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wendybr

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wendybr

wendybr

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The top end of our student cohort is also losing ground....apparently.

What's that all about? IDK.

Not sure...but maybe if all is well in their lives, the crazy educational hot-housing of kids that goes in  some Asian countries is making ours less competiive in some areas.

Our curriculum is very diverse, whilst in other countries it's very narrow and is concentrated in the basics more.

Maybe that plays into metrics.

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StringerBellend

StringerBellend

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3 hours ago, Neverbloom said:

I think when it comes to schools, in pe/health there needs to be a focus on mental health however that **** needs to stay out of all other subjects imo

You can’t just spend 10 mins at the end of PE lesson on mental health, what good will that do? Mental health is way more complex and students need far more support in that area (availablily of counselling, teachers with the time to identify issues etc) 

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StringerBellend

StringerBellend

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12 minutes ago, wendybr said:

By the state Lib govt, from the start, Learning Support was gouged.

That has made a difference ar my school, in terms of lifting struggling kids.

I know I’m being a bit simplistic here, but at the same time they have given funding to the posh kids independent schools.

So learning support at your school gets cut while likes of Newington add a new Cricket oval pool etc. a school that doesn’t need so much in learning support as the kids with real issues aren’t going there (at least not for long if they have an issue)

The just get back to the old values and it will all be sweet is such a Liberal lie to cover up they are taking money away from public system while giving it to the private. These arseholes then blame the teachers, the unions etc and say but it’s not about $. If it’s not about $ then why are you all spending $30k a year to send your kid to some rugger bugger school 

Given the massive changes I society coming our way, education more than ever is the most important thing you can give her kids and the arseholes in government only see it as being worthy of their rich mates

I look at my kids and I want them to have some of the opportunities I had (and had to fight for which is another story)

Edited by StringerBellend
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wendybr

wendybr

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Yes to that^^^^.

And lastly....off the top of my head, discipline is much harder.

Disrespect for authority is stronger in society than ever, I think... and some of that impacts on the attitudes of A PROPORTION of kids in classrooms.

We were ranked 3rd worst out (of something like 63 countries) for classroom disruptions/ill discipline in a survey last year I think it was.

That is shocking!

I won't say that that has nothing to do with teachers' capacity to deal with the complexities of managing 30 teens at once....but almost no teachers don't care, almost no teachers want unproductive classrooms etc etc.

But the attitudes of a proportion of students in a proportion of classrooms is VERY different to what they were in the past.

And that would be possibly impacting on comparative performances of our students also.

Maybe?

 

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wendybr

wendybr

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12 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

You can’t just spend 10 mins at the end of PE lesson on mental health, what good will that do? Mental health is way more complex and students need far more support in that area (availablily of counselling, teachers with the time to identify issues etc) 

Yes definitely.

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StringerBellend

StringerBellend

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3 minutes ago, wendybr said:

And lastly....off the top of my head, discipline is much harder.

Disrespect for authority is stronger in society than ever, I think... and some of that impacts on the attitudes of A PROPORTION of kids in classrooms.

W were ranked 3rd worst out (of something like 63 countries) for classroom disruptions/ill discipline in a survey last year I think it was.

That is shocking!

I won't say that that has nothing to do with teachers' capacity to deal with the complexities of managing 30 teens at once....but almost no teachers don't care, almost no teachers want unproductive classrooms etc etc.

But the attitudes of a proportion of students in a proportion of classrooms is VERY different to what they were in the past.

And that would be impacting on comparative performances of our students.

 

Thanks Wendy to my above post. The issues you outline (so well) are all thrown up by Libs under the (just got back to how it was arguement) as an excuse that it’s not about funding, but for mine surely funding is a huge part of that.

The world ain’t going back to “the good old days” even if they existed. 

surely we need things such as, small class sizes, teacher support, more personalised learning, options for kids to do things better suited to them etc, all of which costs $$$

added that the private and selective schools can just kick those kids out and punt the problem to the local state school 

 

 

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wendybr

wendybr

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Actually...another impact on our educational ranking possibly would be the proportion of kids with NESB (non English speaking backgrounds) now called LBOTE  (language backgrounds other than English).

As these kids acquire English (assuming international testing doesnt adjust for it????) perhaps their literacy scores affect results?

In the end, these kids will often have "value added" more than local kids.

But a country like Japan, for instance, or China, wouldn't  have this as much of an issue,  I wouldn't think.

Again...all off  the top of my head...no reading or research undertaken.

:unknw:

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Neverbloom

Neverbloom

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28 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

You can’t just spend 10 mins at the end of PE lesson on mental health, what good will that do? Mental health is way more complex and students need far more support in that area (availablily of counselling, teachers with the time to identify issues etc) 

where the hell did you get 10 minutes from? i had about 120 minutes a week of PE/health and you really think out of all the people on the planet me who have had mental health issues for over 20 years would believe that you can cure them in 10 minutes? i wish

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wendybr

wendybr

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22 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Thanks Wendy to my above post. The issues you outline (so well) are all thrown up by Libs under the (just got back to how it was arguement) as an excuse that it’s not about funding, but for mine surely funding is a huge part of that.

The world ain’t going back to “the good old days” even if they existed. 

surely we need things such as, small class sizes, teacher support, more personalised learning, options for kids to do things better suited to them etc, all of which costs $$$

added that the private and selective schools can just kick those kids out and punt the problem to the local state school 

 

 

Yes there is all this...

