Federation witnesses eloquent in the IRC

Decision handed down today

The decision of Deputy President Harrison in the student reports case in the Industrial Relations Commission will be handed down this afternoon. Last Monday several witnesses for the Federation were called to give evidence in the Commission as the Department of Education and Training sought orders to have the Federation to lift the ban on the government mandated student report system.

The witnesses spoke candidly about the impact the reporting system would have in their schools. Below are extracts from the transcripts of Day One in the student report case.

Evidence provided by the witnesses was preceded by Counsel for the Department informing Deputy President Harrison:

"...a lot of educational validity... simply won't be relevant..."

First witness for the Federation, Riverside Girls High School Principal, Judy King, told the Commission:

"...teachers were very, very concerned about the politicisation of assessment and reporting by both the Federal and the State governments and that it was denying school communities the choice of determining what they felt was best suited to the teaching and learning needs of the particular communities. We were recognising that it's very difficult to have a one-size fits all straightjacket in terms of assessment and reporting because the public system has many different kinds of schools and many different diverse school populations..."

Next Federation witness was Whalan Public School Principal, Shirley Steel, who spoke passionately about the nature of the students in her school.

"And my children overwhelmingly have a right to be optimistic about education. And as a professional... I'm employed and paid to give every one of those children the very best opportunity and I think education is what delivers that.

"I need to ensure that [reports are] fair to those children and will be well received in the child's family and social environment. And every one of those reports starts with children's names and talks about what children can do what they still need to work on, some suggestions on how they can do that. But always the last comments in our report are actually personal and to the child. So reporting and assessment or assessment and reporting have massive implications for children's confidence and whether they believe in themselves as learners and if they're going to succeed they need to believe in themselves as learners.

"I've worked in these schools for many, many years and I actually believe the system that is proposed is actually contrary to all of the equity documents that I really believe in, that I have contributed to and we as staff have been urged to implement over a number of years, the Department themselves have urged us to take into account the learning needs of low SES students, aboriginal students and I actually think this reporting system is expedient and simplistic and harmful.

"I think effective reporting to students needs to be fair. It needs to be realistic in terms of what we set out to teach but it needs to be nurturing, it needs to give a direction but it needs to give kids hope. It really needs to give kids hope. "

Sarah Redfern Public School Principal, Cheryl McBride, was questioned about how the characteristics of her school informed how and what was reported on.

"We have to be sensitive to the needs of our community. And we need to be sensitive to the special needs of those children. And we have a wide range of children of course.

"As we know children, people learn effectively from being successful and being encouraged and being motivated towards achievement. Many children, if we place them into that position of regularly attracting a D or an E on their report card are going to suffer some damage to their self esteem. People don't work and children do not work from a negative stance. They don't feel motivated to continue to try to take risks, to undertake new learning if they feel that they're failing. However if they feel that they are working towards something or achieving in small steps along the way and they are gaining positive reinforcement and encouragement from that, then of course they are going to continue to go forward. So I have a problem with the A to E grading in that regard."

Chris Goudkamp, a classroom teacher from Murwillumbah Public School and a Board of Studies teacher representative, spoke about the inappropriateness of the reporting system:

"And I think it's absurd to grade children in things like their ability to sing or their ability to paint or their ability to dance or their ability to participate in drama activities at that particular level. They are just at the beginning stages and the real emphasis at that particular age is really allowing children to express themselves and to enjoy themselves in those sorts of activities at school."

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Last Modified: 03 Nov 2006