Much as been written lately in the press about the success of Asian education: particularly regarding schooling in Singapore and China.
The main emphasis of these reports is that vigour, examinations, pertinent content and well qualified educationists are the keys to quality education.
In contrast education in Qld is hampered by poor or inadequate syllabi, bureaucratic red tape and a stultifying, suffocating approach from the Queensland Studies Authority [QSA].
In many ways this, so called “education body”, acts in direct opposition to creating the standards required for high quality education.
The QSA requirements for examining and recording of students achievements are not precise and are at best opaque. Symbols handed to pupils give a very imprecise account of what they have achieved. Imagine going shopping and the price of an article was given a symbol B. How do you assess what is the true value of the article? Accountants don’t use symbols to decide on the Tax one has to pay – nor does the ATO. Similarly how accurate is it to give a pupil a B? Clearly this system has to be thrown out and replaced with marks and percentages. Of course the QSA will provide some mumbo jumbo edu-babble to justify their approach.
The other main aspect where Asian students have an advantage over the Queensland pupils is that Content is seen as king.
Einstein did not come to his theory of relativity from a vacuum of content. Rather he knew, fully understood the facts and could apply the theory in practical ways. He consequently could make quantum leaps in creativity. The build up of knowledge follows these steps: recall of information, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and finally, creativity coming last. This latter skill is dependent on all of those other formative steps. Instead of ensuring these foundations are laid down, the QSA is playing around with education with the Extended Response Tasks [ERTs] and Extended Experimental Investigations [EEIs] – open-ended tasks in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry which soak up valuable teaching time. While contextual learning has its merits, pupils in Queensland schools are compelled by the QSA to research information and undertake experiments they are not qualified to do. We are talking about 15/16 year olds not 4th year university students. It is putting the cart before the horse. In most cases these [ERTs and EEIs] become defacto or at best camouflaged English assignments; not Mathematical or Scientific applications. The bottom line is that they are of dubious educational value in Maths and Science where assessment criteria set by the QSA emphasise the ability to write well rather than the ability to do physics, chemistry or maths. The sciences are vast areas of knowledge today. Why make it harder for pupils to become efficient and knowledgeable in these difficult subjects? Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel it makes sense to use the wheel to further understanding and creative applications. Hence, the emphasis and teaching time should be geared to honing traditional problem solving skills and act as a springboard for the transfer of knowledge.
Finally, the load on teaching staff under the current authority, is related more to meeting assessment criteria that are unrelated to Maths and Science rather than passing on knowledge which they have gained from years of involvement. It acts as a demotivating enterprise for teachers and has a very negative feedback on pupils, particularly boys. The QSA approach is disguised socialisation and feminisation of maths and science.
Clearly all pupils suffer with this approach, particularly boys and more especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Who wins: the pen pushers in the authority – not the pupils and not our nation.
Merv Myhill
BSc; UEd; BEd; MEd.