Category Archives: EDUCATIONAL SHORTFALLS

NT EDUCATION MUST NOT BE SEGMENTED

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This piece was published in the ‘NT Sun’ on June 12 2018

NT EDUCATION MUST NOT BE SEGMENTED

Michael Gunner’s thoughts about Indigenous Education that could be included in a treaty worry me greatly. If a treaty were to eventuate, the Chief Minister suggests that schools in indigenous communities could be given the right to run themselves. “The Government (would provide) money for education and the community (would take) responsibility for how it is delivered locally. Locals could take control of the curriculum … control of children attending school, teachers employed and seeing even more locals becoming teachers.” (Gunner will sign treaty, Sunday Territorian, 3.6.2018) In her story, Judith Aisthorpe reported that several people in high places thought this to be a great idea.

To declare all remote area schools as ‘independent’ and being able to set their own curriculum priorities would be a step backward, not forward. If still working as an educator in remote areas, schools set up under such loose guidelines would be places where I would not want to work.

Some years ago, a Territory politican who represented remote communities, offered a counterpoint. He said that in a mainstream Australian society, English Literacy and Mathematical understanding were key skills. They were necessary for transactional purposes. They were also skills all Australians needed for communication and survival.

Mr Gunner’s suggestions run counter to advice given to me by Aboriginal people in communities where we worked. They wanted ‘proper’ education. A prominent Indigenous Leader at Angurugu in the early 1980’s put it this way. “We want our children to be educated in the same way as children in towns and cities.” That was the brief with which we were charged. There is a place for bilingualism and for education to be culturally relevant. But to deny the need for competence in literacy and numeracy would be totally wrong.

This can only happen if a curriculum emphasising key academic skills is supported by qualified teachers. It is absolutely essential that families play their part by ensuring regular school attendance.

One of the downsides for Indigenous Education (and indeed for education as a whole) is that it has become politically cluttered. Those with and those without qualification feel it necessary to add their opinion to educational debate. People working in schools are busy reacting to what comes down as directives from on high. They have little opportunity to contribute meaningfully to sharing the realities of schools and programs. To uncouple education from an approved Australian curriculum supported by qualified teachers would further weaken remote area education which is already challenged.

TECHNOLOGY CAN LIMIT LEARNING

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This article was published in the ‘NT Suns’ on November 21 2017.  The subject is one that has always resonated with me.  What do readers think?

 

TECHNOLOGY CAN LIMIT LEARNING

A great deal of what happens educationally is driven by technology. Computers, iPads and other technologies have their place in supporting students. However, they should always be tools used to enhance assignment preparation and work requirements. If students rely on devices to provide spellchecking, grammatical correctness, accurate mathematical formulae and so on, they may satisfy learning requirements without understanding what they have done.

Reliance on technological assistance starts in primary school and extend all the way through to tertiary study. Indeed, the list of student requirements to be provided by parents often includes the need for an IPA or similar device to be supplied. Relying on the capabilities of iPads and computers can take away the ability to reason and think from students. Computers and iPads become a crutch on which they lean too heavily to help satisfy learning requirements. There can be nothing more dissatisfying for students, than not understanding solutions to questions that are solved by technology, rather than their own brain power.

A great deal of data, both anecdotal and empirically validated, suggests that the concentration span of young people is diminishing. Relying on technological devices can interrupt concentration. If students become overly reliant on computers as learning aids, self confidence and independence can be eroded.

Communication Basics

Listening, speaking, reading and writing are essential communication skills. Use of technology often takes the place of live conversation. Texting and messaging have their purpose, but ought not replace face-to-face speaking and listening. Correct sentence structure, including the use of punctuation, word choice, intonation and clarity should be built into verbalisation. Children also need to clearly hear messages so they understand what has been said. Unclear speech and poor listening skills can develop from lack of practice and the substitution of keyboard communication. Reading from texts may be supplemented by electronic media, but should never be totally replaced by screen reading. Nothing beats books.

