Building a better future for our kids

Getting kids to see opportunity rather than negativity is a key objective for 2009. As times get more difficult and unemployment rises, it is ever so important for kids to use their education for a new start in life and bring hope not only into their lives but into their families.

There are inspirations in every year group, the child with a terminal illness that strives for A's, the child that works every spare second to send money home to parents in Africa, the student that couldn't read two years before and now is able to contribute to mainstream classes.

Once an opportunity is presented to a student we get limited opportunities to demonstrate that effort leads to success. Any success with some kids needs to be celebrated, even staged to ensure that they get on the right road. If they are going to fail at a task (and they must learn how to cope with failure) they need to be supported, prepared and lead by the ear to see the achievement gained in failure. The learning of resilience is important beyond any skill.

We need to believe that they can do things. They have enough doubt in themselves, it does not need to be reinforced. Push them hard, see what they can do - it will always surprise you. Work to drive them to a better place - a good work ethic is an an achievement in itself.

The little darlings need to learn that boundaries are ok and are there to protect them. The world may not be fair or cheering them on, but generally it's not against them. All of us old folk fight for a better future for them. Learning the rules is a precursor to learning how to interact with others and the community - simply modelling polite language can save them from being instantly judged the minute they open their mouths.

Value systems now that religion is no longer impressed on kids are lacking. Without a value system kids lack a knowledge of right and wrong. In a world where everything moves so fast and knowledge is valued over experience, it is hard for them to see that there is wisdom in older folks. This is of course every generations fate - but with the rapid pace of the information age it is being exacerbated. They don't believe in our values (what would we know!) and lack a better system themselves.

Parents, rather than argue at the end of a hard day at work, just give in to an argument - kids do not understand no as an answer being used to the last word. At least until they do something that has a consequence that cannot be overlooked. When this happens, the gentle leading of them to their errors is a hard task that requires patience that I need to develop further.

We need to protect students that have good qualities from students that are developing them. Once an academic student is identified they need to be driven forward. Students developing good qualities need to have champions that mentor them through and help them through difficult times.

Union president and lack of representative integrity

Anne Gisborne, president of the SSTUWA, is again out whoring the latest EBA attempt. Her actions are disgraceful.

A person in a representative capacity should not have made this comment in the media:

"Teachers union president Anne Gisborne admitted its members were running out of reasons to end the long-running pay dispute with the Government after the in-principle pay agreement."

Who is she to decide what her members should think? That is why members have a vote. She has been elected to represent members views even when member views are not her own (the last vote proved that members do not share her voice and thus she should keep it reserved until she again has member support). If she does cannot represent members and put her own views aside when it disagrees with members then she should step down.

It doesn't take blind Freddy to see that this union faces extinction if it continues to not heed the mandate given by its own State council and continue to act irresponsibly towards its members. The acts of the genuine few believers will not be enough to stem the tide of those leaving the union. Unfortunately the outcome will be no true public school system (other than a safety net), pay per use education and further movement to a multiple class society.

EducationWA milestone

A bit of posting trivia.. reached the big triple... 100 blog items, 500 visitors and the 1000 page hit mark..

I updated the header.. I had a bit of a dig at the edubabble acronyms usually pedalled out at uni and PD days. The fourth word in the logo is supposed to be 'ivaluate' - wen I lurnt my spellings we yewsd the hole of langwadge uprowch(sic) :-) I have no idea what the maths is behind the text - but it looked good!

Again.. thanks to all for their visits and comments... It helps keep the motivation up.. and promotes the thinking on how to do things better. It has been a great reminder to appreciate the profession we are a part of!

I'm organising a few new people to add their opinions, rather than just my ramblings.. so stay tuned..

Being paid less than a dog walker

-> November 2008 update: click here

The government has just announced a 6% pay rise backdated to September 2. I congratulate the Liberal party for 'making good' on an election promise in the limited time frame stated. I await rather cynically to find out how long it takes to move through parliament and the DET paymaster.

Much fanfare was made by the media that this makes WA teachers the highest paid in Australia. Again we have clear misleading of the public through indirection rather than an investigation of the underlying issues and the reporting of a clear opinion based on a justifiable set of associated facts. Lazy journalism rather than investigative journalism relying on media releases rather than reasoned facts.

