ACSSO home page | Australian Education Digest archive | PDF version | subscribe

ACSSO logo

AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION DIGEST

Volume 5 Number 40, 15 November 2011

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - 15 NOVEMBER 2011
NATIONAL CONVERSATION WITH PARENTS: (2 items)
THE GONSKI REVIEW: Giving more students a better chance at school
NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORM: (2 items)
LITERACY & NUMERACY: National Evidence Base
NAPLAN & MY SCHOOL: Society the loser in education gap
TOWARDS A NATIONAL CURRICULUM: Lack of state competition
DIGITAL EDUCATION: For today's learners, it just clicks
RESEARCH: Social media and schools
RURAL, REGIONAL & REMOTE EDUCATION: The biggest challenge
AROUND THE STATES & TERRITORIES: (12 items)
REMINDERS
ACSSO EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - 15 NOVEMBER 2011

Act Now for Public Education

Thursday 15 November 2011, parents, teachers and principals will be participating in a National Day of Action in support of fairer funding to Public Education.

Speaking on the eve of the Day of Action, Peter Garrigan, President of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, stated, “We are calling on all public school communities to send a clear message to the Gonski Review Panel and the Federal Government that the current model of funding is inequitable and needs urgent overhaul.”

“This is the first time in 30 years that the funding to education has had such an in-depth review and as school communities we need to ensure that our message is clear. Public Schools educate nearly 70% of all young Australians. Public Schools educate the majority of students with disabilities. Public Schools educate the majority of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Public Schools are inclusive of all.”

Your message can be sent via the website http://www.forourfuture.org.au.

Australian Council of State School Organisations: http://www.acsso.org.au
Australian Education Union: http://www.aeu.org.au
Australian Government Primary Principals Association: http://www.agppa.asn.au
Australian Secondary Principals Association: http://www.aspa.asn.au

< top >

Northern Territory Government Gags Public School Communities

ACSSO, 15 November 2011

“Public education is the backbone of this country, and public school supporters have a right to advocate for better resourcing. In an area of the country that is rich in diversity but extremely high in needs we are appalled to think that the government would believe resources were plentiful.”

This is the reaction from Australian Council of State School Organisations President Peter Garrigan to a Northern Territory Government memo stating school facilities can only be used for official school business and that National Day of Action is not classified as such.

< top >

Victorian Government Gags Public School Parents

ACSSO, 10 November 2011

“The decision by the Victorian Government to “ban” schools from taking part in the Federal Schools Funding Review ‘National Day of Action’ is a disgrace,” claims Peter Garrigan, President of the Australian Council of State School Organisations.

“Public education is the backbone of this country, and parents together with public school supporters have a right to advocate for better resourcing.”

Mr Garrigan’s statement is in response to the Victorian Government memo stating school facilities can only be used for official school business and that the day of action is not classified as such.

Principals in our Victorian public schools will be instructed that they are not to use school computers, students, newsletters (or other types of advertising, including posters) to advertise or participate in the National Day of Action

< top >

NATIONAL CONVERSATION WITH PARENTS

National Conversation with Parents

ACSSO, 13 November 2011

The Australian Council of State School Organisations would like to congratulate the Federal Minister for School Education Peter Garrett on his innovative strategy to engage with school communities in the National Conversation with Parents.

“On Monday, November 14, parents from across the country will have the opportunity to participate in this event either in person, online or through twitter. The conversation will provide the opportunity to question the Minister regarding the current reform agenda and enlighten him with valuable insights from their local communities,” said Peter Garrigan, ACSSO President.

“We hope parents embrace this and in particular make use of the varying technologies to bring to the forefront ideas, issues and concerns they have surrounding the reform agenda. It is the first of its kind and hopefully the first of many times that the Minister engages the first educators of the nation’s young people,” continued Mr Garrigan.

< top >

Minister goes online to talk to parents around the country

The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, 14 November 2011

Parents around the country used Twitter and a web forum to fire questions at School Education Minister during his National Conversation with Parents today.

The event was held in the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) theatre in Canberra, and was live streamed on the DEEWR website. Viewers were able to contribute questions via the chat facility on the forum, or through Twitter using the hash tag #parentsforum.

“This was an innovative use of the latest technology which allowed interested parents from around the country to ask me questions about the Government’s school improvement reforms and the issues that affect their children’s education,” Mr Garrett said.

“It was also a chance for me to talk directly to parents and provide information and updates on areas such as the current review of school funding, the extra help we’re giving to students with disability, the new Professional Standards for Teachers and other issues.”

