in contact with the Minister’s office, it is essentially up to the Minister to use his discretion about when and how to release the report to the wider community.  I understand that the report is under active consideration by the Government.

    The Taskforce has completed its mandate and can no longer accept submissions.  I would, however, like once more to acknowledge with thanks the many submissions we have received.  I would also again like to thank those who made the effort to attend the public forums.  All of this input provided valuable insight into the practical issues affecting the provision of education in Western Australia and how they might be resolved.

    LANCE TWOMEY AO
    February 2008

    From Education Workforce Initiatives at link
    
    
    
    
• SSTUWA News
  
  
  • Reprinted from the April 2007 edition of Western Teacher
    
    Talking to Lance Twomey about the Teacher Shortage
    by Don Rowe
    
    "...I hope it's not one of those reports that lies on a shelf. I don't believe it will. If I thought that I'd never have taken on the role."

    As the State Government hides the Twomey Taskforce Report from teachers and the general public, citing Cabinet process, we look back at an interview with Professor Twomey from an article in the April 2007 edition of Western Teacher. Our own Don Rowe interviewed Professor Lance Twomey about the initial work of the taskforce into the teacher shortage and his initial views. Given the report has subsequently sat on shelf in the Education Minister's office for over six months while teacher shortages and industrial chaos rages, Twomey's 2007 optimism makes depressing reading in the winter of 2008. 

    Lance Twomey doesn't have a luxurious office with a big chair. We sat in a fairly stark room set up for meetings, and work.

    There is little doubt that he knows he has a tough job heading up the taskforce looking into the current teacher shortage, He is not under any false illusions about what the problems are.

    I put it to him that one of the long-term problems he faces is that current high school students just don't want to become teachers.

    "It's a very difficult state of affairs and it's going to be difficult to overcome this. Even those who do decide to teach are completing four years at university and then more that half are deciding not to teach. It also seems that within the universities there are lecturers who convince them to change their career paths," says Twomey.

    "The current employment situation in Western  Australia means that these students can get a better paid job with better prospects - especially if they're prepared to go up north. And in some cases they haven't altogether liked what they've seen in their prac."

    I offered to him my opinion suggesting that it's about money and housing.

    "It's so difficult! It was put to me the other day that a TAFE lecturer in Karratha might earn up to $65,000 but there are a number of firms that would offer him or her $100,000 to work with them rather than teach - now that's not good for our future.

    "The big issues are salary, housing (why is it that teachers get poorer housing than police?), and respect. All of these issues have to be attacked." [emphasis added]

    So what is his taskforce doing and going to do?

    "The taskforce is developing well. We're working on a consensus basis. We'll be going out and talking to the community right across the state, to teachers, to parents. We'll be talking to students in the last couple of years of high school and we're seeking submissions."

    Although his report will take some time to get finalised, I suggested that he might already be getting some feelings about the key issues.

    "I think that the results of our enquiry will probably be along the lines that we have talked about: salary, housing, respect; those sorts of issues. And I amid to have the report completed by the end of the year.

    "It's a formidable task, and I hope it's not one of those reports that lies on a shelf. I don't believe it will. If I thought that I'd never have taken on the role."

    I asked him where the teachers were going to come from to solve the immediate short term crisis.

    "It's interesting to look at who is available or potentially available. As I understand it 8,000 people who are registered as teachers who aren't teaching. Now i don't believe anyone has gone out and asked them why not, and under what circumstances they might teach.

    "There are about 1,000 students who last year graduate as teachers but chose not to take up positions. There are teachers who are retiring, and they need to be asked if they might consider coming back, under what circumstances, what would you need to come back?

    "There are 10,000 Australian teachers teaching in the United Kingdom. There is a whole raft of potential options to find the teachers we need - in the longer term, but equally as critical is to make teaching an attractive proposition for students in high school, to have them seriously considering teaching as a career.

    "The solution in some cases will require money, and the Government knows that. In some cases it won't cost much money; what it will require though are some major changes in attitude. And the question is: Can that come about?"

    I left Professor Twomey with the distinct impression that he was a man who understands the issues, he knows the problems and will come up with the right solutions.

