Campus Review Vol 31. Issue 12 - December 2021 | Page 15

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Too much of what we do to prepare our teachers is beset by ‘ ideology ’ and ‘ fads ’.

Tudge ’ s tirade

Education minister tears into education system , unis and teachers .
By Conor Burke

Federal minister for Education Alan Tudge has painted Australian education as a system in serious decline in a speech to the conservative think tank , the Centre for Independent Studies ( CIS ).

Tudge tore into the current crop of teachers , telling listeners that the best and brightest don ’ t go into teaching , while also condemning universities for the way our budding educators are taught .
The speech , styled as a webinar titled ‘ Reforming Australia ’ s Schools ’, laid out the minister ’ s vision for stopping the “ decline ” in Australian educational outcomes .
The education minister says that over the last 20 years , Australia ’ s school performance has declined — despite a 60 per cent real per capita increase in school funding – and that the average 15-year-old Australian school student today is a year behind a 15-year-old Australian student in the year 2000 .
“ Our government ’ s plan to address this is really threefold ,” Tudge said .
“ It goes to what kids are taught , i . e . the national curriculum . How kids are taught , that is the teaching practises , which teachers use and who is attracted into the teaching profession .
Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge . Photo : NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
And thirdly , the environments which they are taught , i . e . orderly disciplined classrooms .”
He also criticised the Australian Curriculum Authority ’ s draft curriculum , arguing that the proposed changes actually reduced standards .
“ Particularly mathematics , where for example , the times tables were no longer being taught in year three , it was proposed to be taught in year four . Where in many other countries it ’ s taught in year two ,” he said .
Tudge told those listening that the national curriculum needs to represent history in a way which depicts Australia in a less negative light .
But he did reserve some praise for Australia , as a nation .
“ I ’ d challenge anyone to find a society at any time in all of human history that is as tolerant , egalitarian , free and wealthy as Australia is today ,” he said .
“ The draught National Curriculum , which they put out , in my view just had such a negative , miserable view of Australia and its history .
“ What I want to see , critically , is for students to have a deep understanding of our history and a deep understanding about how our liberal democracy came about .”
Aside from the curriculum , Tudge wants to see an improvement in the nation ’ s teachers .
“ We know that the quality of the teaching which occurs , has a dramatic impact on student outcomes ,” he said .
“ There ’ s really two components to this . One is who we attract into teaching . Second is , what are they being taught when they ’ re at university to prepare to become a teacher ?”
He bemoaned the nation ’ s inability to attract the “ the best and brightest into teaching ” which he says is in large part due to salary .
Universities came in for criticism , as the minister argues that too much of what we do to prepare our teachers is beset by “ ideology ” and “ fads ”, instead of “ evidence based practices ”.
“ Now , the lack of transparency of them means we don ’ t always know precisely what goes on inside [ universities ], but what we do know really troubles me ,” he said .
“ I ’ ll say it very clearly today , that if necessary , the government ’ s going to use the full leverage of the $ 760 million , which we pay to teacher education faculties each year to insist that evidence based practises are put in place . It ’ s been too long .
“ They ’ ve [ universities ] been on notice for a long period of time and I ’ m making it very clear today that we are determined to see this embedded in all universities .”
The last element of his educational reform troika , orderly classrooms , aims to get rid of some of the noise and disorder that hampers learning , while protecting teachers .
“ In 2009 , in the OECD ’ s index of school disciplinary climate , Australia scored at the international average . In 2018 , by that same metric , we ranked 70th out of 77 nations ” he said .
Two in five students report that their peers don ’ t listen to what their teacher says , he told those at the webinar , up from one in five 20 years ago . While 43 per cent of students who were surveyed say that there is noise and disorder in most or all of the lessons .
“ Violence has become commonplace . 80 % of teachers say they have been subject to harassment in the past . One in three principals have been exposed to physical violence from students . That kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable .” ■
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