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Contents
Editorial
President's
Column
They said it....
Assessment and
Reporting Ministerial
Views
International
School News
Services First
Did
you know....
Your Say
Women's History
Month
What is
ACSSO?
Contact details
Stop
Press |
Editorial
This is the
first Public Education Voice for 2004, published to correspond with back
to school in Tasmania. Available to every government school in Australia,
it is posted to publicly available email addresses. We would be grateful
if the receiver could either forward it electronically to, or copy it for,
key parents in your community. Feel free to makeit available for your
staff, and to use any of the contents with appropriate attribution to the
source. Individuals may also subscribe
direct, by clicking on the hyperlink and emailing ACSSO with your
request.
Purpose of this
newsletter is to link school communities around Australia with the
national education agenda. ACSSO is the peak organisation representing
parents in talking with government and opposition parties, the Department
of Education Science and Training and other national organisations. Have
your say on any national educational issue by contacting the ACSSO office
in Canberra.
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President's Column
May I welcome parents, students, principals,
teachers and office staff to the 2004 school year. Education has been a
constant news item in the last few weeks, with both the Prime Minister and
the new Leader of the Opposition visiting schools and flagging policy
issues in preparation for the election.
Mr Latham addressed
issues of good parenting and school funding, drawing responses from the
Prime Minister. Good news from this early exchange indicates that
education will be an election issue in 2004. ACSSO will be analysing the
policies of all major parties and publishing a report card as a guide for
voters.
During 2004 legislation
will be presented in Federal Parliament in relation to the funding of
schools for the next four years. Current government policy is like Robin
Hood in reverse - it takes from the poor schools and gives to the richer
ones. Labor has said that it will institute a needs based system in
conjunction with the States,but has not yet released any policy detail.
Finally I wish to
comment on two issues raised recently in the press. Firstly ACSSO
completely rejects the assertion by the Prime Minister that public schools
do not adequately teach values. This statement was rightly taken as an
insult by parents and teachers, who look for government support, not
thoughtless criticism. Secondly, ACSSO has written to the Federal
Education Minister on the issues of assessment and reporting in schools.
We believe that the purposes of assessment need to be made explicit, with
the most important one being to improve student learning. Whilst agreeing
that reports should be clear and simple, some of the Minister's views
would appear to be counter-productive to good teaching and
learning.
Judith Bundy,
President
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They said
it.....
"The executive director of the
NSW Catholic Education Commission, Brian Croke, said the 1700 Catholic
schools in Australia remained opposed to the(SES) model and were expected
to support Labor's approach" Schools' resources back on funding agenda
By Linda Doherty,
Education Editor. SMH January 30, 2004 |
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Ministerial
Views
Dr Nelson said parents needed "meaningful
information" so they could make informed decisions about school choice.
Too often the decision was being made "in ignorance, without access to the
facts".School reports must
do better: Nelson. Linda Doherty, Education Editor SMH January 29,
2004
"We'll be wanting to make
available information on reading and writing and numeracy skills, where
your child sits against the national benchmark." Nelson to be hard
marker. Samantha Maiden The Australian Jan 31, 2004 |
Assessment and Reporting
Minister Nelson recently
raised issues of the quality of school reports in the press. ACSSO
believes that it is impossible to separate reporting issues from a
consideration of the purposes of assessment. Fundamentally, the prime
purpose of assessment should be to improve teaching and learning, with the
consequence that standards are raised. 'Assessment for learning' therefore
has a very different role to play to 'summative assessment', which is used
to grade or rank students, or compare their achievement with an external
benchmark. Obviously there is a role for both, but research shows that
students learn best when teachers provide frequent, supportive feedback
and strategies for students to achieve more. This ongoing assessment
motivates students in a way that a grade or number fails to do. Parents do
want honest, clear reports, but we also want our students to be inspired
to learn. Simplification of this issue will not raise the academic
standards of our children. Providing extra support for teachers in
handling the multiple demands of assessment and reporting is the real
challenge.
Taken together, the two
quotes of Dr Nelson at left raise concerns that the Minister sees
assessment against national benchmarks as having a primary purpose of
being used for parents to select schools, as opposed to raising standards
by improving learning. There is also a strong hint here that he wishes to
go beyond reporting to individual parents by publishing league tables.
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Homework fails to make the grade
Mark Townsend
The
Observer Sunday February 8, 2004
Children have long suspected it, and
now research confirms it: homework is a waste of time. Anxiety, boredom,
fatigue and emotional exhaustion are all side-effects of bringing
schoolwork home, according to a review of 75 years of study into the
issue.
Even those who believe homework improves their performance in
the classroom resent the encroachment on their spare time.
And the
best place for extra study may not, in fact, be at home. The report by the
Institute of Education makes a case for out-of-hours study to be done in
after-school learning clubs, away from the potentially disruptive
influence of parents.
Read
more
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International Education News
Each week ACSSO produces
a digest of national and international education news and posts it on the
ACSSO website.
The two stories at left
and right challenge some conventional thinking, one questioning the value
of homework, and the other highlighting the limitations of curriculums
that focus too intensively on literacy and numeracy.
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Any Lessons from Russia?
School inspectors in
England have warned that too much focus on basic maths and English skills
is destroying any chance of a "rich and fulfilling curriculum".
Russians, it seems, have the same fears.
Schools there achieve
great success in literacy and numeracy. The literacy rate for the whole
adult population is around 95%.
This is partly due to the inheritance
of the Soviet education system which was strong on the "Three Rs".
However, it was not so good at encouraging creativity or thinking
skills.
