rob

Jun 7, 08 - 10:41 AM

As if...

Looks like a smart move by DET and Govt will allow anyone with a degree to start teaching after completing a three months course. This is really fast tracking to solve a labour shortage, perhaps even shorter than becoming a brickie.

Mr Magoo must know something to be confident that those those with suitable background like engineers geologists etc are going to flock to teaching for a third of the salary and none of the perks.

Boxer

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:03 AM

Re: As if...

He might have to make it 'anyone who has the slightest thing to do with schools' can complete a 3 month course and then become a teacher.

Then we could have teacher aides, clerical staff, community volunteers, canteen volunteers, cleaners and gardeners flocking to our ranks.

First we had Lil’s ‘get rid of dinosaurs; OBE – like it or lump it’ initiative, next we had McGowan’s ‘we’ll get them from overseas’ ploy, then the ‘we’ll get them from interstate’ initiative, followed by the ‘we’ll get them back from retirement’ cracker, followed by the ‘empty out district offices’ masterstroke (at least that resulted in some teachers going back to the classroom, the rest resigned).

Now the fertile mind of the minister and combined brains-trust of DET have cooked up this ‘leave a well paid and respected profession and be treated like crap’ pearler.

They might like to consider this way-out and crazy idea. Substantially crank up the pay, fund schools properly, institute a quality K–12 syllabus; and treat teachers like professionals.

You never know, it might just work!

Fiona

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:11 AM

Re: As if...

Any teaching qualification must be accredited by WACOT or teacher registration will not be granted, regardless of what the Minister has planned.

Why Not?

Jun 7th, 2008 - 1:42 PM

Re: As if...

So we will see how strong WACOT is now. Either they will uphold the profession or be seen as an extension of DET.

lisa

Jun 7th, 2008 - 2:18 PM

Re: As if...

Greg Robson's comment "We're not going to just ram people through a six week course"

So running a "summer school arrangement"is not just ramming people through a six week course????

I notice it was ECU who put their hand up first, we all know they are in financial strife, anything for a buck...

Intrigued...

Jun 7th, 2008 - 2:21 PM

Re: As if...

Fiona; would your faith in WACOT as a guardian of our profession be dented a little if this rear door entry as a fully registered teacher became possible with a 3 month crash course in methodology?

How would our qualifications be regarded internationally I wonder if this were possible?

We'll see, I hope it cannot happen. This is what WACOT can do for teachers, protect the profession from cowboy qualifications. If it cannot do this then then its whole reason-for-being is lost.

I watch with interest and real fear.

Chris Curtis

Jun 7th, 2008 - 2:31 PM

Re: As if...

Intrigued...,

A three-month qualification would make you overqualified in England, where people with no teacher training at all and no tertiary study at all can take classes. They are called cover supervisors. Just wait for the idea to be suggested here. WACOT, the VIT, the NSWIT, etc were established to prevent this nonsense. If they don't, then I guess we should argue for people who've done a First Aid course to be registered as doctors and for Bob the Builder to finish the International Space Station.

Amused

Jun 7th, 2008 - 2:58 PM

Re: As if...

Maybe when Mr McGoo's party is no longer in power and he has been punished by his electorate for his stupidity, he might be attracted by a three month quickie qualification and go into teaching, especially seeing he finds it so attractive in terms of conditions and salary.

What an incredibly stupid man to even entertain such notions of three month training so that people like physiotherapists etc who want a career change which is easier on their family lives can make a career path change (that was the essence of what I heard him say!).

Fiona

Jun 7th, 2008 - 3:03 PM

Re: As if...

I have no knowledge of this proposal, and I suspect it is not as straightforward as it seems; however, the phrase "over my dead body" comes to mind. I find it inconceivable that people could be trained for the classroom in 3 months in any way, shape or form. Maybe they are imagining some sort of internment but, in the meantime, there might be kids' futures at stake. This would be unacceptable.

At face value, we are right to feel that this simplistic view of what is needed to function efficiently in the classroom would devalue our Education qualifications. My position hasn't been helped by the frequent bagging of Dip Ed years, though. There are some who need to think about that.

I honestly don't think there's anything to worry about. The people in WACOT care as much about education as you, they have their own qualifications to safeguard, after all. They are trying to promote the status of teachers not devalue it. Why on Earth would they make a decision that jeopardises that? It is not WACOT's job to solve the teacher shortage. It is an independent body and not answerable to the Minister for its decisions, your $70 ensures that. If it were manipulable, I think you would see mass resignations from the Board, don't you?

