Education

[sptrawler]

The Chinese students don't need a rich mommy or poppy to make the grade.
You really only need mildly interested parents or grandparents.
Thhe higher the level of interest, the better the outcome.
Mick

So the schools are only there to provide child care facilities?

 

[sptrawler]

@SirRumpole they are starting to highlight the problem, hopefully they solve it eventually.

Education: Maths to become compulsory for NSW Year 11 and 12 students

amp.9news.com.au

 

[SirRumpole]

@SirRumpole they are starting to highlight the problem, hopefully they solve it eventually.

Education: Maths to become compulsory for NSW Year 11 and 12 students

amp.9news.com.au

It was compulsory in my day, when was it dropped ?

 

[sptrawler]

It was compulsory in my day, when was it dropped ?

I don't know, but here is another article ing the problem, standards are continuing to fall in both maths and reading.

Reading standards for year 9 boys at record low, NAPLAN results show

Despite overall results from this year’s NAPLAN tests being stable there are still some areas of concern.

www.smh.com.au

 

[mullokintyre]

I don't know, but here is another article ing the problem, standards are continuing to fall in both maths and reading.

Reading standards for year 9 boys at record low, NAPLAN results show

Despite overall results from this year’s NAPLAN tests being stable there are still some areas of concern.

www.smh.com.au

We continue to throw money at education, we have supposedly the best trained teachers, our students are socially aware, we have extensive sex education, bullying for being gay, transgender, non binary, or non white is being addressed, yet our standards in the things that are needed as part of life skills are falling.
We have an army of people willing and well qualified and willing to enter into a myriad of social employment opportunities within the government, but cannot get enough doctors, nurses, software engineers or tradies.
Yeah, the solution is just throw more money at it.
Mick

 

[mullokintyre]

The NSW government is proud to announce that they will be including Aboriginal language part of the school syllabus.
From NSW Government

Students in NSW will soon be able to learn from the highest quality Aboriginal languages syllabus in the country with the release of a new Aboriginal Languages syllabus.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said NSW is proudly home to more than 35 Aboriginal Language groups, and more than 100 dialects of those languages.
"This is the first major redevelopment of how Aboriginal languages are taught in our schools in 20 years,” Ms Mitchell said.
“The new syllabus gives students valuable opportunities to learn the language of their local area and develop an understanding of Aboriginal languages and cultures.

“For the first time students who speak an Aboriginal Language or Torres Strait Islander Language at home will be able to progress the study of that language at school.”
Importantly, the new Aboriginal Languages Kindergarten to Year 10 syllabus includes guidance for schools on involving Aboriginal communities and knowledge holders when introducing and teaching the syllabus.
“This provides Aboriginal communities greater flexibility around how their languages are taught.”
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Ben Franklin said Aboriginal students have a right to learn their own language in school.

Unfortunately, the department did not elaborate on where exactly they will find the qualified teachers fluent in any of the 35 languages and 100 dialects, but hey, never let these small details get in the way of a feel good story.
Mick

 

[macca]

The NSW government is proud to announce that they will be including Aboriginal language part of the school syllabus.
From NSW Government

Unfortunately, the department did not elaborate on where exactly they will find the qualified teachers fluent in any of the 35 languages and 100 dialects, but hey, never let these small details get in the way of a feel good story.
Mick

the literacy rate is plummeting already so lets forget about that and teach them how to spell words of the local language which are unlikely to ever be used in the commercial or academic world.

How does one assess progress or learning when every tribe has a different language, it would be impossible to set a curriculum or an examination.

Then again, that would probably suit the teachers union, they certainly hate the NAPLAN test.

 

[SirRumpole]

the literacy rate is plummeting already so lets forget about that and teach them how to spell words of the local language which are unlikely to ever be used in the commercial or academic world.

How does one assess progress or learning when every tribe has a different language, it would be impossible to set a curriculum or an examination.

Then again, that would probably suit the teachers union, they certainly hate the NAPLAN test.

The woke Left wing unions have taken over a Right wing government.

What a hoot.

 

[mullokintyre]

It is often said that things that evolve in America today, will reach Australian shores in six months (or is it six years?).
Over the past few years, males have all but dissappeared from American Universities.
According to American Greatness

Zoom courses, a declining pool of students, and soaring costs all prompt the public to question the college experience altogether.
Nationwide undergraduate enrollment has dropped by more than 650,000 students in a single year—or over 4 percent alone from spring 2021 to 2022, and some 14 percent in the last decade. Yet the U.S. population still increases by about 2 million people a year.

