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Educator Indigenous Keeping boys in school

Special needsUrgent calls for more support

PlagiarismCut and paste policies needed

AsbestosSilent killer in our classrooms

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Australian

Money mattersHow the Gonski funds are making a difference

15Standing on the shoulders of giantsCorrena Haythorpe brings her vast experience as a teacher-unionist to her new role as AEU federal president.

17Keep fighting the good fight, comradeAngelo Gavrielatos has bid farewell to the AEU but his advocacy for quality public education will continue on a global scale.

18Results that matterValuing great teaching should be at the heart of the debate about how to lift school performance, says AITSL chair Professor John Hattie.

20Fair funding call for additional needsChildren with learning difficulties and other special needs are missing out on the extra support and resources they need.

24Cut and paste: policies neededClassroom teachers and teacher-librarians make a strong team when dealing with students who plagiarise.

26Friend, comrade, activist, mentor… gone too soonRob Durbridge made the world a better place, and left a big pair of shoes to fill. www.aeufederal.org.au

28Dealing with dangerSome progress is being made in the auditing, managing and removal of asbestos in schools, but it’s a battle far from over.

32Learning devicesSchools are finding a variety of ways to keep students connected.

34My best app Extending learning beyond the classroom with apps for mobiles, tablets and desktop computers.

Regulars

04 FYI

07 From the president

36 Books

38 Recess – Tales from school

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8 The first year of Gonski funding has been a big success for the schools that got it, but many are still waiting.

22The value of mentoring in keeping boys in school has been brought home to principal Paul Bridge after an international study tour.

30More than 1.4 million people have signed a global call to action that aims to win the right for every child to go school.

A summary of the AEU financialstatements for the year ending30 September 2014 will be availableat www.aeufederal.org.au on21 February 2014 [TBC].

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Education issues making news locally and globally

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Austerity measures in schools and “lopsided” curricula may be linked to increasing radicalism in the Middle East,

according to the Education International (EI) general secretary Fred van Leeuwen.

Addressing a conference of European education unions in Vienna late last year, van Leeuwen said the state of education in many countries was leading to a growing number of children who are falling through the cracks, and losing the feeling of belonging.

“Politicians want to see education first of all as a way of promoting economic growth in their countries, but they overlook that our school systems also hold the immense importance of passing along the democratic values on which our cultures and societies are based,” he said.

“We may be falling short of educating those values being overloaded with administrative tasks and keeping test scores,” van Leeuwen said, referring to the rise of right-wing extremism throughout Europe and the spread of xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

While the need for quality education has never been stronger, teachers are being curtailed everywhere, he said.

Values affected as school cuts biteGovernments should take note of teachers’ concerns to prevent an erosion of values.

“With some notable exceptions, teachers are increasingly working on limited contracts, their work load is increasing, their professional space is shrinking, their autonomy challenged, their access to professional development limited.

“The current generation of teachers is ageing and alarming numbers of new teachers are leaving the profession within the first years of employment. We call it de-professionalisation,” he said.

Van Leeuwen said an EI survey of teachers in 123 countries revealed:

Almost 60% feel they are not consulted on measures taken by the public authorities to reform education. And if they are, 30% say their views are completely ignored

68% feel that that their workload continues to increase

50% says that their pay is just enough to cover their basic needs

20% says they need to have a second job to make ends meet

45% want to leave the profession

Van Leeuwen urged governments to start listening to teachers and their unions.

You can read the full text of Van Leeuwen’s remarks at tinyurl.com/qdf9zxl

Young people are having difficulty transferring their mathematical skills and knowledge to the workplace, research has found.

The study, by the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Australian Industry Group, found that the application of mathematics in the workplace goes beyond a command of ‘core’ or basic mathematical content.

“Workers perform sophisticated functions which require confidence to identify, use and apply mathematical skills in problem-solving situations and knowledge of the consequences of the procedures,” according to the report of the study, Tackling the School–Industry Mathematics Divide.

The problem needs attention, says Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb.

“It has implications for individuals because mathematics is at the core of many careers. It has implications for business and industry because there is no sector which does not require its workforce to apply some level of mathematical knowledge,” he says.

The report can be found at tinyurl.com/kr4u2b8

Maths in school not equal to work needs


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NSW principal Dorothy Hoddinott AO has been awarded 2014 Australian Human Rights Medal.

Hoddinott has worked with disadvantaged students, particularly from immigrant and refugee communities, for most of her 50 years as a teacher, and has been a vocal critic of government policies on refugees.

Principal of Holroyd High School in Sydney’s western suburbs for the past 19 years, Hoddinott is a passionate advocate for the hundreds of

students – almost 60 per cent of the school’s population – who came to Australia as child refugees and asylum seekers.

At the awards ceremony, Hoddinott said she’d learned a lot. In particular, “that all children, regardless of their background and family circumstances, deserve a sound education that respects them and provides them with the firm foundation they need for the rest of their lives as active participants in society”.

MoneySmart resourcesThe Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)is providing a host of teaching resources to help educators teach young people about money.

ASIC says its program of teacher and parent workshops is designed to integrate consumer and financial literacy education into teaching programs.

“A whole school approach to consumer and financial literacy education is ideal, but this process and each of the workshops can be adapted to meet the differing needs of schools.”For more information go to tinyurl.com/n5b6zjk

Primary learningThe Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has been using its YouTube channel to bring the primary curriculum to life.

A further six short videos have been recently added to give leadership teams the chance to see how other schools are managing the implementation of the Australian Curriculum.Go to youtube.com/user/ACARAeduau

Sydney high school principal wins human rights award

Be brave & shaveOne of Australia’s largest and most popular fundraising events, the World’s Greatest Shave, will be held on 12-15 March.

The annual event, first held in 1998, sees participants collect sponsorship to shave or colour their hair to raise funds. About 150,000 people are expected to take part this year. The money they raise will be used to continue the search for cures and to support families.

More than 12,000 Australians will be diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma this year – equivalent to 31 people every day, according to the Foundation.For more information go to www.worldsgreatestshave.com or call 1800 500 088.

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Education issues making news locally and globally

We’re better than this

Australians like to think of themselves as a compassionate people, but our sense of the fair go has taken a nosedive when it comes to our treatment of asylum seekers. Successive poll-driven governments have co-opted crude, hard-hearted slogans to demonise refugees arriving by boat, with the aim of striking fear in our hearts about the dangers they pose to the nation’s future.

Countering these policies, and the propaganda that drives them can seem insurmountable for individuals up against legions of government spin doctors bent on controlling a message based around secrecy and lies.

But last year a group of prominent Australians came together to launch ‘We’re Better Than This’: an apolitical grassroots campaign to raise awareness of the plight of children in detention, and to demand their release.

Founder Rosie Scott, writer and long-time human rights activist, brought together four “amazing people” and from this small beginning the movement went into overdrive once actor Bryan Brown became part of it – his passion and power of persuasion

An apolitical grassroots campaign to release children from detention has attracted the support of a growing number of prominent Australians.

attracting support from well-known Australians from all walks of life.

Tom Keneally, George Gregan, Janet Holmes à Court, Gail Mabo, Ita Buttrose, Bruce Haigh, Rachel Ward, John Williamson, Ian Chappell and many more are standing up and speaking out about the children held in abject cruelty in offshore and in-country detention. All together nowBehind the scenes, the campaign’s success has been driven by a group of professionals with expertise in human rights and refugee advocacy, as well as PR, advertising, filmmaking, marketing and social media – all on a pro bono basis.

Everyone came together late last year for the campaign launch, which was based around a series of video vox pops and a pop video, We’re Better Than This, directed by Gregor Jordan, sung by Australian Idol winner Darren Percival, with backing vocals by Mahalia Barnes and 30 prominent Australians.

“It was a wonderful feeling of community that day as people joined together in their opposition over the detention of children,” says Scott.

For Bryan Brown, the group’s spokesperson, the movement’s goal is to find a better way of handling the hundreds of children still currently detained indefinitely by the Australian government.

Latest figures are that there are still 468 children in locked detention, including unaccompanied minors in Darwin detention centres and those in Nauru whose only options now are either to stay in Nauru, where the conditions are appalling, or go to Cambodia. They’re not allowed to return to Australia. These figures change all the time.

In launching the campaign Bryan Brown told ABC News, “These children are self-harming. They’re in there for 400 days on average, and we’ve got to treat them better than this.”

“We want the subject talked about. Our government, our politicians, are being given the responsibility to look after these children and we want them to take that responsibility and to do it properly, which is what they are not doing at the moment.

“We want it discussed and we want them to come up with an alternative way of dealing with these children that is humane and proper.”

After the news of the release of children from Christmas Island he welcomed this action but added: “Right at this moment there are children supposedly in our care in detention camps and until every one of those is taken out, we will continue to campaign. Nauru has over 100 children and we will keep campaigning for those children to be out as well. We’re better than this.”

For more information or to get involved in We’re Better Than This, visit http://wbttaus.org

“These children are self-harming. They’re in there for 400 days

on average, and we’ve got to treat them better than this.”

Bryan Brown

‘‘

F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T


The power of public education to give all children a chance was central to the transition from student to teacher to union movement representative for the AEU’s new federal president Correna Haythorpe.

Nurturing potential

Over the summer break, I spent a few days by the Murray River, contemplating

following in the footsteps of my predecessor, Angelo Gavrielatos.

Angelo is, quite simply, the most dedicated and passionate campaigner for public education that I know. He has led our union campaigns, such as I Give a Gonski and Stop TAFE Cuts, and been a tireless advocate for public education in Australia. He will now take up that fight on the global stage through his new role with Education International, coordinating the teacher union response to the commercial privatisation of education.

As the AEU’s new president, I know I will be walking beside a strong public education community dedicated to improving the lives of students in early childhood education, schools and TAFEs.

