PUBLIC EDUCATION VOICE
Newsletter of the Australian Council of State School Organisations
ACSSO - The national voice of parents in Australia's public schools and their school communities

June 2005

Contents

Editorial
President's Column
Parenting Wisdom
ACSSO Annual Conference
Richard Eckersley - Conference Speaker
Australia's Nobel Laureates - Howard Walter Florey
Investing in our Schools
Values Alive and Well
Velocity
ACSSO Affiliates

Editorial

Welcome to the second edition of Public Education Voice for 2005.

This month and into the future you will notice how we are emphasizing the importance of science in our lives. And, as a bonus, Science Show host Robyn Williams will be a key speaker at the ACSSO Conference in October. ACSSO is delighted to be involved in programs that promote the value of science to parents and young people.

We believe the health of a nation relies very much on the importance attached to science both in our homes and at school. A successful nation will value science and seek to encourage young people to follow a scientific career. From pure science to applied technology, from physics to pharmaceuticals, from environmental analysts to energy consultants, Australia has a desperate need for recruits.
Just as important is the need for all young people to appreciate the contribution that science has made to our well-being. We also want young people, teachers and parents to appreciate how exciting and how much fun science can be. A generation that has both curiosity and scientific method is a generation that will be able to cope with challenges in the future.

As always, would principals and teachers please forward copies of this newsletter to parents on your governing councils and parent associations. School librarians and science teachers will also have a special interest in this edition.

Click on the link to visit www.acsso.org.au

ACSSO Conference Speaker
Richard Eckersley

Richard Eckersley is a fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, where he is working on aspects of progress and well-being. He trained as a zoologist before studying the history, philosophy and sociology of science and technology. His work covers many aspects of whether life is getting better or worse, including: measures of progress; the relationships between economic growth, quality of life and ecological sustainability; the social determinants of health and well-being; happiness and life satisfaction; visions of the future; and youth suicide and other problems.

His former positions include: ministerial consultant in two Commonwealth Government portfolios; principal issue analyst in the Office of the Chief Executive of CSIRO; senior analyst with the Australian Commission for the Future; head of the CSIRO Media Liaison Office; and science reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has a BSc(Hons) from the Australian National University and a MScSoc (Master of Science and Society) from the University of NSW. Before settling into a career, Richard worked as a labourer and professional fisherman, and travelled for two years through Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and Asia. He is married, with three children.

“Well & Good: How We Feel and Why it Matters” (2004) Text Publishing, Melbourne (rrp $22.00), is Richard’s most recent book. This important study explores the issues around the point that while we are richer, healthier and generally better off than ever before, many people have the uneasy feeling that things are not quite right – and that we are not building the right sort of future for our children. Why is this so; and how can we go about making things better? Richard seeks to consider all the elements which have a bearing upon the quality of life and contribute to health and wellbeing. In considering the issues affecting young people, there are great challenges… and opportunities:

“If… modern Western society is harming a substantial and growing number of young people to varying degrees because it is failing to meet basic human needs for belonging, meaning and identity – then we need, in addition to specific interventions, a much broader effort to reform, even transform, society.”

Australia’s Nobel Laureates
Howard Walter Florey

Howard Flory was born in Adelaide in 1898: attending St Peter’s College (as did Lawrence Bragg) and studied medicine at Adelaide University, gaining a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, graduating 1924. Following wide ranging research experience and university positions, he was appointed director of the William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford, which he led for thirty years.

Here Florey built a team with a focus on exploring and solving the problems of bacterial infection.: and in 1938 decided to focus on the possible developments of Aleaxander Fleming’s chance discovery of the properties of penicillium moulds in 1928, which had never been followed up. This provided to be extremely complex and challenging, working with limited funds, makeshift equipment and a substance that was difficult to produce in sufficient quaitities, and highly unstable to work with. Successful testing of penicillin resulted in full funding for the project in 1943, and by 1945 expanding production was being undertaken by major drug companies, including the work of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne.

Fleming always credited the work of his whole team, and in 1945 he and his close colleague Ernest Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize for this work. Of course, Florey’s other scientific contributions were also of major significance, including research into immune responses that contributed to vaccination. Florey also contributed to the establishment of the Australian National University, becoming its first Chancellor in 1965. He died of a heart attack in 1969. Robert Menzies once said that Florey had more effect on the welfare of the world than any other Australian.

