Educator summer 2014 by Australian Education Union

Educator SUMMER 2014

ISSUE 84 $5. 50

Australian

On script

The learning benefits of handwriting

Technology

Connecting remote students

World view

Education reforms rock Chile

Talkback

Early childhood hours need clarity

Top secret

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Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the government hiding on schools funding?

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Australian

Our cover: Jeremiah Portuguez from Rooty Hill High School See story page 8 Cover photography: Michael Amendolia

Class size increases are affecting the ability of teachers to provide the best education.

Education issues making news locally and internationally.

Writing by hand, instead of typing on a keyboard, seems to have many learning benefits for children.

FYI

Keeping secrets Will federal cash earmarked for education actually be spent in schools? The minister doesn’t want you to know.

Thirty million teachers delivered a message to the UN, calling for quality education to remain a top priority.

Online links and programs are making a world of difference for previously isolated students and teachers.

Curriculum review discredited Scandals involving racist emails and ‘jobs for the boys’ have tainted the credibility of the national curriculum review.

Corporate chaos There is no evidence to support the educational benefits of the government’s business model for public schools.

Script development

Viva la revolución In post-dictatorship Chile, teachers and students are in a struggle for education reform that cuts to the heart of creating a less segregated, more equitable society.

Dress codes Wearable technology is coming to a classroom near you, as cutting-edge developments begin to shape the future of learning.

Baby steps Paid parental leave for Australian teachers has a long history, with entitlements varying greatly between the states.

Outrage over Victorian school governance plans

Regulars

The Victorian government has landed a new plan for running schools.

32 My best app

Can it get any worse?

07 From the President 36 Books 38 Recess – Tales from school

The federal government’s latest outrageous act against the TAFE system is a triumph of ideology over common sense.

Time on for early childhood The guaranteed 15 hours’ schooling for pre-school children will continue for another year, but beyond that the federal government isn’t saying.

www.aeufederal.org.au Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 4 SUM MER 2 01 4 3

NEWs

Education issues making news locally and globally

fyi Federal government takes education funding off agenda

Class time in Australia above average

When the Council of Australian Governments met in Canberra in October, the elephant in the room was schools funding, again.

Australian primary and secondary teachers are spending more time in class than their counterparts on average around the world, but we’re way behind on early childhood education.

chools funding should have been on the agenda for COAG’s May meeting, but it was removed. Despite the uncertainty in schools after the government abandoned the Gonski funding agreement with the states, the Abbott government again decided not to discuss it at the most recent COAG meeting. “Abandoning the last two years of the Gonski agreements will cut $2.67 billion from public schools in 2018/19 and 2019/20 — the equivalent of 20,000 fewer teachers across the system,” says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. “This decision will hurt the students that needs-based Gonski funding was designed to benefit: students with disabilities, from low-income families, in regional areas, Indigenous students and students from non-English-speaking backgrounds.”

Greater effort required Ironically, the COAG meeting noted that “greater effort is required” to meet educational targets for Indigenous children. “COAG agreed to further actions to improve Indigenous students’ school attendance and to share evidence of actions that work to improve school attendance,” according to a statement released by COAG after the meeting. 4 s u mm e r 2 01 4 Austr ali an E d u cator 8 4

The Commonwealth will work with the states on more regular reporting of school attendance and effective use of truancy measures, “so parents and communities see a direct consequence if they fail to ensure their children attend school”, the statement said. The meeting also asked education ministers to report on plans to attract and retain quality teachers and school leaders to regional and remote schools.

Abandoning the last two years of the Gonski agreements will cut $2.67 billion from public schools… the equivalent of 20,000 fewer teachers across the system.

Public school teachers across the world teach an average of 782 hours at the primary level, 694 hours at the lower secondary level, and 655 hours at the upper secondary level of education, according to the OECD’s annual indicators released recently. In Australia, teachers are in class 871 hours at the primary level, 809 hours for lower secondary and 801 for upper secondary. In pre-primary education, the worldwide class time average is 1,001 hours but Australia only manages 884. “It is clear we are failing to invest enough in early childhood education that prepares students for success at school,” says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. “This makes it even more concerning that the Abbott government has only committed to one more year of funding 15 hours a week of pre-school for all four-year-olds, and that there is no certainty this vital program will continue beyond 2015.” Education at a glance: OECD Indicators is available at www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm

NEWS

Michael Kirby, Australian jurist, academic and former Justice of the High Court, in a short video produced by the NSW government featuring famous and successful graduates of public schools speaking about their experiences. You can see the video here: http://tinyurl.com/pmp76ar

Average time in class: Worldwide Pre-primary 1001 hrs Primary 782 hrs Lower secondary 694 hrs Upper secondary 655 hrs

Average time in class: Australia Pre-primary 884 hrs Primary 871 hrs Lower secondary 809 hrs Upper secondary 801 hrs

‘‘

“There’s something special about public education, and it’s something that we, as Australians, should uphold, protect and defend.”

Schools closed in West Africa

chools in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have closed as authorities battle to contain the spread of Ebola. More than 50 teachers had died in Sierra Leone and Liberia by the end of September alone and thousands were being quarantined. Education International general secretary Fred van Leeuwen has urged governments in the region to work closely with teacher unions in the fight to raise public awareness about surviving the epidemic. “Education is the best vaccine ever created,” he says. It is essential that education planners remain “vigilant and flexible”, wrote former prime minister Julia Gillard, who is now chair of the Global Partnership for Education in The Guardian. “Vigilant, to ensure that children are not kept away for too long from their learning, and flexible so they can adapt quickly and effectively to the unexpected. The stakes for anything less are much too high — the time for considered action is now.”

Containing an epidemic of fear The idea of a deadly and contagious virus with no cure is terrifying. So imagine the courage it would take to nurse a neighbour who is sick from the Ebola virus, or bury your highly infectious wife, husband, child, sister or brother. That is exactly what 1,800 Red Cross volunteers are doing right now in West Africa. They are going door-to-door to help their communities survive an Ebola outbreak that has claimed over 1,400 lives and infected more than 2,600 people in four countries. The number of deaths is growing by the day and each death is entirely preventable. Red Cross is educating millions of people to prevent further infections. Volunteers are helping their neighbours bury their loved ones safely. Emergency hospitals are being set up in towns where clinics are overflowing with people sick from Ebola. This is fast becoming more than a major health emergency. Due to the health crisis, many communities are having difficulty accessing essential services, such as food and water. We can all lend a hand to control this terrible virus. I ask all Australians to please consider donating to the Ebola Outbreak 2014 Appeal at redcross.org.au. Peter Walton, head of International Program, Australian Red Cross Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 4 sum m er 2 01 4 5

NEWS

Education issues making news locally and globally

fyi Music against child labour A campaign to eliminate child labour, launched by the International Labour Organisation, is recruiting musicians to the cause.

Farquhar makes the grade Scott Farquhar, who with Mike Cannon-Brookes founded the globally successful technology company Atlassian, has given credit to one of his public school teachers for playing a part in his achievements. And it was all because he failed to get an A grade for the first time. His teacher at Castle Hill Public School, Vicky Crawford, told The Australian Financial Review that she realised Farquhar was “coasting and, because he had the brains, he wasn’t pushing himself”. It was the wake-up call Farquhar needed, reported the newspaper. He finished the year as dux. Crawford received an email from Farquhar last year: “In effect, you told me I was phoning it in,” he wrote. “Since then, I’ve tried my best to not phone it in and I’ve managed to be reasonably successful in the business world – I think in no small part to the lesson you taught me 22 years ago.” Atlassian, which attracts gushing media praise such as “tech industry poster child” and “stellar success”, recently reported a 44 per cent jump in sales to $242 million for last financial year and another 9000 customers added in the last 12 months. 6 su mm e r 2 0 1 4 Austr ali an E ducator 8 4

The Music Against Child Labour Initiative was launched last year to link famous conductors, musicians, musicians’ organisations and music education bodies to the campaign. Since then a number of concerts have been held around the world and various songs and pieces of music composed. The campaign has received a boost after Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls’ right to education.

Melbourne event for schools Victorian schools have the chance to participate in a free program run by Save the Children in November at Federation Square in Melbourne. Aimed at students aged from nine to 14 years old, the program is part of a campaign to highlight the threats to education. The program will focus on children’s right to education and highlight key barriers to learning. Students will be encouraged to come up with solutions to some of the world’s most challenging issues. Supplementary curriculum-based teaching resources will provide support for follow-up classroom activity. The program will take place from Tuesday 18 to Friday 21 November. Each session lasts for 90 minutes and there will be between 10 and 25 students in each group.

Satyarthi is said to have freed tens of thousands of children bonded into child labour or slavery. See the Orchestra Mozart playing in the launch video at http://tinyurl. com/kk3r7dx and some of the songs composed for the campaign at http:// tinyurl.com/k5usma7

For information go to http://tinyurl.com/ p4lnbqc or contact Save the Children’s Brett Long on 03 9281 2728 or events@ savethechildren.org.au

From the president

Increasing inequity is the theme that runs through the government’s policies in many areas of education funding.

Broken promises and lies

he Abbott government was sworn in just over 12 months ago. Since that time we have witnessed its broken promises and lies. We have witnessed its clear intention to extend the privilege of the most privileged and turn its back on the most needy, further entrenching inequity and disadvantage. The government has lied about honouring the Gonski funding agreements, lied about increasing funding for students with disability and failed to introduce for 2015 the loading for students lacking English language proficiency. Within three months of being elected, it tried a smash-and-grab raid on Gonski funding. Having abandoned its promise to honour the six-year funding agreements signed with state governments, it even sought to cut by $1.2 billion the $2.8 billion of funding promised over a four-year period. The outcry from the public and the signed-up states forced it to back down. In breaking its promise to increase the disability loading from 2015, it will in fact strip $100 million out of disability education by extinguishing the previous government’s interim funding arrangement. The Abbott government’s warped priorities mean the 100,000 students with disability will miss out on the support they need in schools, but it will spend $243 million on pushing chaplains into schools. Now the government is holding an invitation-only review of the Gonski low socioeconomic status (SES) loading – a funding

measure that ensures schools with high numbers of students from low-income families get the resources they need. Eightytwo per cent of students in the lowest SES quartile attend public schools, but 65 per cent of those invited to take part in the review represent private schools. It’s another attempt to dismantle the Gonski funding model and revert to Howard-era policies which delivered extra funds to some of the wealthiest private schools. In school funding, as in so many areas, the government’s concept of a “budget emergency” is being used to justify an ideological agenda of cuts and user-pays policies. Its “reforms” to higher education clearly demonstrate this. University funding will be cut by 20 per cent and students will bear the increased cost of degrees. At the same time, changes to HECS will see graduating teachers having to pay off bigger debts at a higher rate of interest.

