tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/educating-australia-35445/articlesEducating Australia – The Conversation2017-02-13T03:04:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/719882017-02-13T03:04:27Z2017-02-13T03:04:27ZMainstream schools need to take back responsibility for educating disengaged students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155597/original/image-20170206-18741-j3ps0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many young people drop out or are excluded from mainstream schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
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<p>Mainstream schools need to take back responsibility of educating all students, even those who have temporarily become disengaged in education. </p>
<p>An alternative education sector has rapidly expanded in recent decades as Australian federal and state policies have sought to keep disengaged and vulnerable young people in education.</p>
<p>Over 900 plus so-called flexible learning programs are operating throughout the country, within and outside mainstream schools, catering for more than <a href="http://dusseldorp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Victoria-Institue-1-7-MB2.pdf">70,000 students</a> each year.</p>
<p>The growth of this sector can be seen as both a reflection of changing labour markets – paired with <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-get-young-people-into-work-we-first-need-to-understand-how-the-workplace-is-changing-65394">rising youth unemployment</a> – and a pragmatic response to <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-expelling-too-many-children-from-australian-schools-65162">exclusion practices</a> by education systems that are focused on academic achievement and outcomes. </p>
<p>Exclusion from school places makes vulnerable young people at <a href="http://apo.org.au/research/family-factors-early-school-leaving.pdf">greater risk</a> of long term unemployment, dependence on welfare, mental health issues and social isolation. </p>
<p>Young people unable to attend mainstream education then need to look for an educational alternative that addresses the complexity of their lives and needs. </p>
<h2>Can these students still get a good education?</h2>
<p>With success increasingly defined through <a href="http://www.myschool.edu.au/">league tables</a> and comparison of schools through national tests such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-results-reveal-little-change-in-literacy-and-numeracy-performance-here-are-some-key-takeaway-findings-70208">National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)</a>, a growing number (around 70,000) are no longer able to maintain their education in the mainstream system. </p>
<p>Many young people drop out or are <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-expelling-too-many-children-from-australian-schools-65162">excluded</a>. This is often because of their feelings of rejection and disillusionment with a system that fails to recognise the impacts of disadvantage, related social and mental health issues, and family trauma. </p>
<p>Ideally, alternative programs offer the potential of a curriculum that is individualised and relevant to their lived experiences. They offer:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>practical skills such as basic carpentry, motor maintenance or food preparation;</p></li>
<li><p>authentic learning experiences, which include real life tasks that are relevant to the student’s lived experience and facilitate success. For example, practical maths activities related to cooking and catering projects;</p></li>
<li><p>flexible learning that enables students to work at their own pace in small group or one-to-one situations;</p></li>
<li><p>a curriculum based on real-life scenarios, such as researching aspects of their local communities;</p></li>
<li><p>schooling that addresses the biological and developmental impacts of trauma before focusing on relationship-building and engagement with learning;</p></li>
<li><p>welfare and counselling support, which could include, for example, a school day consisting of two hours of counselling and two hours of classes.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Types of alternative education programs</h2>
<p>Alternative education activities in Australia fall into <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1962718/User_croftsj_Stokes_26_Turnbull_Final_Web_18-5-16.pdf">three broad categories</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Programs within mainstream schools. These are usually aimed at keeping young people connected to school. Some are supported by philanthropic organisations, others by government initiatives.</p></li>
<li><p>Programs within Technical and Further Education (TAFE) or Adult and Continuing Education (ACE), such as Victorian Certificate of Alternative Learning (VCAL) (Years 11 and 12) or Certificate of General Education for Adults (to Year 10 level). </p></li>
<li><p>Standalone programs: often referred to as Flexible Learning Options (FLO). These programs operate either within mainstream settings but on separate sites or as separate schools in their own right. They typically offer alternative Year 9 to 12 options and/or curriculum and welfare support designed to meet the specific needs of their students, such as responding to the impact of trauma. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Such programs have the potential to support students at risk of disengaging entirely from mainstream education, but also to promote the resilience and well-being of all young people in mainstream schooling. This leads, in turn, to whole-school change that will benefit all students.</p>
<p>Many of the programs grapple with the delivery of a rigorous curriculum, the expectation of student academic achievement, and creating opportunities for students to return to mainstream education and training. </p>
<h2>Taking back responsibility</h2>
<p>Mainstream education needs to take back responsibility for adequately catering to the needs of a growing sector of marginalised young people, and learn to work in partnership with alternative education providers and community-based organisations to better support students. </p>
<p>One thing to consider is whether these sites of education offer a distinctive developmental approach that should influence curriculum and pedagogical design more widely.</p>
<p>Within the alternative sector, greater transparency is needed around curriculum and instructional quality, combined with better data on enrolments, course completion, and program outcomes. </p>
<p>We also need more consistent funding practices (many programs are dependent on the uncertainty of short-term grant allocations) and professional skills development.</p>
<p>These variables, consistently monitored and supported by effective local partnership between agencies, would contribute to a cultural shift in which Australian schools come to provide meaningful education for all young people, not just those engaged in the mainstream.</p>
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<p>• <em>The authors explore this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fragmentation, inconsistency and a lack of accountability between alternative education providers means not all young people get access to a good education.Helen Stokes, Associate professor, The University of MelbourneMalcolm Turnbull, Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716212017-02-12T19:09:58Z2017-02-12T19:09:58ZIs there a crisis in public education?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156121/original/image-20170209-17316-1597ox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children's needs are not always catered for in the public school system .</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Miller/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
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<p>It is widely claimed that there is a crisis in public schooling, or at the very least, that there is something profoundly wrong with it. </p>
<p>This is, unsurprisingly, a common reform and lobbying tactic. Talk of “crises” in schooling can provide important “reform windows” in which government, lobbying groups, unions and pundits push their reform agendas. </p>
<p>However, the exact nature of the crisis is hotly contested. </p>
<p>For some, such as the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_the_national_curriculum_final_report.pdf">authors of the review of the Australian Curriculum</a>, the problem lies in the need for schools to pay greater attention to “the impact of Western civilisation and Judeo-Christianity on Australia’s development”.</p>
