Educator autumn 2014
issue 81 $5. 50
Australian
Funding
Print Post Approved 100 00 8182
Schools face more uncertainty
IR
Teachers’ salary and conditions at risk
All aboard! Gonski campaign heads to Canberra
Technology
Helping kids stay safe in cyberspace
Milestones
Key moments in union history
Educator au t u m n 2 0 14
contents
Australian
08 Out on the Gonski campaign trail
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28
Education issues making news locally and internationally.
Helping students with inflammatory bowel disease experience all the benefits of schooling.
FYI
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Campaign A nationwide schools funding campaign will see AEU members converge on Canberra in March.
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Breaking promises
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Helping kids navigate the digital landscape
The debacle over federal schools funding means some schools may receive nothing while others face severe cuts.
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Risks to pay and rights Salary and conditions for educators around the country are at risk.
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Staying safe in cyberspace
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Using 3D printing in the classroom
Support for IBD kids
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Toolkit 3D printing is an exciting and affordable teaching tool with applications across the curriculum.
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The first strike Taking to the streets to protest salary and working conditions won NSW teachers an almost immediate result in 1968.
Regulars 07 From the President 33 My best app 36 Books 38 Recess
Teaching children about ‘digital citizenship’ is becoming increasingly important.
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PISA confirms inequity The latest results validate the need for fairer school funding.
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A summary of the AEU financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2013 will be available at www.aeufederal.org.au on 24 February 2014.
World view A global campaign to fight widespread threats to public education is underway.
www.aeufederal.org.au Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 1 autu m n 2 0 1 4 3
NEWs
Education issues making news locally and globally
fyi ©Judy Horacek, first published in The Age, January 14 2014
Curriculum review is a diversion By Ken Boston
I
f there had been no Gonski report, there would be no review of the national curriculum. The purpose of the review is to allow education minister Christopher Pyne to divert attention away from the inequality of opportunity, which is the real cause of decline in educational achievement in Australia, and which it suits his purpose to maintain. The game plan is to convince the Australian community that our poor educational performance is due to a low-grade politically-correct national curriculum, lacking both challenge and aspiration, having been foisted upon an unsuspecting nation by a supposed clique from the ‘’cultural left’’. Together with poorquality teaching (in government schools only), this is the reason our national educational performance is below countries such as Japan, Korea, China and Finland. Fix the curriculum and the teachers, and we’ll be up there at the top of the international league table. This is a preposterous
4 au t um n 2 01 4 Austr ali an E d u cator 8 1
misrepresentation, but Pyne is banking on it having sufficient traction to diminish the strength of the argument to address inequality of opportunity by targeting funds strategically at areas of need. This he does not want to do. Why is Pyne so against Gonski? It is because he understands that Gonski is more than a new approach to allocating recurrent funds to schools. It is a fundamental re-imagining of Australian education. It asks: ‘’What kind of country do we want Australia to be?’’ And he does not like the answer
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By consigning our disadvantaged children to the bin of underachievement, we are failing to maximise our potential stock of human capital.
to that question. The correlation between poor student performance and aggregated social disadvantage is much stronger in Australia than in any other comparable western nation; indeed, stronger than the average for all 34 OECD countries. By consigning our disadvantaged children to the bin of underachievement, we are failing to maximise our potential stock of human capital. It is primarily this, rather than any differences in curriculum and pedagogy, which puts us behind our international competitors.
NEWS
“Be a teacher. Please? Please be a teacher. Teachers are the most admirable and important people in the world. You don’t have to do it forever, but, if you’re in doubt about what to do, be an amazing teacher. Just for your 20s. Be a primary school teacher. Especially if you’re a bloke – we need male primary school teachers. Even if you’re not a teacher, be a teacher. Share your ideas. Don’t take for granted your education. Rejoice in what you learn, and spray it.” Tim Minchin, addressing graduates after being awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Western Australia. Read his full address at http://tinyurl.com/lqw3qok
So long as aggregated social disadvantage continues to have such a significant impact on educational performance, our national decline will continue. The essential thrust of Gonski is to target strategically our investment in schooling, from both commonwealth and state sources, in order to reduce the impact of aggregated social disadvantage on educational outcomes. As has been shown in NSW with the application of the Resource Allocation Model in government schools, the strategic targeting of resources on a schoolby-school basis according to need is readily achievable, and cannot reasonably be opposed on the grounds that it is too complex to implement. Pyne is shrewd enough to understand that strategic targeting of resources according to need will do much more than reduce the impact of disadvantage on educational outcomes. He knows that it will also reduce the impact of advantage and privilege. If school performance is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by parental income, ethnic background, religion, school size and location, or whether a student attends an independent, Catholic or public school, success at school will be determined essentially by the student’s ability, application and hard work. In other words, Gonski will create a genuine meritocracy. At present, it is mainly the hardworking and talented children of the privileged who have access to the very highest levels of educational achievement. If Gonski continued on page 6
Spruiking the world stage Former prime minister Julia Gillard has posted a series of videos from the Brookings Institution as part of her new posting as Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Center for Universal Education. In five short clips Gillard talks about her work at the Institution and what she sees as the opportunities in global education. She highlights education for girls and other marginalised groups, how to increase education and improve learning, the importance of building trust in education reform and making technology work for education. Gillard says she’s heartened by the global debate turning from “just access to school education” to “access and quality”. Watch the videos here: tinyurl.com/kjqnlta
Register your school to support children’s medical research Jeans for Genes day is celebrating 21 years of raising funds for the Children’s Medical Research Institute and you’re invited. The Institute does not receive guaranteed government funding and it relies on Jeans for Genes to help raise money for research into birth defects and genetic diseases that affect 1 in 20 Australian children. So far, $60 million has been raised and Jeans for Genes national campaign manager, Barry Kenyon, hopes schools around the country will help make 2014 the biggest year ever. Australian schools have always played a key role in raising money for the Institute, based in New South Wales, with countless children taking part over the years, says Kenyon. “School involvement can be as simple as collecting gold coin donations right through to holding elaborate denim fashion parades and bake sales.” The Institute can supply teaching resources about genetics as well as its research, and schools participating in Jeans for Genes will receive promotional material and free merchandise to help celebrate the occasion. To register, visit jeansforgenes.org.au/ pre-register-school Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 1 autu m n 2 01 4 5
NEWS
Education issues making news locally and globally
fyi in tray continued from page 4
Ken Boston is a former director-general of the NSW Department of Education and was a member of the Gonski review panel. He was also the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in Britain. First published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. 6 aut u mn 2 0 1 4 Austr ali an E ducator 8 1
ISSUE 81 $5.50
Australian
Funding
Schools face more uncertainty
P R I NT P O ST AP P R OVE D 10 0 0 0 8 18 2
is implemented, such access will be available increasingly to the similarly hard-working and talented children of the socially disadvantaged. This is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes: differences in outcomes will inevitably exist between children, but they will no longer be the result of factors such as poverty, religion or sector of schooling. The Gonski vision of a fair go for all young Australians means that, in due course and over time, a hard-working talented young girl will come to have the same real prospect of winning a place in the university and course of her choice regardless of family circumstances and background, or whether she attends Tara Anglican College, Rooty Hill High School, Brigidine College Randwick, Auburn Girls High School, Queenwood, Abbotsleigh, Mary MacKillop College or Cabramatta High School. And our national performance will improve accordingly, regardless of any tinkering with the curriculum. Is Pyne up for that? A meritocracy? Devalue private schooling? Of course not. Hence his need for a diversion. What better than a provocative review of the national curriculum?
Educator AUTUMN 2014
IR
Teachers’ salary and conditions at risk
Technology
Helping kids stay safe in cyberspace
Milestones
Key moments in union history
All aboard! Gonski campaign heads to Canberra
New year, new look Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty is helping the Unite for Quality Education campaign
Unite for quality education
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ustralian Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty has helped the teachers’ union in Sweden, Lärarförbundet, deliver a message worldwide about the importance of investing in education. Lärarförbundet uses the annual Nobel ceremonies to highlight the quality education each winner has received to raise public awareness about the value of education and the role of teachers. Building on the Lärarförbundet campaign, and with support from the AEU, teacher unions around the world joined forces to deliver the same message simultaneously during last December’s Nobel ceremonies under the banner of the Unite for Quality Education campaign. “Over the past decade or more, many governments around the world have implemented austerity measures leading to the loss of teachers and denying children the opportunity they deserve. This is highly counterproductive,” wrote Doherty in a letter picked up by the global media. “[We should pledge] our support
to both the idea and the reality of a great school for every child,” he said. Unite for Quality Education is a year-long campaign of Education International, the global federation of teacher unions. EI’s more than 400 affiliated unions in 170 countries and territories are demanding that quality education for all remains at the top of the agenda for a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous future. Events and actions are continuing this year including a National Day of Action planned for the United States, and a rally in Spain by teachers, students’ organisations and parents. For more, turn to page 27. You can find Peter Doherty’s letter at tinyurl.com/nyq36yo and there’s more information about the Unite for Quality Education campaign at unite4education.org Meanwhile, the interview (tinyurl.com/mmaoy8t) with Michael Davidson, the OECD’s Head of Early Childhood Education and Schools, talks about what the recently published PISA results mean for quality education – namely, that for an education system to be successful, it needs confident, high-quality teaching professionals.
You may notice we’ve made some changes to Australian Educator. There’s a fresh layout, more features and all the news you need to help you stay on top of your profession. We’d love to hear what you think by email or Facebook. educator@ hardiegrant.com.au or facebook.com/ AEUfederal
We hear you Thank you to all the AEU members who took the time to complete our communications survey. Congratulations to Anthony Mannetje (pictured) of Kuraby State School who won an iPad for completing the survey.