Keyboard skills and the ability to electronically produce written text should never be at the expense of handwriting. Mastery of pen and paper communication is important, enabling the written word to be produced anywhere and at any time. That includes the ability to hold a pen or pencil correctly and comfortably.

Technology supports education, but in no way should it replace traditional literary and mathematical teaching and learning. Should that happen, students will be the losers.

 

EDUCATIONAL DISAFFECTION A REAL ISSUE

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Published in NT Suns on October 17 2017

 

EDUCATIONAL DISAFFECTION A REAL ISSUE

Rather than being straightforward, education these days has become a kaleidoscope of confusion. Many graduate teachers are quickly disappointed by the realities of a teaching profession that fails to meet their preconceptions.

Rather than finding that teaching is about “teaching”, they discover there is a huge emphasis placed on testing, measurement, assessment and evaluation, often of areas outside their teaching fields. It seems the children are forever being monitored and confronted by batteries of tests.

It quickly becomes obvious to teachers that education is being driven by data. Teaching and teaching methods are dictated by data requirements.

Academic competence is important. However holistic education (the social, emotional and moral/spiritual elements) seem to be given scant attention. Graduate teachers have a strong desire to work as developers of children. Many are quickly disillusioned because education seems to be about a fairly narrow band of academic outcomes.

For many graduate teachers, the gloss of teaching soon wears off. They find themselves unable to cope with the ‘teaching for test’ dimension that now underpins education. The brief years they spend in classrooms are disillusioning. In turn, they may share their perceptions of the teaching profession with others, negatively influencing their thoughts and opinions.

The discounting of their observations is a hard reality for classroom practitioners to accept. Unless verified by formal testing, teacher evaluations are considered to be be invalid.

Preoccupation with the formalities testing and examination are not always priorities generated by schools. Rather, requirements are set by departmental administrators and schools have to comply. In turn, these priorities are not necessarily what administrators want, but are a compulsory response to the demands of politicans.

Sadly, Australian education is deeply rooted in the art of comparing results at primary, secondary and tertiary level with those achieved by students in overseas systems. Often those students are from countries totally unlike Australia, but that is not taken into account. The fact that educational objectives are dictated by comparison to overseas systems is an undoing of Australian education.

Education should be about the needs of children and not influenced by the desire of political leaders and top educationists to brag about how good Australia education is, compared to other systems. Many graduate teachers find themselves caught up as players in this approach, quickly wise up, and quit the profession. Our students are the losers and perceptions of education are sadly discoloured.

School Based Policing Needs a Revamp

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An edited version of this comment was published in the ‘NT Suns’ on 26 September 2017.

SCHOOL BASED POLICE PROGRAM NEEDS REVAMP

The reduction and diminishment of the once strong School Based Constables (SBC) program available to NT schools is regrettable. A strong element of support was offered to urban and some rural schools over the years through this program. Attached to high schools, each School Based Constable (SBC) had a number of feeder primary schools he or she attended. Constables would visit their schools to conduct Drug and Alcohol Education (DARE) classes with children. They extended their role to include stranger danger awareness and issues such as bullying. Children used to appreciate ‘their’ constable in a way that helped them build positive feelings toward police. In turn, constables learned a lot about community matters of which they needed to be aware. Many potential problems were nipped in the bud because of advanced awareness.

Sadly and with the passing of time, this program has been redefined and significantly dismantled. School Based Police these days are known as Community and Youth Engagement Officers (CYEOS). They are no longer based in schools but visit (a lot less frequently than in the past) from suburban and town police stations. DARE programs have lapsed, along with the contribution SBC’s made to the sharing of children’s learning and the development of their attitudes.

The ‘personality’ of this program, was such that while adults may have had adverse attitudes about police, their children were developing positive attitudes about the force.

The ‘community’ aspect of their revamped role, involves CYEOS in work that has to do with the safety and security of homes. This aims at crime reduction and dealing with issues confronting householders. While necessary, these activities stretch the officers and have meant less time being available for activities in schools.

A point of alarm is that the training of police to fill this particular role has been largely discontinued. It may not be long before the program, one of Territory significance and copied by state and overseas jurisdictions, will be extinct.