In school funding, as in so many areas, the government’s concept of a “budget emergency” is being used to justify an ideological agenda of cuts and user-pays policies.

This retrospective change will have a disproportionate impact on women, who will face an even greater burden of mounting debt should they take a break from the workforce to raise a family. The government’s intention to deregulate higher education to allow for-profit private providers to enter the sector will result in the emergence of low-quality, under-regulated courses that will drive down standards. If anyone needs convincing of this, they need look no further than what has happened in vocational education and training over the past 10 years. The downward pressure on entry standards for initial teacher education is already evident, courtesy of the demand-driven system operating in recent years. Last year it reached the point where there were more students entering initial teacher education courses with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 31-50 than with a rank of over 90. The total deregulation of the higher education market will make it impossible to address this important issue at a time when government policy should be developed to increase standards, not decrease them. Unless the Abbott government does an about-face, its agenda will change Australia for the worse, and our public schools and the millions of students who attend them will suffer the most. l

Angelo Gavrielatos AEU Federal President Au stra l ia n Ed u cato r 8 4 Sum m er 2 01 4 7

Ag e n da

Missing its target Will federal cash earmarked for education actually be spent in schools? The minister doesn’t want you to know.

he federal government is changing the law to allow the states to use Gonski school funding on virtually anything they like. Under the original rules, schools and governments were required to complete ‘school improvement plans’ to provide information on the allocation and use of the Gonski funds. But the government intends to postpone the requirement for the plans until at least 2016, with any decision resting solely with the federal minister. The plans were to ensure that the extra Gonski funds were spent as they were intended — to tackle disadvantage by investing in programs for students with the greatest need. “Properly targeting resources is essential if we want to lift overall student outcomes and close the achievement gaps in student learning,” says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. 8 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

“Why should state governments and private school authorities not be accountable for the Gonski funding?,” asks Gavrielatos. This is a major concern given that there is already a huge lack of transparency around how Gonski money is being spent in several states, including Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. We need more accountability, not less.

Who's invited? In another startling development over school funding, the federal government is conducting in secret a review of the Gonski low socio-economic status loading. Government schools are the greatest beneficiaries of this loading due to the fact that they enrol the overwhelming majority of Australia’s poorest students. In an invitation-only review, the organisations invited to make submissions were mostly from the

private and Catholic school sectors. Yet public schools account for the majority of schools, students and students from low SES backgrounds. We’ve already seen a leaked copy of the submission from Independent Schools Victoria, which calls for an end to the loading for concentrations of disadvantage, a change which would strip money straight out of public schools. The questions asked by the review also showed an extraordinary bias against the loading, suggesting that the government intends to remove it or replace it with another system, says Gavrielatos. “It is clear the review is intended to advance the Abbott government’s agenda of dismantling the Gonski funding reforms in the interests of the private school lobby, which is actively seeking to maintain the relative resource advantage of private schools compared to public schools.”

wo r l d v i e w

My School data proves Gonski findings

ounting evidence shows that the gap in achievement between the highest and lowest performing students is widening, particularly in secondary years, a new study has found. Using the five years of data from the My School website, retired principals Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd examined seven key Gonski review findings and published their results on the Inside Story website. They concluded that, not only did Gonski “get it right” but in the years since the review, the findings “have become more relevant than ever”. Bonnor and Shepherd say that in addition to the growing achievement gap, the data shows that funding increasingly goes to students who already achieve at “quite high” levels and it reveals “hundreds of examples” of illogical and inconsistent funding.

This is contrary to the Gonski review’s finding that resources should go to where they are needed most and should be logical, consistent and publicly transparent. Meanwhile, the Bonnor and Shepherd study shows that the imbalance in funding to government and non-government schools, found by Gonski, continues. Their analysis of state and territory recurrent and capital funding shows “inexplicable – to the point of absurd – examples of this imbalance”. “The changes we have been able to illustrate using My School data have not taken place over decades. They have occurred across the very same years during which the Gonski review proceeded and reported, then was variously ignored, cherry-picked, partially implemented, and in relative terms largely abandoned,” write Bonnor and Shepherd. “What the Gonski review panel found to be bad about our framework of schools, we find to be worse.”

Broken promise on disability loading

t’s bad enough that the federal government's promised “disability loading” for students with disabilities won’t be implemented next year. But in an added insult, the Abbott government will cut its $100 million in funding to an existing program – ‘More Support for Students with Disabilities National Partnerships’ – from January 2015. In an election promise last year, the government said it would “ deliver more funding for people with disability through the [Gonski] disability loading” in 2015. But the government’s response to a senate inquiry indicates that the plan is to wait until there is “nationally consistent data” on students with disability. And, that’s not expected to

happen until the end of 2015 at the earliest, says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. “They are not even able to give a date for when this vital support for students with disabilities will be delivered to schools. Using these delays as an excuse to fund an area where it is universally agreed there is urgent need is to abandon thousands of students with disability,” he says. “The shortage of funding for students with disability is a crisis that is seeing at least 100,000 students with disability not getting any funding let alone the funding they need. Every year that this continues is another year that thousands of students with disability miss out on the support they need to reach their potential,” Gavrielatos says.

“Huge implication” for teachers in higher education ‘reforms’

he federal government is ignoring widespread opposition and outrage over significant funding cuts and deregulation for higher education, detailed in the federal budget. The AEU is concerned that, as with the cuts and policy changes to early childhood education, schooling and TAFE, the higher education measures will add another layer of inequity to Australia’s education system, says federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. The measures will see a 20 per cent cut to the government contribution per university place, in addition to uncapping university fees and allowing universities to determine their own fees. It is predicted that students will pay at least 30 per cent more with some courses doubling in cost; increasing the level of student debt and changes to HELP loans; cutting higher education research funding; and deregulation of the provision of places by allowing private, for-profit providers access to public funding. While there are claims that the government may be prepared to drop some measures to garner crossbench support for deregulating fees, education minister Christopher Pyne has denied the reports. The higher education measures will destroy what Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, calls “the predominantly public settings of the present unified Australian higher education system”. It will be transformed into a market-driven system “with a different shape and different patterns of social participation”, characterised by sharp divisions within and between universities. “The first market will be populated by an elite sector of highly selective universities, enriched by high student fees, inhabited as now largely by the middle class, and dominated by students from independent schools. Institutions in this sector will lift their global performance,” according to Marginson. “The second market will be a mass sector populated by a miscellany of for-profit private colleges, which will now be supported by tuition loans on the same basis as the public sector (though with lesser transparency, narrower responsibilities and no obligation to provide research depth underneath the teaching), online providers, and large impoverished public universities struggling with their cost base,” he says. The increase cost of degrees and the increase in interest rates, retrospectively, charged on the loans will have “huge implications” for current and future teachers, says Gavrielatos. The entry of non-university higher education providers into a totally deregulated demand-driven market will also put downward pressure on entry standards into initial teacher education courses.

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AG E N DA

Scandals involving racist emails and ‘jobs for the boys’ have tainted the credibility of the federal government’s review of the national curriculum.

Curriculum review discredited

ederal education minister Christopher Pyne’s national curriculum review has been exposed as a vehicle to introduce a biased world view into the classroom. It’s been revealed that the so-called ‘independent’ subject experts used by the review included former Liberal Party staff, regular contributors to conservative think tanks such as the Institute of Public Affairs and Centre for Independent Studies, as well as representatives of the private and Catholic school systems. Only one specialist was from a public school background.

These specialists were handpicked by the review co-chairs, former Liberal Party staffer Kevin Donnelly and academic Ken Wiltshire who clearly favoured right-wing views over relevant curriculum experience, says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. One of the reviewers of the English curriculum, Sydney University professor Barry Spurr, recommended reducing the role of Indigenous writing, and now has been caught sending racist and misogynist emails. The emails were published by the website, New Matilda in October. Spurr was suspended by the university.

Meanwhile, Donnelly is a supporter of corporal punishment in schools, and is on the record as expressing racist and homophobic views. He has also worked as a consultant for tobacco company Philip Morris, producing materials to be used in schools, says Gavrielatos. “We have now seen one of Mr Donnelly’s chosen reviewers exposed. These shocking, appalling and deeply offensive emails must call into question Professor Spurr’s suitability to have been chosen as a specialist reviewer of the English curriculum.” While the National Curriculum was the result of several years of collaborative work from experts in education and curriculum design, says Gavrielatos, the review is the work of “a narrow group of people with little relevant experience who have brought their pre-conceived ideas to the table”.

Distracting attention from Gonski

Schools don’t need curriculum reviews, they need to be properly funded. Angelo Gavrielatos, AEU federal president 1 0 S U M M E R 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

“We have said from the beginning that this review was a political exercise, designed to distract from the federal government’s cuts to school funding and it has now been further discredited as an ideological exercise,” Gavrielatos says. “Schools don’t need curriculum reviews, they need to be properly funded.” But, during the publicity tour for the report’s release, the education minister didn’t want to talk about funding. “It’s a bit asinine in Australia that we can’t discuss the curriculum without some voices immediately shouting for more money,” Pyne told the ABC. “Schools are awash with extra funds from the Commonwealth,” the minister said. l

AG E N DA

Course notes

he federal government’s curriculum review has been appraised as “full of contradictions” and “a distraction” from the important issue of needsbased funding. The results of the review neatly underline the political adage: never call an inquiry unless you know the result. Many believe that when education minister Christopher Pyne announced the review in January this year, he had an outcome in mind — changes that would bring the curriculum more into line with the government’s way of thinking. He said the review would “evaluate the robustness, independence and balance” of the national curriculum. The review report, by the review’s co-chairs — commentator and former

Liberal chief of staff Kevin Donnelly and academic Ken Wiltshire —showed “a staggering lack of engagement with empirical research”, said lecturer in literacies education at the University of Southern Queensland, Stewart Riddle in an article on The Conversation website, in which four academics commented on the findings. Many of the review’s ‘findings’ are no surprise because they were ‘found’ back in January before the review commenced, said University of Canberra language and literacy researcher Misty Adoniou. “In the English curriculum, the recommendations are to increase the amount of phonics taught and increase the focus on Western literature — just as they said they would be.”