From the president
The battle is far from over on the Gonski funding model for schools. We must continue campaigning to ensure the Coalition commits to funding the full six years of the model across Australia.
We’ve come too far to falter
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elcome back after a well-earned break following one of the most momentous years for public education in Australia. For all the funding uncertainty as 2013 began, the passage of the Australian Education Act in June signalled the end of the corrupted and inequitable Howard SES funding system and held the promise of a new era of increased investment delivered through a fairer needs-based system for all students and schools. We entered the election period knowing that our strong Gonski campaign had ensured that politicians across the country were aware of the groundswell of public support for a genuine national commitment to tackling disadvantage through delivering extra resources to where they were needed most: overwhelmingly, public schools.
Reneging on promise No amount of spin and dissembling has enabled the government to get out of the political strife caused by reneging on its clear and unambiguous election commitment to honour the Gonski agreements and match the funding promised to each school. When, on December 2, Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne announced a final backflip – that $2.8 billion would be committed over four years and an agreement had been reached with the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland – it
represented considerable progress from the attempt to dump Gonski. Not least, it meant that the prospect of a return to the Howard SES funding from 2015 had been ruled out. But it was no longer ‘Gonski’ as we understood it to be. We enter 2014 in a position where, for all the progress made, there is effectively no national funding model. December’s Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement has confirmed the government’s intention to proceed with budget cuts to fund its additional money, and, without strong public opposition, we can anticipate further cuts in the May federal budget. The new strategy of dropping the requirement to distribute the additional funding on a needs basis has allowed Pyne to cynically claim that they are keeping their promise of no school being worse off. If any school is worse off, it would not be “as a result of Commonwealth actions”.
New formula is a concern Alarmingly, he has also said that, once details of his agreement
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…there is effectively no national funding model.
Angelo Gavrielatos
with the NT, WA and Queensland are finalised, he intends to use this as the basis for a new formula across all states from 2015. This means that, across the whole nation, there will be no requirement on state and territory governments to not make budget cuts; no requirement to maintain their education budgets and increase them by the required rate of indexation; and no necessity for co-contributions from the states and territories. They can all distribute and spend in any way they choose. We have come too far to falter now. We must continue campaigning to secure a commitment from the Coalition to honour the full six years of the Gonski agreements already signed and pursue similar binding agreements with the NT, WA and Queensland. The full $10 billion six-year Commonwealth government funding commitment, along with state/territory co-contribution and maintenance of effort and indexation, is the minimum requirement to ensure that all schools are operating at the Gonski resource standard. Without this commitment to getting all schools to the resource standard necessary for every student to be given the opportunity to succeed, the resource gaps will remain, as will the achievement gaps they create and maintain. l
Angelo Gavrielatos AEU FEDERAL PRESIDENT Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 1 AUTU M N 2 01 4 7
C a m pa i g n
It’s shaping up to be an important year for education, if only the federal and state governments can agree. BY T R AC E Y E VAN S
No time to waste
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s the 2014 school year kicks off, a lack of money and resources to run programs will be on the minds of many teachers and principals around the country. It should have been very different. A new model of school funding, based on the findings of the independent Gonski panel, saw six-year agreements signed between the former federal Labor government and five states and territories to provide an extra $10.1 billion to schools. The Gonski panel found that Australia was investing too little in education. It recommended a new formula for funding schools based on student need. The idea is that the funds could be used for extra resources to help disadvantaged students. For example, there could be smaller class sizes, more specialist teachers, more support for students with disabilities, and extra training and classroom support for teachers. But, with the election of the Abbott government, the new funding model is in disarray. The government has committed to funding for only four years instead of six, and has yet to finalise arrangements with all states and territories. The time period is significant because the biggest proportion of funding was due to be delivered in the final two years. The government has effectively cut two-thirds of the promised extra funding.
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What’s worse, the government has failed to attach conditions to the funding it is providing. That means a state or territory can choose to spend the funds on anything it likes (see next page). In fact, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and Queensland have announced massive cuts to state funding for education and it’s likely the new federal funds will be used to simply top up the state budgets. Meanwhile, the Abbott government has announced cuts of $1.5 billion to the education budget affecting trade training and before and after school care. The federal budget in May is expected to be a critical test for the Abbott government on its commitment to schools funding, and for students with disabilities, for which a new loading is due to begin in 2015. l
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The federal budget in May is expected to be a critical test for the Abbott government on its commitment to schools funding,
Hitting the road for Gonski The AEU will be campaigning strongly in the lead-up to the May budget and beyond, reminding Canberra of the urgency for extra school funding, the importance of the agreement for six years of funding and the need to drastically improve support for students with disabilities. Members and branch staff will be travelling across the country from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland to converge on Canberra on March 17. They’ll be visiting schools and collecting signatures and submissions to present to a special Senate select committee established late last year to examine the Abbott government’s mishandling of the Gonski funding model.
C a m pa i g n
ď Ą Spread the word Keep up with the campaign for school funding and share your experiences. @igiveagonski www.facebook.com/igiveagonski www.igiveagonski.com.au
On the road: Staff of the New South Wales Teachers Federation with the Gonski-branded campaign van.
Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 2 01 4 9
C a m pa i g n
The debacle over federal schools funding means that some schools may receive nothing while others face severe cuts. BY T R AC E Y E VAN S
Breaking promises
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Good and bad news in NSW While NSW signed up to the Gonski model in April last year, the Abbott government says it will scrap the six-year agreement 1 0 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
and fund only the first four years. The problem, says NSW Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron, is that most of the money was due to be delivered in years five and six. As a result, he’s concerned that NSW will receive only about a third of the dollars originally agreed. “It’s tragic to think that a government won’t honour an agreement that was legislated by the Australian parliament,” says Mulheron. Nonetheless, NSW is one of the few states that can claim some positives out of the funding farce. Schools can look forward to more cash in 2014 and the state government has provided a clear
True colours: Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott have presided over a series of broken promises since taking up office.
outline of how the new funding model will work and where the money will go. Mulheron says the state will see a benefit from Gonski this year of around $118 million in additional funds. And, because the funding is for individual students, “only a handful of kids from low socioeconomic status communities need to be enrolled in a school for it to attract some share of the money”.
Deal or no deal in QLD? Campbell Newman was one of the hold-outs on the Gonski reforms. As a result, the situation in Queensland is “a sad one”, says Queensland Teachers Union
GETTY IMAGES
roken promises were a hallmark of the Coalition’s first 100 days in office. None more so than that of Tony Abbott’s pre-election guarantee of a “unity ticket” with Kevin Rudd on the Gonski reforms. We’ve since learned that what the prime minister really meant was that the government would “keep the promise that we actually made, not the promise that some people thought that we made, or the promise that some people might have liked us to make”. With the federal government abandoning its responsibility to ensure the states support the Gonski model, many schools around the country are uncertain about how much they’ll receive in the next 12 months, let alone the next six years. Some may actually see reduced funding as a result of what, some say, seems like an exercise in spite rather than a clear vision for the future. Meanwhile, in two states that have fared better, there are black clouds looming. With elections due in the Labor states of South Australia and Tasmania, a change of government may see schools lose promised funding and the funding model abandoned.
C a m pa i g n
Spread the word Keep up with the campaign for school funding and share your experiences. @igiveagonski facebook.com/igiveagonski igiveagonski.com.au
president Kevin Bates. After ongoing procrastination prior to the federal election, state education minister John-Paul Langbroek went “cap in hand” to Canberra and returned “claiming a windfall”. “The one thing that was missing,” says Bates, “was that Christopher Pyne obviously wasn’t aware of that deal, because he’s made no public comment on this alleged deal ever being reached.” In the interim, a new deal was struck for $90 million less. More alarming to Bates is the failure by the federal government to require the state to implement the philosophy underpinning the Gonski model: needs-based funding. “We’re in a parlous situation because there’s no information whatsoever on how schools might actually benefit from these monies – if they exist – coming into the state.” Under the previous federal Labor government, schools had a clear understanding of specific allocations. But Bates says the state has made no commitments regarding schools receiving additional funding to run programs at a local level. “Allocation of all available funds directly to schools will deliver the greatest benefits for Queensland education and better fit within the government’s agenda of school autonomy and local decision-making,” Bates says.
Election uncertainty in Tas AEU Tasmania president Terry
GONS KI $$
How much will public schools receive this year? NSW
$118m NSW will invest an extra $118 million of Gonski funding into public schools, distributed according to need.
qld
$131m? It is unclear whether the $131 million extra QLD will receive from the Abbott Government will reach schools.
tas
$16m
Tasmanian schools will get an extra $16m in funding.
nt
$68m? The NT will receive $68 million in Gonski funding but none of it is likely to reach schools.
Polglase says the state is a “shining light” when it comes to Gonski funding. “Ours is completely transparent.” For 2014 – which includes funding backdated from the last six months of 2013 – schools will receive $16 million. Although, with funding for National Partnerships programs now cancelled as part of the Gonski agreement, the net benefit to the state is $8 million. “Schools are receiving an increase in their School Resource Packages of 5–40 per cent to ameliorate the loss of NP funding. A few schools will receive less than last year but we expect this will be overcome as extra funding is allocated to schools in the years that follow,” says Polglase. The funding is guaranteed for at least the first four years. “The government is completely committed as to how that money should be distributed, and the Liberals say they support the Gonski funding model. “But it all depends on the outcome of the upcoming election. If there’s a Liberal victory, we’re unsure what that will actually mean in practice for schools.”
