The parents of students attending Australia’s non-government schools have welcomed the Coalition’s announcement that, if elected, it will allow schools to self manage yet to be released funding for BER projects. The executive director of the Australian Parents Council, Ian Dalton, said, “While the announcement made today by the Coalition relates to funding for BER projects in government schools, APC is heartened by the implications this announcement has for the future of funding for schooling. It is vitally important that a direct funding relationship is maintained between the Federal Government and non-government schools.
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End myths on funds
In an opinion piece in The Advertiser on 8 June APC executive director, Ian Dalton, argued that if the publication of financial data on the My School website and the upcoming review of school funding are to be useful exercises, the information they are based on must be comprehensive, consistent and accurate. He claimed that the continued spreading of myths and innuendos that seek to discredit the non-government schools sector and blame it for the perceived ills of the government schools sector will serve no useful purpose.
Ditching literature is another own goal for the national curriculum team
Kenneth Wiltshire of the University of Queensland Business School has joined a growing list of critics of the emerging Australian Curriculum. In an article in The Australian on 2 June 2010 Wiltshire claimed the English curriculum is being dumbed down because of a lack of focus on literacy. He also expressed concern that there is a 'dangerous indication' that state governments will be able to determine assessment methods in english and other subjects, which he says will lead to "continued lack of uniformity and consistency in school education systems across Australia".
APC responds to Funding Review discussion paper and terms of reference
APC has provided a response to the discussion paper and terms of reference for the forthcoming review of funding for schooling. While welcoming the Review APC has suggested that the proposed scope of the review should address five key issues and has also highlighted a number of areas of concern in the draft review documentation.
Minister announces next AEDI phase
The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is used to measure five key domains of children in their first year of schooling: physical health and wellbeing; social competence; emotional maturity; language and cognitive skills (school based) and communication skills and general knowledge. Minister for Early Childhood Education, Kate Ellis, has announced the next phase for the project - detailed community profiles.
Funding review terms of reference and panel announced
The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, has announced the draft terms of reference for the review into funding of Australian schools along with the membership of the review panel. A discussion paper has also been released, which contains the review’s draft terms of reference. The draft terms of reference will be open for comment until the end of May.
The upside of testing topic
The Illawarra Mercury on 27 April 2010 reported comments by MIT Professor Joshua Angrist on standardised testing, My School and charter schools. According to Benjamin Long's article, leading United States economist, Professor Joshua Angrist, argued that the real benefit of the MySchool website will not be for parents wanting to compare their children's school with others, but for academic researchers.
Tinkering around the edges of our education system ...
Jenny Allum is Head of SCEGGS Darlinghurst. On the 7th of April she wrote in On Line Opinion about work done by McKinsey and Company to identify the world’s top-performing school systems and then analyse what were the reasons for their success.
Concerns in non-government schools sector over National Partnership funding arrangements
Justine Ferrari reported in The Australian on 22 March that the non-government schooling sector has raised concerns over National Partnership arrangements and funding of non-govt schools.
Changes to My School on the table
On 20 March Farrah Tomazin reported in The Age that ACARA is considering changes to ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) data. She also says that ACARA is looking at ways to protect school performance data on the My School website from being used inappropriately.
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