educator_summer_2013_2bbd8706866c38

Summer 2013 Issue 80 $4.40

Behind the wire Children suffering in detention centres

Simple strategies Evaluating your teaching

My view The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel

About face

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The new government’s education agenda

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Contents Summer 2013

08 Curriculum

24 Refugees

26 Family violence

The new political agenda

Out of sight, out of mind

When something’s not right at home

Australia’s punitive approach to asylum seekers puts children at risk.

An innovative classroom is helping children cope with the trauma of domestic violence in their families.

Teachers can expect professional challenges and curriculum changes from the new Coalition government.

ducation.

Other features 04 News

31 Technology

Chaser Team member, Craig Reucassel, on his passion for public education.

A new ABC-backed portal gives teachers free access to a wealth of videos, audio clips and games.

My view

11 Early childhood Reforms at risk

Hard-won improvements to early childhood care and education are under threat.

16 International Strength in unity

A new international campaign aims to counter the widespread attacks on public education.

20 Early childhood COVER IMAGE: OCEAN/CORBIS

Regulars Making a Splash

32 Technology

06 From the president 12 Forum 36 Books 38 Casebook

Maree Foster

Counting the paperclips Simple methods of collecting data from students can help in fine-tuning teaching strategies.

35 Technology

My favourite apps Extending learning beyond the classroom with apps for mobiles, tablets and desktop computers.

Head start

A national data collection program is revealing what children need to get the best start at school.

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My view

All in a day’s work As a member of The Chaser Team, Craig Reucassel is not your average thrill seeker.

by Barbara Drury

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raig Reucassel wielded a wooden battle-axe in close proximity to then Prime Minister John Howard at a time when the national security advice was to be alert, but not alarmed. He trailed campaigning politician Peter Debnam while dressed in a baseball cap and a pair of ‘budgie smugglers’.

Like Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Debnam had a fondness for fronting news crews in his Speedos, but the TV cameras were more interested in the Chaser than the chased. It was all in a day’s work as part of The Chaser Team – a quartet notorious for edgy political satire.

There is no traditional career path for political satirists, but Reucassel credits “fantastic and dedicated” public school teachers for honing the verbal jousting skills on display in various manifestations of The Chaser franchise: CNNN; The Chaser Decides;

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“A good local public school has diversity – social diversity and a mix of boys and girls… that’s the best approach for education.”

Craig Reucassel

The Chaser’s War on Everything; and The Hamster Wheel.

Reucassel’s primary education began at West Lakes Shore School in Adelaide before his family moved to the New South Wales Southern Highlands and he attended Bowral Public School and Bowral High. It was at the latter that teacher Katherine Oliver introduced him to debating. He was a natural and represented the school in the Sydney Morning Herald Plain English Speaking Competition.

Meanwhile, two “amazing history teachers, Mr Cahill and Mr Tully, instilled in me a love of history and politics”, says Reucassel. All three sharpened his wit, which he puts to good use keeping audiences laughing by pricking political posturing with a well-aimed barb.

Reucassel met his fellow-Chasers Julian Morrow, Dominic Knight and Chas Licciardello at the University of Sydney when he was studying arts and law. “I don’t use the law degree much,”

he deadpans. That’s probably because, like so many comics and performers, Reucassel’s real training occurred on stage where he built on the debating skills learned at school, travelling overseas to take part in World Championship debating and competing in an international law mooting competition. He also maintained his connection with local schools for many years, “adjudicating and coaching public speaking with some great kids and teachers”.

Community and diversity Reucassel is disturbed by the community shift from public to private schools. “I think it’s a shame that local public schools are entrenched at the primary level but this gets undermined once kids move on to high school. I can’t stand it when people say they would only send their kids to a private school.”

His own children, aged 10, 8 and 6, attend local public schools and next

year his oldest son will go to a public high school.

“I think it’s preferable to be part of the local community. In fact, our family has just been away (during school holidays) with four families we met at our local public school,” he says.

“I’m not ‘anti private school’. I just don’t think private schools should be funded by government at current levels.

Fundamentally I wish current federal government policies towards school funding were different. If people want to pay to send their kids to private schools that is fine, but they should pay for it.

“I think something a good local public school has is diversity – social diversity and a mix of boys and girls – and that’s a good thing. I think that’s the best approach for education,” he says. l

Barbara Drury is a freelance writer.

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From the president

Contact Angelo Gavrielatos at angelo@aeufederal.org.au

Let’s stick together We have every reason to be optimistic that the partnership we have forged with parents and the broader community will grow stronger and lead to further improvements for public education.

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s widely expected, we now have a Coalition government led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, with Christopher Pyne as minister for education.

We campaigned hard for the election of a government that would commit to and honour a better education for all Australian children.

While we haven’t yet achieved this, we need to concentrate on what we have achieved, maintain our commitment and not be overwhelmed by the forces of conservatism that have been so prominently on show in the early days of the new Abbott government.

I want to congratulate you and all the parents and community members who have given their support and commitment to securing extra Gonski funding for every school and for every child.

Despite the election of a government that does not share our commitment, our unprecedented effort has ensured

that a fairer funding deal for schools remains firmly on the agenda.

The impact of our high-profile Gonksi campaign was enormous.

Throughout the Rudd and Gillard years, the Coalition insisted that better, more equitable funding arrangements were not the answer to improving student outcomes.

It was only the strength of public support for our Gonski funding campaign that forced the Coalition’s last-minute announcement that it would “match” Labor’s funding commitment.

Until then, they had maintained their opposition to, what they called, the “unworkable and grotesquely expensive” Gonksi reforms. They proposed to repeal Labor’s new funding legislation and return to the corrupted and inequitable Howard funding system.

$7bn shortfall For all the talk of matching Labor’s funding commitment, their promised $2.8 billion over four years represents a shortfall of $7 billion for schools across the nation.

They have also made it clear that they will remove the requirements for: (1) state and territory governments that have not signed on to Gonski to commit their share of the funds nor increase their budgets by three per cent per year, leaving the way open for further cuts to state schools budgets; and (2) for states, territories and the non-government sector to distribute the additional funding equitably on a needs-basis.

It’s been a long struggle.

We took great heart from the Gonski Panel’s Issues Paper. It followed six months of stakeholder consultations in December 2010 during which we forcefully put our case for fundamental reform.

Significantly, the panel embraced the OECD definition of equity – “that differences in educational outcomes are not the result of differences in wealth, income, power or possessions”.

The panel also declared its firm intention to identify arrangements to ensure that “funding is equitably distributed among schools; that is, directed to where it is needed most so that students are supported to overcome barriers to achievement, regardless of their background or where they go to school”.

Equity the central theme This notion of equity, which was central to our campaign from the outset, became a defining aspect of the ongoing Gonski Review, the then Government’s response and its culmination in the Australian Education Act 2013 shortly prior to the election.

Sadly the Abbott Government has thrown out the notion of equity, which was central to the new legislation, and it has not given a commitment to continue the Gonski reforms beyond four years. Rather, Christopher Pyne is talking up the need for teachers to “respect the Coalition’s mandate for change”, accompanied by a threat that he will “treat the teachers union with the respect they deserve”.

But, we know that we continue the campaign for fairer funding from a

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Public education matters

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AEUfederal Follow us on Twitter @AEUfederal

“…our unprecedented effort has ensured that a fairer funding deal for schools remains firmly on the agenda.” position of strength. We have an Act of Parliament, and agreements are in place for six years between the federal government and those of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

It is essential that the Coalition honours the full six-year funding

agreements made with these states. As NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has said: “We signed a six-year agreement that had a ‘no disadvantage’ clause in it with the Commonwealth government, not with the Labor Party, and I will continue to put the case to my federal colleagues to fund the future years of the agreement”.

Similar statements have been echoed by premiers and ministers of other states that signed up to the six-year funding reforms.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Abbott must negotiate agreements consistent with the Gonski model for Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

That is the only way of ensuring that all Australians, no matter their age, background or where they live, are treated with the respect that they deserve.

Nothing less will do.

Thanks once again for your support and congratulations for your unprecedented efforts on behalf of all Australia’s students.

Angelo Gavrielatos AEU FEDERAL PRESIDENT

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Curriculum

The new political agenda Teachers can expect professional challenges and curriculum changes from the new Coalition government.

by Carolyn Rance

Briefly n The new federal government will review teacher education and promote “alternative pathways” into the profession. n National curriculum and the role of ACARA face changes. n There will be more emphasis on school autonomy.

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review of national curriculum, new pathways into the teaching profession and greater school autonomy are all now on Australia’s political agenda.

Public school teachers also need to be prepared for increased rhetoric about teacher quality and the sort of calls for a back-to-basics approach to education that characterised the Howard years.

AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos warns that simplistic comments about teaching and curriculum issues are already being used to distract from the need for funding to improve school and student outcomes and close the achievement gap between more and less advantaged students.

International evidence shows that investing in high-quality education for

all students and directing additional resources to disadvantaged students is the best and most cost-effective way to improve performance.