Why boast about teachers being the highest paid.. it's like waving a red rag at bull. My wife made the comment, "highest paid what? Dog walkers??" She earns considerably more than I do in an occupation where typically there is no educational requirement. There is clear inequity in teacher salaries and it needs redressing - not window dressing.

A forum entry on the Plato website lists wages in WA to be:

"The six per cent increase would see a first-year teacher’s annual salary grow
from $48,425 to $51,331, a senior teacher’s salary from $70,868 to $75,120,
a principal of a small school (under 100 students) from $77,744 to $82,409
and a principal of a large school (more than 700 students) from $114,593 to
$121,469."

After the increase a teacher salary is about $24.70 an hour for a 4 year degree trained graduate or $36.12 an hour for a senior teacher (salary ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 5 days ÷ 8 hours). My last car service (on a Camry) was $427. I don't even want to think what that apprentice doing my oil change was earning. In the gap between uni and teaching I was earning $30 per hour shifting boxes from one site to another.

ABS stated on the first of April 2008, the average wage in WA in 2007 was $1185.80 pw or $61,000 per year (this includes an adjustment for gender). If we are trying to attract people from industry into teaching, they will (in an average case) take at least a $10,000 pay cut on entry to the profession.

In international terms teacher wages would be 31, 216 USD (21,109 Eur) for a graduate and 52,792 USD (38,825 Eur) for a senior teacher with at least 7 years experience that can get their accreditation granted and credited in WA. "Move to Australia, have sub-habitable conditions in inhospitable regions and take pay just above the cost of living. It's a great adventure, you should do it now!!" Strangely this campaign failed to attract the number of teachers required in the short to medium term.

We expect teachers to take full responsibility for classrooms in their first year out and this responsibility does not change significantly throughout their career. For this they are paid $10,000 under the average wage. I can't imagine the financial strain some are feeling starting a family and getting a mortgage on a teaching salary especially when you consider repaying HECS fees, recovery from the loss of income during study and the distance/support issues with potential country postings. Each year we see TEE scores for teaching drop and pre-requisites fall by the wayside for specialist and core subjects (who remembers the 3 month bridging course idea that thankfully was dropped!).

I have also seen two friends and great teachers in the last two years quit teaching for financial reasons. In no industry are you expected to get a four year university degree, on starting work be directly responsible for the management of 30 (potentially aggressive) people at once (and 150 over the year), be expected to drive the formation of the social fabric of a community, take leave when suitable to your employer, potentially move away from home for years at a time to inhospitable regions and be paid well below the average wage. Teaching has been made an undesirable occupation for too many.

If you have survived financially after working in your subject area for 7 years, becoming a specialist in your field, you may get a premium of $10,000 over the average wage. If you are any good you may be encouraged to take an administrative role and be promoted in many cases to incompetence. Or you could spend two years going to courses learning how to submit an application for level 3 promoting yourself. Whoopee! It is just as well those remaining in the profession are as dedicated to the students and social good as you would think, otherwise you would suspect that they are of sub-par intelligence for putting up with all this.

We need to forward plan for the shortfalls in teaching staff projected for 2009/2010 and arrest the increase in resignations (graphs taken from PlatoWA website). Teachers have low morale at present and need a positive outlook in order to work effectively. Any real benefit must be sold to both teachers and the community through the media to make both appreciate the needs and benefits of change.

It is quite clear that to regain the position of teachers as professionals in the community and rectify morale issues, there needs to be a 10K increase now and another 10K in 3 years time with CPI increases in the interim. The issue is that it will cost an extra $523 million dollars p.a. It is money that must be spent to preserve the state school system. A monitoring system could then be instigated to ensure that the wage position of teachers in society does not change (with periodic reviews against top 10 occupations - similar to the politician wage fixing system). This is a minimum negotiating position for the restoration of the status of teaching as an occupation in society and could be sold to teachers.

Society values the dollar more than any factor when setting status and only when it is fought for. I fear the only effective method available for teachers to fight with at present is for strikes during TEE to create an understanding for the need for change stemming from the community. If society believes that state education is a requirement but does not believe teachers do a required job, then it should be reminded - if teachers stop working when it will hurt most - society may realise the critical role they play and the lack of alternative courses for students that are effective.