    But I also left with my still-lingering doubts that those in power will have the courage to make the necessary changes. [emphasis added]
    
    From SSTUWA at link
    
    
    

  • Wanted - thousands of teachers urgently [16 June]
    
    Western Australia faces anywhere between 30,000 and 40,000 students without a teacher unless the Government makes some very logical decisions. The SSTUWA anticipates massive teacher shortages in the near future and this has been backed up by State Government studies and forward projections. Already leave (including Long Service) has been denied to all teachers for 2009.

    The Department of Education and Training has advice that we will reach a point in the next few years where we will be anything up to 3000 teachers short.
    
    That is between 30,000 and 40,000 students without a teacher.
    
    But in 2007, well into the reported teacher shortage, a series of committees and forums was organised, chaired by Professor Lance Twomey to look at the problem and suggest solutions. Amazingly at the time, the Education Department's own website showed that there were less than 20 vacancies in the state for teachers! Why?
    
    They employed a recruitment firm to get more teachers from other countries. Why?
    
    Because there has been no long term planning by the department to solve this problem - a problem everyone knew was going to exist. Why?
    
    Because the status of teaching had dropped as teacher salaries have dropped in comparison to the rest of the workforce.
    
    It is known that most teachers don't want to go to the country to teach. Why?
    
    Because they don't want to live in dongas, caravans, pub rooms or substandard housing and be paid less than those who are employed to clean kitchens on mine sites.
    
    You don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to see the obvious.
    
    If, overnight HECS fees were removed and current year 12 students were convinced to take up a career in teaching, it would still take another five years before they finished their degrees and were ready to start teaching - that's if they went into a Government School at the end of their degree.

    That leaves only two logical options:

    • 1. Take teachers away from children in other countries and import them into our system - no mean feat when you consider the United Nations estimates the world is currently short about two million teachers.
    • 2. Encourage existing teachers to remain in the system and encourage some who have retired early or resigned in disgust to come back and teach in our schools.

    There are some moral problems associated with poaching teachers from other countries.

    The most logical step is to ensure that existing teachers remain teaching - and then move to encourage some who have quit because of overwork, stress and being underpaid, to return and take up positions.

    Maybe the following real employment adverts may be a hint for the Government and the department:

    • Auto Electrician - Mining $94,000 plus vehicle, meals and accommodation.
    • Plumbing Supervisor - Metro area, package includes car, phone and $90,000pa
    • Mechanical Supervisor - Immediate start, large existing project $200k package
    • Systems Expert Engineer - $145K plus productivity bonus

    Compare these to Classroom Teacher - work ungodly hours, face uncooperative students (frequently abusive) - live in a donga, mark papers each evening, examine kids more often than you teach them, no overtime - $55-$69k.

    It's not complicated which career path any bright student would pursue.
    
    
    

• AEU Media Statement
  
  
  • Call for new standard and timeline to rebuild schools
    by Angelo Gavrielatos - AEU Federal President   
    
    New report finds $2 billion annual shortfall
    
    The Australian Education Union is calling on the Rudd Government to establish a new standard for buildings and facilities in public schools after an independent report found a $2 billion annual shortfall in capital investment. A national audit of all public schools is required to assess the state of buildings, heating and cooling, sports, art and music facilities and maintenance, says AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos.
    
    “An independent report commissioned by the AEU found that between 2002 and 2005, public schools, on average, missed out by about $1.2 million each when compared with private school capital investment,” said Mr. Gavrielatos.

    “This shortfall is being felt right across the country and the Rudd Government must set an urgent timetable to renovate and rebuild run-down schools.

    “Every Australian child deserves to be taught in a school with quality learning environments and modern equipment.

    “Eleven years of under-funding by the Howard government has created a huge shortfall in investment for public school infrastructure.

    “While state and territory governments have a role to play, the Rudd Government must now take the lead in addressing the neglect of Australian public schools.

    “The Federal Government must establish a new benchmark for school buildings and facilities and make sure every school has the resources they need to meet it.

    “The Government’s $20 billion Building Australia Fund should be used for this purpose. When it comes to investment in infrastructure, investing in our public schools and students is the most important infrastructure investment a government can make.

    “This is our opportunity to create quality buildings and resources that could be used by the whole community.