I became a teacher because I fundamentally believe education changes lives. I’ve spent 17 years as a primary school teacher, mostly in low-SES schools in northern Adelaide and Port Pirie. I’ve seen first-hand the difference we as teachers can make for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the potential these students have that is just waiting to be harnessed.

I grew up in Streaky Bay, South Australia. At that time, my school had no Year 12 curriculum, so I left school halfway through Year 11 to take up a job as a deckhand on a fishing boat. The following year, a Year 12 curriculum was

offered and I decided to finish my schooling. The work and commitment of my teachers opened up opportunities for me to further my education and developed my passion for doing the same for others.

Public schools are the only schools with an obligation to educate every child that comes to their doors. We need to protect and recognise that special status by keeping them properly resourced so all children get the opportunities that come from a good education.

I became involved in the union movement because I saw the need for representation, and the need to stand up against threats to public education, and to stand up for educators.

Schools can’t function without the work of thousands of dedicated and passionate teachers, principals and support staff who are often blamed when things go wrong, and forgotten about when they make things improve.

Inspiring driveThe thing that inspires me most about representing people who work in public education is their drive to make sure the system is going forwards, not backwards. That’s why they work late or spend their own money on supplies for classrooms.

The AEU has fought hard for more equitable school funding through the Gonski campaign. We couldn’t have done this without the active support of thousands of educators, parents and students.

Last year was tough for believers in equity in education. We saw the Abbott government’s failure to honour Gonski agreements beyond 2017 and its shameful broken promise on increasing disability funding from this year. We saw some state governments fail to fully and transparently implement Gonski funding, and others rip the heart out of TAFEs.

However, we also saw real progress as Gonski funding was rolled out to schools and began to make a difference for our students.

What educators do for students every day makes a difference, and what we do as a union also has the power to change things for the better.

I am deeply honoured to have been given the opportunity to serve as your federal president and to be part of a movement that is passionate, committed and dedicated to protecting and enhancing public education. l

Correna HaythorpeAEU FEDERAL PRESIDENT

Last year was tough for believers in equity in education... However, we also saw real progress.

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MONEY MATTERSThe first year of Gonski funding has been a big success for the schools that got it, but many are still waiting.

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MONEY MATTERS

The first year of extra schools funding under the Gonski model has seen students benefit from a host of new

support programs and resources across the country.

Schools in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland have used their Gonski cash to provide more literacy and numeracy resources and extra support for students with disabilities among the many new programs now on offer.

While each of the states has a different approach to Gonski funding, it’s clear that where schools have received more money, it has delivered better results for students.

NSW: “a significant difference”In New South Wales, which signed up to the Gonski deal with the then federal Labor government, principals and teachers say the additional funds are making “a significant difference”, says New South Wales Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron.

“A member who’s been a principal for 13 years told me recently that, for the first time in her career, she felt she could start to do some interesting, innovative things and have money to fund them,” says Mulheron.

“Those are the sorts of stories we’re getting — to not just do more of the same, but be innovative. And the staff feel they can now start to imagine what sort of future they want for their kids because they’ve got the resources.

“It’s been the single thing holding back the system, because we’ve been asking schools to do too much with very little resources,” Mulheron says.

At Doonside Technology High School in Western Sydney, 75 per cent of Year 9 students recorded above-average growth in literacy scores after receiving extra support paid for by the Gonski funding.

Rooty Hill High School in Sydney also chose to focus on literacy with the extra funds, achieving four years’ worth of improvement in six months, according to principal Chris Cawsey.

A total of 84 per cent of NSW public schools will receive increased funding this year from the extra $97 million distributed under a needs-based system that is similar to the model recommended by the Gonski review. That builds on a $100 million

allocation in 2014. For 658 schools, the increase will be more than $50,000 and, like schools in South Australia and Queensland, NSW schools can decide how to spend the money.

Funding transparency in some statesThe NSW and Queensland governments are open about their funding arrangements, publishing online all allocations to schools (NSW: tinyurl.com/ktnxr8r; QLD: tinyurl.com/kweslkv).

While Queensland schools have also benefitted under the Gonski funding ($131 million in 2014, $183 million in 2015), the state government has so far refused to contribute its own share (the Queensland election was being decided as Australian Educator went to press) and the funds are not being distributed according to student need in the way recommended by the Gonski review.

This year’s extra funding, for example, will be handed out largely based on student achievement levels in literacy and numeracy. Schools must ensure that every student will achieve the national minimum standards in literacy and numeracy or have a plan in place to support students to achieve this outcome in the long term. The individual school plans are published on the website to comply with public disclosure requirements.

In South Australia, where schools will receive an additional $20 million in funding this year following the extra $16 million received last year, the needs-based funds distribution will be delivered in line with the Gonski

“It’s a very, very difficult time for teachers and schools and it’s causing an incredible amount of uncertainty and anxiety.”

Pat Byrne, PresidentState School Teachers’ Union of WA

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agreement. At this stage, the allocations for individual schools have not been published.

Victorian schools received no Gonski funding last year and the previous Liberal government refused to release figures showing its agreement with the federal government.

However, the new Labor government has promised to look at how much was agreed to in the Gonski agreement year by year and where the money went.

In the ACT, there’ll be a 3 per cent increase to the education budget, although it’s unclear how much will trickle down to schools. But the federal government has reneged on a $26 million promise to fund professional development for teachers with a new teaching and learning centre at the University of Canberra.

Undermining the benefitsSchools in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Western Australia are suffering under state governments that are not only failing to pass on the full amount of federal funds (or any at all in one case), they’re also cutting schools’ budgets.

In Tasmania, after a bonus $16 million of Gonski funding last year, schools will see only $4 million of a $19 million federal government handout in 2015. The remaining $15 million has been nabbed by the state government to fund its election promises.

But savage budget cuts, including the loss of 266 education jobs, will undermine the benefits of the extra funding. Schools will lose up to two teachers and colleges up to four teachers, despite election promises by the state Liberals to protect frontline services and deliver Gonski in full. A further 28 IT jobs and 50 pathway planners (who work with schools to assist students in post-school transition) have also been cut.

Schools in the Northern Territory and Western Australia are in a similar bind.

The NT government has refused to release information about how the federal Gonski funding will be allocated but there is no evidence that any federal funding was distributed in 2014. While most schools received a 1 per cent budget increase last year, they were also hit with budget cuts, including the loss of 130 teacher positions and more than 70 school support staff.

In WA, the government is using the “pea and thimble trick”, says Pat Byrne, president of the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia. “Massive” changes to funding arrangements and school enrolments are underway, says Byrne, but the state government claims it is distributing the federal Gonski money of $120 million over four years.

WA schools faced significant budget cuts last year of $200 million, despite

rapid enrolment growth. There’s no evidence that federal Gonski funding was distributed to schools last year and none is planned for 2015.

The continuing budget cuts will see secondary schools lose around $45 million from their budgets over a five-year transition period. An estimated 60 per cent of schools will be worse off in 2015, compared to 2013, while 13 secondary schools will lose more than $1 million each.

The funding upheavals are contributing to major confusion in the state as schools grapple with the transition of Year 7 from primary schools to secondary schools, a new student-centred funding approach and a new one-line budget model. Meanwhile, large numbers of teachers are being redeployed as part of the Year 7 transition program and many positions in the new Independent Public Schools are being reprofiled.

Then, in the days before Christmas last year, the government announced that resigning or retiring ‘front line’ employees would be replaced at 90 per cent of their current salaries. The teaching staff component of this represents a further budget cut of $10.5m, while the non-teaching staff numbers are yet to be calculated.

“It’s a very, very difficult time for teachers and schools and it’s causing an incredible amount of uncertainty and anxiety,” says Byrne l

Singleton Heights Primary School employed an extra teacher for core literacy teaching with its extra funding.

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For a school of 373 students, $10,500 might not sound like much, but it went a long way in 2014 at

Cowandilla Primary School, just outside the Adelaide CBD.

The cash funded a numeracy intervention program for Years 1, 2 and 3, delivered by a specially trained school services officer, and the results were significant, says principal Julie Hayes.

“We tested before and after and every child had made major improvements. Some jumped a substantial amount,” says Hayes.While the $10,500 isn’t a big

deal in the school’s overall budget, “every little bit counts”, says Hayes.

“It wasn’t as much as I’d hoped for, which is why I’m keen for the last two years of the Gonski funding to be realised because that’s when South Australia will be really advantaged. The significant proportion of the Gonski money comes in those last two years.

With this year’s allocation of $17,000, Hayes plans to expand the numeracy intervention program.

“The Gonski money doesn’t pay for it but it helps; it’s a contribution.”

Looking to the future and the windfall expected in the final two years of the Gonski agreement, Hayes dreams of a robust school internet network and tablets in the hands of every child “because that’s a very significant ongoing cost, especially in a disadvantaged school where we can’t be sure that these children have access to this technology at home”.

“Principals at disadvantaged schools are always keen to make sure they’re able to level the playing field by providing these things at school, at school cost,” says Hayes.

“So if we had significant money it would help support that – a new way of learning.”

The funds would also help increase and improve professional development for teachers, says Hayes. “All the aspects of innovative teaching, such as PD, sharing practice,

Making every little bit count

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“We tested before and after and every child had made major improvements.”

Principal, Julie Hayes

co-planning and observing each other, cost money as well,” she says.

“They don’t happen in a vacuum, they happen when schools are able to support teachers to try things, watch each other, share and plan together, use the best of what’s around, and tap into the latest research,” Hayes says. l

Hayes plans to expand the numeracy intervention program at Cowandilla Primary School.

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Gonski reforms bear fruit, but more money is needed to sustain lasting growth.

Singleton Heights Public School is proving what many educators already know to be true: resources mean better outcomes for students and teachers. Principal Simon Mulready has the data to back up that claim, with results that show how much can be achieved with adequate funding.

Statistics from the end of 2013, for example, indicated a real need for more literacy support for children in Year 1. At that time, the average growth in reading was only 1.7. But

through a strategic expenditure of the school’s $150,000 Gonski allocation in 2014, those scores more than doubled.