<p>For others, the crisis lies in the quality of teachers. Some people also think the belly of the crisis lies in the deep inequalities that plague our education system and its outcomes, from the disadvantage experienced by Indigenous students to the stubborn link between economic inequity and education inequity. </p>
<p>When it comes down to it, each of these proclaimed crises reflect different points of why we have a public school system, and what we want it to look like and do. </p>
<p>Ultimately, this is about different views surrounding the purpose of public schooling. </p>
<h2>The purpose of public schooling</h2>
<p>In Australia the term “public” is often used as a stand-in for state- or government-funded schools. </p>
<p>At a most basic level, this funding indicates that schooling is a common concern to be funded and regulated by government, rather than driven by purely private and individual interests and resources. </p>
<p>Underpinning this is a desire for schooling to develop and reflect a <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf">democratic and equal Australian society</a>.</p>
<p>But does our current school system achieve this?</p>
<p>To answer this, we need to look at three key aspects of schooling:</p>
<p>1) Despite recent reports of a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/public-schools-increase-share-of-enrolments-reversing-40-year-trend-20170202-gu42df.html">flattening of private school enrolments</a>, Australia has a highly successful private school sector that is <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-some-australian-private-schools-are-overfunded-heres-why-66212">bolstered by government support and funding</a> in addition to charging parent fees. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.aeufederal.org.au/news-media/media-releases/2016/may/160516">recent report</a> showed that government funding to independent and Catholic schools has increased at twice the rate of funding to public schools. </p>
<p>These funding arrangements exacerbate rather than challenge the existing social inequalities that exist in Australia. The vast majority of disadvantaged students attend public schools, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-engines-of-inequality-23979">our schooling systems are highly segregated on the lines of socioeconomic status</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nswtf.org.au/files/my_school_and_others_-_christine_ho_may_2011.pdf">Research suggests</a> these trends are further exacerbated by the rise of schooling markets and school choice, in which parent choice can lead to <a href="https://theconversation.com/gentrification-is-dividing-australian-schools-53098">further social and cultural segregation in Australian schools</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2016.1274787?needAccess=true">nature of public schools is also changing rapidly</a>. For instance, an often overlooked recommendation in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-a-gonski-anyway-13599">Gonski review</a> of school funding was the support of philanthropic funding in public schools. This welcomes private funds into public schools in unprecedented ways, raising questions surrounding the capacity for private influence. </p>
<p>2) For many in Australia, access to school education is not a given. There are numerous examples that highlight how our school system is not catering for the needs of our diverse society. </p>
<p>For instance, there are those whose needs are still not being catered for. On example is students with disabilities, who are often still <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-with-disability-are-being-excluded-from-education-59825">excluded</a> from quality education. </p>
<p>Here, we come to questions of “who counts” in public education. </p>
<p>Reports revealing the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/forgotten_children_2014.pdf">lack of education and rights for child refugees and asylum seekers</a> <a href="https://www.savethechildren.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109741/FINAL_Children_in_Immigration_Detention_PositionPaper.pdf">in detention</a> demonstrates that in Australia, public schooling does not in fact operate for all of those under its care. </p>
<p>When the right to education is denied to some, the pursuit of equity and justice is gravely undermined. </p>
<p>3) Government is not a stand-in for the public when it comes to public schooling.</p>
<p>Recent funding debates around <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/gonski-4904">Gonski</a> – a needs-based funding model – have put a spotlight on government funding as the core lever for social equity. </p>
<p>Of course government – and funding – plays a role. But ultimately <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2016.1186711">what is public about public schooling</a> is the fact that schools are places in which communities come together and in which communities are made through the actions of teachers, students and parents. </p>
<p>And when it comes to this, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2015.1044568">government does not always act - and has not acted - in the best interests of all</a>. </p>
<p>For example, through segregating education <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/education/Teaching-Aboriginal-Studies-Rhonda-Craven-9781741754759">governments denied</a> Indigenous Australians’ access to a shared schooling experience and included curricula that did not recognise Indigenous language, knowledge or culture. </p>
<p>The recent controversy surrounding <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-safe-schools-coalition-55018">Safe Schools</a> - the anti-bullying and anti-discrimination program for gender and sexual diversity – saw the government intervene on what schools are allowed to teach when it comes to sex education, <a href="https://theconversation.com/safe-schools-review-findings-experts-respond-56425">effectively marginalising gender and sexual diverse identities</a>. </p>
<p>This shows that government can, and does, actively take a moral and political position that seeks to minimise the visibility, safety, and standing of some groups.</p>
<h2>The value of public schooling</h2>
<p>If there is a crisis in public schooling, it circles around the need to seriously consider the purpose and value of public schooling.</p>
<p>While government has a clear role in this, ultimately this consideration is one that extends far beyond the arms of government and into the diverse communities of Australia. </p>
<p>It requires the lively debate and action from teachers, students, parents, and community members.</p>
<p>This is particularly important as Australia navigates an increasingly uncertain global political context, as well as abiding social inequalities. </p>
<p>It involves facing the hard realities of past and present schooling practices that foster social segregation, exclusion and in some cases deny the fundamental right to education. </p>
<p>Key considerations must include the sorts of communities that are created in our schools and across our schooling sectors; how some Australians are excluded from public education; and how the public might engage with governments that do not always cultivate schooling practices based on inclusion, diversity and equality. </p>
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<p>• <em>Jessica Gerrard explores this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Gerrard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Public schools are spaces in which equality can either be supported or weakened.Jessica Gerrard, Senior Lecturer in Education, Equity and Politics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/719942017-02-09T04:40:30Z2017-02-09T04:40:30ZStop focusing on ‘the problem’ in Indigenous education, and start looking at learning opportunities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155584/original/image-20170206-18772-1c9cwh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to stop blaming Indigenous students and families for low school achievement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neda Vanovac/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
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<p>Much attention in Australian Indigenous education is paid to the “<a href="http://closingthegap.dpmc.gov.au/chapter-02/index.html">achievement gap</a>” and not nearly enough is paid to the “opportunity to learn gap” – this refers to the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-volume-I.pdf">subject content</a> students are exposed to in school. </p>
