Department of Education has another go with essential learning

Thumper, seepi and VY thanks for that – looking at a few jobs now.

VY, no students don’t fail and they are rarely held back a year. It’s a bloody joke.

Education is the main focus of the ACT Dept of Education, it’s more about what you can do for yourself rather than what is in the best interests of the students.

Nyssa – I have (and have had) many PS clients. Looking at the PS from a distance, they’re a mixed bunch. There are some folk who work hard but get treated like crap, plenty of people who do nothing. There are some PS jobs, though, where the people work hard while they’re at the office, but don’t go past about 35 hours a week or so. I’d be looking for one of those myself. I have also noticed that there are lots of PS people who aren’t particularly interested in career progression, so if that’s your thing there is lots of opportunity.

On the whole, there are lots of good PS jobs around. There are also some stinkers. Talk to people you know for referrals to the ‘better’ areas.

Nyssa there are an awful lot of ex-teachers in the PS.
In my expereince PS jobs are quite mixed. In great big departments life is a bit easier, people don’t tend to work thru lunch/stay late etc, but it can be frustrating as nothing much gets done, due to the layers and layers of management approvals things have to go thru.
In very small PS workplaces you may as well be in the private sector as resources are scarce and long hours are the norm. But life is more interesting, and you can actually make a difference. That’s been my experience after working in two large depts and two small PS agencies.

Given that in terms of education and earning power on average Canberrans are pretty much the top of Australia, I’m surprised more emphasis isn’t put on education. I grew up in the NSW system, which although less friendly is quite concrete. Also, do students ‘fail’ these days? Can students be held back a year if they don’t achieve enough marks? Does this happen in practice? Nyssa or anyone else know?

Parents want to know the tangibles being taught, and how. Eg, algebra. Sure, there are potential flow-on effects, (eg logical thinking) but these are not what I would expect in a curriculum.Compare it to for example music lessons: the child must be taught certain tangible things, practise (do homework) and be able to demonstrate certain levels of achievement in order to pass a level. Tangibles: what is taught and how. Flow on: creativity, self discipline, self-esteem, sense of achievement, etc. Same goes for sport – we expect a certain standard to qualify for a particular level. Frankly this is so obvious.

Self-discipline is the biggest oxymoron in Education today.

Yes the three “R’s” are included, it’s a basic neccessity. However, it is covered in PC shite.

Outcomes based education has proven to be shite, yet we still have it here in the ACT. Why in the hell are we still flogging a dead horse?

It should be pointed out that reading, writing and arithmetic are in the listed criteria.

Which you’d know, if you cliked on the damn link that’s in the article. I know you all have a ludicrous amount of faith in your ability to know everything, but really, occasionally looking at the actual document being quoted tells you a whole lot more.

And yes, there’s a lot of fluffy management speak in there, but there’s a lot less than there used to be. And in case you’re wondering, the expression “manage self and relationships” would be another phrase for “Self discipline”.

I’m giving serious consideration to leaving education.

The new curriculum is shite, all the good teachers leave due to the arseholes who are never reprimanded, school closures and a shite staffing sector.

Thumper, is the PS any good?

As if teachers have time to read such waffle anyway. What a waste of trees and department staff.

As for the new outcomes: no wonder people spend so much on Kip McGrath/Kumon etc – who of course implement (at a price) the traditional teaching methods we want the schools to teach. I’d love to know the breakdown of students getting tutoring (especially how many high-achieving ones). The ACT Ed system just loves the kudos but . . .

Not to mention, of course what parents do to help their own children. (I taught one of my own children to read in her Kinder year, thanks to an excellent phonics course I had undertaken at a previous NSW school. She was struggling big-time and getting nowhere with the ‘have a go’ (have a guess) method.) Nyssa, your daughter will surely be fine, as you will be keeping a good eye on things. It’s the parents who are completely relying on the school that will be let down, especially if they can’t afford tutoring.

Oops, I forgot to add, that this crap comes into effect in January 2008.

It will be interesting (in a sad way) to see how those children starting Kindy in that year (my youngest included) develop in the 12 years they are in school.