#18 December 2007 - Melbourne Institute News

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Melbourne Institute News December 2007 ISSN 1442-9500 (print)

ISSN 1442-9519 (online)

Print Post Approved PP381667/01204

Issue 18

Our Schools... Our Future

Professor Stephen Sedgwick, The Hon Stephen Smith MP, The Hon Julie Bishop MP, Professor Glyn Davis, Mr Michael Stutchbury at the ‘Our Schools... Our Future’ Conference.

Poverty in Australia This article, by Dr Roger Wilkins, explores the changing face of poverty in Australia. Page 2

Happiness more elusive than Depression The findings are out for this recent working paper by Drs Wang-Sheng Lee and Umut Oguzoglu. Page 4

HILDA Statistical Report It’s been over a year since the last volume of this excellent and in-depth report by Dr Bruce Headey and Ms Diana Warren. Four stories from the report are included in this article. Page 6

On November 15 the Melbourne Institute sponsored a conference on schooling, Our Schools…Our Future, in conjunction with The Australian newspaper. Melbourne Institute Director, Professor Stephen Sedgwick provides some personal reflections on the debates during the day. It is not a summary of proceedings. The event brought together academics and practitioners who discussed how to improve outcomes achieved by school students. Data presented at the conference show that students in Australia do reasonably well in international literacy and numeracy tests, on average. Yet concerns linger about how well prepared our students are for the rapidly evolving economic and social conditions that they will undoubtedly experience throughout their adult lives; and for those who do not successfully acquire the skills necessary to transition easily into adult life and work. As is so often the case at such conferences, the discussion quickly turned to the role of teachers and teaching. The depressing thing was that the same issues have been raised and debated for well over a decade. One speaker neatly captured the issue when he observed that while attendance at school is compulsory, learning seems to be optional. The twist, however, is that it is not just the students who need to be the learners: good teachers are instinctively also good learners who keep abreast with developments in their field and continually adapt their styles to meet the needs of each student entrusted to their care. (cont’d Page 2)

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