It’s not rocket science. Mulready looked at the priorities identified in the school plan, consulted with the community, and implemented a number of key programs that are bearing fruit.

“One of the first things we did was to employ an extra teacher for the core literacy teaching and learning times each morning,” says Mulready. “They spent 30 minutes with each Year 1 class to provide additional explicit teaching in reading skills.”

Kindergarten was another area where additional resources meant a new support teacher could be employed to assist children during transition in Term 1, as well as fostering those identified as needing help to ensure they reached the kindergarten benchmark at the end of the year.

“This is something we weren’t able to do in 2013 because we didn’t have the money. But it will be interesting to see how our students fair in Year 1 having had that additional support this year,” says Mulready.

Looking at the school’s data over the past five years, an average of 54 per cent of

SEED FUNDING BEARING FRUIT

(above)Singleton Heights Primary School students pictured with principal Simon Mulready in their Gonski Grove.

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“This is something we weren’t able to do in 2013 because we didn’t have the money.”

Principal Simon Mulready

fantastic job, but he needs that early-career support. So I’ll be using some of my additional Gonski money this year to ensure he gets a teacher mentor.”

Mulready would also like to see more networking in the Singleton education community and beyond. He says additional funding would help the school look at other successful systems in the state, the nation and around the world.

“I’d look forward to being able to network more effectively with other schools in the region so we can draw from their best practice and bring that knowledge to our school.

He’s dreaming big and his colleagues at Singleton Heights Public School are going along for the ride.

In particular, he cites the great work done by active members of the Singleton branch of the NSW Teachers’ Federation.

“They’ve been promoting the benefits of the Gonski funding program, and have been advocating to extend that into the fifth and sixth year,” he says.

A prime example of their creativity in promoting the campaign is the school’s Gonski Grove: an orchard of around 10 fruit trees.

As Mulready puts it: “In the same way that the Gonski reforms will have a lasting legacy on education across Australia, so may our trees continue to bear fruit for the benefit of the community.” l

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students reached their reading Level 6 target by the end of each year. By the end of 2014, that had risen to 69 per cent.

“That’s the highest we’ve ever had,” says Mulready. “The additional support meant teachers were more quickly able to settle children into their kindergarten team and give those who needed it an extra boost in the second half of the year.”

The new school year brings even more Gonski funding to the school, and Mulready is planning more literacy support for Year 2 students, and a focus on teachers’ professional development are on the agenda.

“We know that the biggest difference to kids is quality teaching, and for that teachers need professional learning,” he says. “Last year we were able to introduce a quality teaching project that enables staff each week to observe the lessons of other teachers and get critical feedback on their own teaching, and more money will help us continue that program.”

Not only for permanent teachers but, critically, for graduates. Mulready has identified a new teacher who’ll be on a temporary placement next year. “I think he’ll do a


Standing on the shoulders of giants

Correna Haythorpe will bring her vast experience as a teacher-unionist to her new role as AEU federal president.

Everyone has a first day on the job, whether as a new educator in the classroom or stepping into a leadership

position, says Correna Haythorpe. For the newly elected president of the AEU, one of the first items on her agenda will be a cross-country meet and greet. Haythorpe wants to identify the issues for the members and leadership teams of state branches and associated bodies “to ensure a cohesive approach to achieving a strong, viable public education system”.

With a background in primary school teaching, mostly at disadvantaged schools in Port Pirie in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf region, Haythorpe established a good understanding of the challenges those children face, and the need for resources to address those issues.

She had always been an active union member but joined the AEU executive in 2002. “I was motivated by seeing what members had gone through as a result of a push by the then Liberal state government to increase school

autonomy and reduce funding through a program called Partnerships 21,” she says.

“That caused a lot of dissatisfaction within schools in the state,” says Haythorpe. “We had to campaign, and fought very hard, to protect teacher and student conditions in school.”

The experience fuelled a desire to take a more active role in the union. In 2006, Haythorpe became the women’s officer for the SA branch. She focused on equity for women and girls, and campaigned for paid maternity leave and better working conditions for female teachers, such as breast-feeding policies in the workplace.

Baptism of fireTwo years later, on 1 January 2008, Haythorpe was elected president of the AEU SA. On her first day, she launched one of the branch’s biggest industrial campaigns, on enterprise bargaining.

“It really was a baptism of fire and we had two-and-a-half years of disputation, which ended in an arbitration settle-ment with the government,” she recalls.

Correna Haythorpe AEU Federal President

…a cohesive approach to achieving a strong, viable public education system.

Haythorpe was president for six years and during 2014, as a lead organiser, her primary responsibility was the I Give a Gonski and Stop TAFE Cuts campaigns, as well as working with members on recruitment and engagement. She also managed, in 2013, the additional role as deputy federal president of the AEU, working closely with then federal president Angelo Gavrielatos and Susan Hopgood, federal secretary of the AEU and president of Education International.

“Now I’ll be stepping into Angelo’s shoes and ‘standing on the shoulders of the giants’,” she says. “He’s been an amazing mentor for me and an absolute guiding light. His generosity of spirit in terms of imparting his morals and understanding of public education, and global and human issues, has been a standout. It’s one of the reasons I decided to nominate.”

Haythorpe has a full agenda this year and says her first priorities will relate to Gonski funding, a vastly important mission “given the position the Coalition government has taken”, and securing the disability loading.

“An ABS report last year identified around 290,000 children who had a disability, yet we know that only around 183,000 of those children actually receive funding,” she says. “That’s a critical area of need and something many parents and school communities are very concerned about.

Stopping TAFE cuts and boosting funding for Indigenous education are also critical issues, to ensure “children have post-schooling pathways” and “every child has an opportunity to achieve”, Haythorpe says. l

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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Keep fighting the good fight, comrade

Angelo Gavrielatos has bid farewell to the AEU, but his advocacy for quality public education will now continue on a global scale.

His seven-year tenure as AEU federal president coincided with a turbulent period in Australian politics, marked

by unrelenting attacks on teachers, the national curriculum and the very future of public education.

When faced with the absurdity of political mendacity, ignorance and sheer stupidity, Angelo Gavrielatos never lost his nerve. He stood up to ministers – Prime and otherwise – as a fearless champion of AEU members, a respected mentor to his colleagues, and a steadfast defender of the rights of educators, students and their parents. The trials and tribulations of the long-running Gonski campaign alone would have tested the resolution of a lesser being. But for Gavrielatos it was a “highlight” and a “source of inspiration”.

“What never ceased to amaze me was that day-in, day-out, weekend after weekend, our members were present and ever ready to pursue the Gonski reforms,” he says.

David Gonski himself was magnanimous in response to his name being used in the AEU’s effective ‘I Give a Gonski’ slogan. As Gavrielatos remembers: “A month after we embraced it I finally called David to let him know, apologising if we’d butchered his family name. But he thought it was ‘marvellous’.”

Indeed, Gonski admires the enormous contributions Gavrielatos made to the improvement of education in public schools, saying we should “all be grateful for the devotion and hard work he has given to this cause”.

A major league playerThat sentiment is widespread. AEU federal secretary, Susan Hopgood

noted his “outstanding service to members” and said Gavrielatos should be “immensely proud of what he has achieved as the federal president”.

For Ged Kearney, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Gavrielatos is a friend, a comrade and a great supporter of workers’ rights “who never forgets why we do what we do, and for whom we do it”.

“He laughs a hell of a lot (and swears a bit), but never tires of the cause,” she adds. “In fact, he’s energised by it and manages to keep us all energised! I will miss him a great deal, but take comfort in the fact that he is still out there fighting for a better life for workers.”

Gavrielatos remembers one of his most challenging periods at the AEU as the dispute over league tables at the

time of the introduction of NAPLAN on the My School websites. But he has no doubt that the landscape today might be very different “had we not pursued the issue and elevated the national debate to the extent that we did. We might be experiencing the madness of high-stakes testing, like the US and the UK.”

While his departure from the AEU is a significant loss for the union, Gavrielatos is bringing his vast experience promoting public education in Australia to a global stage.

Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, sees Australia’s loss as a gain for millions more. “Angelo’s relentless energy and determination in the cause of quality public schooling as a crucible of democracy, opportunity and equality is second to none,” she says.

“But when you marry these values with the strategic courage to advocate the responsibility of government then Australia gets Gonski. This may be a legacy waiting for implementation, but we are all very proud of the values that have been renewed in Australia for the right to universal public education.”

Gavrielatos is already fighting the good fight at Education International (EI), leading an important program to help education unions around the world effectively confront privatisation and commercialisation in the sector.

“Our member unions will greatly benefit from Angelo’s knowledge and experience, particularly in advocacy and organising,” says EI general secretary Fred Van Leeuwin. “I feel like we succeeded in getting another major league player to join our team.” l

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

AG E N DA


As chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), Professor John Hattie is determined

to make sure “high-impact” teaching is encouraged, rewarded and made central to the education debate.

After years of analysing education research, he believes quality of teaching has the biggest influence on student achievement.

He says many of the education issues that dominate political debate – school autonomy, the national curriculum – are distractions from the real solution to improving school performance: nurturing better teaching.

“Great teaching is often invisible in the debate about schools. We need to shift it to the centre,” he says. “If you look at the recent election in Victoria, neither of the two major parties focused on teachers or leaders. It was all about 3D printers or money for school camps. What a waste of money.”

Hattie became AITSL’s chair in July last year. The federal government-funded institute provides leadership to the federal, state and territory governments in promoting excellence in the teaching profession and school leadership.

Hattie, who is recognised worldwide as a leading academic on education, is also director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne and author of

the books Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers.

His mantra is ‘know thy impact’. Teachers must know what effect their teaching is having on their students’ results.

He wants teachers to explore different methods, collaborate with their peers and get “obsessed” with results. He wants school systems to put more resources into improving teaching and encouraging teachers and schools to collaborate.