    “As well as improving the quality of education for our children, rebuilding and upgrading schools across Australia would also improve environmental performance.”

    From SSTUWA at link
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • School halts fingerprint experiment (page 10)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “A backlash by parents has forced an Anglican school to drop plans to scan students’ fingerprints as they entered and left school.
    
    “The plan had been devised by the school as a way of monitoring attendance.
    
    “Peter Moyes Anglican Community School has apologised to parents for causing concern after a letter sent to them early last week said the school planned to use biometric scanning to identify students and reduce clerical errors.
    
    “Biometric identification uses a fingerprint to create a digital template on a computer program. It does not store fingerprints.
    
    “In a second letter late last week, principal Doug Swingler said he had proposed to run a trial of the biometric system using middle-school students.
    
    “I have received expressions of concern from a small number of parents in relation to this issue (also expressions of support),” Mr Swingler said in his second letter to parents.
    
    “As a result, I have decided to retract the information provided and not proceed to trial the product until consultation is undertaken with the school community.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • No Change

      “The letter from Michelle Briede (Why bother, 14/6) demonstrates how little has changed in the time of this Government administration.

      “Some years back when Alan Carpenter was minister for education part of my work was to assist in recruiting teachers for relief and temporary positions in our schools.

      “I lost count of the number of teachers who arrived here in WA, having previously forwarded their documents to the Education Department to enable a smooth transition to teaching – some from other States or countries – only to find that when they arrived there was “no record” or the documents “were lost” and the process had to start again. Some had to wait months to get a “magic number” so they could do relief work.

      “The resourcing of education has not been a priority for this Government despite many pronouncements to the rhetoric of developing a “world-class system”.

      “In the past two years I have been privileged to work with many teachers across the length and breadth of WA who have been prepared to undertake extra training to “mentor” new graduates so that they may develop the same passion, within their own power, to enhance the learning of others.

      “To attend this training to enhance their profession, some of these mentor teachers have travelled up to 400km, paid for child care on their “day off”, attended programs on Saturdays and school holidays.

      “To take on this role of mentor they receive no extra pay, are rarely given a lighter teaching load and will normally carry out their mentoring in their own time. Such is their passion for their profession.

      “The stringing out of the current pay negotiations by the Education Minister is a continued reflection on how important the profession is to the Government.

      “If the leadership and management demonstrated by the last three ministers for education is any example, the fact that so many are willing to “hang in there” for the sake of the profession is more a testimony to the character of those who make a difference despite the indifference of the Government.

      “When Michelle Briede returns to Victoria she will provide the real picture of how the WA Government, with its record of financial surpluses, has built the human infrastructure for our communities.”

      John Willett, Currambine
      
      

    • I Disagree
      
      “While my classes are far from perfect, I totally disagree with Katherine Summers’ extremist views of the state of education today (Education revolution, Kev? It’s a rebellion, 14/6).

      “We are far from the thuggery that Summers would have readers believe. Of course there are cases of students who have very little concept of appropriate classroom behaviour. As a teacher, it is your job to educate students about what is appropriate in class and to have a “presence” in the classroom so that they don’t start piercing each other, throwing compasses or swearing at you.

      “And Summers spoke about the administration of her school not being supportive and giving inappropriately short punishments to students. So find a new school! In the current climate of our State’s teacher shortage, if you’re a half-decent teacher then you won’t have a problem finding another job.

      “The thing that I found most hypocritical about the article was the “redeeming” final anecdote. Summers has gone on an extensive rant about how much she hates every aspect of teaching, only to give one solitary tale about what keeps her there. Surely, if the state of education is so overwhelmingly gloomy, you wouldn’t have persevered for four years while on such a “poor” wage.

      “Katherine, you say kids don’t know anything. I thought that was the role of a teacher. If they don’t know, maybe you should teach them.”

      Lisa Moller, Success
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Teachers union needs to stop whingeing
    
    Good school facilities help boost performance
    
    "Leaving biased and shrill arguments to one side, a few basic facts need to be understood about government funding of public and private schools. The latest available figures show that in 2005-6, the average recurrent government spending - state and federal combined - was $11,243 per state school student. The comparable figure per private student was $6268.