Ghost

Jun 7th, 2008 - 3:18 PM

Re: As if...

As Fiona acknowledged, I don't think WACOT would okay this. I think everyone needs to calm down and recognize that this is a desperate bid by McGowan, and not something that WACOT or the union would support. Therefore, this topic isn't another chance to attack WACOT or the union, just DET.

Lisa, I think the 'anything for a buck' line is a bit critical of ECU. It is probably the lack of federal funds which requires them to consider all options for increasing their intake, which is tied to federal funds. Be critical of the federal government for their lack of adequate resourcing of universities by all means.

Pollie Watcher

Jun 7th, 2008 - 3:40 PM

Re: As if...

Mark McGowan keeps stating he makes no apology about trying everything to improve the teacher shortage problem. But what about evaluating the success rate of what has been tried so far?

Teacher Recruitment – success rates [scroll to bottom of the first page]

* Expensive overseas and interstate trips for Mark and his assistants:
- 507 applications from overseas people with 67 employed. Success rate = 13.2%
- 771 applications from interstate with 71 employed. Success rate = 9.2%
* Expensive newspaper advertising to attract retired teachers back to teaching.
- 55 applications with 2 employed. Success rate = 3.6%

Overall, an average success rate of around 10%.

Mark McGowan, this is a dismal FAIL rate! Even the OBE stalwarts would suggest something is seriously WRONG with this level of achievement.

This latest attempt is an arrant nonsense and likely to have a success rate of less than 2%.

Ground control to Mark McGowan (and advisers), are you receiving? Over.

lisa

Jun 7th, 2008 - 4:43 PM

Re: As if...

Lisa, I think the 'anything for a buck' line is a bit critical of ECU. It is probably the lack of federal funds which requires them to consider all options for increasing their intake, which is tied to federal funds. Be critical of the federal government for their lack of adequate resourcing of universities by all means."

Ghost, ECU has choices like all the other universities. If they choose to devalue teachers qualifications, then they also choose to devalue their own reputation.

We all pay for our degrees (still paying for)

ECU also choose to ram DET's propaganda down our throats and lead us all to believe that we would all have jobs at the end of our degree.

I'm sorry, but we all paid $15000 for the pleasure, now they say they may entertain the idea of "summer school"for a teaching qualification.

Yes, the government's lack of funding probably has a lot to with it, but they got my $15000 so I think I should be able to comment.

memorable screen-name!

Jun 7th, 2008 - 5:04 PM

Re: As if...

Oooooo troll, you messed up. You messed up bigtime.

memorable screen-name!

Jun 7th, 2008 - 5:05 PM

Re: As if...

Sorry, didn't see the quotes. Thought it was someone impersonating Lisa.

lisa

Jun 7th, 2008 - 5:07 PM

Re: As if...

Naah, it was me, just forgot to put the "" at the beginning.

Old Teacher

Jun 7th, 2008 - 6:17 PM

Re: As if...

Lisa is right. ECU has granted the title of "Professor" to Robson and would do anything to keep the place full so no wonder its reputation is shot. Yr 12s are very clear on their views about how the uni ranks (which is unfair to some depts as it has some good courses but people judge it by the Mickey Mouse education dept.) ECU started the push for CoS with the shonky 'research' they carried out and have promoted OBE/CoS ever since. It will not gain public respect or get status with the students selecting institutions if it supports this rubbish of three month degrees.

Michael Findlay

Jun 7th, 2008 - 6:36 PM

Re: As if...

It would take 6 weeks just to find out what is meant by key terms such as :

Inclusivity
Restorative Justice
Low Key Responses
Value Adding
Outcomes Based Education
Bending Over
Etcetera

These new teachers will have to learn how to teach while on the job. Perhaps they will be called apprentices and be paid accordingly.

kb

Jun 7th, 2008 - 6:41 PM

Re: As if...

I actually hope it works.
Then we can extent it to butchers wishing to become doctors over their christmas break

Primary POV

Jun 7th, 2008 - 7:00 PM

Re: As if...

McGowan continues to demonstrate what a complete goose he is. My favourite bit of today's article is-
"He (McGowan) conceded that many people on high incomes would not be attracted by a teacher's wage. "But there will be some that will, who might be quite financially comfortable who are looking for something different in their lives and want to give something back," he said."

Yes, give up your fabulously well-paid job with all its perks to be treated with contempt by your employer, be abused by children and their parents, work overtime for nothing, accept sub-standard conditions (no air-conditioned offices, 30 minute lunch breaks if you aren't on duty, pay for your own PD etc etc).

