schooling/teaching standards in Perth
Jul 10th 2008, 3:51 pm
#106
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 155
Re: schooling/teaching standards in Perth
And for conscientious teachers this is great. The difficulty lies with the less than conscientious, the badly led and the complacent.
When I started teaching in the UK in 1993, accountability in schools was just starting to occur. The UK then reminds me of Australia now except that in Australia there is much more resistance to moves to make educators and departments accountable than there was in the UK in the early 90s.
I would never say that the UK has got it absolutely right in terms of the systems used to provide accountability but I certainly think that Australia has got it wrong.
When I started teaching in the UK in 1993, accountability in schools was just starting to occur. The UK then reminds me of Australia now except that in Australia there is much more resistance to moves to make educators and departments accountable than there was in the UK in the early 90s.
I would never say that the UK has got it absolutely right in terms of the systems used to provide accountability but I certainly think that Australia has got it wrong.
Jul 10th 2008, 9:37 pm
#107
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Brisvegas
Posts: 5,461
Re: schooling/teaching standards in Perth
Yes, it is getting nasty. I joined this forum as I'm moving to UAE and started reading the Australian section in an attempt to genuinely give my opinion on people's answers but seems some others are hell bent on getting their own opinion across.
Jul 10th 2008, 9:46 pm
#108
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Brisvegas
Posts: 5,461
Re: schooling/teaching standards in Perth
Given your tendency to selectively read posts - possibly including your own - you may well have missed the fact that a few days ago you said in a post that you "probably wouldn't send your kids to a state school again".
Hardly a ringing endorsement of state schooling in Perth for the poor old OP in England.....
Or is WA state schooling somehow wrong for your own kids but OK for everybody elses?
Or, in addition to selective reading and a selective chip on your shoulder, are you also able to invert your snobbery at the touch of a button?
Hardly a ringing endorsement of state schooling in Perth for the poor old OP in England.....
Or is WA state schooling somehow wrong for your own kids but OK for everybody elses?
Or, in addition to selective reading and a selective chip on your shoulder, are you also able to invert your snobbery at the touch of a button?
It's true I said I probably wouldn't send my kids to a state school again, but I did say, to the OP to choose one in a good area and they'll be fine. MY CHOICE!!!!
I'm certainly not the one with the chip on my shoulder here and certainly not the one showing snobbery. But I'm done with this post, because as I just said, I joined this forum to seek advice and to offer it, not get into personal attacks with someone so full of self importance.
Jul 12th 2008, 7:31 am
#109
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Perth
Posts: 3,453
Re: schooling/teaching standards in Perth
Thought this was very appropriate given the previous discussion. I may create a separate thread for this.
Relevant comments for me in bold.
From today's Australian:
STUDENTS are being taught maths at the most superficial level by teachers rushing to pass on the basic skills while shying away from complex ideas.
In yet another example of children being failed by national school curriculums, a special report for the state leaders finds maths teaching is failing students by setting the bar too low.
The National Numeracy Review report, released to The Weekend Australian, criticises the national benchmarks in maths, which assess students against minimum standards rather than requiring a desirable proficiency. "The implication (is) that minimum standards are good enough, at least for some students," says the report on numeracy commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments. "All students and their families, however, have a right to expect high-quality - not minimum - numeracy outcomes from their schooling."
The review committee, chaired by the former head of the NSW Board of Studies Gordon Stanley, says the time spent teaching maths in classrooms has decreased over the past decade, yet students are expected to learn about a greater number of mathematical concepts.
"Curriculum emphases and assessment regimes should be explicitly designed to discourage a reliance upon superficial and low-level proficiency," the report says. It recommends phasing out the streaming of students according to their ability, citing research that says it has little effect on achievement.
"It does produce gains in attainment for higher-achieving students at the expense of lower-attaining students," it says.
The report recommends that all teachers, regardless of their intended speciality, be trained as numeracy teachers and maths be taught across all subjects.
The report says primary school students should spend five hours a week and high school students four hours a week on maths and numeracy, including time spent learning maths in other subjects.
The report also suggests introducing specialist maths teachers to work shoulder-to-shoulder with other teachers, particularly those without specialist training in maths teaching.
It says students from the early years of school should be given complex maths problems and the language of maths should be explicitly taught.
The review was commissioned by the human capital working group of COAG to review international research about teaching maths and advise ways in which teaching standards could be improved.
The report says literacy has received enormous attention and resources in recent years but numeracy provides a bigger challenge for schools.
It uses the term numeracy, as opposed to maths, to describe the mathematical understanding required in today's workplace, defining numeracy as the capacity to bridge the gap between maths and the real world.
