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AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION DIGEST

Volume 4 Number 28, 10 August 2010

FEDERAL ELECTION 2010: Gillard campaign goes back to school (22 items)
OPINION: Accountability and the public purposes of education, Alan Reid
OPINION: The impact of high stakes test driven accountability, Brian Caldwell
AROUND THE STATES & TERRITORIES: (15 items)
CONFERENCES & EVENTS: (2 items)
REMINDERS
ACSSO EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

FEDERAL ELECTION 2010

Gillard campaign goes back to school

Annabel Crabb, ABC News, 10 August 2010

The schools policies announced by Julia Gillard yesterday are a perfect demonstration both of her strengths and of her weaknesses.

First: the strengths.

In an election campaign distinguished by caution bordering on political cowardice, Ms Gillard is returning to an area in which she has shown considerable pluck.

When asked by the ABC's Chris Uhlmann during the election debate to name an example of her preparedness to "stand against the mob", the Prime Minister instantly nominated her creation of the MySchool website - the public portal on which schools' literacy and numeracy performances are compiled.

(Both prime ministerial candidates' answers to Uhlmann's question, incidentally, were fascinating in what they revealed about who - exactly - each considered to be "the mob". In Ms Gillard's case, it was the teachers' unions. In the case of Mr Abbott, who nominated his paid parental leave scheme, it was his own colleagues - whom he did not so much confront as simply avoid, by announcing the scheme behind their backs)

Standardised literacy testing is more of a long-held aspiration of Liberal federal governments than it is of the Labor persuasion.

It is an unfashionable cause for a Labor minister, but Ms Gillard pursued it; even to the point of staring down industrial action.

Annabel Crabb is ABC Online's chief political writer.

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FUNDING

Crean's funding warning to private schools

Patricia Karvelas, The Australian, 31 July 2010

EDUCATION Minister Simon Crean has warned private schools, including those in the Catholic sector, over funding.

Mr Crean has confirmed that private schools should not assume they would have their funding maintained in real terms by a re-elected Gillard government.

It follows concerns from the Catholic schools sector that while no school would lose "a dollar of funding" as a result of an upcoming review, there is no commitment that funds would rise in real terms to cover growing costs.

A review set up by Julia Gillard as education minister, headed by businessman David Gonski, is looking at funding arrangements for government and non-government schools from 2013.

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Julia Gillard extends private school funding arrangements to 2013

Justine Ferrari & Sid Maher, The Australian, 4 August 2010

Julia Gillard has confirmed she will extend funding arrangements for private schools in a bid to defuse concerns – but the move has angered teachers.

The Australian Online reported this morning that the Prime Minister would today cave in to the private schools lobby by extending the current funding agreement for an extra year.

Ms Gillard confirmed the story with a statement and at a press conference this afternoon saying she wanted to lock in funding “for the entire term of the next parliament” until 2013.

“We will lock in so schools have certainty for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013,” Ms Gillard told reporters in north Queensland. “I want every parent who votes in this election to know what funding they will get for their local school from me as Prime Minister.

Ms Gillard said the review of school funding by David Gonski that she ordered as education minister would be completed in time for the next election, due in 2013.

“Parents will get their say and all of that will be available for parents to judge before they are required to vote at the next election in 2013,” Ms Gillard said.

Under the current system introduced by the Howard government, private schools are funded based on the socio-economic status of the students. Half the nation's private schools are exempt and receive more money than they should under the formula.

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Teachers angry at PM's 'backdown'

The Age, August 4, 2010 (AAP)

Angry teachers have accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of breaking a Labor promise to introduce a new funding system for private and public schools.

Ms Gillard has confirmed the government will extend by one year the existing scheme, established by the previous Howard government, until at least 2014.

"I want every parent who votes in this election to know what funding they will get for their local school from me as prime minister," she told reporters while campaigning in the Cairns region. "I want that to be absolutely transparent."

The Australian Education Union said it was clear Labor had caved in to pressure from private schools.

"Labor will not have changed in almost seven years a system which they have repeatedly acknowledged is flawed and failing to deliver for all children," union president Angelo Gavrielatos said.

Public schools, which educated two-thirds of students, were only receiving a third of federal funding.

"The private schools that get the most funding are the richest in the nation," Mr. Gavrielatos said. "It is a funding system that is biased against public schools."

Labor would deliver $12 billion more to private schools than public schools by 2013.

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Labor must go back to school

Editorial, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 2010

With the Prime Minister in full election mode and a close result likely, there is no limit to the amount of bad policy that can be made. Sectional interests which in less perilous, more rational times might have to face scrutiny over their demands can be accommodated without question.

It has just happened with schools funding.

The government has been lobbied by representatives of private schools and, as a result, the Prime Minister, fearful of a backlash from parents, has promised to continue the present funding arrangement until 2013.

That means correcting the imbalance and the wasteful inequities of the present system will have to wait three years – by which time, of course, the country will be in another election campaign and the temptation will be strong to delay once again difficult but necessary reform.

More than just the electoral cycle plays a part here. Commonwealth funding is planned on a four year cycles. The current quadrennium began last year and will conclude in 2012.