NT cuts teachers and funding An “unseemly campaign” by the NT government to cut teacher numbers has generated significant public support for industrial action taken by AEU members last year. The right to take such action is now suspended, but AEU NT branch president Matthew Cranitch says there has been a huge increase
in membership numbers, along with nationwide coverage of “our plight”. There’s a battle ahead to ensure the $68 million in funding promised by Christopher Pyne is actually spent on education. The funding was given with no strings attached, and Cranitch says it’s already being diluted or taken out of education altogether. So there has been a reduction in the education budget despite the injection of federal funds, when the NT should have gained most from the Gonski funding model because it has more disadvantaged students than any other state. “Gonski in the NT is confusing,” says Cranitch. “We’ve got teaching positions being cut from schools while we’re having a national debate about improving students’ results, but it’s just not being heard by our politicians. We’re simply going backwards.”
WA slashes budgets In WA, as in the NT, it appears any federal funding will be used to make up shortfalls caused by state government cuts. There’ll be further significant cuts in staffing and resources this year, says State School Teachers’ Union of WA president Pat Byrne. “Towards the end of last year, cuts in education were being announced almost weekly,” says Byrne. The WA government is planning to introduce a new needs-based funding model next year, but Byrne predicts the funding for it will be cut before Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 1 1
C a m pa i g n
it gets off the ground, ensuring a low base for any future calculation of ‘need’. WA is expected to receive $31 million in federal funding this year. But, as Byrne points out, with more than $130 million cut from the state education budget, it will just be replacing a small part of what’s been lost rather than adding much-needed resources. “We have a very active campaign against the cuts that is only going to grow, particularly when kids get back to school and parents start to realise that there are packed classes, and hours for education assistants have been cut back. “I think 2014 is going to be a very unpleasant year for schools, sad to say.”
Funding dominates SA election With an election due next month in SA, schools funding is set to be the centrepiece. The AEU has successfully negotiated a transparent funding agreement with the state Labor government and, as a result, all of the nearly $60 million in federal funding will go to students. Schools have already been notified of how much money they’ll be getting this year based on the Gonski principles, and funds will be set aside for students with disabilities. However, the federal government has refused to guarantee funding for the full term of the six-year deal originally signed with the state 1 2 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
government, says Correna Haythorpe, AEU deputy federal president. “At this stage we don’t have funding for years five and six, and there’s a great deal of uncertainty about what changes the Abbott government might be making to the funding for years two, three and four,” she says. Premier Jay Weatherill has demanded the federal government stick to the six-year deal he signed, saying local schools were counting on it so that the unique needs of “every single child” could be met.
Overturn ACT deal ‘at your peril’ The ACT government signed a six-year agreement with the previous federal government that promised to deliver $102 million of extra funding to public schools. However, most of the funding was due to be delivered in the final two years of the agreement and it’s unclear whether the Abbott government will honour the commitment. The design of the funding model is crucial in helping students who are “falling through the cracks”, says AEU ACT branch secretary Glenn Fowler. “We’re committed to it, the ACT government has made strong statements in commitment to the six-year deal, and the federal government will seek to overturn that at its peril,” says Fowler. “There’s a ton of work to be done to change the way funding is allocated,” he says, “and our job will be to ensure that there is
gonski $$
How much will public schools receive this year? wa
$31m? None of the $31 million received by WA is likely to make it to schools, which face savage cuts.
sa
$16.6m SA has allocated an extra $16.6m to public schools, distributed according to student need.
act
$??m It is not yet clear what additional money public and private schools in the ACT will receive in 2014.
vic
$23.7m Victoria has announced public schools will receive $23.7 million but that’s a fraction of the estimated $200 million additional injection into schools required under the terms of the original Gonski agreement.
transparency and accountability at the school level as to how Gonski funds – in fact, any funds – are distributed to students in need.”
Confusion in Vic It has been a confusing time for Victorian schools as they struggle to understand what funding they’ll receive. They were notified only in the week before Christmas that funding for the National Partnerships programs, which was due to finish at the end of last year, would be continued in 2014. There would also be an extra $7 million, spread across all schools, to top up budgets at a per student rate. The state government is simply not being transparent about the funding, says AEU Victoria branch president Meredith Peace. “We’re finding it very difficult to get a clear understanding of what the deal has actually meant but from what we can see it’s a very small amount of extra money, compared with other states such as NSW, and most of the funds allocated to schools would have been provided anyway for enrolment growth and indexation,” she says. There’s also no funding formula for the remaining five years of the funding agreement in place, says Peace. “We’re somewhat nervous about what this will mean for schools,” she says. l
Tracey Evans is commissioning editor of Australian Educator.
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I n d u st r i a l r e l at i o n s
Salary and conditions are at risk as state budget cuts bite deep and changes to workplace laws threaten rights. BY T R AC E Y E VAN S
Risks to pay and rights
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evere budget cuts in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia have variously seen salaries capped, pressure on class sizes, schools closed and job cuts. Meanwhile changes to workplace laws in WA and Queensland are also causing concerns.
WA In Western Australia, teacher salaries and conditions are under siege on a number of fronts. The state government has introduced a cap of 2.5 per cent on salary increases for all public sector workers. Negotiations on behalf of members in schools and TAFEs begin in the middle of the year on new agreements, says SSTUWA president Pat Byrne. “The salary cap and budget cuts are creating a worrying climate,” she says. “And we believe there’s an appetite to attack some fundamental conditions in our agreement, such as class sizes.” The union is also keeping a wary eye on legislative changes underway and planned. “Proposed amendments to the Public Sector Management Act are underway, which will change the operational rules for redeployment and increase job insecurity for public sector workers including teachers,” says Byrne. Those amendments will remove employees’ access to the WAIRC to challenge any termination of contracts arising from the redeployment 1 4 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
legislation and will override existing industrial instruments, which contain protective redundancy clauses. Further changes to the state IR legislation are expected but have not yet been announced. Meanwhile, the union is also fighting funding cuts to TAFE and the state education budget. “TAFE students have been slugged with massive fee increases which mean that, in some instances, TAFE courses are more expensive than university courses. For most students, the first they knew of these increases was when they re-enrolled at the beginning of this year,” says Byrne. “So we’ll be watching that very closely and we’ll be working together with the other education unions, the professional association and parent bodies to continue the fight against budget cuts,” she says.
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NT
Nationwide issues: Teachers across the nation are facing ongoing threats to their working conditions and pay.
Negotiations over a new enterprise bargaining agreement in the Northern Territory have been dominated by industrial action over cuts to the education budget and the number of teachers. The budget cut this financial year equals $50 million and it’s expected to total $250 million over four years, says AEU NT president Matthew Cranitch. “In the NT we have students with the lowest educational outcomes in the country and yet more than 130 frontline teacher jobs and 200 support and student services roles have been cut. On top of that we’ve also had the loss of the Indigenous support workers in remote schools. The cuts, in part, have come about from staffing ratio changes, particularly to middle and senior colleges. “We’ve gone from 1:14 students in
Workers in Queensland are going to be significantly worse off. It is absolutely disastrous.
I n d u st r i a l r e l at i o n s
‘‘ secondary to 1:18 and in middle schools it’s from 1:14 to 1:20,” says Cranitch. He says that, while the NT still has close to the lowest ratios in the country, the education environment is a significant challenge. “We’ve got the highest proportion of ESL students and 40 per cent of our cohort is Indigenous so we should have the lowest ratios,” says Cranitch. The AEU has used the EBA negotiations to demand that the cuts and the new ratios be reversed. “It’s been very ugly. So far we’ve had several strikes and three very successful rallies as well as rolling actions and rallies throughout all regional and remote schools.” The government has fought back, successfully arguing before the Fair Work Commission that teachers should not be paid at all on the day of one of the four-hour stopworks. The Commission also ruled late last year in the government’s favour regarding a claim that a work ban on marking the electronic roll was likely to impact on the safety, health and wellbeing of the students. “Basically that meant a threemonth suspension of our right to take any protective action. So, in effect, all of our rights to strike, all of our rights to institute work bans and limitations have been put on hold until 3 March this year,” says Cranitch. However, renewed action is due to begin again shortly with a great deal of support from both teachers
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and the community, he says. “There’s been major damage done to the government and significant support for education and teachers generally throughout this campaign. “The PISA results show quite clearly that the Indigenous cohort are three years behind other students – it’s a national disgrace. How can we have an education system that is pilfering money from the most disadvantaged students, and the government being able to do this without a national and international outcry? “It’s very sad and very tragic,” Cranitch says.
QLD New changes to public sector industrial laws in Queensland constitute a “sort of Work Choices on steroids”, says Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates. The changes, introduced late last year, aim to ‘harmonise’ state laws with the federal Fair Work Act, affecting conditions and entitlements for tens of thousands of public sector workers. “Workers in Queensland are going to be significantly worse off. It is absolutely disastrous.” The Queensland Council of Unions has launched a High Court challenge against the changes. School closures are also underway in the state. “We saw some six schools close on the last day of school last year. That’s really the beginning of a process by this government to offload all sorts of public assets, including schools,” says Bates.
“Our concern is that there are multiple attacks on many fronts from this government and there’s a deep lack of respect for educators. “This is a government determined that education is among the public services that should no longer be provided by government. They would rather see education completely privatised,” Bates says. In the TAFE system, the government’s agenda is more advanced, he says. “We’ve seen amalgamations and the corporatisation of the TAFE sector in Queensland. As a result, course costs have increased ten-fold.” With talk of an early election in Queensland, Bates says the state government’s education policies are expected to be an election issue sometime in the next 12 months.
