Not cool for our schools
Poor NAPLAN results point to a system that isn’t learning
THE evidence is in. The science is settled.
Our schools suck.
Yet again this week, we heard about the decade of low performance of schoolkids in Australia.
For years we have been falling behind the rest of Asia but, even more importantly, today’s kids are falling behind their older brothers and sisters.
The Australian Capital Territory spends more money on education per student than anywhere else in Australia, with the exception of the Northern Territory. Yet their students’ writing levels are awful in Year 7 and downright scary in Year 9.
In 2011, 8.2 per cent of Year 7 kids were below the minimum NAPLAN standards. Today it’s 11.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, 16 per cent of Year 9 students fail the minimum standards, up from 14.5 per cent in 2011.
This is the latest report that shows us new lows. This follows many elections and big promises from both sides of politics to throw more money at education.
However the response to yet another fire alarm about our kids’ futures is met with silence. At what point is there enough evidence to prove the current way of doing things sucks? Fifteen years of failure? Twenty years of failure?
Is it acceptable that 16 per cent of Year 9 students can’t write? Or is it only a worry when this number gets to 30 per cent?
I’m probably the worst person to lecture others on the value of school.
To this day I am not a book smart sort of person. I’ve been able to use my brain for other things and ironically it started to kick in when I went to university.
But we can’t cross our fingers and hope that’s going to happen for all kids. It won’t. Therefore, we need urgent action.
We need to bring in educational experts from Asia to show us where we are going wrong.
We need to give teachers back the power to control a classroom and start giving them bonuses when class marks improve.
We are on the verge of a very serious problem if we don’t.
My fear is that we may already be too far down the road, where schools value a child’s attitudes and social issues over their grades.
Relief for mums who really need it
This week, the government did something special for thousands of women. However blogs dedicated to the gender wars didn’t write a word about it.
The mothers of stillborn babies will now have full legal rights to a year off work like every other mum in the country.
Each day there are six babies born who don’t make it in Australia and the trauma these families face is about as bad as you think. They deserve real time to heal.
I speak from experience. While not stillborn, my first son Leo died just 36 hours after birth due to problems during labour.
I spent many months with devastated fellow parents in therapy to find a way through. To this day, some of our closest friends are ones who have shared this awful road.
Thank you to the Prime Minister and his Government for removing a roadblock to these mums’ recovery.
FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN FALLING BEHIND THE REST OF ASIA BUT, EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, TODAY’S KIDS ARE FALLING BEHIND THEIR OLDER BROTHERS AND SISTERS.