Julia Gillard’s announcement means the government will carry over the funding mechanism until at least the start of the next cycle. Given bureaucratic inertia and the inconvenience of changing funding patterns mid-quadrennium, it is quite possible she has lumbered the country with a fundamentally unfair system until 2016.

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Public schools sacrificed for a win at any cost:

Skewed funding will continue under either shade of government.

Kenneth Davidson, The Age, August 9, 2010

Last week the real Julia Gillard emerged. It was not a pretty sight. Without reference to her cabinet, she announced last Wednesday that, in order to provide certainty to non-government schools, she would extend the present formula for school funding to 2013 - the next election year.

This was her response to Tony Abbott, who had already announced that he would continue the present non-government school funding formula to 2016.

This is a race to the gutter in education policy. It is bad process and worse politics. The basis on which school education is being financed is unsustainable. Apparently, the leaders of both major parties are prepared to destroy public education if that is the price of winning government.

The funding mechanism for non-government schools is supposed to be a formula based on the socio-economic status (SES) of the students rather than the resource base of the school. This might be fair enough, provided it applied to all students. It does not.

The SES funding basis only applies to the non-government schools it advantages. It does not apply to non-government schools for which the formula would reduce the funding.

And it doesn't apply to government schools because, if it did, it would involve a massive increase in funding.

Kenneth Davidson is a senior columnist.

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CHAPLAINCY

Submission to the Consultation Process for the National School Chaplaincy Program

Australian Psychological Society, 1 July 2010

On a number of occasions since the establishment of the National Schools Chaplaincy Program (NSCP), the Australian Psychological Association (APS) has been contacted by members who are concerned about chaplains who have been employed in schools to provide mental health counselling to students. This has occurred either instead of or in replacement of school psychologists. Although the APS is aware that school chaplains represent an alternative approach to student support in government schools in the way of spiritual and religious guidance, the APS believes that, when chaplains work outside of this role, the risks to both students and schools are immense and will ultimately result in significant costs both financial and human.

The recent announcement of another $165 million over three years towards the NSCP, in the absence of any reliable safeguards to limit the role of school chaplains, is unacceptable.

The main concerns of the APS include:

That the government is supporting a scheme which allows unregistered and unqualified school chaplains to work outside their boundaries as spiritual and religious personnel;
That there is clear evidence that school chaplains are engaging in duties for which they are not qualified;
That there is clear evidence that church organisations and ministries are supporting school chaplains' in their boundary violations;
That the NSCP promotes a combination of religious guidance and mental health service provision, which is in contrast to mainstream evidence-based service provision;
That the government is complicit in encouraging dangerous professional behaviour by funding school chaplains independently of other services carried out by professionals who are both qualified and registered.

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Transcript: Julia Gillard, Press Conference

Darwin, 8 August 2010

And then thirdly, I announce that a re-elected Gillard Government will invest in broadening the School Chaplains Program.

When I was Minister for Education I got great feedback around the country about the role that school chaplains were playing in school providing pastoral care, providing that little bit of extra assistance for kids in need.

There are 2,700 chaplains now and when I was Minister for Education I was concerned that rural and regional schools had tended to miss out on getting the funding for a school chaplain. Often the poorer schools in our country had missed out on getting the funding. The funding had been distributed by application rounds and so sometimes those schools most in need hadn’t had the ability to fill in the application to get the funding.

So we will give current school chaplains certainty but we will draw off the work of the review to invest in a further 1,000 chaplains around the country particularly looking at those schools in real need that have missed out on the current distribution of chaplains and that bit of pastoral support and extra care.

JOURNALIST: On the school chaplains, wouldn’t it be better, have you discussed the merits of introducing secular counsellors instead of (inaudible) chaplains?

PM: ... the work of chaplains has been evaluated and school communities have said and said very strongly that they find the work of chaplains valuable, the extra pastoral support and care. So obviously we’ve drawn on the views school communities around the country to inform us about the role that chaplains can play.

And as Minister for Education I was able to directly meet with school communities and with chaplains to see this work first hand. So in my view the evidence is in and the evidence is clear that school chaplains do make a difference and that’s why we are building on it for the future.

Source: http://www.alp.org.au/federal-government/news/transcript--julia-gillard,-press-conference,-darwi/

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Prime Minister’s School Chaplaincy announcement misguided and pre-empts proper process

Angelo Gavrielatos, President, Australian Education Union, 9 August 2010

The AEU has described as misguided and wrong the decision by Labor to extend the school chaplaincy program.

AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the program did not address the real needs of students.

“Apart from undermining the secular traditions of public schools, this announcement fails to acknowledge what our students really need - qualified school counsellors, psychologists and welfare workers who can meet their complex needs,” he said.

“The Labor party extended this misguided policy without even waiting for the outcome of a review of the chaplaincy program that it established.

“Once again the Labor Party has followed the Coalition in education rather than addressing the real needs of students.

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The Prime Minister puts her faith in chaplaincy

Scott Stephens, ABC Religion & Ethics, 10 August 2010

At the beginning of this election campaign, Julia Gillard thought she no more needed the so-called conservative "Christian vote" - whose most virulent expression is in Queensland and western Sydney - than she needed Kevin Rudd's help to get elected.