< top >

THE GONSKI REVIEW

Giving more students a better chance at school

The Age, November 13, 2011

FOR the first time since 1973, the federal government is reviewing the way schools are funded. An expert panel, headed by David Gonski, is due to report to the government by the end of this year. It has been looking at how resources are distributed, at what is working and at what improvements should be made. In describing her hopes for our schools, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said demography should not equal destiny.

The idea here - that every child should have an equal opportunity to excel at school - is worth pursuing. Mr Gonski phrased it slightly differently when he told the Australian Education Union in January that a particular focus of the review was on breaking the link between economic disadvantage and poor education outcomes.

Unfortunately, complex school funding arrangements have been giving the lie to Australia's egalitarian boast.

< top >

NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORM

COAG Reform Council report shows Gillard Government school reforms on track

The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, 10 November 2011

The Education 2010 report released today by the COAG Reform Council reveals that Australian students are recording better results in literacy and numeracy tests, and the goal of a 90 per cent Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate is on track.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett said the report showed the Gillard Government’s record $65.6 billion investment in school education was having a positive effect in Australian classrooms, but there is still work to do in some areas.

“After years of under-investment in schools by the Howard Government, our commitment to giving every kid access to a great education is bearing fruit,” he said.

“The CRC report on our National Education Agreement targets notes that average scores for Years 3 and 7 reading and Year 5 numeracy increased across the country, which is a very positive result.

“Literacy and numeracy are the essential foundation skills for a good education, which is why we’re investing $540 million to fund more than 1000 schools across the country under the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership.”

< top >

Labor’s cuts hurt kids

Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education, 10/11/11

Key indicators from a Council of Australia Government Reform Council report suggests little student improvement and a significant fall in attendance rates in Australian schools, said Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education today.

“Australia has made no significant gains in lifting the number of students reaching the minimum benchmarks for literacy and numeracy since Labor was elected in 2008,” he said.

“With respect to improvement between 2008 and 2010 the report suggests that the proportion of students achieving the national minimum standard has not changed in most year levels. ‘No change’ is hardly a glowing assessment of improvement.

“Cutting Howard Government programmes like the targeted tuition vouchers in literacy and numeracy for students below the national average has proved a disaster."

< top >

LITERACY & NUMERACY

Teach, Learn, Share: National Evidence Base

The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, 10 November 2011

Not only are we seeing schools showing significant improvements in literacy and numeracy from the partnership, but critically we are also using this information to build the evidence base for what works and what doesn’t.

To further build the evidence base, today I invite everyone here – teachers, principals, school leaders, education practitioners and academic professionals – to contribute your successful strategies to the Teach, Learn, Share: The National Literacy and Numeracy Evidence Base.

This will be open for submissions on 21 November.

The National Literacy and Numeracy Evidence Base will offer teachers and educators an online resource for sharing information about literacy and numeracy tools and strategies.

It’s the people in this room and your colleagues around the country who know what works and who can contribute a huge range of ideas and evidence because of your intimate knowledge of teaching and student learning.

We want to capture this expertise so we can share the best strategies and programs so that we can make further rapid advances in literacy and numeracy across the nation.

This is a great initiative and I encourage you to get involved and make a submission.

< top >

NAPLAN & MY SCHOOL

Society the loser in education gap

Adele Horin, Sydney Morning Herald, November 12, 2011

The MySchool website was bitterly opposed by teacher unions, some parent organisations, and educationalists afraid it would lead to the creation of school leagues tables and further undermine public education.

But the site is proving to be a powerful weapon in the hands of those fighting for a more equitable schools funding system.

The data being mined from the site confirms Australia has a two-speed education economy: children from disadvantaged families can be three or four years behind their peers at schools in more salubrious suburbs.
Advertisement: Story continues below

This is bad for the children and bad for the country. It is also bad for families with children at well-resourced private schools. Those families have much to gain from a fairer schools funding system that helps heal the educational divide.

< top >

TOWARDS A NATIONAL CURRICULUM

National curriculum means lack of state competition

Jewel Topsfield, The Age, November 14, 2011

AUSTRALIA is in danger of killing innovation with its centralist education reforms such as the national curriculum and NAPLAN tests, according to a leading British educator.

Stephen Heppell said the autonomy of the states meant they were able to develop their own educational programs, with Western Australia, for example, becoming a world leader in multimedia in the 1980s.