Meanwhile, the review is full of contradictions, says Monash University senior lecturer Libby Tudball on The Conversation. One example is the reviewers’ criticism of inquiry and constructivist learning, “methods of teaching that encourage students to take charge of their own learning with questions and problem solving”, says Tudball. But the reviewers also write: “Of course there is nothing wrong with diversity in approaches to curriculum delivery. Indeed, it is to be applauded given the scope for adaptation to different school contexts, populations and locations, not to mention the benefits of innovation”. Apart from the contradictions, the review fails to chart a way to deal with the questions raised by the subject specialists, who were called

on to provide comment, some with close links to the Coalition. Their findings “seem to hold more sway than the diverse submissions of 1,600 education authorities and curriculum organisations”, notes Tudball. For example, the subject matter specialist commissioned by the reviewers to consider the geography curriculum “suggests a major rewrite and restructure of content to address his perception of an imbalance between physical and human geography”, says Tudball. “Yet the expert panel who advised on the curriculum felt that the balance was correct.” “At the end of it all, we are left with little clarity about what’s next,” Tudball says. State and territory ministers will be meeting with Christopher Pyne in December to thrash that out. l

Recognising and RewaRding

The ArThur hAmilTon AwArd for ouTsTAnding ConTribuTion To AboriginAl And Torres sTrAiT islAnder eduCATion nominations nomination forms can be obtained from the Aeu by phoning (03) 9693 1800, faxing (03) 9693 1805, or emailing slowndes@aeufederal.org.au or can be downloaded from www.aeufederal.org.au/Atsi/2014AHnomform.pdf The closing date for nominations is friday, 5 december 2014. The winner will receive a $1000 prize and will be flown to melbourne to accept the award at the Annual federal Conference of the Aeu in february 2015. All nominees will receive a certificate from the Aeu. FuRtheR inFoRmation if you would like to know more, please contact nicole major, nmajor@aeufederal.org.au, or visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Winner of the 2013 Arthur Hamilton Award, Ricki Cocliff (right) for Fair Game WA. The award was presented by Angelo Gavrielatos, Federal President AEU to Ricki Cocliff, Game On Coordinator at the 2014 AEU Federal Conference.

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How high is too high? A major study has confirmed for the first time that Australian primary school class sizes are bigger than the OECD average BY C y n d i t e b b e l

f you want to know what’s happening in the classroom, ask a teacher. On the subject of class sizes, the results of the latest Staff in Australia’s Schools (SIAS) survey are unequivocal: teachers, particularly in primary schools, are very concerned about the negative consequences of ever-increasing numbers. This is the first time SIAS reported on class size and data shows the average primary class at 24.5 students, with 40 per cent having 26-plus. Overall, Australian class sizes are above the OECD average and far surpass highperforming systems like Finland. AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos says quality of schooling is affected by over-crowded classrooms. The larger the size, the higher the workload and the more difficult it is for teachers to give students “the individual attention they need and that their parents expect”.

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Gavrielatos says the Federal government’s decision to abandon Gonski’s needs-based funding model will mean “fewer resources for students, particularly in disadvantaged areas, less support for students with disabilities, and bigger classes”. In Western Australia, maximum class sizes are in the State Schools Teachers Union of Western Australia’s enterprise agreement: 24 in Years 1-3, 32 in 4-10 and 25 in 11 and 12. However, SSTUWA President Pat Byrne, believes budget cuts and the student-centred funding model will combine to increase pressure on class sizes next year, especially in Years 11 and 12. “In a lot of specialist subjects schools organise themselves so classes are a lot smaller than 25, but staffing has been cut to the point where they’re not going to be able to do that next year,” says Byrne. Victoria is facing similar challenges. Meredith Peace, Victorian Branch

President of the AEU, says data from the union’s annual ‘State of Our Schools’ survey shows an increase in already large class sizes. “Over 55 per cent have at least one class over 30, the highest figures we’ve seen in the 11 years this survey has been conducted.”

Do not assume Class size disproportionally affects schools like Meadow Heights Primary in outer Melbourne. Eighty per cent of student families live in poverty and the school sits in the bottom fifth percentile on the Student Family Occupation index in terms of social disadvantage. Principal Kevin Pope says the biggest determinant on success in schools is disadvantage. “That’s where class size matters. “Fundamentally we still group students on a 19th century model. They come to school at five and they progress linearly for 13 years. But DNA is important, too.” By that Pope means: Do Not Assume that an 11-year old in Grade 5 can cope with that year level. “It depends on their experiences,” he says.

ag e n da A classroom at Meadow Heights Primary School in outer Melbourne.

At Meadow Heights it’s not uncommon for classrooms to have a spread of four year levels and many more languages. Pope says the school’s 600 students represent “all the lands on earth”. Nearly half don’t come from an English background, and a quarter don’t speak any English. With that level of complexity “having 25 students in a class is an enormous task for a teacher”, says Pope. Meadow Heights is using money from national partnerships for low-SES to reduce class sizes, but a reduction in long-term Federal funding for ESL and EAL means one teacher deals with literacy and teaching a new language. “If you’ve got a class full of children with different needs the EAL kids have to be looked after, the little autistic kids have to be looked after, those little tackers who require longer to walk across the paddock to learning have to be looked after,” says Pope. “It has to be accompanied by the provision of a quality environment,

Nearly half don’t come from an English background … [so] “having 25 students in a class is an enormous task for a teacher”.

Kevin Pope, Principal

support for the teacher, necessary resources for the needs of their students, and a space and a curriculum design that’s to enable that learning.” Pope is willing to sacrifice in some areas to reduce class sizes. He says that if it takes doing without a gardener or a PA to get down to 20 students, he’ll do

it. But he’s a realist. “I’d love to form our school around personalised learning, but where do you teach the students – in the hall, the toilet, the storeroom? “And if size doesn’t matter, why does the competition always promote small class sizes? “It’s because if you give a teacher a reasonable amount of students, reasonably resourced in a room that’s warm and cool, that teacher will take those kids on a journey and they’ll learn.” l

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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There is no evidence to support the educational benefits of the government’s business model for public schools.

Corporate chaos

he Abbott government’s flagship education policy – turning a quarter of all public schools into “independent public schools” – is running into a few hurdles as state governments baulk at implementing a flawed policy. The flaw is the lack of evidence that creating independent public schools improves results for students, despite the policy being heavily pushed in WA. While some states and territories are going ahead with the plan – ignoring the lack of evidence – at least three (SA, Tasmania and the ACT) have chosen to pocket the cash handed out by the federal government as an inducement to implement the policy. States have been allowed to do what they want with their share of the IPS money, setting their own rules for how it is spent, says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos. “The policy is in chaos, but the worst part is that the Abbott government is giving $70 million to the states and territories with no accountability for how the money is spent, and no requirement to deliver actual improvements in schools,” he says. “This is an embarrassing result for something that was meant to be the Abbott government’s key policy for public schools.” The AEU has consistently opposed the IPS policy because it has no educational benefit. In NSW, education minister Adrian Piccoli took an early firm stand. “We will not be introducing 1 4 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

charter schools or independent public schools because there is no evidence they improve student performance,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald last year. “The OECD’s PISA report has found that there was no relationship between local autonomy over staffing and budget allocation and student or school performance,” says Gavrielatos.

“Another distraction” The government-appointed head of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, academic and author John Hattie has made it clear in the past that independent public schools are not necessarily the answer for improved results. In an interview with author Maxine McKew last year, Hattie said that experience from around the world has shown “virtually no

impact” on increasing the quality of teaching and learning. “I think it’s, quite frankly, another distraction,” he said. “We think if we have these kinds of symbols it’s going to make a difference to what happens in the classrooms. They’re the same teachers we had before they became independent public schools. They’re doing the same stuff… and certainly many of the schools that opt-in to those kinds of schemes usually are doing reasonably well to start with. But that’s not the answer for the total system,” Hattie said. The federal education minister Christopher Pyne has “no vision for improving public schools, only a plan to cut their funding” by abandoning the Gonski agreements from 2018, says Gavrielatos.

Federal education minister Christopher Pyne has “no vision for improving public schools, only a plan to cut their funding”.

Angelo Gavrielatos, AEU federal president

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WA expands the model In WA, where the concept of independent public schools was introduced four years ago, further expansion is about to occur. An extra 174 public schools have been added to the list. By next year more than half of all public schools will follow this ‘corporate’ model, affecting about two-thirds of students. In the years of operation so far in WA, there’s been “no evidence” that the model has produced better results, says State School Teachers Union of WA president Pat Byrne. John Hattie worked on an independent review of the WA IPS program and found that, when it came to academic results, WA schools “had made no improvement under the ‘independent’ model”. Meanwhile, the continuing migration of workers to the west and the resulting population explosion is putting pressure on school budgets, with no relief in sight. “The rate of state government funding is increasing at less than half the rate the student population is increasing,” says Byrne.