But last week, all that changed. While word of Rudd's political resurrection - complete with pierced side and a doubting-yet-devoted disciple in the form of Phillip Adams - captured the media's attention for most of Thursday, the Prime Minister's last minute decision to attend the Mary MacKillop fundraising dinner in Sydney on Thursday evening went largely unnoticed.

It would not have been remarkable for a Prime Minister, even an irreligious one, to attend such an event - attendance at Catholic fundraisers is, after all, de rigueur for Labor leaders - were it not for the fact that the previous day she planned simply to send a video greeting.

On the same day that she accepted the invitation to the MacKillop dinner - during which she pledged $1.5 million dollars to enable more Australians to participate in the celebrations surrounding the canonization in October - Gillard also agreed to address certain issues of concern from the Australian Christian Lobby.

And so, on Friday afternoon, the Prime Minister spoke with the ACL's Jim Wallace in a recorded conversation which was then loaded onto their "Australia Votes" website on Sunday. The conversation began, rather predictably, with Gillard speaking about her Baptist upbringing, her brief sojourn with the Salvation Army, and the way that "my values were formed in a strong family, in a family that went to church, and I've brought those values with me." But there was one question that stood out as the "hot button" issue for the ACL - indeed, Jim Wallace pressed the Prime Minister twice to get as a clear a commitment from her as he possibly could.

That was the matter of school chaplaincy.

On this topic, the Prime Minister abandoned her reserve. She praised the school chaplaincy program ("I think it's a great program ... I believe it's a great program") and went out of her way to assuage any fears about its future funding. "The reason we're reviewing it," said explained, "is not because we're in any way concerned with the program not meeting its objectives - quite the reverse. We think it's been a great success and what we wanted to see for the future was how we could make sure that schools around the country were fairly benefitting from it."

To leave Wallace and the ACL's constituents in no doubt, she once again affirmed, "I am very positive toward the continuation of this program, so in my mind it's getting it sustainable and bigger rather than looking to see the program wither away - I definitely do not want to see that."

Little wonder, then, that on Sunday Julia Gillard and Simon Crean pledged that a re-elected Labor government would extend the school chaplaincy program until the end of 2014, and would increase the program's funding to $222 million so that it can be extended to rural and regional schools.

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Who will rid me of turbulent god-botherers? Not our first atheist PM

John Birmingham, Blunt Instrument Blog, Brisbane Times, August 10, 2010

Two hundred and twenty million dollars would be an impressive chunk of change, even in the huge amount of dough carved out of the federal tax take for education.

Much less impressive however is Julia Gillard is wasting that much on a naked and sadly desperate bribe for the god-bothering lobby.

We’ve all read the words "chronic", "underfunding" and "state school system" placed one after the other so many times now that I hesitate to do so again, lest your eyes roll back in your heads, your brain functions flatline and you all start thinking of Wendy Francis as a reasonable choice for your upper house vote.

But I’m gonna do it anyway. Because the chronic underfunding of the state school system makes a travesty of the ALP's election promise to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at untrained, unsupervised and very often unwanted school chaplains – and all because Gillard has a problem with drooling creationists and happy-clappers, people so irredeemably foolish and ignorant that they would assign supreme executive power on the basis of whether or not somebody claimed to be friends with their invisible friend.

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SCHOOL INCENTIVE PAYMENTS

Gillard offers cash to improving schools

ABC News, 8 August 2010

The Federal Government is promising to give incentive payments to schools which show improvements in students' attendance and results.

Under the program, all primary schools will be eligible for $75,000 and all high schools could receive $100,000 if they can demonstrate the most improvement in student performance.

It will start in 2013 with reward payments to up to 500 schools. That number will double the following year.

The schools will be assessed using independent standards and a self-evaluation report of case studies and feedback from teachers and parents.

Primary schools will be rewarded for showing the most improvement in attendance and literacy and numeracy results, while high schools will have to demonstrate improvements in year 12 results and the number of students going on to further education or work. The school communities will decide how the reward money should be spent. Labor says the program will cost $388 million over five years.

Education Minister Simon Crean says schools that apply would be judged by a nationally consistent set of criteria. "We will develop that criteria through consultative processes, we will have an independent body setting the measures, each school will be able to apply, and there will be up to a thousand schools each year that will be eligible," he said.

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New education incentives announced

ABC News, 9 August 2010

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard says if it wins the election, Labor will introduce a range of policies to make sure schools are constantly improving. There will be reward payments for schools, 10 per cent bonuses for the best classroom teachers and an Australian baccalaureate to give high school students the opportunity to get an international qualification.

Results from national literacy and numeracy tests will be used to help allocate the funding. Ms Gillard has defended the emphasis on the tests.

"I can't think of a human pursuit that is better improved by not being able to read write or do maths," she said.

The Prime Minister also outlined the Government's plan to financially reward schools which can demonstrate the most improvement in student performance and attendance. Schools will be eligible for up to $100,000 to spend as they wish.

The new measures will be phased in from 2013.

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Bonus Schemes Wrong For Education

Angelo Gavrielatos, President, Australian Education Union, 9 August 2010

The Australian Education Union said today a long term plan for lifting results and improving equity in education was required, not a couple of corporate-style bonus schemes.

AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the education plan released by Labor today fell well short of a revolution. “What we need is a Government committed to a long term plan for education that has at its centre a funding system that properly resources all our schools to meet the needs of students,” he said.

