[English] RE: new English course

Fri Jan 19 13:41:14 EST 2007

** PRIVATE **

I am coming in with a reply to all of this which I will probably regret later but it comes out of a concern about education. And I guess the reply is not directed at the article.

I pulled back when I said I felt jaundiced but I am not jaundiced about people as such but the organisations and the system around English teaching. I know, for example, that many of the edgy texts on the literature list are not taken up by teachers who live with the tried and true. How much can they model learning if they are working with texts they know inside out? Rather than blaming the people, I want to look at the system in which teachers work.

We do our degrees. whether it be in education or primary or in a discipline and then a Dip Ed if necessary and get into schools. As far as the system is concerned that is it.  What of discipline renewal? We do have pedagogical renewal through VATE and through education faculties, if we go to PD, but apart from the biology teachers, I do not know of any academic department that offers courses to teachers which are not Masters. This is very expensive for a teacher on a teaching salary especially if they have young families and there is no incentive other than personal  development.  Also course work is not offered at night. When I was on VATE council we offered  Critical theory seminars at Monash. Teachers flocked to them because the government provided funding and they were interested. I talked with Aine Maher at AISV and she has put on a Middle Eastern and Chemistry discipline renewal series and teachers who have gone to them feel renewed. She is hoping to move into the English area in Modern Drama.  But discipline renewal needs to be more systematised than even this . As a teacher, I learned an enormous amount from students who would take me to places I had not conceived but that is not a replacement for renewal in disciplines where the concepts shift, new theories and research emerge, and the uncertainty around the field moves. We would not expect doctors to learn their medicine after they finished training from their patients. We need to have system wide professional renewal. Such professional renewal should be available for teachers without payment and should be part of registration renewal. Perhaps, as in parts of America ,all teachers should need to have a Masters of Teaching which would include pedagogicall and   discipline renewal by the time they have been teaching 7 years. Importantly that discipline renewal should be taught by the experts in the academic disciplines, not education academics.

VATE also needs to consider its political role. When I look at  what VCE has become from its beginnings and I look at the growth points in English, it is not enough to be reactive. VATE Council people need to be active in all these worlds so that they are informed about what is happening and the  organisation is considered to have the authority to advise. I understand that  VATE wrote a  letter to the VCAA about the growth points but why didn't VCAA approach VATE and why didn't VATE approach it when VATE  knew that this was on the books? VATE needs to have a profile which ensures that they are part of the  debate about developments in English.  I am very fond of VATE and of course, VATE does enormous things for teachers in the PD and publications area but I think this other area needs to be built.

Finally, I was very disappointed to hear that VIT would not be demanding evidence of professional growth and development from all teachers for registration renewal this round. It is important in the next five year period that discipline renewal be taken up. Until the system that surrounds teachers changes, all students will not have the educational experience they need.  That is not to say that there are not a group of teachers, like the ones in this mailing list, who discuss issues  with their students. But this  does not go for all teachers and the examination at the end of year 12 does not necessarily  invite such discussion.  

Mary

Finally, 

>>> stephen at skyoptic.com.au 19/01/2007 2:43 am >>>
Hi all,

Thanks for the heads-up Prue, and the excellent follow-up Terry.

Appears to me that Mark Lomax sees the world virtually entirely
through the rather old-and-tired 'left and right wing' perspectives

Of course, to him, those edgy discussions on the current war are
therefore reduced, quite simply, to "pacifist or patriot" viewpoints.

Ahh, were life that simple!  Although he fairly convincingly demos
that senior English booklists tend to respond the other way to who
ever is in power, one might ask, so what? Is it not good that pupils
are expected to be 'critical thinkers' re the politics of the day? And
might not Eng Facs therefore be praised for curriculum relevance?

As for left / right-wing ideologies (beware the dreaded communist)
one might assert, get over it and move on, like the rest of the world.

Here are quotes from his article Terry kindly forwarded which seem
encapsulate his main concerns ... 

(quote)  "Coincidently, the texts added to the curriculum are never
remotely supportive of Coalition Government policy ...

What is suggested by this trend is that, currently, there appears to
be nothing, or no-one, in the education bureaucracy to establish or
ensure a degree of pluralism ..

There is a need for far greater pluralism. Perhaps the current list of
30 texts could be reduced to 20, with ten selected by the Left and ten
selected by the non-Left, with the stipulation that school English depts
must choose from both sides of the list .." (end quote)

So, a list of left-wing and right-wing texts, and we select ten from each.

Haha, and who would be brave enough to formulate such a list?  One
imagines how pleased respective writers would be to be categorized
thusly. And why stop there? Maybe we should have more categories?
For example, Christian / non-Christian lists and blue/brown eyed lists?

Seems to me the old left/right wing perspective is really only relevant
these days for historical studies. Get over it, the right won. Move onto
more modern day concerns, if one really wants the respect of students.

Cheers,
Stephen

At 12:09 PM 18/01/2007, Terry writes:

> I've attached a copy of the  full version of the Mark Lopez article Prue
> referred to. A cut and paste version of it appeared in The Oz. On the one
> hand a cause of much merriment - Bruce Dawe was amused -  on the other a
> worry since Lopez was one of the academics invited to the History summit by
> Julie Bishop.
>
> Terry Hayes  
>
>
> On 18/1/07 11:06 AM, "gillpm at mlc.vic.edu.au" <gillpm at mlc.vic.edu.au> wrote:
>
>> Oh dear, I should have written hear hear! I just reread my own message. Did
>> you read the article in the Australian by Mark Lopez on Tues about left wing
>> bias in Victorian english curriculum. It's an interesting one to do with
>> students. My goodness, it's raining. Prue

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