A police sponsored program, the Blue Light Disco, has been reduced in urban areas. The program was also been rationalised for schools within our remote communities. The emphasis on Blue Light Discos is a sad loss.
Not only has this program filled an important place in the lives of young people but in social and recreational terms, has given them an enjoyable, supervised outing. I believe in recent times there has been a rescheduling of some Blue Light discos.

The reinstatement of School Based Policing as it was previously organised would be a step in the right direction.

SPEECH AND SPEAKING TIPS 30 -31

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Tip 30

CUT THE TALK SHORT

On time of presenting. Some keynote presenters go on and on and ON! Those who are in the listening audience are too polite to say what they think about the length of the presentation. Having to endure prestressed for anywhere up to two hours one occasion is far, far too long.

My belief is that no initial presentation should go beyond 25 minutes. Used time beyond that for audience engagements through questions and other interactive response and sharing opportunities. The outcomes will be positive, the messages will stick and the audience will be satisfied.
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Tip 31

SPEECH MODELLING NOW SO POOR

I come from an era when those who were trained as teachers, had to model correct speech to students. This included pronunciation, enunciation, word choice and usage and overall clarity. Part of our training was that speech imperfections (ie ‘rabbits sun wing awound wochs’) had to be overcome before graduation. For those with speech and speaking challenges, corrective and elocution sessions were offered. They were free and compulsory. It was deemed that teachers who were to teach students, had to example correct speech and speaking.

How I wish this was still the case. 

 

 

THE CHALLENGE OF JOB SECURITY

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This column was published in the NT Suns in May 2017

 

THE CHALLENGE OF JOB SECURITY

The way in which staffing works in NT schools can be difficult to understand. One issue recently raised (‘Teachers in class limbo’ NT News May 11) pointed out that the number of teachers on temporary contracts in our schools appears to be growing.

Temporary status poses problems for teacher lifestyle, particularly in the area of housing. Unless educators have a steady income they find it extremely hard to negotiate home loans and this locks them out of the home purchase market.

Temporary contract employment is an outcome of Department of Education organisation. Over time, permanently employed teachers may take maternity leave, long service leave, family leave, or lengthly sick leave. Their absences create temporary vacancies in classrooms which have to be filled. However, those appointed can only be offered end-dated contracts because permanent officers are entitled to return to their positions at the end of leave periods.

This issue is one that creates uncertainty for schools, students and for teachers on short term contracts. School principals and staffing officers within the Department of Education do their best to ensure that end-dated contract teachers are offered contract opportunities in other schools. They aim to support staff about to become unemployed so there is no break in their service. This of course does not overcome the issue of teacher changes for students and schools.

The matter is exacerbated by staffing policies in rural and remote schools. Personal and family circumstances mean that many CDU graduates, relief and contract teachers are not able to accept positions in schools outside urban centres. In order to attract teachers to rural and remote schools the Education Department has to offer inducements. Two of these are the early offer of permanency and an undertaking that after a few years, efforts will be made to place these teachers in urban schools. This adds to pressures on the offering of permanent positions to contract teachers in Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs.

The Education Department has periodically offered permanency to contract teachers, holding them against the system rather than schools. This goodwill gesture has meant that excellent temporary teachers have had to move on because permanent officers have appointment priority to urban schools.

The issue of staffing is vexed. There will always be winners and unfortunately some losers.

EDUCATION FUNDING SHOULD BE BALANCED

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EDUCATION FUNDING SHOULD BE BALANCED

Over the years, “steady state” advancement and predictability have not been hallmarks of education. Nowhere is this better illustrated then in respect of providing physical facilities.

Prior to 2000, it was extremely difficult to obtain capital works money for major school improvements. Budgets were limited and competition for building programs quite fierce. Rejection and deferments of funding submissions were common and approvals rare. It was not unusual for a program costed at say $4 million, to be funded to a level of $2 or $3 million without the full amount being approved.

