The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles!

Subtitle

The News - for Queensland teachers.

News about the working conditions of Queensland teachers.

Understanding Labor factions.

Robina Cosser says : This is vital information for all Queensland teachers.

Many Queensland school principals, District Office staff, Head Office staff and Queensland Teachers' Union officers are members of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

When I was a member of the Labor Party, other ALP members would often ask me to change branches and move to their branch.

At the time I thought very little of it - but then I was attacked at work.

I am left wondering if I would have been attacked at work if I had agreed to change to a different branch.

Was I in the middle of some sort of battle between different factions of the Labor Party?

I would advise any Queensland teacher to find out if their principal is a member of the Labor Party and, if so, to which ALP faction they belong.

If your principal asks you to join the Labor Party, I would advise you to say "I'm thinking about it" and look very thoughtful.

Do not refuse.

Say nothing critical of Labor.

And I would advise teachers who are Labor party members that you may be at great risk of attack if you are a member of a different Labor Party faction to your school principal.

 

 

Labor Unity - also called "The Old Guard".

(The QTU's) John Battams and Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt are the two most senior powerbrokers in the Old Guard.

John Battams is very shortly going to become state president of the Labor Party through a secret factional deal with Labor Left.

Kevin Rudd, Peter Beattie, Grace Grace (Brisbane Central), Kate Jones, Tim Mulherin, Bill Byrne (Rockhampton) and Julianne Gilbert (the QTU organiser who is now member for Mackay) are all members of the Old Guard / Labor Unity faction.

 

For decades the Old Guard / Labor Unity held the balance of power in Queensland Labor.

But on the 16 March 2014 Dave Hanna, the former factional president, confirmed that the Old Guard / Labor Unity was finished and had no significant union support.

"It's dead as we know it, we are now waiting for the wake," he told The Australian.

"The unions have abandoned the group. It is a tragedy for Labor, because this is the moderate group in the party that sits between the extremes of the Left and the Right."

 

 

Labor Left, also called the Socialist Left.

Anna Bligh, Jackie Trad (South Brisbane), Mark Ryan (Morayfield), Jo-Ann Miller and Lesley Clarke (Past Member for Barron River) are members of the Labor Left faction.

Jackie Trad is the leading light of the Labor Left faction.

In February 2015 the Labor Left faction dominated the Labor partyroom after winning a lot of LNP-held seats.

Gary Bullock, the secretary of the United Voice Union, is the chief negotiator for the Labor Left faction.

In February 2015, Labor Left were reported to be working in a loose coalition with The Old Guard / Labor Unity.

 

 

Labor Right also called Labor Forum or AWU Right.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, Cameron Dick (Woodridge), Anthony Lynham (Stafford), Stirling Hinchliffe (Sandgate), Yvette D'Ath and Desley Boyle (Past Member for Cairns) are members of the Labor Right faction.

Annastacia Palaszczuk is reported to have little support from her own faction.

The Labor Right faction is ruled by the Australian Workers Union (AWU).

 

 

Smug shot, Safe for now, Palaszczuk faces tough road to placate party, Steven Wardill, P.9, The Courier-Mail, 5 February 2015

Talent at mercy of ALP factions, Ex-ministers not certain of portfolio, Steven Wardill and Sarah Vogler, P. 8, The Courier-Mail, 4 February 2015

Unionist boss of cabinet, Left demands eight ministerial positions, Steven Wardill, P.7, The Courier-Mail, 3 February 2015

Leader moves fast after deputy quits, Sarah Elks, P.4, The Weekend Australian, 10-11 January 2015

Wipeout for Rudd faction, Michael McKenna, The Australian, 17 March 2014

"Second pay-off" for new ALP chief John Battams, Michael McKenna, The Australian, 4 March 2016

Maurice Blackburn, Labor-friendly lawyers, are running a class action against the Queensland Labor Government. You might find this odd.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers prides itself as Labor-friendly and has a track record of delivering politically active lawyers into parliament for the Labor Party.

 

Solicitor Vavaa Mawuli is a senior associate of Maurice Blackburn lawyers.

Ms Mawuli has been running the multi-million-dollar class action against the Queensland Government, including Seqwater and Sunwater, for 5500 flood victims, whose homes and businesses were severely damaged or destroyed in Brisbane's 2011 floods.

The flood victims' class action relies in part on evidence, uncovered by The Australian, suggesting that the Queensland government-owned Wivenhoe Dam was operated negligently by dam engineers.

The dam engineers have denied wrongdoing.

A Royal commission-style inquiry found the engineers breached the operating manual for the dam, which suddenly released huge volumes of water that flooded the city.

 

Queensland Water Supply Minister Mark Bailey has been in a relationship with Ms Mawuli.

Mr Bailey is the minister directly responsible for Wivenhoe Dam.

Mr Bailey confidentially sought advice from the Integrity Commissioner for Queensland on his relationship with Ms Mawuli.

The integrity Commissioner, Richard Bingham,advised Mr Bailey that "a fully informed, resonable person may 'perceive' that a conflict (of interest) exists and that an actual conflict may arise at some time in the future" as a result of his relationship with Ms marwuli and his direct responsibilities as a cabinet minister.

Mr Bingham advised that a reasonable person could conclude that, as a consquence, "there is a risk you would not be able to bring an unbiased, in the legal sense, mind to your official responsibilities in the matter".

The relationship has now ended.

 

Robina Cosser says : a)  It seems odd to me that a labor-friendly firm of lawyers is running a multi-million dollar class action on behalf of 5500 flood victims alleging negligence by the Bligh Labor government.

 

And b) John Battams, ex-QTU, now Queensland Council of Unions president, has been appointed as a director of the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC).

The QIC manage the Queensland Teachers' defined benefit fund.

The QIC was established after past Queensland governments gambled the cash on dud investments.

 

Queensland Labor government's July 2015 budget documents reveal that treasurer Curtis Pitt was looking at ways to use the Queensland Teachers' defined benefit fund to buy state-owned energy, port and water businesses.

 

The QTU's vice-president Sam Pidgeon has also been made a director of SEQWater.

SEQWater is subject to this multi-million-dollar class action.

 

Has the Queensland Teachers' defined benefit fund been used to buy SEQWater?

Would this be a good investment for Queensland teachers?


 

 

As good as it gets, Steven Wardill, pp6-7, The Courier-Mail, 16 July 2015

Queensland government freezes superannuation contributions to save $2 billion over five years, Financial Review, 14 July 2015

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk accused of stacking boards with Labor sympathisers, Nathan Paull, AAP, The Courier-Mail and The Cairns Post, 28 September 2015,

Labor rewards Queensland Teachers Union for campaign support : Opposition, Matt Wordsworth, ABC News, 15 October 2015

The minister, the lawyer and class-action conflict, Hedley Thomas, P.1 and P. 8, The Australian, 20 February 2016

Understanding the Education Queensland transfer system.

Prosecuting barrister David Kent QC told Southport Magistrates Court that in December 2011, Education Queensland's former director-general Julie Grantham had a Christmas party at her family home.

At the party, Julie Grantham told David Morgan, the Education Department's Gold Coast director of marketing and operations, that she wanted Runaway Bay Sports Super Centre principal Mark Wingett 'removed'.

And Mark Wingett was transferred.

 

 

Glen Hoppner nepotism plot cooked up at Christmas party hosted by former Education Queensland director-general, court told, Greg Stolz, The Courier-Mail, 30 October 2015

Male teachers : in 2015 only 16 per cent of Queensland state primary teachers are male.

The number of male teachers in Queensland state primary schools has fallen to 16 per cent.

A Department of Education spokesman said that the department was working on effective teacher attraction and retention strategies.

 

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) has commissioned a review to examine what influences people to choose teaching as their first career.

QCT director John Ryan said the review would provide valuable insight for education employers looking to recruit more male teachers.

 

 

Scarcity of male teachers a worry, Brittany Vonow, P.14, The Cairns Post, 19 October 2015

Two senior Education Department bureaucrats : contracts terminated.

Queensland Education Director-General Jim Watterston has announced that the contracts of two senior Education Department bureaucrats - an assistant director-general and the executive director of information and technology - have been terminated over the IT bungle that saw almost 1000 potential child abuse claims go unreported.

Two contractors had their contracts terminated in the days after the glitch was discovered.

Another staffer has now been given 14 days to show cause why their position should not be terminated.

Heads roll in school IT bungle, P. 10, The Courier-Mail, 22 October 2015

Kate Jones seems to be teacher-bashing. What will our union do about it?

Queensland teachers are so easy to bash - they can't complain - it is against their Code of Conduct.

Remember when Labor's Anna Bligh told Queensland that the $50,000 dollar payouts were for 'worn out, disengaged older teachers'.

It all sounded so much better than "we are deliberately MUP-attacking older teachers, driving them into ill health and out of work so we can replace them with cheaper teachers who can be sent out to work in the remote areas".

Well, now another Labor Minister and her Departmental public servants seem to be telling the public that Queensland teachers are thieves!

"Regrettably, some of our teachers are thieves" - the Queensland Department of Education and Training said 63 computers and portable devices have been stolen in 2015.

A further 107 devices were reported stolen in 2014.

The devices range in value from $791 to $1346.

Education Minister Kate Jones said the department may yet catch the thieves.

The department has installed software to track computers anywhere in the world the moment they connect to the internet. 