“We need to tackle the real problems of teacher shortages and under-resourcing that sees more than seven out of ten public schools without the resources necessary to deliver the programs their students need.

“Instead we have a Labor Government committed to maintaining the Howard Government’s inequitable and unsustainable school funding system until 2014.

“Having put off any decision on the funding system, Labor instead has proposed a couple of bonus schemes for teachers and schools.

“The idea that a one-off bonus for a limited number of schools from 2013 will make a real difference is misguided at best. Schools cannot engage in long term planning and programming on the basis of bonuses. We need a funding system that properly resources our schools to meet the needs of all students and lift achievement levels.

“The teacher pay bonus scheme is bad policy and will do nothing to address teacher shortages which affect more than 25 per cent of schools. What we need is a better career structure and a professional pay scheme that further rewards accomplished teachers who are assessed against national teaching standards.

“The fact is, Labor is proposing to invest more on school chaplains than in the teaching workforce...!”

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School Rewards Will Encourage Poaching and Cheating

Trevor Cobbold, Save Our Schools, 9 August 2010

Labor’s $100 000 reward for schools which most improve their results will encourage them to cheat and rort their results, poach high achieving students from each other and discriminate against other students. The scheme will be another huge waste of money that could be better used to fund schools with high student learning needs rather than dissipated in fruitless and destructive competition between schools.

“PM Gillard’s reward scheme is an $88 million annual competition to see which schools can poach, rort and cheat more than others. Schools will have a large financial incentive to enrol more high achieving students and not enrol low achieving students. The easiest way for schools to improve their performance will be to replace low achieving students with those who generate better test results. They can do this by ‘creaming off’ high achieving students from other schools and denying entry to low achieving students.

“It will encourage increased discrimination against students with disabilities, students with limited English, Indigenous students and students from low income families. Schools vying for the money will deny entry to these students or palm them off to other schools.

“Schools have a large financial incentive to ‘rort the system’ by encouraging low achievers to stay at home on test days. We have already seen evidence of this in the last round of NAPLAN tests. This new scheme will lead to more rorting.

“Cheating is another easy way for schools to manipulate their results to make it appear as if they are improving performance. Teachers will be under pressure to assist students in tests or to change answers as was also seen during the last NAPLAN tests.”

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Payments 'will kill teamwork'

Sallie Don, The Australian, 10 August 2010

School teachers and principals yesterday attacked bonus payments for teachers and schools. They argued that the payments ran counter to their teamwork philosophy.

Criticisms have also been made of Labor's "Reward for School Improvement" bonus scheme as principals and teachers say it will favour high-achieving schools.

The President of the Australian Primary Principals Association for non-public schools, Leonie Trimper said that this scheme will have some "unwanted negative effects".

She said that most schools that struggle with attendance are those in disadvantaged areas which will find it hardest to improve. "Many of these schools would be very hard-pressed to compete in such a scheme and have the time to tackle issues that are really systemic problems," she said.

Ms Trimper also criticised the scheme as a "bit chicken and egg", inferring that if teachers and principals "work a bit harder" they could improve their schools and obtain a reward at the end. "These schools need the money before that reward if they're going to improve," she said.

"It's a fairly contentious way of approaching teacher pay," the President of the Australian Secondary Principals Association, Sheree Vertigan said. "For the last 10 years, teachers have been encouraged to work in teams, then suddenly to be measured individually. I'm not sure it’s going to work."

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BUILDING THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION

Gillard welcomes BER program report

Emma Rodgers, ABC News, 6 August 2010

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says a future Labor government will implement all 14 changes recommended in a new report into the troubled $16.2 billion schools building stimulus program.

The Building the Education Revolution (BER) Taskforce, headed by banker Brad Orgill, has today released its interim report into the program, which has been beset by claims of waste and profiteering. The report calls for changes to how future projects are administered and tougher rules on what constitutes value for money.

The report finds that out of the 254 complaints investigated, about half related to value for money. Half of the complaints came from public schools in New South Wales and 20 per cent from public schools in Victoria.

The report says that the majority of complaints raise very valid concerns about value for money and the involvement of the school community in decision making.

And it says the complaints reflect shortcomings of the program that could have been avoided. "In part these issues reflect the focus on speed of implementation of projects and a necessary trade-off of consultation time and design customisation versus the stimulus objectives," it says.

Mr Orgill has made 14 recommendations, six of which are for immediate action. Among those six, the report says that any projects not yet committed to should be administered under each education authority's pre-BER "business as usual" guidelines.

It also says that the Taskforce is not satisfied with how authorities measured value for money and has called for a forum of education authorities to develop more consistent definitions.

However, the report also finds that the program is meeting its overall objective. "Notwithstanding the validity of issues raised in the complaints, our overall observation is that this Australia-wide program is delivering much needed infrastructure to school communities," it said.

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BER waste shows Gillard unfit for office: Pyne

Emma Rodgers, ABC News, 6 August 2010

The Opposition has used the release of a report into the Government's $16.2 billion schools building program to launch a scathing attack on Prime Minister Julia Gillard. But Ms Gillard has vigorously defended the program as crucial in the fight against the global recession and says she would do the same again.