Applications for Minor New Works had no guarantee of being approved. Repairs and maintenance money carried qualifications and could not be used for everything that needed fixing. In total, the amount of money available for capital needs was strictly rationed.

This all changed when the Gillard Government introduced the ‘Building Educational Revolution’ to support and upgrade school infrastructure. From that point in time onward money has been poured at schools, but with the proviso that it be used for construction of physical facilities.

In the NT, Gonski funding came unattached to requirements that it be spent on classroom focussed programs. This allowed the NT Government to use the money for capital works. Henbury Avenue and Bellamack Special Schools were constructed using this money, while Acacia Hills (Alice Springs) was significantly upgraded.

Weekly reading of tender invitations in the ‘NT News’ confirms bountiful dollars still being found to support the extension of school infrastructure

Most recently, the Northern Territory Government has promised $300,000 to each Northern Territory school. However that money has to be used for physical upgrades and capital expansion.

There needs to be more to education expenditure then supporting the construction industry. While good physical facilities are necessary, so to are programs that best support students and staff in teaching learning situations.

It’s ironic to consider that schools have to constantly and minutely scrutinise internal budget management for the sake of teaching and learning. If the recent $300,000 per school allocation could be used to support these programs, that may have been a wise investment. It is the way in which students are educated now that will translate toward the future of our Northern Territory.

Educational expenditure needs to be balanced. Facilities are important, but teaching and learning programs are really what education is about.

TEACHING ISSUES & STUDENT SUCCESSES

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Teaching Issues and Student Successes

The complexities in which we wrap educational issues leads to mediocre outcomes.

Too much focus on process and not enough on actual educartional needs.

Too much pandering to tinsel, glitter, trimmings and trapping issues and not enough to core educational matters.

Too much wanting to make education exciting and appealing and not enough focus on nitty gritty hard core learning.

Too much focus on the froth and bubble and insufficient atttentiion paid to basic, sequential learning.

Unwillingness to confirm that failing students are failing.

Too many committees, advisory panels and too many people putting their oar into educational decision making in a way that confuses and distorts intentions.

Too many people wanting personal illumination (guru status). They use education as a vehicle for personal aggrandisement rather than being there for what they can contribute to and for others.

Too much focus on teacher training options that leads to irrelevancy in classroom contexts. For example, offering pre-service teachers the chance to either learn how to create ceramics or develop an unbderstanding of early childhood teaching methodology.

Dumping the ‘tried, true and successful’ teaching approaches because sticking with one approach for too long ‘gets to be boring’ – for teachers. ‘If it is working well and is not broken, fix it anyway’, seems to apply.

Just SOME of my concerns about the way things are!

AVOID TECHNOLOGY PITFALLS IN CLASSROOMS

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AVOID TECHNOLOGY PITFALLS IN CLASSROOMS

Computers were introduced to school classrooms during the 1980’s. Initially, schools set up dedicated computer rooms and classes were rostored to have one or two periods each week. Students learnt about computers and how to develop documents for print-out.

Schools then moved to a number of units in each classroom and more time was devoted to student use of these tools. With the advent of iPads many schools encouraged each student to have their own personal device. In 2017, we would be hard pressed to find a school without computers or iPads. When electronic smart-boards and other supports are added, schools almost drown in technology.

The cost of purchasing and maintaining hardware has increased, becoming a major cost item for schools. As well, items purchased are often outmoded within months of being bought.

Additional costs are significant. Software is not cheap and neither are licences needed to authorise multiple users. When maintenance needs are added to purchase costs, schools are faced with significant and ongoing budget commitments.

There are classroom pitfalls that need to be avoided.

Students tend to digress from what they should be doing with computer and iPads, drifting from learning to entertainment sites. It is imperative that students sign agreements about use of search engines, with teachers monitoring that commitment. Engaging with inappropriate sites can lead to big problems.
Games sites need to reinforce and extend student learning and need to have an educational purpose. Entertainment programs without educational merit distract students and waste learning time.

*Children sometimes play with networks that have been set, causing programs to crash or corrupt.

