Australia slams its education system
Sep 22nd 2006, 8:58 pm
#1
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Australia slams its education system
Hopefully articles like this reaching the front page of The Australian will eventually lead to some serious reviews of the hit and miss education system.
In our experience ( 3 kids, 6 years, high school and primary school, private and state) this article hits the nail on the head, Why are teachers the only profession to have no external reviews. Schools effectively have no checks on their performance, teachers unions are named as being part of the problem.
Having seen classes in the same grade being taught totally different levels/standards of work dependant on the teachers current mood/personal life
I am not surprised the unions are protecting the sometimes lazy slobs called teachers. One example, grade 6 kids in our sons class taught 46 pages of a 153 page math book, mates class same grade next door, 153 pages of 153 pages of math book 
This year we have reverse, brilliant grade 7 teacher, lardy example next door pulls out the sandwhich toaster mid lesson if he fancies a snack!!
Some consistent standards are well overdue, the article.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...82-601,00.html
In our experience ( 3 kids, 6 years, high school and primary school, private and state) this article hits the nail on the head, Why are teachers the only profession to have no external reviews. Schools effectively have no checks on their performance, teachers unions are named as being part of the problem.
Having seen classes in the same grade being taught totally different levels/standards of work dependant on the teachers current mood/personal life
I am not surprised the unions are protecting the sometimes lazy slobs called teachers. One example, grade 6 kids in our sons class taught 46 pages of a 153 page math book, mates class same grade next door, 153 pages of 153 pages of math book This year we have reverse, brilliant grade 7 teacher, lardy example next door pulls out the sandwhich toaster mid lesson if he fancies a snack!!
Some consistent standards are well overdue, the article.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...82-601,00.html
Sep 22nd 2006, 10:52 pm
#2
Fighting my corner
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posts: 11,948
Re: Australia slams its education system
Or, more accurately spin:
Prime Minister John Howard says Australia's education and training system needs to be reformed to address the nation's skills shortages.
Mr Howard has told a conference in Sydney that the nation will need a more skilled work force to compete and prosper in the coming decades.
He says Australia needs to improve the basic skills of its work force, raise apprenticeship completion rates and increase opportunities for people to gain higher skills.
[...]
The Ai Group wants a national skills fund to boost training and it wants the small- and medium-sized businesses to be able to claim a tax deduction of more than 100 per cent for training programs.
ABC.
Which is not as eye-catching as the tabloid title of this thread, but at least has the advantage of being perfectly true.
In a nutshell: Australia has a skills shortage, hence the recent immigration drive. Australia's education system isn't meeting the demands of this skills shortage, and needs an injection of funds to boost its capacity. New initiatives may also be needed, including greater input from the private sector.
That's the long and short of it.
Prime Minister John Howard says Australia's education and training system needs to be reformed to address the nation's skills shortages.
Mr Howard has told a conference in Sydney that the nation will need a more skilled work force to compete and prosper in the coming decades.
He says Australia needs to improve the basic skills of its work force, raise apprenticeship completion rates and increase opportunities for people to gain higher skills.
[...]
The Ai Group wants a national skills fund to boost training and it wants the small- and medium-sized businesses to be able to claim a tax deduction of more than 100 per cent for training programs.
Which is not as eye-catching as the tabloid title of this thread, but at least has the advantage of being perfectly true.
In a nutshell: Australia has a skills shortage, hence the recent immigration drive. Australia's education system isn't meeting the demands of this skills shortage, and needs an injection of funds to boost its capacity. New initiatives may also be needed, including greater input from the private sector.
That's the long and short of it.
Sep 22nd 2006, 11:51 pm
#3
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Hopefully articles like this reaching the front page of The Australian will eventually lead to some serious reviews of the hit and miss education system.
In our experience ( 3 kids, 6 years, high school and primary school, private and state) this article hits the nail on the head, Why are teachers the only profession to have no external reviews. Schools effectively have no checks on their performance, teachers unions are named as being part of the problem.