<p>Debates focusing on the achievement gap, where in 2014 only <a href="http://closingthegap.dpmc.gov.au/introduction.html">59% of Indigenous students</a> complete Year 12 or equivalent compared with 85% of their non-Indigenous counterparts, tend to place an emphasis on contextual factors such as the role of poverty or socioeconomic status as an explanation of <a href="https://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PISA-2012-Report.pdf">lower educational achievement</a>. </p>
<p>In the wider public, this can spiral quickly into blaming students and families, or gives schools and teachers permission to find some comfort in the status quo.</p>
<h2>Stop focusing on ‘the problem’</h2>
<p>Focusing on the opportunity to learn gap removes the emphasis from locating “the problem” in the person (or family or culture), and turns our attention to the accummulated differences in access to key educational resources. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>quality teachers that can adapt to context</p></li>
<li><p>personalised academic programs and guidance systems</p></li>
<li><p>high quality curriculum opportunities, such as being supported to become proficient in rigorous curriculum content (for example, advanced mathematics)</p></li>
<li><p>high quality educational materials, such as up-to-date technologies and good connectivity</p></li>
<li><p>good informational sources that support learning at school and home.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These inequalities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have compounded over the years and, as such, many have been denied access to quality education. You could argue that this is a form of institutionally sanctioned discrimination.</p>
<h2>What is ‘opportunity to learn’?</h2>
<p>Students’ ability to learn a subject is based on whether, and for how long, they are exposed to it in school – as well as the adequacy and effectiveness of their engagement in the learning process. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-volume-I.pdf">OECD research</a> has shown that the opportunity to learn is connected with student achievement in multiple ways. It is a complex idea that involves both school systems and classrooms. </p>
<p>At the systems level, opportunity to learn plays out through whether students are able to attend school and what is available in the way of curriculum, teaching staff stability, teaching quality, tracking practices, and school resources. </p>
<p>At the classroom level, it involves resources and teaching practices. The educational resources at both of these levels have failed to help Indigenous students improve their knowledge and skills, contributing to poor educational outcomes. </p>
<p>Many Indigenous students, even those who are achieving some success, do not have adequate support to engage with a rigorous curriculum. </p>
<h2>What impact can this have on learning?</h2>
<p><a href="https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/education/about/research/starpath/documents/Starpath%20Summative%20Report.pdf">Research carried out</a> in New Zealand secondary schools has shown that, in relation to literacy, Māori (Indigenous) and ethnic minority students are exposed to different and a narrower range of texts. </p>
<p>An implication of this is that they are only able to complete a narrow part of the assessed curriculum compared to their peers in other schools.</p>
<p>The quality of the texts students read were lower, with students being given shorter texts and ones targeted at youth rather than adult readers. </p>
<p>As a result, students were found to be diverted into a low track curriculum with limited exposure to the content necessary to enter higher education. Teaching approaches were observed to be highly structured and teacher directed.</p>
<p>Some districts and schools in California have gone further and <a href="http://justschools.gseis.ucla.edu/solution/pdfs/OTL.pdf">proposed standards</a> and measures around opportunity to learn to ascertain true outcomes for students. </p>
<p>Examples of measures include whether or not students have access to qualified teachers, access to advanced classes and the amount of time spent with the subject matter, and whether the teachers have the knowledge and training to be effective in the context they are teaching. </p>
<p>These sorts of measures would give governments a truer picture of the distribution of resources in education and enable them to make decisions that are more equitable. </p>
<p>Students would benefit from a more equitable distribution of resources and there would be greater transparency in learning progress against performance standards. </p>
<h2>Something needs to change</h2>
<p>It is not enough to wring our hands when successive OECD reports and <a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-results-reveal-little-change-in-literacy-and-numeracy-performance-here-are-some-key-takeaway-findings-70208">National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) </a> results emerge showing Australian Indigenous students have made little, or very uneven, progress.</p>
<p>Something needs to change. </p>
<p>We need to understand there are opportunity costs associated with poor educational outcomes for Australian Indigenous students. </p>
<p>The greatest cost is borne by students through low achievement. But they are also by the school in the provision of remedial interventions, retention rates, repeated years, special education, and disciplinary problems that are often tied to school failure. </p>
<p>Society further <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-doors-what-do-school-dropouts-cost-us-9499">bears the cost</a> of students dropping out, incarceration, and low productivity in the workforce. </p>
<p>In the case of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it is a cost borne by successive generations – and hence the community as a whole.</p>
<p>Opportunity to learn is not the panacea of what is not working in Australian Indigenous education. Achievement gap data is a poor guide for policy to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. </p>
<p>We need more comprehensive data that scrutinises schools and their practices, including what occurs in the classrooms. </p>
<p>One key data strategy to bring about change is to use it to create a culture of inquiry in our schools. We must have a willingness to ask questions and not be afraid of the answers. </p>
<p>Where is our school at with Indigenous students? Why are we there? And what needs to change to improve achievement? Continuous monitoring must also become part of the school culture to evaluate if the changes are appropriate and contributing to raising achievement. </p>
<p>Data also helps to build dissatisfaction with current practices when they are manifested in low expectations, low-level curricula, and low-level instructional strategies.</p>
<p>It will also help a good school leader bring their staff, students and community together to create a platform for a shared vision and plan. We need to ensure everyone gets plenty of opportunities to be involved with the data collection, analysis and use, and then change will be inevitable.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>Elizabeth McKinley explores this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McKinley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Focusing on the opportunity to learn gap removes the emphasis from locating “the problem” in the person, and turns our attention to the differences in access to educational resources.Elizabeth McKinley, Professor of Indigenous Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716222017-02-08T18:56:45Z2017-02-08T18:56:45ZHow to get quality teachers in disadvantaged schools – and keep them there<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155592/original/image-20170206-18772-x94z63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Remote schools often struggle to recruit and retain great teachers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Ellinghausen/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Quality teaching is one of the <a href="https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/docs/pdf/qt_hattie.pdf">largest influences on student learning</a>. Yet, not all students have access to a great teacher. </p>
<p>As in other countries, some Australian schools are <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/education-workforce-schools/report/schools-workforce.pdf">harder to staff</a> than others. </p>
<p>Hard-to-staff schools are usually located in remote, rural or poor urban areas.