“We have schools that are doing wonderful things on a shoestring, but we can’t build a system on a shoestring budget.

“All too often, high-impact teaching is almost invisible to the colleagues of those teachers and to the students’ parents. The doors literally close on those classrooms and the teachers just get on with their teaching at a high level, but largely in isolation.”

Extra resources are needed to make sure teachers get better professional support and are able to use data more effectively, and to encourage collaboration and allow school systems to scale up successful initiatives in schools, he says.

Hattie is a strong supporter of the Gonski reforms because he believes students shouldn’t be disadvantaged based on their background.

“Needs-based funding has to happen, and it’s so obvious, it probably doesn’t need to be stated. We shouldn’t

AG E N DA

The way to make the classroom into a real and viable choice for talented and ambitious people is to publicly accord high levels of esteem to the expert classroom teacher.

Professor John Hattie

Results that matter

Valuing great teaching should be at the heart of the debate about how to lift school performance, says Professor John Hattie, chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.


have a situation where a kid is being disadvantaged by being in a poor community, because that kid could be the next top scientist, or entrepreneur, or anything.

“But we need to start the debate on how extra resourcing is to be used, because that’s the crucial factor in better outcomes.”

Busting mythsHattie’s rigorous research is well known in educational circles for busting myths about what can improve the performance of schools. He disputes, for example, the push by Education Minister Christopher Pyne and some state governments to create independent public schools.

“I think the difference made by independent public schools is so little that the debate is a distraction. Western Australia introduced them, and parents and principals thought it was great. But there was no great evidence of change for the better.

“Across the world, you can’t find evidence supporting them. Their impact is close to zero.”

Meanwhile, reduced class sizes are not necessarily a panacea, he says, unless accompanied by a change in teaching methods.

“Research shows that reducing class sizes has a small positive effect. But the question is, why isn’t it bigger? The reason seems to be that teachers

aren’t adapting their teaching to take advantage of smaller classes, and we need to address this.”

He cites an “extreme example”: a teacher in Hong Kong whose class was reduced from 60 to 20 students, but she continued to use a megaphone when she spoke to them. And, in the midst of the hype surrounding the highly politicised review of the national curriculum, he says curricula are of little value unless they have some effect on how teachers teach.

“These debates and reviews of national and state curriculums are of virtually no importance because they don’t reflect actual practice. For example, critical literacy is not in the curriculum in Victoria, but it is in Queensland. However, research has found that Victoria teaches it more.”

Raw resultsHattie is a proponent of increased accountability and measurement of results, but says NAPLAN has led to too much focus being put on raw results rather than the progress students have made. He cites the problem of “cruising schools” that are failing to do enough to lift the performance of their predominantly high-achieving students and are pulling down Australia’s international ranking.

“There’s a difference between progress and achievement,” he says. “We have some schools that are

delivering great progress to students who are starting from a low base. But other schools, mainly in leafy, green suburbs, are failing to deliver progress to high-achieving kids. This misses the point: that every student deserves a year’s growth for a year’s input, no matter where they are starting from.”

On the issue of teacher training, he’s concerned about the drop in Australian Tertiary Admission Rank scores for entrants to teaching courses, and about the oversupply of teaching graduates coming into the system. AITSL is working to improve the standard of teacher training courses, and to ensure that graduates are better equipped to teach.

Looking at the long term, Hattie says the best way to establish teaching as a respected profession is to lift teaching quality, ensure quality can be measured, and continually improve teacher practice.

“The way to make the classroom into a real and viable choice for talented and ambitious people is to publicly accord high levels of esteem to the expert classroom teacher,” he says.

“At the moment, the majority of a teacher’s learning happens in the first year out. They learn half as much in the second year and, after that, it really plateaus.

“We want teachers to keep learning and keep improving, and for the system to recognise the huge impact that quality teachers can have.” l

AG E N DA

Independent public schools“I think the difference that is made by independent public schools is so little that the debate is a distraction. Across the world you can’t find evidence supporting it, its impact is close to zero.”

Class sizes“Research shows that reducing class sizes enhances achievement, but the effect is small. The question is why is the gain so small when

reducing class sizes should make a real difference? The answer is that teachers need to be able to adapt to different class sizes and take advantage of the power of smaller classes.”

Curriculum“National and state curriculums have very little effect on what happens in schools, particularly because in Australia our curriculum and our assessment through NAPLAN aren’t aligned."

Gonski funding“Let’s get real. Needs-based funding has to happen, that’s so obvious it probably doesn’t need to be stated. We should not have a situation where a kid is being disadvantaged by being in a poor community, because that kid could be the next top scientist, or entrepreneur or anything.”

Performance pay“The international experience is that no performance-based pay system works. For the

same reason that doctors aren’t paid on the number of patients who die, because then they won’t take the most difficult cases.”

High-impact teaching“Too often high-impact teaching, which delivers high levels of progress for students, is almost invisible to the colleagues of those teachers and to the students’ parents. The doors literally close on those classrooms.”

Hattie on:


Fair funding call for additional needs

Children with learning difficulties and other special needs are missing out on the extra support and resources they need.

TA L K B AC K

“We are the canary in the coalmine on mental health issues.”

Greg Cartwright Principal, Thomas Acres Primary School, Ambarvale, NSW

We’re one of those schools that has always missed out on funding but under the Gonski model, our school has been a winner. We’ve picked up extra funding for the very first time and that money has been absolutely fantastic in allowing us to implement new programs.

What’s needed now is certainty in funding for students with disabilities.

The number of primary school students with a disability has increased significantly in the past five years or so. People often think that means physical disability – vision, hearing, mobility. But the greatest increase in disabilities is in the area of mental health, such as disruptive behaviour disorders, anxiety or trauma. Children with these issues need more time and resources, they need early intervention programs and they need professional services such as occupational and speech therapists, welfare workers and nurses with experience in mental health.

We’ve received some extra funding for students with disabilities but it’s disappointing that the ‘disability loading’ – a genuine needs-based amount for each student – that was due to begin in 2015 has been delayed for 12 months. It would provide money where it’s needed most and enable schools to properly support the students.

We currently employ two speech therapists and we’ll bring on an occupational therapist this year. These are services that some families have unsuccessfully tried to access through the local community health centre.

While we’ve been able to increase support for students with disabilities, there’s no certainty of ongoing funding.

Jason Borton Principal, Richardson Primary School, ACT

At the core of this issue is how students with disabilities are identified. A significant percentage of our students receive support from the ACT government for a disability that has been identified by a psychologist or other medical professional.

But up to 40 per cent of our students don’t fit the definition for disability funding. They’re coming to us with a disproportionate number of health issues and learning difficulties, often compounded by low socio-economic status. But they are issues that don’t attract any additional resources.

One of the problems with the current identification process for funding is that it relies on traditional IQ testing and it’s not picking up the kids who need the support. For example, there are children who have major speech delays. They’re not academically incapable and they can sail through an IQ test but they need speech therapy intervention.

In any case, the allocation of funds to schools for those identified with disabilities is very much below what we actually need to meet their needs.

We have just enough to provide a special education class of 14 with a teacher and a full-time assistant, but there’s nothing extra for those children. And the funding for students who are identified with special needs and placed in mainstream classes is too low to be effective. It’s not allowing for any real intervention that can make a difference for those kids.

The point is that the one-size-fits-all approach just won’t have the impact required for these kids. While our teachers have an amazing ability to

Greg Cartwright

A reliable funding source is needed to sustain these programs and the disability loading per student would provide that.

We are the canary in the coalmine on mental health issues. As these children get older and leave school, there’ll be long-term and serious effects on society unless we have given them the support and care they need.


TA L K B AC K

“The point is that the one-size-fits-all approach just won’t have the impact required for these kids.”

“...students are not being assessed for the extra funding they need.”

Cathy Radisich

Jason Borton

have a positive effect on these kids, their other needs, their health issues and other learning difficulties, aren’t being met.

A lot of things these kids need, such as speech therapy and occupational therapy, are outside our skill set. If we were able to attract more funding, that’s where we’d spend it, using paraprofessionals who have the skills and ability to address the individual needs of students.

We’re attempting to provide them with the same education as anybody else, but we’re limited by the lack of resources.

Cathy Radisich Classroom special educator, Namadgi School, ACT (K-10)

As a teacher of students with additional needs for the past eight years, a parent of a student with additional needs and, earlier, a learning support assistant, I have had the opportunity to see the public education system from several perspectives. My first teaching experience was in a specialist school where classrooms were highly supported. There were small class sizes and they were well resourced.

I moved to a mainstream school as the special education teacher where I have found my working life to be very different. In the first year, I was again well resourced with a $10,000 establishment fund to set up a Learning Support Unit in a brand new P-10 school; complete with a purpose-built facility.

But, working closely with the mainstream teachers I can see the difficulty they face with the number of students that have additional needs. In each classroom, there are between four and eight students exhibiting behaviours that are of concern when it comes to learning needs and safety.

Before I arrived, the teachers had little or no support as the school’s resources were stretched. There was one LSA to assist management of four classes and no professional development for understanding in trauma, autism,

ADHA or disability support. Most of the students in question were undiagnosed so extra funding was not available.

We worked together and made the best of the situation by supporting and learning from each other. I was able to make resources and design learning programs for some of those students.

But there are many issues we have no control over. One is the lack of school counsellors, which means students are not being assessed for the extra funding they need. Then there are the many students, such as those with ADHD or dyslexia, who don’t score enough points to get extra assistance, leaving the school to manage its limited resources to help them. And, for those who do qualify, the extra assistance is inadequate. Generally speaking, the most assistance a child might receive is half a day. Others receive a session every three days or three times a week, depending on their score.

Professional development is also needed for teachers to help them contribute to accurate assessments of children with additional needs and with the growing problem of behaviour management. l


Twenty five years as an educator, most recently as principal at a remote K-12 school in Western

Australia, has left Paul Bridge frustrated by the number of young Indigenous boys who don’t complete school.