Having seen classes in the same grade being taught totally different levels/standards of work dependant on the teachers current mood/personal life I am not surprised the unions are protecting the sometimes lazy slobs called teachers. One example, grade 6 kids in our sons class taught 46 pages of a 153 page math book, mates class same grade next door, 153 pages of 153 pages of math book
This year we have reverse, brilliant grade 7 teacher, lardy example next door pulls out the sandwhich toaster mid lesson if he fancies a snack!!
Some consistent standards are well overdue, the article.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...82-601,00.html
In our experience ( 3 kids, 6 years, high school and primary school, private and state) this article hits the nail on the head, Why are teachers the only profession to have no external reviews. Schools effectively have no checks on their performance, teachers unions are named as being part of the problem.
Having seen classes in the same grade being taught totally different levels/standards of work dependant on the teachers current mood/personal life
I am not surprised the unions are protecting the sometimes lazy slobs called teachers. One example, grade 6 kids in our sons class taught 46 pages of a 153 page math book, mates class same grade next door, 153 pages of 153 pages of math book This year we have reverse, brilliant grade 7 teacher, lardy example next door pulls out the sandwhich toaster mid lesson if he fancies a snack!!
Some consistent standards are well overdue, the article.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...82-601,00.html
Same problems in the UK.
Sep 23rd 2006, 12:13 am
#4
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by MD09
Same problems in the UK.
Sep 23rd 2006, 12:36 am
#5
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by Hutch
Actually the problem in the UK is the exact opposite - government keep screwing about with the system, imposing ludicrious testing and paperwork regimes on teachers, buggering about with exams, imposing short-term fixes at the behest of Daily Mail editorials and concentrating on 'bright' kids at 'good' schools at the expence of ordinary kids from sink estates in the inner-city. The teachers unions in the UK have no teeth whatsoever.
And Vash, did you actually read the article posted by Jada? While your arguments may be valid, they are a completely different issue. The article and Jada were talking about the quality (and measurement of) of teaching, not turning out little robots to power Johnnies machine.
I have to say that I am very happy with the primary education my boy has received so far, but I know that he has been lucky with his teachers. They have been fantastic, but it could easily have gone the other way.
Jane
Last edited by JaneandJim; Sep 23rd 2006 at 12:54 am.
Sep 23rd 2006, 12:52 am
#6
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Re: Australia slams its education system
As a trainee teacher I have been incredibly concerned with the intellectual level of some of my peers. How some of them got through their T.E.E's is beyond me But the uni keeps on supporting them, taking their money and allowing them to continue.
Personally, I would be worried sick if any one of those dolts were to graduate and be allowed to teach my kids.
But the uni keeps on supporting them, taking their money and allowing them to continue.Personally, I would be worried sick if any one of those dolts were to graduate and be allowed to teach my kids.
Sep 23rd 2006, 1:16 am
#7
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede
Or, more accurately spin:
Prime Minister John Howard says Australia's education and training system needs to be reformed to address the nation's skills shortages.
Mr Howard has told a conference in Sydney that the nation will need a more skilled work force to compete and prosper in the coming decades.
He says Australia needs to improve the basic skills of its work force, raise apprenticeship completion rates and increase opportunities for people to gain higher skills.
[...]
The Ai Group wants a national skills fund to boost training and it wants the small- and medium-sized businesses to be able to claim a tax deduction of more than 100 per cent for training programs.
ABC.
Which is not as eye-catching as the tabloid title of this thread, but at least has the advantage of being perfectly true.
In a nutshell: Australia has a skills shortage, hence the recent immigration drive. Australia's education system isn't meeting the demands of this skills shortage, and needs an injection of funds to boost its capacity. New initiatives may also be needed, including greater input from the private sector.
That's the long and short of it.
Prime Minister John Howard says Australia's education and training system needs to be reformed to address the nation's skills shortages.