 

Well, hello, Kate Jones.

Do you have any actual evidence that these computers were stolen by teachers?

Have you not considered that these computers might have been stolen by children, parents, cleaners, teachers' aides, principals, school office staff, wandering tradesmen or people who have just wandered in off the street?

You owe Queensland teachers an apology, Mrs Jones.

You are teacher bashing.

It is just too easy.

Let's see what our union do about your behaviour.

 

 

Class theft, Opinion, Des Houghton, p.39, The Courier-Mail, 15 August 2015

11 year old boy uses RSVP dating website to spy on his teachers.

The Children's e-safety Commission's chief cyber trainer, Greg Gebhart, has warned teachers to lock their social media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagraam, to the top privacy settings to prevent their students snooping on them for personal information.

Mr Gebhart said an 11-year-old boy had told him he used the RSVP dating website to look at photos of teachers at his school by searching for ages and suburbs.

The boy told Mr Gebhart : "You should see what they put on their profiles".

 

 

Students spying on teachers' online lives, Natasha Bita, P.5, The Weekend Australian, 18-19 July 2015

Bill Shorten confirms AWU members would have been vastly better off without a deal that the AWU negotiated on their behalf.

Appearing at the royal commission into trade union corruption, Bill Shorten confirmed that workers would have been "vastly better off" without a deal that the Australian Workers Union negotiated with cleaning business Cleanevent in 2006, when Mr Shorten was AWU secretary.

The deal was of "no real benefit" to workers.

 

Judith Sloan of The Australian explains this situation : Trade unions are simply the most convenient conduit for ambitious, Left-leaning people to secure well-paid parliamentary positions.

Trade union membership equals money and power at preselections and conferences.

Money means funding factional allies.

The industrial interests of union members are largely irrelevant in this trade union game.

 

 

Unions are really for politicians, not members, Judith Sloan, p. 6, The Australian, 9 July 2015.

Donation, deal dent Shorten ,Elizabeth Colman, p.1, The Australian, 9 July 2015

John Ryan says : This is  heartening.  Robina Cosser says : No, this is madness.

John Ryan, Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) director , finds a recent Queensland College of Teachers profile of 2013 education graduates "heartening".

The QCT profile showed that 60 per cent of the 2013 education graduates became a teacher because they 'wanted to make a difference in children's lives'.

 

Robina Cosser says : What madness is this? 

Has anybody told these wannabe teachers that only one in ten of them will actually get a job?

And what kind of 'difference in children's lives' will these wannabe teachers make when many of them failed to learn very much at school themselves?

 

About 40 per cent of the wannabe teachers said they had always wanted to be a teacher.

 

Of a sample of 65 of these 2013 education graduates -

Almost 28 per cent achieved an OP of 14 or worse.

Several received an OP18.

Four received an OP1.

 

Robina Cosser says : My heart goes out to the four OP1 students.

We need some QCT research into what happens to them.

 

Graduating with hope, (no reporter named), P.27, The Courier-Mail, 28 February 2015

11 January 2015 : Julianne Gilbert, Queensland Teachers' Union organiser, ran for the Labor Unity faction in the Queensland state election.

Tim Mulherin, Labor's deputy leader, has quit politics just four days into the state election campaign, so Anastasia Palaszczuk has picked a new candidate for the marginal seat of Mackay.

Julieanne Gilbert, the local Queensland Teachers' Union organiser, is a member of Mr Mulherin's Labor Unity faction, and so she has been 'given the nod' to run for the seat.

Kevin Rudd and Peter Beattie were also members of the Labor Unity faction.

Strangely, Michael McKenna reported in March 20014 that the unions had abandoned Labor Unity.

In March 2004 there were only two Queensland MP's who were members of Labor Unity - Tim Mulherin and Bill Byrne.

 

The Queensland Council of Unions has issued a call to arms to donate, join rallies and support street stalls to drive a message to voters to "number every box and put the LNP last".

The Queensland Council of Unions is led by John Battams, former General Secretary of the Queensland Teachers' Union.

 

Robina Cosser says : I have never met Julianne Gilbert and have no personal problem with her.

But this situation does raise a few interesting questions -

Do QTU organisers have to be members of the Labor Party?

Do QTU organisers really represent the political views of their members - many of whom would be LNP supporters?

Should QTU organisers run for political office?

Shouldn't the main focus of QTU organisers be on the needs of the people who are paying their salaries - Queensland teachers?

How do Queensland teachers benefit when QTU organisers run for the Labor Party?

Do any QTU organisers run as LNP candidates?

Why not?

Would a QTU organiser have a conflict of interest when a teacher approached him/her with a problem concerning members of the Labor Party?

Many Queensland school principals and departmental officers are members or supporters of the Labor party.

(You may wonder if some of them were promoted because they were members or supporters of the Labor party.)

And why is a QTU organiser running as a representative of  a Labor faction that the unions have seemingly 'abandoned'?

It is all a bit confusing.

The LNP are almost certainly going to win this election. What motivation will the LNP have to do the right thing by Queensland teachers when the QTU has run Labor candidates against them?

Is this really a smart QTU political strategy?

Does it benefit QTU members?

If this political strategy does not benefit QTU members, who does it benefit?

 

 

Leader moves fast after deputy quits, Sarah Elks, P.4, The Weekend Australian, 10-11 January 2015

Wipeout for Rudd faction, Michael McKenna, The Australian, 17 March 2014.

Should the QTU represent the views of QTU members?

The QTU executive have long, long been critical of the LNP.

In November 2014 Kevin Bates and other Queensland Teachers' Union representatives gave evidence to Clive Palmer's taxpayer-funded "witch hunt". 

But the QTU representatives - and other witnesses - failed to produce any fresh corruption claims against the Newman LNP Government.

 

 

Robina Cosser says :

Why? Why?

Why is the QTU involving itself in this PUP rubbish?

Is this a good use of QTU members' resources?

Why would the Newman LNP Government want to do anything for Queensland teachers when the QTU is so anti-LNP?

And when Labor are in power they just ignore the QTU - they know that Queensland teachers have nowhere else to go because the QTU executive have burnt their LNP bridges.

 

Shouldn't the QTU executive represent the views of QTU members - more than half of whom, presumably, support the LNP?

PUP witnesses lose their bite : Palmer's 'kangaroo committee' fails to hear any evil, Jason Tin, P.26, The Courier-Mail, 29 November 2014

12 October 2014 : QCT director John Ryan wants Queensland teachers to swear an oath to act in the best interests of students.

Queensland College of Teachers director John Ryan this week argued that many professionals take oaths so, if teachers took an oath to act in the best interests of their students, it would a) raise teachers' standing in the community and b) remind teachers of the really important responsibilities they have in our society.

 

Robina Cosser says : John Ryan's idea really rings alarm bells with me.

I remember in about 2000 some important departmental document came out that began with three very serious questions for teachers -

Is this the very best that you can do?

Are you prepared to be held responsible for this?

(And one other question that I no longer remember!)

And I, being an innocent, took these three questions very, very seriously.

When I went to the Grade 7 classes and found that most of the class were missing - wandering around the school in accordance with some daft 'new' educational 'philosophy' that involved lots of wandering about the school, disturbing the other classes - I looked at the few children left in the classroom and I asked myself - is this the very best that I can do? Am I prepared to be held be responsible for this situation?

And I decided that it wasn't and that I wasn't.

So I talked to the principal about the problem of the missing children.

And my career in Queensland ended on the spot.

Because the sad fact is that what the department says that it wants teachers to do is not what is really wanted.

What is really wanted is passivity, mediocrity and compliance.

The principal's boat must not be rocked.

 

So, Queensland teachers, take an oath if you must - but be aware that taking the oath seriously will bring your career in Queensland to a rapid end.

 

Small acts of courtesy bring big wins, Kylie Lang on Sunday, P. 21, The Courier-Mail, 12 October 2014

4 March 2014 : the CMC seem to be finding some evidence of Public Service corruption - but are Queensland teachers' Grievances being substantiated?

The Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission has been given a $7 million funding boost and new powers by the new Queensland Government.

Acting Crime and Misconduct Commission chair Ken Levy revealed that 10 probes have been launched into allegations that bikies may have infiltrated the Queensland public service.

Dr Levy revealed that the CMC's misconduct arm has substantiated 79 disciplinary offences since November 1 2013.

The 79 cases have been referred back to the public service agencies for action.

 

 

Robina Cosser says : if the CMC are investigating allegations against public servants, this is good.

But if the CMC are still allowing Queensland Public Service agencies to investigate allegations themselves - well that is just more of the same.

Public servants can't find evidence of their own corruption.

In 2000 I understood a QTU organiser to advise me that he had never known a Queensland teachers' Grievance to be supported.

I'd like to know if Queensland teachers' Grievances are being properly investigated in 2014.

 

 

Bikie public service probe, p. 4, The Courier-Mail, 4 March 2014

16 March 2014 : we need nurses in Queensland schools.

Under Department of Education regulations, Queensland teachers are not compelled to administer insulin or other medication.

If teachers volunteer, they are offered training.

And a change to legislation, coming this month, will give Queensland teachers statutory protection from liability if they administer medication to prep and primary pupils.

But teachers cannot leave the rest of the class unsupervised while they administer medication to one child.

It is dangerous.

Schools need properly qualified nurses on staff to administer medication and to deal with injuries.

