Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation

Call Number
Nef 331.8809944 EDU
Created/Published
Sydney : The Federation, 1919-2021
Issue
Vol. 91 No. 05 (31 May 2010)
Images
36
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUCATION Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation 1
Breakthrough on league tables Gillard's credibility on the line after making commitment to oppose misuse of student data. 1 , 4
Primary Activists Conference: evaluations and outcomes Workshops yield priorities, campaign strategies and enhanced sense of collegiality. 1 , 7
EDUCATION 2
Executive 2
Officers 2
Contents 2
Advertising 2
Federation defends principals from threats 3
'Glaring holes' in closing the gap campaign Aboriginal Conference examines 25-year approach to Aboriginal education 3
Our Fed Reps 3
Parties take their stands on league tables Federation asked the Coalition and the Greens to outline their positions. Here are their responses. 4 , 6
Education is a public good, not a commodity 4
Vox populi: the NAPLAN moratorium These were the responses of a cross-section of Federation Councillors when asked: “Why did you support the moratorium?" 5
Federation and IRC dispute orders 6
Refugee rally June 26 6
Advertising 6
Glebe rally decries neo-liberal agenda Inner City teachers protest outside Verity Firth's office and vow to continue league tables campaign. 6
Parents key to primary campaigns Participants at activists conference canvass strategies for smaller classes and more release time. 7
DET must replace heaters 8
Gillard announces schools funding review 8
Youth mental health conference 8
Advertising 8
Principals testify to botched BER projects Exorbitant budgets, poor consultation and missing amenities blight construction of new facilities. 9
Regime executes Farzad Kamangar NSW Upper House unanimously condemns killing of teacher and trade unionist. 9
Advertising 9
What you read 10
Q&A Professional exchange 10
Budget shows need for greater investment in TAFE Access to quality training and education contingent on significantly more funds. 10
Seniors campaign for a Better State 10
Advertising 10
Stewart House Gala Ball 11
Poverty initiative seeks support 11
Advertising 11
Dungog Film Festival mentors media students 12
Floods further isolate Wanaaring PS But two teachers use adverse conditions to the advantage of their students. 12
Integrity the key to computer use in exams 13
In brief 13
Advertising 13
Pagewood honours Lingiari's legacy 14
Advertising 14
Savvy campaigners get just reward 14
It's time to address cyber-racism 14
Lightning Ridge hosts 90 beginning teachers 15
Teachers tune up for outback postings 15
Advertising 15
A matter of conscience Teachers will not forget the lessons from the NAPLAN dispute. 16
letters 16
PM IGNORES DANGER 16 , 17
FEDERATION MUST STAY THE COURES 17
Genes and autism 17
MEMO KEV: PARENTS GET IT 17
Carbon copy MASSIVE MAY SELL OUT! 17
Advertising 17 , 18
features 19
An open letter to the Prime Minister about refugees Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA and a range of trade unions have written to Kevin Rudd. Dear Prime Minister 19
Inside 19
Paper Plane 20
Advertising 20
Retired Teachers Association 20 , 23
Survey confirms need for more release time Primary teachers indicate that a campaign for extra specialist teachers and improved workload is a priority. 21
In the library 21
Why class size matters Campaign on this issue would pose serious challenge to myth-making bureaucrats and Government. 22
Union Aid Abroad study tour to Middle East Participants hear first-hand accounts of aid projects in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. 22 , 24
Advice on TAFE Award matters Some managers' failure to grasp meaning of hours clauses poses concerns. 23 , 24
TAFE teachers ask Premier to intervene...again 23
In brief 24
Tourism greed threatens national parks State Government's draft legislation sacrifices environment to make way for cosy deals with developers. 24
your say 25
Mass testing fails its own brief History of assessment regime in UK and US reveals policy preoccupation trumps results. 25
Autism: a different Call for embryonic screening unrealistic and misguided. 25
Advertising 26
reviews 27
Film 27 , 28
Inside 27
Computer Corner 28
Advertising 28
Theatre Honour 29
In brief 29
Advertising 29
Corkscrew 30
Advertising 30
administration 31
Trade Union Training semester 2 31 , 32
Advertising 33 , 34 , 35
PT SMITH 35
Snapped in and out of class 36

Text

EDUCATION  

Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation  

James speaks up about RFF and class  

sizes in K-2 and 3-6  

Plus  

Aboriginal members  

Gas heaters  

Trade Union Training  

 

 

3i  

May 31, 2010  

No  

Breakthrough on league  

tables  

Gillard's credibility on the line after making commitment to oppose  

misuse of student data.  

Staff at Abbotsford PS made their position on league tables clear to the local community.  

Bob Lipscombe  

President  

The breakthrough on league tables  

that occurred on Thursday, May  

has placed the credibility of the  

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gil-  

lard on the line. Contrary to sugges-  

tions in some media, the undertak-  

ings she provided to the Australian  

Education Union (AEU) in writing  

mark significant shift from the  

position she had maintained as re-  

cently as the week before.  

For the first time, she has not  

only placed in writing the Rudd  

Government’s commitment to "op-  

position to the misuse of student  

performance data including sim-  

plistic league tables” but has also  

established working party with  

AEU representation to address this  

commitment. After refusing such  

process last year and this year,  

one is now on the public record.  

While it may not address every-  

one's concerns, every teacher is  

entitled to expect that the Deputy  

Prime Minister will honour her  

undertaking.  