School and local facilities may not be as good in these schools as those in middle class urban schools, and students may have additional learning needs. </p>
<p>For these reasons, such schools are not as popular with teachers and often have high levels of staff turnover. </p>
<p>Students in these schools have <a href="https://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PISA-2012-Report.pdf">lower average achievement</a> than those in middle class urban schools. </p>
<p>Given that teachers have a huge impact on student learning, making sure students in hard-to-staff schools have quality teachers is vital. </p>
<p>To reduce the achievement gap, policymakers need to design staffing policies to attract and retain high-quality teachers in the schools that need them most.</p>
<h2>How can we support hard-to-staff schools?</h2>
<p>What policies are in place to attract and retain teachers and maximise quality in hard-to-staff schools?</p>
<p>Most government systems use a range of incentives to attract teachers into these schools; some have incentives to retain them. </p>
<p>Incentive schemes mostly focus on remote and rural schools. But some systems also offer inducements to teachers to take up a position or remain in hard-to-staff urban schools.</p>
<p>Many state school systems use transfer benefits, which allow teachers to transfer to a preferred location after a period of service in a less preferred setting. </p>
<p>Some systems give preference to teacher transfer applications according to the time teachers have served in a hard-to-staff school, potentially increasing teacher retention in those schools. </p>
<p>Systems often provide travel, housing and relocation benefits for teachers in remote schools. </p>
<p>Some systems provide leave for teachers in remote schools to travel to major centres for business, family or health reasons. Some provide extra pay to teachers in remote areas, immediate permanency, and targeted scholarships designed to attract quality people into teaching. </p>
<p>A condition of these scholarships is <a href="http://education.qld.gov.au/hr/recruitment/teaching/teach-ed-scholarships.html">accepting appointment</a> to a hard-to-staff school. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/careers/teaching/Pages/teachaus.aspx">Teach for Australia program</a> is supported by some systems to place high achievers in less attractive districts and schools.</p>
<p>Such policies have tended to emphasise attracting teachers into hard-to-staff schools, with less emphasis on keeping them there. </p>
<p>Benefits for teachers in remote schools mostly compensate for the extra costs and challenges involved, rather than acting as a serious incentive. Policy initiatives tend to target beginning teachers, who have the least experience to draw on in a demanding setting. </p>
<h2>What works?</h2>
<p><strong>Tailored courses to prepare teachers for these settings</strong></p>
<p>Hard-to-staff schools place additional demands on teachers - from isolation through to challenging student behaviour. Providing tailored courses that build the skills required to teach in these settings could increase retention. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/education/about/projects/national-exceptional-teaching-for-disadvantaged-schools">National Exceptional Teaching in Disadvantaged Schools program</a> is a good example. This program selects high-quality teacher trainees, and provides them with targeted coursework and practice placements in disadvantaged schools. 90% of these trainees go on to accept a teaching job in a disadvantaged school.</p>
<p><strong>Additional promotion positions</strong></p>
<p>Effective teachers are more likely to <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10671-010-9085-2">seek out responsibility</a> and leadership roles. Providing extra opportunities in hard-to-staff schools may help attract and retain them. </p>
<p><strong>Increased professional learning opportunities</strong></p>
<p>Well-designed professional learning can improve the quality of teaching.</p>
<p>Specialised professional development opportunities, such as sponsored places in postgraduate courses, may help attract and retain effective staff. Online courses now make this easier.</p>
<p><strong>Recruiting quality principals</strong></p>
<p>Effective teachers value good school leadership and seek to move away from schools where this is lacking. Effective principals are also <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509688.pdf">better at identifying quality staff</a> and assisting teachers’ professional development.</p>
<p><strong>Reduce emphasis on school choice</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/EDUCATION%20POLICY%20OUTLOOK%20AUSTRALIA_EN.pdf">Research shows</a> that school competition and choice policies increase inequity in systems. Over the last 20 years in Australia, we have seen <a href="http://research.acer.edu.au/aje/vol54/iss1/6/">an increased concentration of more advantaged students</a> in some schools, and less advantaged students in others, as more advantaged parents seek to surround their children with high-achieving peers. This can make poorer schools even less attractive to teachers, and, as a consequence, harder to staff.</p>
<h2>What policies should systems avoid?</h2>
<p><strong>Prescriptive curriculum</strong></p>
<p>In some overseas settings, schools with low achievement (which are more likely to be hard-to-staff) may be given very prescriptive curricula, such as <a href="http://www.successforall.org/our-approach/classroom-programs/reading-roots/">Success for All</a>. These are used to “teacher-proof” instruction. Policies like this are likely to drive out those teachers most able to improve student learning. </p>
<p><strong>Pay benefits</strong></p>
<p>Simply adding a <a href="http://educationnext.org/an-effective-teacher-in-every-classroom/">pay loading</a> for challenging schools means that ineffective teachers may be just as likely to be attracted as effective teachers.</p>
<p>Ensuring that students in these settings have equitable access to effective teachers is a critical challenge for Australian principals and policymakers. </p>
<p>Quality teachers provide benefits for those students who depend the most on school for positive life outcomes. Improving their learning helps us become a more equitable and cohesive society.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>The authors explore this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne Rice receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Watt receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Richardson receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Redesigning staffing policies will attract and retain high-quality teachers in the schools that need them most.Suzanne Rice, Senior Lecturer, Education Policy and Leadership, The University of MelbourneHelen Watt, Professor, Monash UniversityPaul Richardson, Professor of Education, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718792017-02-07T19:12:13Z2017-02-07T19:12:13ZWhat students learn about Asia is outdated and needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154182/original/image-20170125-23834-1douiry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asia literacy became official government policy in 2008.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The idea that all Australian students should develop a deeper understanding of Asian languages and cultures is not new. Some <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Anxious_Nation.html?id=spS6AAAAIAAJ">elements of this thinking</a> go back to the 19th century.</p>
<p>Australia has consistently faced the dilemma of reconciling its colonial history with its geographical location within the Asian region.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, this dilemma led many policy advisors and educators to remind Australians of the importance of learning about Asia. </p>
<p>In the late <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17491110">1980s</a> and early <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/34111">1990s</a>, the reports by professor Ross Garnaut and the then the secretary of Queensland’s premier’s department, Kevin Rudd, used the idea of “Asia literacy” to highlight the economic importance of Asia to Australia’s national interests.</p>
<p>They once again challenged educational institutions to ensure that all Australians had a better understanding of Asian languages and cultures.</p>
<p>It was not until 2008 that the idea of Asia literacy became official government policy through the <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf">Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians</a>. This in turn inspired the Australian curriculum to identify ‘“Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia” as one of its three cross-curricular priorities.</p>
<h2>Importance of learning about Asia cannot be denied</h2>
<p>So embedded has the idea of Asia literacy now become that it is no longer the question of whether Australian students should learn about Asia and Australia-Asia relations, but how. </p>