Among several findings the report said the need to roll the program out quickly meant most projects cost about 5 per cent higher than pre-BER construction.

But Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne says the report's findings show $8 billion has been wasted in the rollout.

"Julia Gillard's defence today that an $8 billion waste of taxpayers' money was worth it to achieve a speed premium is an embarrassment for a prime minister," he said. "Julia Gillard wants to be the prime minister and the manager of a $350 billion Commonwealth budget and yet she couldn't manage a $16 billion government program for which she was responsible as education minister."

However taskforce chairman Brad Orgill disputes the Opposition's claim that $8 billion has been wasted.

"I can't reconcile that figure with the analysis we have done," he said.

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Buck stops with Gillard as states blow BER budgets

John Wanna, The Australian, August 09

The main cost blowout has occurred in the delivery of the projects.

It has come about as a result of labour costs, construction costs, material costs, extra costs for subcontractors and a concept called in the report "flow-down risk": passing jobs down to other providers, who may then pass them down, too, each taking a cut.

In addition to these operational costing overruns is the fact the main providers all work on a cost-plus profit basis, guaranteeing themselves a "decent slice of the pie" as Huey Long, the corrupt governor of the US state of Louisiana, used to say.

Cost-plus means a set percentage of the costs is added on to a final price to ensure a sizeable profit is earned by the firm. The profits of building firms are up and taxpayers foot the bill.

Two of the more important reasons the BER program has witnessed such blowouts is that the commonwealth is not good at overseeing state procurement and states and territories have vastly different procurement practices and planning expertise on the ground.

Some states, such as NSW, do not appear to have had a strict control over their costing structures and may not have used robust benchmarking of costs of similar projects in commissioning their educational investments under BER.

Is Julia Gillard accountable for these things? Perhaps not directly, but she authorised the program knowing these factors were present.

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TEACHER RECRUITMENT

Our next generation of dedicated teachers

Julia Gillard, 10 August 2010

To make sure the next generation of Australians get a world class education, we need to keep recruiting great, dedicated teachers.

From my experience talking to Australians, many have considered a career in teaching but have been put off by the time it takes to meet qualification hurdles.

We need to acknowledge this and find a way to encourage motivated professionals to move into the classroom and pass on their skills and passion to the next generation of young Australians.

That’s why today we announced that a re-elected Gillard Labor Government will introduce Teach Next to provide professionals with a new teacher career pathway.

This initiative will provide specialised intensive training of around eight weeks duration that will enable professionals to quickly move into the classroom and start earning a wage.

Teach Next will help reduce teacher shortages in crucial subject areas like maths and science and will help create a teaching workforce with greater diversity.

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Gillard promises $16m to transform professionals into teachers

ABC News, 10 August 2010

If re-elected, Labor would spend $16 million to help professionals go through an eight-week intensive teaching course, before they spend two years working in classrooms.

Education Minister Simon Crean says professionals can bring new skills to the job. "Teaching isn't just about theory, it is about the practical dimension," he said.

The first teachers will be in schools in 2012. .

Ms Gillard says the plan will not detract from other teaching graduates. She says professionals will spend roughly the same amount of time learning as post-graduate teaching students, but they will receive $10,000 to help them through the initial course.

"Something that would have stopped them making that choice is many Australians could not have sustained the income loss to go to a traditional teacher education course," she said. "This will give them a way to support them into teaching."

But the Australian Education Union (AEU) is concerned the plan will put underqualified teachers in classrooms. AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos says a short training course should not replace a teaching degree.

"At the end of the day, qualifications represent the minimum requirement you'd expect of qualified teachers," he said. "And I'm yet to meet a parent in the street or anywhere that wants anyone other than a qualified teacher teaching their child."

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Julia Gillard's fast-track plan to bring more mid-life professionals into teaching

Sid Maher, The Australian, 10 August 2010

Professionals wanting a mid-career change of lifestyle will be encouraged to become teachers under a plan to ease their entry into classrooms.

The policy, called Teach Next, builds on a raft of education announcements by Labor during the election campaign, including more autonomy for school principals and cash bonuses for the top 10 per cent of teachers. Ms Gillard said the $10,000 in income support would help professionals considering teaching to enter the profession.

“This is about bringing people into teaching from all walks of life,” Ms Gillard said. “We know we are short of maths teachers, we're short of science teachers, we know that our teaching workforce is ageing.”

Ms Gillard said the policy would add to the workforce new people who wanted to enter teaching. “Maybe after a lifetime in a profession, they want to bring those skills into teaching”.

Under the policy, a system for matching career-change professionals with specialist vacancies in schools would also be established so applicants could be sure a job was waiting for them.

To help address shortages, 450 professionals would be selected on the basis of their qualifications.

The accelerated entry provision would involve an initial eight weeks training and then be followed by two years of mentored classroom experience. This would allow the entrant to earn a salary while receiving training.

An independent organisation would be set up to administer the program, which would be implemented through negotiations with states and territories.

Ms Gillard said it was anticipated that the first Teach Next participants would start their intensive teaching course in 2012.

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OPINION

Accountability and the public purposes of education

Alan Reid, 23 July 2010

In this paper, I want to frame MySchool as an accountability strategy in the context of the purposes of education. I do this because the debate about MySchool has largely been conducted in the absence of an articulated set of reference points – that is claims and counter claims about the importance or the consequences of MySchool are often made in a vacuum. They are self evidently good or bad. I will argue that the reference point against which such judgments should be made is the public purposes of education.