That won’t put the state’s public schools in a good position for what is expected to be a difficult year for many in 2015. The government has introduced a major change to the way funding is allocated to a ‘student-centred funding model’ at the same time as introducing a one-line budget for every school in WA, whether IPS or not. “In effect, every school virtually becomes independent anyway,” says Byrne. Budgeting woes aside, another significant upheaval for education in the state is the transfer of Year 7 students from primary schools to secondary schools. Byrne says there are issues with a resulting oversupply of primary school teachers, an undersupply of secondary teachers and problems with the system of redeployment. “So from a teacher’s point of view, there’s a lot of increased uncertainty about where they’ll be next year,” Byrne says. A total of 210 Queensland schools and up to 15 NT schools are expected to be operating under the corporate model by 2017. l

Just a ‘feel-good effect’

hile federal education minister Christopher Pyne points to mysterious “international evidence” as proof of the value of independent public schools, an intensive study of the experience in Western Australia has failed to prove their worth. The ‘Evaluation of independent public schools initiative’, delivered last year by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, concluded there was “little evidence of changes to student outcomes such as enrolment or student achievement”. At best, the study pointed to a ‘feel-good effect’, writes John Smyth, research professor of education at Federation University Australia, on The Conversation website. “People feel as if they are more in control, even when that may not demonstrably be the case due to a range of burdening performance indicators and targets, brought about by this new ‘autonomy’.” He says the minister must produce the evidence that supports school autonomy otherwise the independent public schools initiative won’t meet the standards of evidence-based international best practice. Rather it would show “a bias for a particular ideology – something Pyne claims we need to expunge from schools,” Smyth says.

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With an election campaign needing policy announcements, the Victorian government has delivered a new plan for running schools.

Outrage over Victorian school governance plans

n outcry from school communities and others over a plan by the Victorian government to recruit ‘school leaders’ from business with no teaching experience has been dumped, but other significant changes to school governance are proposed. The state education department hired consultants to come up with a new system for finding and managing school leaders and the consultants had been asked to consider the possibility of recruiting leaders from outside the teaching profession. The proposal is off the table for the moment but there are concerns about other plans by the government. One is for school councils to be involved in the performance process for principals, says AEU Victoria branch president Meredith Peace. “It would mean that school council presidents would play a role in the principals’ annual performance and development review, which is a significant move from current practice,” she says. “This is the role of the employer. The people who are working with the principal to conduct the review need to have a good understanding and knowledge of the work that the principal is doing. Many school council presidents will not have those skills nor will they have the time to undertake this role.” Another major change is that school councils will play a much greater role in the work of schools. Under the government’s new school governance policy, the strategic planning and oversight role of school councils would be increased in relation to pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and reporting. 1 6 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

“While school councils have long had an oversight of the curriculum program, it’s up to the school, the principal and the staff to do the detailed work,” says Peace. Principals are concerned that the government is handing over its responsibility to parents. “While parental involvement in the school is extremely important, teachers and principals are the professionals and they should be the ones using their professional knowledge and expertise to do the more specific work. School council has a role more broadly to oversee and work with the principals,” she says. The government has indicated that some legislative changes will be needed to implement all of the proposals in its governance policy. The union has been assured by the department that there’ll be consultation before any changes to principal performance and development go ahead, says Peace, and that the

changes won’t be attempted in the current cycle, which runs from 1 May to 30 April. She believes it would make Victoria the only state to have school councils involved in the principals’ performance and development process. Many schools feel abandoned by the Victorian government, says Meadow Heights Primary School principal Kevin Pope. “As an experienced principal of 25 years, I no longer feel connected to a system,” he says. “The government is attempting to take away from schools the notion of parent and teacher representation at the local level (teachers will no longer be allowed on school councils), and instead create boards where schools interact with private businesses and local councils and other organisations. “Where there was once a regional office, the work will now be done by school boards,” Pope says. l

Changing the rules The state government’s new governance policy includes a number of new activities including: ♦ Establishing federations of school councils on an “opt in” basis ♦ Increasing the strategic planning and oversight role of school councils

in relation to pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and reporting

♦ Removing the representative role of school staff on school councils

and replacing this with “expertise”-based involvement

♦ Establishing a pool of “interested and skilled individuals from business

and community organisations” to be co-opted by school councils

♦ Training for school councillors ♦ Introducing a school council dispute resolution process ♦ Requiring school council president involvement in the annual principal performance and development process

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The federal government’s latest outrageous act against the TAFE system is a triumph of ideology over common sense.

Can it get any worse?

utting ‘red tape’ for private providers in the vocational education training sector is the latest government reform designed to undermine TAFE by stealth. Unethical. Unscrupulous. Dodgy. Shonky. These are just a few of the words used in recent news reports to describe some private registered training organisations (RTOs) and the courses they offer. Recruiters for these ‘colleges’ are targeting the disadvantaged and vulnerable, spruiking outside Centrelink offices, door-knocking public housing estates, even lurking outside service providers for the homeless and drug addicted, according to ABC News. It’s a case of ‘déjà vu all over again’. (Remember the Foreign Student scam of 2007?) The unemployed, the gullible and people with high needs are being misled by brokers’ claims of ‘no upfront fees’ that turn into high five-figure debts for qualifications and certificates that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Industry groups and businesses are calling for tighter regulation of the sector to ensure quality training. The Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector, meanwhile, is facing cuts and increased competition from private providers for public VET funding. There are now more than 4,500 private training colleges in Australia, and data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research shows payments to non-TAFE providers increased by $950 million (or 200 per cent) between 2008 and 2012.

Defund and deregulate In the three years since it was established to regulate RTOs in 2011, the Australian Skills Quality Authority

Unethical. Unscrupulous. Dodgy. Shonky. Just a few of the words used in recent news reports to describe some private registered training organisations (RTOs) and the courses they offer.

(ASQA) has received close to 4,000 complaints, conducted almost as many audits and suspended 350 colleges. ASQA received a $68 million boost from the federal government to help it crackdown on dishonest operators. But there are concerns the government’s latest tranch of VET reforms, due to start in January 2015, will have the opposite effect. According to industry minister Ian McFarlane, the best way to ensure high-quality training is to cut red tape, “let each RTO stand on its reputation – not fill out reams and reams of paperwork and jump through endless hoops”. Pat Forward, federal TAFE secretary, Australian Education Union, calls the reforms “a triumph of ideology over common sense”. She says more than 1,000 colleges (the majority private forprofit) will be able to apply for the right to change courses and introduce new ones, without permission from ASQA. “This is based on ideology, not evidence,” says Forward. “There is no

interest in student needs or regulating the sector – it’s designed to make it easier for private colleges to profit in the sector.” Furthermore, she doesn’t believe the number of complaints about RTOs relate to “isolated rotten apples”, saying ASQA’s own research reveals “an extensive, systemic problem with quality and standards” among private RTOs. When a government is driven by the ideology of the market, says Forward, the capacity of the private sector to make profit is uppermost in their minds. “That’s no basis for sound public policy and the biggest losers are students,” she says. “At the moment, they’re being damaged by their experience in the VET sector. They’ve been cheated, left with large debts and worthless qualifications. “Many will never return to education and that will jeopardise their job prospects, our society and the economy,” she says. l Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 s u m m e r 201 4 1 9

ta l k b ac k

The guaranteed 15 hours’ schooling for pre-school children will continue for another year but, beyond that, the federal government isn’t saying.

Time on for early childhood

arly childhood educators breathed a sigh of relief in September when the federal government agreed at the last minute to continue funding extra hours for another 12 months. The National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education provides top-up funding to all states and territories to ensure a minimum 15 hours per week for every child. Funding was due to end this year but the assistant education minister Sussan Ley announced an extension to cover 2015. While the announcement was welcome, the future beyond next year is still uncertain. Australian Educator asked three early childhood educators how the extra time has made a difference to them.

Kimberley Stocks Kindergarten teacher, Rokeby Primary School, Hobart, Tasmania

“We had 12 hours of kinder before the change; that used to consist either of three mornings a week or two days a week, depending on the school. We work in a lower socioeconomic area and what we’ve really noticed with the 15 hours is a significant improvement in the children’s oral language skills particularly in their ability to express their ideas and emotions. The children’s social skills have gone from strength to strength. We’re finding now that they are better able to solve problems independently without adult intervention. Their ability to play cooperatively and work alongside one another has increased immensely. That’s really significant because, when you think about it, some little 2 0 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

people don’t have much interaction with others before they come to school. It’s becoming rarer for people to take their children to playgroup or to access other opportunities where there are groups of children, so a lot of them are just at home with their mum. Some go to childcare and that’s obvious when they start kindergarten because they often have more advanced social skills, which is indicative of the time they’ve spent playing with others. We have also noticed that the progress in the children’s learning is accelerated with the increase in hours. The children now have more time to play, to develop their general knowledge and aspects like learning numbers and counting, as well as learning about books and writing their name. Because they’re here for 15 hours and not 12, their development is quicker and their learning is deeper. They are making more connections as we have more time to help build their schema.

There’s more continuity as well; they’re here more often and they feel more connected, which increases their learning outcomes. When you only see children for two days a week, there’s a long time in between and there can be some regression during that time. I understand why we are being funded for 12 months at a time — it’s expensive to pay for teachers, teacher aides and resources. But, if they did some research and looked at the increase in outcomes, that would provide the proof they need to have the 15 hours funded permanently. It’s a blessing that we have it again for the next 12 months, but it’s frustrating to have it reviewed every year.” l

… the progress in the children’s learning is accelerated… Because they’re here for 15 hours and not 12, their development is quicker and their learning is deeper.

Kimberley Stocks

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We want the federal government… to commit to us and recognise that we’re valuable. Mandy Klessens

Mandy Klessens

Director, Norrie Stuart Childhood Services Centre Whyalla, South Australia

“We have had an increase in enrolment and higher attendance as a result of the increased time, from 11 to 15 hours. So, we added another session with the extra hours and now there’s one full day. We can see the difference it makes to the children: with a longer period to play and explore their environment they’re more engaged in learning. We’ve also introduced a cooking program once a week because

we’ve got more time, so the children are experiencing different foods every week. It gives staff more time to work with the children so you’re getting to know them, going deeper into their learning levels. And you have more time to spend with them – you can see their friendships building because they’re there for longer. We want the federal government to invest in early childhood education. We want them to commit to us and recognise that we’re valuable. We’re educating children, we’re making a stand for young children and ensuring we’re doing the best for them, their families and the wider community. We need to know in advance if the funding will continue, otherwise it puts a lot of stress on staff and families. We can’t tell families what our centre hours are if the federal government hasn’t committed and families won’t know which days they can send their children. If we lose the extra time staff will lose hours and, more than likely, there will be drops in attendances leading to the loss of more staff members. I’m also a bit concerned that some kindergartens might say, ‘We value the importance of the extra hours and we’re going to push our staff members to try and do it without the funding’. That would have a huge impact on people and I wouldn’t like to see that. We need funding to do this.” l

I believe we need to have more hours rather than fewer.