“We hold onto them for primary school, most of the time, but there are boys dropping out as early as Year 7 and by Years 8 and 9 there’s a higher risk,” says Bridge, principal at Derby District High School.

“As an Aboriginal principal, I can’t accept it,” he says. In Bridge’s experience, the common

The value of mentoring in keeping boys in school has been brought home to principal Paul Bridge after an international study tour.

I N D I G E N O U S

number of ambitious targets relating to Indigenous education, employment, health and life expectancy. The target for education was to halve the gap in Year 12 completion rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2020.

“Achieving the goal will not be an easy task,” notes an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Closing the Gap document published three years ago.

While national school completion rates for all students, including Indigenous students, have been steadily climbing in recent years, a considerable gap still exists. Just under 83 per cent of all students finish Year 12 compared with 55 per cent of Indigenous students.

The shred of good news in these alarming figures is the increased rate of improvement

thread seems to be the lack of a father figure or a positive male role model “to provide positive support and guidance to these boys as they make their transition to manhood”.

Without proper guidance, the boys are often influenced by peer groups that indulge in negative and risky behaviour, including substance abuse.

“Substance abuse is the visible sign of the guilt and shame of generations and contributes to the ongoing life trauma,” says Bridge. Closing the gap targetsIn 2008 the Council of Australian Governments agreed to a

Students at Derby District High School in Western Australia

Building up strengths


WO R L D V I E W

Paul Bridge

of Indigenous completion rates. Today the gap between all students and Indigenous students is 28 percentage points but a decade ago it was 37 percentage points. Looking for opportunitiesBridge’s frustration with the poor results and his determination that “we just can’t allow this to continue” led him to apply for a Churchill Fellowship to study the experiences of First Nations peoples in the US and Canada.

A number of programs already in place to improve completion rates for girls have been bearing fruit at Derby but “we just haven’t cracked it” when it comes to the boys, Bridge says.

It’s certainly not all “doom and gloom”, he says. Some boys are returning to training and TAFE courses as they reach about 18 years of age. “But the opportunities that exist for kids that have completed their schooling and go on to do bigger and better things are fantastic. The kids that drop out are on a tougher pathway.”

Bridge travelled extensively for six months, meeting up with schools and program leaders across the US and Canada, and as far afield as Alaska and Hawaii.

The main message he’s come home with is the value of mentoring programs that are run well. “I always knew mentoring was important but my research showed that it was important

to have mentors the boys can relate to. There’s no point having a male role model who’s not an Aboriginal, and hasn’t got the life skills the student can relate to.”

Culture is important too. Many of the programs that Bridge studied included a strong cultural focus. “The cultural protocols and rituals used by many of the First Nations tribes have been successfully adopted into all of the mentoring programs I visited. Working with strengths, rather than deficits, is the key to building positive relationships, and maintaining the human spirit.” Acknowledging trauma“The other thing that came out quite clearly, which I knew from my experiences at Derby, was the importance of practices that take account of the trauma that many of the boys have experienced, such as suicide, domestic violence and family members in jail. The issues that came out clearly in First Nations communities [in the US and Canada] are very similar to Aboriginal boys here. Boys tend not to be able to talk about trauma. They feel they are not being a man if they talk about their emotions,” says Bridge.

Another valuable lesson for Bridge was the need to provide support to the mentors themselves to counter the high burnout rate. “It made me realise that there has to be a lot of coordination, supervision and support of the mentors when they’re supporting Aboriginal boys,” he says.

Finding appropriate mentors in a remote country area can be difficult but Bridge says he’s now seen first-hand examples of partnerships with local organisations and businesses who provide their employees with time each week to mentor students.

“There are a lot of Aboriginal men out there who are working and living successfully, and have got some life skills that they

can impart to Aboriginal boys. It’s about finding the ways and means to access their knowledge, being mindful of the fact that they work full-time,” he says.

“In the US, there are schools negotiating with organisations to allow their employees to provide mentoring on a weekly basis. It means a cost to the organisation, but with all sorts of benefits, too.”

Bridge says he’s excited to return to Derby to implement some of the ideas he’s seen.

He’ll also be calling on external agencies and families for support after noting a greater success rate for schools that collaborate with others. “The task is too enormous to undertake alone.” l Paul Bridge’s Churchill Fellowship report can be found at tinyurl.com/kdsn6tf

Working with strengths, rather than deficits, is the key to building positive relationships, and maintaining the human spirit.

BY S U E P E AC O C K


Cut & paste: policies needed

The best way to combat plagiarism in the classroom is to teach students skills that eliminate

the need or urge to plagiarise, and teacher-librarians are an often underused resource in achieving this.

While software detection programs are marketed as the solution to the copy-and-paste malaise, the issue involves more than detection and hitting ‘delete’ on a keyboard.

Software and formal school policies banning plagiarism aren’t enough on their own, says ACT teacher-librarian Lori Korodaj.

“While the software works to a certain degree, and having a policy in place might be useful, they need to be underpinned by effective teaching of skills and partnership with an expert in this area,” says Korodaj.

And teacher-librarians are the experts when it comes to effective search strategies, research skills and digital literacy in general.

“Classroom teachers are busy people and most would welcome the chance to work collabora-tively with their teacher-librarian,” says Korodaj.

“There’s this idea that teacher-librarians aren’t needed because we have the internet. Kids can sit in the classroom with their tablet computer and find out what they need that way.

“But that doesn’t help the teacher who’s flat out trying to get through the curriculum and imparting the skills around it.”

She believes teacher-librarians are a hugely underrated resource in the digital age and says some principals see them as expensive because they aren’t always in front of classes.

“Our role can be invisible in some cases. It’s the support role we play that’s crucial.”

Starting earlyStudent plagiarism is a huge problem, says Shirley Birrell, president of the School Libraries Association of Queensland and a teacher-librarian at a large Queensland school.

“For classroom teachers with so much curriculum and content to get through, plus having students with low literacy levels or behaviour problems, it can often be something that’s not

Classroom teachers and teacher-librarians make a strong team when dealing with students who plagiarise.

P L A G I A R I S M

Plagiarism is a big problem many teachers don’t have time to deal with adequately.

Classroom teachers can work with teacher-librarians on anti-plagiarism strategies.

Simply failing or punishing students for plagiarism is a shallow response to the problem.

BRIEFLY

Students need to have skills for organising ideas into their own words… Such skills need to be constantly reinforced.

Sue Johnson Manager of Marden Education Centre Library


Lori Korodaj, believes teacher-librarians can play a crucial role in teaching students about plagiarism.

P L A G I A R I S M

high on their priority list.”Students need to be taught

about plagiarism and how to avoid it from an early age, says Birrell.

“When they are in their senior years and looking at tertiary education, it’s a bit late. They’re often not taught the whole range of skills they are meant to have for referencing, bibliographies and other material. It needs to be embedded in the curriculum from the primary level.

“In the Australian curriculum, plagiarism comes under ethical understanding but, to me, that seems wishy-washy.”

She says teacher-librarians can help by educating classroom teachers to give them a solid understanding of the need to reference, attribute or seek

permission to use online items.“When teachers are doing

PowerPoints and the like, do they reference? Are they setting an example for their students?”

Software detection programs such as Turnitin are helpful for highlighting what has been copied, but it’s more important for students to have an understanding of why it’s not acceptable to copy, says Sue Johnston, manager of the Marden Education Centre Library in Adelaide and a member of the Australian School Library Association board.

She says students need to have skills for organising ideas into their own words so they don’t need to plagiarise. For example, notetaking and notemaking as a matter of form, and mind-mapping techniques.

Such skills need to be constantly reinforced. “You can’t just teach them once and expect students to remember.”

Johnston also echoes the point that staff, including teacher-librarians, need to model best practice at all times.

Policy scopeAll three teacher-librarians support the introduction of comprehensive school policies that go beyond outlining punitive measures for those caught plagiarising.

“It would be useful to have a centrally organised template schools could adopt for local circumstances – something clear and concise,” says Johnston.

Any plagiarism policy needs to be broader than guidelines that just say plagiarism isn’t appropriate, says Korodaj.

“We tend to go straight to the punitive measures – what are we doing to catch them out, and how we are going to punish them for it – rather than exploring the other end of it. That is, what skills are our students lacking, how do we improve those skills, who do we use to improve those skills and how do we fit that into the curriculum?”

Korodaj says tools such as Turnitin originality checks have a place because they can be used in formative assessment.

“When students are caught plagiarising, the question is why did they do it? Was it a Friday night special where they rushed to just copy and paste? Was it accidental because they didn’t know how to cite properly?

“Or is it something deeper, such as not knowing how to transform information so it comes out well in an assignment, and then not knowing how to cite it?”

It’s then a matter of asking the student what they found difficult about the assignment and what sort of help they need from the teacher, says Korodaj.

“That’s a whole lot better than saying, ‘We caught you out and you’ve failed.’” l

Sue Peacock is a freelance writer.

ResourcesWhy do students plagiarise? http://tinyurl.com/o7plpck l

Australian Copyright Council www.copyright.org.au lThe official guide to copyright issues for schools and TAFE

www.smartcopying.edu.au l

BY C Y N D I T E B B E L


Friend, comrade, activist, mentor… gone too soon

He was a man of many passions. A teacher and tireless advocate for public education. A vigor-

ous leader of the union move-ment. A compassionate activist for working people the world over.

Intelligent. Witty. Generous of spirit and charismatic, with a voracious appetite for politics, folk music and the banjo.

Rob Durbridge left big shoes to fill when he died last November, aged 68. But the world’s a better place for his efforts.

He was an inspiration and valued mentor to teachers, up-and-coming activists and

trade union leaders. AEU Federal Secretary Susan Hopgood knew him as a friend and a life-long supporter of “peace, liberation and self-determination in a just, civil and enriching society”.