 

Under the pump : Teachers too busy to monitor diabetic kids, Jackie Sinnerton, p.26, The Courier-Mail, Sunday 16 March 2014.

Maybe it is worth writing submissions to Queensland Government Inquiries.

Premier Campbell Newman has said that he expected the Queensland Government to adopt his recommendation to "tinker" the new Crime and Misconduct Commission's focus to ensure its priority was investigating corruption as well as organised crime.

Robina Cosser says : This is just what I was hoping for and what I asked for in my submission to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee's review of the Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014.

To find my submission go to the Queensland Parliament website http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/global/search 

and search in the TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER for 'Robina Cosser'.

I have written quite a few submissions to Queensland Government Inquiries over the past few years and this is the first time that I have felt that maybe, just maybe, somebody actually read my submission.

 

Newman flags more changes to CMC model, Sarah Vogler, P.12, The Courier-Mail, 2 May 2014

December 2013 : Why won't Queensland journalists publish the stories of bullied teachers?

British media strategist John McTernan ran former prime minister Julia Gillard's communications department from September 2011 until June this year.

Thousands of emails sent by Mr McTernan are set to provide fresh evidence of his aggressive approach to the media.

In one email Mr McTernan responds to a query from former attorney-general Nicola Roxon's office seeking contact details for The Australian's Troy Bramston and another reporter from Fairfax Media.

He provides an email address for Bramston under the words "the c . . t".

The email was sent a day after Bramston wrote a column, published in The Australian in March, declaring that Ms Gillard's latest ministerial reshuffle indicated the depth of talent within Labor ranks, below the cabinet level, was lacklustre.

The leaked emails also show Mr McTernan, who was in Australia on a 457 visa, had a habit of denying information to journalists who published material he did not agree with or was angered by.

One email, titled "Simon Cullen", instructs the prime minister's media unit to block the ABC's political reporter's access to information and describes him as being "dead".

"Gets nothing, Ever. No alerts. No transcripts. No returned calls. Nothing. Ever. Not a whim. Dead. An order. Feel free to forward to him."

In another, Mr McTernan says of The Australian's Capital Circle columnist Ben Packham: "Packham is in the deep freeze after his efforts in CC this morning."

Robina Cosser says : Bullied teachers often tell me that they are planning to go to a journalist with their story.

Sadly, I have to tell them that there is very, very little possiblity of their story being published.

Partly that is because the teacher has trusted in the official processes, and the official processes have taken years to come to nothing, so by the time the teacher realises that the official process do not work, their story is "old" and of no interest to journalists.

Partly it is because there are so few journalists nowadays, and those who are still employed do not have much time to do research.

But the story above demonstrates what I have long suspected - it is also because the journalists are so heavily dependant on the government to provide them with the material for their stories.

If the journalist publishes anything to upset the government, their access to the churn of government pap will be cut off and they will be unable to do their job - to recycled approved government pap.

Gillard's foul-mouthed flack John McTernan exposed, Lauren Wilson, The Australian, 12 December 2013 : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillards-foul-mouthed-flack-john-mcternan-exposed/story-fn59niix-1226781041595

1 December 2013 : Mr Pyne is bringing phonics back! Yee Haa !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr Pyne says that the Federal Government will bring back phonics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yee Haa!

Whole Language's grip on the brains of teachers is going to be loosened at last.

In the early 1980's I taught a class of low-achieving children for five years.

The children had to have an IQ of less than 85 to get into the class.

I used the SRA phonic readers to teach them to read.

One child's IQ went up to 108.

Another child's IQ went up to 96.

The children just needed to learn to read - and phonics worked!

When Whole Language first dribbled over from New Zealand (it was called "Big Books" in those days), I was (unknowingly) used as a research control - I was teaching my class reading using phonics and TWO teachers were experimenting with Whole Language Big Books in the next classroom.

My class's results were much better.

In 1986 (I understand) Sydney University Linguistics Department held a conference to discuss the fact that Whole Language was not working.

In 1987 I went to a conference in Darwin where we compared the writing of children in  Grade 5 class in 1982 with  Grade 5 class from the same school in 1987.

It was obvious to everybody that the writing of the children in the the 1982 class, which had been taught using traditional methods, was much better than the 1987 class, which had been taught by the Whole Language method.

We were asked not to talk about it because it was politically incorrect to say that whole language was not working.

And here we are in 2013 - and at last that pesky Whole Language is going to be driven out of our schools at last!

One more dopey "educational philosophy" bites the dust.

Pyne sounding out new literacy plan, (seems to be) Samantha Maiden, P.12, The Sunday Mail, 1 December 2013

November 2003 : Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty says that senior CMC officers need to be rotated out of the CMC.

A report on the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty said it was time to cull the number of high-ranking police and lawyers working for the CMC.

Mr Keelty recommended a clean-out of senior CMC staff to assist with "cultural change".

A reliance on entrenched work practices by long-serving staff and a lack of responsiveness ... places the organisation at risk of being corrupted itself without a regular rotation of key staff, which is a practice adopted by many like agencies," Mr Kelty wrote.

 
Mr Keelty was critical of the CMC's research unit which he said did "not enjoy a good reputation".

 

Senior CMC staff should be placed on three to five-year contracts.

Some staff needed to be "rotated out of the organisation to assist in cultural change", Mr Keelty advised.

 

But Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says the report also praises the work acting CMC chairperson Dr Ken Levy is doing to reform the organisation.

 

 

Robina Cosser says : Why is all of this important to Queensland classroom teachers?

Because while the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) is not functioning well, classroom teachers are at greater risk of workplace abuse.

My understanding of the situation is this :

At this time of year (just before the school holidays), good, experienced teachers are liable to be called into their principal's office and told that they will be on Managing Unsatisfactory Performance (MUP - it used to be called the DWP) after the holidays.

Why?

Well principals get annoyed with experienced teachers because they are more confident and they make 'troublemaking' suggestions at staff meetings.

So principals want to get rid of them and replace them with cheaper, more easily managed inexperienced teachers.

And the principals don't want the bother of actually putting the experienced teachers on MUP - all of that pesky paperwork - so, just before a holiday, they give the experienced teacher a verbal warning that they will be on MUP after the holidays.

The principal is hoping that the teacher will get a transfer, resign or suicide.

And save the principal all of that pesky paperwork.

Now, if the CMC were functioning well, principals would not be able to get away with this sort of behaviour.

But at the moment, if you complain to the CMC that the Department of Education Code of Conduct, Managing Unsatisfactory Performance process, Public Service Regulations, etc are being abused, there is a 2 per cent chance that they will do anything about your disclosure.

And there is a 98 per cent chance that the CMC will  send your disclosure back to the department, so that the principal can investigate themselves and find no evidence of their own abuse.

So Queensland classroom teachers really need the Crime and Misconduct Commission to function properly.

Queensland classroom teachers need the CMC to protect them from the abuse of the MUP process.

CMC at risk of being corrupted: Mick Keelty report, AAP, The Brisbane Times, 20 November 2013 :  Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/cmc-at-risk-of-being-corrupted-mick-keelty-report-20131120-2xvpg.html#ixzz2ljGbOYRR

Review savages Crime and Misconduct Commission and recommends staff changes, Robyn Ironside, The Courier-Mail, 20 November 2013 :   http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/review-savages-crime-and-misconduct-commission-and-recommends-staff-changes/story-fnihsrf2-1226763840409

Qld Attorney-General accuses misconduct committee members of bias, Melinda Howells and Andree Withey, 21 November 2013 : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-20/qld-attorney-general-accuses-misconduct-committee-members/5105704

The Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission isn't working.

Former High Court Judge Ian Callinan and legal expert Nicholas Aroney, in a recent review of the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) had this to say :

 

"The Codes of Conduct, all of the many words written, all of the lunch time and other sessions of education, all of the activities and good intentions relating to the formation of ethical standards units and their roles and responsibilities and the Public Service Commissions's and Auditor-General's oversight functions appear to have been, in the Barlow affair (and in my own experience) irrelevant and futile."

 

Who'll get the oversight right?, Robert MacDonald, Public Affairs, P.25, The Courier-mail 30 September 2013.

Kevin Donnelly : we need streamed classes in Australian schools. Our gifted students are being neglected and are underperforming.

IN the lead-up to the 2007 election Kevin Rudd promised Australians an 'education revolution'.

How did that turn out?

Six years later the education establishment is admitting that Australian students, especially the talented ones, underperform.

Our children are the victims of a cultural-left, lowest-common-denominator view of education.

Funding and resources are directed at the usual victim groups.

The needs of gifted children are ignored.

 

Why do our Australian students underperform?

 

Teacher educators, the Australian Education Union and subject associations such as the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, have long argued against competitive assessment, the rewarding of merit and a rigorous, academic curriculum.

The philosophy is an egalitarian one, where all achieve success and all are celebrated.

 

Cultural-left critics also argue that the traditional, academic curriculum, where not all can do as well, is elitist, socially unjust and guilty of reinforcing capitalist hierarchies.

 

No wonder most of our Australian universities have bridging courses and remedial classes in basic algebra and essay writing.

 

In Singapore classes are streamed in terms of ability and students face high-risk tests and examinations.

Schools compete to achieve the best academic results.

Meritocracy is rewarded.

 

But Australian students are in mixed-ability classrooms.

