bondipom

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E1702,00.html

NSW Govt condemn education package
By Samantha Baden
March 11, 2004
A $31.3 billion commonwealth education funding package did not contain a single new dollar for public schools and was therefore unacceptable to the NSW Government, Education Minister Andrew Refshauge said today.

The NSW Teachers' Federation also has cried foul over the package, labelling it "terrible" and saying it would create further disadvantages for the public school sector.

Prime Minister John Howard and Education Minister Brendan Nelson announced the education funding for 2005-2008 today, but said schools and state governments would have to meet a range of national benchmarks to receive the money.

These included bringing in a uniform national school starting age by 2010 and a commitment to common tests in reading, writing, science, information, communications and technology, and democracy.

bondipom

The goals of a common education system and bringing in higher literacy and numeracy seem admirable. The burden on teachers in the UK is dissuading people to join the profession and causing a few to leave. It will be interesting to see how it plays out with the labour run states who are heavily influenced by the teachers unions.

Normally these state federal negotiations are played hardball until the last second.

ABCDiamond

I think that part is a good idea. This country needs standardising on education.

My daughter learnt to write the NSW way, then had to relearn the QLD style of handwriting, putting her behind the others, after being one of the top handwriters in her class in NSW.

I would have thought it could be enforced in a better way though !

But unfortunately the States only follow State Policies, not National Policies.

How long did it take them before they all used the same size railway tracks ?

bondipom

ABC I agree with that.

Same as England Scotland with different school and legal systems. Absolutely rediculous when you consider the world is moving towards mutual recognition of qualifications.

scitta

Hi ABC Diamond,

Can you please elaborate on the above subject? What does writing the NSW way and QLD Style handwriting mean?

How strict is OZ on handwriting? :scared:
Sarah

ABCDiamond

Different styles of Handwriting, and yes, they must write the correct way, for the state they are in, at least in Primary.

Queensland Modern Cursive alphabet
or
Foundation Handwriting for New South Wales

This link shows the different books available for handwriting in different states: Oxford University Press

ABCDiamond

This link shows some examples of the different fonts used.

Simone

Argghh, yep!

I went to a few different primary schools, ALL in WA, and all were different(well, at least two different types of handwriting!)
One was all joined up but with capital letters not joined, another half printing. Don't know what it was all called.
Then I came back to Holland and tried to copy how the girls wrote here.....
Now I nearly only type on the computer...

Result: my handwriting sucks!!!

Hmmm, just realised that my Australian friends handwriting is terrible too. While they lived in the same town whole lifes...
Maybe it was mainly that last school I went to...



never mind, sorry!

CHnJ

FFS!!!

This smacks of the days of forcing southpaw kids to write with their right hands.

What happens if you tell the teacher "Please don't interfere with my child's mental processes in class. I want him to be thinking about your lesson, not trying to unlearn muscle memory to create new letter shapes that are indistinguishable from his current output?" Are there State Calligraphy exams?

I'm starting to worry about putting my kid into the Aussie school system with the tales I've seen on here like the thread about the teacher getting kids sunstroke in the playground then berating them for it.

JaneandJim

Joseph hasn't had any problem with his handwriting in Queensland. Only difference is they write with pencils, whereas he was using a Parker rollerball in the UK. Perhaps different schools have different emphasis? He goes to the local state school, and while he's way ahead in some things, his confidence has increased massively here and he is learning new things, like Japanese for example. And the kids are all so polite! I help out at the tuckshop and they all say please and thank you. Its lovely after some of the brats in Joseph's old school.

As for widespread testing, although it seems a good idea, in the UK too much emphasis is put on getting the kids to pass the tests rather than on teaching them. At our local state school, we were told (by the headmaster) that they concentrated on those kids just below the threshold for the tests. Less able kids were ignored as were the bright kids.

Jane

bondipom

I was forced to change handwriting style at age 11 and ever since my writing has been a wreck. In the overall scheme of things it is quite irrelevant now.

ABCDiamond

Why ? Did you become a Doctor

Actually, Doctors handwriting isn't important any more either, since they started doing the prescriptions on computers

PeteY

I still find the fact that there is a Federal government, AND seperate state governments hard to fathom. WHY OH WHY does each state need to be goverened individually? Is it due to geographical factors and differing state needs? The country needs more uniformity in all areas including education. Somthings are absolutly mad!

Was chatting to my wife and she was saying that she needed to decide if she wanted to go to a Vic uni or an SA uni as young as 14, because vic unis need you to cover certain subjects at school that SA unis don't.

dotty

Just curious really, Ive read on here dozens of times that in the UK its one testing session after another! Can I ask how often exactly do they get tested, like yearly?, weekly? how formal is it, like que up outside the exam room in silence or more casual nowdays? And what help is given to a child who for eg: has trouble reading/spelling or do they really just ignore them. I know a bit of what goes on in high school there but Primary school sounds a bit rough these days! I cant help but wonder, as anyone here I speak to with recently arrived kids from the UK seems to rave about what they had in the UK, with one exception school here is more relaxed

ABCDiamond

This causes many problems, it also hides the responsibility of the government that is responsible for something.

Many times I have heard people blaming the government for something, I ask which Government, and the answer may be "Howard of course", but then it turns out to be a State Government problem ! Or the State Government gets the blame, for something that the Federal Government has done !

And of course, if it needs State & Federal joint co-operation ?
Well, NO CHANCE !!