Comments on: Choice based on what now?

By: paralleldivergence

paralleldivergence — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:06:10 +0000

Did you see my comment on Maralyn Parker’s article? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/one_revelation_and_one_senseless_piece_of_legislation/ (the first one)

By: darcymoore

darcymoore — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:11:02 +0000

Yes, I understand and agree. However, the DPM’s strategy is flawed and counter-productive as the banning of NAPLAN tests will likel;y occur. We will have less data, data needed by teachers. BTW received an email today advertising NAPLAN tutoring and practice materials. It begins!

By: paralleldivergence

paralleldivergence — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:04:47 +0000

I think it’s more the forces of inevitibility. We play the cards we are dealt as best we can. I’m not necessarily supporting THIS change, but I do believe there is a need for transparency and openness, which we’ve not had at all – and a closed shop makes positive change almost impossible. Sometimes to have to expose everything to be able to correct what actually needs to be corrected.

By: darcymoore

darcymoore — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:53:31 +0000

Yes, I’m sure you’re right about that…but worry you have joined the forces of evil on the other ;O)

By: paralleldivergence

paralleldivergence — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:49:37 +0000

Darcy, the model for divvying-up the GST pie was agreed to unanimously by every state government (every one of which was Labor at the time). NSW agreed to their slice and to all the other states’ slices. Problem is not the GST revenue in NSW, it’s this government’s inability to spend it (and it’s other budget revenue) wisely – this has been proven time and again over four different premiers.

By: kmcg2375

kmcg2375 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:21:59 +0000

Just revisiting some thoughts on this…interesting claim imelda – “parents are not stupid”.
Well, no…being a parent doesn’t automatically make someone stupid. It also doesn’t automatically imbue them with intelligence. I would argue that I have met plenty of stupid people in my time, and some happen to have spawned offspring. I’ve met plenty of stupid teachers too, sadly.

Do I think that parents know what is best for their children? No, not always they don’t. There are parents out there who feed their kids too much junk food, don’t let their kids play enough, don’t have books in the house let alone read with their kids, and there are even some very abusive parents out there too. Just like there are some parents out there sending their kids to schools to try and get a high academic grade, social development be damned. Or, conversely, parents who are utterly disengaged with the school system.

You can throw all the rotten tomatoes at me you want, and tell me that ‘I just don’t get it’ because no, I haven’t spawned yet. But you’ve got to admit – the parents commenting on this blog will tend to be in the education sector, and therefore know a little more than your average Mr. Joe about what is really valuable in schooling.

Parents are not always right. They certainly have rights, as they should. But democratic governments have to maintain a balance of freedoms i.e. freedom to know about my child’s school and education as well as freedom from a hierarchised and status-driven school system with a focus on test scores over pedagogy.

By: darcymoore

darcymoore — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:33:03 +0000

I tried to address the irony that one of our greatest thinkers re: open government and transparency is really concerned that data will be misused and I attempted to get people thinking about the 'perils of transparency' in my post re: MySchool Stu, I think your logic is flawed in being supportive of this change when it is being bungled. Data is good but not when it is confounded, as this data is - and as such - can only be misinterpreted. BTW The GST is not working out so well here in NSW.

By: Simon Borgert

Simon Borgert — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:15:30 +0000

Agree that there is a lot more to a teaching job than just test performance. But I think teachers can and should be rated. It is simply a question of coming up with the criteria. Funnily all good teachers would rate themselves, many quite critically. I am all for a collegial ratiing system. After all we all experienced this as teaching students – why should it stop now?

By: Hiba R

Hiba R — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:33:46 +0000

A few questions out of curiosity: isn’t the point of Public Schools that parents just send their kids to the local community school? And if that’s the case, then parents wouldn’t need all this information about other schools because it’s not their local school, and their child will not go to any other government school.

Right?

So parents have the right to know how their own child’s school is performing… but what gives them the right to know how another person’s child’s school is performing?

And lastly, because league tables are about rating teachers, how can you actually RATE a job like teaching? There are so many dimensions to it besides the performance of students in test situations.

It’s such an insult to teachers!

By: imeldajudge

imeldajudge — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:11:26 +0000

Both perspectives have incredible weight here. There is no doubt that there will be major teething problems with the MyScchool website. It is essential that this type of dialogue be open to public discussion…therefore avoiding censorship!
Now the deed is done! My School is out there. With this type of discussiion continually played out in the media it will eventually make parents question the validity of the data and demand more; or reject the sanctity of the site!! Parents are not stupid!!!
I am embarrassed that Gillard thinks this is earth-moving. I am sad for those schools that will be scorned by upwardly mobile parents with a limited understanding of the complexity of measuring the depth of every child’s literacy and numeracy ability, not realising how shallow the NAPLAN tests really are; but the reality is Gillard has started something that I think has the potential to make the public start asking some serious questions about our education system, and our measurement of student performance. We can only hope that this then forces the Feds to give the people what they want!! And I bet that will be a whole lot different to the My School site we are seeing today.
Gillard has started something! But I don’t think she realises the enormity of it just yet!