Mr Howard has told a conference in Sydney that the nation will need a more skilled work force to compete and prosper in the coming decades.
He says Australia needs to improve the basic skills of its work force, raise apprenticeship completion rates and increase opportunities for people to gain higher skills.
[...]
The Ai Group wants a national skills fund to boost training and it wants the small- and medium-sized businesses to be able to claim a tax deduction of more than 100 per cent for training programs.
Which is not as eye-catching as the tabloid title of this thread, but at least has the advantage of being perfectly true.
In a nutshell: Australia has a skills shortage, hence the recent immigration drive. Australia's education system isn't meeting the demands of this skills shortage, and needs an injection of funds to boost its capacity. New initiatives may also be needed, including greater input from the private sector.
That's the long and short of it.
AUSTRALIA'S REPRESENTATIVE ON THE EXECUTIVE OF THE UN EDUCATION BODY (UNESCO) PROF KENNETH WILTSHIRE?
It's a bit of a bombshell considering who made the comments.
If you could hold off from researching data which slags off the UK system in a worse way, and read the article in full then the header to this thread isn't tabloid at all.
The article is taking comments about Australia's education system made by the country's representative at the highest international body.
I think the thread's title is a fairly accurate reflection of the article in the country's only national quality newspaper.
(The article is actually a critical appraisal of the role of the states' in undermining the system)
It all sounds depressingly accurate to me.
Sep 23rd 2006, 1:25 am
#8
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Having seen classes in the same grade being taught totally different levels/standards of work dependant on the teachers current mood/personal life
I am not surprised the unions are protecting the sometimes lazy slobs called teachers. One example, grade 6 kids in our sons class taught 46 pages of a 153 page math book, mates class same grade next door, 153 pages of 153 pages of math book The days of sitting and working through exercises in text books is long gone now. Text books can be used as part of a holistic classroom approach, but never as the sole basis of a scheme of work. How would you rate a teacher that had a real ability to get their subject across without the use of text books, using other methods? Are they any better or worse than a teacher that just gives out the text books at the beginning of the lesson and takes them back in at the end?
S
Last edited by Swerv-o; Sep 23rd 2006 at 1:30 am.
Sep 23rd 2006, 1:32 am
#9
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by Swerv-o
Teaching from books is considered very 'Old School' now (if you'll pardon the pun) and is not encouraged. What is encouraged is developing a range of engaging activities that children of all abilities can gain something from.
The days of sitting and working through exercises in text books is long gone now. Text books can be used as part of a holistic classroom approach, but never as the sole basis of a scheme of work. How would you rate a teacher that had a real ability to get thier subject across without the use of text books, using other methods? Are they any better or worse than a teacher that just gives out the text books at the beginning of the lesson and takes them back in at the end?
S
The days of sitting and working through exercises in text books is long gone now. Text books can be used as part of a holistic classroom approach, but never as the sole basis of a scheme of work. How would you rate a teacher that had a real ability to get thier subject across without the use of text books, using other methods? Are they any better or worse than a teacher that just gives out the text books at the beginning of the lesson and takes them back in at the end?
S
What's a text book? The last time I saw any of my kids working from a text book was when my eldest son was about 7 or 8 (he's 18 now).
Sep 23rd 2006, 3:22 am
#10
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Posts: 183
Re: Australia slams its education system
My eldest daughter who is 12, has a great teacher.
My youngest daughter aged 10 (same school) her teacher is absolutely useless.
They do maths about once every 4 weeks! They are learning x tables at the moment.. 2s, 5s and 10s :scared: Adding, they are asked to add figures such as 60+40 and 10+20. My daughter did that kind of maths aged 6/7 years.
Needless to say, we print maths/ English sheets off the net to help keep her stimulated.
I did speak to her teacher, she said to me they dont like to pressure the children at such a young age.
My youngest daughter aged 10 (same school) her teacher is absolutely useless.
