teaching and learning » curriculum

Lawyers, Guns and Money

warrick — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:42:14 +0000

Well there wasn’t a lot of actual guns thankfully, but a lot of implied threats, angst, legal wrangling and big money at stake this week in the Federal Parliament as school funding and national curriculum and political ambitions all got tangled up. There were threats, counter-threats, bluffs, bullying and bravado, and while education was front page, it wasn’t pretty.

It’s what happens when the politicians bring ideology to education. I can’t imagine it happening in medicine or even law, where the independence of the judiciary and recognition of their expertise, is sacrosanct. Education is open slather.

The end result is that the national curriculum is coming and tied to funding. I’ve blogged often about my reservations here: that national: big, bloated and beauracratic is not necessarily better. That local solutions to local needs, especially student needs aren’t likely to be served by a ‘one size fits all’ policy, and that it’s bound to be heavily influenced by the politics of the day.

This view isn’t shared by the government, or even by many teachers I must admit. And, for all intents and purposes, the argument became academic this week.

States squabbling over test benchmarks

warrick — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:22:33 +0000

It had to happen of course; that the new spirit of national cooperation and cooperative revolution would get stickier and trickier when it got down to the details. Like the NAPLAN (National Asessment of Literacy and Numeracy) benchmarks and where they might be placed.

Last week the Herald-Sun gave some glimpse of that behind the scenes wrangling when it reported that high performing states (Victoria) were jostling with low performing states (WA, NT, TAS) over where to place the literacy and numeracy benchmarks: too high and the low performing states will look like basket cases, and too low and the results in Victoria will be absurdly high.

The paper said:

But the poor results in Tasmania, WA and the Northern Territory have sparked a political row between the states over where benchmarks should be set.

And the row has put the broader concept of the national curriculum – hailed by educators and politicians as a necessary step forward – at risk.

A Victorian education source told the Sunday Herald Sun state departments were squabbling over where the benchmarks should be set and the Naplan literacy and numeracy standards were set “embarrassingly low so the results don’t look too bad in some areas of the country”.

“If they had set the minimum standards any lower, Victoria would have scored 100 per cent and if they had set them any higher, the NT would have been diabolical,” the source said.

And this is only the beginning. This will only get murkier as the national curriculum moves from zealous ideology to actual curriculum.

21st Century Learning Discussion

warrick — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:30:41 +0000

With the annual Curriculum Corporation COnference circus in town last week, there was a lot of talk about national curriculum, at briefings I attended, and on the mainstream radio. Including this discussion on the Radio National program Life Matters.

Australia has a ’21st century economy with a 19th century education system’, Rupert Murdoch’s damning assessment in his Boyer lectures currently being broadcast on ABC Radio National. But is it fair?

Today a forum recorded at the National Curriculum Corporation Conference on what a 21st century education might actually look like.

The panel includes some of the top education reformers and innovators in the world. They discuss the current major reform of curriculum in Australia, skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century, how Hong Kong transformed its education system and the role of technology and innovation.

Michael Stevenson
Vice President of Global Education at Cisco Systems

Guests

Professor Barry McGaw
Head of the National Curriculum Board and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute

Valerie Hannon
Director of Strategy for the UK Innovation Unit

Chris Wardlaw
Former Deputy Secretary of Education in Hong Kong

You can listen to the conversation HERE

Some US High Schools Return to Electives (gasp)

warrick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:32:53 +0000

We hold these truths to be self evident: that giving students some choice in their own learning directions is likely to lead to them becoming more actively engaged in their own learning, and likely to help them find that ‘thing’ they love.

So, I was pleased to read in the NY TImes today that some US high schools are returning to electives as a tool to keep senior students interested in school.

The comment that caught my eye though, in light of our Federal Government’s recent interest in NY style schooling and national curriculum imperatives was this:

After years in which tight school budgets and a battery of federal and state testing mandates have narrowed curriculums nationwide to emphasize basic reading, math and science, Pelham and a handful of other high-performing school districts have begun to expand their course catalogs with electives.

Narrowing curriculum? Federal testing mandates? Sound familiar?

Education Revolution: Australia Talks

warrick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:41:29 +0000

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. Would it were so.

Listen HERE