Not to mention the arrogant and ignorant assumption that people can learn how to do this most complex job in 3 months- the man is a fool.

Fiona

Jun 7th, 2008 - 7:07 PM

Re: As if...

Would our Minister allow the possibility that we do three months and qualify as physiotherapists/engineers/lawyers? How shocking that an Education Minister indicate such contempt for teachers and their specialised skills.

Concerned

Jun 7th, 2008 - 7:13 PM

Re: As if...

My concern is that Mark is targetting people who want to gain higher education qualifications using the 'holidays' to do so.

Had a conversation recently with a person who said if not for the teaching 'holidays' he/she would have had trouble completing his/her PHD degree. Suffice to say, this person worked for a very short time in the school classroom situation before moving on.

Otherwise, I can not see a reason why any sensible person would want to enrol in the short course.

Other than the 'give-back' quip from Mark. 'Give back' for what?

Ground Control to Mark, are you receiving? Over.

FOS

Jun 7th, 2008 - 7:23 PM

Re: As if...

I have an honours degree, a diploma of education and twenty years experience as a teacher.

Mr McGowan, you have a law degree yourself, is there any chance of you advocating in favour of law degrees that teachers like me can do in three months, say between December and February. I have given enough to teaching and I would like to contribute elsewhere before I get too old.

Primary POV

Jun 7th, 2008 - 7:44 PM

Re: As if...

I like your thinking, FOS. I'm quite taken with the idea of being an astro-physicist- don't know what they do but it sounds very important. Can I be one of them in 3 months?

idledim

Jun 7th, 2008 - 8:48 PM

Re: As if...

"This is what WACOT can do for teachers, protect the profession from cowboy qualifications. If it cannot do this then its whole reason-for-being is lost."
(Intrigued)

Intrigued

Accreditation of pre-service courses is not the only thing WACOT does for teachers, though it is one. The Board is charged with the solemn responsibility of safeguarding the standards of pre-service courses and is always active in reviewing these. WACOT also registers teachers, works to develop mutual recognition arrangements with other regulatory bodies,
ensures that teachers who do the wrong thing are de-registered - and a range of other things besides. It does this for you at a net cost of $48 (unless you're a Level 3, 4, 5 or 6 teacher or administrator, in which case the net cost is $41.)

If WACOT did not exist, or if it did not enjoy an arms-length relationship with the Minister, there would be no need for proposals such as the Minister's to be even discussed. He could simply do as he wished with respect to accreditation.

If there were no WACOT, every school would need to independently validate the qualifications of staff. How individual schools might even begin to determine the relevance and suitability of interstate and overseas courses is beyond me? And if teachers wanted to move elsewhere the nightmare would begin all over again.

There are a range of issues with respect to WACOT - and WACOT is aware of them! But in terms of its role as an accreditation authority, and irrespective of any particular decisions the Board might make about this or that course, I think a few more teachers should be thankful that we are, at least, self-regulating - because the only alternative would be to be regulated by the government and in the political interests of the government.

idledim

Jun 7th, 2008 - 8:58 PM

Re: As if...

Copied from the thread 'As if'

"This is what WACOT can do for teachers, protect the profession from cowboy qualifications. If it cannot do this then its whole reason-for-being is lost."
(Intrigued)

Dear Intrigued

Accreditation of pre-service courses is not the only thing WACOT does for teachers, though it is one. The Board is charged with the solemn responsibility of safeguarding the standards of pre-service courses and is always active in reviewing these. WACOT also registers teachers, works to develop mutual recognition arrangements with other regulatory bodies,
ensures that teachers who do the wrong thing are de-registered - and a range of other things besides. It does this for you at a net cost of $48 (unless you're a Level 3, 4, 5 or 6 teacher or administrator, in which case the net cost is $41.)

If WACOT did not exist, or if it did not enjoy an arms-length relationship with the Minister, there would be no need for proposals such as the Minister's to be even discussed. He could simply do as he wished with respect to accreditation.

If there were no WACOT, every school would need to independently validate the qualifications of staff. How individual schools might even begin to determine the relevance and suitability of interstate and overseas courses is beyond me? And if teachers wanted to move elsewhere the nightmare would begin all over again.

There are a range of issues with respect to WACOT - and WACOT is aware of them! But in terms of its role as an accreditation authority, and irrespective of any particular decisions the Board might make about this or that course, I think a few more teachers should be thankful that we are, at least, self-regulating - because the only alternative would be to be regulated by the government and in the political interests of the government.

idledim

Jun 7th, 2008 - 9:08 PM

Re: As if...