NSW There’s a battle raging over the size of a pay rise as part of a new award for New South Wales school teachers. While the three-year award, which began on 1 January this year, preserves all existing conditions, the government has been trying to reduce the 2.5 per cent annual wage increase to cover the cost of the compulsory superannuation levy. The case has twice been before the Industrial Relations Commission but the government has failed to win support for its argument. It’s now threatening a Supreme Court appeal. TAFE teachers, who won Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 1 5
i n d u st r i a l r e l at i o n s
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It’s “extraordinary” that the state government has twice refused to accept the IRC’s ruling Maurie Mulheron, NSWTF President
a salary increase on 1 July 2013, are also affected by the decision. If the government’s challenge fails, both groups will receive backpay to the beginning of their agreements. It’s “extraordinary” that the state government has twice refused to accept the IRC’s ruling, says NSWTF president Maurie Mulheron. “Having bleated for years that unions should obey the umpire’s decision when it goes their way, now that it’s gone against them, of course, they are attempting to get around it by spurning it,” he says.
other states will now be in place in Tasmania, setting a minimum of two hours for a day’s work. “Up until now you could be called in for any small amount of time,” says Polglase. The agreement also includes a review of the career structure and salaries and an initiative known as ‘sick leave banking’ that helps to support those who are suffering from long-term illnesses, have exhausted their leave and are under financial pressure. Under the initiative, teachers would volunteer some of their long service leave, which can then be called on by those in need.
TAS Teachers in Tasmania voted by postal ballot in December on a new agreement that offers improvements to workload and wage relativity with other states. Five hours per fortnight are to be set aside for individual planning, preparation and assessment in primary schools. Meanwhile, the activities included in the instructional load definition have been expanded and the agreement establishes a process for reviewing teachers’ concerns about workload. A working party will also examine the range of duties performed by teachers, and AEU Tasmania branch president Terry Polglase says it’s hoped that some non-teaching duties may be transferred to administrative staff, further easing workload concerns. For part-time teachers, a new condition that’s common in 1 6 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
ACT The focus for this year in the Australian Capital Territory is on a new agreement for school teachers that is due to begin on October 1. Bargaining will get underway in April following extensive consultation with members. While salaries are likely to be a topic for discussion, new provisions that promote collaboration and professional practice are likely to be sought. New agreements for school assistants and TAFE teachers are due to be wrapped up as the school year gets underway. In both cases, modest improvements to conditions and pay rises are expected.
SA South Australia’s teachers are midway through an existing agreement and won’t begin
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bargaining until next year. “We’ll be spending a significant amount of time throughout this year consulting with members to develop a log of claims ready to be submitted in 2015 when we start bargaining,” says AEU SA president David Smith.
VIC Negotiations on a new enterprise bargaining agreement for TAFE teachers in Victoria are expected to be tense, thanks to massive budget cuts to the sector. “In effect, TAFEs aren’t even funded to pay the capped 2.5 per cent increase,” says AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace. Talks are also expected to be drawn out following the government’s refusal to sign a sector-wide agreement. Instead, negotiations must be held with each TAFE college. Negotiations are underway on behalf of early childhood teachers in Victoria, where the government has capped salary increases at 2.5 per cent. In schools, teachers’ pay rises are locked in to the end of 2015 but there are concerns over the government’s attempts to change the performance and development review process. The government has commenced consultations about a new process that they want to introduce in May this year. Tracey Evans is commissioning editor of Australian Educator.
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T e c h n o lo gy Negotiating the digital landscape is as much a key life skill for children as learning to swim.
1 8 aut u mn 2 01 4 Austr ali an E d u cator 8 1
Staying safe in
cyberspace Teaching children about ‘digital citizenship’ is becoming increasingly important. B Y A m a n da Wo o da r d
BRIEFLY Teachers have a strong role to play in ensuring that children use the internet wisely. Providing advice about online safety has expanded to the multifaceted concept of digital citizenship.
ILLUSTRATION BY MARC MARTIN
Schools are using embedded programs that focus on the development of good habits.
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e wouldn’t leave it to children to teach themselves how to swim or cross the road, and a similar approach is being applied to their activities online. Research shows that, from an increasingly young age, more children are spending a significant amount of time accessing the internet. Meanwhile, there is growing recognition that guiding children through what it means to be a good digital citizen is a collective responsibility. And teachers, of course, are in the frontline. They are finding that they need to know how to turn good digital citizenship from a rather abstract concept into practical reality. “For high schools in particular, digital citizenship is in their face right now,” says Pip Cleaves, who helped develop a digital citizenship framework in NSW for the federal government-funded program Digital Education Revolution and now runs her own education consultancy, Design|Learn|Empower. Many students are well versed in the online world before they even get to school, which means teachers are often reacting to acquired bad habits rather than preventing them before they start, says Cleaves. “The schools that are doing digital citizenship well have an embedded program, and information nights for parents [so they can] understand that it’s not scary but we do need strategies.”
Cleaves singles out Edmodo, a commercially marketed ‘social learning platform’ for schools, which allows teachers to create safe online environments where teachers and students communicate and collaborate. “It’s the class hub and a great way of fostering digital citizenship,” she says.
An online life Originally, educators were simply providing advice about online safety, but that thinking has expanded to the multifaceted concept of digital citizenship, says Rosalie O’Neale, senior advisor at Cybersmart, a national cyber safety and education program managed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. She says the starting point is: “You have an online life. How do you engage positively and make the right choices so you create a digital footprint you’re happy for your grandparents to see, as well as your grandchildren?” But projecting into the future isn’t easy, given how compelling the here-and-now is for young people, says O’Neale. “In the offline world, you see the consequences of your actions. But online you may not see them until many years down the track. It’s very difficult to get the idea of a digital footprint across to children. Being 35 is a long way away when you’re 12 or 14.” Difficult, but not impossible. Gabrielle Rinaldi, who oversees teaching innovation at Wirreanda High School, in Adelaide, says embracing the online world has led to radical changes for staff and pupils. Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 1 AUTUMN 2 0 1 4 1 9
T e c h n o lo gy
Learning to lead
“One of our starting points has been Edmodo, which facilitates in-the-moment learning about good digital behaviour,” says Rinaldi. “But students are engaging with all kinds of social media, so we need to be there as well.” Under the South Australian Department of Education’s recently changed policy, access to social media is no longer blocked, but left to individual schools to decide on for themselves. Wirreanda High and nearby Hackham East Primary School have welcomed the change. “We encourage students to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter,” says Rinaldi. “We’re not just talking to the students about it, but also showing them the purpose and practical application to real life. “A group of Year 8 and 9 students has developed a school app. Another student, who’s passionate about using social media appropriately in the classroom, makes presentations to adults about using Twitter professionally. “The students have become effective role models for good digital citizenship in the school.”
It’s a rare adult who hasn’t thought at some time that their children — or students — are way ahead of them in technological expertise. The idea that students can be the driving force for embedding digital education in schools led to the Digital Leadership Scheme (DLS). The initiative began in the US, spread to the UK and is now making its presence felt in Australia (www.ozdls.com). “It empowers young people to be digital citizen leaders and educate their peers, as well as adults,” says Nick Jackson, a teacher and one of the forerunners of the scheme in the UK. Jackson is currently studying digital leadership for a PhD at Monash University in Melbourne. The DLS concept has developed without any formal structure in the UK, and with each school shaping its own program, collaborating and building on the successes of other schools. Students are selected for the program and can earn accreditation for their achievements. “People imagine it to be centred round a bunch of geeks, but it’s not like that at all,” says Jackson. “Take Wirreanda High School in Adelaide, which is one of about 25 schools to have adopted the scheme. Students present information sessions to the governors and parents on digital media in schools, and they’ve led workshops for teachers and others in the community on how to use Twitter in an educational context. They’re really switched on.”
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Bullying and sexting
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We teach kids how to swim. We don’t just ban them from the swimming pool.
Gabrielle Ranaldi Wirreanda High School, Adelaide
There are fears that open access to social media leads to cyberbullying and sexting (sending sexually explicit messages or photographs), which are among the biggest challenges teachers face, says O’Neale. “They can bubble up and become a real problem for a school.” Rinaldi agrees that cyberbullying is ever-present. “We deal with it on a regular basis. But it’s happening regardless, so what we are doing can surely only make that better. We teach kids how to swim. We don’t just ban them from the swimming pool.” The Cybersmart teaching resources most in demand are those that address how to deal with cyberbullying. They include Tagged, an awardwinning short film made for teenagers about the consequences of, and solutions to, being victimised. Clearly, digital citizenship is no longer seen as a mere add-on, but as intrinsic to the curriculum. Incorporating digital education into the core curriculum is growing, and lessons about digital citizenship go hand in hand, says Sue Wyatt, who has taught information and communications technology to Year 6 and 7 students in Tasmania for 15 years. “In maths, for example, you can create online spreadsheets that allow you to share and edit data,” says Wyatt. “Some classes do ‘crowd sourcing’
T e c h n o lo gy
where you gather information from people around the web. Or in English, students are looking at different text media, and digital literacy is part of that — knowing how to be good communicators on the web.”