Part A: An argument for the public purposes of education

Educational practice is informed by its purposes; and such purposes are the outcome of political processes, resulting in broad ‘settlements’ which shape educational discourses at particular historical moments. The literature review in our project revealed that there are three broad purposes of education - democratic, individual and economic. These purposes interact and become assertive under different conditions. Given the high status of purpose within education there will always be a dominant purpose.

• The democratic purpose is located in a society that expects its schools to prepare all young people to be active and competent participants in democratic life. Since this benefits the society as a whole it is a public purpose.

• The individual purpose aims to advantage the individual in social and economic life. It treats education as a commodity, and supports school choice within an educational consumption approach. It posits education as a private good for private benefits and is therefore a private purpose.

• The economic purpose aims to prepare young people as competent economic contributors. Since this combines public economic benefits with private economic benefits, it is a constrained public purpose.

Of course educational purposes are not simply represented in official statements of missions and goals. They are shaped and delivered – both intentionally and unintentionally – through policy and practice in many different ways in schools and education systems which can be grouped into three modalities of schooling. These include:

• the structure of schooling, such as the ways in which formal schooling is organised and funded which contain hidden messages about how the society is/should be structured, ordered and maintained;

• the official curriculum, such as organisation of knowledge, including which knowledge is selected and omitted; assessment and reporting practices; and pedagogy; I will indirectly draw from a recently completed ARC research project report on the public purposes of education which was conducted in partnership with the Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA); and the Foundation for Young Australians: Reid, A., Cranston, N., Keating, J., and Mulford, B (2010) Exploring the Public Purposes of Education in Australian Primary Schools (AGPPA). The project involved detailed case studies of a number of primary schools; a nation-wide survey of primary principals; and interviews with policy makers.

• the culture and processes of education systems and schools, such as social relationships, the nature of decision-making processes, the school ethos and so on – all of which give out messages about what is valued.

A healthy education system is one where there is strong compatibility within and between the modalities of schooling and the stated purposes of education.

Alan Reid is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of South Australia; this paper was given at a National Forum on Public Education convened by the Australian Education Union and Australian Principals’ Associations in Sydney on 23 July 2010

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OPINION

The impact of high stakes test driven accountability

Brian Caldwell, 23 July 2010

Innovation, creativity and passion are alive and well in schools throughout Australia. However these are increasingly constrained in a command-and-control approach that is leading to an unprecedented level of centralisation, standardisation and bureaucratisation.

My concern about the impact of current constraints arises from the experience of these same schools and my ongoing assessment of progress in the ‘education revolution’, the centre piece of the federal government’s policy for schools but to which all states and territories are bound through national partnership agreements.

As far as the future of the nation is concerned, my over-arching concern is that innovation, creativity and passion – the key requirements for a vibrant society and a successful economy in the years ahead – are in jeopardy if we continue on our present path. My focus in this presentation is on the impact of high stakes testing.

Conclusion

It is a paradox that Australia is moving to a more constraining, less creative and less innovative approach in education at the same time that world leaders in these fields are building their strengths, as evidenced in reports of The Economist. In world rankings in 2009, Australia barely makes it into the top 20 innovative nations for the period 2004 to 2008.

While all nations above us have a national curriculum, none have national tests or the equivalent of My School websites except for England (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales do not have these). Most provide a higher level of school autonomy.

My conclusion is that despite the popular appeal of the national curriculum, national testing and the My School website, we are unlikely to see more than marginal and short-term improvement in outcomes for all students, or a closing of the gap between high-performing and low-performing students, until such time as we move ahead on a number of fronts.

We must open the doors to the creative spirit in our schools that should operate in the future in the broadest of national frameworks. If we can’t do this we may make progress in the short-term but other nations are moving faster and further and we’ll soon be left behind.

Brian J. Caldwell is Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Educational Transformations and Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne where he served as Dean of Education from 1998 to 2004. This paper was presented at a national symposium organised by the Australian Education Union (AEU) in association with the Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA) and the Australian Secondary Principals Association (ASPA) 23 July 2010.

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AROUND THE STATES & TERRITORIES

ACT: Greens candidate would cut funding for non-government schools

ABC News, 5 August 2010

The ACT Greens senate candidate Lin Hatfield Dodds has defended her party's policy to cut funding for non-government schools.

The ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries says the Greens' education policy will impact on the funding for the Territory's non-government schools.

Senator Humphries says the Greens policy states it supports keeping Commonwealth funding at 2004 levels. He says if put into action, it would mean higher school fees for more than 25,000 Canberra families.

"In the ACT's case this represents a cut of up to $60 million per annum in the level of support provided by the federal government to non-government education," he said.

But Ms Hatfield Dodds says the policy is designed to make school funding more equitable.

"We know the Government has announced a review into the schools funding system," she said.

