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Teachers say...

In order to comply with the ‘standards’ – bureaucrats now want Victorian state school principals to sign a contract, questioning their abilities to carry out their roles:
Markus: Why don’t we require the bureaucrats to sign stat decs too?
Lyrian: What’s the rationale? What advantage do the signed stat decs offer?

Changes to the new HSC syllabus for English are already proving to be controversial:

Pat: So much for consultation. I was at the meeting where virtually the entire room voiced objection to English Studies becoming examinable. Bloody disgrace.
Marina: Speechless.

Penalty rates to be slashed on Sunday after landmark decision by Fair Work Commission:

Frank: How disappointing!! Such a backward step. All workers deserve to be paid fairly for their work and should enjoy decent conditions. Most people rely on being rostered on for Sundays and holidays to balance their pay packet – a terrible decision
Jas: When we live in a country that instead of raising wages is cutting them instead.
Patrick: It’s no different than the Catholic school employers crying poor over the 2.5% rise that we were supposed to receive when our last agreement expired December 2016.
Michelle: So some are worth more on Sundays and some are not. Pretty crap for young people trying to save – let’s punish those can least afford it yet again.

Why do students get bored? And what ways have you found to reduce this problem from occurring in your classroom?

James: They bombard themselves with visual and aural stimulation from phones, tablets, computers, and game consoles. To sit and listen to a teacher is increasing difficult for them to do. Simon: Teachers who teach what the students already know bore the heck out of them. Pre-testing kids allows teachers to tailor the learning experiences to what the kids need. Allowing students REAL input into how they should be assessed is also an empowering thing for them. The frequency of assessing them can drive them insane, especially when the main purpose of assessing is to be able to write a report.

According to new data, smaller class sizes have been shown to be beneficial in Tasmanian non government schools.

Lucinda: Totally agree! Sadly SCS believe in John Hattie’s data and that it doesn’t matter. Having 20 one year and 34 another - my class suffered big time.
Bini: Individualised instruction with 34!
Sharlene: Why not have two teachers (a graduate teacher paired with an experienced teacher) in a co-teaching partnership per 24 students, with a teacher’s aide if the class is bigger? Rather than wait for new schools to be built, we could start this now. It would be interesting for someone with access to the data to crunch the numbers and work out the cost of two teachers per classroom and how much is being spent on casual teachers per annum.
Fiona: Any teacher with a class of more than 24 kids will tell you this ... Oh, John Hattie ... when did you last teach (using the current curriculum and all the extra stuff we do) a class of 34 kids? I think he might have some real quantitative data if he actually did the job for at least a year. Funny how those who make the decisions about pay, funding and money in the education system wholeheartedly get behind him.
Robin: Isn’t it obvious – it is only those not in the classroom who argue that size of class does not matter!