Sorry about the duplication above. Bravenet won't actually let me copy to the thread: 'Quickie course to become a teacher' at the moment!?

Secondary Teacher

Jun 7th, 2008 - 9:32 PM

Re: As if...

FOS - Like you I have a Degree, Dip Ed Admin, HC, Certificate IV, plus other qualifications - taught for 35 years and I really would like to be a lawyer - so Mark how about allowing me to do a 3 month Law Course/Degree/Diploma over the next Xmas holidays?- I could then use my Law qualifications to help disadvantaged and poorly paid teachers or the pensioners, when I retired. I wonder how long it took Mark to do his Law Degree? and how has he used it? It surely hasn't assisted him in performing the role of Minister of Education in this state. What an absolute joke he is. If some clown at DET put forward this suggestion of a 3 month course to solve the teacher shortage crisis, that person is also an absolute joke. Actually I don't know how these people can sleep at night!

Primary POV

Jun 7th, 2008 - 9:35 PM

Re: As if...

"If there were no WACOT, every school would need to independently validate the qualifications of staff."

Guess what, idledim, even if someone turns up at your school to do relief teaching with a WACOT number you still can't assume they are employable by DET. I've posted on this issue before and the fact is that every school DOES have to validate the qualifications of teachers because a WACOT number does not mean DET will pay them. There is a list of teachers DET will not employ, even if they have a DET and WACOT number, and the only way you know if someone is on the list is to check with DET.

idledim

Jun 7th, 2008 - 10:01 PM

Re: As if...

Point taken, Primary POV - at least insofar as it implies that WACOT is not yet a one-stop-shop.

Steve Kessell

Jun 7th, 2008 - 10:41 PM

Off-topic

"Then we could have teacher aides, clerical staff, community volunteers, canteen volunteers, cleaners and gardeners flocking to our ranks."

I'd go for the gardeners.

My home nursery often generates more plants than I can use, and a local school is overjoyed to take them off my hands. [I guess their gardening budget is what we’d expect from DET.]

Just delivered 20 hollyhock seedlings – the assistant gardener read up on them and had them all in the ground the next day.

When did Silver City ever exhibit that level of efficiency?

Steve Kessell

Jun 7th, 2008 - 10:50 PM

Re: As if...

I assume that if this ever comes to a WACOT vote, WACOT Board Member "Prof" Greg Robson will abstain.

[I'm still waiting to hear UWA's, Murdoch's, Curtin's and Notre Dame's enthusiastic response to the proposal.]

Web

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:02 PM

Re: As if...

From the WACOT website: About Us : The Board

GREG ROBSON

Nominated jointly by the deans of education of the five WA universities

Professor Robson's profile will be posted here shortly.

idledim

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:03 PM

Re: As if...

Steve

I can assure you that all members of the board display absolute integrity with respect to declarations of any conflict of interest on any matter.

Steve Kessell

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:07 PM

Re: As if...

Very pleased to hear that. One would expect no less.

Steve Kessell

Jun 7th, 2008 - 11:58 PM

Why it won't happen

Leaving aside the view of many, that much of the content of a Dip Ed is a waste of time, consider:

The universities will not be able to charge, for a 3-month fast-track course, anywhere near as much as they charge for a full-year, full-time Dip Ed. MAYBE they could say it’s the equivalent of one semester full-time. A more honest appraisal might be one-third of the full Dip Ed.

Thus they could charge HALF [or a third] the fee of a Dip Ed.

But once the fast-track becomes available, who in their right mind would do the 12-months version, when they could do the 3-month cheaper one instead?

Are education faculties about to volunteer to lose HALF [two thirds] of their Dip Ed income? I think not.

Only available to mature age applicants with the “appropriate prior qualifications and requisite workforce experience”? Well, that describes a large section of the Dip Ed audience.

BTW: Where does one do the prac during a 3-month summer course? Perhaps at one of McGowan’s “special ed facilities” for young criminals?

Paul

Jun 8th, 2008 - 1:31 AM

Re: As if...

“BTW: Where does one do the prac during a 3-month summer course? Perhaps at one of McGowan’s “special ed facilities” for young criminals?”

You mean like Warnbro CHS?

marko vojkovic

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:08 AM

Re: As if...

Yet another ridiculous suggestion from our Minister. He still doesn't get it. He could make the Dip Ed course 3 hours long and still nobody would want to become a teacher. The pay is non competitive and not worth the reduction in life expectency due to stress. You don't make the destination any more attractive by shortening the trip.

