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Jean Walker

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  1. I am feeling rather battered and bruised at the moment. Over the last decade a culture has been allowed to pervade our DoE of what someone describes as "command and control" which has ultimately flowed down from head office bureaucrats to principals and on to teachers. I think it came as a response to establishing our new and very radical curriculum and assessment and reporting which was not greeted with open arms by a substantial amount of teachers. It therefore had to be driven home almost by brute force if the momentum was to be maintained. This need for control and command eminated from the Minister's office and went down the line. My union tried very hard to convince her that this was going on but it was constantly denied. At our recent election she polled very badly, was only just returned to her seat and was demoted to a less important portfolio. With a new Minister coming in, I belived it was the right moment to start again and knowing that nothing would really happen by just raising the subject and asking for an inquiry, I made a speech to our Union Council last week which made the point that bullying had occurred. The speech was unanimously endorsed by Council with a request that it be made public. Of course, as I knew it would, the media jumped on it and it became very public. I am now in a position where I have scores of members telling me that for the first time they feel as if their union cares about them, while at the same time I am receiving angry letters and resignations from those members who are in curriculum offices who believe that I have "abandoned" them and "tarred everyone with the same brush". I guess it was inevitable but I am feeling sad that these members are saying that I am uncaring and unfeeling, when I actually did it because I think I care too much. I could easily have ignored it all and led an easy life. Anyone else had such an experience?
  2. I would never ever advocate streaming in primary school, probably not even in Yr 7, although many maths teachers seem to support streaming in that subject by then and I can certainly understand Graham's arguments in relation to languages. I cannot imagine achieving much success teaching a foreign language in a Yr 9 or 10 class with students who cover the whole bell curve of ability. Do we put that range of students into a university lecture on physics? I agree with Graham, in senior classes in some subjects with the numbers teachers are faced with it is simply common sense, otherwise everyone suffers from a too difficult job. In primary, the teacher has a group of students almost all day every day and can juggle group work, individual attention differentiated approaches etc, but a secondary teacher may have 30 students ranging from intellectually impaired to highly intelligent for 40 minutes four times a week in a specialised subject such as maths or science or languages. It is highly unlikely that truly individualised programs catering for the entire range can be provided. I honestly believe that anyone who thinks they can, is either fooling themselves or is a genius. The point is always made that streaming students affects their self-esteem and that is what prevents them from learning. This study of secondary students seems to be saying that although it may in the short term, it doesn't last. The actual figures can probably be got from the full study - what I posted was the abstract.
  3. The study seems to be more about long-term self-esteem than academic achievement: Abstract: Background. Although several studies support the existence of a negative stream effect on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept, there is not enough longitudinal research evidence to preclude the possibility that the stream effect may only be temporary. In addition, not much is known about the effect of streaming on changes in students' academic self-concept over time. Aims. The main aims of the study were to examine the effect of streaming on (a) the students' academic self-concept immediately after the streaming process, and at yearly intervals for 3 consecutive years, and ( the changes in students' academic self-concept over a 3 year period. Sample. The sample comprised 495 Secondary 1 students (approximate age 13) from three government coeducational schools in Singapore. Method. A longitudinal survey using a self-reported questionnaire. Results. Results showed that the lower-ability stream students had a more negative academic self-concept than the higher-ability stream students immediately after streaming, but they had a more positive academic self-concept 3 years after being streamed. In addition, it was established that the students' academic self-concept declined from Secondary 1 to Secondary 3. Nonetheless, the decline was more pronounced for the higher-ability stream students than the lower-ability stream students. Conclusions. Streaming may have a short-term negative impact on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept. However, in the long run, being in the lower-ability stream may not be detrimental to their academic self-concept. Document Type: Research article DOI: 10.1348/000709905X42239 Affiliations: 1: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2: University of Nottingham, UK
  4. Interesting article from the TES website Taking the stigma out of streaming Jan Trebilcock Streaming in schools benefits under-achievers, according to new research from Singapore. The study, published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, found that children in lower ability classes had greater academic self-esteem than those in higher groups. Researchers think they may have benefited from a ‘big fish in a little pond’ effect, while those in higher ability groups faced more pressure and competition. They concluded that streaming is not detrimental to the self-esteem of children in lower sets and does not stop them ‘facing the future with confidence’. Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, welcomed the findings saying that belief in mixed ability classes was always misplaced. He told the Daily Mail: “To say there is a stigmatising effect for those in lower ability classes is Left-wing nonsense”.