Misuse of technology by students can lead to cyber bullying and other inappropriate online conduct. Cyber bullying has reached epidemic proportions.

Students working on topics can be lulled into thinking that googling the topic, then cutting, uploading and pasting segments from existing sources into the text they are developing is fine. It isn’t! It is important that students think about and own their work, in order to understand topics. There is a distinct danger they could become plagiarists, taking the ideas of others and using them without acknowledging their sources.

Spell-checking and grammatical correctness are automated tools in many software packages. It is entirely possible for students to create and edit text, without understanding what they have written.

Computers, iPads and other devices can help support learning. However, they should always be used with care by students, under teacher oversight.
There is every chance that gadgets can become relied on to the point of detracting from genuine student learning.

‘BALKANISATION’ – AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

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Balkanisation, that is working in seclusion and isolation from others is anathema. Education, of all the professions, is one in which caring and sharing count. Synergy, collective energy grows and flows from those who works together is a sharing context. This is a process that is enriching the for educators. It is one where the benefits flow through to students in our classes.

In a nutshell:

* Collaboration with like minded professionals is valuable and enriching.

* From collaboration grows synergy, the collective energy that is enhancing. It uplifts those who are working together in occupational fields.

* Those working in isolation can be left behind because collaboration is increasingly a strategy whereby we work to develop our professional ethos.

Those who become balkanised, become trapped in professional isolation. Avoid ‘balkanisation’ like the plague.

NAPLAN NEEDS A RETHINK

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THINK AGAIN ABOUT NAPLAN

With the release of the 2016 NAPLAN results, education again enters a lengthy period of self-examination and study of outcomes. With results released a prolonged period of data analysis now commences. Australian, State and Territory level results will be dissected, followed by a examination of individual student performance at school level. Everything else about education may mark time, allowing this exercise to be pursued without interruption.

Every year, States and Territories are offered plaudits or brickbats depending on results. School results are minutely analysed with the publication of results online at the “My Schools” website.

By the beginning of 2017 this year’s study will be exhausted. Then it will be time to prepare for the May tests. Students in the testing years (three, five, seven and nine) will be subjected to trial testing programs aimed at getting them ready for the tests in May.

Of course schools are advised not to go overboard when it comes to readiness for testing. However, with so much attaching to NAPLAN outcomes, this advice is rarely heeded. In actual fact, systems want their schools to do well so they compare favourably with their intra-territory and interstate counterparts. Systems also seek and value kudos based on test results.

The costs of saturating Australia’s educational system with NAPLAN must be mind-boggling. It’s probably not an overstatement to suggest that since 2008, when universal testing was introduced, hundred of millions of dollars have been poured into the program.

A major flaw is the interpretation of NAPLAN’s importance. The tests measure narrowly defined academic competencies of four student groups, at the same time each year. The rest of the year and the successes of all students seem to count for little. This testing with its academic focus seems to imply that holistic education is of little consequence. Teacher quality is spoken of in terms of teachers having the ability to prepare children for these tests. There should be more to quality education than fixation on testing regimes.

What of the students

I don’t know if anybody has thought to ask students what they think about this program. If they were to be asked, there might be some interesting, enlightening and eye-opening responses. I believe there would be little appreciation of the weeks and months of pre-test preparation many of them have to endure. A student forum on this program is well worth considering. Whether notice would be taken of their viewpoint is altogether another matter.

TAXES AND SCHOOL FEES

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I fully understand the notion of fees being charged for the education of children. At times there is controversy over whether government’s should fund private schools in any way or whether their contribution should be for public schools alone.

My personal feeling is that a percentage of the public purse being contributed to private schools is fine. After all, most parents are taxpayers and have a right of school choice. That being so, the benefit of educational dollars should be holistically and not sectionally shared.

