In the News, for week ending 28 August 2011
Our
In the News feature provides an overview of news stories relating to education over the last week. We focus particularly on news items referring to significant new developments or reports, issues affecting students with learning difficulties, and issues relating to education more generally. We hope that this feature will help to keep our members and website visitors informed of current issues in education, and to generate debate and discussion of these issues. To initiate debate and discussion on news stories listed, comments can be posted on the
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Boomerang books make gripping read Sarah Whyte, Sydney Morning Herald, August 28, 2011IT WAS her love of recycling that inspired Rachel Beckett to set up a ''pop-up library'' in her children's school. Ms Beckett started the book swap at the beginning of the year at Annandale Public School to help encourage students to take part in the Premier's Reading Challenge. ''I was talking to another mum and wondering how could we boost the library supply of the PRC books,'' Ms Beckett, 39, said. ''Between us we had lots of books at home … It was very simple asking families to label their books, and set up a library to borrow and return through. It has now become a social thing.'' Two year 6 students have been acting as the librarians of the ''Boomerang Book Share'' that operates on Friday mornings.
Poor teachers set students back years Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald, August 27, 2011TEACHERS who always give their students time to ask questions, who ask challenging questions themselves and who tell students how their work will be judged can dramatically improve literacy performance, according to a NSW Education Department analysis. However, teachers in public schools in wealthier areas in NSW are significantly more likely to follow these basic teaching procedures than those in schools in low socio-economic areas. The insights, which are drawn from previously unpublished data produced by the Programme for International Student Assessment and work by the Australian Council for Educational Research, were presented recently to the NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli. The study is based on students' assessment of their teachers. It identified five key areas of teacher practice that, if used in most or all lessons, can improve a child's literacy scores by the equivalent of one school year.
Too costly to help disabled at school Michelle Griffin, The Age, August 26, 2011VICTORIAN education authorities insist they have the right to restrict the number of integration aides and other specialists that they hire - even if it means discriminating against students with disabilities. And the state says it would cost almost $1 billion if it had to hire an integration aide for every student with an IQ of 75 or less, which it could not afford. The lawyers for Victoria's Education Department are arguing that states' rights trump the Federal Disability Discrimination Act in a submission to a discrimination case currently being considered by the Federal Court.
School funding deal is Howard's fault: Garrett Dan Harrison, The Age, August 24, 2011SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has strongly criticised Howard-era deals that deliver millions of dollars more to some private schools than they would be entitled to if the federal funding formula was strictly applied. Under the arrangements, introduced by the Howard government in 2001 and continued by the Rudd and Gillard governments, the Commonwealth allocates funding to private schools according to a formula that measures the socio-economic status of a school community. But because the Coalition promised no school would be worse off under its system, 1075 schools have had their entitlements preserved fully indexed at the levels they received under the previous system.
Sign of the times: school finds success with new way of teaching languages Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 23, 2011IF THE year 6 students at Carey Baptist Grammar School were not babbling in French, you would swear they were learning sign language. ''Est-ceque je peux manger de la pizza?'' one child asks, miming the act of eating a pizza. ''Oui, tupeux manger de la pizza!'' the class chants in return, also gesturing wildly. Halfway through the lesson, the stereo is cranked up and the class raps to a song about lions, which they have written themselves and set to Taio Cruz's chart-topping single Dynamite. The year six students speak (or sing, or rap) in non-stop French for the entire 40-minute lesson. Every verb, noun, adjective and conjunction has a matching gesture. When they say riche (rich), the students rub their fingers together. For pauvre (poor), they empty out their pockets.
High school to offer IB Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 22, 2011A WESTERN suburbs state school will join the ranks of elite private schools under the Baillieu government's push to expand choice for students in the public system. Werribee Secondary College will become the first Victorian government school to offer the International Baccalaureate diploma for students in years 11 and 12 — an alternative to VCE that is recognised by universities worldwide. The prestigious diploma, offered at 15 independent schools in Victoria, enables students to go on to study anywhere in the world, including Harvard, Oxford and Yale. Students are required to study six subjects, including a second language, do 160 hours of community work and complete a 4000-word research project.