''One of the huge advantages in Australia is the states have taken it in turns to lead. With standardisation, you lose the ability for one state to innovate and pass the baton on to another,'' Professor Heppell said.

Professor Heppell, who is in Melbourne to address the Creative Innovation 2011 conference this week, said Britain was moving away from a centralised education system.

< top >

DIGITAL EDUCATION

For today's learners, it just clicks

Dan Haesler, Sydney Morning Herald, November 14, 2011

At the start of this year, 7000 school students in Miami took a maths course delivered entirely by computer. Instead of a teacher, the only adult in the room was a ''facilitator'' who dealt with technical problems and ensured students remained on task.

Labor's Digital Education Revolution (DER) ensures every year 9 student in Australia gets a laptop so could Australian classrooms one day resemble those in Miami? And are teachers now an endangered species?

Not according to best-selling author and psychologist Steve Biddulph, who is passionately opposed to computers replacing teachers. ''Learning is mediated by role-modelling and emotions are a huge part of all learning and all information processing,'' he says.

As evidence, Biddulph regularly cites the emerging work in the area of ''mirror neurons'' - brain cells that enable us to imitate and empathise with what others are doing and feeling.

< top >

RESEARCH

Social media and schools as professional learning communities

Kay Cantwell, Education Officer: Digital Learning, ResourceLink Brisbane Catholic Education, via Curriculum Leadership, 11 November 2011

Social media is burgeoning, and is not going to go away. According to the Nielsen 3rd quarter report on the State of the Media, nearly four out of five active internet users now frequent social media sites. While there is a great deal of negative media surrounding the social media, they can in fact be harnessed to create myriad possibilities for schools as learning communities.

Social media are web-based and mobile technologies that enable digital communication via a number of different modes. Well- known examples of Social Media include social networking site Facebook, microblogging tool Twitter, social bookmarking sites such as Delicious and Diigo, and common blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger. Each of these provides a different way of connecting and communicating with others via status updates, short comments, sharing of photos, useful web links or more extensive articles.

This article considers the ways in which social networking tools may be used to overcome some of the obstacles schools face when attempting to develop a professional learning culture. It then examines a key social media service, Twitter, and the ways in which it may help educators to building a personal learning network, and before looking briefly at some other useful tools.

< top >

RURAL, REGIONAL & REMOTE EDUCATION

Rural education the biggest challenge

Suzanne Smith, Lateline, ABC TV, 10/11/2011

A new report released by the Council Of Australian Governments shows the gap in educational achievement between city and rural areas continues to widen.

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Education experts are alarmed at the latest national snapshot of achievement.

A report released today by the Council of Australian Governments, or COAG, says the gap between disadvantaged students in some rural areas and those in better-off communities in the cities continues to widen.

Brian Croke, the head of the Catholic Education Commission in NSW, says the issue is the country's biggest educational challenge because of the regional disparities.

Suzanne Smith reports.

SUZANNE SMITH, REPORTER: The report includes data gathered from the NAPLAN tests in years three, five, seven and nine. Chairman of the COAG Reform Council Paul McClintock says the results are alarming, particularly for WA and Queensland.

< top >

AROUND THE STATES & TERRITORIES

ACT: Schools' wake-up call

Emma Macdonald, The Canberra Times, 10 Nov, 2011

Australia's education performance is stalling, indigenous students are falling further behind and the global financial crisis is preventing educated and skilled young Australians from getting a job.

The glum picture will emerge today as the Council of Australian Government Reform Group issues its latest snapshot of how the states and territories are performing across national agreements in education and training. It will warn that Australia is at risk of failing to meet a number of its key targets.

While the ACT continues to outperform the other states and territories in many of the benchmarks, it too has weak areas in high school achievement and in indigenous performance.

COAG Reform Group chair Paul McClintock warned that the ACT could not afford to rest on its performance when compared with the rest of the country, and needed instead to continually improve on past years - or risk being overtaken by the other states.

< top >

ACT: Barr's private school offer

Emma Macdonald and Breanna Tucker, The Canberra Times, 11 Nov, 2011

ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr has approached independent and Catholic schools with an offer to top up the salaries of their most talented teachers to $100,000.

In a move which is sure to inflame already tense negotiations between the ACT Government and its public school teachers, Mr Barr has floated using a multi-million dollar pool of money from the now defunct non-government schools interest subsidy scheme to develop a ''leading teacher classification'' in the non-government system.