Teachers being caring and nurturing want to avoid this situation at all costs, even to their own detriment; because of this they are constantly taken advantage of. To avoid the strike action (that no-one wants - but clearly is in the best interests of teachers and society) there needs to be a media campaign with discussion of the worth of teachers; establish fair monetary value of their sacrifice in becoming teachers and value their contribution in the community over and above contributions of other occupations - teachers ARE an exception (this is what lifting the status of a profession entails). This would restore morale in the teaching sector, improve recruitment and justify/allow/promote some levels of rationalisation in the short term to correct perceived deficiencies in classroom teaching and school performance. This is something political parties, the business community and the media has to support.

Make the change and attract real teachers. Reward those within the system that have striven to keep standards high. Create a situation where sub par applicants can be redirected to other occupations within or outside education.

From dire times have always come great leaders. Let's hope that leader is going to stand up soon.

Establishing performance criteria for teachers

I have commented on how difficult it is to produce meaningful performance criteria for schools and discussed how poor an idea 'performance pay' is for schools as an incentive. One would think that you could use graduation data as a key performance indicator. It could be used very effectively as a media "beat up" story.

The table shows that in the 2006 census, 55% of 20-24 year olds proceeded to yr 12 (or equivalent) in Girrawheen/Koondoola/Balga. In contrast Warwick/Greenwood/Ballajura had percentages on average of 73%.

Let's suppose an increase in graduation rates was a key performance indicator for teachers and schools. After all the only real gap between Warwick (77%) and Girrawheen (57%) is a 5-10m strip of Wanneroo road.

Over the next 20 years the 20% gap will reduce but I doubt schools will get the credit - and nor should they, it will be demographic change that drives performance not school performance to any great degree. All schools teach basically the same curricula (guided by DET and the curriculum council), have very similar students in terms of IQ and have the same quality of staff. These factors in combination are not enough to justify the 20% difference today. There must be other issues at play outside the control of schools.

Social change is the key driver - not educational inputs. Nutritional awareness, social attitudes, pre-school learning, ESL requirements are all key factors other than schools. In one family the first student in a generation will make it past yr 10, then the next generation past yr 12, then another generation to university. In another family, the family home is sold and they move deeper into surburbia removing themselves from the local statistics.

Julia Gillard has stated that underperforming schools will recieve $500,000 to rectify deficiencies. It would make a squidge of difference but not much more than that.. The idea of putting this money to finding and paying "super teachers" shows a clear lack of understanding in the sector and huge pressure on the teacher - to my mind these teachers are being set up for failure. After all, a 'super teacher' in one school can be a struggling prima donna in another demanding of resources to get the job done. What works in one location does not guarantee success in another. Horses for courses!

Typically large amounts given to schools are earmarked for infrastructure or very narrowly focussed programmes with short term outcomes to measure the impact of the funding. It is deemed impractical to wait 5 years to see if long term mainstream programmes have truly worked, evaluate flaws and modify the programmes; or wait a further ten years to see if the programme has provided benefit in finding employment.

A less attractive suggestion to 'powers that be' is to have more hands on deck and create more developmentally appropriate classes (eg. specialist upper school subjects or sports/arts/dance/T&E programmes) and smaller class sizes available for enrolled students. This would make upper school more attractive to students and would in most cases produce higher yr 12 graduation figures. Our school does this quite effectively for challenging students that would have finished school in yr 10 in past years.

Even this approach for using graduation figures as a KPI is fraught with danger - as I pointed out in earlier blogs, students are fickle and tailoring courses to students may work to increase graduation one year and be an absolute failure the next due to changes in the directions of courses (eg. with the implementation of NCOS), changes in teaching staff or student whim. The recent mining boom is a great example of 'uncontrollable factors'- students graduating year 12 will drop as a result of the 2006+ boom as the lure of the mining labour exceeds the desire for schooling. It is poor planning to decrease school capability(losing the capability to offer subjects in the future due to staff losses from decreased funding or losing incentive funding due to lack of perceived positive effect) purely because of financial trends in the marketplace.

I have only used one statistic as a possible measure of performance, imagine the complexity of a full blown model evaluating schools including academic, emotional and social factors drilling down to individual classrooms. A teacher is deemed to have done well because they have been provided a well prepared class from previous years (or vice versa). Performance pay lifts the blame game in the primary-middle senior school to a whole new level.