New thinking all the talk on dyslexia Denise Ryan, The Age, August 22, 2011LEONIE Purcival was not that surprised when her daughter Anna couldn't understand the prep teacher's instructions and was finding it difficult to read and write. Many members of Ms Purcival's family have had dyslexia and auditory processing issues (where they don't recognise subtle differences between sounds), and she was well aware that there is often a genetic link to learning disabilities. "She was an obviously bright person who, for some reason, couldn't get it. I thought, 'I recognise this struggle.' " Teachers saw Anna as a "slow developer" and offered reading recovery.
Teachers fear delay in $60m school-repair boost Anna Patty, Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 2011Teachers fear long-awaited repairs to leaky school roofs, fraying carpets and broken toilets will be put on hold because a new government review threatens to stall delivery of the government's promised $60 million boost in spending on school maintenance. Bob Lipscombe, president of the NSW Teachers Federation, said yesterday that teachers were "very concerned the government won't honour its commitment to inject an extra $60 million into school maintenance [starting from this year]". The O'Farrell government promised to increase funding for school maintenance by $60 million over four years in the lead-up to the March state election.
And from overseas…N.Y. appeals court rules that teacher ratings can be public
New York City teacher ratings based on 'value-added' analysis can be made public, a state appeals court rules.By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2011A New York state appeals court ruled Thursday that performance ratings for thousands of teachers can be made public, potentially clearing the way for the largest such data release in the country. The New York City school system and its teachers union had been fighting in court over the ratings, which are based on a "value-added" analysis that links teachers to their students' standardized test scores. The school system has compiled the scores for several years but has not used them in performance evaluations or publicly released them. But several media organizations, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, sued the school system for the scores last August, shortly after the Los Angeles Times released a database of L.A. teacher ratings calculated by the newspaper. The New York City school system, the nation's largest, was prepared to release the information for about 12,000 teachers in October until the union sued, arguing that the scores were unreliable and could be misleading. A judge sided with the school system in January, but the union appealed. The appellate court ruled unanimously Thursday that the scores could be valuable and did not invade teachers' privacy, echoing the judge's earlier findings. "The reports concern information of a type that is of compelling interest to the public, namely, the proficiency of public employees in the performance of their job duties," according to the decision by the four-judge panel.
In the News, for week ending 21 August 2011
OneSchool a repeat of health fiasco Kym Agius, Brisbane Times, August 21, 2011THE Education Minister, Cameron Dick, says it is unfair to compare glitches in a new computer system used by the state's schools with last year's Queensland Health payroll debacle. Half of the state's public schools have been using the OneSchool computer system to control accounts payable and receivable since the June-July holidays. It was to be introduced across the state next month but the Education Department changed its mind late on Friday after unions labelled the system a disaster.
Alex Scott, from the state's public sector union, said that the system had mixed up contractors' pay and bills and had left staff with higher workloads.
Brodie's law to be used to cut out school bullying Farrah Tomazin, The Age, August 21, 2011Students or parents involved in cyber bullying could be jailed for up to 10 years under a Baillieu government push to stamp it out. The Victorian government will use Brodie's law - which amended the Crimes Act to allow 10-year prison terms for workplace bullying - to protect principals, teachers, and students who are subjected to severe cases of online abuse. Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon and Teaching Profession Minister Peter Hall have also asked their departments to examine other legal avenues for victims, admitting the problem is getting worse. ''We have seen far too many examples of teachers, principals and students being bullied to the point where their lives and reputations have been ruined,'' Mr Hall said.
Cut-and-paste generation takes on suspect websites Tim Barlass, Sydney Morning Herald, August 21, 2011THERE are images of a pregnant man, a Victorian-era robot used to solve disputes and websites denying the achievements of US civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King. An increasing number of rogue sites with political or racist agendas has prompted a warning to school children against becoming the cut-and-paste generation. There is concern the short cut used by many pupils to complete projects puts them at risk of accepting as fact information from sites intended to corrupt or misinform.
Courage can get pupils through academic blues Kim Arlington, Sydney morning Herald, August 19, 2011STUDENTS facing difficulty at school should take courage - literally. Demonstrating courage in the face of academic challenges and fear can help high school students improve their performance, new research shows, and it may ultimately help them enjoy school more. Professor Andrew Martin, from the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, examined four approaches to schoolwork - confidence, courage, avoidance and helplessness - among more than 7600 students from 14 Australian high schools. He found it paid to persevere, that courageous students, those who persisted in the classroom, despite difficulties and anxieties, could do just as well as their confident peers.
