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Written by joni
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Tuesday, 19 January 2010 17:44 |
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It looks like a showdown is looming between teachers and Julia Gillard (of Memorial Halls fame). The Opoosition Oracle is reporting that teachers who boycott the national literacy skills test could be docked wages.
Ms Gillard is refusing to rule out taking action against teachers if they go through with their threat to boycott the tests and one option is to get Fair Work Australia to intervene on the grounds that industrial action outside the enterprise bargaining period is unlawful.
Gillard said on ABC Radio:
"The worst thing in the world is for a child to be at an underperforming school and for no one to know that, and no one to do anything about it."
I am not sure where I stand on the tests, and releasing the information to the public. On one hand - yes, parents deserve to know how their school is doing. But is it fair to denigrate schools where students are from disadvantaged backgrounds, where the scores may be low but the teachers are doing amazing things for the students.
I think it is best for parents to be more involved in their children's school, and to get more hands-on information than relying on a national test ranking. |
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Written by Charles
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Tuesday, 15 September 2009 23:33 |
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The University of New South Wales is axing modern greek language course from its 2010 intake effectively consigning foreign languages to the grave (following the heels of others such as Russian and Italian). During the protest, the students, with loudspeakers, gathered outside the Morven Brown Building and demanded the school spokesperson explain the rationale for axing the course. (photos after the fold)
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Written by Kevin Rennie
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Tuesday, 15 September 2009 18:35 |
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For those interested in the future of bi-lingual education in Northern Territory schools, try to catch up with last night's Four Corners program "Going Back to Lajamnau" and Bob Gosford's analysis at Crikey.
Gosford on meetings with members of the Yirrkala commmunity. (You need to be a subscriber or try a free trial to read the full article):
Crikey understands that Barnes (new NT Education CEO Gary Barnes ) read the riot act to both groups, telling them that they had to abandon their continued support and use of the bilingual program and that the continued support by the Yambirra School Council for bilingual education at their school was "unacceptable" to the Department.
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Written by joni
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Monday, 07 September 2009 17:00 |
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I read this story about teaching English in NT schools - and thought that maybe the blogocrats could provide some more information.
The NT Government has directed schools to teach English for the first four hours of the day in communities where English is not a first language.
Critics say the strategy, supported by the Rudd Government, will dismantle bilingual education and lead to assimilation in remote communities. They also warn it could lead to lower attendance and school retention rates.
From what I can gather, some schools primarily teach the local indigenous language as the primary language - and this provided some incentive for the kids to go to school.
The Yirrkala School in Arnhem Land is one of nine schools that teach children in their Aboriginal language before English. Staff at the school say the community is strongly opposed to being pressured to teach four hours of English each day. They fear it will undermine community support, school attendance and Aboriginal language teaching.
So - is it a good move to force schools to teach English or not? |
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