Feedback from a Chemistry Teacher

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I listened to your video.

A few points of feedback. You have not mentioned that the Chemistry and Physics syllabi are now context-based. The most recent version only requires one context per year, but originally, it was fully context based. I have been involved in teaching Senior Chemistry for many years, and have been teaching the fully context based course since 2005. I have found a remarkable increase in the overall recall of students from the beginning to the end of the course. Under the previous unitised system, students would study for one test, forget it, and study for the next test. It became very difficult to teach year 12 as they had forgotten everything they ever knew about bonding or stoichiometry and any other important concept.

With this syllabus, concepts can be introduced in a context, developed in a later context and finally and very fully developed even later in the course. Because students now see Chemistry as an important real-world thing, and because you can remind them – remember we learnt about why molecules can be polar when we studied water, they can quickly relate the concept in a huge number of other situations, have a better memory of everything, and a greater understanding and appreciation of the subject.

I was surprised to see you video describing EEIs and ERTs as 5000 to 6000 word documents. While students generally keep a daily journal/notebook of handwritten notes/reflections and possibly results (many record results straight into spread sheets these days for quick manipulations), the analysis discussion and conclusion of an EEI has a required word limit set by the QSA. For Year 11 it must be 800 to 1000 words. For Year 12, this increases to 1000 to 1500 words. This does not include any introduction, background theory, hypothesis. However, most students would complete this part fairly early in the piece. Data should be analysed as they go along, and any teacher following acceptable practice would be monitoring and encouraging this to happen. Even with initial planning, students should plan it out well enough first, so that the teacher can direct them to have another think before they start (not tell them the answer, but just say – go back and plan more carefully) If this is done by the teacher, I do not think you would see students doing weeks of experimenting and ending up with no good data and a failure. So, if students are doing weighty tomes, they are outside the QSA guidelines. I have seen schools who have students type up everything that would have originally been in a journal, but this sort of time-wasting exercise is an unnecessary demand made by those schools. It is not the fault of the QSA.

I did talk to a non-Science teacher from a large private school in another city. He was telling me of the stress put on students who were submitting reports for EEIs that were a minimum of 30 pages in length. He was astounded, and asked me the requirements. I was astounded too, but told him that the demands being made on those students was far far in excess of the requirements of the syllabus. He did intend to look in the syllabus document and work with the teachers back at school. Part of this also means that the teacher has to explicitly teach a concise scientific writing style. Often, when I have worked with science students who are having trouble with word limits, they are either waffling on with flowery or non-economical language that they can be taught how to edit, and learn to more naturally write in such a concise style in the first place. Or, in the case of ERTs, they can end up saying the same thing over and over in different ways, or write about aspects that are not terribly relevant.

While particular schools and teachers may expect or allow their students to be greatly exceeding the quite reasonable word limits which are in line with other senior subjects, then yes there is a problem. The problem is certain schools, not the syllabus, nor the QSA.

I also note your comments about students having to submit up to five assignment type items a couple of days before exams as well. Again, this is something that does not have to happen. It is not the fault of the QSA or the syllabi in various subjects if certain schools do not look at assessment calendars to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen. It can be worked out satisfactorily. eg, a school can ensure that the EEIs for different subjeccts are at different times of the year, so that no student is complting two EEIs around the same time. I would be thinking that if a subject has a major assignment due around exam block time, then that should be it for then. Any other assessment should have been scheduled at other times for that subject. This is a workable model.

No assessment model works for all students though. Despite the time given well in advance of due dates for assignments, ERTs EEIs, there will always be a few students who do leave it until the very end. I have seen super-organised students who have it all under control, and I have seen a few who don’t have this sort of approach. However, these would be the same students who if assessment was mostly exam based would be not doing much all term and cramming the night before.

Letter to local MP (2)

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I recently attended a meeting along with approximately 150 concerned parents and teachers on assessment methods in Queensland Schools. It was abundantly clear that the following three changes need to be made to our current assessment system:

1.     Long written assessment pieces should be greatly reduced and / or dropped in physics, chemistry and  maths (and other subjects);

2.     Teachers should be able to use numerical marks when determining a student’s final grade for a subject instead of only being allowed to use criteria matrices/ standards grids. It should be mandatory to add marks in assessment and towards grading;

3.     External exams should be introduced for at least some fraction of the total assessment, (as is already the case in other states).