Talking and listening the key to literacy Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald, August 19, 2011WANT to learn to read and write? Perhaps you need to meet literacy's ugly sisters, talking and listening. Too little attention is paid to the oral language skills of students, says John Munro, an associate professor at the University of Melbourne's graduate school of education. He says improving the ability of teachers to recognise kindergarten students with poor oral language skills and targeted intervention to improve them can produce stunning improvements in literacy and learning. ''Millions of dollars have gone into improving literacy but without putting in place the oral base, then it's almost wasted,'' Professor Munro said. ''For some reason speaking and listening has been seen as the ugly sister of reading and writing. But it's actually the foundation.''
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/talking-and-listening-the-key-to-literacy-20110818-1j0a3.html#ixzz1Vhll2b5P
When it comes to rioting by children, the teachers cop a belting
Maralyn Parker, Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, August 17, 2011
You would have noticed how quickly schools were blamed for the riots in Britain. I have to tell you teachers here were not surprised. The school gate is always the most handy place to dump the ills of society. If children act in an amoral or immoral way, or join a mindless mob, it must be because teachers have not properly taught them right from wrong. I pity the British teachers who are now grappling with this aftermath of the riots. The schools teaching the most disadvantaged children will bear the brunt. Whatever the complex and baffling reasons for British youth acting they way they did, what stood out for me is the baseline - the huge divide in British society between the haves and have-nots, the rulers and the welfare dependent and the constant hostility between different races and religions.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/when_it_comes_to_rioting_by_children_the_teachers_cop_a_belting/
Country students learn the benefits of numbers on the hoof
Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 17, 2011
FOR the first time in seven years, Cohuna Secondary College, a small school near Echuca, is teaching a year 12 specialist maths class. Despite its reputation as the most difficult maths subject in VCE, five of the 35 year 12 students have elected to take the class. The renaissance in the popularity of maths at Cohuna Secondary College follows a four-year strategy by the school to emphasise the need for high-level maths and science skills to succeed in agriculture-related industries, which now use computerised systems, solar power and high-tech irrigation.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/country-students-learn-the-benefits-of-numbers-on-the-hoof-20110816-1iwf6.html#ixzz1VhiPknW3
Spelling out how NSW preschools can do better
Anna Patty, Sydney Morning Herald, August 16, 2011
A FIFTH of children miss out on crucial preschool education in NSW - the lowest rate in the country, according to an academic in charge of reviewing the system. The state government yesterday commissioned Professor Deborah Brennan, from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW, to review how efficiently $220 million in state and federal government funding was being spent on early childhood education in NSW. Professor Brennan said close to 100 per cent of children in other states had access to early childhood education, compared to 80 per cent in NSW. ''We've got a long journey to catch up,'' she said. ''The evidence is really in now that the early years are the crucial time for governments and communities to invest in early childhood education.'' Professor Brennan said NSW had the largest for-profit preschool sector in the country and the expense of early childhood places put them out of reach of many families. Successive state governments had failed to invest in preschool education.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/spelling-out-how-nsw-preschools-can-do-better-20110815-1iuw0.html#ixzz1Vhm3CRGZ
Parents want Kew principal axed over toilet trial
Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 16, 2011
PARENTS are demanding the principal of Kew Primary School be stood down over ''misleading comments'' stating parents had been informed about a ''humiliating'' toilet trial. From July 18 to August 3, Kew Primary tested a ''whole class approach'' to toilet breaks during lessons, in which the class would go to the toilet if one student needed to go.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/parents-want-kew-principal-axed-over-toilet-trial-20110815-1iutr.html#ixzz1Vhiayezm
Digital revolution a bit slower than expected
Anna Patty, David Braue, Sydney Morning Herald, August 16, 2011
STUDENTS who installed computer programs unrelated to the NSW curriculum risk slowing down their free laptops, the NSW Department of Education has warned. The announcement follows complaints from some students that computers rolled out under the Rudd government's $1 billion school laptops program were not up to scratch. Luca Vignando, a year 10 student, told the Herald his government-supplied netbook computer, provided under Labor's Digital Education Revolution funding, was too slow for his school education needs.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/digital-revolution-a-bit-slower-than-expected-20110815-1iuw2.html#ixzz1VhmRSxQB