However, the notion of fees charged on top of government contribution by schools needs consideration. If fees are ‘over the top exorbitant ‘ then schools have it wrong/

I think that charging fees to huge excess of need is a miscarriage of what should be about the serious education of young people. Certainly, schools have to have enough in the way of assets to carry contingencies and overcome shortfalls. However, if they are primarily in the game to make money for sponsors unknown or to boost fat bank accounts, then that is wrong. If they practice undue leverage on parents in order to accumulate funds for ‘boasting’ capital works that are more about image than need, that is also wrong.

EDUCATION NOT A JOY FOR ALL

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It is a distinct and continuing concern to me that so many teachers and those working in schools, absolutely long for the day they can retire. I have known educators who are looking forward to their last day of teaching, anywhere up to a decade from that eventuality. These are teachers and leaders who are locked into the teaching profession by age. They are too old to jump ship and go into some other occupational area. This means they carry on by sufferance.

Many educators of more youthful years, with keen desire to teach and make a difference, realise their profession is more about accountability and justification than it is about teaching and developing students in a holistic manner. They come to understand that students are pawns in the system, rather than being main players. So they leave, glad to have a chance to exit.

There are students, too, who resent having to stay at school until their late teens because that is the government’s way of keeping them from being unemployment statistics. They have to be there; they don’t want to be there. That does not help them, their peers or teachers.

The stampede to the Education departure gate is a sad systemic manifestation.

RELATIONSHIPS EDUCATION – PROCEED WITH CAUTION

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There is a new curriculum trend developing in Australia. It needs careful consideration. Published in April 2016
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RELATIONSHIPS EDUCATION – PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Caution should be exercised when issues of curriculum change and add ons to school and teacher responsibility are being considered. Proposals that schools become responsible for a recent initiative, ‘Building Respectful Relations’ is a case in point. ‘Building Respectful Relations’ has been developed as a way in which children can become more aware of and empathetic toward preferences in personal relationships. The program proposes that students develop understanding and empathy toward those with gay, bisexual and transgender preferences. It is about anti-bullying and anti-discrimination.

Before proceeding, the Federal Government has moved to have the program examined by a committee. Building Respectful Relations could become a component added into the Australian Curriculum.

States and Territories should carry their own assessment of this program. The Victorian Government has already decided to embrace the initiative without waiting for any Federal Government recommendations. A curriculum approach has been authorised and may well be expanded. While schools have the right to accept and use materials wholly or in part, the program is already becoming ingrained in that state. Three units and handouts on the subject have been developed and are available online. They can be viewed by googling http://www.fuse.education.vic.gov.au and following the prompts.

In an editorial on April 15, ‘Children sexualised in school diversity programs’
The Australian cautioned that this program “…encourages adults to sexualise children and expose them to sexually explicit materials. Such behaviour violates common standards that protect children from premature sexualisation … .” The editorial adds “While high performing school systems in the Asia-Pacific focus on developing literacy, numeracy and memorisation, activists are dumbing down the Australia school curriculum. The children likeliest to suffer … are those from disadvantaged backgrounds whose parents lack the means to opt out of state schools.”

Volumes of letters to ‘The Australian’ in recent days, confirm deep concerns about this latest Victorian development. It is an initiative likely to impact on other systems, one that may well become included in the Australian Curriculum.

Introducing relationship complexities to children at too young an age is of major concern. Children need to have sufficient maturity and capacity to understand what is being presented. The intention that this program be part of the early childhood and preschool curriculum in Victoria is alarming.

Northern Territory parents and teachers need to keep a careful watch on what is happening elsewhere. At the very least, schools and individual teachers must have the option of accepting or rejecting this curriculum manoeuvre. We live in an age that abhors inappropriate conduct toward minors and intensely scrutinises the conduct of educators. If teachers, particularly males, have to work with this delicate and sensitive curriculum, it could open them up to unfair criticism and accusations of using inappropriate teaching material.

GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS DESPERATELY NEEDED

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Published in the Suns in April 1976. This for me is the number one need in our schools, especially Primary Schools.
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GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED

There is a desperate need for guidance counsellors to be appointed as staff members in ALL our schools. Mental health and well-being issues confronting young people demand that our system look at this as a number one priority. There are counsellors in some NT secondary schools but their main role is in the area of career guidance and vocational support. Secondary schools also have school nurses to whom students can talk. However, for the most part they are more focussed on physical well-being and social issues rather than mental health matters. No counsellors are appointed as primary school staff members.