And it is impossible for Australian teachers to cope with the range of students in their classes, so the more gifted students are ignored as teachers concentrate on those less able, or those most disruptive.

 

Australians really care when we lose to New Zealand in rugby or the English in cricket.

 

Australians need to want to win in education.

Australians need to support and reward academic excellence.

 

It's high time to foster meritocracy in education, Kevin Donnelly, director of Education Standards Institute and author of Educating Your Child: It's Not Rocket Science, The Australian, 17 August 2013 : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/its-high-time-to-foster-meritocracy-in-education/story-e6frgd0x-1226698711971

Learning a tough lesson, Kevin Donnelly, Opinion, The Courier-Mail, p 22-23, 16 October 2013

Ethical Standards Units in Queensland Government Departments are failing to deal with corruption. And the CMC is not dealing with this failure of the CMC 'devolution policy'.

Ian Callinan and Professor Nicholas Aroney were scathing in their appraisal of how the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the Queensland Health Ethical Standards Unit handled complaints of fraud and misappropriation by fake Tahitian prince Joel Barlow.

The Callinan Review into the CMC was released in April, however the pages which looked at the bungled investigations into Barlow's activity by stakeholder agencies – Queensland Health, the CMC and the Queensland Auditor-General - were redacted, pending the CMC's own review into the matter.

With the release of that CMC review on Wedesday the Attorney-General wasted no time in releasing Callinan and Aroney's own take on the matter publicly.

“Despite the best efforts of the CMC to explain what happened, as if the matters were commonplace, we do not see how any explanation could justify so many managerial and other failures concerning conduct which should have been obvious and which continued despite so many warning signs,” Mr Callinan concludes.

The CMC received an anonymous complaint in early August 2010, claiming Barlow was stealing from Queensland Health and had planned to leave the country for a “life of luxury” in Paris on August 24.

The CMC did not categorise the complaint as serious enough to warrant immediate action because the complaint did not have enough information and because it was anonymous, so no further information could be given.

The subsequent investigation carried out by Queensland Health didn't look into his New Zealand criminal history, his failure to explain overspending on his corporate credit card in 2010, or the lavish lifestyle he lived and explained away as being a Tahitian prince.

“How was it possible that in any properly managed department he could get away with what he did for so long? Mr Callinan questioned in his report.

“The codes of conduct, all of the many words written, all of the lunch time and other sessions of education, all of the activities and good intentions relating to the formation of ethical standards units and their roles and responsibilities, and the Public Service Commission's and the Auditor-General's oversight functions, appear to have been, in the Barlow affair, irrelevant and futile.”

 

Review blasts CMC's handling of Barlow affair, The Brisbane Times, 26 September 2013

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/review-blasts-cmcs-handling-of-barlow-affair-20130926-2ugcv.html

Australian teachers : This is your future  : over thirty, never married and searching for a partner on eHarmony.

According to new research by eHarmony, which has 2 million members, the average Australian online dater has never been married, is in their early-to-mid thirties and works as a teacher.

"Plenty of research exists showing that many people meet their partner at work," said eHarmony spokeswoman Sarah Mason.

"However, a large number work in an environment which is not conducive to developing meaningful romantic relationships."

"Others may be too time-poor, or just shirk at the thought of making small talk in a noisy bar after a long day at work."

 

Robina Cosser says : Queensland teachers have to work for years in remote locations where they meet very few prospective partners.

 

Who is sitting behind the screen? The Brisbane Times, 10 September 2013, http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/life/who-is-sitting-behind-the-screen-20130910-2thrp.html

Noel Pearson : teachers have fallen victim to practices based on fashion, ideology and intuition instead of robust, evidence-based practices.

Cape York indigenous leader Noel Pearson has written a manifesto for improving schools, outlining eight principles of reform based on the experience of the three schools, at Aurukun, Hope Vale and Coen, that form the Cape York Aboriginal Academy.

"Education reform has fallen victim to fashion, ideology and intuition at the expense of robust, evidence-based policy," Noel Pearson's manifesto says.

Mr Pearson argues effective teaching requires explicit instruction that teaches each student at their individual level, presenting information in a structured, systematic and sequenced way, and ensures the student has mastered the knowledge and skill before presenting any new information.

One approach proven in research as one of the most effective methods is the US-developed direct instruction, or DI, which the blueprint says "can lift the quality of classroom teaching far quicker than any reform to the lift the quality of individual teachers".

The blueprint stipulates DI be introduced in target schools, including those teaching indigenous students, low socioeconomic schools, for non-English speaking students, and remote schools.

DI is not a remedial teaching program for students struggling in specific skills, but a program for teaching the whole curriculum, including teaching materials, that stretches the most able students and prevents weak students from falling behind.

DI provides scripted lessons that teachers must recite word-for-word to ensure clear instruction and removing a very common source of student confusion.

DI stresses students must master each concept before they are introduced to the next one, and only about 15 per cent of material presented in each lesson is new material with the bulk of lesson time devoted to reinforcing previous material.

 

Noel Pearson is Tony Abbott's man to fix schools, Patricia Karvelas and Justine Ferrari, The Australian, 31 August 2013 :  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/election-2013/noel-pearson-is-tony-abbotts-man-to-fix-schools/story-fn9qr68y-1226707920341

Jack Dacey contributes to a parliamentary discussion on discipline problems in Queensland schools.
 
Jack Dacey is a dedicated Queensland teacher with experience of working with behaviorally challenged students in Nevada, California, Hawaii, New Zealand and Queensland.
 
Mr Dacey made a valued contribution to recent Queensland Government Committee discussions concerning discipline problems in Queensland schools : 
 
Fiona McNamara, Queensland Teacher's Union organiser, wants to be the Federal Member for Brisbane.

Prior to June 26, there were suggestions Kevin Rudd's seat of Griffith was going to be the only remaining ALP seat in the middle of a sea of Coalition MPs.

But since the party dumped Julia Gillard, it has become much more likely that the seat of Brisbane will fall back into ALP hands.

Candidate Fiona McNamara is hoping Kevin's resurgence will help her topple incumbent Teresa Gambaro.

The Queensland Teachers' Union organiser - who was previously unlikely to win the most marginal LNP-held seat, even with the 1.1 per cent margin - said she was hoping for a visit from Kevin.

 

Teresa Gambaro conceded the campaign would be ''tough'', but said a number of voters were likely to reject ''the same chaotic Kevin''.

  

QTU members : ask Fiona McNamara what advice she gives bullied Queensland teachers.

 

What did Fiona McNamara actually do when bullied Queensland teachers rang her and asked her for advice?

 

And why won't the Queensland Teacher's Union give Andrea Malfliet any legal support?

Andrea is a QTU member.

Gavin Woods, her partner, was a union member.

The QTU must know why Gavin suicided.

Why won't the QTU participate in the Coroner's Inquest?

 

Return of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rejuvenates Labor Party chances for election, Jason Tin, The Courier-Mail, 8 July 2013 :  http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/return-of-prime-minister-kevin-rudd-rejuvenates-labor-party-chances-for-election/story-fnihsrf2-1226675008859

Robert Schwarten also "used to work for the Queensland Teachers Union" - then he became a Minister in Anna Bligh's State Labor government. How did that work out?
 

("In case no one realises it - Robert Schwarten and Jim McGowan both used to work for the Queensland Teachers Union."  Jeff Scanlan of Alexandra Hills, Readers Comment 90 out of 100.)

 
The Sunday Mail understands (then) Queensland Information Technology Minister Robert Schwarten publicly humiliated Community Safety director-general Jim McGowan in an expletive-laden tirade at Premier Anna Bligh's 2011 Christmas drinks.

It is believed Mr Schwarten physically pulled Mr McGowan aside at the drinks and swore in full view of some of the hundreds of guests while the public servant remained silent.

 

Robert Schwarten's department is negotiating with Jim McGowan's agency about rolling out a new payroll system for thousands of staff in corrective and emergency services in the next few years.

Government sources say Mr McGowan has been adamant he will not impose the new bungled payroll system on his 10,000 staff unless it is working properly.

 

 

  • Schwarto: Minister for Poor Behaviour, Patrick Lion, The Sunday Mail, 25 December 2011 : http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/schwarto-minister-for-poor-behaviour/story-e6freoof-1225976188482

    •  

    Labor lawyers in the CMC - now they tell us!

    Very odd goings-on at the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission - the acting chair, Mr Warren Strange, quit today.

    So the CMC has now lost its second leader in two months.

    Mr Strange has been in charge of the CMC since the surprise resignation of former top prosecutor, Ross Martin, SC, in early March 2013.

    The Liberal National Party government led by Premier Campbell Newman has been highly critical of the CMC, which conducted a controversial investigation shortly before the state election last year that infuriated Mr Newman and his wife's family.

    The CMC investigation found no evidence of any wrongdoing in relation to developer donations, property purchases and rezonings.

    Mr Strange is understood to be among a number of senior figures at the CMC to have lost the confidence of the Newman government.

    Some members of the Newman government regard the anti-corruption body as an ineffective cabal of Labor lawyers.

     

     

    Robina Cosser says : Labor lawyers!

    Now they tell us!

     

     

    Gross negligence by the CMC in relation to mismanagement of secret files was identified in an investigation by Queensland's overseeing parliamentary committee, which produced a scathing report last month after the Newman government had rushed through emergency laws to prevent the files being published.