There's a shortage of doctors and nurses Minister. Let's make these professions into a 3 month conversion course and see how the public like it.

This suggestion by the Minister is an insult to the teaching profession and reaches a new level of hypocrisy. On the one hand we are constantly reminded of our professional obligations and on the other we are told that our qualifications can be pulled out of a cereal box.

lisa

Jun 8th, 2008 - 8:52 AM

Re: As if...

Marko, send that to the West, that says it all.

Kate

Jun 8th, 2008 - 9:11 AM

Re: As if...

Steve,

I thought that since the HECS on education coures was frozen several years ago that the unis don't actually make all that much money out of students studying education.

Joy

Jun 8th, 2008 - 10:08 AM

Re: As if...

If one was an authority on one's subject matter, for example Maths or Sciences, the useful material in a Dip Ed could be delivered in three months, in my opinion. Some supervised Prac should be included and assessed. I think that as with Medicine applicants, an interview by a competent person should be an important part of the process to enter the course, or at least to enter the profession. In my view, some people have the potential to become good teachers, while others do not. Doing a Dip Ed does not make much difference to the outcome. Prac, on the other hand, is very helpful, as is mentoring, and watching others teach.

Usually Maths and Science people from industry will not put up with the contempt with which they are treated by DET, let alone the pay, as others have noted above.

Fiona

Jun 8th, 2008 - 10:36 AM

Re: As if...

I still think a year would be required. Just look at the assessment and reporting issues alone, quite apart from classroom management strategies! Think about curriculum design, modern pedagogy, cross-curricular literacy strategies and responsibility, differentiated programming, inclusivity management, safety, legal issues,time management etc etc It would be terribly unfair to the new teacher, the teachers around him/her and the 150 students who land an inexperienced teacher to plonk them in a school unprepared. I can't see it being anything other than disastrous for all. It would largely create a body of high maintenance staff who are a drain on a school resources and the mentoring of whom would be another service staff are expected to provide for free.

Kate

Jun 8th, 2008 - 10:44 AM

Re: As if...

But Fiona, most of that stuff is not taught in the Dip Ed., anyway. If one year of learning nothing doesn't achieve anything, why on earth would two years of learning nothing achieve it?

Fiona

Jun 8th, 2008 - 10:51 AM

Re: As if...

Well, it should be! What happens in a Dip Ed these days? Maybe that's the real issue.

Kate

Jun 8th, 2008 - 11:16 AM

Re: As if...

I think you are correct - before we demand that people take a course to qualify them for a particular job, then there is a need to ensure that the course actually delivers.

But there still is also a need to ensure that those teaching a subject, particularly at senior secondary level, have the requisite subject matter knowledge.

Here in NSW, the NSWIT is becoming more prescriptive about the content (ie.e, subject matter knowledge) taught in all undergraduate teaching degrees, which I think is a very good thing. (I must admit that initially I was skeptical about the NSWIT, as I thought it was going to be just another layer of bureaucracy.) But there still seems to be a perception that as long as a teacher is registered, they can be asked to teach any school subject at all.

on the other hand

Jun 8th, 2008 - 12:14 PM

Re: As if...

It's a logical move is it not, setting the prerequisite qualifications so that they are commensurate with the pay and conditions on offer?

Remember McGowan, saying people on high incomes would not be attracted by a teacher's wage; " But there will be some that will, who might be quite financially comfortable who are looking for something different in their lives and who want to give something back."

There. He's said it. In essence, teaching, in his view, is a sort of pro-bono volunteer community service which should be done for nominal remuneration by those who don't really depend on the income.

At the same time his representatives are arguing before a court of law that the pay and conditions he is offering are just and fair and not only appropriate according to the current salary benchmarks for an essential, highly respected profession, but generous!

In any real court of law, if opposing counsel provided to the court his statement (quoted here) as evidence, it would severely weaken his case.

reading tutor

Jun 8th, 2008 - 1:52 PM

Re: As if...

The training offered at the WA universities is geared very much to the local requirements. Is this what university education is about? Many teachers in WA - especially now with 500+ people a week coming to WA - are working without the benefits of local information already if they are not home-grown. I'd love to know the percentage of teachers who are not locally trained.
The employer should provide this specific type of training via inservice. An example is the type of assessment very peculiar to WA! Making Inconsistent Judgments springs to mind.

