Odd Social Markers
We’re looking for a nice chef’s knife as a wedding present for Sue’s sister.We’re staying in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, and when I looked it up there are 8 King of Knives shops east of the city centre and 0 west. Weird…
We’re looking for a nice chef’s knife as a wedding present for Sue’s sister.We’re staying in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, and when I looked it up there are 8 King of Knives shops east of the city centre and 0 west. Weird…
All about the Antikythera Device: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/2000-year-old-a.html?npu=1&mbid=yhp
Just one more reminder that ‘there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy’.
PS Make sure you watch the video.
As a friend said ‘Given how many people use the “I just feel safer in one” excuse to buy an SUV, I found this story rather amusing’: http://jalopnik.com/5096933/chevy-tahoe-messes-with-texas-mini-cooper-pays-price
So, in no particular order, a bunch of suggestions for developing a teaching force to transform education in Queensland. As with the broader suggestions outlined yesterday, these are a suite and should be considered together. Many of those points from yesterday are also very relevant to the issue of attracting and retaining teachers, particularly the ones on class size, support for students with special needs and in relation to classroom behaviour, curricular stability and the massive reduction of paperwork.
Clearly, entry into teacher education courses is a matter of supply and demand: the much-lamented low entry scores1 are purely a result of relatively low demand for the courses, for a variety of reasons. Of course, in a simplistic world it would be possible to just change the entry scores by fiat, but all that would do is kill off the Schools and Faculties of Education and exacerbate the already critical and growing teacher shortage. The only long term solution to raising entry scores is making people want to study teaching and become teachers.
No doubt there are plenty more, but this is probably enough to be going on with…
Oh, and find gags for the morons who keep telling everyone around them that teachers work 8:30-3:30, 40 weeks a year. 😉
I actually don’t think there’s a huge problem with really bad teachers in the Queensland school system. Like any profession there’ll be a few, and education is a field where it’s possible to be badly unsuited to the profession due to personality and attitude. I think the perception that the main problem with the system is bad teachers (protected by the union, of course, is the claim) is simply wrong. There are a few fantastic teachers, many, many good teachers, quite a lot of average teachers and a few bad ones.
A couple of issues do mean that good teachers sometimes deliver bad teaching.
One is burnout: some teachers started out idealistic and positive but for whatever personal and professional reasons, and through whatever deficiencies of ‘the system’ and the school where they teach, are just fried now. They’ve had enough and are hanging on because they don’t see any good alternatives, and they’re doing the minimum required work and failing to inspire their students. There need to be paths out of the profession for these people, and into other jobs where their skills can be used.
Another is the fact that, due to already existing teacher shortages, many teachers are teaching outside the subject areas they were trained to teach. In science in particular, at all levels, teachers who are really not comfortable even with the science content knowledge, let alone with the nature of science and what it takes to teach science effectively, are teaching science because there’s no-one else to do so. Teacher education does make a difference, too – I have taught quite a lot of maths, not because I trained to but because I was needed and because the assumption was that a physics teacher understands maths. I do – but I was never trained in the methods of teaching maths, and honestly I don’t think I was ever a particularly good or inspiring maths teacher, although I’m a good teacher in ‘my’ fields.
The solution to teachers teaching out of field is complex, but the steps in the ‘Recruiting…’ post above are the same kinds of things that will address this issue.
And yes, there are some bad teachers – ones who abuse students in various ways, or just don’t care about students and teaching. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not in the union’s interest to have these people in the profession, so although the union has a legal and moral obligation to protect its members, I think everyone recognises that there are some teachers – a very small number – who simply need to be removed from the classroom as quickly as possible. Of course, it will be easier to get that done if there are good teachers to take their place…
In relation to yesterday’s post, three quick points:
So, if there exist problems in school education in Queensland2, what are some solutions? Here’s my short list, just off the top of my head, and without a lot of detail – I’m happy to explain any of the features in more detail if anyone asks.
Some of these ideas take us back to older practices, some forward to newer ones, and many have never really been tried. But they’re drawn from experience of what works and from international experiences, including those in places like Finland that do very well.
These initiatives would involve large amounts of new funding into the system, but would not dramatically increase teachers’ salaries: they could continue to increase in line with salaries in other industries. What it would do is increase teachers’ job satisfaction and autonomy, and their ability to do the thing they got into the profession for in the first place – teach students and help them learn and develop – rather than mire them in behaviour management and endless bureaucracy that doesn’t directly serve students.
