More on wikpedia

From the man who brought Wikipedia to the world; a potted history, that follows up on my earlier post.

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Waleed Aly on National Curriculum

I said in the previous post that I was having trouble figuring out Aly’s take on National Curriculum in the latest issue of The Monthly. Some of the key points seem to be: “(Curriculum) … is a form of political activism.”  [National Curriculum, like Texas curriculum on evolution, is political] AGREE “…Perhaps I never got [...]

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The trouble with VIT (continued)

I haven’t railed mercilessly against the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) for a while. Only a couple of times, in fact, in the last couple of years, including my original ‘Whats the matter with VIT?’ post ages ago. But, boy was I encouraged again to consider the value of our professional voice when I opened [...]

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Education Revolution: Australia Talks

Radio National’s Australia Talks program had an interesting discussion on the ‘education revolution’, national curriculum and assorted responses to educational issues including the crowded curriculum. The thing  liked was the refreshing lack of politics to the discussion, thg good sense and, from a couple of speakers, the emphasis on hearing student voices in the debate. [...]

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No comment necessary

From the AGE today: AUSTRALIA was the only developed country to cut public spending on tertiary education in the decade to 2004, according to a new world comparison. The funding reduction — down 4 per cent compared with an average OECD rise of 49 per cent — resulted in private spending on higher education, including [...]

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An example of what VIT might be doing…

Rather than watching the profession sidelined yet again on a major educational debate, VIT might be advocating for teacher representation on major inquiries and reviews such as the current history debate.  From the AGE today: History teachers claim the Federal Government has shut them out of the development of a national Australian history curriculum for [...]

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(Government funded) Research on performance based pay for teachers

A colleague pointed out this page on the Australian Government Education website, with the full 151 page report providing an overview of the the current pay arrangements for teachers in Australian schools, particularly in relation to performance based bay. The report was commissioned by DEST and completed by Lawrence Ingvarson and others. The page says: [...]

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Anecdotally, students are struggling financially

A while ago I remember former Education Minister (now ‘defence man walking’) Brendan Nelson telling a group of assembled teachers that parents were demanding plain language reports because they’d emailed and phoned his office to tell him. No evidence whatsoever to support that wildly anecdotal claim. Now, we have the current minister doubting the results [...]

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Teacher in space

It’s been 21 years since the Challenger disaster but it was great to see another teacher return to space in the NASA space shuttle mission launched this week. The recognition that, along with scientists, engineers and mathematicians, that a teacher might be ‘worthy’ is good to see, and a good message from the program. NASA’s [...]

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National curriculum would marginalise children

Don’t quite know why we need overseas experts to tell us, but good to see someone at least taking the other viewpoint; that, far from being natural and inevitable, national curriculum might alienate (and marginalise) teachers and students.  Maybe, once again, it’s more politics than good education policy. US Professor Michael Apple says: “What you [...]

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