    "Private students also benefit from the fees paid by their parents, which can range from $1500 a year to more than $20,000. In exercising that choice, such parents, who also help fund state schools, save taxpayers billions of dollars that would otherwise need to be spent if the private students were in the state system.
    
    "In raising serious and legitimate concerns about capital spending on state schools, the Australian Education Union is misdirecting its wrath. At the weekend, an independent report commissioned by the AEU was released, showing that between 2002 and 2005, public schools on average missed out by about $1.2 million each when compared with private school capital investment.
    
    "AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos was correct to argue that "every Australian child deserves to be taught in a school with quality learning environments and modern equipment". But in blaming "22 years of under-funding by the Howard government" for "a huge shortfall in investment for public school infrastructure", Mr Gavrielatos played down the fact that state governments, not the commonwealth, are primarily responsible for state schools. The regrettable fact that investment in state schools has slipped below what it should be is overwhelmingly the states's failure, despite their coffers being swollen with GST revenue.
    
    "What also needs to be understood is that in comparing capital expenditure in state and private schools, the report, titled Rebuilding Public Schools: Investment Targets for 2020, compared apples and oranges. It compared government capital investment in public schools with joint parental-government capital spending in private schools. As the independent school sector pointed out yesterday, 87per cent of capital spending in that sector in 2005 came from parents, 9 per cent came from the federal government and just 4 per cent from state governments. In the Catholic systemic schools, about 80 per cent of the capital spending in some states comes from the parents, the rest from governments.
    
    "In simple dollar terms, figures produced by the independent sector show that the federal government spent $305 per government school student on capital works in 2006/7, and $183 per non-government student. The fact that private schools are spending more stems from the fact that they tend to borrow for capital projects and build the debt servicing into the fees of future generations. In 2005, the net total borrowings of the independent school sector was $2.5billion or $5770 per student.

    "Enrolment patterns are also a factor, with the ABS reporting 7.1per cent growth in the private sector and a 0.6 per cent decline in state enrolments from 2002 to 2006. State governments should lift capital investment in their schools to narrow the gaps identified in the report. But important as they are, facilities are not the only factor in performance. Many space-restricted inner-city state and private schools outperform schools with more lavish campuses. Teaching quality, curriculum, parental support and discipline also matter. State teacher unions should stop whingeing about the private schools, and work constructively with governments to improve their own sector."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    Like giving video games
    by Ray Fisman
    
    "More than three decades ago, Commodore introduced the PET, the world's first personal computer, apparently so-named to take advantage of the '70s craze for pet rocks. My ever-doting and education-obsessed parents brought home a PET for me and my siblings, hoping to put us at the vanguard of the digital revolution-to-be. The results were mixed at best. Though the machine was entirely unsuited to mindless fun -- it had four kilobytes of memory and a tiny green display of monochrome ASCII characters -- my friends and I found a way to turn this supposedly educational device into a toy. We spent endless hours watching a little green cursor race around the screen in a rudimentary, freestyle version of Pac-Man. Once an early edition of Space Invaders appeared, I think my parents came to regret their attempt to prepare us for the computer age.

    "A generation later, parents are more worried than ever about making sure their children can compete in today's hi-tech world, and the growing digital divide is a subject of great concern for educators and policymakers. Federal subsidies in the US provide billions of dollars for computer access in schools and libraries, and billions more may soon be spent in the developing world through programs such as One Laptop per Child. But even OLPC's $100 laptop comes loaded with more distractions than my PET ever had. So will children use these subsidised computing resources to prepare for the demands of the 21st-century job market?

    "Or do computers just serve as a 21st-century substitute for that more venerable time-waster, the television?

    "New research by economists Ofer Malamud and Cristian Pop-Eleches provides an answer: for many children, computers are indeed more of a distraction than a learning opportunity. The two researchers surveyed households that applied to Euro 200, a voucher distribution program in Romania designed to help poor households defray the cost of buying a computer for their children. It turns out that children in households lucky enough to get computer vouchers spent a lot less time watching TV, but that's where the good news ends. [emphasis added]

    "Vouchered" children also spent less time doing homework, got lower grades, and reported lower educational aspirations than the "unvouchered" children.

    "This is certainly not the first attempt to measure the costs and benefits of giving computers to children.