     

    Crime and Misconduct Commission's acting chair Warren Strange quits the Queensland agency, Hedley Thomas, The Australian, 2 May 2013 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/crime-and-misconduct-commissions-acting-chair-warren-strange-quits-the-queensland-agency/story-fn59niix-1226634083572

    Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission director and acting assistant commissioner's links with the Labor Party.
    Kathryn Ellis, a former Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) director and acting assistant commissioner was exposed during the 2012 election campaign as having links to the Labor party.

    It came to light that Ms Ellis' husband is Mark Nolan, a partner in the company Campaigns and Communications, which was helping the ALP run their 2012 re-election campaign.

    Ms Ellis was part of the investigation into Campbell Newman, then hoping to become premier, over corruption allegations that were unsubstantiated.

     

    Crime watchdog seeks reassurance on political sackings, Bridie Jabour, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 2013 : http://www.smh.com.au/queensland/crime-watchdog-seeks-reassurance-on-political-sackings-20130205-2dvig.html

    Lawrence Springborg - thank goodness for a Minister who knows how to lead.

    Toni Hoffman, Christine Cameron  and Jo Barber are three Queensland Health whistleblowers who suffered and continue to suffer because of their courage : 

     

     http://www.whistleblowingwomen.com/qldhealthnurses.htm

     

    But the selfless endurance shown by these three women has had a good outcome at last.

     

    Queensland LNP Health Minister Lawrence Springborg is the man we have been waiting for - a Minister who is unafraid to deal with problems.

    Lawrence Springborg gave the Queensland medical board 14 days to show cause why they should continue in the role.

    And the majority of the Queensland medical board resigned today.

     

    Queensland medical board members resign following Health Minister's show-cause notice, Janelle Miles, The Courier-Mail, 26 April 2013   http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-medical-board-members-resign-following-health-ministers-show-cause-notice/story-e6freoof-1226630205520

    Adam Creighton : The public have been hoodwinked into employing more teachers and this has driven down teacher wages and standards.
     
    "In the 1950s, in my first year at Unley High, I was in a class of 60," says renowned Australian historian John Hirst.

    "Class-size reduction has been a costly policy that has not translated into a commensurate improvement in overall student outcomes," the Productivity Commission concluded in a report in May last year, which canvassed ways to improve teacher quality without spending a cent.

    Andrew Leigh, federal Labor MP for Fraser, studied expenditures and outcomes at Australian schools between 1964 and 2003, during which time class sizes fell by about 40 per cent, and found "no evidence that the test scores of Australian pupils have risen over the past four decades, and some evidence that scores have fallen".

    Undeterred, Julia Gillard's latest plan to boost school resources by an extra $14.5 billion across the next six years, based on recommendations by the 2011 Gonski review, will most likely help fund smaller classes still.

    The Prime Minister's 1100-word press release stressed the huge increase in public spending without explaining how it would improve standards. 

    A landmark 2000 international study compared expenditure on schooling and student performance from 1970 to 1994 across 22 OECD countries.

    Far from extra spending leading to better outcomes, the study by Erich Gundlach et al concluded "the quality of schooling output tends to have declined in those countries with the highest increase in the relative price of schooling".

    As federal opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne points out, education spending, even accounting for inflation, has increased by 40 per cent during the past decade.

    The relentless rise in public spending on schools, ever smaller classes and constant or even dwindling outcomes are inextricably linked.

    In NSW 64 per cent of the $10bn spent annually on government schools comprises wages for teachers, rising to 77 per cent when school administrators are included.

    Because the smaller the classes, the more teachers are required for a given student population.

    Perhaps worse than the financial cost is the potential slump in teaching quality.

    "Lowering class sizes lifts the number of teachers but inevitably reduces the average quality of teachers because state governments will have to pay individual teachers less because public funding typically can't keep pace," says Moshe Justman, a professor of economics at the University of Melbourne specialising in education.

    Lower wages for teachers lessens the attractiveness of the profession to other workers.

    Australian students' flagging performance in global league tables -- dropping between 2000 and 2009 in mathematics and literacy -- prompted the Gonski review.

    But Justman points out Australia dropped down the international standardised test rankings mainly against Asian countries. "Asian nations (which are poorer to begin with) typically spend less on education as a share of their national income, but their curricula attach a great deal of importance to standardised tests," he says. "They have larger class sizes and stricter discipline," he adds.

    If spending ever more on education and reducing class sizes have been so wasteful, why does the trend continue, even accelerate?

    Teachers unions in Australia and worldwide have been astonishingly successful at hoodwinking the public into thinking smaller classes matter.

    The recent "I give a Gonski" campaign in Australia, complete with little, hapless children fitted out in campaign garb, tugs at the heartstrings of politicians and parents alike.

    Who wouldn't want to help the children and support a better education?

     

    This is a very interesting article, well worth reading in full :

    Testing times for education, Adam Creighton, The Australian, 20 April 2013 :   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/testing-times-for-education/story-e6frg6z6-1226624780567

    Ged Kearney, ACTU boss, warns that a change of federal government in September 2013 may be followed by a royal commission into union corruption!
     
    In a candid address to the NSW Teacher's Federation conference in Sydney, ACTU boss Ged Kearney indicated the ACTU was bracing for a coalition win on September 14 and a royal commission into union corruption.

    "They are going to come for us," she told the room of union members.

    "The royal commission is coming - because of the HSU, because of the whole slush fund stuff, they will come at us with lawyers and barristers and queen's counsels and they will try to send us broke," she said.

     

    Does Ged realise how good that sounds to those of us who have been badly let down by our unions in our hour of need?

     

    "What I fear is that what Tony Abbott will do is use individual instances like the HSU to demonise an entire movement," she said.

    "He can try to do that, but we will be ready."

     

     

    ACTU boss Ged Kearney rallies union troops for campaign against Abbott, AAP, 6 April 2013 :   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/actu-steels-unions-for-attack-on-abbott/story-e6frg6n6-1226613893470

    Dr Jim Watterston : the new LNP Director-General of Education in Queensland.

    Queensland has a new LNP Director-General of Education and, interestingly -

    a) Jim Watterston is from interstate, so he carries no dripping baggage from other Queensland government departments. 

    b) Mr Watterston owes no favours to other Queensland public servants.

    c) He has set up a blog to hear from you : http://drjimwatterston.com/about/

    The CMC stuff-up story : Queenslanders are told to shut up about the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee.

    The Queensland Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee - the committee that oversees Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission - has warned its critics to shut up or face consequences.

    The PCMC committee is investigating the CMC's accidental release of documents from the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption - documents which should have remained confidential for many more decades

    Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission Chair Ross Martin told the Queensland Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee he believed the accidental release of about 741 sensitive documents due to an administrative error was "deeply embarrassing".

    Ross Martin also revealed there was a possibility up to 4000 Fitzgerald Inquiry documents may have been accidentally destroyed.

    "The damage to us is irrelevant by comparison to the potential risk to the people ... who may be in the material,'' Mr Martin said.

     

    State Archivist Janet Prowse told the PCMC about 19 people had viewed the sensitive files.

    Ms Prowse told the hearing there were security cameras in the public reading room at state archives.

    That may help the PCMC committee determine who accessed files that include details about murder suspects, secret informants, undercover agents, drug operations and police corruption.

    Former special branch officer Barry Krosch, who was seconded to the Fitzgerald Inquiry, discovered the wrongly released documents, including confidential surveillance documents, while doing research at State Archives.

     

    Ms Liz Cunningham, the chair of the PCMC, has previously said the CMC failed Fitzgerald-era witnesses, who gave evidence in good faith under the promise of confidentiality.

    But Ms Cunningham told the inquiry the PCMC had been the subject of "unfair, uninformed comments" in recent days.

    She said such comments concerning the PCMC would not be tolerated now the inquiry had commenced.

    Ms Cunningham said that any such comments would be 'actioned'.

    "It is misleading to suggest the PCMC caused the issues the subject of this inquiry," Ms Cunningham said.

    Ms Cunningham told the inquiry: "Those that have been injudicious to date should take it upon themselves to reflect and remedy their actions or words".

    "We will no longer tolerate words that have the propensity to distract us from our inquiry.

    "Any improper interference ... will in future be actioned."

     

    Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday referred Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to Speaker Fiona Simpson over his comments including his description of the PCMC as a lapdog, which she alleged were in contempt of the Parliament.

     

    A government spokesman told AAP the PCMC hearing has the support of Premier Campbell Newman.

    "The premier fully supports the committee in its task of thoroughly investigating the serious failures of governance and administration of Fitzgerald Inquiry documents by the CMC," he said.

     

    CMC Chair admits up to 4000 documents from Fitzgerald Inquiry accidentally destroyed, Sarah Vogler, The Courier-Mail, 13 March 2013  http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/pcmc-chair-liz-cunningham-hits-back-at-unfair-uninformed-comments-and-threatens-to-take-action/story-e6freoof-1226596323135

    CMC watchdog boss warns critics to shut up, Kym Agius, AAP, The Courier-Mail, 13 March 2013
      http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/mp-questions-newmans-motives-on-watchdog/story-e6freono-1226596098014
    Queensland government departments were poorly organised - run like fiefdoms and by barons under Labor.
    "The government we inherited was poorly organised... a series of departments that are run, or have been run in the past, by fiefdoms and by barons," Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has told a business forum.
     