Kara Blair

Teacher, assistant director and educational leader, Perry Street Childcare Centre, Fairfield, Victoria “This is my first year as a kinder teacher although I’ve worked in early childhood for nine years. While I haven’t experienced the shorter hours firsthand as a teacher, I think that even 15 isn’t enough. Our centre structures the hours in three days from 9am to 3.30pm but it can be a challenge working as a team with the other educators, because I’m in an integrated room in a long day care centre. I believe we need to have more hours rather than fewer. I can’t imagine doing the curriculum I’m trying to do with my group in 10.75 hours. If the funding is reduced in 2016, the children will obviously lose hours of contact with a trained teacher who is able to recognise their learning needs. The shorter time is not enough time to build relationships and get to know all the needs of the children.” l Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 s u m m e r 2 01 4 2 1

H A N DW R I T I N G

Writing by hand, instead of typing on a keyboard, seems to have many learning benefits for children. BY A m anda wo o dard

Script development

s the pen mightier than the keyboard? Quite possibly. A growing body of evidence suggests that children learn to read more quickly if they first learn to write by hand. Using pens or pencils rather than keyboards, children are better able to retain information, generate and compose ideas, and write fluently. The gesture of writing seems to trigger unique neural activity that doesn’t occur when children are typing. Studies in Norway, the United States, France and other countries have shown that the brain develops functional specialisation when writing cursive script, which integrates visual and tactile sensation, movement control and thinking. 2 2 S U M M E R 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

We can’t ignore basic skills such as handwriting. In the context of motor skills issues, it has a direct impact on cognitive ability.

In a study of brain activity at Indiana University in the United States, for example, psychologist Karin James worked with children who were yet to learn to read and write. She asked them to reproduce a shape in three different ways: freehand, tracing over it and typing it into a computer. It was only when the children drew it freehand that brain activity increased. “The act of planning and executing the action, and the variability of the outcome, may be a way of learning,” says James. It’s obvious why typing has overtaken writing: it’s quicker. But the deliberate pace and focus required to write may be the very thing that helps people to learn, says Norwegian researcher Anne Mangen. Handwriting skills also seem to enhance creative expression. A University of Washington study of children in grades two, four and six showed that students wrote more words, more quickly and expressed more ideas in their essays than they did when using a keyboard.

Phased back in In the US, publicity about the benefits of handwriting have led to cursive writing classes being reintroduced in some states that had previously phased out the mandatory teaching of longhand when computers were introduced. In Australia, education departments haven’t followed the same path. Handwriting remains a key component from the foundation year through to Year 7. And while the Digital Education Revolution and Bring Your Own Device programs brought laptops into the classroom,

H A N DW R I T I N G

exams are still handwritten – for now anyway. The expectation is that pencils and paper will be scrapped by 2016 in favour of online Naplan testing. Although Australia has no handwriting research comparable to the overseas studies, anecdotal evidence from teachers indicates a decline in ability among students. Marnee Wills, a retired public school teacher who now runs Better Learning Through Handwriting courses in Victoria, says she noticed that students who had

neat, legible and fluent handwriting were the top achievers. “You’d have the odd exception to the rule but, on the whole, they wrote more, wrote more often and wrote faster,” says Wills. Many children find it hard to hold a pencil properly when they enter school, says Queensland Teachers’ Union president Kevin Bates. “So much time is spent on screens that the types of tactile engagement students experience have changed quite fundamentally,” says Bates. “We can’t ignore basic skills such as handwriting. In the context of motor skills issues, it has a direct impact on cognitive ability.” Bates says that, because children are being engaged in the traditional curriculum much earlier on, with teachers under pressure to prepare them for Naplan in Year 3, teachers are being forced to test knowledge at the expense of training children to develop better for acquiring knowledge.

Wills thinks there’s another problem too: universities aren’t equipping new teachers with the knowledge. “I go into schools and discover that graduate teachers know nothing about handwriting, either at the research end or in practical application. There’s token mention of handwriting in the curriculum but no guidance on what script you should be teaching or how you should be teaching it.” Dr Phil Lambert, general manager curriculum at the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, is cautious about overreacting, saying there is no empirical evidence to suggest that Australian students’ handwriting is deteriorating. “Schools reflect what is happening in society,” says Lambert. “Much like the transition from ink wells to ballpoint pens, paper to computers, it is inevitable that the focus on handwriting as an essential skill may change over the next decade to reflect how [people in society are] engaging with each other.” l

Amanda Woodard is a freelance writer.

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´ Viva la revolucion In post-dictatorship Chile, teachers and students are in a struggle for education reform that cuts to the heart of creating a less segregated, more equitable society. BY c y n d i t e b b e l

he scale and depth of passion that the defence of free public education can evoke has been demonstrated in a very literal sense on the streets of Santiago, Chile, in recent months. In particular, teacher and student unions organised a National March for Education in the Chilean capital on August 21, and tens of thousands of people responded. The conservative estimate was 25,000, but it could have been as many as 80,000. While the protest was largely peaceful, student clashes with riot police made news bulletins around the world. At the heart of the issue is the slow pace of education reforms 24 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

While the protedst was largely peaceful, student clashes with riot police made news bulletins around the world

proposed by Chile’s centre-left president, Michelle Bachelet. After decades of a market-based system introduced by dictator Augusto Pinochet, Chileans have reason to hope that the educational segregation it has produced is about to end. One-third of Chile’s primary and secondary students attend private, for-profit institutions, which are subsidised on equal terms with not-for-profit and public schools. In response to tenacious student activism, Bachelet made promises, prior to winning her second term in March this year, to address the situation with a complete overhaul of the education system. Her key reforms include ending public funding for for-profit schools, making all primary and

secondary education free, and prohibiting selective admission practices. The teacher and student unions are united in their support, and in late October the Lower House approved Bachelet’s education bill, sending it to the senate where debate is expected. However, the president faces strong neo-liberal obstruction, says Jaime Gajardo, national president of the Colegio de Profesores, Chile’s largest teachers’ union. Private educators and right-wing political parties are united in their opposition to her plan to dismantle the free-market model. “They have all used different arguments to oppose the reforms,” he says. “But, in the end, their main concern is that they won’t be able to continue profiting from public funds.”

Great momentum Gajardo, a professor of mathematics who has devoted his life to education reform, describes himself

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as a “true heir to public education”, and is demanding Chile fulfil its role of ensuring that right for all teachers and students. Gajardo has the patience of a person who’s been in a struggle for a long time, but he says it’s now at a critical point, with great momentum for Bachelet’s reforms. “We believe that, as we build a social political unity in favour of the changes, not only will the president meet the various aspects of her program, but we will also progress deeper transformations to the education system,” he says. “The conservative sectors have demonstrated they have great influence and power, but that is not static. We believe we can progress to a process of mobilisation that will push the Description: September Council and 2014 transformations we demand EXIF - Date needs.” Taken: 13/09/2014 11:51 AM the country File Size: 3 MB The reforms would revolutionise 052.JPG Chilean education and society. Eradicating for-profit education would also do away with the notion that education is a commodity to be consumed rather than a social right. At the same time, says Gajardo, it would raise individuals to the

When you establish the condition of social rights in an education system, August JOURNAL SELECTS inequality and segregation will progressively recede. Jaime Gajardo

level of committed citizens whose “The Chilean experience personal destinies are part of shows that the market in public the national destiny. “When you education, as a pillar of the establish the condition of social education system, has only served rights in an education system, to create social segregation. It isn’t inequality and segregation will only us saying this. It is recognised Council 2014 progressively recede.” Description: September by international organisations such EXIF - Date Taken: 13/09/2014 11:51 AM as the OECD. Australian parallels File Size: 3.1 MB “Public education is the space 053.JPG Gajardo is aware of the Abbott in which we learn to co-exist government’s push for the with difference, with different privatisation of the education people, with different points of system and says Australians view, with different goals. Don’t should closely examine the dire allow education to be privatised. results of such neo-liberalism in Organise and fight for your Chile and other Latin American rights.” l countries, and resist. Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

Growing unrest in Argentina Argentina’s education budget privatisation and it’s a path He’s calling for an has increased from 4.6 to we don’t want to go down. evaluation system to shed 6 per cent of GDP, and in “We’ve pushed aside light on what’s working well September President Cristina their paradigm of schools in the system and what isn’t. Fernández earmarked the being used to create cheap Equity is one thing that equivalent of almost A$100 labour and moved it towards isn’t. There are huge funding million for guaranteeing schools being the foundation disparities between the compulsory education for of creating committed country’s public and private children from the age of four. citizenry.” schools, and its universities Boasts of record spending Suteba wants to see account for 70 per cent of the on education are in stark investment in education education budget. contrast to an economy in lifted to at least 8 per cent of Baradel is optimistic about recession and an inflation GDP to ensure improvements reaching the union’s goals, rate of 40 per centDescription: (among September Their actions broad- Unionare met in teacher salariesSeptember butCouncil believes it will probably Council 2014have - SUTEBA of Education Description: 2014 - SUTEBA - Union of Education Workers, Provincecommunity of Buenos Aires - General Secretary Roberto... Workers, Province ofrequire Buenos Aires - General Secretary Roberto... the highest in the world) support, says and working conditions, further industrial EXIF - Date Taken: 13/09/2014 11:47general AM EXIF -and Date Taken: 13/09/2014 11:47 AM which has led to mounting Roberto Baradel, pre-teacher training action. File Size: 3.1 MB public mistrust of File the Size: 3 MB secretary of the Argentinian school infrastructure. “We’re going to continue 050.JPG 048.JPG government’s ability to teachers’ union Suteba. Baradel says some our fight, particularly in the deliver on its promises. “We’re debating the teachers have three different lead-up to a national election Teachers, students and government to understand roles and work in schools next year. But we want to be other labour organisations what a quality education that lack the resources to intelligent about the way we have united in a campaign of means,” he says, “because “move beyond the basics move forward and engage general strikes and protests neo-liberal voices are to things like creative arts, with the broader community across the country to draw trying to take us back to physical education and about how to improve public attention to the crisis in policies established in the other areas integral to the education. Striking is our last education. 1990s. That’s the path to formation of our youth”. recourse.” l

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15/09/2014

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Thirty million teachers delivered a message to the United Nations in September, calling for quality education to remain a top priority.

