Stephen O’Doherty MP
Shadow Minister for Education and TrainingAddress to the
Australian College of Education,Macarthur Regional Group
11 August 1998
One of the first major public buildings in the colony of NSW was the female orphan school at Parramatta. Almost two centuries later it is to be restored to its original use in education - as part of the new UWS Nepean campus.
Its foundation stone was laid by Macquarie in 1813. It was the first brick three-storey building in Australia. Per capita it cost, I understand, more than the 2000 Olympics construction.
I walked through this building the other day. Now derelict - saved by the timely intervention of the former Coalition government in handing the Rydalmere hospital site over to UWS Nepean - it will be restored as one of the premier education campuses in the country.
On this site is demonstrated an important truth about Australia: education’s role in securing the welfare and future of young people was among the first priorities of our nation. Like the building, education endures - not because of the bricks and mortar but because of what they represent. Its true foundations are not of rock, but of values. Like good foundations those core values which underpin education - and the development of our society - are solid and unchanging.
As we face a new century it is time to refocus on those values; to return to our foundations; to revitalise education’s role in developing individuals and building community.
Where do we find education today? Sadly teacher morale is at an all time low; there is much evidence that the status of teachers needs to be addressed; there is contentious debate about standards; too many students do not acquire early success in literacy; teachers report that the actions of a minority of students are making their workplace an unsafe and unhappy environment in which teaching the majority becomes increasingly impossible; the results achieved by students too often relate more to their background than their ability.
And yet despite all that, we need to say magic happens in that special relationship between student and teacher. It happens every day in ways most people rarely see, but teachers see all the time. They see it when a student’s eyes light up and they know a concept has finally been grasped. Sadly this kind of magic is not the stuff of public debate about education.
We must be concerned about education. To not be would be irresponsible. But in discussing our concerns we must not devalue education itself.
The challenge for governments and those who would govern is to see schools as they really are: as centres of education within a community which values education. Governments must provide intelligent, educationally sound, supportive policies. They must create environments in which schools - and children - can grow and prosper.
Education under Labor
Yet under a Labor government schooling is losing its way. Education policy has become about marketing the government - not improving education.
School and teacher time is increasingly taken up with memoranda and agendas designed to make the government look good - but with little benefit for children and their educational needs. The Emperor has no clothes.
The HSC review is contentious and its conclusions unsatisfying. There is concern about how they were arrived at and uncertainty about what they will mean.
The School Report Cards are so generalised they are meaningless. The extra computers came in boxes with no money to connect them, purchase software or train all teachers.
The system’s values are on their head. The government talks about drug education, but doesn’t allow a principal to expel drug dealers.
They are spending $71m less this year on building school facilities than we spent in the last year of the Coalition government. One third less on basic school facilities. Yet they can give parents $55m in a misguided political bribe with no discernible educational benefit.
Their attempt to increase teacher status through pay increases was paid for by cutting school budgets by $55m per year. That included taking away professional development funding for teachers. That’s a funny way to increase professional status.
Little wonder there’s a lack of confidence that the government has any vision for schools or any ability to carry one through.
Valuing Education
Teachers, parents and most of all students deserve an approach which focuses on education itself - on the value of education to individuals and our community.
It is time government took the lead in valuing education.
Today I want to reflect on some of those things we value in education, the value we place on education, and the values of education.
The things we value in education:
We value the child. We value confident, self assured young people with the right skills, knowledge and attitudes to live their lives to the full and make a productive contribution to community life.
We value the teacher. Nothing we want to achieve as a nation will happen without a skilled and well supported teaching profession. We value their special skills and their commitment to young people.
We value the classroom and the curriculum. Education rises or falls on what happens in the classroom . We must support the work of the teacher in the classroom in implementing a curriculum which is relevant, rigorous and based on a clear sense of what we want to achieve. Government policy should support the development of teaching practice.
We value parent involvement. It is to parents that the primary responsibility falls to educate their children; it is a responsibility we cannot hand over or be absolved of. We also live in community. The community has a shared responsibility in providing for the needs of all children.
We must not just pay lip service to these important truths about parental and community responsibilities in education.