<p>Our current approach to Asia literacy is exhausted and outdated, partly because it has been overtaken by events.</p>
<p>The profound economic, political and cultural changes that are now taking place in Asia, and in Australia, demand new ways of thinking about relations between the two.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, most educational authorities have worked tirelessly to produce curriculum material, engage in advocacy, conduct study tours of Asia and develop professional development programs for teachers and educational leaders. Governments have invested heavily in the teaching of Asian languages.</p>
<p>While this activism has no doubt transformed the ways in which many young Australians think about Asia, the main problem with the current approach is that it remains trapped within an instrumentalist logic that interprets and justifies the need to learn about Asia largely in terms of its economic returns. </p>
<p>“Asia-relevant capabilities” are viewed as important for expanding trade links, developing new markets, and more generally, working in Asia.</p>
<p>This line of thinking is clearly evident in the <a href="https://www.corrs.com.au/assets/thinking/downloads/Australia-in-Asian-Century-Issues-Paper.pdf">Henry report</a> on the Asian Century, launched with much fanfare in late 2011. </p>
<h2>Current approach is narrowly-framed</h2>
<p>While this report recognised the dynamic nature of Asian societies and stressed the need to forge people-to-people links, its business orientation effectively eschewed equally significant aspects of a changing Asia. </p>
<p>It paid little attention, for example, to the marginalised communities within Asia, and to the growing social inequalities across Asia resulting from globalisation.</p>
<p>It repeatedly romanticised the growing middle class in Asia for the enormous commercial opportunities it had created for Australia. </p>
<p>It suggested that for Australia to take advantage of these opportunities it needed to develop appropriate economic policy settings, with respect not only to trade and taxation but also education, skills development and migration. </p>
<p>In this way, education was embedded within a broader framework of economic instrumentalism.</p>
<p>There is of course nothing wrong with highlighting the importance of economic and strategic outcomes. </p>
<p>What is problematic, however, is the failure in the contemporary discourse of Asia literacy to also consider the cultural and social dimension of relations. </p>
<h2>Risks of reinforcing binaries</h2>
<p>To forge our relations with Asia largely in instrumental terms is to view Asians as a means to our economic and strategic ends. </p>
<p>It is effectively to assume Asia to be Australia’s Other - culturally and social distant.</p>
<p>It is to presuppose the theoretical assumptions surrounding an East-West binary, in which Asia is still seen as the East while Australia is assumed to be a proxy for the West.</p>
<p>This binary represents a colonial legacy that is no longer very helpful in interpreting Australia-Asia relations for a wide variety of reasons.</p>
<h2>Australia’s changing demography</h2>
<p>To begin with, it fails to take into account Australia’s changing demography: <a href="https://www.dca.org.au/dca-research/leading-in-the-asian-century.html">almost 17%</a> of the Australian population is now of various Asian backgrounds.</p>
<p>Many Asian-Australians now have dual or multiple citizenships. They are therefore able to relate to both Australia and their countries of origin in ways that are significantly different from what they might have been in the 1980s. </p>
<p>Asia and Asians are also now part of Australia - not apart from it.</p>
<p>The discourse of Asia literacy based on the East-West binary makes it difficult for Asian-Australians to understand how such a discourse positions them in Australia, and how they should relate to the calls for them to learn about Asia. </p>
<p>For them, the impact of the new media and communication technologies is highly significant. This has enabled them to enjoy on-going connections with their “home” countries, while also re-casting the distinction between “here” and “there”, as their sense of identity and belonging are subjected to major shifts.</p>
<h2>Expanding ties with Asia</h2>
<p>At the same time, the level of mobility for work, education, business and tourism of all Australians has never been greater. </p>
<p>More than 200,000 Australians now live and work in Asia, and many more visit Asian countries on a regular basis. This has transformed the nature of Australia-Asia relations, both spatially and culturally. </p>
<p>The economic rise of Asia has also engendered a new sense of post-colonial confidence in many Asian countries that has redefined the ways in which Asians view Australia, and its attempts to develop closer relationships with them. </p>
<p>Global flows of ideas, capital and people have created conditions in which cultural fluidity and hybridity have become ubiquitous.</p>
<p>What these observations suggest is that while we readily recognise the new Asia to be culturally dynamic, and changing rapidly, we have yet to develop a more sophisticated understanding of Asia-Australia relations - and indeed also of the discourse of Asia literacy.</p>
<p>Asia literacy should not simply be about learning cultures and languages but should be about teaching the skills of interpreting and negotiating the possibilities of intercultural relations within Australia and beyond its borders.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>Fazal Rizvi explores this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fazal Rizvi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>17% of the Australian population is now of various Asian backgrounds. School curriculum around Asia-Australia relations needs updating to reflect demograpic changes.Fazal Rizvi, Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/712192017-02-06T19:14:45Z2017-02-06T19:14:45ZRethinking how we assess learning in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152511/original/image-20170112-25897-13ytzq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students don't always know if they are making any progress in their learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/educating-australia-35445">this series</a> we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>There is a major flaw in the way we currently assess school students. By labelling them as either “good” or “poor” learners based on their overall grades at the end of each year, students have no clear idea whether they are making progress over extended periods of time.</p>
<p>We need to move away from focusing on what grade a child will get at the end of a year, to assessing the progress that students make over time.</p>
<h2>How students are assessed</h2>
<p>This is how most parents, teachers and students likely view the school process:</p>
<p>It begins with a curriculum that spells out what teachers should teach and students should learn in each year of school.</p>
<p>The role of teachers is to deliver this curriculum by making it engaging and meaningful, and ensuring that all students have an opportunity to learn what the curriculum prescribes. </p>
<p>The role of students is to learn what teachers teach, and it is accepted that some students – the better learners – will learn more of this than others.</p>
<p>The role of assessment is to establish how well students have learnt what teachers have taught. This can be done at the end of a period of teaching such as a semester or school year. Such assessments are sometimes called “summative” or assessments of learning. </p>
<p>Alternatively, assessments can be undertaken during teaching to establish how well students have learnt so far. These assessments are sometimes called “formative” or assessments for learning, because they provide information about gaps in learning and material that may need to be retaught.</p>
<p>Students are then graded on how well they have learnt the curriculum for their year level. Those who can demonstrate most of this curriculum receive high grades; those who demonstrate relatively little receive low grades.</p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>In support of this way of organising teaching and learning is the argument that the best way to raise achievement levels in schools is to set clear curriculum standards for each year of school, rigorously assess how well students meet those expectations and report performances honestly and fearlessly. If a student has failed, say so.</p>
<p>All of this may be appropriate if all students in each year of school began the year at the same starting point. This is patently not the case. </p>
<p>In any year of school, the gap between the most advanced 10% of students and the least advanced 10% is the equivalent of at <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2016-naplan-national-report.pdf">least five to six years of school</a>. If school were a running race, students would begin the year widely spread out along the running track. Despite this, all students would be judged against the same finish line (the year-level expectations).</p>