To my mind it is not possible to do accurate performances measurements to the degree necessary and any attempt would be largely ineffective due to the differences across schools/classes and the lack of fine grained control over these factors throughout Australia.

That data used has been taken from the ABS (here).

Real Estate & the calibre of staff

I have worked in many careers, but my first was as a receptionist (of all things) when I was 17. I worked in a real estate office for three years.

Now if there is any career to direct a real plod of a student it has got to be real estate (What am I saying about myself??!!??) and the real estate rep generally is the stupidest person and most dishonest you can find.

Anyhow.. I come home today and there is a real estate for sale sign on my home. I think to myself.. have I decided to do this in a moment of insanity (no.. I don't think so..), has my mushbrain pregnant wife done so.. (no.. she loves her home)... did I not pay the mortgage this week??

No.. the real estate company "Ray White" just decided to put my house up for sale. A quick phone call and the sign was gone literally 3 mins later and two reps had some fairly burning ears. If they can't put the for sale sign on the right house, I wonder how good they are at selling houses (or even the right one!).

Not to mention the agents that can't read "no junk mail" yet still drop unsolicited mail in the mailbox (yes Professionalscoastal - Monika van Namen - I mean you!).

Yep.. an industry still full of plods.

grrrrrrr....

Impact on WA of election result

This was the election where no-one wanted to vote for anyone. The major political parties were for the most part an insipid bunch. Now that the voting is over and they are being counted here's how I see the outcome.

In a perfect world (with lots of wishful thinking):
A) The National party has the balance of power, education in rural areas will gain increased support - more incentive to take rural posts, improved housing conditions, higher wages and community encouragement to stay.
B) Political parties will no longer dismiss the impact of educational lobby groups in marginal seats
C) The teacher pay dispute will be resolved quickly as the first item of the new government.
D) Teachers will resume community building roles and prevent disconnect with youth and community that is currently forming within low ability/low socioeconomic students sector.
E) The role of permanency, selection, relief teachers, class sizes and teaching administration will be investigated and resolved.
F) League tables will disappear as they are proved to have provided incomplete and misleading data to parents.
G) Performance based pay scales will be thoroughly investigated and found impractical to implement.

Comment:
It is clear from this election that both political parties cannot rely on party loyalties of voters - strong leadership is required at all times to maintain government. If a leader is stale, arrogant or belittling to the electorate - move them along, no matter what their perceived importance to policy. It is time politicians looked to running the state rather than their careers first.

I believe that politicians should stay with big picture issues and not turn up 5 minutes before an election and talk about local problems. Either be in touch with your electorate throughout the whole tenure or risk exit stage left. Parachuting politicians into safe seats is also a recipe for disaster.

We need strong experienced leaders. Not young up and comers - unless they are brilliant beyond their age. One only had to look at the faces of politicians last night to see that in "good times" conservative faces is what the electorate demands. Political parties take note! (How Albert Jacob managed to get elected I can't understand - let's hope he is more capable than he looks.)

Well done to the 3 independents and the National party for standing in seats and on issues that matter to their electorates. It shows that our political system is not yet as dead and showy/frightening as the American system or boring as the English. And for a small nation like ours we should be - vibrant, able to take action and go forward in leaps, stumbles and bounds.

I don't mind who is in government as long as progress is made. For now though... no more naive politics from me (at least for a while!).

Here is a link to education policy statements of all parties.

Rates and Ratios

Rates and ratios is one of those topics that I always have troubles teaching - especially to weak classes with poor fractions.

It is a large topic and covers many areas:

• parts of a whole (eg. 2 boys: 3 girls)
• parts of the whole (2 boys: 5 students total)
• scaling factors (1:100)
• equivalent ratios (2:4 as 1:2)
• conversion of fractions to ratios (2 blue:3 green = 2/5 blue)
• comparing unit values (1.25L of Coke @ $1.15 & 2L of Coke @ 2.35)
• unit conversions (dilute 1mL : 2L -> how much for 5L)

I don't think teaching this topic to 7's or 10's that I've established a sequence that enables students to grasp the concept easily. A few successful strategies have been corners and calculating ratios of m&m's and smarties. Mapping activities have been good (find ten cities in ten different countries and find the actual distance travelled) for large unit conversion activities. The grid activity where students grid a picture and then construct an enlarged grid and redraw the picture inside also works well.