Out-of-school care leaves small schools out of pocket
Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 15, 2011
SOME small schools are being forced to stop offering before and after-school care because they can no longer afford to run the programs, leaving working parents in the lurch. Twelve out-of-school-hours care programs have closed in Victoria this year, half of which were run by schools and half by commercial operators. Of the six run by schools, two were in the country and four in Melbourne. The Victorian Principals Association has called on the state and federal governments to help fund before and after-school care at smaller schools, saying programs with fewer than 24 students a night run at a loss.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/outofschool-care-leaves-small-schools-out-of-pocket-20110814-1it2w.html#ixzz1Vhis09JQ
A private tutor at their fingertips
Sydney Morning Herald, August 15, 2011
Online educational lessons can help students with access but nothing can replace a real teacher in the classroom, writes Ainslie MacGibbon. With increasing demands on teachers and students, many schools have embraced the helping hand offered by online tutoring sites. A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report, Students On Line, showed that of the 16 OECD countries that participated, only South Korea did better than Australia on how 15-year-olds use computers and the internet to learn.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/a-private-tutor-at-their-fingertips-20110814-1it5s.html#ixzz1VhmgzP00
Parents push for nurses in every school
BETHANY HIATT EDUCATION EDITOR, The West Australian, August 15, 2011
WA's main parent group says there are not enough school-based nurses to combat a rise in student health problems such as obesity and mental illness. The WA Council of State School Organisations annual conference at the weekend decided it would write to the State Government asking it to employ a full-time community health nurse at every public school. Rossmoyne Senior High School P&C association, which put forward the idea, said the pool of nurses had not increased for many years despite the well-known rising healthcare needs of students. "It is considered that a lack of or reduction in these services at any school, particularly with increasing community concern over lifestyle diseases and mental health", adversely affects the health and wellbeing of students, it said. Rossmoyne P&C president Penny Tuffin said WA did not employ enough school nurses. She said the school would be without a school nurse one day a fortnight if the P&C did not pay to top up the nurse's hours.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/10038586/parents-push-for-nurses-in-every-school/
In the news, for week ending 14 August, 2011
School of hard knocks tells students: Protect yourself at all times
Michelle Griffin, The Age, August 12, 2011
IT MIGHT be counter-intuitive to start a lesson on conflict resolution with a punch-up, but it works. The year 10 boys slumped in the library of Essendon Keilor College snapped to attention when veteran middleweight champion boxer Sam ''The King'' Soliman and rising star welterweight Sam ''the Lion'' Colomban gloved up. ''Who would be stoked to see them throw a few punches?,'' asks facilitator Kirby Yates. To cries of ''yeahhhhh'', the boxers demonstrate a short, sharp sparring dance, with enough ducking and weaving to keep it fun. These two well-respected fighters were recruited by the Department of Justice last year to lend their tough guy credibility to the Choices program, which promotes the message that it's always smarter to avoid a fight.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/school-of-hard-knocks-tells-students-protect-yourself-at-all-times-20110811-1iowo.html#ixzz1VhjM2P00
Harder the job, better the pay for school heads
Anna Patty, Kim Arlington, Sydney Morning Herald, August 12, 2011
THE state government wants to link the salaries of school principals to the difficulty of their job, not just student numbers, as part of a plan to give them greater control over school budgets. The Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, said yesterday the Department of Education would begin consulting school communities about the best way to increase their autonomy. He released a discussion paper called Local Schools, Local Decisions, which says the government wants to link principal salary and classification to ''school complexity not just student numbers''.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/harder-the-job-better-the-pay-for-school-heads-20110811-1ioto.html#ixzz1VhmwQoQT
Elia can't walk, can't control his body - and can't get an aide
Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 10, 2011
EVERY day Elia Namugurulem is forced to leave school early because he has soiled his clothing. The prep student has spina bifida, a congenital disorder which means he cannot walk and has no control over his bladder and bowels. He also has a major intellectual disability and must undergo regular operations to drain fluid from his brain or have corrective surgery on his legs. But according to the Education Department, Elia is not eligible for the level of disability funding Berwick Lodge Primary School says he needs to provide him with a full-time aide.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/elia-cant-walk-cant-control-his-body--and-cant-get-an-aide-20110809-1ikxd.html#ixzz1VhjauZb5
