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Fads damaging Australian education, says book "Whether measured by staff morale, student absenteeism and lack of interest, the exodus of parents from the government system, falling standards or the politically correct nature of the curriculum, the reality is that [the Australian] education system is in crisis." They're strong words from Kevin Donnelly, a former teacher and leading education consultant and commentator, but no exaggeration, he says. "The sad reality is that Australian schools, especially those controlled by government, have suffered a range of educational fads that have led to a politically correct and dumbed-down education system." Speaking to Subtext last week, Dr Donnelly said that a procession of fads through Australian education in the last 25-30 years had been a real attack on education standards. "The public debate about schools these days focuses mainly on money and resources, but that debate is far too narrow and won't solve the real problems which stem from what children are being taught." In his new book, Why our schools are failing, Kevin Donnelly looks at the "bankrupt ideas" - from outcomes-based education to whole language and fuzzy maths - that he says are damaging schools. "By focusing on 'process' instead of 'content' and by dumbing down academic subjects to make them immediately attractive and accessible, the end result is that many students leave school culturally illiterate, unable to write a properly structured essay and with a misplaced sense of their own academic worth," Dr Donnelly said. "As a result of adopting such fads as whole language, where students are taught to 'look and guess' and to work out the meaning of words from their context, generations of students, especially boys, are placed at risk. "As a result of fuzzy maths, where primary students are allowed to use calculators and where basic algorithms like long division are no longer taught, many students are unable to do mental arithmetic or to recite their times tables. The very skills most needed if students are to master higher order thinking. "No wonder that it is now common place for universities to offer remedial courses in language skills and for academics to water down the quality of first year courses; especially in maths, physics, chemistry and science." Dr Donnelly said he wrote the book to promote public debate on the issues, to help inform parents and to offer a way forward - "we need to benchmark our curriculum against best practice". Dr Donnelly is also the author of the 2002 Education Forum report A Review of New Zealand's School Curriculum, An International Perspective that compares New Zealand's curriculum against international best practice. In that report he said the curriculum was obsolete and inherently flawed and should be subjected to international benchmarking. The curriculum represented a diminished view of what students should learn, he said.
More information on Why our schools are failing is at this web page. A Review of New Zealand's School Curriculum, An International Perspective can be downloaded as a PDF document. |
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