So many things take away from effective involvement, however. We must be genuine about partnerships. Parents must be properly informed and properly involved in schools.
The community also has an obligation to recognise that not all parents are equitably able to prepare and support their children for education and a responsibility to provide for their additional needs.
The value we place on education
Next I want to focus on the value we place on education; by which I mean those things important to our community’s development which we entrust to education.
We value education’s role in preparing every child for their best future, despite the barriers in their way. Every child has a unique contribution to make. Australia has its best future when the abilities of all its citizens can be utilised. We must ensure the government’s effort is directed at identifying and working to remove those barriers which prevent achievement.
This is education’s primary aim: the development of the unique talents, character and abilities of every child in order that they may find fulfilment as productive members of their community.
We value education’s role in underpinning a peaceful nation; where difference can be celebrated and not cause division. Education is the only hope for a cohesive and harmonious society. It is the best antidote to the anger and prejudice which come from a lack of understanding.
We value education’s role in underpinning a productive nation. Australia’s economic future depends on how well we can adapt to the demand not only for a well trained workforce, but a highly trainable workforce; people with the ability and enthusiasm to upgrade their knowledge and skills as the demands of a changing economy require.
The values of education
But knowledge and skills are not enough. We also need the right attitudes to develop this nation.
Education is not just about what we know; it is also about who we are. Therefore:
We value education which promotes personal and community values. Education should reflect the values which parents hope to instill in their children. It must work hard to counteract the negative values of peer influence. Values-based education is our only hope against the cultures which will rob our children of their future; among them the culture of violence and the culture of drugs; the culture of hatred, intolerance and prejudice.
We value education which promotes community. Schools, for the Coalition, are at the centre of the community, especially their local community. Schools are at the centre of community growth and must be supported in this task. Centralist policies such as the current approach seriously erode the ability of schools to be truly responsive to this task.
We value education which promotes enterprise and achievement; which promotes reward for effort and aims to extend every student to achieve their best. We do not accept the tyranny of mediocrity which seems to characterise the Labor party’s approach. For example we will not see the HSC "dumbed down" in the name of false equity.
Future Directions
I turn then to future directions, which might flow from the sort of philosophy I have (briefly) outlined. In doing so I want to remind you of our view that the last thing education needs is another cataclysm. Teachers and parents are sick of unproductive, politically driven change which bears little or no relationship to education itself.
I believe the way ahead is by a process of building and enhancing education and supporting the work of educators - both teachers and parents. Future directions must be based on educational, not political, considerations.
Based on these philosophical principles, I want to indicate four areas in which I believe we need to work for a better future through education.
The areas are summarised as Character, Culture, Community and Classroom.
CHARACTER
If the essential task of education is to develop individuals in all their fullness; and if education is not only about what we know, but about who we are, then to instill values through education must be among our high priorities.
We should educate for character. The development of student character should be a major part of any approach to supporting the positive development of young people.
We are letting young people and their future society down if we do not teach in the classroom and demonstrate in school cultures, those values which underpin positive individual growth and the building of communities that work.
Can a pluralist society have any sense of ultimate values? How can we not? What are the consequences if we don’t?
What are values based on? Beliefs. What are we saying if we shy away from a sense of ultimate values? That we have no beliefs as a community?
Can we agree on the inherent worth of every human being as a core belief? We can and must.
If that is true it then implies a whole set of values:
That everyone would be respected. That there’s no room for racism or hatred based on difference.
That bullying - the unequal exercise of power over another - offends our core values.
Developing a values base means encouraging a sense of self awareness in students. It involves encouraging them to explore meaning and beliefs; to develop a sense of knowing who they are.
Indeed those who are confident about themselves and their values base are less likely to bully, harass and intimidate others.
I believe that those students with a strong sense of being are also more likely to succeed academically; especially when they are placed in schools which emphasise a positive culture (which I’ll come to in a minute).
A sense of values; of what we stand for and why; is something which our instant gratification society leaves little time for; and I believe it is fooling our culture into losing its sense of direction.
There are educational and social benefits in values-based education.
Values ought to be taught explicitly and modelled in school cultures.