"Everybody including the Greens acknowledge that the model is unfair and inequitable and that's clearly not just about public schools but private non-Government schools as well."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/05/2973929.htm

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ACT: New Chancellor wants a feeder school for University of Canberra

ABC News, 9 August 2010

Incoming University of Canberra Chancellor John Mackay has foreshadowed building a feeder school on the University site in Belconnen. Mr Mackay says the University of Canberra already has relationships with several Canberra colleges, to help students transition into University life, and he would like to see a secondary school co-located with the facility.

"A feeder college, where you come along, you're at Uni, you're living a uni-style life, and you're ready to go, it's really just a rather simple step, rather than for most kids, it's 'my heavens', going out of a highly regulated environment into one where you either sink or swim, according to your own efforts," he said.

Mr Mackay says the University will seek to increase its student numbers from 6,000 to about 10,000 over the next five years.

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NSW: Specialist reading services renewed

Louise Hall, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 2010

A SPECIALIST centre for reading and dyslexia studies will be established after the state government backed down from a bungled attempt to close the only school in Australia that supports children from rural areas with severe learning disorders.

The Minister for Education, Verity Firth, has also pledged to maintain an intensive residential program in Sydney - although the length of stay will be cut from four weeks to one - following a year-long grassroots campaign by rural parents.

The Dalwood Assessment Centre and Palm Avenue School will be rolled into the NSW Centre for Effective Reading, a new body which will be responsible for the estimated 15 per cent of students who experience a difficulty learning to read.

An expert advisory panel, set up by the government after a decision last September to sack 15 specialist staff and terminate Dalwood's highly sought-after programs without devising a replacement, found 1 to 2 per cent of the state's children need more expert help than can be provided in local schools.

These students will now apply, through a paediatrician, for a three-day assessment by a team of teachers, psychologists and speech pathologists at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, and may qualify for a five-day stay at Manly's Royal Far West.

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NSW: Spin won't help rural kids read

John Kaye MP, Media release, 4 August 2010

Despite some gains, children from regional NSW with reading problems will be much worse off if a report into the future of the Dalwood Centre and Palm Ave school is implemented.

"While parents extracted some remarkable concessions from the Keneally government, the panel's findings give Education Minister Verity Firth cover to slash the residential service and push much of the assessment off to Westmead Hospital.

"This might reduce per student costs but it is bad news for the young people who desperately need a supportive environment like Dalwood and the intensive four weeks of targeted remedial education.

"The report creates greater barriers to entry to the program, including more restrictive geographic criteria and the need for a medical certificate.

"Aboriginal children will be particularly disadvantaged by the changes.

"Without any scientific basis, the panel is slashing the four week live-in program down to five days. The opportunity to lay a firm foundation for addressing literacy learning needs will be denied to many students with intensive support needs."

Read more: http://www.johnkaye.org.au

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NSW: Education Minister Verity Firth under pressure over BER program findings

The Australian, 6 August 2010 (AAP)

OPPOSITION calls mounted for the sacking of NSW Education Minister Verity Firth following a report into federal Labor's schools building program.

Building the Education Revolution taskforce head Brad Orgill found NSW government schools had accounted for 56 per cent of 254 complaints made about waste and mismanagement in the federal government's stimulus program. More than three-quarters concerned value for money of projects managed by the NSW government, with the state paying the highest average cost per square metre of all the national education authorities.

The NSW government was the largest provider under the BER program, managing 2366 projects worth just over $3 billion.

NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell called for the sacking of Ms Firth, who was recently sanctioned by Premier Kristina Keneally for ordering the removal of unflued heaters from schools before formal cabinet approval.

“Verity Firth has finally topped an educational qualification but it is the wrong one,” Mr O'Farrell said in Sydney, referring to the state's number one status among complaints. “The most wasted money, the most complained about program, the most ineptly delivered program. That's why she should be sacked.”

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NSW: School heater danger not just confined to unflued gas appliances

ABC News, 10 August 2010

The death of two young boys in Victoria in May and the recent concerns about heating units in NSW schools have resulted in a dramatic rise in domestic inspections in Broken Hill.

While the government is yet to announce if and when Broken Hill schools with unflued gas heaters will be looked at, local specialist Trevor Hicks says the publicity generated has had a significant flow-on affect in the domestic heating market.

Mr Hicks said inspections he has conducted indicated a number of suspect units and residents should be aware that the problems were not confined to gas heating appliances.

"The same also applies to wood heaters, you can still get carbon-monoxide poisoning from wood heaters if the doors aren't sealed properly, or if the chimney is not cleaned properly, or if you have the [wrong] sort of wood burning," he said.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/10/2978836.htm

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NT: Indigenous boarding facility sites named

Rick Hind, ABC News, 5 August 2010

The Federal Government says it has nearly finished negotiating the final site for the Northern Territory boarding facilities it promised before the last election.

The Government promised to build three Indigenous boarding facilities to try to get more Indigenous children finishing high school.

Today the Labor Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, said one of the facilities will be built at Wadeye south-east of Darwin, and another at Garrthalala near Yirrkala in Arnhem Land.

He says the third site is in Central Australia and is in the final stages of negotiations. He says the Warlpiri Triangle and Wadeye facilities will have beds for 40 students and the Garrthalala facility will have beds for 75.

The Government says all the boarding facilities will be built near existing secondary schools.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/05/2974311.htm

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QLD: Local high school funding plan lacks detail, lobbyist says

Shelley Old, ABC News, 9 August 2010

An Agnes Water resident says the State Government's announcement that it will provide funding to buy land for a high school in the central Queensland town is vague. She says she wants details of when and where a school will be built.