    Campbell Newman says public service 'fiefdoms' and 'barons' are holding Queensland back, Sarah Vogler, The Courier-Mail, 8 November 2012   http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/campbell-newman-says-public-service-fiefdoms-and-barons-are-holding-queensland-back/story-e6freoof-1226513193140

    Queensland teachers meet in Brisbane to discuss workplace bullying.

    A group of fourteen Queensland teachers met in Brisbane on Wednesday 17 October 2012 to discuss workplace bullying in Queensland schools.

    The six-hour meeting began at 4.00pm and finished at 10.00pm.

    The teachers were so involved in their discussions that they did not even stop to eat!

    They just wanted to talk and to know that they were not alone in their concerns.

    Many issues were raised at the meeting, including -

     

    Teachers should have equal rights with students. At the moment Queensland teachers don't seem to have any rights. They seem to have become the 'whipping boys' of the education system.

    There is a huge, huge need for a phone help-line for Queensland teachers who are dealing with workplace abuse.

    An independent body urgently needs to be appointed to provide a phone help-line service for teachers and also to provide the Queensland government with independent research data on the workplace issues that are driving teachers into ill health.

    The Department of Education must take responsibility for the health and safety of Queensland teachers.

    The departmental / CMC investigation process is failing / corrupted - and new departmental polices are being based on the findings of these failed / corrupt investigations.

    The promotion process has failed. Principals have been promoted for the wrong reasons. They can't do their job properly, become nervous and attack the classroom teachers.

    Classroom teachers are afraid to engage in the most basic professional discussion in case they are 'paid back'.

    Principals don't or won't or can't read (or follow) the official departmental policies.

    The union policy of not supporting bullied teachers exposes classroom teachers to workplace abuse.

    Conflict of interest issues seem to have corrupted the promotion system and the investigation process.

    Some school principals seem to have mental health issues, but there is no process by which a classroom teacher can report a concern about the mental health of a school principal.

    Senior public servants and Ministers seem to avoid 'knowing' what is going on in Queensland schools - because if they do not 'know' about the problem, they do not have to deal with the problem.

    Queensland classroom teachers are gagged - they are threatened with a "Code of Conduct" violation if they talk about the workplace bullying. 

    And so, year after year after year, nothing is done about the workplace bullying in Queensland schools.

     

    Teacher Mr Pineapple has also been blogging on the issues that were raised at the meeting : http://www.apineapplefortheteacher.com/p/blog-page.html 

     

     

    The group of teachers agreed to join this website and to keep in contact, providing support and advice to each other.

    Let's hope the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission will function a bit better under the LNP.

    In an extraordinary budget estimates hearing, Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission Chairman Ross Martin revealed the CMC was facing the loss of more than 40 staff under the Newman Government.

    Mr Martin said 44 positions went on July 1 2012 and he was expecting 30 roles to be "dis-established".

    Mr Martin later clarified his answer to say the 30 "disestablished" positions were included in the 44 separations.

    "Our annual budget was reduced by less than one per cent. By reasons which I can expand upon there will be a disproportionately large effect on our staffing. We will lose a significant number of staff," said Mr Martin.

    "We expect that that will mean... real losses of capacity," answered Mr Martin.


    Robina Cosser says : Mr Martin, actually it could mean a big gain in your capacity.

    You really needed to weed out the CMC officers who were spending their days 'knowing nothing' and making sure that nothing was being done about anything in Queensland.

    Those CMC officers were a waste of public funds.

    Let's hope you have cleaned out the 'know nothing, hear nothing, read nothing, understand nothing' members of your staff and that now the CMC will start functioning properly.

    For example, when people ring the CMC to make a disclosure, let's hope the remaining CMC officers will record the disclosure correctly.

     

    Mr Martin declined to say if senior investigators would be included in the job cuts because those affected had not been "fully briefed".

    "I'm hesitant to reveal too much publicly until it happens. I expect to brief most of them tomorrow," Mr Martin said.

     

    Corruption watchdog the Crime and Misconduct Commission to lose 44 staff, Robyn Ironside, The Courier-Mail, 11 October 2012 : http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/corruption-watchdog-the-crime-and-misconduct-commission-to-lose-70-staff/story-fndo2iwh-1226493515749
    Campbell Newman says John Battams owes the people of Queensland an apology.
    Campbell Newman has demanded Labor apologise to all Queenslanders for the series of accusations they levelled at him during the March election.

    Mr Newman took particular aim at union leader John Battams, who was involved in Kate Jones' campaign - Mr Newman's rival for the seat of Ashgrove.

    "I am still waiting for federal and state Labor and people like Mr John Battams of the Council of Unions who ran the Ashgrove Labor campaign to make their apology to the people of Queensland for misleading them," he said.

    "This is where you do see hypocrisy."

    "The Labor Party are never prepared to admit their smear campaigns and dirty tricks and nonsense."

     

    'The Queensland Labor Party owes me an Alan Jones-style apology, says Premier Campbell Newman, Steven Wardill, Sarah Vogler, The Courier-Mail, 2 October 2012 : http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/the-queensland-labor-party-owes-me-an-alan-jones-style-apology-says-premier-campbell-newman/story-fndo45r1-1226486139256

    Robina Cosser's submission to the National Inquiry into Workplace Bullying.

    29 June 2012

    The workplace culture of the Queensland Department of Education facilitates the abuse of classroom teachers.

    A submission to the National Inquiry into Workplace Bullying.

    Queensland Principals are able to bully classroom teachers because of systemic problems -

    a) The promotion system

    b) Their poor training.

    c) A lack of intelligence / literacy skills.

    d) Falsification of the official records.

    e) Classroom teachers are given poor and even harmful advice when they are bullied.

    f) Conflicts of Interest.

    g) The failure of the CMC / Department of Education "Devolution Policy", and the corruption of the investigation process.

    h) Abusive principals make up their own policies.

    i) Principals and public servants who bully teachers, or who facilitate the abuse of teachers, are given promotions and awards.

    Are activities such as community forums really effective in raising awareness of workplace bullying?

    Recommendations.

     

    ( My submission will be published in full here .. http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=ee/bullying/subs.htm  )

     

    My message to Julia Gillard, Bill Shorten and the members of the National Inquiry into Workplace Bullying is that listening to the stories of suffering workers, hugging people and being sympathetic, is not enough.

    We, the bullied workers, need real action to be taken to protect us from workplace abuse.

     

    Recommendations -

    * There is a need to establish the minimum OP standard that must be achieved before a student is accepted into any Australian teacher-training program.

    * Queensland teachers need to be tested on their capacity to read, comprehend and to apply departmental policies before they are promoted or appointed to acting positions.

    * Queensland principals need to be held responsible for complying with the official policies.

    * Queensland teachers need printed information on how to protect themselves from workplace abuse.

    Teachers should be told about their right to make a WorkCover complaint.

    They should have free access to the MUP policy and the Grievance policy.

    If the QTU will not provide this information, it should be provided by the department.

    * The Queensland department of Education must demonstrate that their Grievance process works.

    Data must be collected and published.

    * Queensland teachers must be given written copies of all allegations concerning them.

    They must be allowed to respond to allegations in writing.

    * All investigation reports / Briefings for the Minister, etc. must include a statement by the person writing the report / briefing that they have no conflict of interest in the situation.

    * All investigation reports/ briefings must have a bibliography listing all of the documents that were used in writing the report / briefing.

    This will a) raise the professional standard of these briefings / reports and b) facilitate the Right to Information process.

    It will also significantly reduce RTI costs.

    * Education Queensland must stop wasting public funds on investigations that have been 'set up' to fail.

    * Devolution is not working.

    All Queensland public service Ethical Conduct Departments should be closed.

    All Ethical Conduct staff should work under the direct control of the CMC.

     

    I would draw your attention to the website of Robert E. Bartholomew, PhD, whose experience of workplace abuse in a Northern Territory school was very similar to my own experience in Queensland : www.teacherswithintegrity.com

     

    Robina Cosser M.Ed

    Editor : The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles

    Editor : Whistleblowing Women

     

     

    Christopher Pyne : the education 'revolution' that failed to improve student outcomes.
    Christopher Pyne, federal member for Sturt and opposition spokesman for education, says :
     
    For the past five years, we have heard a constant stream of rhetoric from the federal government about an "education revolution".
     
    Instead of a revolution, what has been delivered is a masterclass in wasteful spending and appalling mismanagement, without any tangible impact on the ultimate goal: improved student outcomes.
     
    We need to change the attitudes high-performing school leavers have towards a career education.
     
     
    Robina Cosser says : We need to make it safe for high-performing Queensland students to take up a career in teaching.
     
    In Queensland there is a culture of attacking high-performing students who become teachers.
     
    Dim Queensland principals set out to attack them, to prove that high-performing students do not make good teachers.
     
    It isn't safe to be smart in a Queensland school.
     
     
     
    We must improve the quality of teacher training courses (pre-service education).
     
     
     
    We must raise the entry qualifications for teacher training in Australia.
     
    The universities can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
     
     
     
    We must change the way we manage and develop the teachers who are already working in schools.
     
     
    The promotion system needs to be re-thought.
     
    Dim principals force high-achieving teachers to 'perform' at their own dim level.
     

     

    We need to make sure we have world-class minds teaching the next generation.

     

    We need to value world-class minds.

     

     

    A 2009 survey of school leavers revealed that only 1 per cent of school leavers with a TER over 90 listing a teaching degree as their first preference for university.

