These columns were published in the Suns during October and November 2014. Please feel free to quote or use but in so doing please acknowledge the Suns Newspapers as publishers.

SUN 67

THE ‘B.Y.O.D.* AGE’ IS UPON US

* Bring Your Own Device

For many years, schools have been supported by Government in the acquisition of technological equipment. For many years the NT Government has provided hardware equipment and software programs supporting schools, teachers and students. In the NT, one of the most notable programs has been the allocation of laptop computers for teachers. Units are signed out to teachers and retained by them on transfer from one school to another.

Computers remain the property of the Department, with resigning or retiring staff having to return units to their school. Units are then re-issued to new staff members appointed to the school. Laptops have been maintained by the Department under leasing warranty and replaced by upgraded models after a period of years.

Computers issued to schools for student use have been allocated under a similar program. When hardware has been replaced, schools have had the option of keeping redundant equipment and also assuming future maintenance costs.

Costs of school computerisation has been a number one outlay for both the government and schools themselves. Included for schools have been outlays for licensing agreements and network establishment. Increasingly, school council fundraising has also been directed toward supporting technology in schools. It seems that budgetary requirements for technology and technological support can never be satisfied.

Rapid change

The pace of technological change means that equipment purchased for schools is outdated almost as soon as it is installed. Update needs are constant, impacting significantly on budgets. At the same time, government funding of computer needs is becoming less generous. This is placing funding onus more squarely on schools. Without doubt, technology is the most significant item impacting on educational costs. The question of affordability and the need to balance income and expenditure is pressing schools into the ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) era.

BYOD

Bring your own device is a requirement in a growing number of schools, both public and private in southern states. The approach is also creeping into Northern Territory schools. “The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program works like this: Kids in all year levels are free to bring in their own iPads to use in the classroom. … Parents buy the devices, kids take them to and from school, and everyone hopes like hell they end the day with screens intact.” (Kate Hunter ‘When a free education costs $650’ from Mummamia.com.au)

William Cohen a Sydney Secondary Education Teacher says this new approach is challenging. “Unfortunately, the switch to student-owned technology is not going to be a simple one. Leaving aside the equity issues that underlie a BYOD model … the options are so varied that some schools are now creating documents that give minimum device specifications.” (William Cohen ‘BYOD … Buyers Guide To Schools’, abc.net.au)

Whether we like it or not, BYOD is becoming the new way forward. Painful budget cuts and the need to carefully prioritise expenditure, will make this the only option available for many schools. BYOD may only be the start. As funding becomes even more scarce, parents and families may be increasingly called upon to make up the difference.
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SUN 68

SCHOOL CROSSING MANAGEMENT NEEDS CHANGING

Over time, we have become increasingly conscious of the need to protect children as they are going to and coming home from school. The provision of flagged school crossings makes motorists aware of the need to watch out for children. The other is speed restrictions in school zones. In the Northern Territory motorists driving past schools must observe a speed limit of 40 km/h between 7 am and 5 pm each school day. Two schools, Milner and Wulagi have speed limit signage supported by flashing lights that warn motorists of the fact that they are entering a place of speed restriction during school hours. Signs elsewhere are passive.

Crossings exist in all states and territories. However systems elsewhere differ from ours in two key respects.

• Speed restrictions past schools are limited to a 40 km/h period each morning and afternoon, coinciding with children going to and coming away from school. There is not a blanket restriction of 40 km/h applying for ten hours each school day.

* In some states “lollipop people” are paid to control crossings during peak student times. Crossing monitors operate before school and after school each day. This adds extra security for students using crossings.

Fair Work Act spoils scheme.

NT Schools provide for crossing control if that is a school council preference. Some schools did employ people for a thirty minute period each morning and afternoon coinciding with the arrival and departure of students. However, the introduction of the Fair Work Act with a requirement that anybody employed be paid for a minimum of two hours for each period of duty, made this an unaffordable option; schools would have to pay crossing monitors 20 hours each week for no more than 5 hours work.

Schools used to pay crossing monitors for hours worked until the Fair Work Act was legislated. Nowadays, the only options available for schools is through volunteer crossing support or for school staff to control crossings. Having an adult on crossings during peak times adds to their safe use. Children running onto crossings without stopping to look for oncoming traffic can be a problem. Similarly, motorists can disregard and drive through when students are on or about to enter crossings. Supervision guarantees a degree of security for crossing users that is not otherwise available.

Change would help

There is no need for speed restrictions past schools to apply for ten hours each day. Cancelling the speed restriction between 9.00 am and 2.00 pm would make sense. While there may be some movement to and from schools during this time an accompanying adult would guarantee student security.

While traffic calming devices have been installed adjacent to some school crossings, their use needs to be expanded. In one case a school’s application for these deterrents was denied because the road was busy and installation would slow the traffic!

Additional warning to motorists by a modification to include flashing orange lights when they are in operation would be useful. Millner (Sabine Road) and Wanguri (Wanguri Terrace) are supported by this enhancement.