Read
more |
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Services First
Heading into an election year, with the Australian Government
having a budget surplus, both major political parties are already wooing
voters by talking about tax cuts. A new group called Services First has
been formed to raise awareness in the community of the importance of a
range of services, and the risk to their viability posed by constant
undermining of the tax system. ACSSO is a member of this group which
includes other peak bodies in the education, welfare, health, housing,
disability and indigenous sectors.
Services First will not
endorse any political party or candidate for election. However, it will
focus on media and marginal electorates to ensure that our message – of
the need to support services – gets through in this election year.
Primarily ACSSO
believes that there are very large unmet needs in education, some of which
future governments have the capacity to address if the current surplus is
not dissipated. This means taking a longer term view of the needs of
Australian society as opposed to the shorter term opportunism encouraged
by three year electoral cycles and hip-pocket politics.
For starters, a future
government could think about the following educational service
enhancements:
- reducing class sizes
in the early years of schooling in every State and Territory
- improving school and
post-school opportunities for students with disabilities
- lifting the status
of the teaching profession by implementing the recommendations of the
Australia's Teachers Report
- comprehensively
implementing the recommendations in the Prime Minister's Youth Pathways
Action Plan Taskforce "Footprints to the Future" report, assisting
school leavers to move into work and further education.
- Raising the number
of HECS places in Australian universities.
There is clear evidence
that growing numbers of Australians are prepared to support a good system
of social and community services. ACSSO is not saying that there should be
no tax cuts at all. It is simply saying that the responsible position for
future governments is to carefully examine the shortfalls in services such
as education and health before they commit to a program of tax
cuts.
Readers can get further
information about Services First from its web site at www.servicesfirst.org.au
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Your Say
Dear Judith
I
am a Principal of a small, public school in SA. (27 enrolments) I
really appreciated your response to the Prime Ministers comments
regarding 'traditional values'. I really don't know how he came at
this or what he was thinking. Your response prompted me to write a
brief statement to my staff as we begin a new year. Your email will
be shared. (There are just 5 of us with one new college graduate) It
is a brief statement regarding where I come from and my beliefs for
the school. I have attached what I did, just for your information so
that you know your words were valued.
I could easily teach in
the local Christian School but, basically, how boring!! I can
implement all the traditional values I like, right where I am and
enjoy a variety of children, families and beliefs at the same
time.
Cheers, Jen. (name and address supplied)
Dear Judith
I
too was totally appalled by the recent comments made against our
public school system. The remarks made by the acting Federal
Minister for Education regarding public schools being either value
free or not supporting the Australian heritage values are just
ludicrous. This statement certainly shows a lack of understanding
about the concept of values. No place where human beings congregate
can possibly be values free. The High School which my son attends
runs a range of excellent programs which support values development.
In addition to this the ethos of the school values and supports all
individuals no matter what they come from or how clever they are. I
fully support the enormous work being undertaken in public schools
and applaud the wonderful efforts of the great many people who work
so hard to help our children learn and gain understanding in this
critical area of life skills.
Pippa Gillett
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What is ACSSO?
Founded in 1946, ACSSO is
the peak organisation that represents the interests of the parents
and students associated with government schools throughout
Australia. It has ten affiliated bodies in the states and
territories, each of whom represent government school P&C
associations, school councils or both. ACSSO is supported by a Grant
in Aid from the Australian Government, and affiliation fees. Visit
the affiliate(s) in your state, or contact them via the email links
provided below.
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Contact ACSSO or your
ACSSO Affiliate
ACSSO
Aust Capital
Territory
New South
Wales
Northern
Territory
Queensland
SA - SAASSO
SA - SAASPC
Tasmania
Vic - Parents
Victoria
Victoria -
VICSSO
Western
Australia |
Visit
ACSSO and its affiliates
ACSSO
Secretariat
ACT
NSW
NT
QLD
SAASSO and SAASPC
TAS
VICSSO and Parents
Vic
WA |
Unsubscribe - should
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in the subject line of the email
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Did you know....
Most Australians seem
unaware that, in fact, Australia is a low-tax country, being the sixth
lowest among the thirty OECD countries.
We face many social,
environmental and economic needs that might begin to be addressed if our
tax base had more integrity.
Nearly 900,000 children
live in homes where no one has a paying job.
Educational outcomes are
closely related to family economic circumstances.
There are 100,000
homeless people in Australia.
On average Indigenous
Australians die twenty years younger than other
Australians.
Lowering class sizes in the
early years of schooling is likely to result in dramatic improvements in
literacy and numeracy levels
Following the 2002 Federal
Budget tax cuts (and the Budget announcements about Medicare and
university fees) an AC Neilson poll found that 20% wanted the proposed tax
cuts, while 70% responded ‘No, I want better
services’.
Since about 2000 both Newspoll
and Roy Morgan Research surveys record education and health as the issues
of greatest concern in the community, and both issues are trending
upwards.
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Women's History Month
Celebrate and remember the life of a local woman this
March!
Every year during March, when women around the world
celebrate International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month (WHM) is
dedicated to remembering and celebrating the extraordinary variety
of women who have contributed so much in earlier centuries, and in
recent years.
While some women will always be remembered - for example
Dame Nellie Melba, and Jessie Street, the stories of the lives and
work of others, while vital for the future of humanity and women,
have the potential to be lost. Whether they were teachers,
activists, musicians, politicians, writers, scientists, or women who
made contributions to society in other or less obvious ways, we must
not forget them.
Why not organize something at your local school?
Check out our website on what kind of event you could
organize for this March or next. Gorgeous free posters to advertise
your 2004 WHM event are also available (while stocks last). Contact
www.womenaustralia.info/whm or email whm@triviumpublishing.com
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STOP
PRESS
ACSSO launched a
new interactive website this week |
Compelling viewing for anyone interested in the issue of
values in public schools!
"OUR BOYS"
ABC TV 8pm
Tuesdays |