    In addition to changing attitudes about education, we need to improve the quality of pre-service education, as currently it is not preparing new teachers adequately for life in the classroom.

     

    We need to toughen-up discipline in schools.

    Intelligent teachers do not want to work with thug students.

    We need to get security guards into every school to supervise students in the playground.

    We need to get a teacher-aide into every primary classroom, to protect teachers from false allegations.

    We need video surveillance of all classrooms, a) to protect students and b) to show parents how their children are behaving in class.

    And we need to deliver more lessons by video or computer, so that the more intelligent / hardworking students can get on with their work without being disturbed by the poorly behaved students.

     

     

    Finally, those teachers who are already in the workforce need support to become more effective.

    Mentoring and professional development systems in Australian schools are deeply ineffective, widely viewed as check-the-box, administrative burdens completed only to satisfy the demands of central office.

     

    Absolutely.

     

    Unsurprisingly, these systems fail to recognise and encourage high-quality teaching or address poor performance.

    Nine in 10 teachers say they would not receive any recognition if they improved the quality of their teaching.

    We can, and must, do better than this.

    Principals and staff must take the lead role in determining how their school should monitor and improve teacher effectiveness.

     

    This will work if the school principal is intelligent.

    But if the principal is dim, there is a big risk that the principal will force all of the classroom teachers to perform 'dim' to make him or her feel safe.

    And what are you going to do about the OP 19 'teachers' who have got into the system?

    That will be the greatest challenge facing Australian schools in the next few years.

     

     

    Better teachers, not more, the 'education revolution' we need, Christopher Pyne, federal member for Sturt and opposition spokesman for education, The Australian, 21 July 2012

    Campbell Newman will ban unions from using members' dues to bail out the Labor party!
    Unions could be banned from giving workers' money to the Labor party without the express consent of members under a proposal flagged by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

    Mr Newman said Queensland workers had already been hit hard by Labor, arguing public sector jobs were now at risk “because of the financial mess they created in government”, and those workers should not have to “bail out a party that could not even manage its own finances”.

    “We will also look at preventing unions from giving money collected from members to the Labor party, or any political party, without the express consent of members.

    “What's more, my government will not facilitate the collection of union fees, if a union uses membership fees to affiliate to a political party, or to fund political parties and election campaigns.

    “Workers need to know that their unions will represent their needs, ahead of the needs of any one single political party.”

     

    Robina Cosser says : Well said, Mr Newman.

    Unions need to re-focus on the needs of their members, rather than on the needs of the Labor party.

     

     

    Newman seeks to restrict Labor income flow, Daniel Hurst, state political reporter,  The Brisbane Times, 20 June 2012

    Labor mates and ex-union officials have no place in a professional public service. Let's hope the LNP find them and boot them out.
    Any government that has been in power too long, believes its re-election is automatic.
     
    It loses its need for accountability, it loses its need to take individual and collective elector grievances seriously.
     
    Its attitude becomes reckless - like that of a gambler who has had a few wins, a few beers and believes they are untouchable.
     
    This hubris extends through to several layers of the public service.
     
    Comfortable with political associates and at terms with their rivals across the top jobs - they too believe they are untouchable - no need to follow protocol, lip service to procedure and a belief in their own ability to troubleshoot the spotfires their behaviour creates within their departments.
     
    In the end, this creates an explosive build up of anger and resentment.
     
    Labor simply reaped what it had sown in Queensland.
     
    The obvious senior public servants have been given their marching orders, but many are still hiding.
     
    I can only hope for a culture change as the new LNP ministers find them.
     
    Otherwise the resentment will stay.
     
    Labor mates and ex-union officials and presidents have no place in a professional public service.
     
     
     
    Mike of Weipa, Reader's comment 3 of 12, Labor pains may linger for fallen party, Dennis Atkins, The Courier-Mail, 21 April 2012
    The Queensland Teachers Union have letterboxed Ashgrove. Who is responsible for these dopey QTU decisions?
    The Queensland Teachers' Union yesterday letterboxed voters in the Brisbane Labor-held seat of Ashgrove - the seat which Campbell Newman must win if he is to enter parliament - criticising the LNP's plan to give 120 Queensland schools more autonomy over their budgets.
     
     
     
    Robina Cosser says :
     
    What sort of dopey QTU strategy is this?
     
    If Campell Newmann wins Ashgrove, how will it benefit QTU members for their union to have lobbied against the new Queensland Premier?
     
    And if Labor's Kate Jones wins Ashgrove, what exactly will she be able to do for Queensland teachers as a member of a decimated Labor opposition?
     
    Who thinks up these dopey QTU 'political strategies'?
     
    And who paid for those brochures?
     
     
    ALP loses public sector backers, Natasha Bita, The Australian, 21 March 2012
    John Battams, Queensland Council of Unions president, 'does not belong to any political party'.
     
    Locals For Locals is a group dedicated to helping Labor's Kate Jones retain her Ashgrove seat.
     
    Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said a photograph posted on the Local for Locals Facebook page - which was later cropped in its newsletter - features well-known ALP members, including Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams.

    Tim Nicholls accused the Local for Locals group of attempting to "con" Ashgrove residents.

     

    But Locals For Locals founder Geoff James said the people involved "don't belong to any political party".

     

     

    Robina Cosser says : Well, that's all right then.

    But it does seem a bit odd.

    John Battams is the president of the Queensland Council of Unions.

    Wouldn't you expect that the president of the Queensland Council of Unions would have to be a member of the Labor Party?

    And my understanding is that John Battams has acted as campaign manager to Kate Jones twice previously.

    Wouldn't you expect that a Labor candidate's campaign manager would have to be a member of the Labor party?

     

     
    Ashgrove voters conned by 'local group' , Sarah Vogler, The Courier-Mail, 15 March 2012
    Why are Queensland Teachers Union officers working for Kate Jones?
     
    Queensland Teachers Union officers John Battams and Fiona McNamara  seem to have been supporting Labor's Kate Jones during the past three Queensland elections.
     
     
    So who exactly is Kate Jones - and why are QTU officers giving her so much support?

    At 21, after completing an arts journalism degree at QUT, Jones worked in the office of former state treasurer David Hamill.

    From there she switched to the office of Robert Schwarten, then the Works Minister.

    She was a member of Robert Schwarten's Labor Unity faction.

     

    At 27, in 2006, Jones arrived in the Queensland Parliament.

    Her seat had previously been held for the ALP by Demetrios "Jim" Fouras, a distinguished former Speaker who opposed her candidature.
     
     
    Robert Schwarten's Labor Unity faction got Jones elected against Fouras's wishes
     
    Labor Unity also propelled Jones into cabinet where her achievements were scant.

    Kate Jones has been a prisoner of the Labor Party all her adult life.

     

    Kate Jones is married to Paul Cronin, a competent Bligh press secretary who now is said to be paid $450,000 as a QR National executive.

     

    So, if Kate wins the seat, she and her husband may have a combined income of around $600,000 pa.

     

    You have to admire the way that the Labor Party looks after ... the workers.

     

    Jones's record speaks for itself. So does Newman's.Ignore the spin, look at the facts, Des Houghton, The Courier-Mail, 14 March 2012

    Queensland Teachers Union officers seem to be giving Labor's Kate Jones an awful lot of help during election campaigns. Why?

    Fiona McNamara, the Queensland Teachers Union organiser for Brisbane North, is working in the office of Kate Jones, the Labor Member for Ashgrove, as Kate's campaign manager.

     

    And John Battams was Kate Jones' campaign manager in the last two elections.

    Mr Battams was employed as General Secretary of the Queensland Teachers' Union at the time.

    And John Battams is also now actively supporting Kate Jones' re-election, according to LNP deputy leader Tim Nicholls.

     

    "The union bosses ( are ) supporting their Labor mates ( rather than ) ... supporting their grass roots members," Tim Nicholls alleges.

     

    Robina Cosser says : Ask your local QTU Organiser - 

    Why is the QTU supporting Labor's Kate Jones?

    How does this political strategy benefit Queensland teachers?

    If Kate wins, she will be in opposition.

    How will Kate Jones do anything to help Queensland teachers if she is in opposition?

    If Kate loses, and Campbell Newman becomes the next Queensland Premier, how will it benefit Queensland teachers to have supported Kate Jones, his direct opponent?

    This QTU Queensland election strategy may support the objectives of the Labor Party, but how does it support the needs of Queensland teachers?

     

     

    LNP won't gut industrial umpire: Nicholls, Darren Cartwright, The Brisbane Times, 21 February 2012

    Whoo Hoo! The incompetent Labor Government Directors-General and senior public servants will be given the boot! Let the good times roll!

    With the dawning of the glorious New LNP Age in Queensland, we can look forward to Directors-General with strong ties to the Labor party quitting or being booted out.

    LNP leaders believe that the Queensland Labor Government has been sneakily giving out new contracts to certain very senior public servants.

    The in-coming LNP Government will have to pay these Labor-loving public servants millions to go - or face being totally undermined.

    You have to admire the way that Labor looks after ... the workers.

     

     

    It's our way or the Fiveways, LNP decides, Daryl Passmore, P. 45, The Sunday Mail, 12 February 2012.

    Anna Bligh, underperforming Queensland state premier, signs a 7.7 million dollar secret deal to sack 'underperforming' Queensland teachers.

