MAJEDA AWAWDEH Who Cares About Maths Anyway

Copyright © MMXIX Majeda Awawdeh, PhD
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Author: Majeda Awawdeh, PhD

Title: Who Cares about Maths, Anyway?
ISBN: 978-1-77204-931-2
Category: EDUCATION/Teaching Methods & Materials/Mathematics
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ABOUT
"A concise thought-provoking,
and simply written book that every educator and
parent should read."
—Majeda Awawdeh
Table of Contents
Testimonial
List of Abbreviations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Author’s Note
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Curriculum Conundrum 5

Who Is Responsible for the Australian Curriculum? 6
How Is the Australian Curriculum Produced? 7
The Many Components of the Australian Curriculum 7
What Is Wrong with This National Approach? 9
Approach to Pedagogy 9
Textbooks Are Not an Open-and-Shut Case 10
Mathematics Is Not Compulsory in Senior High School 12
Reliance on Online Mathematics Programs 13
Bureaucratic Interference 14
Back to Basics 14
Methodology and Instructional Design 15
Chapter 2: The STEM ‘Sell’ 19

What Is STEM? 20
How Did STEM Come About? 20
The STEM Connections Project 21
How Was the STEM Connections Project Implemented? 22
What Is the Work Studies Curriculum? 22
Why the Correlation between STEM and the
Work Studies Curriculum? 23
How Did Teachers Cope with the Project? 23
How Did Students Cope with the Project? 24
Challenges 25
Are Teachers Equipped to Teach STEM? 25
What about STEM in Primary Schools? 26
Closing the Gender Gap in STEM 26
Solutions 29
Specialist Teachers and Support for STEM in All Schools 29
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Chapter 3: Teachers 33
Teaching the Teachers 34
University or Teaching College? 34
What Are the Prerequisites to Become a Teacher? 35
Ongoing Professional Development 37
How Much Does It Cost to Become a Teacher? 38
How Do Teaching Salaries Compare to Other Professions? 39
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract Future Talent? 41
Teachers’ Salaries, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,
2017 or Latest Available 41
Teachers’ Hours, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining 45
How Effective Are Our Teachers? 46
What Other Challenges Do Teachers Face? 53
Chapter 4: Schools of Thought 59

Choosing a School 59
School Structure 60
School Systems 61
Selective High Schools 62
How Do Our School Systems Rank Globally? 62
How Does Timetabling Influence the
Teaching-Learning Process? 67
How Do School Premises Impact the
How Do Bureaucracy and Administration Impact Teaching? 68
Who Is Leading Schools? 70
How Does the Distribution of Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
Are Schools Really Using Data to Improve Learning? 72
Why Aren’t Schools Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students? 72
Why Is There So Little Transparency in Our Schools for Parents? 73
How Effective Is School Reporting? 73
Chapter 5: Students 77
Where and When Does Learning Start? 78
What Type of Learning Works Best? 78
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and
School Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling? 79
Does the Wearing of Uniforms Give Students the
Sense of Belonging? 81
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Are Australian Students Happy? 81

Are Students Engaged in Learning? 83
Does a Student’s Self-Esteem Play a Role in
His or Her Ability to Learn? 84
Do Students Have Too Many Choices in Where
to Focus Their Energies? 84
Do Gifted Students Need More Inspiration and Challenges to
Keep Them Engaged in Learning? 85
Discipline/Respect for Teachers? 86
Student Performance 86
Do We Need NAPLAN? 86
International Tests and What They Tell Us 88
What Are TIMSS and PIRLS? 90
Education at a Glance 91
How Do Australian Students Rank Globally? 91
What Is the Political Reaction to Our Students’ Decline in
Performance? 94
Chapter 6: Parent and Public Perceptions 97

What Do Parents Classify as a ‘Good’ School? 98
How Do the Education Background and Expectations of
Parents Play a Role in Student Education? 99
Can Parents Be Positively Involved in Schools? 100
Do Parents Play a Role in Schools’ Attitudes
towards Transparency? 101
What Are the Different Parenting Styles and Their
Impact on Students? 101
How Do Parent/Carer Attitudes towards Different Subjects
Affect Their Children’s Attitudes? 103
Are Parents Over-Committing Their Children with Too
Many Extra-Curricular Activities? 104
Are Financial Pressures Keeping Parents Too Busy Working
to Parent Effectively? 104
Do Parents Have the Added Pressure to Monitor
Their Children’s Cyber Interaction at Home and at School? 105
How Do Custody Battles and Separated Families Keep a
Dialogue with Students and Their Schools? 106
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Does the Threat of Legal Action by Parents and Schools

Impact Children’s Education? 106
Trust – A Crucial Factor in a School’s Success and
a Teacher’s Career 107
Tutoring 107
Chapter 7: Vision for Success 111

Who Is Responsible for Having a Vision? 112
Governments 112
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young
Australians 112
Are We Getting a Return on Our Investment? 115
What Is the Gonski Model? 116
Other Countries Have Visions Too 118
Finland 118
Singapore 120
A Teacher’s Vision 121
Is There a Solution? 122
My Vision for a World-Leading Australian Education System 125