"I was disappointed because we had been led to believe that it was really exciting positive news," she said. "That is the sort of information that would warm our heart in Agnes Water."

Mr Wilson says the school will cater to children in Agnes Water, Rosedale and Miriam Vale.

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VIC: 10 year plan for Victoria's Indigenous children

ABC News, 9 August 2010

The Victorian Government has released a 10 year plan it says will reform the future of Indigenous children in Victoria.

The report focuses on the home environment, health, and education options.

The Minister for Early Childhood Maxine Morand says Indigenous children are only half as likely to finish Year 12 in Victoria as their non-Indigenous counterparts, and smoking rates are much higher.

She says the plan includes improving services for new mothers, increasing sporting and education opportunities, and providing Indigenous children with mentors to further their careers.

"Making sure there's sufficient support for anti-natal care, and maternal and child health services for indigenous children," she said.

"Making sure they can participate in early education and three and four year old kindergarten, and then really focusing on the school years and the important adolescent years."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/09/2977034.htm

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VIC: Funding boost pledges for Victorian College of the Arts

ABC News, 9 August 2010

The Victorian and Federal Governments have announced a multi-million dollar funding boost for the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). A review of the VCA found the college needs at least an extra $6 million a year to survive.

The State Government has announced a one-off grant of $3 million. Labor's candidate for Federal seat of Melbourne Cath Bowtell says if the government is re-elected, it will commit and extra $5.1 million to the VCA from 2012. She says the party will also match a $2 million pledge from the State Government to set up a foundation trust.

"If Labor is re-elected and if we are in a position to have the negotiations with the University then the intention is that this Federal Government money would be directed towards delivering the teaching programs of the college," she said.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/09/2977135.htm

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VIC: Ultranet portal crashes on training day

Bigpond News, August 09, 2010

Victoria's new online education portal, Ultranet has crashed, on the day that 500,000 students were given the day-off so teachers could train on the network.

Teachers have labelled the day a major waste of time after the system crashed under the pressure of the state's 42,000 teachers and principals simultaneously trying to log onto the system.

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike acknowledged the day had not been as successful as she hoped, but says another pupil-free day would not be scheduled to make up for lost time.

'What we hoped is that we would be able to get it up and running for every single teacher on this day,' Ms Pike told Radio 3AW.

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WA: More independence for public schools began in Western Australia

Education Minister Liz Constable, 2 August 2010

Responding to the announcement made by Prime Minister Julia Gillard regarding more autonomy for principals, Education Minister Liz Constable said Western Australia was already leading the nation in empowering public schools.

“The development of the Independent Public Schools initiative - which gives greater autonomy to schools while still providing the support and benefits of the public school system - was one of the key election commitments made by the WA Liberal Party before the last State election in 2008,” Dr Constable said.

“The IPS program has certainly been successful with 34 pioneer schools being given the ability to make decisions about their own curriculum, staffing, school resources and expenditure this year with another 64 to take on independent status in 2011.

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WA: School 'fortresses' ruled out

ABC News, 6 August 2010

The Education Department says it will not be attempting to turn WA's schools into fortresses because of one isolated incident involving a firearm.

A 15-year-old boy took a loaded gun to Esperance Senior high school yesterday afternoon, reportedly after an argument with another student.

The teenager pleaded guilty to firearms charges in the Esperance Children's Court today.

The court heard the boy had been subjected to years of bullying.

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WA: Worries aired over child education access

ABC News, 6 August 2010

The Commissioner for Children and Young People has expressed concern about a lack of employment and education opportunities for Carnarvon youth.

Commissioner Michelle Scott met local children, the newly-formed Aboriginal congress and the shire during a visit to the Gascoyne town last week.

Ms Scott says while there are positive programs for local youth, many are still facing problems in accessing education and training. She says it is a challenge that particularly affects Aboriginal children.

"You've got some good ingredients in Carnarvon but I think it also means that Government might have to come to the party and also local businesses join with those agencies so that the employment opportunities are real opportunities.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/06/2975622.htm

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WA builders 'tarnished' by NSW counterparts

ABC News, 8 August 2010 (AAP)

WA builders say their reputation has been tarnished by the actions of their eastern states counterparts. The Master Builders Association says the interim report on the Federal Government's building program shows WA builders have acted more responsibly than their eastern states counterparts.

The report into the Building the Education Revolution program found WA projects represented better value for money than those in other states.

The report showed the average cost per square metre of projects in WA was about $2250. That is compared to projects in New South Wales that cost an average of $3900 per square metre.

The association's Michael McLean says builders have been widely criticised for abusing the program.

"When you think there have been 254 complaints nationally and only two that are being pursued in Western Australia it speaks volumes for the way in which this program was managed in WA," he said.

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CONFERENCES & EVENTS

“The Teaching Profession: Over Regulated?”

19th Annual Conference for Australian New Zealand Education Law Association (ANZELA)

29 September-1 October, NSW Teachers’ Federation Conference Centre, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW

The conference will commence with a Welcome Reception on the evening of Wednesday 29th September and conclude in the afternoon of Friday 1st October.