It is important that children, parents and teachers are involved in real discussion about the way in which the values of our society are expressed in their particular community.
It is also important we have a sense of the core values on which schools build. Those values will include:
These kinds of values have helped build our nation. Sadly I believe we are at a time when our sense of values needs reinforcement - both personal and civic values.
Some educators believe they work in a value-free zone. There is no such thing. If we do not explicitly teach positive values then it will be the negative values which fill the vacuum.
Of course we can’t just teach values, we have to live them. Therefore the second area in which to work is to do with school and system cultures.
CULTURE
Things such as a chronic lack of morale, cynicism about change, economic pressure on school and parents and so on, have had a fundamental effect on the culture of schooling and of many individual schools.
Efforts to enhance schooling in the future must involve bolstering the culture of the system and of individual schools.
The system must become less fear driven and more supportive of people.
A focus of the system must be to build relationships at every level; principal to teacher; teacher to parent; teacher to child; among teachers; among parents; among students - there must be peer support and relationships built on trust.
We must develop a better system to investigate the serious matter of misconduct allegations without turning it into a witch hunt.
There must be a better way developed to allow parents to raise issues about the education of their children, or some grievance real or perceived with a teacher without fear of retribution.
Likewise teacher grievances need to be dealt with in a more effective way.
We must tackle the issue of teacher professionalism; and once and for all start down a path of developing teaching into a full-blown profession. The 21st century is time enough for teaching to make this shift.
Teacher registration is just one step in that direction - provided it is done properly. I see registration as a means to developing the professional status of teaching. It should not be mixed up with child protection measures, which should be handled by a separate body.
I would like to see an effective way to recognise and encourage the self improvement of teachers.
There must certainly be a return to the capacity of schools to professionally develop their teachers.
Promotion should involve merit. Schools should have a say in the expertise their staff bring to the community.
It is important to note in passing that for the Coalition policies such as merit selection, the ability to choose staff according to the particular skills and talents they bring to a school community - indeed the whole issue of developing the individual identity of schools - these things are important because we believe they bring about the best educational outcomes.
There is plenty of literature about the correlation between positive school cultures and improved student outcomes. That is why I am so keen on schools developing a special focus. I believe schools should create a sense of place for students; in which individuals are valued, diversity is valued and learning itself valued. The policy of allowing student choice is related to the same philosophy. For me, choice is about finding the best match between the educational needs of the child and the school best able to meet those needs.
Part of the education culture of schooling ought to be the more direct involvement of schools or groups of schools with the training of undergraduate and beginning teachers. Schools should be seen as part of an education continuum which includes the development of the teaching profession itself. That would contribute greatly to the professional esteem of teachers themselves and enhance teacher education, hopefully so that we keep more beginning teachers than we do at present.
Cultural change in schools will have to include a new emphasis on fair and certain discipline, based on the shared values of the community.
Principals must be given the authority and backing to make decisions about suspensions and even expulsions.
Suspensions or expulsions can not be seen as washing our hands of students or shifting the problem elsewhere. I understand that’s the fear of those who oppose more local control over this issue. However it comes down to this: do we actually trust them to act in the best interest of students or not?
If we trust principals and teachers then we must back their professionalism by allowing them to make decisions about discipline and, importantly, providing them with resources to deal properly with students who come to their attention.
There must be more options made available to principals and teachers to get swift assistance for students whose behaviour puts them outside what is acceptable.
It is contrary to the interests of education to allow one or two perpetually disruptive students to destroy a classroom or school culture. Whatever their issues there should be ways to have these dealt with away from the with the view that they will return or be found a more suitable placement.
The current lack of resources for behaviour problem students is forcing a crisis which will result in serious consequences for teachers as well as for other students if it is not adequately dealt with.
To round off this point: the culture of schools should include the values of respect, discipline, and the proper exercise of authority as well as compassion, forgiveness, restitution and restoration.
The next point is community: as we develop positive cultures we are developing the community of schools.
COMMUNITY
The future will require a greater emphasis on the community of schools:
The community of schools begins of course with parents.
We must support the role of parents as they prepare their children for formal education, and as they sustain them through it.
