BadgeIsBack

I've seen the work of high grade students in Australia tertiary and I thought it was very ordinary. There is no point in an education - this is probably truer of the higher levels especially in the arts if you can be schooled and coached to get high marks when there is little critical input yourself.

I think league tables are better and more indicative of secondary than tertiary, but I think they are flawed.

There is a school of thought that kids grades are higher, but they are working harder, or smarter, with access to the internet etc. Back in the 80s you could get through exams by studying the night before, I did this right up until my early 20s without barely any work done. Now kids to their credit seem to actually do more work, or take it just as seriously. It's like GCSE diluted the teaching for a while, lets face it - it was a shockingly easy exam at first - then all of a sudden the problem of the ease of a pass and the availaibility of the 'special' grades brought back some competition.

Most teachers were lamenting the demise of the O level 17 years ago - are they still now?! :-)

NKSK version 2

I suspect that I'm going to regret re-joining this debate but I think that new courses have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

In the late 1980s there certainly was a need to teach children how to think, how to learn and how to investigate. But my belief - in WA and in England - is that this has in certain (many) instances, been at the expense of core knowledge and understanding.

I'm not convinced that students actually "know" much anymore - because we no longer have to teach much core knowledge.

Take coursework. I have severe reservations about the integrity and rigour of coursework. (How many times has it been completed by parents?) And we seem to put greater and greater emphasis on investigation skills and less and less on core knowledge and understanding. No doubt some will say that this is a good thing - I tend to disagree - we should teach kids how to investigate but we shouldn't shy away from ensuring that they know certain things - and many more things than they currently do.

ontheroad

Does this thread include private schools or are we just talking about state schools? Are private schools in OZ much better than state schools? Are they worth the huge price difference?

esperanza

Agree with you on this one - which is why coursework is being reduced very quickly in many subjects. And rightly so!! Hopefully the 'take it home and use the internet/parent/older sibling' style of coursework will be replaced by independent work done in controlled study sessions in school, with no room for cheating! (Rather like the bumper art practical that many students do at gcse)

killamarsh

For those living or planning to move to Brisbane - if you can get your child into a school called John Paul College in Daisy Hill DO IT. Yes it is private but heck it is good. Private there isn't necessarily what private is here.

I believe there is good and bad in every educational system. For me, I am concerned that the children where my son goes to school don't understand how to describe situations. Everything begins with 'right'. I am also very concerned that many children don't appear to understand or know which tense to use when speaking and writing. What is more concerning is that they are not re-educated in the classroom and it continues. I find myself re-educating my son in terms of language all the time. Even his teacher has admitted there are issues.

jensteve

Lets try again.
My son is in Year 10 at a private school which has a very good reputation, but on looking at his homework last night I was mortified. It was full of phone text abbreviations and not one sentence made sense, he really used to write better when he was 9 years old! I have emailed the school today to see just what they are teaching them to do.
No wonder the population is full of adults who cant read or write, what the hell are kids going to do when they leave school if they can't even write a basic sentence. His report states English is satisfactory and I was given that this week! I am becoming not a happy chook with the Australian way of teaching, I would post what he wrote but the context would offend so many people I don't think I should. The subject was faith and values, and it was a discussion entry on his beliefs of Christianity, suffice to say as a non believer myself he has shocked even me!

The school system here is lacking something!
Jenny

northernbird

the text language is no different in england either to be honest.

NKSK version 2

My current stress is that my child keeps getting homework.

No problem there - and it's actually quite interesting homework. But there seems to be no follow-up. No marking, and if she is not picked, no discussion.

I'm waiting for the day when she says "I'm not doing it because the teacher never looks at it"

Hippy-Dippy

.
My own British born kids are thrilled to bits with school here, and look forward to everyday-the environment is so much more pleasant.

NKSK version 2

Mine love ging also. So would I if I got to watch a Disney video every Friday.

Hippy-Dippy

Yes but you must look at the facts-education is great in the UK. No real evidence to support that the British are more educated than the Aussies.

ozipeter

I wouldnt totally agree my brit-girl goes on about how great the UK system is and how much behind it is here...about a grade or two on average....but why did she come here...I dont think it was for me....

Weasy

Depends on the school I guess - mine watched far more videos in their school in the UK... Also I find the work stretches my two more here than it did in the UK but they love it more and find it more fun.

Lou
xx

esperanza

The only way to resolve this issue, in Oz or UK or anywhere else, is to give teachers more time to mark work & give constructive feedback. That means less contact hours on teachers' timetables. Which either means having more teachers (higher fees/taxes) or larger classes - I know in the UK that would be a disaster, classes are way too big already.

Re the text talk - in work written to be handed in it should certainly not be accepted, I don't know any teachers who would accept it - that's in the UK. However I have permitted students to make their own notes in whatever form is easiest for them, I don't see a problem with that, provided the students have the ability to write formally when required.

Nomore

Heard on the radio this morning that by next year there will be a shortage of 500 teachers in WA. Apparently this is due to teachers taking early retirement. They want teachers desperately from the UK. So this must mean the UK have better teachers.