The AEU will continue to make the case that developing and retaining a highquality professional teaching workforce with high entry and performance standards requires a sophisticated system-wide approach that presents teaching as an attractive and rewarding profession. It must focus not only on higher entry requirements and more practical classroom experience before graduation, but also on deep content knowledge, providing the best training and support for new teachers and continuing professional learning and ongoing professional development.

The use of back-to-basics rhetoric in discussions about improving student outcomes is demeaning to teachers and over-simplifies the complex task of helping children to learn, says Gavrielatos.

“Any suggestion that there is one, and only one, method of teaching children is just wrong. Teachers need to employ a vast array of strategies and methodologies in order to ensure students learn. If phonics was the only methodology used in teaching children to read, how would they ever learn to read the word ‘knee’?” he says.

The new government’s enthusiasm for the Direct Instruction methodology, pioneered by Professor Siegfried Engelmann of the University of Oregon and now underpinning the bid to boost literacy and numeracy levels among Indigenous children on Cape York, illustrates the desire to approach complex tasks with simple solutions.

“I believe that in many circumstances we do need to engage in explicit teaching, but evidence on the Direct Instruction

approach is unclear. Improving outcomes for Indigenous students requires a sustained funding commitment from government at all levels. It needs support for a long-term, intergenerational plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education that focuses on access, engagement, funding, workforce and curriculum and pedagogy,” says Gavrielatos.

Lacking evidence In its education policy for schools, titled ‘Putting Students First’, the federal government argues that school systems that have outpaced Australia’s in recent years have “focused on extensive reforms to teacher quality, school autonomy and leadership”.

However, support for these concepts is not based on strong evidence.

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“…curriculum is developed by experts, and politicians should stay out of this space.”

Angelo Gavrielatos AEU federal president

Calls for more flexible and varied pathways into the teaching profession contrast sharply with the work of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. The institute has promoted quality teaching and learning through the development of graduate teacher standards and a uniform accreditation process for initial teacher education in consultation with the teaching profession.

“The idea that effectively addressing the needs of our teacher education system and future teaching and school leadership workforce can be met simply by removing so-called restrictive ‘barriers’ to entry into the profession does not stand up to scrutiny,” says Gavrielatos.

Lack of clear evidence to support the government’s goal of making 25 per cent of public schools more autonomous by

Taking care of process The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s goal has been to produce a national curriculum that sets high expectations, writes CEO Rob Randall.

The fundamental point of a national curriculum is to focus on what we think all young people should learn as they go through school. Given a commitment to a national curriculum, we can then set our combined efforts to support teachers across the country and students in all schools. The difference in young people’s learning will be made in the quality of teaching that they receive.

ACARA’s goal is to produce a national curriculum that sets high expectations for all young Australians and provides the basis for collaboration between states and territories to improve the quality of teaching in learning in schools across the country.

The development of the Australian Curriculum involves two key stages of development – drafting a shape paper, followed by drafting a curriculum.

Discipline and curriculum experts as well as practising teachers are involved at each stage.

The curriculum is not designed to reflect political bias. ACARA manages the process of curriculum development, not the decisions about content or the way the curriculum is taught. I am proud of the work we have done to draw together so much talent and expertise from across

the country to produce the national curriculum.

Curriculum writers are selected (through an expression of interest process) because of their deep knowledge of learning, pedagogy and contemporary practice in a particular learning area. The history curriculum, for example, was developed in line with ACARA’s usual process, which involves public consultation, targeted consultation with states and territories through national panels, and the trialling of materials with schools and teachers.

The curriculum is approved by the ACARA Board and endorsed by the standing council (which includes all state and territory education ministers, as well as the federal education minister). Along the way to ministerial endorsement and publication, anyone with an interest in a learning area has an opportunity to contribute their views.

While anyone can cite an item out of context and be critical of it, I encourage everyone to read the whole curriculum, which is available online.

The published curriculum, which is being taught now across the country, should continue to be subject to scrutiny to maintain its quality and relevance. A formal process for ongoing review and evaluation will start in 2014 and we welcome feedback on how we can do more to improve the educational outcomes of all young Australians.

ACARA will continue with its current work program, agreed by the standing council, which includes curriculum, assessment and reporting functions. We have prepared advice for Minister Pyne on current activities as well as matters that have been raised in policy statements.

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Curriculum

“The curriculum is one of the most powerful resources in our community.”

Angelo Gavrielatos AEU federal president

2017 is another concern.

A recent Grattan Institute report found that, while the world’s best education systems feature varying levels of school autonomy, it is not central to their reforms and should not be seen as a goal in itself.

The Melbourne Graduate School of Education’s report, ‘Focusing on the learner: Charting a way forward for Australian education’, argues that the ‘big picture’ for Australia’s education system requires far greater emphasis on teaching and learning rather than on issues such as greater principal autonomy, which risk over-simplifying teaching.

Curriculum under scrutiny Gavrielatos says government calls for a review of curriculum “to ensure students learn educational basics and important fundamentals about our nation’s history and structure” also highlight contradictions at the heart of education policy.

“The Minister for Education,

Christopher Pyne, talks of wanting to get rid of centralised ‘command and control’ yet he appears to want to tell schools what to teach and how to teach it.”

Pyne’s demand for “a highly robust national curriculum that delivers what parents expect, and presents a balanced view of Australia’s history and government structures” has already sparked claims that another round of the so-called culture wars of recent years has begun.

“For us it’s simple – curriculum is developed by experts, and politicians should stay out of this space. The curriculum is one of the most powerful resources in our community – it contains the information that will prepare our children to become adult Australian citizens. Christopher Pyne is using claims that Labor has politicised curriculum simply as a smokescreen in order to politicise it,” says Gavrielatos.

Coalition policy calls for a “restored focus” on science, technology, engineering and mathematics in primary and

secondary schools; a review of the extent to which these subjects should be compulsory in senior secondary years, and increased teaching of foreign languages.

These are goals that can only be achieved with substantial financial investment and a long-term sustainable approach to teacher training.

Gavrielatos says outcomes from foreshadowed changes to the work of the Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority are also unclear.

The government has said that all data, reporting and compliance functions not related to curriculum will be transferred to the Department of Education, leaving ACARA “free to develop the highest possible standard curriculum” and rigorous benchmarking processes “that will allow Australia to compare its curriculum against the highest international standards”.

There is uncertainty about what the changes will mean for national curriculum and for ACARA’s My School website and its remit to publish nationally comparable data of Australian schools.

How the Coalition proposes to remove what it calls “Labor’s politicisation” of the curriculum has also not been spelled out. l Carolyn Rance is a freelance writer.

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Early childhood

Reforms at risk Hard-won improvements to early childhood care and education are under threat.

by Carolyn Rance

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n a policy announced just days before the September federal election, the Coalition announced that a Productivity Commission inquiry into childcare would be a priority task.

There will be a review of the staff-tochild ratios and up-skilling of childcare staff scheduled under the National Quality Framework. The Coalition also plans to put on hold a decision by the previous government to require all centres with more than 25 children to employ a qualified early childhood teacher from 2014.

The NQF was introduced last year, setting a national standard for early learning and care services and a timetable to increase carer qualifications and decrease staff-to-child ratios and group sizes. It was based on the Rudd and Gillard governments’ view that the first five years of a child’s life shape their future, forming the foundation of their learning capacity and social behaviour.

“The Coalition’s policy undermines the NQF under the guise of more choice for parents,” warns Susan Hopgood, AEU federal secretary.

In its policy announcement, the Coalition said it supports the NQF in principle but is “concerned by reports from child care centres and parents that its implementation is causing administrative and staffing problems,

which are passed on as cost increases for families”.

It called for a “more practical” approach to implementation that would ease the financial burden placed on child care centres and families.

The government is already conducting a review into the $300 million Early Years Quality Fund, established to support centres in the shift to employing more highly qualified staff. Initially it said that funds already contracted would be honoured but no further expenditure approved. Industry insiders now believe the government may try to claw back funding already allocated and some child care operators are openly discussing the possibility of legal action if that occurs.

“Any increase to the salaries of child care employees will be a matter for the Fair Work Commission and their employers,” the policy states.

Undermining broad support Shayne Quinn, vice president (early childhood) at the AEU Victoria division believes, if implemented, the Coalition policy will stymie critical work undertaken by the sector since Labor’s early childhood reforms were introduced in 2007.

“Labor’s plan was based on strong research demonstrating the importance of high-quality early childhood education and care for children’s life chances. There was broad support for the reforms, notwithstanding debate about implementation challenges and resourcing levels.”

Quinn says it will be vital to take up opportunities for consultation with the new assistant minister for education Sussan Ley and to contribute to the Productivity Commission inquiry.

The NQF resulted from a long-term campaign to raise standards of early

“The Coalition’s policy undermines the NQF under the guise of more choice for parents.” childhood education and care services in response to a wealth of evidence highlighting the critical importance of education in the early years, says Samantha Page, CEO of advocacy group Early Childhood Australia.