I think next year when the topic is introduced I'll define ratios as a way of 'describing a groups of things' and then launch into proportions.

This is definately one that needs more attention on the programme and the sourcing of more resources for next year.

Education revolution - Bah humbug!

When someone uses revolution in a sentence, I usually put the following talk in the same category as others that include inclusive, flexible, robust and my all time favourite.. well... I try not to be cynical but election campaigns are always full of sensational headlines and little else when you dig a little deeper.

Here comes the usual garbage through my letterbox from state government politicians talking about greening the planet whilst cutting trees putting junk mail into my letterbox that goes direct to the bin. The latest junk being performance tables for schools.

I am not an advocate for school league tables. A better indicator for prospective parents is to speak to local parents about how students were treated by the school over the five year period. A school's reputation is its life blood. Conversely collating data and independent analysis privately reviewed is a great idea. Acting on these issues and seeking remedies over time in the public's best interest would be fantastic.

The only reason to release league tables is to accept that the government cannot act in the best interest of the public and the public needs access to the information to decide for itself. To accept this is to accept that the public has lost the faith in government. This is a direct indictment on the quality of our political leaders and public servants. One only has to look at how elections are won and lost - often on the actions of individuals rather than on their ability to govern. If parents had faith in government, the decision of parents would be geographical or financial as it has always been. Devolution of responsibility to schools is open acceptance that government cannot accept the responsibility/risk associated with governing schools. They are not capable or willing to remedy issues and are relying on market forces to do it for them. This is the heart of the safety net path I discussed in an earlier post (we'll take them if no one else will).

There are many reasons for poor results and to release the data with no analysis of why it has happened is not fair on a school. A school has poor results for many reasons - poor teaching, demographic change, a change in leadership, weak leadership, a lack of experienced staff, a large number of inexperienced staff, behavioural issues with specific students/classes, resourcing, a weak cohort, changing curriculum, socioeconomic reasons, issues with feeder schools. The list is unending.

Will a poor school be able to attract better students to raise its status after negative reports? Will poor reports relegate a school to a slippery slide of not attracting better students or teachers for fear of the school closing?

And what makes a good school? Is it the results of the top ten percent? The number of students without criminal records after five years? University entries? Students that gain incomes over $100,000? Students that don't end up divorced? Students that do well/better on standardised tests? Schools where parents are happy? Low teacher turnover?

How will statistics provide a fair and equitable benchmark for measurement of performance when high and low performance of students, teachers and administration is nigh on impossible to define and measure? People get very clever at analysing how scores can be manipulated.

I must say that I think these questions raise more questions than answers and that politically it seems it is just a smokescreen aimed to reduce inflationary pressures caused by police/teacher/nurse/public service wage claims and take away the focus from economic forces.

You just don't get it sir!

Yes, the kids do call us 'Sir' still, it's a mark of endearment for some kids - but before anyone gets too excited, there's usually a 'f*ck off' in a nearby sentence.

Occasionally you get a disruptive student that says "I just don't get maths" or "I don't need maths in "... and I think to myself here we go again. Do I have an honest student that has no faith in their ability or a student looking for excuses to maintain poor behaviour?

I have a great test for this but it requires being done in a period before lunch. I suggest that if they don't get it, it's ok, wait behind after class and I'll give them as much time as they need. In fact I insist, it's very important that they master the concept and not fall behind. It's amazing how many students get instant inspiration and get the task done.

Some students think I came down in the last shower and copy another student's work. A quick question usually indicates that I know when they are 'borrowing answers' and then I insist that they remain to get additional assistance to avoid such dependence on others. At this point they can be quite stroppy.

I start them off and they usually take about half of lunch procrastinating over the first question, arguing, complaining and whinging. They eventually realise I'm happy to wait until I see some success and start work..

.. and that's where my real work begins. I ask questions about how relevant they find maths, what do they find hard, I watch their every move and slowly, subtly start helping them with each answer. How can I make learning easier? Where in the class would they be less disturbed? How do they think I feel when teaching becomes impossible due to the number of interruptions? How can I connect maths with their aspirations? Other students come in that I have great rapport with (in senior years) and I give them a hand whilst the student is working. By the end of the period they see (in most cases) that a) they can do maths and b) if they just read their notes they could figure out what to do c) despite being noisy others students get work done and d) most students in my class have had this talk. I then let them in on the real secret - if teachers really didn't care, they would just let students fail and not try to get them to succeed. I suppose it also helps that I grew up in the area, know the type of kids to some degree and was reasonably successful prior to teaching.

