As ever, term will end and the usual comments about teachers’ excessive holidays will pepper the media, barbeque conversations and commentary between “experts” shared with anyone who will listen.
As I have stated before, schools make popular media copy and an easy target for negative comment. Whether it be funding programs, comparative results, presumed failures and the growing demands for schools to respond to and cure the growing list of societal ills. Little goes uncommented upon.
Sunday morning ABC News. A senator attacks the proposed new school funding model because the increases in education funding over the past years have only seen educational results go “backwards”.
Friday Newspaper. Australia has been ranked 39 out of 41 high- and middle-income countries in achieving quality education, in the latest international report to find that the country is falling behind in basic measures of teaching and learning. Only Romania and Turkey were ranked below Australia in education in the latest United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report card. The report looks at the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science, as well as the quality and level of access to early schooling, in 41 European Union and OECD countries. The report found that only 71.7 per cent of Australian 15-year-olds are achieving baseline standards in the three key areas of education, based on the latest PISA assessment, and only 80.3 per cent of children are attending “organised preschool learning” for at least a year, according to 2014 figures. SMH, June 16 2017.
Sunday Newspaper. More complaints about out of control classrooms. Twitter responses include:
The media fans generalisations, unfounded accusations, formless opinions and delights in reporting on the demise of education in Australia.
Generalisation, noun
For example “He was making sweeping generalisations”
According to the current generalisations about our schools and pupils:
In this forum, let me be self-indulgent enough to speak for our school community:
I apologise if my tone seems defensive or self-serving but sometimes hearing and reading tales of our failure and lack of professional integrity rile me and this blog lets me get it out.
Now (deep breath), back to working with SCAS’ great staff and students to do what we were set up to do: Offer our students a great World of Opportunities.
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3
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