Private or Public Schools?

[BigP]

This is why I'm happy my daughter's going to a private school with a low teacher to pupil ratio where her curriculum will be tailored to suit her.

The Prime Minister has thrown his support behind what he's described as a blueprint to lift Australia's lagging educational performance, laid out in a report by businessman David Gonski.

Malcolm Turnbull has urged state governments, teachers and parents to back the recommendations in Mr Gonski's report on achieving excellence in Australian schools.

Mr Gonski's second major review into Australian education said the country must urgently modernise its industrial-era model of school education and move towards individualised learning for all students.

Too many Australian children are failing to reach their potential at school because of the restrictive nature of year-level progression, the report said.

It calls for the implementation across states of a new online assessment tool that teachers would use to diagnose the exact level of literacy and numeracy a child has achieved.

Teachers could then create individual learning plans for students that would not be tied to what year group they are in.

If formative online assessments were established and reported nationally, it would downgrade the intense focus on the yearly NAPLAN tests in favour of continuous, real-time measurement of student progress.

"We need to have more of the type of focused, personalised attention that David talks about," Mr Turnbull said.

"We need to make sure … our kids are coming out of school competitive. This is a very competitive world.

"We've got to make sure they've got the skills to excel and to compete and be their best."

The Federal Government has agreed to implement all of the report's recommendations, and it hopes to use it to develop a new national schooling agreement.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said he would enter into talks with the states and territories about how to implement Mr Gonski's recommendations.

"We want to see a system out of this report where each student is stretched to the maximum of their capabilities each and every year over the 12 or 13 years of their schooling," Senator Birmingham said.

"It really is essential that teachers know and are able to chart where their students are up to in terms of what they're learning, how they're progressing and that parents are fully engaged as part of that process as well."
Mass education model holding back students

The report was commissioned by the Federal Government last year after the passage of its amended schools funding legislation.

Mr Gonski said in his report that the structure of Australian schools reflected "a 20th century aspiration to deliver mass education to all children".

The report recommended shifting from that industrial education model to one where schools focused on achieving each individual student's "maximum potential growth in learning each year".

t found current assessment tools in schools did not provide teachers with "real-time or detailed data on a student's growth".

"We're advocating in this report that teachers should also, all the time, be upgrading their thinking and their ideas," Mr Gonski told reporters.

"I believe most teachers would agree with us, but the opportunity to do it, for example; how do you fit that in to your day, and so on?

"In our report we're suggesting: let's take some time to allow teachers to have more time to improve their art — and not to improve it because it's not good, but to keep up-to-date with all that's happening around the world and in their profession."

While tests like NAPLAN and the international sample test PISA provided "a useful big picture view of student learning trends across Australia and the world", they provided limited assistance to teachers at the classroom level, the report said.

It also said the current "rigidity of curriculum delivery, and assessment and reporting models" were holding Australia back.

Several state governments lodged submissions to the Gonski review, pointing out that current assessment tools used by teachers were not uniform across all schools.

The Victorian Education Department described current assessment tools in its state as "idiosyncratic".
Mixed-ability classes preferable

Many schools rely on gifted and talented programs to extend bright students but the report said evidence showed that mixed-ability classes were preferable.

It said streaming children by ability "has little effect in improving student outcomes and [has] profoundly negative equity effects".

It recommended overhauling the curriculum to focus on "learning progressions" that extended all students, regardless of ability.

Other key recommendations included:

Setting up a national inquiry to review curriculum and assessment in years 11 and 12
Establishing a national educational research institute
Implementing greater principal autonomy
Providing more rewards for high-performing teachers
Overhauling the current A-E grading scale to instead measure progression gains
Introducing a "unique student identifier" for all students that allows progress to be tracked across time, even if a student changes schools or moves interstate

A special meeting of the Education Council will be held on Friday to discuss the recommendations in the report, titled Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools.

Mr Gonski was commissioned by the Gillard government in 2011 to compile a major report on school funding.

The review formed the basis for what is known as the Gonski legislation that created a baseline resourcing standard across all schooling sectors.
Findings 'not supported by research', 'lack detail'

But the report has not been welcomed by all in the sector, with the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) describing it as a failure.

Senior research fellow at the CIS, Jennifer Buckingham, said the report offered no clear guidance to schools and did not meet the review's terms of reference.

"Many of the findings are not supported by research, and lack detail about implementation," Ms Buckingham said.

"For example, the disproportionate attention to policies that facilitate 'growth mindset' have no evidence-basis in terms of impact on student achievement.

"Likewise, the pre-occupation with increasing the focus on general capabilities has no support in rigorous research about curriculum design and how children learn."

The Australian Education Union said it was concerned the report was coming at a time when the Federal Government was cutting funds to public schools over the next two years.