<p>And the consequences are predictable. Students at the back of the pack, who are two or three years behind the bulk of students and the year-level curriculum, struggle and generally achieve low grades, often year after year. </p>
<p>A student who receives a “D” this year, a “D” next year and a “D” the year after is given little sense of the progress they are actually making and, worse, may conclude that there is something stable about their ability to learn (they are a “D student”). Many of these students <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/engagement_in_australian_schools__grattan">eventually disengage</a> from the schooling process.</p>
<p>At the front of the pack, more advanced students generally begin the school year on track to receive high grades. Many receive high grades on the middling expectations for their age group without being overly stretched or challenged. There is <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/results-flatline-fortop-students-20130109-2cgud.html">evidence</a> that least year-on-year progress is often made by these students.</p>
<h2>An alternative – monitoring learning</h2>
<p>An alternative is to recognise that the fundamental purpose of assessment is to establish and understand where individuals are in their long-term learning progress at the time of assessment. </p>
<p>This usually means establishing what they know, understand and can do – something that can be done before, during or after teaching, or without reference to a course of instruction at all.</p>
<p>Underpinning this alternative is a belief that every learner is capable of further progress if they can be engaged, motivated to make the appropriate effort and provided with targeted learning opportunities. </p>
<p>This is a more positive and optimistic view than a belief that there are inherently good and poor learners as confirmed by their performances on year-level expectations. </p>
<p>It also recognises that successful learning is unlikely when material is much too difficult or too easy, but depends instead on providing every learner with well-targeted, personalised stretch challenges.</p>
<p>A good understanding of where students are in their learning provides starting points for teaching and a basis for monitoring learning progress over time. </p>
<p>One of the best ways to build students’ confidence as learners is to help them see the progress they are making over extended periods of time.</p>
<p>A focus on monitoring learning encourages a long-term perspective. Rather than being defined only in terms of year-level expectations, successful learning is defined as the progress or growth that students make over time. </p>
<p>Under this approach, every student is expected to make excellent progress every year towards the achievement of high standards – regardless of their current levels of attainment.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>Geoff Masters explores this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Masters is the CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research, a body that provides assessment resources to schools and advice to governments. </span></em></p>Our current way of assessing students doesn’t let them see the progress they are making over extended periods of time.Geoff Masters, CEO, Australian Council for Educational ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717882017-02-05T18:57:30Z2017-02-05T18:57:30ZThe world is watching Australia’s decline in schools education. We know how to fix it, but the parents must listen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154128/original/image-20170124-16066-142trdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The progress a student makes in a year needs to be more important than test scores.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this series we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>When Finland came out top in the ranking of world scores on literacy, maths and science it generated a major tourist boom as oodles of educators flocked to discover their elixir. </p>
<p>As Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">slips down</a> these same rankings, we can be assured we will have no educational tourist boom. </p>
<p>We can be guaranteed that the world is watching our decline, and that the pride we have in being an “educated” “innovative” or “clever” country is based on wishes and hopes – not on evidence.</p>
<p>There are many excellent parts of the Australian school system, but standing still and resting on these laurels may come to haunt us. </p>
<p>There are many worrying parts, particularly the evidence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">our decline in the world scene</a> (we are the world’s fourth biggest loser). Yes, there is more to schooling than literacy, maths and science, but surely they should be in the mix. </p>
<p>It is unfortunate that the typical reaction by the media is either boom (or school people saying “just leave us alone”), or gloom (we need to change the fundamentals).</p>
<p>What we need is a robust discussion based on evidence about what is worth keeping and what is worth changing. Like when you clean your computer, we need a reboot.</p>
<h2>Measuring growth</h2>
<p>I watched US President Donald Trumps’ pick of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-education-secretary-nominee-pick-betsy-devos-fails-answer-question-education-policy-a7533131.html">education secretary flounder</a> when asked her preference for measures of school success based on growth or achievement. She did not know the difference.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CPrP2pFdqfM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Achievement refers to a students status (such as on NAPLAN or from any test) and growth refers to the progress they make over time.</p>
<p>We need both. But critically, we need more evidence that each student is gaining at least a year’s growth for a year’s input, and we need the profession to have a robust debate about what a “year’s growth” should look like. </p>
<p><a href="https://visible-learning.org/john-hattie/">All my evidence</a> points to the remarkable variation in how each teacher answers the question of what sufficient growth looks like. </p>
<p>If your child is in a class where the teacher has high expectations of this growth, they are more likely to impact your child than if your child is in a class down the corridor where the teacher has low expectations and understandings of this growth.</p>
<p>This is not saying we have a dominance of bad teachers; indeed, evidence shows that over 60% of our teachers and schools are probably already achieving this year’s growth. </p>
<h2>What is needed</h2>
<p>We need to use these highly accomplished teachers to lead this debate in the profession about what impact means.</p>
<p>We need the focus on growth to be more important than scores on a test at a particular time (which always favours those schools and teachers who have students who start higher).</p>
<p>We need a reboot that focuses effort and resources on supporting teachers to work together, collaboratively, to improve student progress to higher achievement. </p>
<p>This requires that we build a narrative that is based on:</p>
<ul>
<li>identifying and valuing expertise</li>
<li>working together and opening classrooms to collaboration</li>
<li>targeting resources at need of accelerated growth</li>
<li>teachers and leaders accepting evidence and evaluating progress transparently over time</li>
</ul>
<p>This means we need to reliably identify and value the expertise that pervades our current system. </p>
<p>We need to resource schools to focus on progress (this is where the funds and any increases in funds need to be prioritised, as this solution is not cheap and cannot merely be tacked on to current demands). </p>
<p>We need to give schools the tools to help interpret their impact on students, and we have to stop privileging structural solutions (more or different curricula, school types, choice claims) that are killing our excellence.</p>
<h2>Complacency is our enemy</h2>
<p>In Australia, we can have: </p>
<ul>
<li>the world’s best laboratory of “what works best”</li>
<li>the most scalable story of success</li>
<li>an education implementation model that is shared across schools and not resident in only a few</li>
<li>dependable recognition of excellence</li>
<li>and a celebration of success of teachers and school leaders</li>
</ul>
<p>Our enemy is complacency – blaming the post-codes, deploring the parents, fixing the students not the system, and arguing for more resources to continue what is not working. Our enemy is parents wanting more choice over schools, more resources to make structural changes (fancy buildings, fancy curriculum) and politicians listening to these parent pleas to solve the wrong problems.</p>
<p>Giving students more of what we had when we went to school may prepare them better for our world, but not for their world.</p>
<p>Each time I meet a minister or director general my challenge is,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“it is an honour during your term of office to NOT visit Finland, Shanghai, or Singapore – have you the courage to reliably identify the excellent schools and teachers we already have in Australia and learn from them?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We have excellence all around us, let us not lose it by privileging and resourcing the wrong drivers of accelerated progress.</p>