If this fails, the next level is discussion with other teachers and the parent call/three way conference with pre-prepared wads of homework and suggestions of reduced TV/sport/PS3 time. Word quickly gets around it's a bad idea to get me 'organised'.

Maths is a confidence game and building the confidence of key students in a class can help make it all work. It's amazing what a class can do when disruptive influences become positive and the right opportunities are allowed to flourish.

Favourite Sci-Fi books of all time

Yes I'm a maths geek... I am also interested in science fiction... they go together. Reading is a major factor in student performance and parents modelling that reading is pleasurable and informative is the only path to students getting into the habit. Not just in English but especially in maths with the new curricula being much more wordy and problem solving oriented.

With the demise of newspapers in the home, the humble novel is one of the few physical manifestations of the written word. It is still one of the most rewarding as it enagages the mind, imagination and gives a sense of achievement on completion. One of my most memorable and cherished moments in teaching was in my first practicum when a group of yr 7 students read their first complete book (as a group, one paragraph at a time over weeks).

My reading habits have narrowed over the years and I read Sci-fi nearly exclusively. My favourite books of all time (I have some very worn and well loved copies) are:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers: Robert Heinlein
Enders Game: Orson Scott Card
Foundation: Isaac Asimov
Dorsai!: Gordon Dickson
Hovercar Racer: Matthew Reilly
Neutron Star: Larry Niven
Voyage of the Space Beagle: AE Van Vogt
Dune: Frank Herbert
Neuromancer: William Gibson(Yes I know it's cyberpunk- but close enough)
Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson(ditto)

Out of Genre:
Magician: Raymond E Feist
Bourne Identity: Robert Ludlum (the movie does not compare with the pace of the book)
Animal Farm: George Orwell
Catch 22: Joseph Heller
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone: JK Rowling
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: CS Lewis

Watching my father read, gave me the impetus to try, and continue trying to read complex and more complex books over time. I've never shared his love of the books he read - they had special meaning to his generation, but I do still read for pleasure, it is my primary method of relaxation.

We have to thank the internet for the resurgence of students writing to each other for pleasure - blogs, instant messaging, facebook/myspace portals (which all have their issues too).

Is it possible to re-engage not only student love of short form writing but their creative centres to design more complex works? JK Rowling showed that the task is not insurmountable.

Instant gratification is fleeting, a feeling of true achievement only comes through effort. Building resilience into our kids means demonstrating that long term effort is worth it.. well past 5 mins.. well past the end of the lesson.. past the term end and year end.. past school.. and hopefully past their own generation.

Politics and education

Well, today the next round of would be state politicians destroyed a few more trees and wanted to make sure that I would vote for them at the next election by filing my mail box with pamphlets and questionaires. On one side we have the local Liberal candidate who does not know the current education policy of his party (because I dare say they don't have a leader or a policy) and on the other side our Labor candidate(..yes the spelling is correct for those reading from overseas) thinks that the most important local issue I need to consider is whether we need a skate park to alleviate local misdemeaners by our youth.

I wish the pair of them would take a wider viewpoint than this and discuss policy - particularly education policy. At least this election they seem not to be spending the whole time attacking the personality of the other.

My favourite nonsense was the bit at the end of the Labor pamphlet where the Labor party announces they are building WA. Selling WA and privatising it may be more accurate. A key component of building WA is our youth and both parties need to consider the state's role in education and the inequity growing between state and private schools. It would be great to see either party commit to rebuilding public faith and support in the teaching sector by addressing key issues raised by teachers. That would be building WA more than any stadium.

.. and I'd rather they stopped filling my mailbox with garbage and nonsense.

School ranking in WA and the need for small classes

Low socio-economic areas have the same numbers of bright kids than high socio-economic areas but with many environmental factors affecting their grades. These students are now reliant on alternate entry paths as cross state assessment (moderation) has created geographical location bias - student IQ is no longer a consideration when assessed, kids in low socioeconomic areas are no longer scaled for their environmental inequity.