As a teacher his career was marked by an enthusiasm for working with disadvantaged and disengaged students, exhibiting “a particular empathy and understanding of their worth and needs,” says Hopgood.

“Throughout his working life his commitment to fairness and justice shone through,” she adds. “He railed against the injustice of elite private schools and the ever-expanding amount of public

Rob Durbridge made the world a better place, and left a big pair of shoes to fill.

VA L E R O B D U R B R I D G E

largesse at the expense of our public schools and their students.” An internationalistDurbridge’s political activism began at Adelaide University during the 1960s where he earned a permanent record from ASIO for being a leader of the movement against the war in Vietnam and a member of the Communist Party of Australia.

In an important progression from his involvement in the anti-war movement, Rob worked with the education union and the broader trade union movement in Vietnam for more than 15 years to help build strong, sustainable, independent trade unions.

Rob got involved in the union movement as a teacher activist in state branches in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. He was elected AEU Federal Industrial Officer in 1988 and Federal Secretary in 1994, serving in that position for 12 years.

His advocacy for quality public education for all and a commitment to advancing the professional status of teachers and teacher unionists extended beyond Australia. In the eyes of many, he was a “true internationalist”.

Rob led the debate on reforms aimed at achieving equal representation rights for teacher union members from less developed nations at Education International, and turned his energies to supporting political change in countries such as East


VA L E R O B D U R B R I D G E

Timor. “Rob was at the forefront of the campaign in support of East Timor’s independence, long before it became fashionable”, says Hopgood.

On his retirement from the AEU, Rob became one of Education International’s Committee of Experts. He was the inaugural executive director of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights, based at Monash University. He was an initial member of the SEARCH Foundation Committee and served as president from 2008 until his death.

A fierce and fearless critic of the neo-liberal assault on public education, Durbridge sounded a prescient warning during the Howard years when, in 2004, he told AEU members to “Stand by for John Howard and his conservative cheer squad to attack public school teachers as ideological trouble-makers, while ramping up the funding for the elite schools that reflect the PM’s own values.”

He was equally scathing of some ALP policies, in particular its support for mandatory detention, which Durbridge characterised as “a blot on our national reputation”. He called for the release of children and their parents from mainland detention centres and supported their right to be educated in Australian schools.

In a letter to The Age in late 2012, Durbridge defended teachers and students against claims they were to blame for failures in the education system.

The real culprits, he countered, were successive state and federal governments that, for decades, misdirected resources “from those who need them most to those who need them least”. l Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

Goodbye, comradeColleagues at the Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER), where Rob was a founding executive director, mourn the loss of a “giant of a man in every way”, committed to improving rights and living standards for working people and arguing “tirelessly about the importance of access to quality public education for all”.

Fellow members of the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club fondly remember him leading ‘Songs of Love and Resistance’ at several festivals, jam sessions they say attracted “seasoned performers and newbies alike… a tribute to Rob’s friendly and inclusive style, and the high regard in which he was held by all”.

In a radio interview in 2010, presenter Red Symonds asked Durbridge to comment on “that old adage that if you’re not on the Left when you’re young then you’ve got no heart, and if you haven’t moved to the Right you’ve got no sense.

“Would you say you’ve moved?”

“I think the first part’s right,” Durbridge replied, “but I don’t agree with the second part. I think you can keep your values for your whole life and I hope I have.”

Rob Durbridge is survived by his wife Wendy, children Dan and Chris, and grand-daughter, Nin.

To reinforce Rob’s legacy, the ACTU, AEU and Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA have established a memorial scholarship fund which will, each year, enable an Australian unionist to directly experience the international efforts of the union movement by visiting a Union Aid Abroad- APHEDA project.

BY C H R I S T I N E LO N G


The carcinogenic dangers of asbestos are still not taken seriously enough in some parts of Australia.

The reliability of asbestos registers is of concern in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

The aim of the Federal Government’s Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency, to remove asbestos from government buildings, especially schools, by 2030, is now considered “aspirational”.

BRIEFLY

Dealing with danger

When a football was kicked into a verandah ceiling at a school in the

Tanami Desert recently, asbestos came tumbling down.

After the AEU representative at the school made sure the children were moved away and had the area cordoned off, the principal rebuked him for contacting Work Safe NT and “causing a fuss for nothing”.

Jarvis Ryan, president of the AEU’s Northern Territory branch, tells the story to illustrate how the carcinogenic dangers of asbestos are still not taken seriously enough in some parts of Australia.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, the AEU is celebrating a win on the asbestos-in-schools front.

Asbestos became an election issue in Victoria last year when Labor promised to spend $100 million on removing all asbestos from government school buildings by 2020. It comprised $50m to replace 250 portable classrooms containing asbestos and $50m to audit buildings in every state school.

When Labor won the November election, AEU Victoria said the $100m commitment was “a huge leap forward” in its long campaign to make schools asbestos-free.

“To remove asbestos from all schools by 2020 will mean a rebuild or upgrade in many, many schools,” says AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace.

Victorian schools have a long history of exposure to asbestos, and the body now known as the

Victorian WorkCover Authority has prosecuted the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act in three asbestos cases.

In 2013 the department agreed to an enforceable undertaking on asbestos issues that included training principals, increasing school audits and improving management in schools, such as warning labels on in situ material.

“The regulations have always said they have to label [asbestos material], but the department was very reluctant to do it until recently because it felt it would alarm the community,” says Peace. “Some principals were also reluctant because they didn’t want their facility to be seen as dangerous in some way, particularly in a competitive environment between schools.

“As it turns out, wherever labelling has been implemented, it has barely caused a ripple of community concern.”

Audit failuresUnder the department’s system of safe work requirements, contractors, volunteers or parents undertaking work in a school must go through an induction informing them of the location of any asbestos, then take appropriate measures. But that requires having up-to-date asbestos audits. About 400 audit updates had been completed by the end of last year.

“Often an audit is done, then it sits on a shelf,” says Peace.

Some progress is being made in the auditing, managing and removal of asbestos in schools, but it’s a battle that’s far from over.

O H S

“No-one really understands what it means, no-one knows [it’s there] when they are doing work, and no-one updates it when asbestos is removed or damaged.”

The reliability of asbestos registers is also an issue in other states including South Australia and Western Australia.

“Around 2011 we found that there were some severe discrepancies in the registers,” says Pat Byrne, president of the State School Teachers Union of WA. “Basically the auditors hadn’t done their job in the way they should have.”

After a joint quality-control audit, it was agreed the registers weren’t accurate. “The process has recently been redone, but we still feel there’s room to improve the way audits are done and the register is maintained,” says Byrne.

WA had an early win in the 1990s when the government agreed to remove asbestos roofs from all 250 schools that had them, but a program of ongoing removal is still awaited.

Assets management includes a program whereby asbestos products are removed when a building is undergoing considerable work. And where they are damaged, they are replaced rather than repaired.

“But we have a $135 million backlog just for maintenance in our schools, and we’ve had enormous budget cuts,” says Byrne. “So I’d say the chances of getting a wholesale removal program at the moment is zero.”


Asbestos in schools became an election issue in Victoria last year.

O H S

the requirements of the Act.”AEU Tasmania’s president

Terry Polglase says every public school in Tasmania has an asbestos register and, where detected, issues of exposure to asbestos are immediately dealt with. Since this measure was put in place, asbestos in schools hasn’t been a significant problem in his state.

In ACT schools, the asbestos is mainly in its relatively low-risk solid state in areas such as eaves and ceilings, and the AEU is satisfied with a twin-track approach enshrined in legislation, says branch secretary Glenn Fowler. It requires every school to have a publicly available asbestos register and there is an orderly program of removal. If an incident occurs, the response is rapid, he says.

In Queensland, even the construction of a new school building has caused a scare. “Asbestos material was found in the soil, creating a significant problem for the community and employees at the site,” says AEU Queensland’s president Kevin Bates.

Among the Northern Territory’s 170 schools, only a few of the newest ones are asbestos-free. But a recent $25m cut in the education budget has pushed safety concerns down the list of priorities, says Ryan.

“They’ve completely stopped any plans that were beginning to be put together for the staged removal of all asbestos in government schools, starting with early childhood settings.” l

Christine Long is a freelance writer.

...there have been a number of instances where contractors have cut into asbestos panels during the school day, then left debris lying on the floor.”

Asbestos awareness can still be an issue among contractors, she says. “While putting air-condition-ing in our schools, there have been a number of instances where contractors have cut into asbestos panels during the school day, then left debris lying on the floor.”

When the federal government’s Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency released its first national strategic plan in 2013, its aim was to remove all asbestos from government buildings, especially schools, by 2030.

“But not all the states and territories were prepared to sign off on that, given that the quantity of asbestos and the

costs involved were unknown figures,” says Byrne.

With the plan being revised, the original aim is now considered “aspirational”.

State variationsIn other states, such as NSW and Queensland, asbestos removal is in progress, but it could be happening faster.

Maurie Mulheron, president of the NSW Teachers Federation, says the department has become more responsive and effective when it comes to asbestos removal and risk management. “Since 2011 there has been much more investigation and identification, and meeting

Pat Byrne President, State School Teachers Union of WA


WO R L D V I E W

RISE #UPFORSCHOOLJoin the more than 1.4 million people who have signed the ‘world’s biggest petition’ at www.aworldatschool.org/upforschool

A video on the website, encouraging people to sign, notes that: “around the world, from Pakistan to Nigeria, Syria to Gaza, we’re starting to connect. To rise up and demand action”.

“We are creating a message no government, politician or leader can ignore… that every child in the world must go to school without danger and without discrimination,” the video voiceover says.

“You’ll not bomb our schools, kidnap our sisters, force us into marriage as children, make us work instead of learn, use our disabilities as a barrier, discriminate and exclude us or deny us a future because we are girls.

“Education is our right. It gives us freedom. It gives us better health. It gives us hope. It gives us a future. And no child in the world should be denied it.