  5. Glad to hear you are on the mend, Graham. And good to hear about your positive experience in hospital. Our health system here is increasingly underfunded and inadequate, when once it used to be superior to Britain, but that's right-wing economic rationalists for you!! We've had the smiling company of Mr Blair out here the last few days, advising our Labor Opposition Leader, so things should improve, don't you think!!!
  6. Interesting media release I just recieved. Media Release Jenny Macklin MP Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Minister for Education, Training, Science & Research OECD EXPOSES HOWARD’S EDUCATION FAILURE Public investment in Australia’s schools, TAFEs and universities has gone backwards under the Howard Government, according to the OECD Fact Book 2006. Australia’s public investment in education is now below the average for the rest of the developed world. Private expenditure in education (all levels) shot up a massive 40 per cent between 1995 and 2002, jumping from 1.2 per cent of GDP in 1995 to 1.5 per cent in 2002. This is more than double the OECD average. Over the same period, Australian public spending on education fell from 4.5 per cent of GDP to 4.4 per cent. It should be a ‘no-brainer’ but after ten long years in Government, John Howard still doesn’t understand that Australia should be leading the way in education. The OECD Fact Book 2006, released last night, also showed Australia was one of only 5 OECD nations to actually reduce government funding for tertiary education per student between 1995 and 2002 – alongside the Czech Republic, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Sweden. The OECD figures also show that Australian students are paying the price for this short-sighted neglect of education. Spending for each Australian tertiary student fell 7 per cent since 1995 compared to an average 12 per cent increase for other OECD nations (where data were available) between 1995 to 2002. While John Howard has Australia in reverse, countries like India and China have their feet firmly on the accelerator. India has committed to boosting public expenditure to 6 per cent of GDP while China’s higher education sector is producing 440,000 engineers a year. It is no wonder that Australian businesses are crying out for skilled workers when the Howard Government has been winding back public investment in education and training. Australia’s economic future will increasingly require local businesses to compete against firms from India and China without the skilled workers they need. The OECD report is a damning indictment of the Howard Government at a time when the Australian economy is being damaged by an acute shortage of skilled workers. More Info: Nick Talbot 02 6277 4277/0408 473 278 29 March 2006
  7. http://cmslive.curriculum.edu.au/leader Don't quite know where to put this, but this is the link to the leading Australian curriculum journal now online and, I think would be very interesting for some educators. Two articles in the current edition are on Multiple Intelligences and Computers in Schools.
  8. Jean Walker

    Computer Use

    Australian students among the highest users of computers at school and in the home: OECD report A new analysis of 2003 results in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has found that Australian students are among the world’s leading users of computers in education both at school and in the home. The study, Are students ready for a technology-rich world? was released by the OECD in Paris on 24 January. It is a previously unpublished analysis of data collected during the 2003 round of PISA testing. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) led the international consortium that conducted the PISA 2003 assessments and collected the data used in this new analysis. The report is now available from the OECD website. Click on the following link to access the report. http://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/31/0,234...1_1_1_1,00.html Haven't checked our where UK sits yet.
  9. I couldn't agree more. But why did systems let it happen? Was it a consequence of the Dr Spock school of child-rearing? Or was it that in comprehensives and mixed ability classes it became harder to engage less able students in straight chronological history or grammar and teachers had to find less academically focussed methodologies?