I am writing to you as I need your help in urgently getting this action taken. Why the urgency? Because the longer it takes for these changes to occur, the more students we are subjecting to undue stress in an inequitable overall ranking system. The more disillusioned teachers, resigning due to the strain of large workloads and/or having had letters of complaints to QSA (Qld Studies Authority) fall on deaf ears. Parents know there is a problem but are unsure about what exactly that problem is and what needs to change. The push for change has been going on for far too long.

Please see the attachment which includes important links and my personal experience of teaching Maths for 16 years in QLD.

Thankyou in advance for any assistance you are able to offer.

Teaching to the Test

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As a teacher of 30+ years experience (mainly Senior Maths but now asked to again teach Physics) I remain concerned by the fact that schools continue to offer the same tests and assignments at the same time each year.

Test instruments that have passed through the Panels successfully are highly regarded and rather than risk prejudicing student rankings are used time and again.

This process in turn inadvertently constrains the breadth of topics taught as teachers, who are always short of time, know what topics to focus on to optimize their students results and “appear” to complete their Work Program in good faith.

This situation might only be described as Teaching to the Test. The wider effect is students have narrower breadth of Syllabus coverage.

Some type of External Testing regime, based on current syllabus documents,  would go a long way to remediating this problem.

Letter to local MP (1)

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I am writing to you in reference to Prof Peter Ridd’s network of teachers, parents and academics about the present assessment in Queensland schools.

To a large degree the assessment drives what goes on in the classes in our schools.

I am a maths/physics teacher at a Brisbane high school. Besides teaching senior maths (Year 11 & 12 Maths B & C) and physics, in the last few years I have been teaching university maths (UQ Math1051 & GU 1200BPS Accelerated Mathematics 1) to some of our accelerated maths students. The difference in assessment between schools and universities is vast. The schools criteria based assessment is complicated, time-consuming and, I think, contributes very little to a better assessment of the students or to better educational outcomes. I think students are learning less content and fewer subject-specific skills. They do have to spend a lot of time on assignments. I think the data supports the assertion that our students are falling behind in both basic numeracy and advanced mathematics. Our students are still bright and hard-working, but we are burdening them and our teachers with a system that is well-meaning but is too complicated, too assignment oriented and leads to lower educational outcomes, e.g., in the standard of students’ knowledge and skill in maths and physics on entering university.

The universities are using simple percentage cut-offs to determine students achievements. They do, however, have to have quality assessment.

I agree with Prof Ridd’s network that:

(a) there is a need for an independent review of the QSA by people who are outside the education industry (with a major input by universities);

(b) long written assessment pieces should be greatly reduced in physics, chemistry and  maths (and other subjects);

(c) marks should be allowed to determine the final grade instead of having to use criteria/ standards grids (criteria can be used to determine the cut-offs for the marks). It should be mandatory to add marks in assessment and towards grading;

(d) external exams be introduced for at least some fraction of the total assessment.

Education assessment in QLD schools

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As a psychologist, who has worked with both adolescents and teachers, it has been my experience that students have been discouraged to achieve and may, rather, experience feelings of failure.  At the same time, many teachers are feeling burnt out, stressed and are leaving the profession due to the current assessment system which appears to be deeply flawed and riddled with inconsistencies.  The Queensland methods appear in many ways in complete contrast to promoting an emotionally and psychologically healthy learning environment.  As I understand it, commonly established assessment systems – approved by many jurisdictions around the world – were already in place in Queensland before this latest new system was developed. Commonly accepted school systems employ analytical methods that involve fair weighted marking of tests so that students may receive  direct feedback on achievement and also percentage combinations (compositions) of multiple assessment results, some of which should include common statewide tests, towards a predictable grade.

 

Boys avoiding Biology

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I teach Chemistry and Biology. I despair at the fact that Biology is now little more than a science themed humanities course. The apocalypse in Biology happened in 2004, when we were the first science to get the crazy new “no marks allowed system”. We are limited to 1 test per year, and students get their final grade mostly from assignments and EEIs. A student can get a VHA with almost no transferable knowledge of Biological concepts. Compared to 10 years ago I now teach a class of girls, and I don’t blame the boys from avoiding the subject. How many boys are we driving away from careers in Biological research, because the high school subject we teach has become ridiculous?

Letter to Hon. John Paul Langbroek

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Dear Sir

I am a Secondary Maths/Science teacher in one of the High Schools in the Toowoomba region. I have had grave concerns for the current syllabi in Maths and Science since their mandatory introduction a number of years ago. I fear the system is faulty to the point of invalidity.