<p>It is time for a reboot.</p>
<hr>
<p>• <em>John Hattie explores this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hattie receives funding from ARC. He is Chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.</span></em></p>Our enemy is complacency – blaming the post-codes, fixing the students not the system, and arguing for more resources to continue what is not working.John Hattie, Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716242017-02-02T19:07:32Z2017-02-02T19:07:32ZHow do you know if your child is ready to start school?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155109/original/image-20170201-12649-1kia3mh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another school year is beginning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this series we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The next cohort of five-year-olds are just starting school. While parents will be proud and excited about this important step in their child’s life, some will also have concerns. </p>
<p>Will my child be happy at school? Will they make friends? Will they do well? And is my child even ready for school?</p>
<h2>What is school readiness?</h2>
<p>This question may sound simple, but school readiness is a complex construct with varying definitions across cultures. Some emphasise children’s skills, others the <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/family-matters/issue-90/family-transitions-children-start-schools">family</a>, school and community relationships around the child. </p>
<p>For Indigenous families, culturally <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2010/ctg-ip02.pdf">responsive practices are especially important</a> during the transition to school.</p>
<p>But regardless of background, the transition to school life is more likely to be a smooth process when a child:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>is supported by a favourable home learning environment, which includes reading with a child, playing games that support numeracy skills, counting, and visiting libraries</p></li>
<li><p>has experienced high-quality early education</p></li>
<li><p>is able to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/C_Raver/publication/242095521_Young_Children's_Emotional_Development_and_School_Readiness/links/54183f160cf203f155ada1d5.pdf">manage their emotions and be attentive</a>, understand and follow directions, and play and learn together with other children</p></li>
<li><p>enters a school that is prepared to provide for the particular needs and interests of the individual child, such as learning or behavioural difficulties.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>A child might not experience all of these, but even some of these things can help.</p>
<p>Early interventions by teachers or parents that build confidence and skills can also be effective. </p>
<p>This can include promoting a child’s language skill by reading to the child often, and using opportunities to encourage the child to think about and regulate their own behaviour. This can be done through taking turns, taking part in conversations, asking questions, and giving children time to be heard. </p>
<p>Learning how to interact with others and seek help when it is needed supports smooth transitions.</p>
<h2>How parents can help</h2>
<p>A child’s cognitive competencies, especially vocabulary, letter and number knowledge, phonological awareness and counting skills, are key for being ready to start school.</p>
<p>And parents can <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760.2016.1155147?journalCode=ciey20">help support children</a> in this area and strengthen their understandings.</p>
<p>Children who know and use more words, letters, shapes and numbers, and who enjoy and are good at counting or rhyming, often <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428">do better later in school</a>. </p>
<p>Families – who are the primary influence on <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760.2016.1155147?journalCode=ciey20&">children’s learning</a> – can help by drawing a child’s attention to words, letters, shapes and numbers in the everyday environment, and giving time for the child to express what they notice. </p>
<h2>Importance of attending early years education</h2>
<p>Attending good early childhood programs can help get children ready to start school.</p>
<p>In early education, children have the chance to expand their vocabulary and conceptual understandings through listening to others. They can also learn social practices that are useful at school. </p>
<p>This is especially true for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.</p>
<p>Early childhood programs provide far more than babysitting, yet <a href="https://ijccep.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40723-015-0012-0">too few young children</a> attend early years education for long enough <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-must-boost-attendance-rates-in-early-education-57983">to advance their learning</a>. </p>
<p>This may be for many reasons. It could be because too few places are available; the <a href="https://theconversation.com/childcare-funding-changes-leave-disadvantaged-children-with-fewer-hours-of-early-education-51488">fees are out of reach</a> for families; or the quality of <a href="http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/australasian-journal-early-childhood/index-abstracts/ajec-vol-40-no-3-september-2015-2/a-bird-in-the-hand-understanding-the-trajectories-of-development-of-young-children-and-the-need-for-action-to-improve-outcomes/">teaching is not strong enough</a> to deliver greater learning gains than if the children had not attended at all. </p>
<p>Providers and government can do more to ensure <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-in-five-early-childhood-educators-plan-to-leave-the-profession-61279">early educators are well equipped</a> to promote children’s learning during these important years of development. </p>
<h2>Supporting a child’s transition to school</h2>
<p>Successful transitions rely on families and teachers working together, promoting the learning and development of young children.</p>
<p>Policymakers, practitioners, researchers and communities together build the ecosystems that influence and support children’s long-term development. </p>
<p>Progress in meeting early learning and development challenges requires:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>families to realise the value of excellent early childhood programs </p></li>
<li><p>teachers and families who work together to ensure smooth transitions to school</p></li>
<li><p>teachers who make sure each child’s program reflects their interests and enhances their learning</p></li>
<li><p>professional learning for early childhood and school teachers to help them boost and support children’s attention, motivation, emotional and cognitive abilities – and to design programs to strengthen these</p></li>
<li><p>government programs that target and reduce the causes of disadvantage for children who do not encounter positive starts to school learning</p></li>
<li><p>sufficient government investment to ensure all children can participate in excellent early childhood programs.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>• <em>The authors explore this theme further in a new book called <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Collette Tayler receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Cohrssen and Frank Niklas do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attending early education and getting learning support from parents can really help get children ready to start school.Frank Niklas, Developmental and educational psychologist, The University of MelbourneCaroline Cohrssen, Lecturer, The University of MelbourneCollette Tayler, Chair of Early Childhood Education and Care, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/720922017-02-01T19:06:42Z2017-02-01T19:06:42ZEducating Australia – why our schools aren’t improving<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154687/original/image-20170130-27056-1jv94zc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New evidence-based methods of teaching and learning are being taken up very slowly.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this series we’ll explore how to improve schools in Australia. Some of the most prominent experts in the sector tackle key questions, including why we are not seeing much progress; whether we are assessing children in the most effective way; why parents need to listen to what the evidence tells us, and much more.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Australian schooling has undergone major changes over the last decade, mainly through national policy reforms agreed by federal and state governments. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>an <a href="http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au">Australian Curriculum</a></p></li>
