"The Fish That John West Rejects" and other great comments

Some great nitty gritty comments in response to the Brian Caldwell article: Are we serious about an education revolution?

David 09 Jan 2008 8:53:55am
... a bad school is most often one with a weak head who pays undue attention to the reporting requirements of the educational bureaucracy ... we should empower the heads and the teachers far more and weed out those heads whose raison d'etre is more one of looking good than leading the school

Tom 09 Jan 2008 8:51:58am
... I tend to think that what we have in at the moment really can't have much changed to it RE: the teachers themselves (sure facilities etc can be upgraded) so the best place to attack at the start is the training grounds and start a new generation of teachers. A few years to get implemented, and a few years to start and complete the training of a new batch, it may take some time, but I can't see australia's education 'revolution' occuring within the lifespan of one governement, unless they stay in power for over a decade and a half.

BlzBob 08 Jan 2008 3:53:24pm
Public Schools should get triple the funding of private schools, because they are expected to deal with "The Fish That John West Rejects"

Tony Grant 08 Jan 2008 3:48:48pm
The education revolution will have its casualties, for many educators will need to "lift" their performances ...

Penny 08 Jan 2008 2:59:34pm
At present there are few rewards for excellent teachers who wish to remain in the classroom, with the only real opportunities for increases in salary being to move into management positions

Peter White 08 Jan 2008 2:29:57pm
In the mid 1990's Howard Nicholas wrote a report for the then National Board of Education and Training about the need for well trained teachers of languages. As with many other such reports, it fell into the ubiquitous black hole of politics and little has been done on the recommendations contained therein

meg 08 Jan 2008 6:54:41pm
The ONLY reason/apect that stops public schools from being 'competetive' with private schools is not wealth, is not better resources, is not higher paid or quality teachers. The ONLY reason is stark - its the power given to each systems' Principal to EXPEL studnets and/or parents who just absolutley refuse to work in partnership with the school to resolve behavioural issues

Matty 08 Jan 2008 1:47:25pm
Some have made comment before me about welfare issues and teachers having to be parents at school, for some students this is the only real parenting they will ever get. This is sad but a fact of our society today. Do I want to be a parent, policeman, social worker, psychiatrist, mediator, detective, builder, designer, event organiser, reporter, sporting hero, entertainer, systems administrator, jack of all trades, human resources orgainser etc, etc, no, but unfortunately that is what teaching is.

There may be more. I didn't read them all.