Building a digital reputation In rural Australia, where students can be culturally and geographically isolated, digital connection has added importance. Anne Mirtschin, an ICT teacher at Hawkesdale P12 College in country western Victoria, says being on the web allows children to “flatten the walls” and travel out of the classroom. The earlier they start learning about digital citizenship, the better, and teachers should lead by example, she says. “Teachers need to be in the social media environment — on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, writing a blog — because kids are out there on their own, going for it and not knowing right from wrong.” Victoria’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has a licence for schools to set up student, class, teacher and school blogs using Global2, with technology and technical support provided by Edublogs. Building a positive digital reputation and a safe ID, or knowing where to go if you have a problem, are key aims for Mirtschin, who takes a practical approach. “If you look at the language being used in chat rooms, children are very prone to bullying and put-down comments. If I put them back in that environment in a school setting,
I can reverse that as much as I can.” For Mirtschin and Wyatt, blogging has been the entry point for teaching about digital citizenship. “Once you start to blog, it raises all sorts of questions for students,” says Wyatt. “About the legality of downloading music and other copyright issues. Or if they want to link to a website, they learn how to create hyperlinks.” Mirtschin says she prefers student blogs to be fully public to reach an authentic audience but they can be as closed as you want with a password required to even view a comment. She shows students how to block, edit and delete comments, and get a screenshot when something negative has occurred. Making mistakes is one of the best ways for students to learn about adapting their behaviour for online consumption, she says. “For example, we have a lot of farm kids, and senior students have on occasions posted on their blogs photos of themselves holding rifles. We discuss together why that’s not a good idea.” With Google Apps appearing in schools and cloud-based tools on the horizon, good digital citizenship will obviously become a life skill as important as English and maths. “The more we expose kids to technology,” says Cleaves, “the more they are going to develop those digital citizenship skills. You can’t put your head in the sand.” l
Amanda Woodard is a freelance writer.
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Results from the latest international measurement of student performance back the call for fairer school funding in Australia. BY C h r i st i n e Lo n g
PISA confirms inequities
T
he declining student performance and widening gaps in achievement highlighted by Australia’s recent results in the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicate an urgent need for more equitable school funding arrangements across the country. For its 2012 PISA assessments of maths, scientific and reading literacy, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tested about 510,000 students from a record 65 countries, including a sample of 14,481 Australian students drawn from 775 government, independent and Catholic schools. Australian students ranked equal 17th in maths, equal 8th in science and equal 10th in reading, which was sufficient to earn the label of a “high-quality, high-equity” education system from the OECD. However, a closer look at the results unearths some disturbing trends in Australia, particularly in maths. Maths literacy was the major focus of the tests for the first time since 2003. The top performers this time were Shanghai China, Hong Kong, Taiwan/Taipei, Korea, Macau China, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Between 2003 and 2012, 25 countries were considered to have improved their performance in maths, 25 remained unchanged and 14 showed a deterioration. In Australia, students achieved
2 2 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
BRIEFLY
In the latest PISA results, Australian students ranked 17th in maths. Overall, the results reflected the Gonski review’s call for action on education inequities. The PISA report noted the need to place highperforming teachers in socially disadvantaged schools.
an average of 504 points in maths literacy – higher than the OECD average of 494 points, but well below Shanghai China’s highest score of 613. Forty-two per cent of Australian 15-year-olds failed to meet national minimum standards in maths, and, in less than a decade, their performance has declined by the equivalent of more than half a year of schooling. The results also showed that the range of maths literacy scores between the lowest and highest-performing students was wider for Australian students (315 points) than the OECD average (301). In maths, reading and science, Australian students from disadvantaged areas were two or more years behind those from advantaged areas. Indigenous students were three years behind high socioeconomic-status students. Half of all Indigenous students were failing to reach the minimum standards in maths.
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Gonski prediction AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos says this situation was foreshadowed in the Gonski review’s prediction that “Australia will only slip further behind unless, as a nation, we act and act now”. “Just two years later, these PISA results show that, while Australia’s 15-year-old students continue to perform above the OECD average, test scores have again fallen,” says Gavrielatos. “There are unacceptable gaps in performance, with students from different backgrounds slipping behind others by as much as two to three years of schooling.” Having identified the issue, the challenge is how to effectively address it. According to OECD analysis, in richer countries the key predictor of performance is how resources are distributed. “If schools are going to receive the time and resources needed to lift achievement
In maths, reading and science, Australian students from disadvantaged areas were two or more years behind those from advantaged areas.
PLAINPICTURE
WORLD VIEW
levels and break the connection between disadvantage and poor outcomes, the government must make a full six-year commitment to the more equitable funding arrangements contained in the Gonski law and agreements,” says Gavrielatos. The AEU also notes the need for the government to seek formal agreements with Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. The PISA report said fairness in school funding is inextricably linked with equity and performance.
Australian students achieved an average of 504 points in maths literacy, below that of a score of 613 for Shanghai China, pictured above.
“Fairness in resource allocation is not only important for equity in education but it is also related to the performance of the school system as a whole,” the report says. “PISA results show that school systems with high student performance in mathematics tend to allocate resources more equitably between advantaged and disadvantaged schools.”
Teachers a priority The OECD also found that highperforming countries manage to place high-performing teachers in socially disadvantaged schools,
and high-performing countries pay teachers well. It concluded that improvements in performance require early detection mechanisms – such as those used in Finland – to identify low performance, as well as the targeting of disadvantaged students with additional resources or economic assistance. Education International supported its conclusions, stating: “OECD PISA 2012 results show that a more equal distribution of resources among schools in Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 23
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In countries… that performed the best – Shanghai, Korea, Japan – the teaching profession is regarded “very highly” Analysis and comparisons The PISA findings often trigger a political and media storm in countries that show a decline or little change in performance. When the results were released in December, PISAday. org in the US presented online live streaming of analysis and policy implications, and OECD deputy director for education Andreas Schleicher hosted a worldwide webinar. In the lead-up to the release, the Performance in Excellence Club, a group from about 800 schools in the UK dedicated to lifting student exam performance at A-level and GCSE, suggested that, as the tests were so politically important, perhaps students needed to prepare for them. An overemphasis on the PISA rankings concerns Education International (EI). In its analysis, it encouraged individual countries to focus on what the results communicated about their performance over time and how to address it.
countries, less stratification of students according to their socioeconomic status, more autonomy of schools in terms of the curriculum and pedagogy, and, most importantly, availability of qualified teachers are strong predictors of both positive learning environments and student learning outcomes.” In an interview following the release of the most recent PISA results, Michael Davidson, head of early childhood education and schools at the OECD, described the quality of the teacher workforce as “absolutely 24 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
key” to performance in the PISA tests. He said in the countries or economies that performed the best – Shanghai, Korea, Japan – the teaching profession is regarded “very highly” and the job market for teachers is “very competitive”. He encouraged teachers to examine the PISA results and use them as a guide to the areas of weakness they need to address with students. l
Christine Long is a freelance writer.
“Careful consideration of trends over the PISA cycles in every separate country, not comparing with other countries, may be the most relevant focus of attention.” In Australia, the drop in reading and maths results occurred in all states and territories except Victoria, according to analysis by economist and Save Our Schools national convenor Trevor Cobbold. Catholic schools had the largest declines of any school sector in reading, mathematics and science between 2009 and 2012, Cobbold found, while public schools had the lowest average decline across reading, mathematics and science. There were significant declines in the percentage of students at the most advanced levels in private schools between 2009 and 2012, but little change in government schools, Cobbold reported.
GETTYIMAGES
Japanese students scored highly in the PISA results.
“While PISA can’t stand as an ultimate judgement about the quality of education systems, nevertheless careful attention should be paid to the changes both in the overall performance of students as well as to the shifting proportions in the top and lowest levels of performance in each separate country,” says EI.
Research Conference 2014 Quality and Equity:
What does research tell us?
Adelaide Convention Centre | 3–5 August 2014 | Adelaide, Australia This Conference addresses: • highly effective pedagogies • policies and practices that improve learning for all learners • the link between high expectations and high performance • what PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS, and NAPLAN data tell us about learning outcomes Hear from Australian and international researchers including: Professor Petra Stanat, Director of the Institute for Educational Quality Improvement at Humboldt University of Berlin, whose research investigates the achievement of new immigrants in PISA; Dr Sally Brinkman, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide’s Australian Institute for Social Research, whose research investigates early learning skills and other aspects of child development; Professor Geoff Masters, Chief Executive of ACER, whose research addresses quality and equity; and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in conversation with Professor Masters. Enquiries can be directed to: Margaret Taylor T: 03 9277 5403 F: 03 9277 5503
E: Margaret.Taylor@acer.edu.au
www.acerinstitute.edu.au/conferences/rc Australian Council for Educational Research
Cultivating high performing school leaders: your opportunity to grow Local Leadership Signature Learning Program International Learning Offerings 2014 AITSL is offering all current and aspiring school leaders the opportunity build their professional capabilities by participating in intensive overseas study and travel programs. Australian school leaders have the choice of highly-focused programs – both led by AITSL’s experienced and specialist learning brokers.
High performing schools, linking with Asia – Hong Kong and South Korea
Autonomy: one’s system’s experience – Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand
A 12 day program
A 5 day program
This offering is designed for school leaders wishing to focus on innovation and excellence in some of Asia’s highest performing school systems. A further focus of this program is building Asia-relevant capabilities to support stronger connections and partnerships across our region.
For over twenty years, New Zealand’s schools have operated with a high degree of autonomy in areas of school governance, school structures, curriculum implementation and assessment practices. This offering provides a professional learning opportunity for school leaders operating in an environment of increased empowerment while working to implement the Australian Curriculum.
The program is built around the following key questions: • How do principals establish an effective culture of teaching and learning?
The program is built around the following key questions:
• What does effective leadership look like in high performing schools?
• What does effective leadership look like in autonomous schools?
• What factors contribute to high performance in different cultural, social and economic contexts?
• How do schools maximise autonomy to improve educational outcomes for students?
• What roles do professional learning communities play in building capacity?
• What mechanisms best prepare and support leaders in their roles?
• How is teacher performance monitored and evaluated in an ongoing way? The program’s learning opportunities include school visits, briefings and forums. Tour date: 28 April – 9 May 2014 (TBC) Cost: $6,800 includes accommodation, some meals, conference costs and local transfers. Note that program participants are responsible for travel costs from and to Australia and between Hong Kong and South Korea.