Teachers call on UN for support

ducation International, (EI) the world’s largest federation of unions, wrapped up its year-long Unite for Quality Education campaign with a high-profile tour to five continents, ending in New York at the UN General Assembly, where they put the three pillars of quality education – quality teaching, quality teaching and learning tools, and quality learning environments – on the world’s agenda. EI president Susan Hopgood, general secretary Fred van Leeuwen and seven teachers from around the world met with the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning, Amina 26 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

Teachers celebrate the Unite for Quality Education campaign, captured here by Miz Poulsen.

J. Mohammed of Nigeria. They presented her with a handmade wooden portfolio box to mark the end of the campaign and urge that education make the list of post-2015 development goals. The box contained a message from the more than 30 million teachers represented by EI and its 400 member organisations to Ban Ki-moon, urging him to ensure that education is a stand-alone goal on the post-2015 development agenda. Along with an open letter addressed to the Secretary-General from EI’s President and General Secretary, the box contained an Education For All (EFA) Teacher Survey Report and a DVD copy of the documentary film, A Day in the Life, which features the lives of teachers around the world.

The campaign was predicated on EI’s belief that a good education is comprised of three quality pillars: teaching, tools for teaching and learning, and environments for teaching and learning, says Hopgood. “One year on, we have witnessed firsthand that efforts to meet the basic goal of ‘education for all’ are falling short. Globally, nearly 60 million children remain out of school, indicating education is still not top of mind for some leaders, and the international community has not delivered on its Millennium Development Goals, one of which was to ensure universal access to quality education,” she says. “The time has come for policymakers to start listening to teachers.”

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Education – the movie Dawn is breaking. Teachers around the world begin their day being parents, partners, energetically charged, ignoring how the coming day will be. Each region has distinctive features, a diversity of peoples and landscapes, its own cultural identity, and yet there’s something about being a teacher that unites them all, a common purpose. And there they are, in front of children of all colours, ages and social backgrounds, exchanging knowledge and experiences, dreaming of ways to spin the wheel and raise awareness. The commitment afforded to others is what drives them to be active within their community. They participate outside school hours in unions, co-operatives and in faculty meetings. And, once back home, they still are fathers, mothers, spouses and partners. The stories intersect in this narrative. They are equal and yet they differ. There’s criticism, reflection and optimism. But the collective dream is a world in which education is a right and everyone has equal opportunities to participate in quality education.

Teaching moments Education International, the world’s largest federation of unions, called on teachers to share photographs showing their learning environments and students. It was part of the Unite for Quality Education campaign and aimed to show the great scope of teaching and learning conditions that can be found in different countries and regions. Some of the photos were published in a book that was handed to UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon on World Teachers Day on October 5. Complementing the publication, the Education For All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) has launched an online questionnaire for teachers around the world to help provide insight on some of the key themes appearing in the EFA GMR 2015 due out next year.

View the Teachers: A day in the life video at http://youtu.be/H_YkoBhxmfY Directed by Agustin Demichelis, produced by Mar Candela, written by Nicolas Levesque. Executive producers: Open Society Foundations and Education International

The advocacy toolkit can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kvewz7w. On Twitter, it is linked to the hashtag #teachlearn.

Globally, nearly 60 million children remain out of school, indicating education is still not top of mind for some leaders.

Susan Hopgood

From top left, photographs by Guzaliya Hasanowa, Florian Lascroux Snes-fsu and Sylvie St-Jacques.

How you can support the Quality Education For All campaign A new advocacy toolkit for teachers provides resources and ideas for practical steps to lobby policymakers for quality education for all. The toolkit, produced jointly by the EFA Global Monitoring Report, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All, and Education International, also provides examples of best practices from around the world, as well as evidence that these practices have provided positive results. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 s u m m e r 201 4 27

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Online links and programs are making a world of difference for previously isolated students and teachers. BY C y n t h i a K a r e n a

Remote but connected

rom sharing stories with their local community on YouTube, to talking to a polar explorer at Mt Everest base camp, students in remote schools are using technology to connect and collaborate with people all over the world. At Esperance Primary School, in the far south of Western Australia, the excited students had the opportunity to talk to Australian skier Greta Small at the Winter Olympics in Russia earlier this year via Skype. “We’re a long way from anywhere,” says Geoff Chambers, a teacher and ICT coordinator at the school, which is 725km from Perth, geographically the most isolated city in the world. The teachers made strong curriculum links to the Early

2 8 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

BRIEFLY

The internet is allowing schools in isolated places to foster global connections. Use of Skype, YouTube and other platforms can be integrated into curriculum learning. Some remote schools are limited by having less bandwidth than those in more populated areas.

Years Learning Framework in making global connections, says Chambers. “We also used the education section on the Olympic site to integrate a wide range of activities into teaching and learning programs across all aspects of the Australian curriculum.” The Horsham West and Haven Primary School campuses, in western Victoria, use Skype to give students access to experts around the world. “It’s hard to get people to come to Horsham,” says eLearning coordinator Ben Miatke. As part of their goal-setting and problem-solving unit, students Skyped polar explorer Mark Wood when he was at Mt Everest base camp, and ocean explorer Fabien Cousteau

while he was in his underwater laboratory in Florida. “Cousteau lived there for 31 days and spoke to students about sustainability on land as well as water,” says Miatke.

Countering distance Townsville’s Hermit Park State School is just as connected as any school in Brisbane, says principal Clayton Carnes. “Technology removes the element of distance and brings everything we need to our door,” he says. Hermit Park also uses Skype to connect its students to the wider world and encourage them to be interested in world affairs. For example, it has worked with six schools in Southeast Asia to save endangered orangutans in Indonesia, in a project which has grown into a global movement called DeforestACTION. Carnes uses Skype to connect with students when he’s overseas. “If I’m in Seattle for a conference, we can talk about what time it is in Townsville and Seattle. We’ll talk about international datelines and how the Earth moves around the sun to create different time zones.” Teachers at the school use Skype to connect with other teachers and educational leaders around the world. “We encourage teachers to keep up-to-date through online education forums,” says Carnes. “One of our teachers monitors online discussion groups every day, ranging from teaching methods to assessment.”

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We’re getting our students to think outside their geographical boundaries.

Resources epals.com l side.wa.edu.au l side.wa.edu.au/e-learning/science-week-2014-webinars l vss.nsw.edu.au/about-page/faq l

Geoff Chambers Teacher and ICT coordinator at Esperance Primary School

Greta Small

Fabien Cousteau

Mark Wood Deforest ACTION

Buddy schools As well as using Skype, Esperance Primary students share their work with other schools using Dropbox and the school’s YouTube channel. “Emailing large files is problematic because we have reduced bandwidth,” says Chambers. “As a geographically isolated primary school, we get less bandwidth than any school in the city.” The students make movies to share with a ‘buddy school’ in Cambodia. “Before they connect to students in Cambodia, they will learn about Cambodian customs and culture. We’re getting our students to think outside their geographical boundaries,” he says. The students also have epals, the digital version of pen pals.

Australian students can connect with experts and other children around the world.

“It’s important for our younger students to be exposed to a bigger world. They find connecting with students overseas exciting. Even sending a message to the United Kingdom and being disappointed by no response leads to a discovery that students are asleep over there when we are awake.” Microsoft’s Innovative Schools program also helps Esperance Primary connect with other schools around Australia and the world, and it provides free advice and resources.

Virtual classmates Meanwhile, distance education has come a long way from radio in the 1940s to conducting live online lessons, says Ross Manson,

head of online teaching and learning at Schools of Isolated and Distance Education, in Perth. “We have virtual breakout rooms, which are like separate online sessions at the same time during class,” he says. “All of our students now have [virtual] classmates they interact with. Students who used to be by themselves, in a remote location, now have a peer group. “A student in the eastern wheatbelt in WA and a student in a mining town can share and type on the same document in real time.” An online environment with digital time stamps allows educators to keep track of student attendance at lessons and there is evidence of each student’s time spent on their assignments. Webinars, which expose students to industry leaders in the wider world, are another online medium. The innovations don’t stop there, of course. Next year the NSW Department of Education and Communities’ virtual secondary school will link teachers and students at different locations for the study of specialist subjects their home schools don’t offer. It will also provide peer groups of students of similar academic ability and interest. Students will connect with teachers and classmates through web conferencing software and the department’s virtual classrooms. l Cynthia Karena is a freelance writer. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 s u m m e r 2 01 4 2 9

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Wearable technology is coming to a classroom near you, as cutting-edge developments begin to shape the future of learning. BY C y n t h i a K a r e n a

Dress codes

ec Spink need only glance at her wrist to see a cuttingedge example of wearable technology and start imagining what role it might play in the future of education. The 2013 Victorian Primary Teacher of the Year and avid tech blogger wears a Pebble smart watch, which has her daily activities mapped out using Evernote software (for which she is an international education ambassador). “I can quickly glance at my watch to access notes and reminders rather than whipping out my phone,” she says. “Using a smart watch allows people to be more engaged with others, which is often not the case when looking at a phone.” Smart watches and other forms of wearable technology will cause

Visually impaired students could use facial recognition in smart glasses to identify friends… Bec Spink Victorian Primary Teacher of the Year, Aitken Creek Primary School, Melbourne 3 0 S U M M E R 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

us to rethink what we already define as anywhere, anytime learning, says Spink, a teacher at Aitken Creek Primary School in Melbourne. She can see students monitoring a Twitter discussion on their smart watches while still being engaged in a lesson, or documenting their learning experiences using Google Glass, a head-mounted, internet-connected, voice-operated gadget that went on the market in May this year. “It would be more seamless than physically having to do it with a larger mobile device.” Such technology could also be used by students on excursions, says Spink. “That mash-up of smart glasses and augmented reality gives students information, facts and videos – for instance, at a zoo when they reach certain locations.” Visually impaired students could use facial recognition in smart glasses to identify friends, and recognise and get information about nearby objects. “And hearingimpaired students could have conversations transcribed and displayed on the glasses.”