“Services have been well aware of the requirements related to educator qualifications since they were determined in 2009, and due to be phased in from 2012 to 2020. There are a number of initiatives in place to help educators and services meet the requirements, including fee waivers, subsidies and financial support to access recognition of prior learning.

“Many of our members would be disappointed to see implementation of national quality standards delayed, as children will benefit from the reforms.

We are, however, very keen to discuss any improvements to the delivery of quality early childhood education and care services with the new federal government,” Page says. l Carolyn Rance is a freelance writer.

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Forum

In the public good Standards are key to improving quality.

Professor Susan Kreig

Early Childhood Program Coordinator at the School of Education at Flinders University

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’m very concerned about the future of the Australian early childhood sector. The reforms instigated by the Labor Party, which are now being reviewed by the Coalition, are absolutely essential.

A report by The Economist ranks Australia 28 out of 45 OECD countries in terms of availability, accessibility and quality of early childhood care and education. For a country as prosperous as Australia is, that’s a national disgrace.

The National Quality Framework, introduced by the previous government, offers the opportunity to reposition early childhood education and care in Australian society. For the first time, every school-age care, family daycare, long day care and pre-school service has to meet a national standard and be regularly assessed.

A major component of the reforms was the development of a learning framework – the Early Years Learning Framework.

It gives early childhood educators across Australia a common language to talk about what they’re doing and why.

The staff-to-children ratio and qualifications requirements introduced in the reforms are also important. It will be a tragedy if they’re wound back. There’s enough evidence to say that the

“I see early childhood care and education as contributing in such a powerful way to civil society and a really strong democracy.” qualifications of the educators working with babies and toddlers and four-yearolds make a huge difference to the quality of the learning. The for-profit centres complained the reforms would cost more and that there weren’t enough qualified workers available. That led to the government funding extra places at universities. So the reforms were wideranging, and the fact that there was a systematic national approach had the potential to bring about real change.

While there are some criticisms about the way the previous government went about the reform, we need to recognise the tensions created by the for-profit

providers who appear to be behind the Coalition’s plan for the sector.

When I look at the first page of their plan – which, incidentally was released on the Thursday night before the election – it says the Coalition’s priority is to instigate an inquiry by the productivity commission into how the childcare system can be made more flexible, affordable and accessible. The issue of quality is relegated to the last sentence on that page.

To change direction or even pause what’s begun will be devastating but it depends on your perspective. It’s not just about productivity or economic issues, it’s much more than that. I see early childhood care and education as contributing in such a powerful way to a civil society and a really strong democracy.

On the other hand, if you’re running a business (70 per cent of our childcare providers in Australia are now run by private operators) you’re going to see it differently because profits will decrease if you employ more qualified staff. To maintain your profit level you’ve got to pass that cost on to parents.

But if we’re going to improve quality, the standards are really important.

The conservative approach to early care and education is that it’s private business, it’s family business. A conservative approach doesn’t see it as a public good.

I’m really concerned about the direction we could be heading in now. Here we’ve got our children in their most crucial years, where the trajectories for life are being established, and we say that the early childhood sector can run centres for profit. When you stop and think about it that is appalling if we want to improve equity in society. ●

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Rewriting history It’s not about taking sides, it’s about understanding the process. extremely unfortunate to suggest an educational process undertaken professionally and consultatively should be set aside on this basis.

There are three lines of criticism from the Coalition.

One is the claim that the history curriculum is politically biased because it includes more Labor prime ministers than non-Labor ones. The claim is wrong. Curtin and Chifley An Australian historian, lead writer appear as Labor Prime Ministers, for the history curriculum and Menzies as a Liberal one, but there are former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, also references to George Reid University of Melbourne and Alfred Deakin. I have a nasty suspicion that someone in a he Howard government minister’s office who was going through undertook to create a national history curriculum the curriculum simply didn’t know that both were non-Labor prime ministers. when John Howard said on A second criticism is that the Australia Day 2006 that he was going to lead a root and curriculum places too much emphasis branch renewal of the subject. Following on progressive movements for human rights, women’s emancipation and the ill-fated History Summit, the government chose a small group to write Indigenous recognition, that it pays the curriculum, which the prime minister too much attention to protest and dissent and not enough to the orderly then had rewritten. development of parliamentary In striking contrast, the Labor democracy, economic growth and government created an independent improved living standards. I have agency to develop a national to say that one of my criticisms of curriculum, which did so through an extensive and lengthy process. It passed the curriculum is that it doesn’t really do justice to the dramatic through successive drafts, all of which transformation in people’s lives, over were revised in the light of extensive consultation, before it was finally agreed the past 100 years especially. I wanted to see a unit that would explore this upon by the States and Territories. I transformation. doubt very much if Julia Gillard even The third criticism is that the saw a draft of the history curriculum curriculum fails to affirm the Western before it was launched. tradition, that it is marred by a moral The new education minister, on the other hand, intends to rewrite history. In relativism that treats Europe on the same footing as other civilisations. his recent statement he was essentially In particular, it is alleged that the saying, “I don’t like the curriculum Judeo-Christian tradition is slighted. and therefore it should be changed”.

That term, Judeo-Christian, taken This intervention cuts across the from American neo-conservatives, is painstaking work of ACARA and ignores its statutory responsibilities. It’s tendentious. Judaism was the first of

Stuart Macintyre

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“It’s extremely unfortunate to suggest an educational process undertaken professionally and consultatively should be set aside…”

the monotheistic religions, deeply influential for both Christianity and Islam. But Christianity developed historically through its absorption of Hellenism and adoption by the Roman empire, aspects that the new couplet ignores.

Apart from its false lineage, the criticism misunderstands the purpose of history. It is not to instruct children that one religion or civilisation is better than another, it is to develop their capacity to understand different belief systems and practices, and their interaction.

When we see autocratic regimes prescribing what can or can’t be taught we rightly condemn such a misuse of state power and debasement of education. The claim that ‘we won the election so we can do it’ does a disservice to the liberal values we uphold. ● Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 13

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Forum

Back to the future Conservative commentators and educators are increasingly talking up the benefits of direct instruction. The approach is far from a universal solution.

Emeritus Professor Allan Luke

Allan Luke is Emeritus Professor at Queensland University of Technology, and Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary, Canada. He is co-author of a 2013 DEWIR report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school reform and leadership

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irect instruction, developed in the late 1960s by Englemann and Bereiter, is one of many educational programs with an emphasis on ‘explicit instruction’ on basic and advanced skills. Explicit instruction refers to teacher-centred instruction that is focused on clear behavioural and cognitive goals and outcomes. These in turn are made ‘explicit’ or transparent to learners. I have no doubt that explicit instruction is a valuable and important instructional approach in contemporary schooling. But the direct instruction curriculum materials (e.g. Reading Mastery, DISTAR, CRP) raise important, unresolved educational issues.

Under the direct instruction approach, packaged programs provide teachers and schools with instructional models initially in reading and numeracy, and later expanding to other curriculum areas.

Teachers use a step-by-step, lesson-

by-lesson approach that follows a pre-determined skill acquisition sequence. The approach aims to maximise time on task and positively reinforce student behaviours.

Teachers receive rigorous training and a guidebook in an attempt to place quality controls on the delivery of the curriculum. The instruction is followed by regular assessment tasks and tests aligned with the behavioural goals, the results of which feed back to modify pace, grouping and skill emphases.

Mixed views In more than three decades of claims, counter-claims, and debates among researchers about the educational outcomes and effects of DI, there have been mixed views of the educational efficacy of DI and continuing argument over the adequacy of the evidence used to support or refute it.

As a literacy educator and educational researcher, I have reread the literature on DI over the last two years, in part because of the adoption of the program by colleagues at the Cape York Institute. I was trained to teach DISTAR (direct instruction system for teaching arithmetic and reading) in 1976 as a student teacher, and my daughter was taught with the program in 1979 in a Canadian primary school. I taught the middleyears CRP (corrective reading program) in the late 1970s as part of an ESL program for migrant students.

Scientific and educational controversy over DI continues in the US and Canada. Meanwhile, a recent report by the Australian Council for Educational Research on the Cape York Institute implementation of DI

does not provide any empirical confirmation of its efficacy. It does, however, report that DI has provided a beneficial framework for staff continuity, instructional planning, developmental diagnostics and professional development in school contexts where these apparently had been lacking.

However – as always in the making of curriculum policy – whether and how to proceed with DI or any other curriculum approach hinges on a number of scientific and practical, economic and cultural questions.

Long-term effects One of these questions is the long-term effects of DI on students’ conventional achievement and participation levels.

Reading the research, I have little doubt that DI (and other explicit instruction models) can generate some performance gains in conventionally measured basic skills of early literacy and numeracy. This would also be the case with a number of other approaches.