    "Some earlier studies also found that computers have a negative effect on scholastic achievement. Others found the opposite. But it's hard to know what to make of these earlier studies because they compare families that have decided to buy computers with those that haven't, and compare children who choose to spend their days parked in front of a computer v those who spend their time doing other things (like studying, playing soccer, or getting up to no good). This makes any study of computer v non-computer children an apples-to-oranges comparison: Parents who buy computers tend to place more value on education; they're also more likely to live in good school districts, pay for extra maths classes, and generally provide a richer learning environment for their children than parents who don't buy computers.

    "(In my case, it's probably a lot more than access to a PET that accounts for my decision to spend 22 years in school.)

    "Malamud and Pop-Eleches chose the Euro 200 program because it solved the apples-to-oranges problem. While Euro 200 didn't exactly hand out computers at random, it came pretty close. The program provided vouchers worth E200 (about $330 today) for computer purchases by poor families with children. (The income cutoff was $50 per month per household member.) But there weren't nearly enough vouchers to go around. In 2005, for example, nearly 52,000 qualified families applied, but the government had funding for only 27,555 of them. As a result, vouchers were given only to families with incomes below $17 per household member. This means that some of the families that got vouchers - those with, say, incomes between $16 and $17 - were basically identical to some of those that didn't (families with $17-$18 incomes). These families all have similar computing aspirations (they all applied to the program) and differ only in which side of the $17 cutoff they happened to sit on. (Economists call this a "regression discontinuity".)

    "So what happens when good fortune delivers vouchers (and hence computers) into the homes of Romanian youths? Obviously a lot more time logged on to a computer: about seven hours more per week for vouchered v unvouchered children.

    "Much of this computer time came at the expense of TV-watching: Children in families that received a voucher spent 3.5 fewer hours in front of the tube per week. But computer use also crowded out homework (2.3 hours less per week), reading, and sleep. Less schoolwork translated into lower grades at school. Vouchered children's marks were lower than their non-vouchered counterparts, and they also had lower aspirations for higher education.

    "Vouchered children were 13 percentage points less likely to report an intention to attend college. And, interestingly, vouchered students who were college-bound were not more likely to express interest in majoring in computer science.

    "When my friends and I figured out how to transform my PET from a learning tool to a proto-videogame console, my parents stepped in to make sure Space Invaders didn't crowd out homework. Where were Romania's parents? The voucher program was specifically designed to help poor households, and their dire financial circumstances meant that these families were probably less able to afford after-school care or otherwise see to it that the computers were used for learning and not just recreation. Indeed, the authors found that when they looked specifically at families with stay-at-home mothers who may be more present and able to police computer use, the negative effects of vouchers were greatly reduced.

    "Perhaps not surprisingly, the lesson from Romania's voucher experiment is not that computers aren't useful learning tools, but that their usefulness relies on parents being around to ensure they don't simply become a very tempting distraction from the unpleasantness of trigonometry homework. But this is a crucial insight for those tasked with designing policies to bridge the digital divide. The express intent of Euro 200 was to give a boost to poor children' educations. Through programs such as One Laptop per Child, governments around the world have similarly committed to purchasing millions of computers to improve computer access for children.

    "But Malamud and Pop-Eleches' results suggest that merely providing access may be more of a curse than a blessing. If we really want to help poor children, whether in Romania, sub-Saharan Africa, or America's housing projects, we may want to focus on approaches that provide structured, supervised access through after-school programs or subsidies that bring technology into low-income schools. But just giving children computers? Might as well just ship them PlayStations."

    Ray Fisman is the Lambert Family professor of social enterprise and research director of the Social Enterprise Program at the Columbia Business School. His book with Ted Miguel, Economic Gangsters, is forthcoming in October.

    From The Australian at link [story quoted on ABC News]
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    
    
    • Having fewer, better students would raise standards
      Most Talked About: Proper English
      
      "Perceptions by academics of the writing skills of undergraduate students (Most talked about, 16/6) could be improved simply by reducing undergraduate intake to, say, one-third of its current level.
      
      "University entry cut-off scores would rise and overall quality would improve.

      "An important collateral advantage would be that some of the academics who currently complain would no longer have jobs in tertiary education.
      Once they had gained the necessary additional qualification, they could then become high school English teachers and, by personal example, show just how the job should be done."
      