The Australian Education Union, representing government school teachers, described the offer as a ''desperate political move''.

Mr Barr has been attempting to introduce six-figure salaries for the ACT's most accomplished government school teachers for several years but, after seven months of enterprise bargaining negotiations, has now reached an impasse.

< top >

ACT: Autonomy fear tactics 'scaring teachers'

Breanna Tucker, The Canberra Times, 15 Nov, 2011

The Australian Education Union has frightened teachers away from signing a new enterprise bargaining agreement with a school autonomy scare campaign that has gone ''too far'', a government representative says.

The head of the Education and Training Directorate, Jim Watterston, says the union's arguments against giving principals more hiring and firing powers have pushed beyond the reality of the ACT schooling system.

He was tired of hearing claims that students would suffer when their teachers changed jobs halfway through the year.

''People will not be sacked, we're not trying to curtail tenure, we're not trying to get the cheapest possible teachers into schools,'' he said.

< top >

NSW: Friday debate: The state of education

Lateline, ABC TV, November 11, 2011

The state of education is debated by New South Wales Board of Studies president Tom Alegounarias and the vice-chancellor of Macquarie University, Professor Steven Schwartz.

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: To discuss the state of education we're joined now by Tom Alegounarias, the president of the New South Wales Board of Studies, and Professor Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Macquarie University.

Professor Schwartz is also the former dean of medicine at the University of Western Australia and was employed by the Blair government in 2004 to review the way students are selected for university in the United Kingdom.

Steven Schwartz and Tom Alegounarias, many thanks for joining Lateline tonight.

PROFESSOR STEVEN SCHWARTZ, VICE-CHANCELLOR, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY: Good evening.

TOM ALEGOUNARIAS, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF STUDIES NSW: Hi Ali.

ALI MOORE: We've heard Dr Kim Jaggar in that story and also the students, how widespread is rote learning and plagiarism in the New South Wales HSC? Is the vast majority doing it? Is it prevalent? And is it a problem? Tom Alegounarias.

< top >

NT: Building Stronger Futures for Children in the Northern Territory

The Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Minister for Early Childhood and Youth; The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, Minister for Early Childhood and Youth; The Hon Warren Snowdon MP, Minister for Indigenous Health, 14 November 2011

Educational outcomes for children across the Northern Territory will be improved under an expanded initiative that links income support payments with school attendance.

The Australian Government will enhance the Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (SEAM), so that it aligns with the Northern Territory Government’s Every Child Every Day strategy and promotes greater parental responsibility around a child’s school enrolment and attendance.

This is part of a legislation package the Australian Government will introduce to Parliament next week to build stronger futures for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

< top >

NT: Interview with ABC News breakfast

The Hon Peter Garrett MP, Minister for School Education, 14 November 2011

PETER GARRETT: Well, I think the point about this proposal is the attendance plan itself and the agreement with the parents and the school and the pupils, that this is what’s going to happen. And yes, you’re right, it is a more mobile population in the Top End and, of course, if there are special circumstances that apply to a kid not being able to go to school, then that can be taken into account.

But critically, given the fact that we’ve spent nearly half a billion dollars – we’ve provided extra housing, we’ve provided an extra two hundred teachers to the NT Government. We've provided significant investment through building the education revolution. We’re about – we’re nearly half a billion dollars into extra investment in education and yet we’re still seeing these very high non-attendance rates, particularly in some areas.

We think it’s necessary to do this. We recognise that parents have an expectation that all parents in the NT will make sure that their kids go to school and we know that it’s going to make the job of teachers that much easier if they don’t have to run around, chase up kids like they sometimes do, or constantly have to deal with kids who are chronic non-attenders.

< top >

QLD: 'Free education' becomes a myth as parents prop up system in growing numbers

Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-Mail, November 12, 2011

THE cost of a "free education" is spiralling out of control, with parents paying for staff wages, safety upgrades, ICT, grounds maintenance and major building works in state schools.

In 2010 alone, parents of state school students paid and fundraised more than $170 million in fees, charges and contributions, Department of Education and Training figures show.

At least $16.2 million of that was through P&C fundraising and voluntary contributions, with the rest made up of school charges and levies.

It comes as the Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations says families are being put under increasing pressure to fund items that should usually come out of the state and federal budgets.

< top >

TAS: Helping young people reconnect with education

Paul O'Halloran, MHA, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Skills, 14 November 2011

An innovative individual learning program is helping disengaged young people reconnect with education.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Educations and Skills, Paul O’Halloran, today launched the Tasmanian pilot of the NotSchool Australia program.