However, the key question raised in my work with Peter Freebody on the “four resources model” is whether these basic skills are sufficient for sustained, longitudinal gains in achievement or whether they potentially ‘wash out’ in the transition to the upper primary years.

In that model, we argue that basic skills acquisition particularly in decoding is “necessary but not sufficient” for sustained achievement gains. This was the same question raised about the efficacy of ‘Reading Recovery’.

The educational challenge isn’t just about early intervention and better Year 3 decoding scores. The

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longstanding problem facing schools is, what is termed, the “fourth and fifth grade slump”, where students who have achieved basic literacy suffer marked problems with reading comprehension.

DI as a whole school curriculum?

A second key question is about how DI articulates into a coherent whole school curriculum.

Importantly, the Cape York Institute has used DI as but one component of the school curriculum, with ‘culture’ and ‘club’ as key complementary elements under development.

This is crucial.

My query here is whether a steady diet of pre-packaged ‘generic’ reading materials generated by US-based curriculum developers in itself can suffice for a curriculum, any curriculum, much less an Australian primary school curriculum. When we used these materials in Canada in the 1970s, they represented ‘generic’ ideas about childhood, about cultures, about histories – rather than portraying the values, ideas and ideologies of Canada.

Particularly in the case of Indigenous education, we know that culture, place, context and history count – not just for kids, but for communities and for the health of society at large.

While DI constitutes a specific instructional approach, it does not in itself constitute a considered, coherent and historically located curriculum.

Wherever we stand on the political spectrum debating the national curriculum, Australians would agree that the ideas, values, beliefs, histories and cultures that are taught matter.

The curriculum is far more than a collection of generic skills and behaviours to be taught through packaged programs.

This critique doesn’t just apply to

DI. How any approach to early skill acquisition in literacy and numeracy developmentally, intellectually and culturally articulates into substantive cultural knowledge and field-specific expertise remains a key question facing schools.

Questions on cost DI’s cost-effectiveness for medium to large-scale intervention is another important issue.

At present, the curriculum materials, teachers’ guidebooks and training, proprietary assessment instruments cost considerably more than locally developed materials, including several explicit instruction models developed in Australia.

In a recent major evaluation report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school reform, we found that those schools that were making marked progress on “closing the gap” on conventional measures were using programs that had been selected specifically because of the needs of local students.

These included: a successful outback school that had implemented co-teaching, co-mentoring using longstanding transitional bi-dialectal curriculum materials; and a low SES suburban school that melded local Aboriginal cultural studies and community engagement, with a strong professional development focus on intellectual demand and quality pedagogy.

In each case, these schools prioritised quality classroom instruction and student/teacher cultural relations, teacher capacity and professionalism, and a strong engagement with and knowledge of local communities,

“Direct instruction is not, and by definition cannot be seen as, a universal or total curriculum solution.”

cultures and languages.

Our study showed that simply giving principals local autonomy does not generate better results. Indeed, all the literature tells us that principals must function as instructional leaders with a focus on quality teaching.

This doesn’t rule out ‘explicit instruction’ or ‘direct instruction’ or an emphasis on basic skills – but these make a difference where they are construed as part of a larger school-level approach and broader teacher repertoire.

Turning the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will require school-level curriculum planning, ongoing analyses of student progress, a focus on quality pedagogy and intercultural relationships between students and teachers, and a substantive engagement with Elders, parents and communities.

In my opinion, while explicit instruction in its various forms is a necessary part of an effective school-level response – direct instruction is not, and by definition cannot be seen as, a universal or total curriculum solution. ● An expanded version of this article is also available at the QUT eprints site. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/59535/ Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 15

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International

Strength in unity A new international campaign aims to counter the widespread attacks on public education and reinstate respect for well-resourced professional teaching.

by Sue Peacock

Briefly n Education International has launched a global campaign to counter threats to quality public education. n Unite for Quality Education aims to ensure that a universal, free, quality education remains at the top of political agendas. n Quality education is based on three pillars: quality teaching, quality tools for teaching and learning, and quality teaching and learning environments.

T

eachers and educators around the world are being urged to unite behind a 12-month global campaign aimed at countering unprecedented attacks on public education.

The Unite for Quality Education campaign is a clarion call to more than 30 million professional educators worldwide. It was launched by Education International (EI), the global federation for education unions, on the eve of World Teacher Day on October 4.

Prompted by the crisis in education triggered by government cutbacks and

privatisation pressures, the campaign aims to ensure that a free quality education for all remains at the top of political agendas.

It’s also a concerted effort to help achieve the 2015 education target set by the United Nations (Millennium Development Goals) and UNESCO (Education for All Goals).

The targets are at risk of not being met, says EI president Susan Hopgood, who is also the AEU’s federal secretary.

She says the campaign is an extra effort to try to achieve the goals “by bringing together the voices of EI member organisations, and others, who know that a better quality education is a key to a better world”.

The campaign, which EI launched with parallel events at the United Nations in New York and UNESCO in Paris, will highlight successful educational practices and activities, and seek support for making them available to all. It will emphasise the role of professional teachers and the need to support them with modern teaching and learning tools, professional support staff and quality learning environments. It will also seek the support of other partner organisations committed to this vision.

Of particular concern are cuts to overseas development aid for education from countries including Australia, says Hopgood.

“The cuts will have a dramatic effect because Australia was one of the biggest contributors to the global partnership for education, the UN global organisation that funds and assists countries to achieve their Education for All targets,” she says.

Cuts to aid budgets will affect the opportunity for quality education for children living in developing countries.

Eyes open

EI is engaging in the campaign with its eyes open, said Hopgood when speaking

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“We will not retreat...

We will take advantage of every opportunity to state the facts about the critical importance of... public education as a public good and a right for every student.”

Susan Hopgood EI president and AEU federal secretary

at the campaign’s launch in New York.

“We know there are elements of the public and private sectors that would prefer teachers not engage in education policy or the political process by which policy is set,” she said.

“And some of those same elements are interested in nothing less than eliminating public education and mining those public resources for private profit.

“We will not retreat, I want to make that clear.

“We will take advantage of every opportunity to state the facts about the critical importance of teachers in education and of public education as a public good and a right for every student.”

She acknowledged that the campaign was ambitious, but necessary.

“Right now, world governments are talking about the post-2015 development agenda, and what we do this year is also about making sure education is one of

Maori symbols add potency The campaign has a powerful symbol in the tokotoko, a talking stick commissioned by the New Zealand Educational Institute. In the Maori culture, it symbolises the passing on of stories, knowledge and learning.

“The tokotoko represents the transmission of learning that is at the heart of quality public education,” says Susan Hopgood, Education International president.

The tokotoko was handed to Hopgood at NZEI’s annual conference in September so she could take it to the Unite4Ed launch.

“The tokotoko has carvings representing the four winds because it will be travelling across the world this year, passed around different countries and events by education unions, before returning ultimately to Aotearoa, New Zealand,” says Hopgood.

NZEI national secretary Paul Goulter says a hoe has also been commissioned.

“A hoe is a traditional paddle which picks up the symbolism of setting a direction and steering in that direction for quality education,” he says. “We will present it to EI when they visit New Zealand for the International Teaching Summit in late March [2014].”

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International

those goals, as education is a key driver to overcome a whole lot of other disadvantages, like poverty.”

Quality education for all remains elusive for millions of young people. More than 67 million children of primary school age and 71 million adolescents are out of school, while 775 million adults – two-thirds of them women – remain illiterate, according to EI figures.

“We are still more than five million teachers short of the number we need to achieve the goal of universal primary education by 2015,” says Hopgood.

At the recent regional conference of EI’s 76 Asia-Pacific members, each organisation signed a written pledge of support for the campaign.

“Many of our member organisations run campaigns that fit under the Unite for Quality Eduation umbrella,” says Hopgood. “The ‘I give a Gonski’ campaign is a perfect example.

“We will be continuing the Gonski campaign in Australia to ensure the resources are available for every child to achieve a quality education and to make sure those resources are targeted to those students with the greatest needs in exactly the way the Gonski reforms envisaged.”

Goals align

The New Zealand Educational Institute is also backing EI’s campaign. National secretary Paul Goulter says the organisation’s Stand Up For Kids – Protect Our Schools campaign and its early childhood Best Start campaign matched neatly with EI’s global goals.

“Our members very quickly saw how what we are doing here aligns with what

“We have a responsibility to share strategies and information across regions, and EI is our vehicle for fostering greater communications.”

Dennis Van Roekel President, National Education Association, United States

EI is promoting, and we are a very strong supporter of EI’s approach to this,” says Goulter.

“We have adapted our campaign to fit within the broader context of EI’s mobilising efforts and we are taking a leading role.”

Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association (NEA) in the United States, says the Unite for Quality Education campaign identifies common ground important to EI’s affiliates.

“What we realise is that together we are stronger. We have rich examples of the GERM [Global Education Reform Movement] impacting Australia and other nations in the region, drawing from lessons in the United States and Europe.