Fiona

Jun 8th, 2008 - 1:56 PM

Re: As if...

reading tutor, that surprises me to hear you say that. I was under the impression that WA universities deliberately don't teach to local documents as they are in the business of turning out people equipped to teach anywhere. To get bogged down in local policy would be pointless for all of the new teachers who go to teach elsewhere.

reading tutor

Jun 8th, 2008 - 2:07 PM

Re: As if...

Perhaps I'm wrong Fiona. I don't know many new graduates but I've read posts on here sggesting that a lot of time is spent on the Curriculum Framework, not to mention First Steps.

Joy

Jun 8th, 2008 - 2:09 PM

Re: As if...

Far and away the best Education pd I have received is right here on PLATO. The information Web has gathered together and organized for easy access, and the brilliant forum, keeps us informed up to the minute, with everything educational, in WA and abroad, that is worth knowing.

As an employee of DET, I felt like a mushroom, kept in the dark, and fed on ....

The Dip Ed was well nigh useless in my opinion, as I said above. On the other hand, the Prac was great.

PLATO has empowered us all, by switching the light on, and putting teachers in touch with one another if that is what they want.

The main thing the new teaching applicants need is our web address: www.plato.com

Fiona

Jun 8th, 2008 - 2:23 PM

Re: As if...

Reading tutor, my experience of new grads is that they have sweet FA knowledge of the Curriculum Framework or the Outcomes and Standards Framework. I used to complain loudly until I heard the universities' perspective, which makes sense. What we need now is an induction week for grads and others entering the WA system in the documents used - hey, maybe WACOT could do that!? I wonder who should pay?

reading tutor

Jun 8th, 2008 - 2:27 PM

Re: As if...

Well my experience is different from yours Fiona, thinking back also to a 10 week prac. student I had so I guess we can say that training is a bit uneven!
And I endorse what Joy says about plato, and I hope the new union website will also be a great addition to teachers' self-education.

Paul

Jun 8th, 2008 - 3:23 PM

Re: As if...

“What we need now is an induction week for grads and others entering the WA system in the documents used”

If universities told the truth to Grad Dips, as opposed to getting the previous year’s happy, shiny people in to do the hard sell six months after the course has started, anyone with half a brain would run a mile. Why do you think you don’t get the first big DET lecture until after the cutoff date for your PELS bill?

If the real story was laid out from the go get “induction week for grads” would look like a 100 metre sprint for the car park.

lisa

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:10 PM

Re: As if...

Fiona,

We were pretty much force-fed Curriculum Framework and Outcomes and Standards Framework (or outcome statements as they were then) for the whole four years of our degree. A lot of it just went in one ear and out the other during the first couple of years. but by the time I left in 2006, that is one thing I did have a pretty good handle on.

I am not sure about the Grad Dip though, I can't imagine trying to get a handle on the Curriculum Framework as well as all the other issues in 12 months, let alone 3 months.

Reading Tutor - Making Consistent Judgements (or as you so aptly put it, Making Inconsistent Judgements) is something that was not covered at Uni, but the department runs workshops. It is one of things that you learn "on the job" so to speak.

$

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:18 PM

Re: As if...

Can we not concentrate on the most important problem?
There is going to be a frightening shortage of teachers.

Fiona

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:19 PM

Re: As if...

Thanks, Lisa, it seems to differ depending on uni (or maybe on student). Paul, you're such a cynic, they're not running away, they're all running to Wooldridge's to get their cheap copies of First Steps.

lisa

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:20 PM

Re: As if...

Yes, and First Steps, Reading Tutor. I went to ECU and they used to run all the PD for First Steps (as an extra to the units we already did)and at an extra cost too. So I guess it was in their (financial) interest to promote First Steps.

$

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:23 PM

Re: As if...

So, when was the Twomey Report mentioned during this SSTUWA State Council meeting?

MiM

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:30 PM

Re: As if...

Council delegates are not allowed to tell!

Sorry!

You'll have to ask the Union President yourself!

Fred

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:32 PM

Re: As if...

It seems teachers won't be releasing their reports if the DET doesn't release its report. But $, you really need to get more actively involved with the Union campaign if you want certain things to happen or if you want to be in the loop.

$

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:32 PM

Re: As if...

Why all the secrecy?

$

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:36 PM

Re: As if...

Fred, I can assure you that I am active. I can,t believe bullshit when I read or hear it.

Fred

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:42 PM

Re: As if...

Therefore you need to wait for your Union rep to inform you of where we're all going. Make sure you get on the Luv(Campaign) bus, because you need a hug.

$

Jun 8th, 2008 - 6:53 PM