• How do autonomous schools contribute to the improvement of the system? The program’s learning opportunities include school visits with a focus on system priorities and the innovative ways school leaders have tackled implementation. Tour date: 31 March – 4 April 2014 (TBC) Cost: $3,500 includes group dinner in Wellington on 30 March Note that program participants are responsible for travel costs from and to Australia and between Wellington and Auckland, accommodation and meals.
Important note: Numbers of participants for the programs are strictly limited and entry to the programs will be on the basis of order of application accompanied by payment of deposit. Minimum participant numbers are required for programs to proceed. Program content and schedules are correct at the time of publication but may vary. AITSL reserves the right to make changes where required.
All enquiries: Ben Johns at AITSL, 03 9944 1218, localleadership@aitsl.edu.au 26 au t u m n 2 013 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
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WORLD VIEW
A global campaign to fight widespread threats to public education is wrapping up later this year. BY d e n i s p e t e r s
Universal goals
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ducation International launched its Unite for Quality Education in October 2014. Since then, representatives from EI’s 30 million members – including teachers, other education staff and affiliated organisations in 170 countries and territories – have been involved in raising awareness to ensure quality education is at the top of government agendas around the world. The campaign’s international symbol is the tokotoko, a Maori icon that’s essentially a walking stick symbolising the passing on of knowledge between peoples and generations. Paul Goulter, national secretary of the New Zealand Education Institute says the tokotoko is apposite for a collaborative profession like teaching. The last he heard, the tokotoko was in Brussels, as part of its journey to global events. “But we don’t actually have to know where it is because it has a life of its own,” says Goulter. “There’s a phrase we use here – the kaupapa – that’s like the spirit, the life force, the driving force of, in this case, the whole campaign. That is wrapped up in the tokotoko and that takes it wherever it goes.”
Cross-Tasman report The tokotoko has reflected the broader goals of the campaign in New Zealand ever since “a hostile government” came to power. Goulter says the federal full term agenda includes a drive to introduce competition into the public education system “in all its guises”.
BRIEFLY
Education International’s Unite for Quality education campaign heads into 2014 with events and actions around the world. The tokotoko, a Maori message stick, symbolises the campaign’s collaborative focus. Campaign goal is to put high quality education for all at the centre of political agendas.
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League tables, testing regimes, performance pay and school funding levels based on “spurious national result standards” are all part of the program at a time when the government is failing to properly fund the public system, while handing additional money to private schools. “The government has created a crisis and is saying competition is the answer,” says Goulter. “And once you create competition you create forces for privatisation. That’s how they’re doing it here.”
Northern lights In Sweden, education has been one of the top three issues in the political arena in recent years, says Eva-Lis Siren, chairwoman of Lärarförbundet, the Swedish teachers’ union. “The objective of the campaign is to bring education to the centre of the political agenda and to
The objective of the campaign is to bring education to the centre of the political agenda and to attain high quality education for all in Sweden Eva-Lis Siren chairwoman of Lärarförbundet.
attain high-quality education for all in Sweden,” she says. The penultimate month of Unite for Quality Education will coincide with general elections in Sweden in September. A major challenge is recruitment, which Siren says is crucial for the development of all other professions. One of Sweden’s biggest drawcards is of course the annual Nobel Prize awards in Stockholm, which has highlighted EI’s Education for All program during its celebrations. Lärarförbundet will ensure that continues as part of its participation in this campaign. Siren says an important aspect in guaranteeing education for all has been the policy for unregistered child immigrants, who have now been granted equal access to education. Lärarförbundet is a leading member of the Swedish fundraising group of organisations known as the EFA Network, whose main objective is to advocate for the right to education. “The network has been arguing for increasing the share of the budget for Development Cooperation directed towards education,” says Siren, “and this work will be a special focus during the annual Global Action Week, which happens every year at the end of April.” l Denis Peters is a freelance writer.
Find out more l Unite for Quality Education l unite4education.org Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 27
h e a lt h
Support for
IBD ki s With consultation, understanding and support, students with inflammatory bowel disease can experience all the benefits of schooling. BY MARGAR ET BOZ I K
BRIEFLY 75,000 Australians have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. IBD can disrupt physical development, education and participation in extracurricular activities. A new booklet is available to help educators support students with IBD.
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ith one in 250 Australians aged 5–49 now diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), most teachers will inevitably encounter a student or colleague with the condition. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – the predominant IBDs – are often thought of as ‘young person’s diseases’ because diagnosis is typically in adolescence and early adulthood, says Francesca Manglaviti, CEO of Crohn’s & Colitis Australia (CCA). In recent years, however, IBD has been found more and more often in young children. For this reason CCA has developed an information booklet, ‘Students with IBD: A guide for primary, secondary and tertiary educators’, aimed at helping educators support students who have IBD. It includes information about Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, their physical and emotional impact on students, and their effects on various aspects of life. IBD is an autoimmune disorder that affects parts of the digestive tract, most commonly the small and large intestines. The body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissue, causing inflammation, or a ‘flare’. “Australia has one of the highest rates of incidence of IBD in the world,” says Manglaviti. “It is becoming more prevalent, more complex and more severe, and each year more and more young people are being diagnosed. “More than 75,000 Australians have IBD and 14 new cases are being diagnosed every day. The latest research suggests that, by 2022, there will be 100,000 Australians with IBD.” Despite the prevalence, Crohn’s disease and
28 au t um n 2 01 4 Austr ali an E ducator 8 1
ulcerative colitis remain largely hidden diseases. Very few people are comfortable discussing a chronic and lifelong illness with symptoms that at times may include: l diarrhoea l urgent bowel movements l abdominal pain l fatigue l rectal bleeding l weight loss. At this stage there is no cure for IBD, but the symptoms and the underlying inflammation are treated with a range of medications, and surgery in some cases. “Many people with IBD live very normal lives,” says Manglaviti. “But students will most likely experience a disruption to their education, extracurricular activities and social life. “Schools play a crucial role in helping these students live normal lives, while a lack of involvement and support from the school can lead to problems such as diminished academic performance, difficulties maintaining relationships and a lack of confidence, motivation or self-esteem.”
Candid discussion CCA encourages carers of children with IBD to have an open and candid discussion with the school as soon as possible after diagnosis or at the start of the school year. The school, in consultation with the family and clinical team, should develop a student health support plan, accessible by all staff, including relief teachers, prior to commencing work. “The plan is very important,” says Sue Baker, the mother of six-year-old Charli, who attends a NSW public school and lives with a stoma bag
PLAINPICTURE
following surgery for IBD. “Before Charli started school, I arranged a meeting with the principal, vice-principal and classroom teacher. I have had three meetings with the school to update and revise how Charli is going, which has all been recorded on paper. “As Charli has an ileostomy [a surgically created opening], she also has a teacher’s aide to help empty her bag three times a day. Charli was placed in a kindergarten class with a toilet attached, which has been fantastic. “Her teacher’s aide is very discreet and doesn’t sit just with Charli in class, but helps all the children so no one thinks she is only there for Charli.” Charli is treated no differently from the other children and has settled into school very well, says Baker. “She took the book Toilet Paper Flowers to school. It’s about a little girl with Crohn’s disease, and she wanted her teacher to read it. As Charli is in kindy, the other children don’t know much about her illness, but this book is a good place to start.” Baker says IBD is tricky because it’s a ‘hidden’ disease. “I know parents who have had difficulties with their school because the child may look all right on the outside. “It must be stressed to every teacher and staff member at the school that IBD children get tired very easily, may lack concentration, may have slower fine-motor skill development, may have pain they are dealing with on a daily basis and may need to run to the toilet at a moment’s notice. Also, there are many, many side effects of IBD medications they need to be aware of.”
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Many people with IBD live very normal lives, but students will most likely experience a disruption to their education, extracurricular activities and social life. Francesca Manglaviti CEO, Crohn’s & Colitis Australia
Necessary provisions Teachers and schools also need to be aware that an IBD child will often try to overcompensate for their illness by pushing themselves quite hard to achieve. “The teacher should treat the IBD child the same as every other child, but make all the necessary provisions, such as placing the child in a classroom near a toilet and allowing them to leave the classroom discreetly to use the toilet.” Charli hasn’t had any issues with teasing, but her mother knows of an older child at another school who has. “The teacher made the child who teased do an assignment on IBD and present it to the class.” She looks back on what has been a “fantastic” first year at school. “I feel fully supported by our wonderful school community and know that they have done everything possible for Charli to have a smooth and happy first year. We are very grateful to have such a caring school and believe she will have a very happy, productive and positive school life experience, despite her illness.” l Margaret Bozik is the communications coordinator at Crohn’s & Colitis Australia.
Find out more l crohnsandcolitis.com.au l ‘ Students with IBD: A guide for primary, secondary and tertiary educators’ – available free of charge, phone 1800 138 029 l facebook.com/crohnsandcolitis Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 1 AUTUMN 2 0 1 4 2 9
to o l k i t
Three-dimensional printing is an exciting and affordable teaching tool with applications across the curriculum. BY C y n t h i a K a r e n a
Object lessons
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hen Melbourne teachers Sherrie Mitchell and Samia Zaibak built a threedimensional printer recently as a demonstration for other teachers, it was an indication of how accessible the technology has become for schools. Mitchell, a maths and science teacher, and Zaibak, an art teacher, from Thomastown Secondary College, were taking part in a Quantum Victoria program in October to familiarise teachers with 3D printers and give them an opportunity to brainstorm how they can be used in the classroom.