  10. From a friend in the US but applicable anywhere: Teacher Interview After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said: "Let me see if I've got this right........." You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. And I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits. You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job. I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, make sure all students pass the mandatory state exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments. Plus, I am to make sure that all the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap. And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card. All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps! You want me to do all of this and yet you expect me NOT TO PRAY??
  11. http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thr...s/&threadPage=1 Some interesting discussion here about academic standards in Scandinavia, particularly Finland. You need to go the Pages 2,3 etc
  12. The first part of your response doesn't apply very much here because as I've said we don't have exams, league tables or a teaching to the test regime, but I do agree with the points about social changes and lack of communication. I also believe that many teachers, at least here, under the age of about 45 who went through the first round of comprehensives, did not always get as good an education themselves as happened previously and this had dramatically affected what they are able to teach. I am constantly appalled at teachers who do not have a thorough knowledge of the language and how it works and are not well-read or even interested in reading and have limited history and geography and politics. One of our officers at the union is about 38 and she is quite definite that she did not receive in her comprehensive high school, what she now considers a sufficient education and is conscious of the fact that us "oldies" have a much wider and deeper knowledge of literature, history, politics etc and that she often cannot join in work and dinner party conversations. You can easily say that there may be other contributing factors, but she is adamant that she believes she was not taught "enough" at school. A few years ago I had a trainee English teacher who didn't know the difference between a novel and a playscript. I had another who had barely heard of Hitler. How can these people then transmit knowledge to their students?
  13. An interesting response, David. But even that can't be the entire answer. Sorry, to have to press this issue, but we have not used set text books here for a very long time and teachers have been free to teach the curriculum in all sorts of imaginative ways. When I say curriculum, I use it very loosely because we don't even have a national curriculum. For the last 15/20 years we have had various "statements"of learning, some called Tasmanian Key Intended Outcomes" on literacy, numeracy etc. And in secondary schools we have had a set of fairly loose syllabus descriptors for each subjest with a set of criteria with which to judge outcomes. So, even that can't be the full answer to the problem.
  14. But I still ask the question - why have our standards here also fallen when we don't teach to exams, don't have league tables, and don't have "marketing" of schools as a commodity? There have to be other factors involved.
  15. Address for Victorian curriculum standards is: http://csf.vcaa.vic.edu.au/home.htm Victoria, like most of our states, does SOSE - Studies of Society and the Environment up to Yr 9 and 10 when History/Geography can be selected. SOSE is a mixture of the two and also incorporates environmental studies and issues such as drugs and conflict etc All states of Australia have recently or are in the process of implementing various models of Outcomes Based Education. If you don't know much about this I suggest doing some Googling because it is causing great controversy at the moment and you probably need to know about it. Victoria ia probably the most conservative of the states when it comes to education and they have an exam system which is a little more like UK GCSEs than other states have. WA is in the midst of the biggest educational controversy at the moment and this website may give you some insight. We do tend to be a bit inclined here to jump on bandwagons that have failed elsewhere but that's my personal opinion and probably not shared by any educational bureaucrats or uni dons who haunt these boards!! Let me know if there's anything else you want to know - I have good connections with the Union Research Officers in each state who always know what's going on round the country. Sorry, forgot to add website address www.platowa.com/
  16. Having just read the latest OECD report on how students who use computers more are better at academic studies, I will have to take back what I just said about tennagers and PCs. I can't get the article to copy on to here but you will probably know where to access it.