Men account for about 71 percent of the current shortfall of students.
Women now number almost 60 percent of all college students—an all-time high.

Monotonous professors hector students about “toxic masculinity,” as “gender” studies proliferate. If the plan was to drive males off campus, universities have succeeded beyond their wildest expectations.

The number of history majors has collapsed by 50 percent in just the last 20 years. Tenured history positions have declined by one-third to half at major state universities.

In the last decade alone, English majors across the nation’s universities have fallen by a third.

I guess it could be argued that this is good and starts the reversal of years of gender bias.
The real problem though lies elsewhere within the system.
The bizarre growth in Admin will eventually strangle the Ivy league unis.

At Yale University, administrative positions have soared over 150 percent in the last two decades. But the number of professors increased by just 10 percent. In a new low/high, Stanford recently enrolled 16,937 undergraduate and graduate students, but lists 15,750 administrative staff—in near one-to-one fashion.

if all those admin persons were replaced with teaching staff, you could have almost one on one teaching - gotta be a good outcome right?

Skeptical American employers, to remain globally competitive, will likely soon administer their own hiring tests. They already suspect that prestigious university degrees are hollow and certify very little.
Traditional colleges will seize the moment and expand by sticking to meritocratic criteria as proof of the competency of their prized graduates.
Private and online venues will also fill a national need to teach Western civilization and humanities courses—by non-woke faculty who do not institutionalize bias.

So, the relevance of the big universities will eventually diminish until their status is nit worth worrying over.
Mick

 

[SirRumpole]

Public schools are losing teachers to private schools who can afford higher pay.

Easy way to fix that, cut government funding to private schools.

'Never seen anything like this': Public schools losing teachers to private schools

Public school principals say private schools offering up to $15,000 more per year are poaching teachers from already critically under-staffed public schools.

www.abc.net.au

 

[mullokintyre]

Or perhaps increase the pay of public school teachers.
The problem is, if all the private schools received no funding, the public schools would be overwhelmed with students.
It might be smarter to increase the pay to Public school teachers , but then gradually reduce the funding to private schools.
Start with the schools with the highest tuition fees and work their way down to the lowest tuition fees.
Mick

 

[sptrawler]

Or make public schools go back to basics, instead of teaching warm feely good subjects, maybe they could get back to the three R's.
Then maybe parents wouldn't waste their money sending their kids to a private schools, just so that they will learn their times tables.
That would be novel.

 

[SirRumpole]

Or perhaps increase the pay of public school teachers.
The problem is, if all the private schools received no funding, the public schools would be overwhelmed with students.
It might be smarter to increase the pay to Public school teachers , but then gradually reduce the funding to private schools.
Start with the schools with the highest tuition fees and work their way down to the lowest tuition fees.
Mick

Do both at the same time.

 

[The Triangle]

Yet another junk ABC article which has limited facts and relevant statistics. Must have been written by a public-school graduate. Or more than likely a 'placed' story to drum up additional support for increased pay for teachers - seems to have worked a charm here.

Private industry will always be able to pay more than the government sector, that's not changing, nor is the desire of the wealthy to pay more money to educate their kids. The problem here is that there are clearly not enough teachers. If the country needs 100 teachers and there are only 90 teachers available, then paying more money is not going to address or solve the problem. One might argue that it could create additional demand and encourage more people to join the profession, but that would take years and years and I think it's a pretty weak argument.

Why aren't there enough teachers? What is the government doing (other than immigration) to produce teachers? (or nurses, or doctors, or all the other public sector professions which we seem to be short on all the time).

If you up the public sector pays, the private sector will up theirs and up their tuition. It's basic economics.

 

[macca]

Yet another junk ABC article which has limited facts and relevant statistics. Must have been written by a public-school graduate. Or more than likely a 'placed' story to drum up additional support for increased pay for teachers - seems to have worked a charm here.

Private industry will always be able to pay more than the government sector, that's not changing, nor is the desire of the wealthy to pay more money to educate their kids. The problem here is that there are clearly not enough teachers. If the country needs 100 teachers and there are only 90 teachers available, then paying more money is not going to address or solve the problem. One might argue that it could create additional demand and encourage more people to join the profession, but that would take years and years and I think it's a pretty weak argument.

Why aren't there enough teachers? What is the government doing (other than immigration) to produce teachers? (or nurses, or doctors, or all the other public sector professions which we seem to be short on all the time).

If you up the public sector pays, the private sector will up theirs and up their tuition. It's basic economics.

I recall reading that in NSW there are thousands of qualified teachers who have left the profession.