One only has to look at a disadvantaged area of Perth such as North East - Girrawheen, Balga, Warwick, Mirrabooka, Koondoola, Ballajura. These areas have gone through urban renewal which means there are now pockets of high ability students and schools with little or no TEE capability left.

In 2007/2008 Balcatta SHS (31/31 students), Balga SHS (0/0 students), Girrawheen SHS (15/18 students), Mirrabooka SHS (18/19 students) and Warwick SHS (43/38 students) all had less than 50 students sitting 4 or more TEE subjects - the general minimum for front door university entry. Each school had no more than 30% of these reaching above a TER of 66%. This means that students in these schools have at maximum 15 students that are capable of traditional university entry and of supporting each other towards this goal. If we take away the ability for these schools to offer small class sizes (as is current DET policy) we are effectively closing the front door to university for students in these areas.

I suggest that alternatives such as GATE programmes are not viable for these students as they generally lack the mobility, maturity and financial capability to travel distances to specialist schools. Nor is correspondence such as SIDE an option for students that require high levels of support to succeed due to environmental constraints (I know I couldn't do TEE calculus by email).

Data used can be found here:
http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au/internet/_Documents/Statistics/YEAR+12+SCHOOL+DATA+2007.pdfon pages 23-27.

League Tables for all schools 2000-2009 can be found here:
http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Reports/Statistical_Reports/School_Comparison_Statistics
The myschool website can be found here
http://www.myschool.edu.au/

(Updated 9 January 2009)
(Updated 14 January 2010)
(Updated 28 January 2010)
(Updated 5 January 2011)

Technology in education

My main criticism of technology in the classroom is that good uses of technology are few and far between. My secondary criticism is that support for hardware (computer/printer/network/projector/smartboard) and software(installation/functionality) in schools is reasonably poor reducing the required success rate well below 100%.

Here are some of my favourite issues:

• Smartboards where lag between writing and displaying occurs or light levels need to be too low for students to be able to write without damaging their eyes.
• Use of preprepared powerpoint presentations that direct students down a path with little concern for what they are learning - eg. with little interactivity.
• Research time in libraries where learning time is spent preventing student access to inappropriate websites, online games, Facebook and mySpace - especially where students are clearly unable to research online efficiently when ontask.
• Anything with the words 'intranet' or 'extranet' that students try to use as excuses for not handing in work due to technology or internet access failure.
• Not having direct access (as a teacher) to web proxy logs for students during class.
• Issues with students not having funds to print.

There are some great and time effective uses of IT in a normal classroom:

• Graphics calculators and teaching statistics/quadratics/algebra/trigonometry
• Teaching of area and bird's eye view using sites such as http://www.smallblueprinter.com/sbp.html
• Report writing in Word at the end of a project/assignment using preset templates
• Brainstorming using Powerpoint and Inspiration
• Exploring critical paths using Gannt charts in MSProject
• Flow charts in Visio

There are some great uses of IT in an extension class I have experienced with students specifically interested in computer game design:

• Teaching 2D geometry/linear algebra with Java (computer game design)
• Teaching 3D geometry with Blender (animation)
• Exploring mathematical modelling with The Sims/Civilisation/SimCity

The thing to note about effective use of IT is that it is directed at specialised tasks with either highly motivated(extension) students or students that are given limited opportunities for distraction (such as with a graphics calculator). Punitive action needs to be restricted as removing access from students(eg. stopping internet access) will hamper progress in other classes. If something can be done faster without IT, we should not use IT purely for the fallback 'but there's higher student motivation', 'it promotes reuse of materials', 'it produces materials that can be provided to absent students'. We should simply use our whiteboards/paper handouts and not change where change has a lower net learning output.

Electronic Resources in the classroom

Many questions are raised as to whether electronic gizmos are required in the classroom. As you can probably tell I'm not a big fan - and that's generally from my experience as a programmer. I have a deep disdain for misuse of information technology and for those that perpetrate it. Education by far is one of the greatest proponents of the use of IT and also the worst user of IT.

