Des Griffin points out that a study ‘the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal study’ seems to have vanished altogether. Most interesting because John Ridd in one or more of his articles (and in his PhD thesis ) refers to a Report called ‘Maths as a Foundation’. It was, I think, done within the old Board of Studies. It seems that this has also vanished of the face of the earth.


These disappearing pieces of research emphasise the need for a full blown Parliamentary Inquiry into education in Qld.



Des, the reason John Ridd emphasises Maths can be seen by clicking on ‘John Ridd’ to see a summary of his background experience and research.

Digging up the dark past there Des!

This research has been dropped like a hot potato simply because EQ uncovered what they do not ever want to deal with.

The single largest factor in improving schools is the quality of the classroom teacher.

To do that, and there are already good ones out there, would require an entire new managemnt structure and a whole new set of school principals, EDSs and REDs, to say nothing of a new DG and lesser DGs.

These people are 'dead men walking' when it comes to initiating even EQ current policies, never mind anything yet to arrive.

There was a great document, 'Productive Pedagogies', that appeared as a result of that study.... kept as hidden as possible.

No school paid any attention to it, no parents were shown it, no students were allowed to rate their teachers on its simple scales, 'good', poor, bloody hopeless.

Any policy or research that might improve EQ schools is killed off on purpose.

They'd rather waste money on Brisbane based 'colleges' of 'excellence' for 'high achievers' and leave the vast majority of students outside Brisbane, or with parents who regard boarding schools as a form of child abuse, to deal with the thousnads of level 2 and level 3 classroom teachers, overseen by principals who porbably wouldn't even manage to make those dismal standards.

But thanks for reminding us all Des.... just for a nano-second when that came out it looked as if EQ might have understood just how poor they are... and so they did, which is why it was killed off.

Adding some more to this thread

"Ms Bligh said Professor Geoff Masters from the Australian Council for Educational Research would undertake the review targeting areas of core literacy, numeracy and science.

The reality is that our students are not performing well enough,” Ms Bligh said."

http://www.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=61905

This is completely contrary to this statement from DETA

"Education Queensland delivers high quality education to more than 70 percent of all Queensland school students at prep, primary and secondary levels."

http://deta.qld.gov.au/

I think it will take more than a change in curriculum to fix the problems in QLD education.

DETA is now a huge bureaucracy that is mostly unaccountable to anyone, it consumes large amounts of public funding that is mostly spent on imports, it has little or no communication with the public, it lies to the public, and it has overseen the continuous decline in student performance across the state to the extent that performance in maths (which is one of the most important subjects) is now below world average.

Absolutely Vanna...100% percent, unless you are a sportsperson in Queensland in which case...110%... correct.

And of course, Anna Blight(t) was the previous 'edumacation' Minister, before Welliegogs took over and did nothing for all the time he was there.

Sadly, if the NLP were to win this election, EQ has every chance of becoming even worse, with their simple-minded fixation on 'tests' and 'back-to-the-future' philosophy.

We'd have more religion, and less of whatever doesn't help you to drive a tractor.... no 'book learning' anyway.

The truth is, the whole of Education Queensland is a giant 'Bundaberg Hospital', where whistleblowers are ignored, where the incompetent and indolent rise above their skill levels, and no-one outside in 'the general public' is the least bit concerned.

The two organisations that might be expected to make a move to improve schools, outside of the State Government, which is clearly unwilling to even try, the QTU and the QCPCA, are a major part of the problem too, neither groups wanting to rock-the-boat because that would upset their own comfortable existence and require them to perform....at least better than an organ grinders monkey might.

While at Bundaberg Hospital it is easy to see 'damaged' people, some dead, some just scared for life, it is not easy for the public/media to see the damage our underperforming schools are doing to students.

Jails fill with school failures, industry misses out on good employees, the whole community misses out on providing 'thinking' Queenslanders... just look at what passes for politicians here, never mind the punters who slavishly vote for their 'team', not able to work out the difference between politics and some tosspot sporting activity.

Write to Bligh(t) and let her know how hopeless she is, and ask her who she might park in that seat next, should she win....

She might surprise us all with some innovation... like putting a rock in the Ministerial seat.... and we might all be better off knowing the rock wouldn't even be pretending to do anything.

I've probably missed the boat by responding here, but I just saw mention of the good ol' Productive Pedagogies and thought I'd add my tuppence worth.

Interestingly, the PPs were a huge part of my teacher education at Griffith University ("GriffTAFE" to those UQ graduates who only survive a term or so before reassessing their career choices, but that's a whole different story). In my first years of teaching, I was constantly watched by admin, who demanded lesson plans complete with an analysis of the Productive Pedagogies incorporated in each lesson. Years later, as I am working with new teachers, I am constantly asked to reflect on my teaching with reference to the Productive Pedagogies. So in at least one school, they are alive and well.

I would hazard a guess that students and parents have been kept out of the loop partly because the pedagogies are difficult to understand. There is a trend in society for parents and bureaucrats to tell teachers how to do their jobs, and to critique them using methods they don't fully understand. We don't tell barristers, pilots or doctors how to do their jobs; we don't tell accountants how to do theirs, either. So why do we feel differently about teachers? If anyone can do it, then why do we spend four years at uni for the privilege?

As for those four years, I am quite happy to concede that Queensland is not turning out too many brilliant classroom practitioners. Many of the prac students I work with have been prepared poorly for the job; I am left wondering what they do at uni. Certainly there is little interest in becoming a teacher anymore, as OP scores for Education plummet. I could be wrong, but I'm sure I saw reference to a university that was letting people in with OPs of 21. How is Mr 21 meant to prepare Mr 1 or even Mr 15 for a successful adult life?

You are quite right about clients not assessing solicitors, patients their doctors and so on, good point.... however, the manual does provide some sort of snapshot of what to look for, and it doesn't include taking coffee cups into the clasroom, endless screaming at students, not being prepared for the lessons, discussing your domestic marital problems with students, asking students to hit one another and so on, so without being too scientific, it does provide a good guide for what makes a good teacher, an 'average' one (bit doubtful about that, but at least a non-malignant one)and a bloody hopeless one.

And yes, you are quite right about at least an OP20, up the coast above Brisbane I think last year.

Although, the OP score is no gauge of intelligence, or suitability to teaching, or any job at all.

It merely reflects a 'market' driven approach to filling not enough uni' places.

You only need an OP14 to do engineering, but an OP1 to do physio.

Physio does not warrant such a high level but lots of people think it is worth doing, so the score goes up.

Few people, apparently, think teaching is worth doing, so entry is rock bottom.

The folly of relying on 'markets' is not restricted to unbridled moneymaking, or rebadged greed.

The experience many of us have had with EQ is that they deny, lie, refuse to listen and ignore even the most obvious foolishness from within their ranks, and then moan if you don't thank them... for what precisely?

Then they close ranks and go quiet... and this is right up to the DGs office.

EQ ministers, including Bligh when she was there, make no attempt to get any value for our tax dollars and pretend they sit atop a stainless steel super efficient machine.

Not so, Bundaberg Hospital has a better reputation than EQ.