"The mathematical knowledge, skill and understanding people need today, if they are to be truly numerate, involves considerably more than the acquisition of mathematical routines and algorithms," it says.
The report cites research that says Australia suffers from a "shallow teaching syndrome".
Compared with other high-achieving countries in international maths tests, Australian schoolrooms have the highest percentage of repetitive problems and the highest percentage of problems of low complexity.
While the new national numeracy tests introduced this year will assess students against levels of proficiency, previously students were only judged against a benchmark set at the minimum level of knowledge required to progress through school.
"They do not describe proficiency in numeracy or even the minimum standards that the community expects from Australian schools," it says.
The low standards expected of students are compounded by remedial programs targeting students failing to meet those minimum standards rather than aiming to assist all students to acquire some proficiency. "The rush to apparent proficiency at the expense of the sound conceptual development needed for sustained and ongoing mathematical proficiency must be rejected," it says.
"From the earliest years, greater emphasis (should) be given to providing students with frequent exposure to higher-level mathematical problems rather than routine procedural tasks, in contexts of relevance to them."
Part of the problem facing schools is trying to teach more maths in less time, with some evidence suggesting the class time spent on maths has diminished over the years.
One study estimates a Year 4 student in Australia spends about 250 minutes a week and a Year 8 student 210 minutes a week on maths.
The report recommends primary school students spend 300 minutes a week and high school students 280 minutes a week on maths.
Relevant comments for me in bold.
From today's Australian:
STUDENTS are being taught maths at the most superficial level by teachers rushing to pass on the basic skills while shying away from complex ideas.
In yet another example of children being failed by national school curriculums, a special report for the state leaders finds maths teaching is failing students by setting the bar too low.
The National Numeracy Review report, released to The Weekend Australian, criticises the national benchmarks in maths, which assess students against minimum standards rather than requiring a desirable proficiency. "The implication (is) that minimum standards are good enough, at least for some students," says the report on numeracy commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments. "All students and their families, however, have a right to expect high-quality - not minimum - numeracy outcomes from their schooling."
The review committee, chaired by the former head of the NSW Board of Studies Gordon Stanley, says the time spent teaching maths in classrooms has decreased over the past decade, yet students are expected to learn about a greater number of mathematical concepts.
"Curriculum emphases and assessment regimes should be explicitly designed to discourage a reliance upon superficial and low-level proficiency," the report says. It recommends phasing out the streaming of students according to their ability, citing research that says it has little effect on achievement.
"It does produce gains in attainment for higher-achieving students at the expense of lower-attaining students," it says.
The report recommends that all teachers, regardless of their intended speciality, be trained as numeracy teachers and maths be taught across all subjects.
The report says primary school students should spend five hours a week and high school students four hours a week on maths and numeracy, including time spent learning maths in other subjects.
The report also suggests introducing specialist maths teachers to work shoulder-to-shoulder with other teachers, particularly those without specialist training in maths teaching.
It says students from the early years of school should be given complex maths problems and the language of maths should be explicitly taught.
The review was commissioned by the human capital working group of COAG to review international research about teaching maths and advise ways in which teaching standards could be improved.
The report says literacy has received enormous attention and resources in recent years but numeracy provides a bigger challenge for schools.
It uses the term numeracy, as opposed to maths, to describe the mathematical understanding required in today's workplace, defining numeracy as the capacity to bridge the gap between maths and the real world.
"The mathematical knowledge, skill and understanding people need today, if they are to be truly numerate, involves considerably more than the acquisition of mathematical routines and algorithms," it says.
The report cites research that says Australia suffers from a "shallow teaching syndrome".
Compared with other high-achieving countries in international maths tests, Australian schoolrooms have the highest percentage of repetitive problems and the highest percentage of problems of low complexity.
While the new national numeracy tests introduced this year will assess students against levels of proficiency, previously students were only judged against a benchmark set at the minimum level of knowledge required to progress through school.
"They do not describe proficiency in numeracy or even the minimum standards that the community expects from Australian schools," it says.
The low standards expected of students are compounded by remedial programs targeting students failing to meet those minimum standards rather than aiming to assist all students to acquire some proficiency. "The rush to apparent proficiency at the expense of the sound conceptual development needed for sustained and ongoing mathematical proficiency must be rejected," it says.
"From the earliest years, greater emphasis (should) be given to providing students with frequent exposure to higher-level mathematical problems rather than routine procedural tasks, in contexts of relevance to them."
Part of the problem facing schools is trying to teach more maths in less time, with some evidence suggesting the class time spent on maths has diminished over the years.
One study estimates a Year 4 student in Australia spends about 250 minutes a week and a Year 8 student 210 minutes a week on maths.
The report recommends primary school students spend 300 minutes a week and high school students 280 minutes a week on maths.