“Whether we are comparing strategies

of Teach for Australia/Teach for America or the latest scheme of public financing for private education, we must communicate with each other. We have a responsibility to share strategies and information across regions, and EI is our vehicle for fostering greater communications.”

Van Roekel says the NEA, which earlier this year launched the ‘Raise Your Hand’ initiative, was mindful of the Australian experience of increasingly funding private education and the resulting impact on public education.

“I am concerned about teachers getting frustrated and giving it all up, despite their passion for students and teaching,” he says.

“They are frustrated by shrinking resources for classroom materials, school buildings that are not maintained, pay cheques that can’t support a family, and mandatory assessments that stifle innovation in the classroom,” Van Roekel says. ● Sue Peacock is a freelance writer.

Resources n Unite for Quality Education unite4education.org n UNESCO’s 6 Education for All Goals bit.ly/g6nBPU n The UN’s Millennium Development Goals un.org/millenniumgoals/

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Early childhood

Head start A national data collection program is revealing what children need to get the best start at school.

The AEDI has a valuable role in helping children make the best start at school.

by Angela Rossmanith

Briefly ■ Research indicates the Australian Early Development Index strongly predicts children’s literacy, numeracy, and other cognitive and behavourial outcomes.

■ Since rollout the support from schools, principals and teachers has been “overwhelming”.

T

he Australian Early Development Index has helped to change “the whole social discourse about young children, about the early years, about school readiness,” according to Professor Frank Oberklaid, Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

“It is instrumental in improving the wellbeing and outcomes of young children in ways that haven’t been possible before,” he says.

Preliminary research indicates that the Australian Early Development Index strongly predicts children’s literacy, numeracy, and other cognitive and behavioural outcomes in later years.

The AEDI is a measure of children’s development as they enter their first year of formal school. Information is collected through a teacher-completed checklist that measures the areas of early

childhood development that are closely linked to the predictors of adult health, education and social outcomes.

The AEDI’s predictive value means that schools can begin early to target children who are developmentally vulnerable, and plan strategically for better outcomes for their students. In this way, schools have a significant role to play in children’s early years.

When the AEDI was completed for the second time in 2012, three years after its rollout, it provided the first Australian snapshot of young children’s development over time. Schools and communities can use the results to examine the ecological and environmental influences on child development in their area, and identify the services, resources and support necessary for young children’s best start in life.

Brain development research shows that the early years are crucial in determining both school readiness and educational

“It helps [schools] pinpoint exactly what children in their community need for the very best start.”

Professor Frank Oberklaid Director of the Centre for Community Child Health, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne

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wellbeing outcomes. What happens during those early years has consequences not only throughout school but also throughout life.

The federal government has invested $51.2 million in developing and implementing the AEDI up to 2015-16.

It is working with state and territory governments, in partnership with the Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research to deliver the AEDI. The Council of Australian Governments has endorsed the index in recognition of the need for communities to have information about early childhood development to inform policy and planning decisions.

Overwhelming support When the AEDI was rolled out in 2009, and again in 2012, the extent of the support from schools, principals and teachers was overwhelming, says Oberklaid.

“Schools understand that, because the AEDI provides a snapshot of children’s health and development at school entry, it helps them pinpoint exactly what children in their community need for the very best start.”

AEDI data is collected after teachers,

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Winners in the numbers game Case studies provided by the AEDI show how the data collected can affect individual communities.

When Bucasia State School in Mackay participated in the AEDI in 2009, the children had higher rates of developmental vulnerability than the national average in all areas except physical health and wellbeing. They were also less likely to have received early childhood education.

In response, Bucasia established a family program to help children make a smooth transition to school. It was facilitated by the school principal, community education counsellor, prep teacher and prep teacher’s aide, and a parents and citizens association representative.

In another case, Westminster Junior Primary School in Perth has opened a new child health service and introduced literacy programs since the 2009 AEDI showed that its children had high rates of vulnerability in one or more areas.

The innovations were made possible by forging strong links with a number of partner organisations. In 2012 the Western Australian Department of Education identified Westminster as an exemplary school.

Researchers also benefit from the rich data. At the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, a team led by Oberklaid is researching ‘off-diagonals’: communities that are doing better than expected, and others that are doing worse than expected.

“We want to understand more deeply the factors that might lead to those results, the factors within the kids, the families and the communities.

“We continue to be excited about the potential of the AEDI,” Oberklaid says.

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Early childhood

using their knowledge and observation of the children in their class, complete a checklist for each child. The checklist is made up of about 100 questions that measure individual children’s development in five areas: • physical health and wellbeing • social competence • emotional maturity • language and cognitive skills • communication skills and general knowledge.

“The feedback we’re getting from teachers is that sitting down and completing the questions on the AEDI is very helpful,” says Oberklaid. “Thinking about each individual child gives structure to their observations and their thinking.

Many schools print out individual teacher’s responses to form part of the child’s file, and that in turn helps them develop individual plans for each child.”

Once the AEDI data is collected for individual children, it is reported for groups of children at community, state/territory and national levels.

World first Similar data collection occurs on a provincial level in some other countries, but Australia is believed to be the only country in the world that has collected

such comprehensive national data on children who are beginning school.

After the data collection in 2009, the children’s scores in each development area were ranked from lowest to highest to establish ‘cut-offs’.

The lowest 10 per cent were classified as developmentally ‘vulnerable’, while those ranked between 10 per cent and 25 per cent were classified as developmentally ‘at risk’.

The highest 75 per cent were classified as developmentally ‘on track’.

The same cut-offs were applied to the 2012 AEDI data collection so that children’s developmental outcomes across Australia could be tracked over time.

They will continue to provide a reference point for future data collections, which are planned to take place every three years.

The next data collection will occur in 2015.

In 2009 the AEDI collected data on 97.5 per cent (260,000) of the children in their first year of formal full-time schooling. In 2012 it involved 96.5 per cent (290,000).

After the first collection, 23.6 per cent of children were deemed developmentally vulnerable in one or more domains, and that figure dropped to 22 per cent in the second collection.

“A notable improvement was recorded in Queensland, where preschool participation rates increased significantly between the two collections of data,” says Oberklaid.

“This index is useful at both a macro and micro level: it shows how children are doing state by state, and it allows individual communities and schools to drill down into their own data and have conversations about how to improve their children’s health and wellbeing.” ● Angela Rossmanith is a freelance writer.

Resources ■ Australian Early Development Index www.rch.org.au/aedi/ ■ For results of the 2009 and 2012 AEDI data collections www.rch.org.au/ aedi/Resources/National_Report/ ■ For information about the program at Bucasia State School, contact: The Queensland AEDI Coordinator (07) 3235 9050 ■ For information about the program at Westminster Junior Primary School in Western Australia, contact: Gail Clark, Western Australian AEDI Coordinator Gail.clark@educationl. wa.edu.au

ce

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Refugees

Out of sight, out of mind

by Cyndi Tebbel

Briefly ■ More than 3100 child refugees are being held in detention centres and community detention.

■ The AEU is concerned about the treatment of child detainees.

■ Children will be at risk if the government’s hard-line rhetoric is matched with policies that favour locked detention.

A

lmost 1800 child refugees are being held in Australia’s locked detention centres while another 1393 are held in community detention.

All endured frightening journeys and sometimes saw the drowning at sea of parents and family members before facing months in detention facilities that often lack appropriate medical care, mental health support and education.

They’re the lucky ones. Refugees arriving since the offshore processing cutoff in July have been swiftly despatched

to detention on Nauru and Manus Island.

Conditions on Manus – notably the risk of malaria – saw the ALP and Coalition agree it wasn’t an appropriate facility for children and pregnant women. But some advocacy groups are concerned that we may never know, given the secrecy surrounding boat arrivals, if children and pregnant women are staying onshore.

Dr Peter Catt, Dean of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane and chair of the Australian Churches Refugees Taskforce, has called on the government to be “more open and transparent” about its care for vulnerable people. He says immigration minister Scott Morrison has a conflict of interest in acting as the official guardian of children sent offshore and overseeing government policy.

“Our understanding is that the children don’t even really have anyone looking out for them, and how one can assess people’s health status, whether they are juveniles or not and the like, in 48 hours is really beyond my imagining,” Catt told the ABC’s World Today.

Failure to comply

Concern about the treatment of child detainees prompted AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos to write to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in July, highlighting Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and affirming the union’s position that “being party to the ongoing mistreatment of children in pursuit of political gain and policy objectives is both immoral and antithetical to this responsibility”.

The failure of successive governments to comply with the Convention has resulted in alarming numbers of selfharm and suicide attempts by children in detention over the years, according to ‘A last resort?’, a 2004 report by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

There is evidence that child detainees experience depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety disorder, says Dr Belinda Liddell, a refugee mental health expert from the University of NSW’s School of Psychology.

“Disruption to normal family life, displacement from the community and no access to school or recreation can lead to emotional disturbances and also delay development, which can have long-term ramifications,” says Liddell.