Techno iceberg Smart watches and Google Glass are just the tip of the techno iceberg when it comes to wearable sensors, information providers and the like. Among many other examples are smart fitness wristbands, jackets that give directions, and techno slippers that transmit an alert if an elderly person falls over. Micro-sensored fitness wristbands are already being used in education. They gather information about the wearer’s body, such as temperature and heart rate, and track physical

Bec Spink of Aitken Creek Primary School sporting her smart watch.

activity, such as how many steps are taken over what distance. The collected information can be sent to an app for analysis. Students at Deakin University’s Faculty of Health are using fitness wristbands to meet health goals such as ‘walking for 30 minutes every day’. Having written about their experiences in a journal, they can already see the benefits a wearable device has for progress tracking, says health psychology lecturer Dr Jaclyn Broadbent. The data from each student can also be used as evidence that they have completed a run or achieved the minimum time for a set exercise, says John Baker, CEO of technology company Desire2Learn.

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Resources google.com/glass/start/what-it-does l getpebble.com l wearableexperiments.com/navigate l

“The data can be analysed to give an indication of their ability and where they are lacking,” he says.

Look, no hands Being hands-free is a big part of the Google Glass appeal, says Robert Fitzgerald, a professor of education at the University of Canberra, who has trialled the glasses. They have a side-mounted touchpad and a tiny screen that can be viewed at a glance. Users can read text messages and emails, search the internet, take photos and shoot video without the need to reach for a mobile phone. “They’re surprisingly comfortable to wear, light and quite unobtrusive,” says Fitzgerald. “The effective screen size is good, with very readable text and graphics. You look up slightly and focus to see the display.” In education, the glasses could be used for remote mentoring, almost like a live video conference, or to record educational experiences to replay later, he says. “Drawing on voice recognition and activation capabilities opens up many opportunities,” says Fitzgerald. Hands-free devices such as smart watches or smart glasses could be useful for training advice in physical education. Or imagine a cooking class where students have their hands deep in dough or whatever, but can still read a recipe or other information on their watch or glasses. “If they found a great recipe in French, they could listen to a translated version via the glasses,” says Fitzgerald. In science, students could view chemical bottle labels, with further information displayed, such as instructions for use and safety warnings. “There could also be educational applications based on where students are [or are about to be]. For example, before coming into a science room, they could download teacher instructions.”

Sensor ability

Drawing on voice recognition and activation capabilities opens up many opportunities. Robert Fitzgerald Professor of Education, University of Canberra

In the future, more sensors will be employed in experiential learning, with wearable devices integrated into the ‘internet of things’, says Baker. For example, students doing a science experiment could use their smart watches to see the feedback of sensors measuring the temperature of liquid in a test tube. They won’t have to manually record temperature results or distract themselves from doing other things to check a thermometer. And still another area of wearable technology in rapid development is smart fabrics. For example, a ‘bruise suit’ that measures the impact of physical activity on parts of the body where there is no feeling. “This could allow disabled students to monitor themselves during physical education, so they don’t injure what they can’t feel,” says Fitzgerald. l Cynthia Karena is a freelance writer. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 summer 2 01 4 3 1

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by rick connors

Art and media teacher, Wanganui Park Secondary College, Shepparton, Victoria

My best app Rick Connors uses apps in three ways: for students to create; for him to communicate with students; and to deliver curriculum. “Apps are powerful in that we’re not just using them to keep students entertained, but are integrating apps with the curriculum,” says Connors. “Apps are more up-to-date than a static textbook. They can link to videos or a current exhibition at a gallery or to expert opinion,” he says.

Omnifocus 2

WORTH A LOOK Schoology

iOS, android; free Connors uses this “easy-to-use” online learning management app to communicate with his students, manage their assignments, and set online quizzes. “It opens up communication with students outside the classroom – for example any updates they need to know. Students can submit assignments and they enjoy using it.” Once marked, students get instant feedback and this can be sent out to parents as well.

iOS; $24.99 This task management app keeps track of what needs to be done – by project, place, person or date. “I live by this app. It allows me to break tasks into active lists, and into context by projects. For example, I have a list of tasks to do when I’m sitting in front of the computer at school.”

iMovies iOS; $6.49 Connors’ students learn the art of storytelling through making movies. “Students produce digital stories across all year levels, ranging from simply using images, text and music, to the more advanced students who add video, and create special effects.” 32 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

Gym Pocket Guide

Windows; free, $1.99 Pro Students can learn the finer points of hammer curls, bench presses, and more than 100 other exercises, with detailed step-by-step instructions, photos and videos. There are safety tips, particularly on safely using dumb-bells, and the pro version allows students to record workout data and create customised programs.

Fireballs in the sky Android, iOS; free rick’s tips “The best place to find out about apps is Twitter. Follow educators, and they will (sooner or later) suggest some useful apps. Students are also a good resource. If you have an idea for a project, they will have ideas for apps. This helps them shape their own learning.” Share your secrets Which apps do you find useful in the classroom? Let us know at educator@ hardiegrant. com.au

Students can be part of a crowdsourcing meteorite research project at Curtin University where scientists are tracking meteorites as they fall to Earth. The University is hoping that people will record sightings with the app to help scientists get more accurate trajectories and spot meteorites they missed. They can also view recent confirmed sightings with notes from scientists. To become more involved, visit: fireballsinthesky.com.au

123 Sheep iOS; free Three counting games that teach young students to: count numbers of sheep in groups; count sheep in two’s to help the sheepdog jump on them and into the farmer’s ute; and herd the correct number of sheep into pens (also practising division skills). If a mistake is made in a game, the app will suggest the student play it again the next session, with additional helpful commentary. However, the music may need to be muted.

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M i l e sto n e s

Paid parental leave for Australian teachers has a long history, more so for some than others, with entitlements varying greatly between the states. b Y M A R G A R E T B OZ I K

Baby steps

ustralian educators have a long tradition of campaigning for, and securing, paid maternity leave. It may come as a surprise to learn how long ago it was granted to married teachers in New South Wales, and how long it took for legislation in other states and at a federal level to follow suit, and for leave conditions to be improved. Historic record keeping by all parties, including government departments, hasn’t been as good as it should have been, says AEU women’s officer Catherine Davis. “Nonetheless, it can be said there’s a tradition of early campaigning and securing lengthy periods of paid leave – usually off the back of members sacrificing salary increases – on the basis of the principle of supporting maternity leave and childcare,” she says.

New South Wales The first record of paid parental leave for teachers in Australia can be found in NSW’s Education Gazette on September 1, 1937. Alongside instructions for managing outbreaks of infantile paralysis, it was noted that “the Permanent Head may grant leave of absence to married women teachers for accouchement”. This included eight weeks immediately preceding birth confinement (the first four weeks at half-pay, the second four weeks at full pay), plus at least six weeks of unpaid leave following the birth. This was a significant achievement for 1937, but it took another 42 years for NSW teachers’ maternity leave entitlements to be improved. In 1979 they secured half pay for the duration of their compulsory six weeks’ leave after birth. And it took until 1985 for them to have the right to return to

their previous position after taking unpaid maternity leave.

Victoria “Victorian teacher unions won [and continue to have] the best familyfriendly entitlements in Australia,” says Victoria’s AEU branch. They instituted structures‚ staffing and initiatives well before the government did. Nonetheless, progress has been very slow since the 1980s despite continuous, strenuous efforts. The level of conditions for school teachers hasn’t been achieved in the areas of early childhood‚ school services officers‚ TAFE‚ disability and the Adult Migrant English Service. Victorian teachers were first granted maternity leave in 1957. It was leave without pay for up to 18 months. In 1976 they secured 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and five days of paternity leave. In 2004 this was increased to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and 35 hours of prenatal leave. Permanent part-time work and up to seven years of unpaid family leave was won in 1984. This was a major recognition of the importance of combining family responsibilities with a career, although, 30 years later, many teachers still struggle to negotiate part-time work with their employers.

Queensland It wasn’t until 1981 that Queensland teachers secured 12 months of unpaid accouchement leave, says Davis. In 1993 they gained the right to apply for up to seven years of extended special leave, and two years’ unpaid parental leave was secured in 2006. In 1996 Queensland teachers won six weeks of paid maternity leave, inclusive of school holidays.

Western Australia WA teachers finally secured the right to up to 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave in 2000. Paid parental leave soon followed: two weeks in 2001, increased to four weeks in 2002, six weeks in 2003 and 14 weeks in 2008.

Tasmania In 2002 teachers in Tasmania were finally granted paid maternity leave as part of the Teaching Service (Tasmanian Public Sector) Award 1995, giving eligible women up to 12 weeks paid maternity leave. Prior to that, they had to access leave via paid sick leave entitlements.