School for disabled to go ahead on Koori site
Jewel Topsfield, The Age, August 10, 2011
CONSTRUCTION will finally begin today on a new $18 million school for severely disabled children in Melbourne's north, following protracted delays due to a bitter stoush with a neighbouring Koori school. The building works for the new Glenroy Specialist School, which were due to start last November, were put on ice after the Ballerrt Mooroop College protested against being forced to surrender some of its land. The college's gymnasium and ground, used for welcome to country and smoking ceremonies, will be demolished. The Koori school, which has 18 students, staged a sit-in protest and appealed to the state and Commonwealth to stop the works on the grounds that the gym and ceremonial ground had heritage significance.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/school-for-disabled-to-go-ahead-on-koori-site-20110809-1ikwy.html#ixzz1Vhk5Ew85
Decision to delay new curriculum irks Garrett
Anna Patty, Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald, August 10, 2011
THE state government's decision to delay the introduction of the new Australian curriculum by at least a year has been met by widespread support from education stakeholders - with the exception of the federal Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett. He accused NSW of ''letting students down'' and walking away from its commitment to the proposed national curriculum, which is yet to be formally presented to education ministers. "There is no justifiable reason for this 11th-hour back down,'' Mr Garrett said. At issue is the cost of preparing teachers for the new curriculum. The NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, said it would cost about $80 million over four years to implement the curriculum and to provide professional development of teachers.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/decision-to-delay-new-curriculum-irks-garrett-20110809-1ikql.html#ixzz1VhnFfqya
Indigenous children stay longer in school
Jen Rosenberg, Sydney Morning Herald, August 9, 2011
RETENTION rates among indigenous students in schools have improved dramatically but the level is still well below that of non-indigenous students, experts say. The key to engaging children in the classroom and retaining them is to ensure that they are better prepared for school before they start, they say. Specialists in education and indigenous cultures, as well as health and government officials, are discussing at the annual conference of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in Darwin how to provide better outcomes for indigenous students. One of the positive stories emerging from the conference is the year 12 retention rate of indigenous students. Figures show the rate from 1995 to 2009 went from 30.7 per cent to 45.4 per cent.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/indigenous-children-stay-longer-in-school-20110808-1ij5n.html#ixzz1VhnXCjZv
In the News, for the week ending 7 August 2011
Taking aim at a sacred cow Dan Harrison, Sydney Morning Herald, August 6, 2011The fight over school chaplains is about to hit the High Court, writes Dan Harrison. It was all too much for Ron Williams. The father of six had agitated for years about the presence of religious teaching in state schools. He had fired off letters of complaint about John Howard's school chaplaincy program and conveyed his concerns in person to two education ministers. Then, in November 2009, the then prime minister Kevin Rudd addressed the Australian Christian Lobby's national conference in Canberra. Announcing a $42 million extension of the chaplaincy program, Rudd praised the work of chaplains and claimed some of the credit for their introduction in Queensland schools almost 20 years earlier, when he was working for the Goss government.
Life of the semicolon heading for a full stop Imre Salusinszky, The Australian, August 06, 2011FOR centuries, the semicolon has carved out a tenuous - but precious - place for itself between the comma and the colon. Without the humble semicolon, some of the greatest achievements of English prose - the looping, qualified sentences of Henry James; the elaborate, ironic juxtapositions of Evelyn Waugh - would not have been possible. It has endured; it has persisted; it has even thrived. But now - under the various pressures of texting, email, journalese, "plain English" and PowerPoint - the career of the semicolon appears rapidly to be approaching a full-stop. The rare, and usually middle-aged, journalists who still revere the semicolon will discover it is no favourite of sub-editors, who will nowadays allow the comma to do much of the semi's previous work of co-ordinating ideas inside a sentence. And as sentences get shorter, there is less of that work to do.
Wave of waste stifles schools Sarah-jane Collins, The Age, August 4, 2011SCHOOLS in Melbourne's south-east say an ''oppressive stench of rotten waste'' from nearby rubbish tips is making it impossible for students to focus on their studies, and want the state government to force operators to clean up. Schools in the area including Westall Primary, Westall Secondary, Dingley Village Primary, Clarinda Primary and Clayton South Primary have written to the Environment Protection Authority over the past few months attempting to get the issue resolved.