More affordable technology Building/assembling a 3D printer from pre-ordered parts is quite a complex and exacting task, but the printers can also be bought readymade at prices far cheaper than when the first models were introduced in industry three decades ago. One model, for example, sells for just over $1000, and prices in general will continue to come down. Instead of using ink, a 3D printer melts plastic powder or metal thread and prints in successive layers less than a quarter of a millimetre thick to create 3D objects from digital files such as computer-aided design (CAD) drawings or designs downloaded from the open source sharing website Thingiverse. The Thomastown school’s printer uses ABS plastic, the durable material Lego blocks 3 0 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
are made of. Students have printed mobile phone covers, earphone holders, chess pieces and key rings. “The 3D printer lets students bring their ideas to life,” says Mitchell. “I’ll use it to teach programming, and for my science classes it’ll be useful for constructing and understanding models of molecules, simple machines, the human skeletal system and other body parts. “In electronics, students will learn how to build their own 3D printer so they’ll understand the mechanics of the machine and the skills required to recalibrate and repair it themselves.” Zaibak’s students will use the printer to design useful artistic objects, and robotics teacher rr
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In electronics, students will learn how to build their own 3D printer so they’ll understand the mechanics of the machine and the skills required to recalibrate and repair it themselves.
BRIEFLY
3D printing is finding its place in many classrooms. Students can learn from the objects they make, and learn about 3D printing as a career path in itself. The field is ripe for expansion as ideas develop and the technology improves.
Clockwise from top left: Sherrie Mitchell and Samia Zaibak of Thomastown Secondary College in Victoria; Sunbury Downs College maths and science teacher James Alexander and maths teacher and science coordinator Andrew Blackbourn with a group of students around their 3D printer; 3D printed objects by students of Palmerston Senior College in the Northern Territory.
to o l k i t
3D printing ideas Art: design and print sculptures; investigate artists who use 3D printing. Chemistry: design and print molecular structures. Home economics: design and print chocolate bar moulds and biscuit cutters. Maths: illustrate Pythagorean theory in three dimensions; print models from equations representing 3D spaces. Physics: experiment with airflow by designing wing profiles and testing them in a wind tunnel. Sewing: design and print buttons, clothes and shoes.
Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 3 1
to o l k i t
Leonie Corrick wants her class to learn how to design and print robot parts. 3D printing opens up a new career path for students, says Dale Nicholls, education consultant at 3D Printing Systems. Demand is huge in 3D design, he says. “People have an idea for a product and need someone to design the digital model so it can be created for testing. Using a 3D printer is a cheaper way of testing ideas compared to more traditional methods.”
Curriculum trial Palmerston Senior College, in the Northern Territory, recently took part in a six-month trial to investigate how 3D printers can be used in the curriculum. The NT Education Department’s Teaching and Learning with ICT program provided a Makerbot Replicator II printer and coordinated workshops for staff. The printer costs about $2500, and the school uses PLA plastic, which is biodegradable
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We’ve only touched the surface of what this 3D printer can do.
Peter Blundell Media teacher, Palmerston Senior College, Northern Territory 32 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
and easier to work with than ABS, but not as durable. 3D printing is part of Palmerston’s Year 10 media and stage one creative art and media class. Students are interested in using MinecraftEdu, an education version of the popular Minecraft game, says media teacher Peter Blundell. “Our students generated 3D shapes from that. They came up with a context or scenario to tell a story – for example, printing out alien figures for science fiction, or a Colosseum for the ancient Roman Empire. “We’ve only touched the surface of what this 3D printer can do.”
Inspiring students Sunbury Downs College maths and science teacher James Alexander also built a 3D printer as part of the program run by Quantum Victoria, a science and maths innovation centre funded by the Victorian Government. “The 3D printer excites and inspires the students,” he says. “They have creative control over the process, so it’s not so teacher-centred.” Alexander is still learning how to use the printer by experimenting with different speeds and the amounts of plastic used. “In a few years we’ll be laughing at how primitive these printers were and the time it took to print an object.” l Cynthia Karena is a freelance writer.
3D printers can be a great teaching tool.
Find out more about 3D printing l l l l l l
thingiverse.com 123dapp.com/design reprap.org curriculum.makerbot.com cubify.com tinkercad.com
Randall Goldsworthy Grades 8–12 mathematics teacher, Kedron High School, Brisbane.
to o l k i t
My best app WORTH A LOOK Attendance (iOS, $5.49)
Classes (iOS, $1.99)
Goldsworthy uses Attendance every day. “I no longer need a hard copy class roll, and roll marking has become fun. It also provides my own comprehensive record of student attendance that is often useful at parent teacher interviews. Also, the app can be customised to give me a summary of how many times a student has or has not done their homework.”
A “handy” app that Goldsworthy uses a lot at the start of the year. “It gives me an electronic copy of my timetable. During the term I use the homework function to remind me what homework was set and when it is due.”
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I use my smartphone; I don’t even need to carry a tablet. For example with the Attendance app (above), I just pull out my phone and mark the roll quickly and easily. It’s also fun to use apps.
MyScript Calculator (iOS, android, free) Performs mathematical operations with hand written mathematical expressions on the screen. “It’s remarkable,” says Goldsworthy. “A nifty free app that may have you throwing away your old calculator. It’s a lot easier than plugging numbers into a calculator. “It has some high-level mathematical functions such as square root and logs. It’s useful for students who find it difficult to find which buttons to press, for example the log function.”
“I use my smartphone; I don’t even need to carry a tablet. For example with the Attendance app (left), I just pull out my phone and mark the roll quickly and easily. It’s also fun to use apps. “The first time a friend showed me an app (the music app Shazam), about seven or eight years ago, I thought it was like magic. Ever since then, I realised they can be useful and fun.”
Duolingo (iOS, android, PC, free) Students can easily brush up on their Spanish, French, German, Portuguese or Italian. Exercises are delivered in short, sharp bursts and there is immediate feedback once exercises are completed.
TED Talks (iOS, android, PC, free) Fascinating and sometimes provocative video lectures on technology, entertainment and design (TED) by inspiring people around the world, from technology geniuses to passionate scientists.
Randall’s tip
Regularly shop around for discounted iTunes cards, which can often be found at supermarkets.
Planets (iOS, android, free) Point your device to the sky and see a planetarium-like view of the sky. Rotate the 3D view with your finger to locate and identify stars, planets and constellations. Information is provided with 2D photos, and beautiful 3D spinning globes, which can be manipulated with your finger to see different angles. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 3 3
Help for teachers in the classroom 2 essential resources you need to know about LEARNINGFIELD
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LearningField is a world-first digital textbook subscription service for Australian secondary school teachers and students.
Reading Australia is an innovative and free online resource to assist the teaching and learning of Australian literature in schools and universities. The Reading Australia website is ready for teachers to explore now with free curriculum-linked educational resources for primary and secondary school teachers. These include class activities, assessment tasks and extra digital resources.
It enables classroom collaboration and access to the combined resources of publishers, both by chapter and whole text. Content is mapped to the Australian and Victorian curriculums and the NSW syllabus. Importantly, LearningField can be accessed via single sign-on with “anywhere, anytime” access from iPad, Android and PC reader applications.
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m i l e sto n e s
The first strike When teachers in New South Wales took to the streets to protest against salary and working conditions they won an almost immediate result. b Y C y n d i T e bb e l
T
he state government made an nine first-year out teachers on a staff of 15 emergency allocation of funds appointed to Henty Central School in 1962, to schools the day after the first part of a state-wide expansion that saw an general strike in the New South influx of inexperienced teachers but very little Wales Teachers Federation’s 50-year history. corresponding support. It was October 1968. In 1968 he transferred to Tweed River High The government had reacted to reports School, a new school, which was already of up to 12,000 teachers meeting in Sydney over capacity. Hennessy says the auditorium at a rally and later 4000 turning up at “which was a feature of the place, had been Parliament House in what parliamentary subdivided into four classrooms!” Those attendants called the biggest demonstration conditions, and worse, were replicated they could remember, according to across the state. newspaper reports at the time. “On top of all that was a total lack of “The teachers’ chants (‘Resign, resign… recognition by the government that Cutler must go’) could be clearly heard something had to be done about teachers’ inside the Legislative Assembly chamber salaries,” says Hennessy. as the education minister, Mr Cutler, battled Marie and Ken Muir were teachers in with questions, interjections and points of suburban Sydney, primary and secondary, order for nearly three-quarters of an hour,” respectively, and active members of the Canberra Times reported. the NSWTF. They recall the angry mood at the time. The industrial action was in response to “It was terrible,” says Marie. “There were decades of inaction from state governments 40 kids in the class and no relief from over staffing, class sizes, salaries and a face-to-face teaching.” Grounds, garbage, widespread deterioration of working playground, bus and crossing duties conditions for teachers. Pictured: On 1 October 1968 were also the responsibility of teachers, A rapid expansion of the education system around 80 per cent of NSW’s and, for teachers like the Muirs, assisting after the Second World War had created teachers protested outside the Department of Education and disadvantaged students with nutrition and a serious imbalance in teacher-to-student Parliament House in Sydney about other support. “We were all frustrated, worn ratios: student enrolments more than decades of state government out and concerned about the kids,” says Ken. doubled, from 336,000 in 1945 to 747,000 in inaction over staffing, class sizes, salaries and working conditions. At 8.45am on Tuesday 1 October 1968 1968; over the same period, teacher numbers John Hennessy was in his backyard when only grew from 11,000 to 32,000. his neighbour asked why he wasn’t at school. In addition to overcrowded classrooms, “I’m on strike,” Hennessy replied. “You’re on strike? Well, don’t run-down or inadequate school buildings and shortages expect that I’ll ever speak to you again!” of basic equipment that forced many teachers to buy their The strike garnered a more positive response from teachers own, they were also grappling with a radical restructure of – 80 per cent of whom took action that day – as well as parents secondary education known as the Wyndham Scheme. and community members. It all sounds eerily familiar. Indeed, a catalyst for the strike “More and more people were standing up for their individual was a broken pledge from the new Liberal state government, rights in the 60s,” says Hennessy. “Talking and arguing the led by Robert Askin, to establish an Education Commission logical case hadn’t worked and everyone realised that you with an independent chair and equal representation from could strike and the world doesn’t stop.” government and the Federation. Hennessy says that on the day after the strike NSW education minister Charles Cutler, who’d been saying for months and Betrayal of trust months that there was no money, “suddenly made an emergency “Ten minutes after the Liberals were elected they said the allocation of one million dollars” (more than $11m today). l Commission was too hard, we can’t do it,” says John Hennessy, former general secretary of the NSWTF. He was one of Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 2 01 4 3 5
Books
Assessing the language and objectives of educational priorities. BY H E LE N V IN E S
Taking responsibility
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wenty years ago, Emeritus Professor Nel Noddings asked one of her graduate students to track down the word ‘accountability,’ to establish exactly when, historically, it began to be used in an educational setting. She was not surprised to discover it had been transported “directly out of the business environment”, and that use of the word first appeared in educational literature about the time she commissioned the research, in the early 1990s. Noddings argues that accountability is entirely the wrong word to be using in relation to teaching. “At its best, ‘responsibility’ is the word that should guide us because that turns our attention to those we are teaching, and the people we are working for and with. It is an entirely different way of looking at things.” Noddings was a maths teacher for 12 years before becoming an academic. She is Lee L Jacks Professor of Child Education, Emerita at Stanford University, having recently retired as a member of the University’s Academic
Council. She has been a leader in educational research for many decades, publishing regularly, establishing and building on her concept of “care theory”, an ethics-based model of teaching and learning. Essentially, care theory proposes that the relationship between teacher and student determines outcomes, and that the teacher’s role is to find out what individual students excel at and “help them to succeed”.