  17. Yes, it is an interesting debate. Here in Tasmania (and in several other Australian states) we do not have exams until Yr 12 and even then they are only part of the assessment for entering uni. Therefore at least until the end of Yr 10 we do not teach to tests or exams. Assessment is ongoing and done by the individual teacher against criteria/standards. The standardised testing we do on literacy and numeracy is generic and they are not "taught to". So, the argument re teaching to tests shouldn't apply, yet I believe most older teachers here would agree that our academic standards have fallen and they are certainly worried about them falling further with our new Outcomes Based Education sysytem which has done away with subjects in favour of "key outcomes" such as "World Futures" and "Well-being"' and Numeracy instead of Maths, and Science not being taught as a separate subject at all, but that's another story. So, I think the other arguments John gives are valid here - lack of parental interaction, less time for reading, less NEED for reading, more reliance on TV for information, less need to talk. It's perfectly possible, if not desirable, to get all your information from TV or radio by just listening and much of your communication through texting. Much of teenagers PC use is also not of the reading kind. I was a full-time working mother of three boys between 1964 and 1986 with a workaholic husband, but we always had meals together and we always talked to them. We took them travelling and had a holiday house where they camped out and trout fished regularly with their father. He was very hands-on and taught them building skills, mechanical skills and repair skills. I encouraged them to cook and they all did cooking at school. It was damned hard work and took lots of energy - I really think this is what is missing in today's parenting. They too are often in front of the TC or PC or otherwise occupied in their jobs and seem to think that a full timetable of lessons in tennis, gymnastics, violin, Irish dancing or whatever, are actually more important than being there with them. Australia does very well in PISA and TIMMS and our govt congratulates itself accordingly, but like John's comments on exam standards, are we just doing well in the egg and spoon race or in the final of the realy? Sorry - typos! Should be TV or PC and RELAY in the last line.
  18. MI is a useful thing to know about and think about but like many of these things has been taken too far when teachers are expected to analyse the "Learning Style" of each of their 30 students and deliver individual lessons accordingly. That is absolute garbage and should be named up as such. It can be a useful tool in a teachers' repertoire and it may help to assist the learning of some with specific difficulties, but I agree with David that the point is surely to encourage children to learn in all ways rather than only to cater to their strengths. I know that I understand better when I read print more than when I just hear poetry for example, but surely I need to practise the latter because there will be times when it will be useful. I also think it's useful to understand that some people are more emotionally intelligent/aware than others and whether that's to do with nature or nurture, but that's really all these things are - ideas about how humans function, not educational methodology.
  19. I agree. The trouble with "visions" is they are usually the personal vision of the leader based on what is the leadership/vision fad of the moment, and what will get them promoted even further above their level of competence, rather than the collegial vision of the members of the organisation. Our last Sec for Education was asked, on taking up his appointment, : What is your vision for education in this state? He replied: My role is to facilitate the visions of others. At the time I thought he was being a bit pompous but on further reflection, I came to realise he was actually being very wise.
  20. As some of you know, I'm the fulltime paid President of our state teachers' union here. We only have one national union, therefore avoiding the competition of having more than one and consequently having more power with the govt/DoE. We have 93% membership in the school K-12 sector, not quite so high in the vocational FE Colleges which we call TAFE. So, it's a fascinating subject for me. I know to varying degrees almost all of our 300 Principals and many of our SMTs. I know roughly what all of their staffs think of them. Some of the causes of bad management have already been mentioned and I agree with them. In our system which is small and bureaucratically top-down driven from the Minister, through the Secretariat, down through the Directors, down to the Principals and onwards down to the teachers, it is sad but true that this very system causes some of the bullying and intimidatory management styles. However, it is my observation that those who follow this pattern are either those who have driving ambition and have been promoted beyond their capacity, those who are insecure about their own ability or those whose innate personalities tend towards the domineering and confrontational. They are the ones who see this style as "strength" and that perception is supported by the hierarchy who will ultimately promote them. When I consider those whose staffs respect them and who have a general reputation for being a "good" Principal, they are generally those who are confident of their own capacity, old enough not to care what happens to their careers and/or innately wise and intelligent people who understand that bullying and intimidation is weakness, not strength and that proper delegation, respect for teachers and what they do, supporting them against the outside world, treating them as equal professionals and not patronising, are all signs of intelligence and wisdom. For some of them, nothing would do except a frontal lobotomy and a personality transplant. On the other hand, thank goodness we do have some good ones!! PS I meant to also say that I absolutely agree with John. That's what our union suggests (it's easier here because all will be members of the same union) is that the rep holds a meeting of members and as a unified group, they spell out to the incoming Head or SMT exactly what they see as good management and what they expect to see from them. This can be done in writing and formally put on the staff meeting agenda if people are a bit timid. They can all sign it, but the rep can present it. Strength in numbers and unity of purpose is usually the answe to these types. If that doesn't work then a union officer should be called in to facilitate and mediate at another meeting. it's a very unwise head who decides to disagree with a whole of staff approach.