Poor is not the same as dumbThe Common Room Blog, The Australian, 4 August 2011The accepted wisdom is often driven less by data than assumptions which erode when you test them against the evidence – which is what Geoff Masters from ACER did in a paper last month that deserved much more attention than it appears to have received (at least on the basis of Googling it). Masters starts with commonsense, “in education, low expectations are the equivalent of bone pointing; all too often they become self-fulfilling prophecies,” he writes before going on to argue against the idea pre-determined ability is all.
Coalition to abolish year 10 certificate Anna Patty State Politics, Sydney morning Herald, August 4, 2011THE year 10 School Certificate exam will be scrapped and replaced with another exit credential which reports student achievements up until the time they leave school - whether it is at the end of year 10 or part-way through year 11 or 12. The NSW government will today announce it will abolish the exam after its future was considered by the cabinet. The former Labor government had asked the Board of Studies to review the qualification, which is widely considered to be outdated. This year's School Certificate exam - the last - will go ahead from November 7 to 11. Year 9 students will not take it next year. The NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, confirmed the exam would be scrapped.
Inconvenient truth about size BERNARD LANE, The Australian, August 03, 2011VICE-CHANCELLORS on begging missions to Canberra sometimes try to arouse the sympathy of flint-hearted politicians with tales of today's over-crowded classroom. It's a tactic that may work, as long as the inconvenient research done by Keith Trigwell and colleagues remains unknown outside teaching and learning circles. "Work we've done shows that you can teach a class of 500 as well as you can a class of 20," says Trigwell, professor of higher education at the University of Sydney. The trick is student-focused teaching, which sounds like redundant terminology but isn't. The idea is to use a host of techniques that encourage learning, even in big classes, such as peer instruction, where a lecturer pauses so nearby students can compare and discuss answers to a question.
Disabled teen sues over dreams unfulfilled Michelle Griffin, The Age, August 2, 2011A VICTORIAN teenager with an IQ of about 70 is suing the Education Department for discrimination, claiming it failed to provide her with the integration support she needed to reach her full potential. Jade Sievwright, 13, and her mother, Anne Witcombe, have launched legal action in the Federal Court against the state of Victoria, claiming that by refusing to provide Jade with one-on-one assistance in class, speech pathology and proper remedial programs in primary school, or other one-on-one supports, the Education Department discriminated against her and deprived her of her right to a quality education. She is one of nine disabled students pursuing the department through the federal courts on grounds of discrimination. Jade, now in year seven, has a severe language disorder and by the end of grade five, was assessed as being four years behind in her reading and two years behind in numeracy.
Maths teaching fails to add up for pupils Melissa Lahoud, The Age, August 2, 2011AUSTRALIAN students could be dropping out of maths because it is taught in a way that does not relate to the real world, according to a maths academic. Monash University professor of mathematics education Peter Sullivan said the custom of teachers demonstrating a mathematical procedure and then setting repetitious practice was boring and restrictive. ''Effective mathematics teaching involves presenting students with important and engaging tasks, which students can explore and decide on their own problem-solving strategies,'' Professor Sullivan said.
Good behaviour fine for a spell Andrew Stevenson, The Age, August 1, 2011TEACHING children ''old-fashioned'' behaviour at the same time they learn to read can dramatically improve literacy, particularly among students who have been struggling, an Australian research project shows. Teachers at two disadvantaged Victorian schools were trained in how to integrate positive attitudes and behaviour for learning into literacy lessons, in a project run by Michael Bernard from the University of Melbourne. Compared with a control group, the primary school students taught positive behaviour showed ''significant improvements'' in reading comprehension.
Fun lives on as pupils play by the old rules Elisabeth Tarica, The Age, August 1, 2011THE strange structure near the front gate of Princes Hill Primary School — made of steel and timber, and looking like a disused bike stand — doesn't appear to have any special qualities. But special it is — even a touch magical. And this lunchtime, just as in countless ones before, a group of pupils has gathered around it to begin a ritual that has been embraced by generations. They are about to play "Cat and Mouse", a game specific to children at Princes Hill that is not your average version of schoolyard chasey. As their shoes inch into a circle on the uneven brick paving, one of the children chants the traditional counting rhyme "Dip, dip" to see who will be "it".
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