Especially funding for the INTENSIVE early catch up programs, which require small group, or one on one attention...to me, THAT'S  where most of funding increases need to be massively targetted. And quality teacher aide support to help kids at all stages (those who work to support kids, and help the teachers to help kids)

At our school, we are lucky in having brilliant teacher's aides ( now called SLSOs - School Learning Support Officers), whose importance in the system was recently recognised with very significant and well deserved pay increases, actually.

But we have fewer SLSO days now than we did 10 years ago, despite a bigger school population.

Get lagging kids very early on with proven programs,  and support those who need ongoing support throughout their schooling with serious/appropriate funding...and there'd be improved results, I think.

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StringerBellend

StringerBellend

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10 minutes ago, Neverbloom said:

where the hell did you get 10 minutes from? i had about 120 minutes a week of PE/health and you really think out of all the people on the planet me who have had mental health issues for over 20 years would believe that you can cure them in 10 minutes? i wish

Sorry mate, what I was getting at is you can’t just “teach” mental health in one subject, although putting time aside would be a good thing. It’s something that has to be part of everything (to your keep it out of other stuff) 

All Teachers etc need training, time etc to identify and help 

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StringerBellend

StringerBellend

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5 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Yes there is all this...

Especially funding for the INTENSIVE early catch up programs, which require small group, or one on one attention...to me, THAT'S  where most of funding increases need to be massively targetted. And quality teacher aide support to help kids at all stages (those who work to support kids, and help the teachers to help kids)

At our school, we are lucky in having brilliant teacher's aides ( now called SLSOs - School Learning Support Officers), whose importance in the system was recently recognised with very significant and well deserved pay increases, actually.

But we have fewer SLSO days now than we did 10 years ago, despite a bigger school population.

Get lagging kids very early on with proven programs,  and support those who need ongoing support throughout their schooling with serious/appropriate funding...and there'd be improved results, I think.

It’s good that your school has that, do they also deal with neuro-diverse kids? And also what about kids at other end of scale? 

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Neverbloom

Neverbloom

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10 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Sorry mate, what I was getting at is you can’t just “teach” mental health in one subject, although putting time aside would be a good thing. It’s something that has to be part of everything (to your keep it out of other stuff) 

All Teachers etc need training, time etc to identify and help 

i agree as in all teachers need training to be able to identify mental health issues, i mean this was a long time ago but i remember when i was having issues in school and my history teacher saw it, that said school counselors need to be better i have heard so many negative stories/had my own negative story, mostly in PE health we learned about smoking and drinking, mental health didnt get much of a mention it was usually just smoking, drinking or sex ed, oddly enough talking about mental health could actually help people with the other topics we had to learn about over and over

 

but no reason to talk about mental health in math for example

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wendybr

wendybr

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5 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

It’s good that your school has that, do they also deal with neuro-diverse kids? And also what about kids at other end of scale? 

Absolutely...all schools (and their SLSOs) do.

But there isnt enough SLSO time. Every school would say that, I expect. It's aways stretched.

I think we're now back to 10 days - 2 SLSOs for 4 days each.

Some years back we were slashed from 12 days to 7!! 

In one hit!

Due to funding changes....govt belt tightening.

Re our high achievers...class placement and an increasingly rigorous approach to materials selected for teaching, and rigorous assessments, I guess, would be the approach to try to stretch them.

 

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wendybr

wendybr

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3 hours ago, Neverbloom said:

i agree as in all teachers need training to be able to identify mental health issues, i mean this was a long time ago but i remember when i was having issues in school and my history teacher saw it, that said school counselors need to be better i have heard so many negative stories/had my own negative story, mostly in PE health we learned about smoking and drinking, mental health didnt get much of a mention it was usually just smoking, drinking or sex ed, oddly enough talking about mental health could actually help people with the other topics we had to learn about over and over

 

but no reason to talk about mental health in math for example

It's more of a focus these days...both in terms of teacher (and support staff) professional development, and what the kids get.

There are special sessions on mental health...what to look out for in others and oneself...in every year group.

Enough? Effective?

IDK.

But schools try...and plenty of teachers are good at picking up mental health conditions.

 

 

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wendybr

wendybr

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At a time where Australia really feels to be locked in somewhat of a war, where else would you want our inspirational national leader.........but by the pool in Hawaii (or wherever he and the fam are enjoying themselves)?

Even 2GB was critical today, I understand.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/wherethebloodyhellareyou-scott-morrison-is-on-holiday-and-australia-is-not-impressed

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Smoggy

Smoggy

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4 minutes ago, wendybr said:

At a time where Australia really feels to be locked in somewhat of a war, where else would you want our inspirational national leader.........but by the pool in Hawaii (or wherever he and the fam are enjoying themselves)?

Even 2GB was critical today, I understand.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/wherethebloodyhellareyou-scott-morrison-is-on-holiday-and-australia-is-not-impressed

Well at least Tony rolled up sleeves and chipped in with the RFS.

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Paul01

Paul01

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54 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

I’m currently reading Bad Banking which is Adele Ferguson’s book on all of the Banking royal commission stuff, this stuff has been going on since the 80s each time it’s a slap on the wrist and the Banks promise to be good , 

Time to regulate again including bonuses 

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