The main gripe is that the union is running the place and not the Govt, far too many soft subjects and political propaganda are cluttering up the teaching time.

To try to get some control the Govt instituted more reports which is just another time consuming task.

Then we have the situation of very poor discipline applying to students, teacher's are suspended for Holding the hands of a student who was belting into another student.

Instead of kicking the kid out the teacher got suspended

 

[sptrawler]

Or perhaps increase the pay of public school teachers.
The problem is, if all the private schools received no funding, the public schools would be overwhelmed with students.
It might be smarter to increase the pay to Public school teachers , but then gradually reduce the funding to private schools.
Start with the schools with the highest tuition fees and work their way down to the lowest tuition fees.
Mick

Maybe that will take them all down to the lowest common denominator?

 

[mullokintyre]

The real question is, why do so many parents want to send their kids to private schools?
And i am not talking about the upperclass money that goes to those posh grammar schools.
i am talking about the huge number of catholic schools, Christian schools, steiner schools, alternative schools, anything but public schools.
Parents vote with their feet.
Whether it is justified or not is a moot point, but rightly or otherwise, they see the quality of education and discipline somewhat higher at these schools as compared to the free for all that is public education.
The largest town nearest me, Shepparton, was "chosen" to host a gigantic "super school"of 2500 students.
Five other schools were closed down to get to this position
Locals here regard it as a disaster, a huge social experiment foisted upon them by city based education bureaucrats.
The decision on the site for the school has caused traffic mayhem, with the buses struggling to get in and out of the designated drop off areas.
Whereas prior to the amalgamation, the warring ethnic groups were separated by bussing them to different schools, now they are all in one melting pot where police attend at least three times a week because of assaults, threats to teachers and other students, vandalism and in some cases outright theft of laptops.
One of my neighbours says his daughter in year eleven did not have an English teacher for 5 months last year, and has had three different ones for the remainder of the year.
But the official line is that despite some "teething troubles", it is going really well.
Mick

 

[SirRumpole]

Whether it is justified or not is a moot point, but rightly or otherwise, they see the quality of education and discipline somewhat higher at these schools as compared to the free for all that is public education.

I'm sure that is true, but the question is do you let the State system rot or do something about it ?

In order to improve the State system you have to do what the private schools do, institute proper discipline, meaningful syllabusses and properly trained teachers instead of the refugees from Marxist philosophy or wokeists that seem to have infested the system.

That's going to take money and the place to get it is the private school system. If some schools have to do without rowing clubs in order for the system to be more equal, so be it.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Chiming in; has anyone else posted this?

Indigenous underclass abandoned by educational authorities: Pearson​

Julie Hare

https://www.afr.com/by/julie-hare-p4yw50

Education editor
Jan 30, 2023

The escalating waves of alcohol-fuelled mayhem on the streets of Alice Springs can be explained, in part, by education authorities’ abandonment of the Indigenous underclass and their rejection of evidence-based theories of teaching, activist, lawyer and intellectual Noel Pearson says.
“It’s the kids of the underclass that I’m concerned about. The kids who are disadvantaged with every year we waste stuffing around and failing to see 50 years of evidence about what works in the teaching of reading and learning generally,” Mr Pearson told an education conference in Canberra on Monday.

“What do you think is going on in Alice Springs? That’s the product of failed learning which is the consequence of failed teaching in the communities from which those kids come. And there’s no solution in sight.”

Mr Pearson told the conference of 2300 teachers and administrators that the approach adopted by Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn, known as Catalyst, was right, and that he had come to their conference to give it his ringing endorsement.

“I’m envious of Catalyst,” he said.

Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn, which has 56 schools, is the first to take a system-wide approach to consistent approaches to what is taught, how it is taught and how it is assessed.
This approach systematically builds one piece of learning on top of another to ensure students master key concepts before progressing to more advanced areas.

Instructional learning​

Mr Pearson said that during his “30 years of social change combat”, he had arrived at a “general rule of thumb when it comes to deciding the correct policies, [which is] is to do approximately the opposite to what progressive thinking says we should do”.
Educational theories of teaching over the past 50 years had rejected implicit or direct instruction as “traditional, conservative and punitive”, Mr Pearson said.
But that was precisely what children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, needed.

He pointed to research showing that 25 per cent of children would learn to read no matter how it was taught, the middle 50 per cent would struggle through and manage to be competent readers, but the bottom 25 per cent would never learn to read without explicit instruction, which includes phonics

 

[SirRumpole]

Chiming in; has anyone else posted this?

https://www.afr.com/by/julie-hare-p4yw50

Sounds good if you can get the parents to send the kids to school.