List of References 127
List of Appendices 134
Testimonial
“Dr. Majeda Awawdeh is a very experienced, knowledgeable,

mathematics educator. She not only teaches mathematics, she is
familiar with the research literature on mathematics teaching and
learning. Her combination of skills gives her an ideal base from which
to provide advice on teaching and learning mathematics. For these
reasons, I am delighted she has incorporated her views into this book.
Those views should be of interest to all teachers of mathematics and
to the parents of students.”
John Sweller
Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
Australia
www.education.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/people/john-sweller
List of Abbreviations
AAMT Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACARA Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting

Authority
ACT Australian Capital Territory
AITSL Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership
ATAR Australian Tertiary Admission Rank
COAG Council of Australian Governments
FTE Full-time equivalent
HECS Higher Education Contribution Scheme (replaced by

the Higher Education Loan Programme [HELP] in
April 2016)
HSC Higher School Certificate (NSW)
IELTS International English Language Testing System

Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
LBOTE Language background other than English
MCEECDYA Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood

Development and Youth Affairs (now the Education
Council)
NAPLAN National Assessment Program – Literacy and

Numeracy
NESA NSW Education Standards Authority
NSW New South Wales
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development
PD Professional development
PEAT Professional English Assessment for Teachers
PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy Study
PISA Program of International Students Assessment
SCSEEC Standing Council on School Education and Early

Childhood
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

Foreword
“If I were again beginning my studies,

I would follow the advice of Plato and
start with mathematics.”
—Galileo Galilei
If I had met Dr Majeda Awawdeh when I was completing my

education degree, I probably would have ended up a teacher of
mathematics instead of being a teacher of English. Since Majeda’s
passion lied in mathematics, she would have made it look like a fun
subject to study.
Majeda and I met when we both worked in a centre for educational

test development and assessment in Sydney. Majeda was in the
numeracy team, and I was in the literacy team. Her knowledge and
understanding of mathematics translated into valid and interesting
test questions designed for students at both primary and secondary
levels of schooling. Her intellect, innovative energy and enthusiasm
became apparent in our professional and personal interactions so it
was no surprise to me when she came up with the idea of establishing a
FOREWORD
learning centre that would put into practice the principles of Cognitive
Load Theory, which was her PhD field of study.
Majeda has a sharp, analytical mind, which is evident in this

book’s contemporary, comprehensive and probing overview of
the Australian education system. The book is written from her
perspective as a parent, teacher, test development and assessment
professional and founder of Global Education Academy; hence, it
spans a broad range of educational viewpoints and experiences. It
contains statistical and official information sourced from government
departments and statutory agencies.
Majeda examines relevant issues for parents, such as choice of

school, public examinations, school reports, cyber safety, homework
and out-of-school tutoring. She discusses educational issues
relating to curriculum, STEM, teacher training and government
policy. She also presents data and observation reports on the
education system of two highly ranked countries that are known for
producing successful, independent learners. Majeda synthesises
her research findings by presenting her vision of what steps can be
taken to ensure that the Australian education system is equal to the
best in the world.
Being a secondary school teacher in Sydney, I have had the

opportunity over many years to gain first-hand knowledge and
experience of the Australian school system. Like Majeda, I was a
product of another country’s education system. But Majeda and I
have both become ‘insiders’, with distinct views and experiences of
the Australian education system.
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Readers will find this book informative and thought-provoking.

Majeda has shared her insights into the Australian education system
and has done so with integrity and professionalism.
Erlinda Escoban-Gillies
MEd (Syd)
Sydney, NSW
November 2018
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to all the parents who have poured out their hearts to
me, expressing their frustration and feelings of helplessness. I am
thankful to all the hardworking, under-paid teachers who go through
their careers with little to no acknowledgement. My sincere gratitude
goes to all the students who have been overlooked and were left
frustrated by an education system drowning in bureaucracy and the
need to tick boxes. I have learned a great deal from all of you, and
without your input, this book would not have been possible.
Author’s Note
I arrived in Australia from Nazareth, Israel, with my family in 2005.

My three children started school right away, going into kindergarten,
Year 4 and Year 7. Coming from a non-English-speaking country,
they found it a little difficult to adjust to Australian school life even
though they were provided with some support. They found the
mathematics extremely easy compared to what they had been
taught back in Israel. In addition, there was almost zero homework,
which of course they thought was fantastic! For me, though, it was
frustrating. No textbooks were brought home, so as a parent and
a high school mathematics teacher myself, I was no longer familiar
with what they were being taught at school. Nor were the schools
forthcoming with this information. In short, I was in the dark as to
what my children were actually learning.
Today, during the course of my work at the learning centre I run,

I meet with many families who have been in Australia for generations,
and they struggle with the system, too. They complain about the
lack of transparency, the broad range of subjects taught rather than
focusing on core subjects (mathematics and English) and the large
class sizes. It prompted me to think about Australia’s education
system as a whole and how it compares to education systems (the
AUTHOR'S NOTE
flourishing ones as well as those that are less effective) in other

countries around the world.
I carried out significant research into what does and doesn’t

work in pedagogy—in Australia and overseas—and the results
are presented in this book. I hope that, as parents, you will find
these facts and figures informative, albeit a little alarming.
But as a passionate educator who believes there can be a positive
outcome, I also offer my vision for a brighter future for Australia’s
education system.
I cannot emphasise enough that this book is unbiased politically.