“We don’t need your sympathy. We need your signature. We need you to join us and rise #UpForSchool.”

More than 1.4 million people have signed a global call to action that aims

to win the right for every child to go to school.

An international campaign is calling on world leaders to fulfil their promise to get every child into school by the end of this year.

As one of the United Nation’s millennium development goals, world leaders vowed that all children would have the right and ability to attend school by the end of 2015.

“Despite progress over the past 25 years, there are 58 million children out of school and we are seeing increasing attacks on schools, school children and teachers on the frontlines of education,” says Education International president Susan Hopgood, who is also AEU federal secretary.

Education International, the international federation of teacher unions, has thrown its weight behind the ‘world’s biggest petition’ organised by A World at School, a movement of “hundreds of thousands of people from more than 250 civil society, teacher, faiths, youth, business, international and non-governmental organisations”.

“People power works. Big numbers of people mobilising over an issue cannot be ignored. That is why this petition is being collected in every country around the world,” says Hopgood.

Teachers need to be pivotal in the movement, she says.

“We’re asking teachers to collect as many signatures as possible. Please help spread the word. Together we can make the voices of teachers heard by world leaders. Together we can rise Up For School,” Hopgood says. l

World’s biggest petition

“A giant among his colleagues and across the progressive labour movement, Rob’s passing leaves the world a better place for his having trod its paths.”

Susan Hopgood, AEU Federal Secretary

Rob Durbridge Memorial ScholarshipRob Durbridge leaves an international legacy of passionate advocacy for education, workers’ rights, social justice and peace.To reinforce this legacy, the ACTU, AEU and Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA have established a memorial scholarship fund which will, each year, enable an Australian unionist to directly experience the international efforts of the union movement by visiting an Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA project.

Vale Rob DurbridgeSocial Activist Unionist Teacher 1946-2014

PAYMENT: a] Credit Card MasterCard VisaCard no | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Expiry Date m m / y y Card holder nameSignature Date

OR b] Direct Debit

Fin. Inst. BranchName on accountBSB no | | | |–| | | |Acc No | | | | | | | | | |Signature DateBy signing this Direct Debit request you acknowledge having read and endorsed the terms and conditions governing the debit arrangements between you and APHEDA Inc. as set out at http://www.apheda.org.au/site/privacy.html.Donations to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA are tax deductible.Contact us: FREECALL 1800 888 674 | Fax 02 9261 1118 | [email protected]

Please complete this form and post/fax to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, Level 3, 377-383 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000

I want to contribute to the Rob Durbridge Memorial Scholarship

Title Ms Mr Mrs Miss Dr (please circle) Other

First name

Last name

Address

Postcode

Phone: (mob) (h/w)

Email

Your Union

I PLEDGE THE FOLLOWING EACH MONTH: $10 $25 $50 $100 Other $_____ ( min.$10 ) YES, I would like free membership of Union Aid Abroad (for the life of my donation) and agree to be bound by the rules of the Association.

Union StaffUnion member

Year of Birth:

BY C Y N T H I A K A R E N A


Learning devices

The ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) option, which sees students bringing their smartphones,

laptops and tablets to class, has emerged as the preferred approach to providing online access to students, but policies for use and connection of the devices are far from standard.

BYOD is an attractive option for schools because they don’t need to pay for devices that quickly become obsolete.

At Alfred Deakin High School in the ACT, connecting the many different devices to Wi-Fi was a challenge that took a while to work out.

“Some students use their own devices instead of [paper] notebooks or for research, and some have electronic copies of

their textbooks to avoid carrying around a lot of weight,” says Jenny Feltham, the school’s library coordinator for technology.

It’s not compulsory to bring a device to school, they can be used only with teacher permission and students must assume responsibility for them. A BYOD forum was held for parents concerned about sending their teenagers to school with such expensive items.

As for students who don’t have them, it can hardly be said they’re missing out on the technology front. Alfred Deakin High has three labs of PCs running software for its high-demand specialist programs, such as computer-aided design, animation, photography and programming. It also has a lab of iMacs for media classes, a large fleet of dual-boot MacBooks in its e-hub for students to borrow, and trolleys of Chromebook laptops in faculty areas for general classroom needs.

Katherine South Primary School, in the Northern Territory, has four classes using BYOD and there will soon be more. Students put their devices in a designated place when they arrive, then access them as needed.

The school has iPads, desktop computers, netbooks and 10 laptops for students who don’t have a device.

A student survey revealed that those who bring their own devices like to stay logged on to the programs and apps they use at home. There’s a rule against

Schools are finding a variety of ways to keep students connected.

T O O L K I T

The ‘bring your own device’ trend has benefits for students and schools.

It can be difficult to cope with the many connectivity protocols.

Schools have devised guidelines and restrictions for device usage.

BRIEFLYother students accessing their accounts, says ICT teacher Justin Short, who started the BYOD pilot class in term one of 2014.

Short puts his students’ work, resources and assignments in the cloud, where any device can access them. “It means fewer restrictions on the types of devices students can bring to school,” he says. “They can create, collaborate and share work in formats ranging from documents to video to websites. It can be shared with parents too.” The school is upgrading its wireless system to overcome issues with linking different devices to the school’s internet, and with the wireless capacity of cheaper devices.

Student demand is driving BYOD in schools, says Short. “It will soon be seen as the norm – impossible for teachers and parents to ignore.”

Personal controlHaving any one type of device or digital solution in schools is impractical, says Roland Gesthuizen, e-learning leader at Keysborough Secondary College in Victoria.

“BYOD takes the pressure off schools to provide equipment or mandate a one-shop solution,” he says. “With cloud-friendly applications such as iCloud or Google’s education apps, it’s easy to move data and work between devices.”

The school has iPad tablets at junior levels and netbooks in middle school for students who can’t afford their own devices.


Students using their own devices at Katherine South Primary School in the Northern Territory.

T O O L K I T

[BYOD] will soon be seen as the norm – impossible for teachers and parents to ignore.Justin Short

for the licences and administer-ing the initiative that can be paid directly to the school,” he says. When students leave the school, the software must be uninstalled.

Blackwood High has about 100 laptops students can borrow either daily or for more long-term use. At this stage, every BYOD device must have a five-hour battery minimum because the school has no charging stations.

Any Microsoft operating system using Microsoft 32bit and 64bit systems is fully functional on the school’s network. But full functionality isn’t available for Apple laptops, iPads, graphics tablets, smartphones or laptops with Linux operating systems. l

Cynthia Karena is a freelance writer.

one-to-one laptop environment. Students use a laptop in all their subject areas,” says Howden. A day-use laptop scheme provides for students who can’t afford one.

Cutting costsAt Blackwood High School in Adelaide, physics teacher Wayne Learmonth says many public schools can’t afford sufficient network infrastructure and computers for all their students, and BYOD cuts their costs.

A recent change to the rules now allows the installation of the SA education department’s licensed software on privately owned devices. “If parents want to take advantage of this offer, there will be an annual charge

Students can be distracted by other applications on their devices, but this issue is balanced by empowerment over the technology and personal control, says Gesthuizen.

“BYOD takes control out of the hands of a school technician, yet students still expect support for their devices at school. There’s no stopping BYOD. Teachers and students are increasingly using their favourite devices because they want tools that are familiar and they know to be effective.”

Benowa State High School was one of five Queensland schools to pilot BYOD in 2014.

“The benefit is that students use technology they feel comfort-able using,” says Mandy Howden, head of technology integration. “They also have a choice in the software they use to complete their work, rather than always being teacher directed.” Students have a school handbook to follow, and they and their parents sign a charter agreeing to follow school guidelines on appropriate technology use. “Our school is a


T O O L K I T

My best app

WAYNE’S TIPS

“Don’t be prescriptive in the apps you use, because there are so many different ones available. For example, there are other versions of the Sound Meter app for phones in both Android and Apple. Just as I might ask students in English to use the internet to find a writing scaffold they like, I might ask science students, for homework, to research and find an app to use for a particular purpose in class the next day.”

Sound Meter Android, iOS, Windows, free

This app can be used to measure the sound of rock music, machinery, doors slamming, a photocopier or a busy street. “I use this in my physics class to measure the level of sound as part of physics pracs when we study sound,” says Learmonth. amazon.com/Smart-Tools-co-Sound-Meter/dp/B0073V7YTY

Google Docs Android, iOS, Windows, free

Learmonth finds this app useful to write notes on the go, “when I’m waiting for a meeting to start, on excursions, or on yard duty.”

“For example, if I get any ideas for the school newsletter I can capture my thoughts immediately. It’s permanently backed up to the cloud, so I can access it from other devices.” itunes.apple.com/au/app/google-docs/id842842640?mt=8

Socrative Android, iOS, free

This is a powerful app that Learmonth finds useful for quizzes and question polls. “It’s easy-to-use, and you can write your own quizzes or download from a shared database. In class, we have races in teams. You can get the results quickly on a screen for everyone to see.” socrative.com/apps.php

Junior Storytellers: School Edition iOS, $4.99

This is an interactive storytelling app designed to improve the language and communication skills of kindergarten and primary school students while also teaching them the fundamentals of storytelling. Designed in Australia, Junior Storytellers allows students to create and narrate their own animated stories and share their stories online with other students. Tutorials with examples help students learn about the elements of storytelling, such as location selection, character development, including the hero and secondary characters, considering the characters’ wants, and the obstacles they face. itunes.apple.com/au/app/junior-storytellers-school/id862265072?mt=8

Today’s Word Windows, free

With text messaging providing ‘shortcuts’ (such as ‘wud’ for would or ‘gr8’ for great), correct spelling may be a challenge for some. Today’s Word helps to increase vocabulary by providing a word a day, including the origin of the word, a definition, an example of how it is used, and its pronunciation. windowsphone.com/en-au/store/app/today-word/40875f39-667f-4a35-98cb-0cda79ad9dfd

My Study Life Android, iOS, Windows, free

Students can organise their time by scheduling and keeping track of assignments, and class and exam timetables. This comprehensive app has a clean interface and uses colours to make it easier to see schedules. There are also reminders for unfinished tasks and upcoming classes or exams. mystudylife.com

WORTH A LOOK

BY WAY N E L E A R M O N T H

Year 11 and 12 physics, junior science and English teacher Blackwood High School, South Australia

SHARE YOUR SECRETS

Which apps do you find useful in the classroom? Let us know at [email protected]

B O O K S


Technology is bringing major changes to the teaching of maths and science to young children, and now there’s an Australian book covering the subject.