Nowhere is parent support more necessary than in disadvantaged areas. There must be a special emphasis placed on programs for parents with a limited background in education or with socio-economic or other disadvantage (of course these often go together).
The most effective time to support parents is before their children enter school. Hence part of the development of schools within the community must be a greater role in ensuring the early years of childhood are as educationally rich as possible.
Effective parent involvement also means providing them with real and valuable information about the performance of their children, based on tests but also drawing heavily on teacher assessment. Part of valuing teachers means valuing their role in understanding and assessing the educational needs of children and being able to communicate that in a productive way to parents. Standardised tests have their place but not as a replacement for good classroom teaching.
It follows from what I said earlier that parent involvement in decision making is important to developing trust and partnership within the education community. Schools and parents must share aspirations for children. They must be able to genuinely discuss and set goals for their learning community.
We also want to build the sense of community among schools.
Stand alone comprehensive High Schools are unlikely to remain as they are into the next century. They simply can not deliver on their own the diversity of programs and experiences which students increasingly require.
The future will see groups of schools comprehensively and cooperatively meeting the needs of the community they serve.
The challenge is to make the links between these schools positive, collegial and supportive of both staff and students. The reward will be a richer environment for all.
Schools need to be able to develop a strong sense of individual identity (see culture) within a co-operative, collegial environment.
Competition is not an end in itself. Economic theory is challenged by the social role of education. Where artificial competition between schools has been a cause of instability and concern we need to create cooperative relationships and the sharing of ideas and expertise. In this way we can also maximise student choice and access to specialised programs within a comprehensive education system. I remind you of the point I made earlier: the policies of creating choice for students and locally-responsive identity for school have to do with the educational benefit they bring, rather than creating artificial competition which can be destabilising.
The final point in this brief sketch is the classroom. It is arguably the most important.
CLASSROOM
Too often the focus of education policy is everywhere except the classroom.
What happens in classrooms, and the teaching and learning process itself must become a renewed focus for education.
The future will hopefully see proper attention finally given to the black hole of education: the transition years.
It is surely time to reassess the needs of students in the middle years; and develop a response which is more than just peripheral.
As children mature at an earlier age and face challenges and issues which simply were not around a generation ago, there is evidence that we are not adequately meeting their needs.
It is during this time that some students lose their way. This is particularly the stage when behavioural issues in a few can ruin schooling for the rest.
The middle years need to focus on a pedagogy and curriculum which deal explicitly with these problems. As we create a more supportive, even pastoral care model across these years classrooms will be more productive, student development will be better catered for and better educational outcomes will result.
There are many challenges in facing the middle years question; but one thing is important to state up front.
Just as education is about children and not subjects, so a middle years program is about teaching and learning and not buildings. We should not let questions about physical resources stop us from making proper educational decisions about the classroom programs for students in these transitional years.
Any change to the curriculum structure across the middle years would then allow a proper reassessment of programs on either side.
The junior years - completely forgotten in the HSC mania of the current administration - must receive priority attention.
In particular there ought to be the chance to simplify the demands of the curriculum in the early years and continue to increase our understanding and expertise in techniques for developing early success in literacy.
The senior years can also then be placed into a proper perspective. It was a mistake in my view to go ‘top-down’ and change the HSC without first continuing the expansion of the senior years which began under Virginia Chadwick. The area in which they could have made a contribution to build on the Coalition’s good start - vocational education - received almost no attention at all. There is not time to discuss the senior years but suffice to say we believe they need to be more flexible - not less, as the current HSC changes will entrench.
A focus on classrooms should also mean the proper development of technology as a support for teaching and learning. Putting computers in classrooms is barely the basic requirement.
The real work is to integrate computers into the classroom - and that work has hardly begun. In particular teachers must receive proper training as quickly as possible.
Conclusion
I began by talking about the ways in which we must value education. I have also mentioned, under four headings Character, Culture, Community and Classroom just a few of the challenges and possible responses which I believe face education.
In the end none of us knows what challenges the future will throw at our society or us as individuals.
However, as we think about how our nation will prepare its children to face that future, I would encourage you to think about education’s role in the following terms:
If we are to have a positive future, we must highly value education itself.
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