Federal Since 1979, female workers employed for 12 months or more have been entitled to 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. The Fair Work Act 2009 extended the maximum period to 24 months. The Maternity Leave Act in 1973 had earlier provided 12 weeks of paid leave to female Commonwealth employees, which included a small proportion of teachers. In 1993 the Industrial Relations Reform Act established family responsibilities as a proscribed ground of discrimination. Since 2010, Australia’s National Employment Standards have included flexible work arrangements, which means any employee who is a parent, or has responsibility for the care of a child, can request a change in work arrangements. The Paid Parental Leave scheme introduced in 2011 provides 18 weeks of parental leave pay for the primary carer at the national minimum wage rate. Dad and partner pay was introduced on January 1, 2013. This statutory entitlement for eligible working fathers and partners consists of a two-week payment at national minimum wage rate. l Margaret Bozik is a freelance writer. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 S U M M E R 2 01 4 3 5

Books

Giving children autonomy and guidance is a better way to teach than the old-school aim of controlling them, says Louise Porter in her latest book. BY c a r o ly n b oy d

Guide to guidance

fter more than three decades as a child psychologist and teacher, Louise Porter is puzzled by the lack of resources for trainee teachers to help them motivate children and manage their behaviour. “The issues of young children’s behaviour are starting to turn teachers’ heads, and the needs of the students are getting more complex,” she says. “The old reward and punishment system, of punishing children for being distressed, isn’t helping.” Trying to control children isn’t the way to go, she says. Giving them autonomy and guidance is a much more successful strategy. “Autonomy is as much a human need as self-esteem and belonging, and nobody would ever say, ‘I don’t care that this child has no self-esteem and no friends’. But we seem to be much more ready to dismiss the need for autonomy, which is equally vital. “And when we do that, the children who are spirited, who are willing to risk your displeasure, will do what it takes to prove that you can’t boss them around.” Porter covers this approach, and much more, in her latest

book, A Comprehensive Guide to Classroom Management: Facilitating engagement and learning in schools (Allen & Unwin, 536 pages, RRP $69.99). She says it’s a manual to help young teachers by “painstakingly, chapter by chapter” leading them through the reasons for children’s behaviour – appropriate and inappropriate – and how to respond to it without damaging their desire to learn.

Control spiral For 20 per cent of children, being in command of themselves is their biggest need, says Porter, who runs a private child psychology and consulting practice in Brisbane. “When you try to take that control away from them, it’s a huge problem. The trouble is, it looks like the child is out of control, so the teacher imposes more control, to which the child resists and rebels. It can very quickly go into a spiral.” A guidance approach is completely different and it reduces problems by giving teachers pre-emptive tools, she says. “It’s not about who has power. It’s about the teachers and the students both getting their needs met, with less conflict in the classroom.

AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos

Australian Educator (ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media. The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

AEU deputy federal president Corenna Haythorpe AEU federal secretary Susan Hopgood AEU deputy federal secretary Pat Forward

3 6 s u m m e r 2 014 Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4

… the children who are spirited, who are willing to risk your displeasure, will do what it takes to prove that you can’t boss them around.

Louise Porter Psychologist

AEU and subscription enquiries to Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158, South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au www.aeufederal.org.au www.facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal

Editor Susan Hopgood Publisher Fiona Hardie Managing editor Sarah Lewis Commissioning editor Tracey Evans

Design Glenn Moffatt Vanessa Masci Advertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: kerrispillane @hardiegrant.com.au

Books

Let us know what you think Have you recently read a book that has inspired your teaching or your students? Tell us about it at educator@hardiegrant.com.au, on facebook.com/AEUfederal or on Twitter @AEUfederal

“It isn’t punitive and negative, so you don’t have to wait until a child actually explodes and then punish them. You can see that the child is building up and you can solve it before it gets out of hand. Guidance has many more preventive measures than control has.” Punishment is negative, she says, and teachers delay using it “because they are good people”. “But then they don’t have anything they can do to head off the mounting tension. So they do nothing, do nothing, do nothing, rather than asking, ‘I can see you’re struggling – what can I do to help?’ Then the child explodes.” Using the guidance approach also engages both parties in solving behaviour problems, rather than the teacher imposing the solution and having to deal with it, says Porter. “If something happens in the classroom, the teacher can say, ‘Okay guys, we have to stop and deal with this.’ “There won’t be star charts, there won’t be a ‘three strikes, you’re out of the class’ type system, or names written on boards. It will be, ‘Okay, well here’s an issue. This happens between people – that one person uses a strategy that happens to block 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

another person’s ability to meet their needs – so what can we do to fix it?’” In the matter of motivating students, Porter looks at it on a broader, societal level and says we ask the wrong question. “Our question is not ‘How do I get this person motivated?’ but ‘How do I make sure I don’t damage their motivation?’ – because all human beings are motivated to meet their own needs. “It comes back to a fundamental distrust of human nature. We think children need manipulating into behaving well. That they won’t behave well independently or spontaneously, and they have to be punished for mistakes, otherwise they won’t learn from them. Which is really quite bizarre as a concept. “[The guidance approach] doesn’t believe humans are motivated by external consequences. If they were, our prisons would be empty.”

Default position Without the right resources, teachers early in their careers will often fall back on their own experiences of being bossed around as a child, which can

Subscriptions Telephone enquiries (03) 9693 1800 Within Australia: $22.00 (includes GST) for four issues Overseas: $37.50 (includes postage) Printer Offset Alpine 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

About Louise Porter Dr Louise Porter has spent her life working with children. She runs a private child psychology practice in Brisbane, consults globally and is often called on to give keynote speeches about children’s behaviour. She has degrees in philosophy, psychology, arts, education and international studies, and has lectured trainee teachers at Flinders University in Adelaide. Porter is also the author of more than 20 books including Student Behaviour, Gifted Young Children and Teacher-parent Collaboration.

kick off an unfortunate pattern, says Porter. “It’s often a young teacher’s default position that they use control. But using your common sense – as some people might call it – or your life experiences as a guide, is not really the method for finding something that’s going to be effective. It’s kind of an eclectic approach where you just do things that seem like a good idea at the time. But that’s not a professional way to behave.” Porter also has the syllabus in her sights. “The trouble is, some of what gets passed as curriculum isn’t going to meet students’ needs,” she says. “For a lot of students, especially those living in destitute families, with unsafe environments, learning Shakespearean sonnets isn’t going to meet their needs. The more you try to make them learn what, to them, is nonsense, the more resistant they become.”l

Carolyn Boyd is a freelance writer.

Make cheques payable to the Australian Education Union and post to: Tom Freeman Australian Education Union Federal Office PO Box 1158, South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205, Australia

Audited circulation: 119,321 (September 2013) Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU. Au st r a l i a n E d u c ato r 8 4 s u m m e r 2 0 1 4 37

recess

i n t e rv i e w s by c y n d i t e b b e l

Why do you teach?

Three teachers share stories of life and learning.

What’s your funniest or most rewarding teaching moment? Share your best tips for engaging young minds. We’d love to hear from you. Email us at educator@hardiegrant.com.au with 150–200 words with your best teaching moments.

Teacher to teacher we ask ...

kate s mith

S haron davis

Principal, Hughes Primary School, Hughes, ACT

Head of department, student welfare, Alexandra Hills State High School, Alexandra Hills, QLD

Head teacher, history, Narrabeen Sports High School, Narrabeen North, NSW

“For a pastoral care program to work students need to have input and you have to listen to what they want. As adults, we can sometimes shy away from covering material we think is too old for them. Our Alex & Me! wellbeing program, which we launched in junior secondary in 2007, was a Regional Winner in the Queensland Showcase Awards for Excellence in Schools this year. We’ve seen positive changes in students: a reduction in shortand long-term student disciplinary actions and detentions, and better participation in school activities. Student surveys show that over 90 per cent of students say Alex & Me! and our transition programs improved their sense of belonging at school, and have given them specific strategies for dealing with bullying and maintaining healthy relationships. There is a focus on extending the program to senior students, concentrating on responsible use of social media, mental health strategies and the consequences of career and lifestyle choices. One of the key priorities for our school is attendance. I’m working on some creative ideas – and the right carrots to dangle – to improve unexplained and explained absences. A strong parent focus is also a key. I’m thinking of running something along the lines of a form class competition, with results revealed at assembly and rewards for classes that make the most progress. We often underestimate the competitive nature of kids, but it can be a powerful motivation for them to take more responsibility for their actions.” l

“My parents always promoted the importance of education and I had some really good teachers at school. Those opportunities convinced me it was a worthwhile career that could really make a difference to kids. The beauty of the public education system is that we deal with students from all walks of life and try to do the best for every one of them. Many of my students have gone into teaching. Knowing that they want to communicate their experiences to the next generation so we have a better world for everyone to live in is why I’m still teaching. The other thing that keeps me going is that I really love teaching history. It gives students a sense that what’s happened in the past is still influencing what happens today. As a teacher of senior students, you’re there as a bit of a guide. So, in my classroom, it’s not about finding the right answer. I encourage students to engage with the material rather than just a lot of facts and dates they need to remember for exams. You’ve also got to have a bit of fun. A good teacher is a good story teller and history has so many great stories that can engage kids. The challenge for teachers today is that much of what they do is not about education. It’s about ticking boxes and filling in forms, and there’s not enough time to reflect on and talk about what’s happening in the classroom.” l

“In April, I represented Australia at the International Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. I spent 10 days at the US Space & Rocket Center, with 55 teacher ambassadors from 12 other countries. To represent your country is amazing, but I didn’t expect it to be such a profound experience. It was the biggest privilege of my career. We were involved in very intensive, challenging and empowering astronaut simulation training. At the beginning of camp we all talked about our own countries and how proud we are of our schools. By the end of a week focused on science, our conversation turned to the planet we were sharing. It was an amazing journey and I’ve done some very deep reflection on my role as a leader since returning to school. Hughes Primary has a strong science curriculum and we’re going to try to make the activities more authentically simulated. There are also plans to start a fund to help Year 11 and 12 students, and teachers, attend Space Camp on an annual basis. We can teach children wellintentioned things throughout the day but it’s our mission to make sure they’re given experiences that create those ah-ha moments. Space Camp was a pivotal event in my life. When you get out and do something for yourself it gives you a kick start. I want to make sure young Australians get that experience so they can literally reach for the stars.” Kate Smith was chosen for Space Camp out of 12 national recipients of the 2013 ASG National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEiTA). l 3 8 su mm er 2 01 4 Austr ali an E d u cator 8 4

Kate Smith

Sharon Davis

Jeff Conroy

jeff conroy