Education is certainly a major topic for debate on the 2010 election campaign trail and key issues like Building the Education Revolution, NAPLAN testing, the My School website and funding review may well be at the forefront of teachers’ minds when they cast their vote.
From a political point of view, Julia Gillard has made it clear that, as former Federal Education Minister, the sector remains a priority as she pushes to secure the backing of Australians to stay in the top job.
Of course, Gillard remains tied to the Federal Government’s BER debacle and was straight out of the blocks after calling the election to reject any suggestion she had rushed to the ballot box to avoid a potentially-embarrassing report into the $16.2 billion scheme.
Brad Orgill’s BER taskforce is due to deliver its interim findings in August and Gillard said it was “complete nonsense” to suggest it would be delayed until after the vote. Whatever your political allegiance, it’s clear the education sector has never had as much money thrown at it – although the allegations of waste have left a sour taste.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has also gone on the offensive over BER, saying the Prime Minister cannot be trusted to spend money wisely given the record of the flagship rebuilding project. Australian Teacher Magazine certainly hopes the PM sticks to her word and makes the taskforce report available before the election.
Gillard has also been quick to announce a new education scheme, should Labor be re-elected – a $3 million national trade cadetships program that would allow vocational education and training to be recognised in schools. Shadow education minister Chris Pyne has ridiculed the scheme, pointing out that Labor has only built 13 Trades Training Centres in three years and many schools that do have one have to share the facilities.
It’s interesting to see that the big announcements on education have come from Gillard and she seems to be revelling in the building site/hard hat photo opportunities we are so used to seeing her in – little has been heard from the man who took over the education portfolio after the cabinet reshuffle, Simon Crean.
One major issue for education professionals and teaching unions has been consultation (or lack of it). The My School controversy and threatened boycott of NAPLAN tests earlier in the year had a lack of consultation at its heart and teachers are waiting eagerly to see if their feedback to ACARA will make an impact on the proposed national curriculum.
Whichever party wins power on August 21, Australian Teacher Magazine hopes the politicians charged with overseeing education in this country give teachers and school principals the backing they deserve – whether they be in government, Catholic or independent schools. We hope those politicians not only give educational professionals a voice, but listen to them, take heed of their views and work with them.
SPEAKING of the national curriculum, the list of ‘must-have’ topic requests seems to be growing ever longer, making us wonder where teachers are going to find the time to cover everything. A parliamentary inquiry into youth violence is the latest to call for extra content to be added to the draft – in the shape of ‘social development education’.
Committee chair Annette Ellis is handing responsibility to schools when she says the curriculum should “teach our young people how to develop and maintain respectful relationships and deal in a non-aggressive way with conflict”. One teenager who took part in a youth forum on the topic told the inquiry it shouldn’t even be down to teachers to deliver such lessons, but someone with experience in that particular field or a role model. Another submission to the inquiry said schools needed to stop pushing a “warm and fuzzy” message and take a tough line on bad behaviour. “Put simply children need to be taught the impact of hurting someone else,” it said.
Having to deal with violence in schools is becoming something of a common occurrence for teachers. Many principals want the necessary support from education departments and power the act when it comes to sending out a tough message and punishing violent behaviour.
Including ‘social development’ on the curriculum might make an impact on some students, but teachers and principals cannot be expected to tackle this problem alone. Parents need to step up too, students need to take responsibility for their own actions and politicians need to accept their role in tackling youth violence.
IN the July issue of Australian Teacher Magazine our editorial questioned the need for trials of iPads in schools and asked if the money spent on acquiring the very latest gadgets could be justified. It has sparked a debate on our new teacher forum, with passionate arguments on both sides.
It’s good to see one of the schools trialling the devices, Melbourne’s Brighton Grammar, is carrying out a two year research project into the effectiveness of iPads in changing pedagogy and improving learning outcomes for students. It’s also encouraging to hear senior students will be creating numeracy applications for their junior counterparts – if we are to have the very latest gadgets in schools it must be as learning tools and not just a shiny distraction.
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