Students beginning school this year are in a trial-and-error world where it’s second

nature to push buttons and click on icons to complete a task. It’s a far cry from the ‘look, don’t touch’ experience many of today’s adults would have had, says Dr Shelley Dole, an associate professor at the University of Queensland’s School of Education.

Dole, along with Dr Geoff Hilton and Dr Chris Campbell, respectively a post-doctoral fellow and an information and communications technology (ICT) lecturer at the School of Education, and Dr Annette Hilton, an associate professor in science education at Aarhus University in Copenhagen, Denmark, have co-written the new book Teaching Early Years Mathematics, Science and ICT: Core concepts and practice for the first three years of schooling (Allen & Unwin, 240 pages, RRP $44.99).

They analysed the available texts relating to the target age group and found that, while there were books about maths, science and ICT, and

developmental learning, they all tended to deal with the subject areas in relative isolation, or were from the United Kingdom or the United States.

“We realised there was no text produced in Australia that brought maths, science and ICT together,” says Dole.

Teaching Early Years Mathematics, Science and ICT is formatted so preservice and inservice teachers can dip into its chapters in a non-linear way, according to need and interest. It’s designed to complement the teachers’ practice, knowledge and experience, and provides explicit examples, as well as a broader picture, of some of the concepts in the maths and science curriculum, says Dole. Links between the areas of learning and connections with the broader curriculum are encouraged.

Also encouraged is the harnessing of children’s energy, creativity, wonder and imagination in the early years of schooling.

Flexible planningPlanning is given due emphasis in the book’s highly practical

Tech-smart teaching in the first three years

BY H E L E N V I N E S

Australian Educator (ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media. The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

AEU and subscription enquiries to Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158, South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: [email protected] www.aeufederal.org.au

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Editor Susan HopgoodPublisher Fiona HardieManaging editor Sarah LewisCommissioning editor Tracey Evans

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe

AEU federal secretary Susan HopgoodAEU deputy federal secretaryPat Forward

DesignGlenn Moffatt Robert BertagniAdvertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: kerrispillane @hardiegrant.com.au

approach. “Very experienced teachers make it look effortless, but it’s a myth that you can just stand up and teach,” says Dole.

At the same time, teachers are encouraged to be flexible in their use of lesson plans, modifying and adapting according to children’s needs.

There’s also an emphasis on informal, qualitative assessment – watching, listening to and observing children, being tuned in to how individual students think, and asking questions to determine cognitive processing.

Dole says many students lose interest in maths as the primary years progress, and proportional reasoning is one of the important concepts they can miss out on.

“It’s integral to the understanding of many mathematical operations in the later years of schooling, such as fractions and percentages, and in other curriculum areas, such as body proportions in art.”

Teachers have a wonderful opportunity to bed down such concepts in the very early years, she says. In cooking, for example, proportional reasoning applies to increasing the

About the authors

Dr Shelley Dole is an associate professor in mathematics education at the University of Queensland. She is the program director of the Master of Teaching (Primary) program and co-director of the Bachelor of Education (Primary and Middle Years of Schooling) programs. Dole has taught in schools in Victoria, Northern Territory, and Queensland.

Her co-authors are lecturer Chris Campbell and postdoctoral fellow Geoff Hilton from the School of Education at the University of Queensland and Annette Hilton, an associate professor in science education at Aarhus University, Denmark.

B O O K S


Let us know what you think

Have you recently read a book that has inspired your teaching

or your students? Tell us about it at [email protected],

on facebook.com/AEUfederal or on Twitter @AEUfederal

ingredients in recipes to cater for the number of guests, which can be described as doubling or tripling rather than simply as a function of addition.

“Our research tells us that children are not generally very good at proportional reasoning, which they need for such things as ratios. But through their language, teachers have an opportunity to present complex concepts differently, which flows through to children’s future learning.”

Integrating technologyTeaching students to understand and use IT safely, ethically and effectively is a core competency, says Dole. In a world saturated with technology, it needs to be brought into the classroom whenever possible.

“It’s not unusual to see a two-year-old latch onto a mobile phone and scroll their favourite game.” Regardless of the emphasis each school and teacher places on ITC, the research shows that students understand and use technology most effectively when it’s taught as part of an integrated curriculum, she says.

While science will always be embedded in the physical world, and the teaching focuses on very hands-on activities, ICT can make a profound contribution by introducing experiences previously unavailable to children, such as a knowledge of micro-organisms.

Dole cites animations, simulations, robotics and digital cameras as potential learning tools, with tablet computers and computer hubs providing opportunities for communication, investigation and creativity.

“Students are interested in things that are made interesting,” she says. “We wanted to remind teachers that, in the early years, you have to pick topics with children in mind, but also make them interesting to children.

“We suggest ways to extend students, to cater for individual learning styles and to promote investigation with good, rich questions. It’s about sparking children’s imaginations and giving all students a chance to think and formulate an answer.”l

Editorial office Hardie Grant Media, Ground Level, Building 1 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: [email protected]

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Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this pub lication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.

Make cheques payable to the Australian Education Union and post to:

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!

Helen Vines is a freelance writer.

Dr Shelley DoleAssociate Professor Queensland School of Education

“Through their language, teachers have an opportunity to present complex concepts differently, which flows through to children’s future learning.”

R E C E S S I N T E RV I E W S BY C Y N D I T E B B E L


Year 5 teacher, Viewbank Primary School, Viewbank VIC

I have a humanistic approach to teaching. Unfortunately, the education system has become too concerned with gathering data. We forget that emotions and knowledge are important to the learning process.

Like every teacher, I try to create an environment where students are comfortable and happy to learn. Their overall mood and feelings can either hinder or foster learning.

The main focus of my teaching is to make sure I have a strong connec-tion with the children. I try to relate to them on a person-to-person level. I spend the first part of the year just getting to know the kids. You need to know where they’ve come from – their background and what’s happen-ing at home – and their interests.

Some teachers try to be friends with the kids, but they don’t need a 40-year-old best buddy. You want to be friendly but you’re their teacher, so it’s important to have that balance.

I think emotional literacy is as important as other literacies. Learning to understand emotions and developing empathy are crucial parts of education.

One of my students was feeling a bit down and I went over expecting him to be on his own and wondered how I’d interact. But there was already a group of students with him trying to help. They had a lot to contribute.

Children today are so tuned in to the media and what’s happening around them, so spending just five minutes a day talking about events is important teaching time on something other than the curriculum. My aim is to develop an awareness of wider issues outside the classroom so that students can make sense of their place in the world. l

Year 4 teacher, Atherton State Primary School, Atherton QLD

A few years ago our principal encouraged us to do a survey of students. I found it a bit confronting because I wondered what the students would think of me. I felt I knew what I was doing. But in fact, you don’t know everything and it wasn’t as daunting as I thought.

I was really keen to improve on what I was doing, and since the survey I’m doing much more explicit teaching and going over it in different ways. I try to make sure everyone succeeds.

I learned that, even if you think you’re doing a good job, sometimes you may favour kids who regularly put their hands up. So in some situations I’ll ask them not to put their hands up and select names from a cup, or call on students who have their hands down. If they don’t know the answer, I’ll ask a student who I know does, then go back to the first child who then can answer. That way they achieve success.

I want to know whether students think you’re helping them with the work they’re doing. Every teacher should make a difference to every child and I want to understand how they learn, because every child should have a positive experience at school.

I want to find out what they liked and what they didn’t like about a lesson or a game, otherwise it’s one-sided. Today, as my year 4s were playing duster hockey, I asked one of my former students if she remembered the game. She said, ‘Ah, yes, Mrs Parenti. Grade 4 was a good year.’ l

Three teachers share stories of life and learning.

Teacher to teacher

Cathryn Ricketts

Phillip Byrne

Maria Parenti

W E A S K .. .

Drama teacher and head of Year 8, Kellyville High School, Kellyville NSW

I’ve been at Kellyville High School for almost four years. There were only a few kids doing drama when I arrived and I was quite disappointed. There was no enthusiasm and some of the kids were using drama as a bit of a bludge.

It was my passion to get it going and this year we’ve got such good numbers that we’re looking for more drama teachers for the new term.

My theory is that if a student isn’t happy and enjoying themselves they’re not going to work to the best of their ability. I’m a firm believer in drama therapy and I try to use those methods to bring out the confidence in the kids. If they’re a class clown, I give them the opportunity to use that desire for attention in a healthy educational way.

Creative subjects, like drama, teach higher order thinking. It’s not just yes or no answers, it’s always something deeper. We don’t just watch a play and ask if it was it good, we ask why it was good. That deeper meaning is important for all subject areas, and for when kids get out into the real world.

Every kid deserves to have a teacher care about them and get to know them, so I make sure to do that for all my kids. They’re starting to have the confidence to speak up now.

I’ve been asked to audition our drama students for the 2015 World Championship of Performing Arts, so in July I’ll be taking seven students to Hollywood to represent Australia. It’s amazing. I feel so lucky to get this opportunity and I’m very proud of the kids for getting this far. l

C AT H RY N R I C K E T T S P H I L L I P BY R N E M A R I A PA R E N T I

Why do you teach? What’s your funniest or most rewarding teaching

moment? Share your best tips for engaging young minds. We’d love to hear from you. Email

us at [email protected] with 150–200 words with your best teaching moments.

educator autumn 2015

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