If you read this blog regularly you will know that my heart weeps for education.
\nAt a time in which the world faces its greatest ever challenges, we are returning to
\nmodels of education that were essentially developed 200 years ago.<\/p>\n
In Australia, we have the NAPLAN<\/a> and In addition the Australian federal Education Minister, Kevin Donnelly<\/a>, one of the most In this piece on the ABC website, he argues:<\/p>\n …an argument is put that test scores, while giving the impression of being scientific, At heart these initiatives are based on a belief that <\/p>\n<\/p>\n It doesn’t have to be like this.<\/p>\n
\nMySchool<\/a> which are regressive simplistic
\nmeasures of student and school performance respectively. It is as though we have not moved a
\nmillimetre from the industrial revolution model of education since wide scale public education
\nbecame common in the mid 19th Century.<\/p>\n
\nJulia Gillard,<\/a> declaring herself
\na world expert on education has just announced a ‘back to basics’
\nnational curriculum.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nconservative education commentators in the country has completed a 180 degree shift on national
\ntesting. Previously one of the strongest and most vocal advocates for public accountability of
\nschools through ‘league tables’ Donnelly
\n
\nnow argues <\/a>that the evidence from overseas indicates that these measures do not increase
\neducational performance.<\/p>\n
\nare not completely objective or reliable. In addition, standardised, multiple and short answer
\ntests (like Australia’s National Assessment Programme Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)) measure a
\nlimited range of skills as schools are forced to narrow “the curriculum towards the knowledge
\nand skills that are easy to assess on such tests”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nJeremy Ludowyke<\/a>, principal of
\nMelbourne High School<\/a>,
\n(itself ranked #1 on literacy in Victoria), pointing out that his school is one of those that
\nstands to gain the most from national comparisons of the type promoted by MySchool describes
\nthe whole initiative as ‘nonsense’
\n(The Age 8\/2\/10.)<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n