      Garry Collins, President, English Teachers Association of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld
      
      

    • "Lenore Ferguson finds it "extraordinary’’ that I should have criticised her works in The Australian given that the ETAQ had published articles of mine in their journal and on their website ("Teacher’s grammar full of errors’’, 13/6).

      "In the journal article, I was not allowed to mention any specific errors in her work (two earlier short drafts focusing on a small sample of errors were rejected).

      "Moreover, in her commentary in the journal on my website critique, Dr Ferguson claims, wrongly, that it requires “readers to have extensive knowledge of traditional, structural and functional grammars’’ which is likely to discourage many teachers from consulting it.

      "After several months of trying vainly to persuade Dr Ferguson to ensure that readers were made properly aware of the numerous and serious errors in the material, I felt I had no alternative but to draw public attention to the matter."
      
      Emeritus Professor Rodney Huddleston, Sunshine Beach, Qld
      
      

    • "Andrew Butcher and Ian Green (Letters, 16/6) are not convinced that knowing the difference between nouns and verbs improves students’ writing skills.

      "That seems odd, for if a student doesn’t know what a verb is, how can he or she possibly compose a proper sentence which, by definition, must contain a verb?

      "Your correspondents also express concern about badly constructed and ambiguous sentences from students. In other words, those sentences fail the test of lucidity, for which brevity is an essential requirement.

      "Unfortunately, Butcher and Green are themselves guilty of a crime against lucidity by indulging in verbosity. Their penultimate sentence is 50 words long."
      
      Richard Congram, Carindale, Qld
      
      

    • "Mortar boards off to Professor Butcher and Dr Green.

      "They are right:  A rote knowledge of the labels put on the various bits and pieces of English grammar is not the key to good written, or indeed, spoken English.

      "An understanding of how to use English, with a total emphasis on meaning, meaning, meaning, is what should be taught.

      "Let’s join the Americans in dropping talk of adverbs and adjectives and change to a description of what they are, modifiers of a verb or noun."
      
      John Morgan, Paddington, NSW
      
      

    • "It is time an actual classroom teacher weighed in to the English grammar debate.

      "Professor Butcher’s comment on his students is, in my opinion, and that of many of my colleagues, spot on.

      "How to address the problem is, however, another matter.

      "It requires time for students to practise, and time for teachers to provide regular, and comprehensive, feedback.

      "Timetables and workloads in most secondary schools do not allow for either. English teachers are already stretched to breaking point trying to cover the content required by the syllabus in the class time allocated.

      "To mark and provide feedback on an average junior assessment piece takes about 20 minutes; a senior piece at least 30 minutes.

      "For a class of 25 students, this means about eight to 12 hours’ work.

      "Yet the allowance for preparation and marking is a mere 10 minutes per 50-minute lesson; 40 minutes a week.

      "The debate needs to move away from academic argument about what, theoretically, we should or should not be teaching, and focus on practicalities; what is possible in the classroom given the time constraints."
      
      Rosemary Stride, Wavell Heights, Qld
      
      

    • "David Close (Most talked about, 16/6) says "mastery of our language is essential to enable us to meet the manifold demands of everyday life’’.

      "In one form or another, this theme is often repeated when people talk about the lack of English skills or similarly repeated for maths, history, science and virtually every subject.

      "If mastery of school subjects is essential and none of these subjects have been taught properly for 30 years or more, then why are we in the middle of an economic boom?"
      
      Mark Millard, Coolbellup, WA

      [Apologies: The Letters in yesterday's Australian didn't get included on PLATO's news. Web]
      
      
      
• The Adelaide Advertiser
  
  
  • Why today's teachers' strike is probably futile
    by Michael Owen and Lucy Hood
    
    "Today's strike by public-school teachers will have little impact on pay-rise talks because the Government does not have enough funds set aside to meet their demands.

    "Senior Labor sources last night said there was no provision for any substantial increase in the State Government's pay offer. [Sound familiar? Web]

    "They stopped short of saying the Government's "final offer" already was on the table but declared any further movement would likely be "miniscule".

    "More than 11,000 teachers will strike today, forcing the closure of more than 530 schools and