[English] The Literacy Wars/VIT - a personal explanation

[Terry Hayes]

Oops, sorry to be airing private correspondence on a public discussion list
but since I have, a couple of clarifying contextual points re my previous
email.

1. I'm one of several reviewers for English in Australia -Scott Bulfin is
the reviews editor- of Ilana Snyder's The Literacy Wars. Worth reading,
especially for those who missed all the flak flying back and forth in The
Australian regarding the teaching of critical literacy and literary theory.
But, as I intimated, for me  book is essentially recording a moment in time
past as the profession moves on to the next 'battleground', the development
of a national English curriculum, without the ideological heat  of a
'cultures/literacy wars' scenario generated by a Coalition government's
interest in education. Julia Gillard has stated several times she will leave
the development of a national curriculum to the experts, not to politicians,
and the development will be based on evidence based research. But which
experts? Which research? Both contested ground.

2. And yes, I am a member of the Council of the Victorian Institute of
Teaching. Have been since its inception. A ministerial appointment because
of the work I'd been doing with the Council of Professional Teaching
Associations of Victoria CPTAV of which VATE is a member. On the MACVIT
Committee which recommended VIT's establishment as well. Pleased by some of
its achievements to date, have concerns about others. So have been following
the comments on the Institute on this list with interest. No doubt the
publication of the review-currently with the Minister- will provide a useful
catalyst for more discussion about whether teachers want a 'standards'
institute, what they want it to do, what the legislation allows it to do,
and what paying for its existence might signify.

Regards

Terry


On 27/5/08 6:06 AM, "Terry Hayes" <terryhayes45 at bigpond.com> wrote:

> Hello Scott
> 
> A timely email to remind me to let you know I'll have the Ilana review to
> you sometime over the weekend. Off to a VIT retreat at Woodend Wednesday and
> Thursday so will probably put finishing touches to t in the week hours
> betwixt. Basic point I want to make is that it is essential a potted
> history, reportage on a battle past and  really won by progressives because
> of demise of Howard government. The next phase of evolving a progressive
> English curriculum will need to be more strategic as we will be engaging
> with 'friends' who are less ideological, more pragmatic.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Terry
> 
> 
> On 26/5/08 11:40 PM, "Scott Bulfin" <scott.bulfin at education.monash.edu.au>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi folks,
>> 
>> Some of you may be interested in the attached advertisement for
>> National Reading Day, which is part of National Literacy and Numeracy
>> Week 1-7 September 2008.
>> 
>> Seems like an interesting initiative. AATE works with ALEA, the
>> Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) and DEEWR to
>> run the various activities.
>> 
>> http://nlnw.edu.au
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Scott
>> 
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> 
> 
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> VCE English Teachers' Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vate.org.au - Victorian Association for the Teaching of English
> VATE and
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html - Victorian
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