  21. Perhaps we being somewhat less class conscious here and having a less diverse population and smaller schools, it isn't such a problem. The school I referred to earlier was in a poor rural area where almost all the children came from similar farming or working class families (the rest were sent off to cheap private schools) but there were certainly differences in their natural abilities. Therefore there were just as many "working class" kids in the top groups as there were in the lower groups - in fact, there was only a small handful of children of teachers or local small business. They certainly didn't see it as being based on their family backgrounds. I think it also has to do with motivation and willingness to work. If students are normally behaved and reasonably self-motivated then it is very possible to teach a MA class well, but many of our students in the poorer areas are not like that and it is not the fault of the school or the teacher. Many of these kids are emotionally bereft, dysfunctional, on mind altering substances, in poor health and their behaviour is too entrenched and supported by their parents for the last few years of schooling to rectify. In these situations it is nigh impossible for even the most brilliant teacher to achieve optimum results in a MA class and the better ones suffer for it. Not all schools are the same.
  22. Graham I have very fond memories of that part of Kent and we were there in July last year. I actually lived most of the time near Charing and did my shopping in Ashford and Canterbury as well as Maidstone. It was great for the kids (and the staff) as we regularly took them for day trips to France and also up to London to see Shakespeare etc I taught English and Social Science for over 30 years and I would claim that it is also verydifficult to teach these subjects to large classes of very mixed ability and achieve optimum results for all, especially as you move into the senior grades. Surely, we would not claim that students of all abilities should be sitting in the same university lecture or tutorial? One of the main reasons is time constraint. How on earth can any teacher in four or five 40 minute periods a week, provide enough individualised or even small group tuition to a range of kids working at five or six varying levels and believe that they have optimised every child's potential? I have taught for lengthy periods in both systems and all I know is that I did not develop the top students or remediate those at the lower end, to the same degree that I was able to in a streamed class. I simply did not have enough time to do so. One of the best solutions I have seen was in a smallish rural high school where classes were loosely streamed - ie two classes had a mixture of good middle and top kids, two had a mixture of middle and lower abilty and one had the least able mixed with some middle ability. This class was smaller than the rest and taken by an experienced, good teacher who was willing to do so. Other teachers were given one of each of the other groups. There was freedom to move students in or out of these groupings if they demonstrated potential capacity. This seemed to me a good compromise.
  23. Graham - I didn't realise you grew up in Maidstone - that's where I spent two years teaching in 91/92, at The Mallings comprehensive in West Malling and at the EBD unit in Harrietsham. Also did various bits of supply in villages around there. I'm like you, a bit of a fence sitter. Non-selection and non-streaming always sound so wonderful in theory but never seem to work out for everyone in practice. Maybe there is no perfect answer. If I had a mixed ability class of well-behaved and motivated students, then I would certainly be able to teach them. However, that is not the case when in a mixed-ability class you have gifted at one end, average kids in the middle and also some badly behaved, dysfunctional, emotionally mixed-up students along with a couple of included students with impaired intellect and/or physical disabilities and a couple of ADHD students thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately that's what many classes today consist of and not even the best teacher in the world can do their best for each child in those circumstances with the resources available. It's beyond the call of duty.
  24. Article in our local paper today in which a dentist says he is beginning to see scurvy in patients whose diet is largely sugar and fat. He says he is seeing " third-world mouths" - another horrifying result of unhealthy diets.
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