Speed restrictions and school crossings are necessary to help guarantee student safety. However change that considers both students and road users could be made for the good of all.
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SUNS 65 and 66 ‘CURRICULUM FOCUS LONG OVERDUE’ and ‘THANK YOU TEACHERS’

These columns were published in the Suns during October 2014. Please feel free to quote or use but in so doing please acknowledge the Suns Newspapers as publishers.
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SUN 65

CURRICULUM REFOCUS LONG OVERDUE

It seems that at long last the Australian Government is trying to get our educational house in order. The Wiltshire-Donnelly Review of the Australian Curriculum commissioned by Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne recommends a refocus on literacy and numeracy, particularly at the lower end of Primary School. A phonetic approach to language learning is part of the change. Phonetics used to be a key language learning approach until supplanted by other ideologies. Minister Pyne is aware of overseeing a system where States and Territories are over-stretched in terms of curriculum content. Whether States and Territories willingly accept review recommendations is another matter.

Problem is years old

It seems somewhat ironic that the issue of a burdensome and somewhat superfluous curriculum is being labelled a new issue. For many educators, realisation about curriculum irrelevancy is close to 20 years old. During the early 1990’s Mr Jim Spinks a prominent Tasmanian school principal and now senior consultant was extolling the need for curriculum balance. He told NT Principals this could only be achieved if we ‘dropped off’ as well as ‘adding on’ to school curriculum requirements.

We have failed to heed cautionary advice. Rather than carefully evaluating programs and projects raised for consideration, curriculum initiatives have been eagerly grasped with both hands and piled on top of an already burgeoning program. Schools and students have become the testing fields for myriads of ideas raised by theoreticians and academics. Many of these initiatives treat schools, teachers and students as little more than guinea pigs. While trial and experimentation is important, the equilibrium of existing programs should not be disrupted by the impact on schools of countless initiatives. This has happened in our schools time and time again.

Back to the past

An irony of the Wiltshire – Donnelly Review is its advocating a return to what used to be the primary focus of education decades ago. There was a time when curriculum, particularly the primary school curriculum was straightforward, uncluttered and focused on basics. Over time, programs have been distorted and timetables seriously disrupted by the adding on of everybody’s bright ideas. Curriculum has largely become fad-driven.

Everything for everybody

The primary school curriculum hurdy-gurdy has been added to and distorted by the expectation that the bringing up of children is a school responsibility. Increasingly, children enrolled in early years programs are just not ready for school. Many do not know how to dress, cannot look after their basic personal hygiene and have few social skills. Care of belongings is beyond them. Under-development of speaking and listening habits suggest minimal time has been spent by parents conversationally engaging with young family members on the home front. The development of manners, deportment and attitudes to life are also assumed to be part of the school’s educational brief.

When deficits in the development of social skills and self discipline are identified, the onus for rectification is directed at schools and rarely toward parents and primary caregivers.

Hopefully, the Wiltshire-Donnelly Review and recommendations will be applied to slimming primary curriculum, refocussing on basics and minimising extraneous demands placed on schools. If review advice is accepted and applied, school and teacher responsibilities will be meaningfully redefined.
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SUN 66

‘THANK YOU’ TEACHERS

This Friday, October 31 is being celebrated as World Teachers’ Day. Territory teachers will be recognised and thanked at functions in Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs and at regional centres around the NT. Individual schools and communities will also celebrate their teachers and school support staff.

Teachers and school staff members have enormous responsibilities. High-level expectations are held for them. Teachers are people responsible for a great deal that goes beyond academic teaching and learning. They are advisors, counsellors and friends, responsible for social, emotional and moral aspects of development in young people. They share a real partnership with parents and primary caregivers in the nurturing of this world’s most precious resource – our children.

Dispelling Myths

There are two perpetuating myths about teaching that need to be dispelled.

The first is that teachers work a six hour day five days a week for forty weeks each year. The amount of time teachers spend “on tasks” over and above that time means the public is only aware of the “tip of the iceberg”. There is much, much more to teaching than the “30 hours per week with 12 weeks holiday” theory.

Hours of planning and preparation go into teaching. Instruction is followed by assessment, upon which revision and extension programs are based. The system demands countless hours from teachers and support staff for the sake of bourgeoning administrative tasks. Teachers can be found at their schools early in the morning, late at night, on weekends and during holidays. Many take work home with them. What is seen of teachers’ work by the public at large is a small percentage of their total commitment.

The second myth is that teachers focus only on academics. (Indeed the recent Wiltshire-Donnelly Currriculum review suggests that is the way it should be.) Although the “3Rs” are very important there is a great deal more to the development of children than ‘Reading, Writing and Arithmetic’. They work to accommodate both system priorities and their concerns for the development of students in order to prepare them for entry into the world beyond school.

The aim of school educators is to work with parents to develop well rounded students with the confidence and skill necessary to master the challenges of preparing them today for the world of their future. They aim to offer children the chance to succeed and celebrate.

Recognising Northern Territory Teachers

The Northern Territory Government, the Department of Education, the Northern Territory Independent Schools Association’s and others will recognise teachers and school support workers for the contribution they make to our community. This once a year celebration recognises the effort, care and commitment teachers and staff bring to work every day.

This Friday will enable the NT community to pay tribute to teachers, support staff and others connected with education across the length and breadth of the Territory. This recognition is richly deserved.

There can be no greater or more significant work than what is done by staff in our schools. The destiny of our children and young people of today, the leaders of tomorrow’s world, is in their hands.

I hope our Territory as a whole takes time this week and indeed every week, to acknowledge and say “thank you” to our teachers and support staff members for the great job they do individually and collectively, in our schools. They are members of a critically important and indispensable profession.

Henry Gray