For instance have you experienced death by Powerpoint?  Have you waited twenty minutes for IT to be fixed before a presentation can begin? Have you ever thought that a whiteboard could have done that faster, better, smarter that the electronic presentation. My experience thus far has been that it is better to buy kids a set of great texts than have a projector and develop online content. It's far easier to interact with kids with a whiteboard than any combination of IT (including smart board - which thus far has limited application compared to a traditional whiteboard)

That's not to say that I don't use IT. Graphic and CAS calculators are needed by students to pass university entrance exams. Tools like Blender can teach 3D viewing and cartesian planes effectively. I've used Java to give depth to algebra courses - but typically these are all in afterschool extension classes with highly motivated students.

Students have motivation in upper school - it's called university or getting a job. The time wasted on motivating students with electronic gizmos is in many cases better spent on providing and creating an effective lesson.

Three stages of Learning

Kids often say, how come it's so easy on the board but not in the test?

I tell my kids in class that there are three stages of learning. Stage one, anything I do on the board looks like gibberish. Stage two, the student can do stuff themselves - but forgets as soon as they walk out the door at the end of the lesson. Stage three students have mastered the topic and will be able to do well in their test.

It's not in any text that I have read - but is pretty logical and there are things students can do to get through each stage.

Step one is the first hurdle and requires engaging with the lesson, asking questions, listening, working with fellow students and seeing the teacher after class when necessary. Once understanding is gained only then is application and practice of any use.

Step two is about application. Have I done enough practice to make sure I don't forget this. Typically this is where most students fall down - some students need only a little revision to remember things, others need a lot and this changes with difficulty levels. There are many pitfalls here, but the path to mastery is overlearning - doing something to the point where thinking is not needed. Do your homework too, it's a good test of whether or not you have finished this stage!

Step three is where the current topic can provide a solid basis for the next topic. It's where so few students end up with the hectic pace of our current curriculum. When a student consistently reaches this stage is when a student really starts to do well.

Update 19/9/09: I later added a mastery step 4 and renamed the model the "Duh? I get it.. I got it.. I got it real good like" model, which kids seem to relate to.

Food glorious food

Although with celebrity attention ala Jamie Oliver, food in school remains an issue. Students frequently enter classes, lollypop in mouth, sweets in bag, juiced to the limits on sugar. This impairs their ability to concentrate and inevitably ends with head on desk in a sugar low ten minutes later. Combine this with 'energy' or carbonated drinks and students are left unable to learn anything.

This unfortunately is not where it stops. Students then resent them being confiscated and the materials are returned more than likely at the end of class and the cycle begins in the next period with the next teacher.

The methods of combatting this are arriving with parents able (in some schools) to prepay lunches at the school canteen and restrict money available to students for sweets. Other schools are banning sugary foodstuffs from canteens altogether. Health classes are informing students of the impact of high sugar foods. Sadly though, the majority of sugar abuse is in the low ability students, students that are already behind and aren't paying attention anyway. These students have not eaten breakfast, nor have sat at a table with their parents for a meal in a while.

Healthy food, healthy brain, healthy learning.. easy!

The power of a parent

Parents are the single biggest influencer in a child's life. When that influence is used to describe a teacher in negative terms the consequences can be severe.

Johnny goes home and says to mum Mr so-and-so is mean and says I have to hand in my assignment tomorrow. Mum writes a note to the teacher and says Johnny must get an extension. Mummy doesn't care that Johnny has had two weeks to complete it. Johnny doesn't learn that deadlines are important.

Janie has a test today. Janie says to mum that she is sick of school and instead goes shopping with mum. Janie misses the test, misses the session when the test was being explained. Janie misses a day of school which means it will take another four days to catch up. Janie falls further behind.

Jason's behaviour in class is deteriorating. A note is sent home but Jamie says that the teacher is picking on him and describes some of the measures used to keep him in line to mum - that isn't happening to other students. Mum can't imagine her son misbehaving and instantly starts to denigrate the measures used by the teacher directly to the student, blaming the teacher for the poor performance of the student not the behaviour. The student does not analyse their behaviour and continues to disrupt the class. The class loses and Jason loses.

Parental support of teachers is a must for teachers to do their job. There is nothing wrong with questioning teacher performance and behaviour, but we must be very careful not to undermine authority or reinforce poor behaviour in students. A quiet phone call out of earshot of the student followed by a three way conference (teacher-parent-student) can prevent many detrimental situations occurring.