    During the death-throes of this useless, failed Queensland Labor Government, Anna Bligh and Cameron Dick seem to have shamelessly signed-up for a 7.5 million dollar deal with Julia Gillard to sack 'underperforming' Queensland teachers - a deal that no one knew about,

     

    ... least of all Queensland teachers and the Queensland Teachers Union leaders!

     

    Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said Queensland teachers deserved to hear from Anna Bligh exactly how the scheme would work and who would decide if a teacher was 'under-performing'.
     

    "It looks and smells very much like a plan to dump on teachers and slash public servant jobs by the broke Bligh government," Mr Nicholls said.

     

    "How many teachers could be sacked and what does this scheme mean for regional and remote schools that already face enormous difficulties attracting teachers?
     

    Anna Bligh, Andrew Fraser and Queensland Labor lied about asset sales, they lied about the fuel tax and last election they said they were going to create jobs, not throw Queensland teachers out of work.

     

    You can't trust them.

     

    Robina Cosser says  : What is really annoying about this situation is that Fiona McNamara, the Queensland Teachers Union organiser for Brisbane North, is working in the office of Labor's Kate Jones, the Member for Ashgrove, as Kate's campaign manager.

    I presume that the QTU are paying Fiona McNamarra's salary while she works for Labor.

    And this is how the Queensland Labor Government thank Queensland teachers for their support!

    They are playing us for fools.

    Thanks Anna!

     

     

    Bligh must explain plan to sack teachers, Tim Nicholls, LNP, 11 February 2012 

    Goondiwindi teacher worries : Queensland principals hiring their own teaching staff - how will this work?
    A Goondiwindi teacher has raised some concerns :
     
    The federal Labor Government has decided to give Queensland principals the power to hire and fire teachers. 
     
    So rural principals and school communities will be on their own.
     
    They will have to stretch the scarce resources available to them to cover all their needs.
      
    Will school communities choose to economise by hiring cheaper, less experienced teachers in order to redirect their budget to maintenance and other resources?
     
     
     
    Robina Cosser says : 
     
    I worked under this system in Solihull in England and it worked well there.
     
    But in Queensland?
     
    I would suspect that some of the remote communities will have to offer huge salaries and terrific housing to attract teachers.
    And the community would need to support their teachers and to make sure that their teachers were happy.
    I would also suspect that teachers working in popular areas would have to accept much, much lower salaries because they could be so easily replaced.
    But if this system makes it easier for teachers to move from school to school, it might improve their working conditions - principals would have to treat their staff better.
    At the moment Queensland teachers can be trapped in a school with a horrible, abusive principal for years.
    And will the community be able to get rid of a principal (dim, illiterate, incompetent, abusive) who drives good teachers out of their school?
     
     
     

    Should schools "hire and "fire"?, Goondiwindi teacher, 15 February 2012 : Goondiwindi Argus 

    The QTU seem to be supporting Labor's Kate Jones in the Queensland election. Why?
    Fiona McNamara, the Queensland Teachers Union organiser for Brisbane North, is already working in the office of Labor's Kate Jones, the Member for Ashgrove.
     
    Fiona is Kate's campaign manager.
     


    The parliamentary scramble accelerates, Trent Dalton, The Courier-Mail, 4 February 2012 

    At last! Here comes the March 2012 election tsunami, Whoo Hoo! - But are the Queensland Labor Government preparing for the change of Government by stacking Queensland public service offices with Labor-friendly 'not knowing, not understanding, not finding' stooges?

    Are the Queensland Labor government preparing for the election tsunami by filling Queensland Public Service departments with Labor-friendly stooges who will continue the Queensland public service tradition of cover-ups and dysfunction?

    People who have a few things to cover-up themselves?

    Mr Newman says, for example, the Queensland Labor Government is trying to rush through the appointment of a new chair for the state's Crime and Misconduct Commission. 
     
     
    Robina Cosser says : I also have concerns -
     
    About the Queensland Office of the Information Commissioner.
     
    And the Ethical Conduct Department of Education Queensland.
     
    And possibly also the Queensland Ombudsman's department.
     
    Maybe there will be a need to look very, very closely at all recent Queensland Labor Government public service appointments.
     
    Why have these public servants been promoted and rewarded?
     
    Whose interests have these Queensland Labor Government public servants been protecting?

     

    Anna Bligh rejects claims of Labor bloodbath at Queensland election, AAP, The Courier-Mail, 26 January 2012

    Education Queensland wants to employ teachers with less experience - because they are cheaper and can be sent out to work in the remote areas.

    The $10 million price tag for the Queensland teachers' "burnout bonus" should not be met by taxpayers because the blunt truth is Queensland mums and dads are probably shelling out for workplace bullying.

     

    Robina Cosser says : I have been advised that many of the Queensland teachers who took the 'Burnout Bonus' are actually trying to escape from workplace bullying situations.

     

    Don't be fooled by the Education Queensland human resources assistant director-general Craig Allen, who said of the payouts: "This provides opportunities for permanent employment of highly motivated, recently graduated teachers with contemporary teaching skills."

    Decode the department speak and what this means is that Education Queensland wants to employ younger, less experienced teachers in state schools because they are cheaper, easier to manipulate and can be sent out to work in the remote areas for three years.

     

     

    Fool's gold in teachers' burnout fee, Christopher Bantick, a Melbourne writer and secondary teacher, The Courier-Mail, 30 June 2011

    More Queensland students are being suspended - but is this a cure for their underlying problems?

    320 suspensions were handed out in Queensland state schools each school day in 2010.

    Almost 7400 Queensland students were given long suspensions - an increase of 596 students, or 8.8 per cent since the previous year.

    55,423 students were suspended for short periods - a rise of 2019, or 3.8 per cent.

    More than 800 in grades 10 and above had their enrolments cancelled for bad behaviour, which was a rise of 54 per cent.

    The number of other exclusions remained steady at 931.

     

     

    Education Minister Cameron Dick praised principals for taking a hard line against bad behaviour, saying students who faced disciplinary action should "have a good hard look at themselves".

    "Ultimately schools need to be safe, productive, learning environments.

    "If kids want to muck up they don't need to be in that school environment because it interferes with other students," Cameron Dick said today, as he released the new figures.

     

    But Opposition education spokesman Dr Bruce Flegg feared the system did not adequately support students who were disengaged, fell behind and became disruptive or those who had personal and family problems.

    "It's a mistake to think that simply suspending kids and giving them a holiday from school is actually going to fix the underlying problem," he said.

    "Suspensions are a symptom of the problem, not a cure."

     

     

    More Queensland students expelled, suspended, Jessica Marszalek, AAP, 29 April 2011
    Expulsion rise in Queensland schools, Melinda Howells, ABC, 29 April 2011
    Queensland state school suspended 320 rogue students a day in 2010, Koren Helbig, The Courier-Mail, 30 April 2011 
    More state school students suspended, Koren Helbig, The Courier-Mail, 29 April 2011
    We need to audit our schools. Policies, curricula and facilities do not mean a great deal if the person driving the bus is an accident waiting to happen.

    Robina Cosser says : "MT Pockets of Mackay" made some interesting comments on a recent article -

    If any government was really committed to improving education, they'd start with a comprehensive audit of what they have to work with.

    The government would test each and every teacher currently employed to find out their standard of literacy and numeracy, their understanding of class management, pedagogy and evidence-based techniques that work and, if they teach in a specialist area (foreign language, science, maths), their mastery of advanced concepts and techniques.

    Then we'd have direct evidence of the problem rather than guessing based on generalised outcomes or anecdotes.

    We'd also have a test to teach to in teacher ed curriculum, because right now unis are having too much fun being innovative and trendy to worry about whether graduates actually know how to teach.

    It will cost money to do this comprehensive assessment, but until we know what we are dealing with, we can't focus on solutions and we can't remediate shortcomings.

    Teaching is a most personal profession and we need to know what the persons who front our classrooms bring to the table, rather than relying on anecdotes about good teachers and bad teachers I have known.

    Curricula and facilities don't matter if the person driving the bus is an accident waiting to happen.

     

    We also need to audit school principals.

    However good a classroom teacher is, if the principal is lazy, illiterate or too stupid to understand departmental policies, the classroom teachers will not be able to operate effectively.

    And -

     

    The breakdown in education can be sheeted home to baby boomer and pre-boomer academics who embraced postmodernism from the 1960s onwards.

    Postmodernism said there was no truth, so the authority and value of knowledge was diminished.

    Suddenly any idea was equally valid and should be valued, including nutty ideas about how kids learned, how to run a classroom and how to assess learning.

    At the same time, postmodernism turned us all into victims too powerless to resist the cultural, social and economic power of the capitalist ruling junta.

    Teachers manned the frontline in the battle to protect students from capitalist exploitation and political indoctrination by the fascist political elites.

    And empowering students involved freeing them from discipline, expectations and negative judgements about their abilities and achievements.

    Hence, no one loses at sport, no one fails anything, no one is responsible for their bad behaviour and "the system" is to blame for any of their shortcomings.

    Empowering students also involved encouraging defiance, non-compliance, deviance, resistance and self-absorption.

    And voila!

    We have today's charming students!

     

    MT Pockets of Mackay, Reader's Comment, Full marks for teachers who make a difference, Dr Tanveer Ahmed, a psychiatrist, The Age, 5 April  2011  

     

     

     

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