It is only since being an active member on the Physics Discussion Lists that I became aware that I am not the only dinosaur in the minority and that many share my view. It is only since Professor Peter Ridd had decided to do something about it that I became more actively involved. After the meeting on Saturday 16th this month, I put the enclosed petition to the staff of this school and have made contributions to Professor Ridd’s site PLATO QLD.

I must stress that my views are not shared by everybody. There are many who have embraced the current system and can work well within it. This is just a reality situation where, as you know, you cannot please everybody. However, I wonder how these same teachers would fare under a system of less stress, where they are able to prepare, teach and prepare their students as best they can without the burden of spending hundreds of hours working on assessment related tasks.

I will be observing carefully the developments that may occur in the Queensland system of assessment over the next year with great interest.

Yours Sincerely

Frustrating and Disappointing

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The inability for the QSA to deliver useful direction regarding the implementation and actioning of the senior science syllabi has been extremely frustrating and disappointing.  They have created a “monster” that they have little control and understanding of with regard to how teachers across the state can implement the learning experiences into their teaching.  The assessment items take weeks to prepare and alot of guessing is made as to how the criteria matches up with the tasks in the assessment items. This is made more difficult because the criteria we are made to use is the Exit Statements, not designed for the individual criteria’s needed for assessment items.  When questioned at a QSA in-service as to why they proceeded in this direction with the senior syllabai, they replied that it was in direct response to what universities wanted and it was the direction that universities were taking with its science programs, and we need to get on board so our students will be appropriately prepared for university.

The Most Unproductive Education System in the World

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At Last!…  Please excuse my exuberance but I’ve been waiting years and years for people to come to their senses and protest about the complex, unfair and extremely work- intensive system of education we have in Queensland.  Were it producing high standards, one could possibly accept it, but the truth is, despite the massive demands made on both teachers and students, standards have been steadily dropping over the duration of my teaching here. We now have (as far as I can judge) the most UNPRODUCTIVE  education system in the world.

I graduated from University in the 60’s and have been teaching  French, Spanish and sometimes English, since then to the present day.  I have taught in the UK and Europe, as well as in Queensland and Victorian Schools.  I attempted to retire several years ago, but I have been constantly asked to do short contracts, teaching in various Queensland Independent Schools.  At the school where I am currently teaching, I have experienced teaching the far superior International Baccalaureate course. In this system teachers can actually add up marks (yes, I could hardly believe it) and fairly give an overall score. The final papers are marked externally so the students know that nothing can be manipulated within their school.  It is no wonder the numbers of students enrolled in these I.B. courses are rising every year.

Things have been getting progressively worse in our schools.  Students are choosing more and more the “easier options” of drama, art, media studies etc. which do not require prior learning.  The problem with languages and maths is that they are cumulative subjects  needing to be built on carefully year after year.  They are regarded as “hard” subjects.  The problem we face is that the “hard “ subjects are no longer required for a good exit result.  Nor are they required for University entrance.  Many students drop the “hard” subjects as soon as they can, hoping to migrate to a subject like drama. One of the problems we face in languages is that students coming fresh from Primary school are ill-equipped to deal with anything that smacks of grammar or rigorous learning. To add insult to injury we have to cope with copious QSA requirements devised by people who are far removed from the coal face.

I regret I was not able to attend the meeting on June 16th.  I do not know how much was achieved but we must all continue to fight this ridiculous system which is needlessly depriving our young of a quality education.

Unacceptable workload

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I teach in Brisbane.  I would have loved to come to the meeting but I am caught up in the very thing that the meeting is about, that is the massive workload that the system has imposed on us. Reports are due on Monday and I still have EEIs and ERTs to mark. This is going to take all of my time this weekend, as it has on the previous two weekends. Assessment setting and marking now take a massive amount of time.  For example it takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes to mark an EEI.  Multiply that by 25 and you can see that this is an unacceptable workload, especially for the teachers who have 3 or 4 senior classes. Setting assessment has also become unbelievably time consuming. Previously I could write an exam in about four hours.  I have had to write two this term and each has taken about 16 hours to write. One of these exams was a year 9 exam which should have been very easy to do. Marking has also become time consuming.  Six hours to mark and record a sixty minute year 10 exam. I see a lot of science teachers who are near breaking point.  I am yet to meet one who likes the system.