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As it happened Age Schools Summit: Robert says teacher standards must lift, Merlino hits out on curriculum

Rachel Eddie
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

Robert: Teaching standards must lift
‘Outrageous and disgraceful comment’
Merlino still concerned about national curriculum
Merlino: ‘Challenges ahead’
Packed Agenda
Pinned post from 4.29pm on Mar 23, 2022
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Thanks for following

By Rachel Eddie

That’s it from me, I’m wrapping up today’s live coverage of The Age Schools Summit. Thanks so much for following, and thanks to all our guests for an interesting discussion!

We’ll have some more to read about the barbs traded between Education Minister James Merlino and his federal acting counterpart Stuart Robert a little later.

Editor of The Age, Gay Alcorn, and Deputy Premier and Education Minister James Merlino on Wednesday morning.Joe Armao

In two weeks, The Age is hosting another summit on infrastructure. You can find more details about it here.

I’ll leave you with this graph, which shows the Victorian schools with the most-improved NAPLAN results. They are listed over five pages:

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That’s a wrap for The Age Schools Summit 2022

By Adam Carey

Our final panel of the day was titled “Achieving Greatness” but really it was a discussion about school improvement and the question of how to teach our students better next year than we did this year.

If you could boil today’s discussions — sometimes heated, always full of conviction — down to one theme, that would be it.

The essence of good teaching, the point of education, is improving student results over time.

Every panellist was trying to address that problem, even if there was a divergence of views on how to do it, and it applies equally in the most disadvantaged schools as those that are jockeying to achieve the best VCE median results in the state.

Teacher burnout

By Madeleine Heffernan

Teacher burnout has been a big theme this Schools Summit.

Philomena Solari, of St Simon the Apostle School in Rowville, says she’s been heartened to hear she is not alone in feeling burnt out after the past two years.

We’re currently in the final panel of the day, on achieving greatness, having just discussed powerful and engaging teachers.

Other teachers have described struggling with workloads.

Why is Singapore outperforming Australia in maths?

By Adam Carey

That was an interesting debate on maths teaching, in the context of Australia’s declining standing in maths over the past 20 years compared with other OECD nations.

Singapore, which leads the PISA charts and where students are about two years ahead of their Australian peers by age 15, was again raised as an exemplar, although there were different opinions about why.

The Maths Wars panel (left to right): Greg Ashman, deputy principal and head of research at Ballarat Clarendon College; Alfred Deakin Professor Russell Tytler, Dr Karen McMullen, learning leader of mathematics at Kilbreda College. Moderated by Madeleine Heffernan, Education Reporter of The Age.Joe Armao

Ballarat Clarendon College’s head of maths, Greg Ashman, says Singaporean schools are much more advanced in pushing mastery of maths. Students are expected to know their multiplication tables by years 2 and 3, without a calculator.

Australia has a problem because teachers come out of university convinced that this kind of explicit instruction “is bad and right wing”, he said.

Professor Russell Tytler of Deakin University says it’s often overlooked that Singapore’s maths curriculum is also big on problem-solving. That’s one of the things the draft Australian curriculum was so heavily criticised for upon its initial release.

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How to get students excited about maths?

By

Now we’re discussing maths wars, and how to engage students in the subject.

Greg Ashman, the head of mathematics at Ballarat Clarendon College is arguing students need to have the tools to be good at maths to make them excited about it.

“If they’re good at maths, and they think they’re good at maths, then they’ll be more motivated to do maths.”

The Maths Wars panel (left to right): Greg Ashman, deputy principal and head of research at Ballarat Clarendon College; Alfred Deakin Professor Russell Tytler, Dr Karen McMullen, learning leader of mathematics at Kilbreda College. Moderated by Madeleine Heffernan, Education Reporter of The Age.Joe Armao

Dr Karen McMullen, learning leader of mathematics, Kilbreda College said she was building up basic skills for students she teaches in grade seven who have had two years of remote learning and may have forgotten things that were not relevant while studying online only - such as that they may need to turn a page over.

She goes on to say: “I think students need to be active participants in their learning. You don’t want them to be passive and continually tell them what to do. So if you can give them explicit teaching, and give them the skills, which I think are extremely helpful, then you can see what they can do because they’ve probably got passions that you know nothing about, and it’s an opportunity for them to showcase that.”

The Reading Wars

By Madeleine Heffernan and Rachel Eddie

We’ve returned from lunch to discuss literacy and Reading Wars panel has lived up its name!

The panel is passionately discussing the benefits of phonics and balanced literacy in Victorian schools.

(Left to right) Clayton South Primary principal Greg Clement, Meadowglen principal Dr Loretta Piazza, founder of Think Forward Educators Dr Nathaniel Swain, and literary consultant Diane Snowball, in a panel moderated by Education Editor Adam Carey.Joe Armao

Literacy consultant Diane Snowball questions why Victoria, which is leading the nation in literacy according to NAPLAN, is talking about adopting more phonics in line with other states such as NSW.

Loretta Piazza, principal of Meadowglen Primary School, based in Epping, said some of her disadvantaged students had to be taught how to hold books.

Lunch break

By

If you’re just tuning in, The Age Education Summit is on a lunch break, and will be back with more discussion from 2pm.

Take a look at this afternoon’s agenda here.

The federal acting Education Minister Stuart Robert on Wednesday.Joe Armao

Earlier today, we heard from Victorian Education Minister James Merlino and his acting federal counterpart Stuart Robert, among others.

Join us for more at 2pm.

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‘School was reduced to learning content’

By Rachel Eddie

Another panel debate is underway looking at mental health in schools, and we’re lucky to have the perspective of a student.

Gitaanjali Nair, who is in grade 12, said school isn’t just about learning the curriculum. It’s also about sport, debate, meeting your friends and gossiping on the school oval, which was lost during COVID-19 and remote learning.

Grade 12 student Gitaanjali Nair, an elected member of the Victorian Student Representative Council (left) with a panel discussing mental health.Joe Armao

“School was reduced to learning the content,” she said. “We lost that entire experience of school for two years.

“There are all of these little things that we didn’t really realise is such an integral part of our school experience that we only learned to love once it was gone.”

Panel ‘tired of teacher bashing’

By Rachel Eddie

An interesting panel discussion is underway, with Deputy Editor of The Age Michael Bachelard asking if Mr Robert has a point about “dud teachers”.

Asked if she had a view, Dr Marcia Devlin, chief executive of the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, said to laughter: “I do have a view, but it’s probably not a good career move for me to share it here today.

“I’m a bit tired of the teacher bashing.”

A panel discussion at The Age Education Summit on Wednesday.Joe Armao

She said the acting Education Minister’s comments were unhelpful and disrespectful.

Funding announcement to engage students

By Rachel Eddie

Stuart Robert, the acting federal Education Minister, has used today’s summit to announce funding to help engage students in the classroom and lift standards.

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) will get $3.5 million to help schools develop training materials through a series of podcasts with experts.

“The focus of materials will be on classroom management, student engagement, safe and supportive classrooms for all, and the challenges and opportunities arising from returning to classrooms this year after disruptions caused by the pandemic,” Mr Robert said in a statement.

“Improving the environment in which students are taught is one of three key pillars the government has identified that need attention to lift student outcomes, along with what and how students are taught.”

Australia is ranked 70th out of 77 OECD countries when it comes to classroom discipline, according to a 2019 study, with a high proportion of students reporting teachers were not listened to in Australian classrooms.

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