(Material based on the essay “Breaking the Mould” by Bob Beale, in the book “Australia’s Nobel Laureates: Adventures in Innovation 1915 – 1996” Keeney Russell Editions, Sydney, 2004)

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Investing in our Schools

The $1 billion Investing in Our Schools Program was announced by the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP, during the election campaign in 2004. The investment adds significantly to the $1.5 billion already committed by the Australian Government for capital works in schools across Australia over the next four years.

Background

The objective of the Investing in Our Schools Program is to deliver much needed school infrastructure projects through an injection of additional Australian Government funds. In the period 2005 to 2008, $700 million will be provided to State schools to help repair, replace or install new items critical to their school's overall needs. The focus will be on delivering projects which improve the infrastructure of schools in accordance with priorities identified by school communities – parents, friends, the teaching profession and students associated with the school. $300 million will be provided to less well-off Catholic and Independent schools through the Block Grant Authorities (BGAs).

The Investing in Our Schools Program commences in 2005 and will continue until the end of 2008.

Briefing sessions have been conducted throughout May. Applications for grants under $50,000 have closed, however for grants over $50,000 the closing date is 2 August. For more details go to the ACSSO Website or direct to the Online Application Form

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Values - Alive and Well!

Visit the ACSSO Values website
Over the last few months ACSSO has been developing a dedicated part of its website to the issue of values in our schools. We start with the proposition that values are indeed alive and well in our public schools. Many schools are now sharing their stories about values on the website. Why not take a few minutes to describe how your school contributes to the development of strong values in the student community?

Values and using controversy as a teaching tool.

Good teachers know that controversial issues stimulate debate and encourage students to think. One of the things that makes a particular issue controversial, is that people hold strong, but differing opinions about the issue. And the reason that they hold these differing opinions is often the result of their differing value systems. Examination papers for senior high school students have always canvassed controversial issues, particularly in the subject of English. One can therefore expect that high school students will discuss issues such as Australia's detention policies for asylum seekers, stem cell research, abortion, free trade agreements, euthanasia, the Iraq war, Guantanamo Bay, to name but a few. Good teachers will not impose their own values in relation to sensitive issues such as these, but they will get students to see all sides and support them in developing arguments to support their thinking. Students will learn to distinguish fact from opinion. Good teachers will encourage students to value and listen to one another. In this environment students will learn to appreciate diversity Some adults may worry about using controversy as a teaching tool, but properly done it can teach some very valuable lessons in values.

What do others say about using controversial issues in teaching?

As a teacher of English at an Italian secondary high school, I think it is essential to foster discussion in a classroom for several reasons, some of which may be:

- teach students to carefully listen to one another without prejudices
- try to clearly interpret the other's message
- gather different points of views
- try to explain their own ideas in a logical and clear order without shouting, attacking or surrendering to the others.
It's not always easy with our adolescents! Obviously it all depends on the age, the culture and other factors; in my reality, I think it is a good aim as I strongly believe that it's more important to teach students to use their minds in a critical way, after having acquired also some fundamental knowledges of course, than cramming heads with notions and no critical support.
Anon, Italy

Obviously any discussion, controversial or not, needs to be appropriate to the linguistic, sociological and emotional needs of the class. I would have thought that denying students the chance to get involved in discussing subjects which may cause feelings to run high is to do them a disservice: students need to learn how to express their opinions in a way which gets across their point without causing offence, and they are hardly likely to learn the appropriate skills if subjects are kept safe. There will be risks, but what of that?
One way to concentrate on the skills required rather than just the arguments is to depersonalise the process - students being asked to assume the role of a fictitious character, or being required to argue from the opposite point of view from their own belief, thus creating a class full of devil's advocates!
I have found, however, that it is important for the teachers to remain fairly neutral, and to be seen to encourage and understand views from both sides.
Fitch O'Connell, Portugal

It is necessary to bring reality into the classroom. I do, however, believe that it is the teacher's role to steer the conversation, making sure no-one is bullied, and everyone is allowed a fair chance at participation, if they wish. It is also important to encourage skills of reasoning, and the ability to support statements in a calm and effective manner. I have often found that it is the person who 'shouts the loudest' at the beginning of a discussion that is later found to be the person with little evidence or support for their opinion. It is more often the tentative student who, given the chance, will contribute valued, well reasoned argument.
Sian Lund, Ireland

Today's school children live in a world which gives them total access to all manner of information, be it television, Internet, newspapers. We can neither protect children nor hide controversial topics from them. It is far better to discuss such matters in the classroom, allow students to air their opinions freely and hopefully give some kind of perspective.
Barbara Admoni, Israel

These quotes were taken from survey by the British Council/BBC on using controversy in the English classroom.

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