With scrutiny of school staffing numbers under constant review, it is hardly likely that the issue is going to be addressed. However ignoring the matter, is overlooking one of the deepest seated issues of student need.

With scrutiny of school staffing numbers under constant review, it is hardly likely that this going to be addressed. However ignoring the matter, is overlooking one of the deepest seated student student needs.

Needs Not Met

The issue is one that has always been problematic. In 2003, a group of principals from around the NT met with s Education Minister Syd Stirling and told him that the need for counselling support was the number one priority confronting Northern Territory schools. That assertion was based on a survey response. The department then advertised for Well Being Teachers (WBT’s) with counselling qualifications. These teachers were engaged to support each region and work with schools on a rotational basis.

Counselling priorities for some schools were partially met while other schools missed out altogether. It soon became apparent that a well being teacher with responsibility for up to 12 schools would simply tinker at the edges of student needs. There was insufficient time for personal counselling.

The well being teacher concept was temporary. Some positions never filled. Others were vacated as incumbents applied for and won other jobs and were not replaced. Within a relatively short period of time, the program became history.

Why Primary Schools?

Issues confronting children become apparentA from a very early age. Yet it is considered that counselling is not really necessary until students reach their secondary years. This position is so wrong. Problems confronting younger children can be deep seated and unsettling. To leave them untreated will impact on developing student behaviours and attitudes. Problems and concerns confronting them, becoming an ingrained part of behaviour and attitude. One in five young people are stressed and depressed and that percentage is growing all the time. It is far better that concerns are addressed and nipped in the bud before they become insurmountable. That will not happen unless and until counsellors are appointed as staff members in our schools. This need is long overdue.

FITTING IT ALL IN

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It’s interesting to contemplate how much schools have to do, cover and undertake these days. A school day is five hours long. How is it to be done in terms of fitting in more and more and more and … ?

We need to get wise. Stop adding and adding AND ADDING to content. We need to drop things off. If we don’t curriculum content becomes back breaking and mind blowing staff. We finish up lost in a maze of priority suggestions and resources.

The school day is just over five hours long. Schools are not 24/7 operations.

Let’s get wise and learn to say NO to the incessant adding into our responsibility and accountability portfolios. Things need to be manageable for schools, teachers and students.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE THE NUMBER ONE EDUCATIONAL ISSUE

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Closing the educational gap means that Indigenous Australians have to grasp the nettle

A quality called ‘self help’ needs to be part of the equation. Closing the gap on education and everything else is not going to happen until and unless Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Communities get behind their challenges and commit to improvement. Sitting back and waiting for this to somehow evolve will not work and is not working.

I believe self-help is happening in some instances but by no means in the majority of cases. There are reasons for why this is an ongoing issue. The matters are not going to be solved until such times as non- Aboriginal persons in authority stop appealing to indigenous people in term of asking ” have you got a problem I can own?”

A case in point is the issue of school attendance. No attendance = no school = no learning. So the Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, senator Nigel Scullion, came up with the idea of employing Indigenous Truancy Officers in the NT and other parts of remote Australia to get children to school. The overall cost – well over $50 million.

There are ways in which school attendance can be managed, so that attendance is enhanced. Throughout my years as a school leader in remote area schools in both WA and the NT, attendance issues were managed in a way that minimised the problem. The matter was my responsibility and I worked to sell the need for regular attendance to the community. People came on board with my selling of the attendance message.

I smile inwardly – and with some sadness – when hearing of the ‘Nigel’s Army’ of truancy officers approach. That initiative costing close to $40,000,000 over two or three years has, in overall terms, made only a sight indentation on the attendance issue. I believe another $28 million or thereabouts has been promised to extend the program. There are reasons why this approach has not worked. Part of that has been the absence from duty of some truancy officers! I believe a solution exists but for it to work would require a U-turn in present policies.