<li><p>standardised national assessments in literacy and numeracy (<a href="https://www.nap.edu.au">NAPLAN</a>)</p></li>
<li><p>national reporting on schools through the <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/">My School website</a></p></li>
<li><p>professional standards for <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list">teachers</a> and <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standard-for-principals">principals</a></p></li>
<li><p>a <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/universal-access-early-childhood-education">universally accessible</a> year of preschool</p></li>
<li><p>partial implementation of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/gonski-model-was-corrupted-but-labor-and-coalition-are-both-to-blame-65875">“Gonski”</a> needs-based funding reforms.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>During the same decade, rapid economic, social, technological and cultural changes have generated new pressures and possibilities for education systems – and the people who work in them.</p>
<p>For example, Australia continues to become more ethnically and culturally diverse, and more closely connected to the Asia-Pacific region. The nation is more active in its use of mobile and digital technology, more urbanised and more unequal in wealth and income.</p>
<p>These broader shifts, and the political responses to them, increasingly place education in a vice. It faces mounting pressure to achieve better outcomes for more people, while expected simultaneously to innovate and solve wider problems of society. And this is all to be done in a context of growing fiscal austerity.</p>
<h2>Lots of change, but very little impact</h2>
<p>Despite significant reforms over the past decade, there is unfortunately very little sign of positive impacts or outcomes. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The percentage of Australian students successfully completing Year 12 is <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/fact-sheets/senior-school-years-school-completion-uneven-across-australia/">not improving</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>State and federal school funding policies are still <a href="http://research.acer.edu.au/aer/14/">reproducing a status quo</a> that entrenches sectoral division and elitism.</p></li>
<li><p>New evidence-informed methods, such as <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/about_us/clinical-teaching">clinical</a> and <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/targeted-teaching-how-better-use-of-data-can-improve-student-learning/">targeted</a> teaching models (which focus on careful monitoring and evaluation of individual student progress and teaching impact), are being taken up very slowly in teacher education degrees and schools.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/publications/all-publications/entry-to-vocations-strengthening-vet-in-schools#">status and efficacy of vocational learning</a> have shown little meaningful improvement.</p></li>
<li><p>NAPLAN and My School have not led to improvements in literacy and numeracy, with <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2016-naplan-national-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2">2016 data</a> showing either stagnation or decline.</p></li>
<li><p>The performance of Australian students in international assessments of maths, science and literacy skills has <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-pisa-slump-is-big-news-but-whats-the-real-story-20964">steadily declined</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Replicating a failing system</h2>
<p>The national reforms since the mid-2000s were designed to address many of these persistent issues. </p>
<p>Yet somehow, despite hard-fought political battles and reforms, and the daily efforts of system leaders, teachers, parents and students across the nation, we continue to replicate a system in which key indicators of impact and equity are stagnating or going backwards.</p>
<p>The school funding impasse exemplifies this problem. </p>
<p>The policy area is continuously bedevilled by the difficulties of achieving effective collaboration between governments and school sectors in our federal system.</p>
<p>It also remains hamstrung by highly inequitable funding settlements, established over many decades. These continue to entrench privilege in elite schools, while consistently failing to provide “needs-based” funding to schools and young people who need the most support.</p>
<p>As a result, educational opportunities and outcomes become further polarised. Young people from privileged backgrounds are accruing further advantage. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds are increasingly <a href="https://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/media/SPRCFile/Unpacking_Youth_Unemployment__Final_report.pdf">locked out of competitive education and job markets</a>. </p>
<p>The global growth of identity politics, fostering conflict over class, race, gender and migration, puts these trends in stark context.</p>
<h2>So what are we doing wrong?</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/items/165663">Educating Australia: Challenges for the Decade Ahead</a>, we tackle this question and seek to create a more innovative and productive interaction between ideas, evidence, policy and practice in education.</p>
<p>The scholars, practitioners and policy thinkers involved in the book examine key issues in education and canvas opportunities for improving outcomes on a wide scale. This includes areas like teaching, assessment, curriculum, funding and system-wide collaboration.</p>
<p>Across all these areas, it is clear that huge value would be created in Australia if the ways of framing and delivering teaching, learning and community engagement were adjusted to reflect new methods and perspectives arising from innovative practice and research.</p>
<p>Yet this is easier said than done. And despite many commentators claiming so, there are no silver-bullet solutions.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, the policy landscape has become riddled with reform “solutions”. Theset subject students, teachers, administrators and policymakers to mounting levels of pressure and stress. The short-term cyclical churn of today’s politics and media clearly exacerbates these problems.</p>
<p>There have, however, been some important and substantive reforms that prove not all political change is superficial. And not all aspects of national reform have failed to generate positive impacts.</p>
<p>For example, the Gonski reforms have channelled powerful resources to some schools. And My School has allowed us to see clearly where inequalities lie and interventions must be targeted.</p>
<p>Policy interventions, however, rarely achieve their objectives in isolation, or in predictable or linear ways, when they encounter complex systems and realities.</p>
<p>That is why we need to rethink the purposes of education as we go. We need to align these with the workings of curriculum, assessment, regulation and funding, along with the daily efforts of teachers, students and other community members.</p>
<p>Discussions about purposes will not thrive if separated or abstracted from the practices and politics of education: the places and spaces where policies are implemented, where students experience schooling, where professional identities are formed and challenged.</p>
<p>As such, far greater attention and skill are needed to craft and build the institutional capabilities that render goals achievable, ensure fairness and foster innovation and systemic learning in the public interest.</p>
<p>Practical lessons arising from recent innovations in teacher education, professional learning, curriculum alignment and inter-school collaboration can help here.</p>
<p>We also need to move beyond a fascination with divisions between governments in Australia’s federal system. We must focus instead on harnessing the potential of networks and collaborations across systems. </p>
<p>That is why a coherent reform “narrative” that genuinely reflects evidence about the nature of effective learning and teaching matters so much.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the future success of Australian school education hinges on whether powerful ideas can be realised in practice, across tens of thousands of classrooms and communities.</p>
<p>If we want reforms to be effective, their design must be grounded in wide-ranging dialogue about the nature of the problems and evidence about what will help to solve them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn C. Savage receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Bentley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite significant reform agendas over the past decade, no real progress in outcomes has been achieved.Tom Bentley, Principal Adviser to the Vice Chancellor, RMIT UniversityGlenn C Savage, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Sociology of Education, and ARC DECRA Fellow (2016-19), The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.