While the number of child detainees is at an all-time high, their length of stay in detention has decreased since the former

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ANGELA WYLIE

Australia’s punitive approach to asylum seekers puts children at risk.

“Disruption to normal family life, displacement from the community and no access to school or recreation can lead to emotional disturbances and also delay development…”

ANGELA WYLIE

Dr Belinda Liddell School of Psychology, University of NSW

Labor government began moving children, families and vulnerable single adults out of locked detention facilities, says Paul Power, CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia.

This has had a positive effect on detainees of all ages. “As people see others being released into the community they become more hopeful that they’ll be next, which has changed the dynamics in the facilities,” he says.

So many children

Power sees risks if the government matches its hard-line rhetoric with

policies that see locked detention facilities favoured over community detention.

“You end up with ridiculously expensive and completely unmanageable detention facilities, huge costs for mental and physical health services and, years down the track, millions of dollars paid in compensation to people unfairly treated.”

He’s anxious to see the plans for refugees in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. “They’ll either be fairly enlightened, enabling children and their families to live in community settings in those countries, or we may see children

detained in locked facilities far longer than those on Australian soil,” says Power.

If past behaviour is any indication, it’s likely to be the latter. In October the immigration minister warned refugees fleeing Syria they’d get “no sympathy” if they arrived here by boat.

That same week the Italian President declared a national day of mourning for the hundreds of African migrants who drowned when their boat capsized off Lampedusa island. A tragedy movingly recounted by rescue leader Poppo Notto: “There were so many children among the victims, horrible. They had new shoes, signs of hope. It really is devastating.” ● Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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Family violence

When something’s not right at home An innovative classroom is giving children the care, security and schooling they need to cope with the trauma of domestic violence in their families.

by Krista Mogensen

Briefly

I

n an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne, a new purpose-built schoolroom might have four students, 10 or none on any given day, depending on how many school-age children have arrived overnight. That’s because the facility is part of a high-security crisis accommodation centre for women and children escaping family violence.

Some children will have fled their home with their mother the day before.

Other families may have been on the move for two or three weeks.

What these children share is the

likelihood they have missed a lot of schooling and are traumatised by their experiences of family violence.

The children can be quiet and withdrawn when they first come in, and some are hyperactive, says teacher Lauren Bramich.

Most are at least a grade level below their peers as a result of their disrupted learning and home life.

“One boy in grade 5 has moved seven times – and that’s common,” says Bramich.

The refuge school operates as a satellite site of Croydon Community School. It is a Victorian government Youth Partnerships pilot project,

…it is the opportunity for social learning… that is critical at this point in the children’s lives.

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JAMES BODDINGTON

n Children are deeply affected by domestic violence – in many cases their schooling has been disrupted. n A new purpose-built schoolroom has been set up in a Melbourne crisis accommodation centre. n Children stay from one day to three weeks while housing and support is found for families.

JAMES BODDINGTON

Warning signs

supported by the school and the Safe Futures Foundation, a non-profit family violence support service.

Children stay for periods ranging from one day to three weeks while case managers find transitional or permanent housing and arrange support to help the families through their crises. The school helps the children reconnect to learning and supports them in their move to a new school.

“We work one-on-one with every child until they’re back in a regular school setting,” says Safe Futures Foundation chief executive Janine Mahoney.

The school day

Each morning, Bramich knocks on the doors of the refuge’s five small units. She talks to the mothers to find out what might be on that day – attending court, for example, or a move to transitional housing – and invites the children to attend the half-day school program.

“We start the day with circle time, using the structures that children would be familiar with,” she says.

The new children draw a ‘welcome hand’ which includes their name and interests. It goes on the classroom wall, where they can identify other children of

Children are deeply affected by domestic violence, which needs to be identified before it escalates, says Croydon Community School principal Bronwyn Harcourt. “In many cases that’s led to them not attending school. They can get too scared to leave mum at home (it’s more often the father than the mother inflicting the violence), they think dad’s going to come again, and they want to know she’s okay, so they won’t leave her.”

“We’ve had kids who hide younger sisters under beds and in cupboards, and others who take the belting in order to protect their siblings or mother.”

Early warning signs of family violence include concentration lapses, overreaction to movements, hypervigilance, disconnection from the social aspects of school, and repeated or extended absenteeism, says Harcourt.

“It would be of huge benefit for schools to know more about [these signs] so kids are being supported by people who already know them, before removal’s necessary, before the trauma gets too bad.

“Kids become unbelievably good at protecting the family unit and tell lots of stories about why they’re not at school.

Schools may think the parents are being ‘difficult’, or the parents themselves may present with completely different stories to what the reality is.”

Harcourt, the 2013 Victorian Secondary Principal of the Year, employs a full-time social worker and a youth worker. “We try to make everything about the school feel safe. It’s okay to talk or to not talk, it’s okay to not know how to do maths. Once you build that trust, it’s about trying to reassure the children and then have the right people in place to support them.”

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Family violence

the same age or with similar interests.

“It’s a non-threatening activity that allows me to engage with them and identify their strengths, and it helps integrate them into the program. And I can check in with their feelings, emotions and behaviour.”

Bramich writes an individual learning plan for each child. Literacy and numeracy are a focus, but it is the opportunity for social learning, with art, play and cooking used as “vehicles for conversations”, that is critical at this

point in the children’s lives.

“The therapeutic teaching part [of my role] is helping children understand their situation and to teach them language that lets them describe what’s happened to them at home,” she says.

“Today the kids were talking about using the words ‘family violence’. Often they feel they can’t say anything, but you just keep opening the door a little bit and provide opportunities to bring it out.”

Bramich also does ‘future planning’ with the children to help them get ready

David and Sarah’s story

head, to feel safe, and Sarah would sleep on the top shelf in a wardrobe. He said he was nervous at school and worried about whether his mum was okay.

With their mother’s permission, the teacher got in touch with their primary school to give an update and seek direction in their learning. “That explains why David is in sickbay nearly every lunchtime,” said the principal.

After two weeks, as the family prepared to move to a new house and school, David said they were pleased dad wasn’t going to live with them. He and Sarah role-played with the teacher to prepare for the first day at school. When David was asked why he had moved, he confidently said, “Because of family violence.”

David left the program smiling. He feels capable about learning at school, and feels empowered to speak for himself about what happens at home without needing to hide the ‘secret’.

The new school has been briefed and will understand that David may appear distracted or anxious at times. And David knows he has people at school to talk to if he is worried.

David, 10, arrived at the refuge school with his younger sister, Sarah, 8, after leaving home with their mother because of the high risk of their father’s lethal violence. The children said dad drank a lot and shouted, and was angry and hurt mum. They were scared.

David was quiet and anxious in the classroom. Sarah, although guarded in her speech, would speak for him.

For the two weeks they attended the school, they completed literacy and numeracy activities in their respective grades, working together and independently. Sarah told the teacher they were worried about having to leave their pet fish at home, so the teacher bought some tropical fish for the classroom and made fish a learning theme.

They also had many opportunities to learn about family violence and strategies to build resilience and confidence.

David began to open up about his experiences at home. He said he often slept under the bed with the pillow over his

for the move to the next school, and the next house. ‘Mind mapping’ supports them in identifying people around them who can help them overcome a hurdle.

“We talk about ‘how we make friends’ and what happens if someone asks why they have moved. We give the children some words to support them.”

She asks them what they would like to do which they could take to their next school. “I try to tap into what’s going to be immediately useful for the kids to learn.”

Bramich also works on fostering respectful relationships and supportive sibling relationships.

“I’m quite explicit in my teaching around behaviour. What I’ve seen over two weeks with four young brothers, for example, is them moving from using unfriendly language and being quite physical, to starting to check themselves and develop self-regulation.”

Once it is known where a family will live, Bramich contacts the new school and provides a snapshot of each child’s learning, behaviour and emotional state.

She takes the family to meet the principal and see the school, but is mindful of the need to empower the mother, who may previously have had contact with a school only when there was a problem.

“I’m facilitating the process, but the mother is taking control. She’s in charge of making the choice.”

In some cases, Bramich works with students at the new school too. “I’m going to see one boy once a week for a few weeks, to give him support reading and also support to keep going with things.”

Kids reconnecting Since the refuge school opened in October last year, it has been transformative for the students coming through its doors (see panel at left).

“It has a huge positive impact,” says

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“I’m quite explicit in my teaching around behaviour. What I’ve seen over two weeks with four young brothers, for example, is them moving from using unfriendly language and being quite physical, to starting to check themselves and develop selfregulation.”

Domestic violence leave spreading

Lauren Bramich Teacher, Croydon Community School, refuge site

Bronwyn Harcourt, Croydon Community School’s principal. “Kids who’ve been disengaged from schools have been able to reconnect with some kind of education or training program so that they do move forward.”

Despite the brief time students may attend the school, its program has clearly been successful, says Bramich. A form of healing has taken place.