The shift in the position of Ms  

Gillard was as rapid as it was unex-  

pected. Since the beginning of this  

year she had steadfastly refused to  

even meet with the AEU to discuss  

league tables, let alone possible  

action to address the concerns of  

the teaching profession and many  

in the community. As recently as  

the week before May 6, Ms Gillard,  

after she had requested an oppor-  

tunity to address the Federal Ex-  

ecutive of the AEU in Melbourne,  

informed the Executive that she  

would not negotiate. Instead, she  

presented the Executive with  

Power Point presentation on the My  

School website, apparently believ-  

ing that some of the Executive had  

not yet seen the site.  

The movement that occurred  

over that week can only be attrib-  

uted to one thing and that is the de-  

termined action by public school  

teachers across Australia in sup-  

port of the national moratorium  

on NAPLAN 2010. Of course, the  

strength of this determination  

was nowhere more evident than  

in NSW, where members, includ-  

ing many courageous principals,  

strongly supported the campaign.  

From April 12, when the AEU  

Federal Executive determined to  

proceed with the national morato-  

rium, Ms Gillard and, in NSW, the  

Education Minister and senior De-  

partment of Education (DET) bu-  

reaucrats, threw everything they  

could at teachers in an attempt to  

break their resolve. At the nation-  

al level, this included threats about  

recruiting parents and deliberate-  

ly misrepresenting the position of  

teachers by claiming the dispute  

was really about teacher opposition  

to testing and to the disclosure of  

information to parents.  

In NSW, far from breaking the  

resolve of teachers, the more ex-  

treme and desperate the behav-  

iour of senior DET bureaucrats  

became, the more the support for  

the moratorium grew. Despite  

absurd claims by Director-General  

Michael Coutts-Trotter that 85 per  

cent of schools would implement  

the tests (or 84.2 per cent according  

»  

Primary Activists  

Conference: evaluations  

and outcomes  

Workshops yield priorities, campaign  

strategies and enhanced sense of collegiality.  

Joan Lemaire  

Acting Deputy President  

Many of the evaluations of the Pri-  

mary Activists Conference by the  

activists called for more primary  

conferences. One said: "This was  

my first conference. I’ve been  

member for my whole three years  

of teaching. It was very impres-  

sive. definitely want to encour-  

age others and come back again'  

myself.”  

Over 120 primary teachers at-  

tended the conference. It was devel-  

oped to provide primary teachers  

with an opportunity to discuss key  

issues for primary schools and de-  

velop ideas for action around these  

issues. The focus of the day was on  

workshops. One teacher wrote: “Ex-  

cellent workshop options. wish  

could have gone to all of them.” This  

sentiment was reflected in many of  

evaluations, with some requests to  

cut back lunch and extend the day  

to provide for more workshops.  

The first group of workshops  

looked at existing Federation policy  

and discussed ideas for both devel-  

oping further policy and action, in-  

cluding looking at what we should  

do to persuade teachers, parents  

and politicians to support the  

campaigns. The campaign-based  

workshops provided detailed sug-  

gestions and strategies, which are  

summarisedbelow.  

Release time  

The workshop participants dis-  

cussed how release from face-to-  

face provides the opportunity to  

plan, prepare, assess and support  

students' learning outcomes. But  

they noted that the existing two  

hours was totally inadequate. Em-  

ploying additional teachers who are  

able to provide specialist programs,  

and build on those that already  

exist, was seen as key strategy  

in terms of delivering increased  

release time and supporting stu-  

dents.  

It was acknowledged that ex-  

ecutives and PPS and PP6 princi-  

pals have huge demands placed on  

them and no adequate provision of  

time to deal with these demands.  

There was discussion on the need  

to provide some concessional staff-  

ing to primary schools and align  

the release of primary executive to  

secondary executive.  

It was agreed that in campaign-  

ing for increased release from face-  

to-face teaching for all primary  

teachers, we should focus on the  

benefits provided to students.  

The workshops suggested the  

need'to activate all primary teach-  

ers, and gain the support of all  

members and parents to increase  

the provision of release from face-  

to-face teaching; this should be  

priority in our campaigns in the  

lead-up to the State Election.  

Class sizes  

The workshop acknowledged that  

over many years primary teachers  

have noted the benefits of the re-  

duced class sizes in K-2, but found  

that this has often meant oversized  

3-6 classes. This has resulted in  

call for return to separate staff-  

ing formula for K-2 and 3-6 at both  

Council and Annual Conference.  

The workshop participants dis-  

cussed the benefits of smaller class-  

es, including more individualised  

attention and support for students,  

as well as the benefits to teachers in  

terms of morale and workload.  

The participants discussed the  

need for long-term campaign to  

reduce class sizes from year to  

year 10. They came up with the  

slogan, "Kids Thrive on 25”, to focus  

on the need to reduce classes to 25  

students. They noted that in other  

Australian states, 25 is the target  

size.  

The participants recommended  

reduced class sizes should be pri-  

ority campaign for Federation to  

pursue in the next State Election.  

Aboriginal education  

The workshop participants agreed  

that the Government and Depart-  

ment are Continuing to fail both  

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stu-  

dents in terms of Aboriginal educa-  

»  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288197

APA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (1919). Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Retrieved May 22, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288197

MLA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation and New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Sydney: The Federation, 1919. Web. 22 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288197>

Harvard/Australian citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. 1919, Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation The Federation, Sydney viewed 22 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288197

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=N.S.W. Teachers' Federation.
  | author2=New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation.
  | title=Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation.
  | year=1919
  | section=volumes.
  | issn=0013-1156
  | issue=Vol. 91 No. 05 (31 May 2010)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288197
  | id=nla.obj-667288197
  | access-date=22 May 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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