Union president Correna Haythorpe said it was about properly resourcing disadvantaged schools and students.

"We do have outstanding teachers across Australia who are delivering a very high-quality curriculum, but the reality is that they are missing out on the resources needed to close the student achievement gap," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-30/g ... ea/9708984

Its what you do at home that will have a bigger impact on her future Gordon, If she is put in a class full of well off idiots you wont get any payoff for the teacher to pupil ratio

[Gordon]

Yes can be, in her case she's going to a school which is considered one of the most academic. They teach to a year curriculum but that's only the floor and there is no ceiling.

[BigP]

Yes can be, in her case she's going to a school which is considered one of the most academic. They teach to a year curriculum but that's only the floor and there is no ceiling.

Well I hope they dont let your girl down Gordon, Never lose sight of the fact that you are fisrt and foremost as a parent are the primary educator of your children

[Neferti]

EVERYBODY thinks their children are clever .... smarter than the other kids ...

NOBODY ever says that their kids are dumb ....

I don't need to say why this is so.

My former husband (now deceased) and I both went to Private Schools in Melbourne. He went to Scotch College from age 4 to 18 and was a Boarder for the most part.

https://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/

I went to Firbank CEGGS and boardered from Year 8.

https://www.firbank.vic.edu.au/

About all it did for us was make us less religious.

We had moved to Sydney from Melbourne before our daughter was born and she was booked in to Ravenswood from birth.

https://www.ravenswood.nsw.edu.au/

However .... that didn't happen due to us splitting up, when she was 5. So, she went to a State School. I had no problem with that. Although I don't think the teachers were as dedicated as they were when I was a schoolkid.

ALL you can do is give your children the love and attention that they need. Teach them to respect "authority" ... not to tell lies and so forth.

Once they are "educated" they will end up in the "sausage machine" unless they are exceptional, anyway and even being "exceptional" doesn't necessarily cut it.

All we parents really want is for our kid/s to grow up and not embarrass us.

[Gordon]

Nef, most people I know are fairly honest about their childs' ability.
Was have a natter to some netball mums today and because our daughters are yr6, the conversation turns to high school choice.

All of the mums (and I) explained their school choice and why it's such a good fit for their daughter, and they were all very honest. We know each others kids well and we also know the vibe of those schools, and they're all spot on.

And I hope not only for my kids not to embarrass me, but to be a shotload better than I, and so far, 1st born is doing that

[Neferti]

Nef, most people I know are fairly honest about their childs' ability.
Was have a natter to some netball mums today and because our daughters are yr6, the conversation turns to high school choice.

All of the mums (and I) explained their school choice and why it's such a good fit for their daughter, and they were all very honest. We know each others kids well and we also know the vibe of those schools, and they're all spot on.

And I hope not only for my kids not to embarrass me, but to be a shotload better than I, and so far, 1st born is doing that

It has all to do with CLASS which Sydney has never had but Melbourne does. Although it appears that the Sydney Mums are catching up to Melbourne and getting as snobby as ...

In Melbourne you were asked "what school did you go to?" ... in Sydney "where do you live?" ...

It matters not what school you send your child to .... is she 12 yet? That's what matters. Hormones ...

[BigP]

''EVERYBODY thinks their children are clever .... smarter than the other kids ... ""

Some of us know lol

[Black Orchid]

I disagree. I think it does matter what school your child goes to. Have you seen how far our public education has slid down the world rankings? It's disgraceful.

I also disagree that everyone thinks their children are smart regardless of their capabilities. I have several friends with multiple kids and they never grouped their 'smarts' together. They did what was best for each child and put them in schools according to their learning capabilities. Siblings don't have to go to the same school and that is the mistake too many parents make.

Both of mine went to different high schools.

[BigP]

intellect is a genetic lottery as are looks, two intelligent people are more likely to have intelligent kids, as two good looking people are more likely to have good looking kids,

[Gordon]

Nef, most people I know are fairly honest about their childs' ability.
Was have a natter to some netball mums today and because our daughters are yr6, the conversation turns to high school choice.

All of the mums (and I) explained their school choice and why it's such a good fit for their daughter, and they were all very honest. We know each others kids well and we also know the vibe of those schools, and they're all spot on.

And I hope not only for my kids not to embarrass me, but to be a shotload better than I, and so far, 1st born is doing that

It has all to do with CLASS which Sydney has never had but Melbourne does. Although it appears that the Sydney Mums are catching up to Melbourne and getting as snobby as ...

In Melbourne you were asked "what school did you go to?" ... in Sydney "where do you live?" ...

It matters not what school you send your child to .... is she 12 yet? That's what matters. Hormones ...

Where do you live implies what school you went to.