Not all is lost!

Sadly, a retiring school principal.

If only there was one like this somewhere within Education Qld:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2010/3092006.htm

Lexi, you say "One function, however, will always remain with the teacher: to create the emotional climate for learning", which, to the extent that the teacher controls the classroom, I agree.

But sadly, our community has abandoned that group task of nurturing the environment-for-learning, and reduced it to an unwholesome race for a mythical commodity.

Also, in part aligned to the community abandonment of 'education' as a worthwhile community fulfilling objective, parents have also failed in their responsibility to generate such a climate within their home environment.

I do like your small change metaphor though, very to-the-point, and how far from the manner in which our Qld schools are run, like sausage factories where each child is to conform, 'or else!'.

Until our politicians take note of Judy King, Chris Bonnor, Jane Caro, Phil Cullen and people like the UKs Ken Robinson, and abandon their Lemming-like support for 'faith' and independent schools, and refund public schools, we are doomed to yet more years of 'edufailure' as the ever-increasing 'results' focus passes more power to media organisations to shape our schools, and less to thinking-parents, and none at all to students.

TBC:

It's very disappointing for me to learn about the schools in Queensland. I've always thought of Queensland as a very progressive sort of place - full of people who like Californians, didn't fit into the box, but were really individualistic in their thinking - and therefore more creative. I thought that the University of Queensland, for example, was extremely advanced, and of course I just assumed that school teachers would be ones that would produce many "Aha" moments for their students. Teachers have a unique opportunity to counteract unhealthy influences in a pupil's early childhood. They have the power to affect a child's life for better or for worse. A child becomes what he experiences. While parents possess the original key to their offspring's experience, teachers have a spare key. They too can open or close the minds and hearts of children. What a shame,
that I was so wrong about Queensland.

Quite so Lexi, just imagine how hard it is to live here, with mediocrity being the highest ambitions within Ed Qld.

UQ, thankfully, is not run by EQ, so probably deserves its reasonable reputation, but our 'new' uni's, the Dawkins hangover drones, are not quite as well thought of.

In fact, many of them have such poor 'education' faculties that they are as much to blame for the parlous state of our school teachers as EQ is.

Most regional uni's simply exist to plunder the pockets of overseas students of good money, and to provide them with Australian citizenship as a payoff for their degree 'investment'.

Yes, never mind the 'invasion' by boat, there is a very healthy invasion via our uni system.

Maybe there is an Ed Qld teacher on the forum who'd like to speak up for their employer, and tell us how they are all engaged in 'good works'?

TBC:

I'm not so sure that rural Universities have such a bad reputation. Do they really? Of course I don't know Queensland as I said previously. However, Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, NSW - is supposed to be excellent, as is the one in Armidale NSW, (New England?) and I'm sure there's heaps of others. It would be great to hear from others as you suggested - and get a few more opinions on the state of education in Australia. I had always thought that we were head and shoulders above the US - (simply because Aussies are so welcomed and employable in other countries).

Lexi, yes, you are right. Not all regional unis are the same.

I wasn't thinking beyond Qld.

And, true enough, there are variations here too.

Between and within unis here.

Suffice to say though, there is significant room for doubt as to whether or not our education faculties are up to the task.

One of my children has just finished engineering at a regional uni.

Most staff he had are non-English speaking, and ill equipped to teach in English. Managers had been there for years. Courses were not reviewed for years. Tutors and lecturers were slack, frequently not fronting up to class. High failure rates are the norm. Low results cause the levels to drop to allow students to pass.

He got 1st class hons, but whether that compares against a UQ result of a similar standing is a moot point.

He tried to relocate to UQ but half his units he'd passed were not recognised by UQ in their course, and adding another couple of years was not an option.

Presumably, these days, a degree is merely a 'ticket' and not worth a great deal.

TBC:

I'm sure that when your son goes job hunting he'll find that his degree will hold him in good stead. Afterall - the mere fact that he actually completed a field of study should say a great deal about his character to his employer. He started something and finished it - which is no small achievement in itself! Bravo to your son!