They do maths about once every 4 weeks! They are learning x tables at the moment.. 2s, 5s and 10s :scared: Adding, they are asked to add figures such as 60+40 and 10+20. My daughter did that kind of maths aged 6/7 years.
Needless to say, we print maths/ English sheets off the net to help keep her stimulated.
I did speak to her teacher, she said to me they dont like to pressure the children at such a young age.
Sep 23rd 2006, 3:35 am
#11
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Great, so now the masses will bring out their pitchforks and run about attacking teachers for the state of the nation. What bollocks. There may be issues in the Australian education system - that's what you get when government tries to provide education for the entire nation. There are plenty of problems in the UK system - English teachers are amongst the biggest whingers I've ever met. Just have a look at their TES staffroom board for a taste...
This kind of scaremongering achieves nothing - the good teachers just get hounded with miles of extra paperwork that interrupts the good work they were actually doing and the crap teachers manage to scrape through by hiding behind all the fuss created by tabloid headlines. Perhaps the government should be doing more to encourage parents to homeschool their kids, seeing as they think they're going to do a better job? Perhaps if the parents were actually teaching their little angels how to behave in a civilized manner instead of appearing at my door with smug, spoilt and rotten attitudes and the behaviour to match, we might all see some better results?
This kind of scaremongering achieves nothing - the good teachers just get hounded with miles of extra paperwork that interrupts the good work they were actually doing and the crap teachers manage to scrape through by hiding behind all the fuss created by tabloid headlines. Perhaps the government should be doing more to encourage parents to homeschool their kids, seeing as they think they're going to do a better job? Perhaps if the parents were actually teaching their little angels how to behave in a civilized manner instead of appearing at my door with smug, spoilt and rotten attitudes and the behaviour to match, we might all see some better results?
Sep 23rd 2006, 4:04 am
#12
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by MD09
Same problems in the UK.
as a primary school teacher i coulnt disagree with you more...
Sep 23rd 2006, 4:07 am
#13
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by Hutch
Actually the problem in the UK is the exact opposite - government keep screwing about with the system, imposing ludicrious testing and paperwork regimes on teachers, buggering about with exams, imposing short-term fixes.... The teachers unions in the UK have no teeth whatsoever.
as a primary school teacher couldnt agree with you more.
Sep 23rd 2006, 7:21 am
#14
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by matildaskye
Great, so now the masses will bring out their pitchforks and run about attacking teachers for the state of the nation. What bollocks. There may be issues in the Australian education system - that's what you get when government tries to provide education for the entire nation. There are plenty of problems in the UK system - English teachers are amongst the biggest whingers I've ever met. Just have a look at their TES staffroom board for a taste...
This kind of scaremongering achieves nothing - the good teachers just get hounded with miles of extra paperwork that interrupts the good work they were actually doing and the crap teachers manage to scrape through by hiding behind all the fuss created by tabloid headlines. Perhaps the government should be doing more to encourage parents to homeschool their kids, seeing as they think they're going to do a better job? Perhaps if the parents were actually teaching their little angels how to behave in a civilized manner instead of appearing at my door with smug, spoilt and rotten attitudes and the behaviour to match, we might all see some better results?
This kind of scaremongering achieves nothing - the good teachers just get hounded with miles of extra paperwork that interrupts the good work they were actually doing and the crap teachers manage to scrape through by hiding behind all the fuss created by tabloid headlines. Perhaps the government should be doing more to encourage parents to homeschool their kids, seeing as they think they're going to do a better job? Perhaps if the parents were actually teaching their little angels how to behave in a civilized manner instead of appearing at my door with smug, spoilt and rotten attitudes and the behaviour to match, we might all see some better results?
There is less acountability here compared with the UK though - but the biggest problem - in WA at least - is a hopelessly out of touch (and not too clever) education minister.
Sep 23rd 2006, 7:41 am
#15
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Re: Australia slams its education system
Originally Posted by lollyno1
as a primary school teacher i coulnt disagree with you more...