NotSchool is an online, individualised learning program widely adopted in the UK, Europe and the USA for young people who are disengaged from classroom learning.

“The aim of the program is to re-engage young people in learning, by providing a secure, non-threatening online environment to rebuild their confidence, self-esteem and social skills and provide a pathway into further education, training or work,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“The Department of Education’s Learning Services South received a $100,000 Innovative Flexible Education Grant from the State Government last year to connect schools in its area to an Australian pilot of the Notschool.net international virtual learning model.

Read more: http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=33635

< top >

TAS: Cuts affect high needs students

Loretta Johnston, The Examiner, 14 Nov, 2011

CUTS to the education budget have left a number of Tasmanian schools worried about their ability to provide quality education to students with high and additional needs, opposition education spokesman Michael Ferguson said yesterday.

Education Minister Nick McKim said the government was willing to "look at anything" that would improve educational outcomes.

"And that includes looking at the support we give to special needs students," he said.

"But the simple fact is we are investing more this year into supporting special needs students than we did last year.

"We've actually increased the funding to students on the severe disability register by nearly $1 million this year and there are more students on that register than there were last year."

< top >

VIC: Victorian students plan for the future

Rob Hulls, Shadow Minister for Education, 14 November 2011

Shadow Minister for Education Rob Hulls today congratulated hundreds of primary school students for participating in the Victorian Junior School Council Congress at State Parliament.

Mr Hulls said the one-day conference provided 100 year 5 and 6 students from 27 government and non-government primary schools with an opportunity to participate in a mock parliament and heard from guest speaker, urban design studio’s CoDesign Chief Executive Officer, Lucinda Hartley.

“The students are involved in student councils, action teams or committees in their school community and this was a fantastic opportunity for the students to discuss and debate the topic of the day ‘Improving our neighbourhoods – urban planning today and beyond’,” Mr Hulls said.

< top >

WA: Shoeless students 'learn better'

Bethany Hiatt, The West Australian November 14, 2011

Children learn better if schools encourage them to slip off their shoes, international education expert Stephen Heppell says.

Professor Heppell, from the centre for media excellence at Bournemouth University, said students behaved better, were more interested in lessons and classrooms were quieter if shoes were discarded.

In Perth this week to talk to teachers about how technology and flexible classroom designs could improve results, Professor Heppell said he was "a bit nutty" about creating shoeless learning spaces.

"One reason it works is because kids hate wearing shoes," he said.

< top >

WA: Teachers flip parents the bird

Yasmine Phillips, PerthNow, November 14, 2011

TWO Western Australia teachers have been disciplined for making offensive finger gestures towards parents on a bus ride home from a staff Christmas Party.

Education authorities have completed their investigation into a parent's complaint about staff behaviour as part of social club celebrations at Kalbarri District High School last year.

The Sunday Times understands that the principal and two deputy principals, who were also on the bus, have been counselled but no formal action was taken against them.

The Education Department has also called in its Expert Review Group to examine tensions between some staff and parents at the school.

The development comes as all WA schools have been urged to behave in a "professional and respectful'' manner in the lead-up to this year's festive season.

< top >

REMINDERS

6 December - Education Reform 2011 Conference - London, UK - http://govknow.com/event-detail.html?id=55

8-14 January - National Science Teachers Summer School - Canberra - http://www.asta.edu.au/media/2012_national_science_teachers

< top >

ACSSO EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

Australian Education Digest : http://www.acsso.org.au/australian-education-digest/ (weekly)
International News Roundup : http://www.acsso.org.au/roundup/ (monthly)
Values Education : http://www.valuesineducation.org.au/news.htm (monthly)
Languages Education : http://www.languageseducation.com/news.htm (monthly)
Ensemble - Music Education : http://www.ensemble.org.au/news.htm (monthly)
Public Education Voice : http://www.acsso.org.au/public-education-voice (quarterly)

Do you know of an event or resource that schools should know about? Email us at webmaster@acsso.org.au. Details of products, services, events, resources or points of view are provided for information only; publication does not imply endorsement or recommendation. No warranty is provided nor liability accepted by ACSSO, its members or employees.
To unsubscribe from Australian Education Digest click here: mailto:webmaster@acsso.org.au?subject=unsubscribeAED
To unsubscribe from all ACSSO mailings click here: mailto:webmaster@acsso.org.au?subject=unsubscribeALL