Oh yeah, all ideas expressed here are my own, and do not reflect the ideas or policies of the University of Queensland, the School of Education or my dog Buffy.
There will be another post here tomorrow focusing more directly on recruiting, retaining and rewarding the ‘best and brightest’ in the teaching profession, and on ways to deal with underperforming teachers and schools.
Reactions? Counterproposals?
The response from our state Education Minister, Rod Welford, to Queensland’s relatively poor performance on the TIMSS international tests of school students’ ability to do international tests was to blame the teachers.
The article is worth a read, but the 188 comments, if you have the stomach and time, provide a fascinating over-view of the range of attitudes to and about education in this state.
I notice us ‘academics’ get a bit of a bashing – shame many of us actually agree with many of the points being made about the curriculum and particularly the massive excess of unproductive paperwork required from teachers.
It is important to notice that the ‘crisis’ itself is largely bogus. When results are corrected for socio-economic status, which is the largest predictor of academic success, Queensland students perform at a strong average standard… and they know and can do things that students who do better on the tests don’t and can’t.
The Seventh-day Adventist Christians I know spend so much time debating ‘faith and works’, and it annoys me because it seems to me that most often they are saying the same thing with a slightly different emphasis and pretending they are diametrically opposed. So as part of a discussion in a forum I tried to formulate the common ground as simply as I could. Thought I’d share that here – any comments are very welcome.
OK, here it is:
- We are all sinners – all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
- None of us has the power to save ourselves.
- None of our actions have any power to save us – even our good actions are marred by self-interest.
- We are saved wholly, solely and entirely because God ascribes Jesus’ salvation to us. This is a legal contract founded in grace and mercy.
- Jesus’ sacrifice is 100% effective to offer salvation to every person on earth who chooses to accept it. Nothing more is required for salvation. It is heresy to claim that more is required.
- We must accept Jesus’ sacrifice in order for his salvation to be ascribed to us.
OK, big pause, big breath, big think, prayer of praise – because a huge amount of the confusion on this topic arises through not taking an appropriate pause at this point. But the 6 points above are the heart of the gospel, and the parts on which all Christians agree.
- Once we receive salvation, we are new people with a new desire to live the abundant lives God has planned for us.
- Those abundant lives arise from the assurance of our salvation, which is absolute, and from obedience to the laws God has set in place for our benefit.
- The greatest commandment is to love God and love others – all else is derived from that.
- That great commandment has been ‘unpacked’ as the Ten Commandments and throughout the whole Bible in some detail.
- God does not require evidence for our salvation, beyond our acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice. That sacrifice completely fulfills the demands of the law and makes us free.
- God desires us to keep His laws because He understands that they are the recipe for the abundant life, and because He loves us and wants us to enjoy that life.
- Our works also constitute evidence of our salvation for those around us – the fruits of the spirit – and are the most eloquent testimony for bringing the joy of salvation to others.
In reading this set of 13 statements, I hope you will read the whole set and try to understand the logic, rather than try to pick it apart line by line: some of the statements, taken out of context, will be too extreme and incorrect. The full set of statements is needed to provide a balanced perspective.
Yesterday afternoon I raced a thunderstorm1 to the mall near where Suzie works. It meant I had half an hour to wait before she finished work. I had planned to buy a music or motorbike magazine to read to pass the time, but that would have cost $8-12 and I’m trying to keep some cash in reserve for the holidays. So I decided to be more responsible and go and borrow a book from the library for free instead. But to be able to borrow I first had to pay off my outstanding library fines – $21. D’oh!
Presented at a conference this morning. Put my PowerPoint on a USB stick, and checked a million times it was in my pocket. Then, just as I was about to walk out the door, got the bright idea to download a flash application to show – gotta use colour and movement with those academics. Site was down, didn’t download a thing… and you see where this is going.
Get to the conference half an hour early to set up, check the pocket… and the USB is still plugged in at home. Home is out of the question, but the PowerPoint was made at work. The conference is at another uni across town from my uni, so… Walk out the door and up a massive hill in the 40 C heat, jump on the bike, snake across town at speed, buy a new USB, load the presentation, race back… and make it in time.
Wander into the room, start setting up… and someone lets me know I’m in N417 and should be in N419. Wander down the hall, set up, present with a minimum of stress.
An adrenalised ride across town is more fun that sitting in the preceding conference session any time, and apparently my subconscious knows it.