“The children have greater calmness and are excited about the next step,” she says. “They are more confident about their academic capabilities. They’ve worked on what family violence means and can be more open. And they have better relationships and better communication.

“The children are going to their new school, and new home, with a whole lot of new strengths.” l The refuge school will need additional government and philanthropic funding to continue beyond April next year.

Krista Mogensen is communications coordinator at the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria and a freelance writer.

Resources n For more information and support,

visit www.dvandwork.unsw.edu.au and www.1800respect.org.au

Teachers in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory now have access to paid domestic violence leave, following a national campaign supported by the AEU. Teaching staff who are experiencing family violence can get paid leave to attend court, go to the doctor or find a new home or school for their children.

“Over a million workers are now covered by various types of clauses to support people experiencing domestic violence,” says AEU federal women’s officer Catherine Davis.

Australia’s growing support of domestic violence leave is internationally regarded as best practice, she says.

“Once you explain how prevalent domestic violence is, and how important it is to keep people who are experiencing this violence in paid employment, most employers understand that they can make a big difference.”

The AEU is continuing to advocate for domestic violence leave entitlements in new agreements and policies in Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT.

Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 29

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Technology

Making a Splash A new ABC-backed portal gives teachers free access to a wealth of videos, audio clips and games.

by Christine Long

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T

he Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and Education Services Australia (ESA) have developed an education portal, called Splash, aimed at helping schools integrate technology into teaching.

A not-for-profit company owned by all Australian education ministers, ESA is working with the ABC to ensure the portal and its content aligns with the Australian Curriculum.

It includes more than 1000 items of content from ABC television and radio, and high-quality videos from around the world. All have associated teaching notes.

No registration is required, although teachers who do can organise content to suit their needs, says Annabel Astbury, the ABC’s head of digital education.

“They can get playlists together around a particular topic and share them with their classes,” she says.

“It facilitates the idea of a ‘flipped’ classroom where you can set things for a student to watch at home, if that’s the way you want to go.”

The portal will also act as a gateway to other highly interactive resources such as high-level educational games.

For example, Zoom, aimed at Year 9 and 10 students, gives insight into the science behind everyday things like smartphones. A Roman history game and one using census data are also in the works.

Astbury says games are not seen as the “be-all and end-all solution to a particular curriculum area” but rather, like the live-event streams that will also be available, a way to engage students by presenting content in myriad ways.

High-speed pilot A pilot, ‘Splash Live: Making the News’, was posted earlier this year, using highspeed broadband to teach students about news gathering, storytelling and technical production.

The intensive six-week program saw students work with ABC producers and reporters to produce their own news stories. Astbury says schools were linked up by video conferencing, with students presenting their news stories and receiving feedback from journalists.

A series of national events streamed live launched Splash in October.

Students watched Australian astronomer Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith and Paul Scully-Power, the first Australianborn astronaut, in conversation with

“The experience the ABC brings from news broadcasting, TV production and its ability to respond to audiences has a big impact on the end product.”

ABC science reporter Bernie Hobbs and could send questions via a chat channel.

“The experience the ABC brings from news broadcasting, TV production and its ability to respond to audiences has a big impact on the end product. Together with the educational expertise ESA brings to the project, it makes Splash an important resource for students and teachers.”

The Splash portal follows the Australian launch of social media site TES Connect in July. It links 2.8 million teachers in 274 countries and territories.

TES Australia was developed by the AEU, the Centre for Professional Learning and the Board of Studies NSW. Access is free for AEU members. ● Christine Long is a freelance writer.

Resources ■ Splash www.splash.abc.net.au ■ TES Australia www.tesaustralia.com ■ Education Services Australia www.esa.edu.au

Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 31

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Technology

Counting the paperclips Simple methods of collecting data from students can help in fine-tuning teaching strategies.

by Cynthia Karena

T

alk of educational tools these days is usually about sophisticated technology, but academic and author Anthony Shaddock advocates the use of paper clips and a few disposable cups.

Most professionals, including teachers, are expected to collect and analyse data to improve their performance, says Shaddock, professor of special education at the University of Canberra and author of Using Data to Improve Learning: A practical guide for busy teachers (ACER Press, 2013).

A simple but effective method of collecting data is for students to put a paperclip or token in one of five cups as they leave class. The cups have labels ranging from ‘This lesson was useless’ to ‘Extraordinarily useful’.

“This is an example of where data tells the truth,” says Shaddock. “Even though your impression was that the lesson was great, the students may or may not agree with you about its impact on their learning.

“I’ve seen principals allocate more funding to a program or expand it school-wide” Irene Lind, Project officer, ACT Department of Education and Training

“We have our own favourite methods of teaching, but are they effective? The evidence is in the data.”

He notes that most research indicates that about 30 per cent of variance in learning depends on what teachers do in class, so using data from students is a valid route to better outcomes.

Data from anecdotal comments can be grouped under ‘positive’, ‘negative’, ‘neutral’ and ‘don’t care’, then further organised into major themes, he says.

“There again, you can be low-tech and just use different coloured highlighters.”

Three-source method Teachers need at least three sources of data, says Irene Lind, an ACT

Department of Education and Training project officer who works with teachers who have undertaken projects based on Shaddock’s methods. They may include pre- and post-class surveys, form attendance rolls, parents, student results, NAPLAN results, and data from observing students or from a colleague watching how they teach.

Lind says teachers can be enthusiastic about using data because it enables them to say “I know this works because I have the evidence”.

Some teachers have difficulty getting the principal to consider their ideas, she says. “However, through this process, teachers can present evidence for their team or school to consider when making decisions on programs, resources or new initiatives.

“I’ve seen principals allocate more funding to a program or expand it schoolwide as a result of the data inquiry process teachers have used.

“These days, you need evidence to justify a change such as introducing a new program,” Lind says. ● Cynthia Karena is a freelance writer.

32 Summer 2013 Australian Educator 80

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YH ac E w st • • • •

Data in action

■ What do you most like about school?

■ What could the school do to help

Harrison School, a primary school in the ACT, investigated the effectiveness of personalised learning plans for its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students last year.

“We wanted increased attendance, increased engagement and increased ownership,” says Year 1 and 2 executive teacher Angela Bonner.

Thirty-two students chose ‘strongly agree’, ‘strongly disagree’ or ‘I don’t know’ in response to each of four statements: ■ My personalised learning plan helps me.

■ I know my personal goals.

■ The school values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

■ I would like a lunchtime club to get to know others.

An additional three questions addressed attendance and engagement:

new students?

■ What could the school do to support you?

It was an easy task for students to complete, says Bonner.

“We realised they needed contact with each other to make connections, and the data from the questionnaire confirmed what we observed.”

The students were also asked to put a star on an XY axis on a large wall chart, indicating how much they knew about

“We realised they needed contact with each other to make connections, and the data from the questionnaire confirmed what we observed.”

their personalised learning plans and about their goals.

“Too many responses were near the zero end,” says Bonner.

Common words from the written responses were highlighted and the free online survey tool SurveyMonkey was used in collation.

Students now identify areas of improvement themselves, rather than the teacher telling them what they need to do.

“I asked one student ‘What do you want to get better at?’. He said, ‘If I practise every day, I can get better at reading.’ He knew what his goal was.

Another said, ‘I want to control my temper and count to 10 when I’m feeling mad.’ In class, I remind him of his goal.

“These students came up with their own goals. They own them.”

The students’ goals and their accompanying photos have been laminated and are accessible to them at all times in the classroom and at home.

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Technology

My favourite apps

David Reeson

need to do to achieve a high standard.”

Class lists and rubrics can be either manually entered or imported from Excel or Google Drive. There are clear help menus and videos within the app.

“Once the rubric has been set up, you just tap on the student, the assessment criteria and then the descriptor that best fits the task presented. The app then gives you a total score for each student, and the option to add any further notes or comments.”

Here are some other apps Reeson uses:

PE and cooking teacher, Alfred Deakin High School, ACT

Samsung Learning Hub Samsung Galaxy Note

From animated books, study guides, textbooks, workbooks, and access to videos such as the fascinating TED TV, the Samsung Learning Hub has a library of learning material for the classroom available for purchase from a range of publishers. It’s a global app that is also populated with local Australian curriculum content.

Ubersense Best apps We’d love to hear how you use apps in the classroom. You can email details of your favourite apps to educator@hardiegrant.com.au

T

eacher David Reeson set out to develop an app that would save time in marking and assessing.

Assessmate (iPad, $2.99) was the result and Reeson, a PE and cooking teacher at Alfred Deakin High School in the ACT, says it simplifies the assessment process and reduces the time spent marking students’ work.

“Instead of having reams of paper, you can create rubrics and assess students electronically,” says Reeson.

Reeson also uses Assessmate with his students, who develop their own criteria by which to be assessed.

“They might say presentation is important, and as a class we will establish what a good presentation looks like. Students understand what they

iPhone, iPad, free

“A motion-capture app, where I can video students doing a movement.

They can look back at themselves in slow motion, for example throwing a ball, and see whether their arm is too low or too high.”