Focus on relationships “We have to concentrate on relationships: how we guide students; how we change our lesson plans depending on the individuals we are working with,” says Noddings. “It isn’t a case of stuffing the same material into all the kids and then hoping that, because we are testing, the school results are going to go up. “There is something philosophically wrong with that whole attitude,” she says. Her most recent book, Education and Democracy in the 21st Century (Teachers College Press, 2013) concludes with a chapter on critical thinking, inviting her reader to probe
AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos
Australian Educator (ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media. The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.
AEU deputy federal president Corenna Haythorpe AEU federal secretary Susan Hopgood AEU deputy federal secretary Pat Forward
3 6 au t u m n 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81
ABOUT Nel Noddings Nel Noddings is Lee Jacks Professor of Education Emerita at Stanford University. She is a past president of the National Academy of Education, Philosophy of Education Society, and John Dewey Society. In addition to 19 books, she is the author of more than 200 articles and chapters on various topics ranging from the ethics of care to mathematical problem solving.
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and assess the language and objectives of existing educational priorities in the United States. “The first question we might ask,” she writes, “is whether the current emphasis on standards and core knowledge will make a positive contribution”. It is an issue that is hotly contested in the educational community, she says, but one that has yet to be fully examined.
No evidence for testing She also notes the intense polarity that has arisen in recent times about testing, adding as a strong believer in critical thinking that, the evidence would suggest that testing does not, and cannot, achieve its stated aims. Reflecting on a career notable for many achievements including its longevity, Noddings brings a unique perspective to the testing debate. “In the national tests on maths, there has been a little bit of a gain over the years, and a little bit of loss in the reading and language arts.” Therefore, she says, testing has not achieved what it has
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! Let us know what you think Have you recently read a book that has inspired your teaching or your students? Tell us about it at educator@hardiegrant.com.au, on facebook.com/AEUfederal or on Twitter @AEUfederal
Education and Democracy in the 21st Century by Nel Noddings, is published by Teachers College Press, 2013.
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It isn’t a case of stuffing the same material into all the kids and then hoping that, because we are testing, the school results are going to go up.
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set out to do, which is to raise standards significantly across the board, “because tests don’t accomplish this sort of thing”. In the past, testing was used to confirm knowledge, not establish deficits, says Noddings. She argues that a teacher should, as a matter of course, be able to anticipate standardised test results based on a thorough knowledge and understanding of the student. And she is absolutely adamant that tests should not be used “as a measure to evaluate teachers”, nor should there be “high stakes attached to tests”. Noddings is now turning her attention to vocational education with the aim of extending the liberal arts into all aspects of learning. “In every line in education we can ask important existential questions,” she says. “Is there a meaning to life; what does it mean to be moral; what do we owe to one another?” This includes those involved in vocational training as much as any other discipline, she argues. She advocates those engaging in the mechanical or electrical fields, for example, be given a history of labour, “and an
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acquaintance with workingclass intellectuals, who have written some wonderful stuff”. Noddings is simultaneously writing a chapter for a new book that examines care theory at an organisational and global level.
Hearing others “Instead of going around the world and talking about democracy and why other countries should be just like us, we should be listening to what others have to say. Care theory puts tremendous emphasis on attention. If you listen to people around the world they have different ideas about justice. “Instead of telling people what they need, we ask what they need; what they are aspiring to, and what they would like to do. The centre of care theory is dialogue. You don’t move on until you have a well-established dialogue and you begin to understand one another,” Noddings says. l
Helen Vines is a freelance writer.
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Audited circulation: 119,321 (September 2013) Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 81 au t u m n 201 4 37
recess
Why do you teach?
Three teachers share stories of life and learning.
What’s your funniest or most rewarding teaching moment? Share your best tips for engaging young minds. We’d love to hear from you. Email us at educator@ hardiegrant.com.au with 150–200 words with your best teaching moments.
Teacher to teacher Geoff McNamara
Carissa Carroll
Science teacher, Year 7–10, Melrose High School, Pearce, ACT
Consultant teacher, Rangeway Primary School, Rangeway, WA
“The reason I feel so passionate in a classroom comes from my own experience in schools, which was pretty awful. I’ve loved science for as long as I can remember and I remember thinking at primary school that there would be a whole subject on science in high school, but when I got there the teaching was pretty ordinary. In my classroom there’s a focus on connecting students with contemporary science. We talk about the relevance of science and how science is actually done. They meet the practitioners and go out to the universities and industries to see where and how science is done, and that gives them authentic experiences of what science is all about. We discuss the importance of science and how everything in our lives is dominated by it. We’re quite concerned that Australia doesn’t have a federal minister for science. I want these kids to have what I didn’t, and that is high-quality high-school science education. We’ve got to motivate the kids in Years 8–10 because it’s at that age they make many of the career choices which determine their Year 11 and 12 subject choices.” l
“In my role I’m constantly developing and implementing programs to empower my students, staff and school community. I believe it’s our challenge, as educators, to mould these people to be the best they can be. It’s the people I’ve met along the way that keep inspiring me to be the best I can be. I love my job. I love the constant surprises and challenges. My teaching philosophy is simple – develop great relationships, be knowledgeable and always be creative. I make learning fun and authentic. I focus on teaching explicitly through purposeful experiences. This makes learning memorable for all students. Recently, our Year 6/7 students participated in a collaborative project, The Big Restaurant Experience. We transformed the school’s undercover area into The Rangeway La Italiano Restaurant, where students were able to demonstrate their new-found restaurant skills. In the weeks leading up to The Big Restaurant Experience students learnt how to set tables, fold napkins, wait on customers, make pizzas and decorate tables. They also learnt restaurant etiquette, as well as some cultural knowledge about Italy. Students were highly motivated, totally engaged and the skills they gained will be with them for life.” l
3 8 aut u mn 2 01 4 Austr ali an E d u cator 8 1
we ask ...
Alethea Hickman
Geography teacher and Middle School coordinator, Wavell State High School, Wavell Heights, QLD
Geoff McNamara
Carissa Carroll
Alethea Hickman
“My desire to become a teacher stemmed from two passions: geography and love for the environment, and my desire to always ‘save’ the underdog. My schooling experience was less than pleasant in a lot of areas, but I had one teacher who really inspired me – Lionel Divine, my geography teacher, who was so compassionate and understanding. Another area that I am passionate about is food and nutrition, so by blending all of these areas I am now able to fulfil my dream job by developing a Food Bank to support our wider school community. I have always believed that students from a ‘good background’ will always have opportunities to succeed, but those students who have faced challenges are the special ones that need to be nurtured and supported. These individuals come with all sorts of challenges including behaviour, disadvantaged cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, complex family situations, exposure to drug and alcohol abuse and not having basic social norms taught to them. With a little extra support, these individuals can get the opportunity to break the cycle and succeed in their chosen career.” l Interviews by Cyndi Tebbel.
cing the launch o n u o n f An Register Qld www.hbpls.com.au
High Reliability Schools Institute
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e.com.au/conference201 w.hb 4 ww
The Next Step in School Ref Reform ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞∞∞T
Melbourne, Victoria - 23 May 2014 Sunshine Coast, Queensland - 27 & 28 May 2014 Based ased on 40 years of research D Dr Marzano’s vision on for education is simple: schools must become gh reliability organisations. T bility Schools framework is a defining moment in high The High Reliability ducation… providing schools wi work to su education… with a framework succeed! Presenters will address leading indicators and samp samples of practice in each session for the Marzano High Reliability Schools model. Par Participants will be asked to do some self-assessment of their own situation in regard regards to this level and will be introduced to the concept of lagging indicators a school mi might use to measure their progress in this level. Participants will be introduced to th the following five levels of the High Reliability Schoo Schools: 11. A safe and orderly environment that supports cooperation and collaboration 2. An instructional framework that develops and maintains effective instruction in every classroom ng 3. A guaranteed and viable curriculum focused on enhancing student learning 4. Standards-referenced reporting of student progress 5. A competency-based system that ensures student mastery of content Dr
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Meet the Presenters FL1260
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