Numbers

iPhone, iPad, $10.49

An Excel-based app for data collection.

When the school had a 2km run, Reeson recorded student times to see how students had improved (or not).

Calorie King iPhone, $4.49

“In cooking, we can look at the kilojoule content of various foods – a meat pie, for example, and have a class discussion around the dietary choices we make and how they can affect our health.”

iTunes U

iPad, iPhone, free

Provides access to an online catalogue of free and paid education content from institutions around the world, including free courses by instructors from universities and other schools.

Your say Andrew Goldie, Principal, Binjour Plateau State School We use Showbie (iPad, free) at our school. The teacher provides students with a code to access tasks set for them. The tasks are completed using a variety of other apps on the iPad and then sent back to the teacher using Showbie. The students love using it – it’s simple and easy to use.

Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 35

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Books

Hands down Students who ‘own’ the classroom have a voice, in a promising scenario

by Emeritus Professor David Booth.

by Helen Vines

I

n the age of the internet, when content is freely available, David Booth, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Toronto, Canada, asks an interesting question: Why are kids in school?

“There has to be a social aspect; a recognition that by listening to each other, they can make more meaning than they could do alone,” he says.

Over the past 25 years, Booth has asked a lot of probing questions about educational practices, publishing his most recent findings in a new book titled

I’ve Got Something to Say: How Student Voices Inform our Teaching (Pembroke Publishers).

This book provides teaching strategies most useful for teachers working across the eight-to-14-year age group.

It focuses on the importance of participation as a means of discovering the authentic ‘voice’ of each individual in the classroom. This is a voice that speaks confidently from within and about the true self. It is most likely to be heard in a classroom where the teacher and fellow students listen and respond.

“The most important resource we have is feedback. No one should be working on a project that no one cares about,” he says.

Booth argues that “the students who are successful are the ones who contribute. I want all students to have that moment of recognition that ‘I am part of this classroom, I matter, and when I am away, they miss me’.

Otherwise, why are we in school? We can do it all online just as easily. The social interaction of a classroom allows students to consider the possibility that ‘I am here to learn things that are bigger than myself’.”

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 Darcel Russell

Professor David Booth.

“I want all students to have that moment of recognition that ‘I am part of this classroom, I matter…’.

Otherwise, why are we in school? We can do it all online just as easily.”

Editor AEU and subscription Susan Hopgood enquiries to Ground Floor, Publisher 120 Clarendon Street, Fiona Hardie Southbank, Victoria 3006.

Managing editor Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Sarah Notton Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Commissioning editor Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au Tracey Evans www.aeufederal.org.au www.facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal

Design Vaughan Mossop Advertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: kerrispillane @hardiegrant.com.au

36 Summer 2013 Australian Educator 80

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Providing choice Booth’s longitudinal study analyses evidence from recorded student dialogues, teachers and research to draw comparisons between past and current teaching practices and student interactions.

He concludes that teaching is a responsive act and most effective when students have real input into the planning and organisation of their classroom and routine.

To illustrate his point, Booth describes a primary teacher whose students design the classroom at the beginning of the school year.

“They design the physical space: where the desk will be, where he will sit, where the books will be stored. They design the weekly timetable; they take seriously that they have choice and voice. If you give students choice, their voices are automatically heard.”

Such a democratic undertaking means sharing “the secret”, he says. The secret is, in essence, the knowledge that teachers are just people playing a role. Drawing extensively on Booth’s drama background, the book provides strategies to assist teachers to be more flexible about their role and status within the classroom.

Editorial office Hardie Grant Media, Ground Level, Building 1 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: educator@hardiegrant.com.au

“As teachers you are always in charge,” he says, but by recognising that you are also always in a role “you can change the status of everyone in your classroom from hero to victim”.

It is about finding a way to “help support voices and stories in the classroom”.

The quiet, shy student has an opportunity to exhibit their work to an audience because, with the right conditions, their class becomes a willing, empathetic audience.

In another case study, a rowdy gang of low-achieving Year 10 boys was invited to create a montage of their bedroom. What posters did they have, where was their computer? Where do they work and sleep?

One boy had a picture of a couch, because he didn’t have a bed.

The response of his peers was powerful, says Booth. They arranged for him to come to their own houses to sleep now and again.

“It is a powerful statement, that where there is truth of voice, students respond as citizens of their class. The teacher who offered this story has a magic way of getting those boys to feel they are significant in that class and what they think matters, what they feel like is represented.” l

I’ve Got Something to Say: How Student Voices Inform our Teaching

by David Booth (Pembroke Publishers, 2013)

David Booth is Professor Emeritus and serves as Coordinator of the Pre-Service Elementary program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Canada.

Dr Helen Vines is a freelance writer.

Subscriptions Telephone enquiries (03) 9693 1800 Within Australia: $17.60 (includes GST) for four issues Overseas: $30.00 (includes postage) Printer Offset Alpine 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

Make cheques payable to the Australian Education Union and post to: Tom Freeman Australian Education Union Federal Office Ground Floor, 120 Clarendon Street Southbank, Victoria 3006, Australia

Audited circulation: 119,342 (March 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.

Australian Educator 80 Summer 2013 37

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C w

Casebook

Independence days

A i i s H r

Year 9 students at a Melbourne secondary college are rising to the challenge of a volunteer program that tests their accountability.

Y

by Cyndi Tebbel

oung teens often protest that they aren’t taken seriously and treated like adults. At Patterson River Secondary College, in outer Melbourne, the Community Connections program is countering that situation.

Students in Year 9 are encouraged to find their own volunteer community placement for one afternoon a week over 10 weeks in term three.

The program, part of the school’s Learning 4 Life initiative, gives kids the chance to show they have the maturity to contribute to their local neighbourhood in a meaningful and responsible way, says PE teacher and Year 9 program manager Maree Foster.

Popular choices for students include: helping out in op-shops, retirement villages and primary schools; childcare; and rejuvenating sandbanks along local beaches. Some have started their own schemes, such as repairing donated bicycles for refugees.

The few who find it difficult to find their niche can opt for in-school programs like Knitting for the Needy, organising science pracs for local primary schools, and assisting junior students in the sports coaching program.

“Kids look forward to getting into Year

“Kids look forward to getting into Year 9 so they can participate.”

9 so they can participate,” says Foster. “It’s not about the teacher dragging them along somewhere. They genuinely want to get out there and have a go.”

For students who organise their own placement, the experience is “eye-opening”, she says. They must keep a booklet to record their arrival and departure, the tasks they are assigned to and how successfully they have been completed.

Positive interactions Foster can see a real difference in the students who interact with, and take instruction from, people in the community. They’re more mature and that leads to more positive interactions with parents and teachers.

Placements also give students a chance

to road test the realities of employment.

“One girl was positive she wanted to get into childcare – but she definitely doesn’t want to pursue that path now.”

Learning 4 Life has also significantly improved the school’s results. Prior to its establishment, a survey (Attitudes to School) found that teachers and students were dissatisfied with the structure and curriculum at Year 9, and the school was placed in the lower 20 per cent in Victoria in terms of student learning and connectedness. Comparisons with other schools revealed community involvement as a missing ingredient.

The school is now in the top 10 per cent and Foster credits much of the improvement to the term three “Our Future” segment, which focuses on the options open to school leavers such as visits to universities and tuition in job applications and interviews.

“The kids really enjoy it because it’s all about them. They can go home and say to mum, ‘I’ve realised I can’t afford a five-bedroom house on a salary of $500 a week!’ ” ● Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

38 Summer 2013 Australian Educator 80

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Creatively engaging students with maths and science A new suite of dynamic online resources is now available to help teachers stimulate interest and engagement in mathematics and science among Australian school students.

Here is your opportunity to use those resources – free of charge.

Throughout Australia there are schools that provide students with strongly positive and inspirational experiences in maths and science. Yet research commissioned by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, revealed that Australia is part of a global decline in student engagement in science and mathematics.

In response, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) asked the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to identify and capture on video inspirational teaching and participation in schools across Australia. This was done in collaboration with several organisations including the CSIRO’s Education Unit.

In those schools, both primary and secondary, authentic real-life maths and science classes were filmed in action – totalling 150 minutes of stimulating teaching practice. Within all the varied classroom environments, there was a consistently strong emphasis on blending innate student curiosity with creativity, practical collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Each of the schools has a well-defined framework that reflects various elements of the Australian Professional Standards for Teaching developed by AITSL: • know students and know how they learn • know the content and how to teach it • engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community.

The new video snapshots of inspirational teaching are now freely available online at http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au/ Illustrations/MathsScience.

The project was guided by a steering group that included representatives from:

Visit the mathematics and science webpage to view the videos

• Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) • Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) • Education Services Australia (ESA) • CSIRO • Australian Academy of Science • Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering • Australian Council of Deans of Science • Australian Science Teachers Association

Join the AITSL eNews for updates on great free resources

• Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations The project was funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

aitsl.edu.au

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