It is about the education system in Australia, not about who is giving
the most money or has the best policies. Indeed, my wish is that
all levels of government rise above politics for the sake of our
children’s future.
Introduction
I begin this book with an overview of the Australian Curriculum

in Chapter 1. Then in Chapter 2, I discuss science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM), and in particular, the
challenges Australian schools face in teaching STEM and the issue
of getting girls to pursue STEM subjects.
Note that each state and territory has its own Year 12 exams:1
Australian Capital Territory: Year 12 Certificate
New South Wales: Higher School Certificate (HSC)
Northern Territory: Northern Territory Certificate of

Education
Queensland: Queensland Core Skills Test

(QCST)
South Australia: South Australian Certificate of

Education
1 For more information on Australia’s schooling systems, including home schooling,

see Australian Explorer, Australian School Systems, www.australianexplorer.com/
australian_school_systems.htm, viewed October 15, 2018.
1
INTRODUCTION
Tasmania: Tasmanian Certificate of Education
Victoria: Victoria Certificate of Education (VCE).
Western Australia: Western Australia Certificate of

Education
I refer to all these collectively as ‘Year 12 exams’.
Chapters 3 to 6 each looks at Australia’s education system from

the perspective of teachers, schools, students and parents/the
public respectively.
An important aspect of this book is the personal experiences I

collected from parents and students, which appear at the beginning
of several chapters. Throughout the book, you will also find
segments from an interview I conducted with a 48-year-old primary
school teacher whom I refer to as ‘AC’. AC graduated from an elite
university in Sydney and has been teaching for 26 years (with a
total of 16 years in the classroom). Her insights are very interesting,
if somewhat disturbing, as they echo many things that are wrong
with our education system. It is important to emphasise that this is
her own experience which may be completely different from other
teachers’ experiences.
As a parent and educator, I want to do more than just highlight

the faults of our education system; I hope to shed some light on
why it is failing our children. In Chapter 7, I look at ways in which
Australian politicians have tried to address the education ‘problem’,
including the Gonski2 model. I also consider the visions of two of the
2 D Gonski, K Boston, K Greiner, C Lawrence, B Scales, P Tannock, Review of Funding

for Schooling – Final Report, December 2011, docs.education.gov.au/documents/
review-funding-schooling-final-report-december-2011, viewed October 10, 2018.
2
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
best education systems in the world, Singapore and Finland, and

how they implement them. Please note that all $ figures that appear
in the book refer to Australian dollars.
The book concludes with my vision for what a better education

system in Australia might look like for generations to come. For the
students’ sake, we must all try harder to get it right.
3
Chapter 1
Curriculum
Conundrum
“More important than the curriculum

is the question of methods of teaching and the
spirit in which the teaching is given.”
—Bertrand Russell
A
ustralia has always been known as the ‘lucky country’, but it
seems we are not necessarily the ‘smart country’ when it comes
to education.
The foundation stone of pedagogy in Australia is the Australian

Curriculum, upon which the building blocks of the Australian
education system rely. In this chapter, I will give a brief overview
of who is responsible for the curriculum and how it is structured,
and then I will discuss some of the reasons it is failing our children.
I promise to keep it as simple and concise as possible.
5
curriculum conundrum
Who Is Responsible for the Australian Curriculum?

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
(ACARA) was established by the Commonwealth in 20083 to
develop a national curriculum and oversee national assessments
and reporting on schooling in Australia.
ACARA has a charter4 that defines its strategic direction,

produced in the form of four-year (quadrennial) plans with guidance
by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). COAG comprises
the federal government as well as the six state governments and
two territory governments. The quadrennial plans are assessed and
revised annually and sent to COAG’s Education Council, also known
as the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood
(SCSEEC), for approval.5
ACARA has a board made up of 13 members representing the

Australian Government as well as delegates from each state and
territory covering each of the education streams: government,
independent and Catholic.6
3 Australian Government, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

Act 2008 (Cth), www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00453, viewed October 10,
2018. For more information on ACARA, visit www.acara.edu.au.
4 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA Charter, n.d.,
www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/corporate-publications/20170301-acara-
charter.pdf?sfvrsn=2, viewed October 10, 2018.
5 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA’s 2016/17 to
2020/21 work plan – endorsed by the Education Council 18 September 2015,
www.acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/corporate-publications/20160213-acara’s-
quadrennial-work-plan-2016-17-2019-20.pdf?sfvrsn=2, viewed October 10, 2018.
6 For a full list of board members, see Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Reporting Authority, About us, Board membership, www.acara.edu.au/about-us/acara-
governance-and-advisory-structure/board-membership, viewed October 10, 2018.
6
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
How
Chapter 3: Is the Australian
Teachers Curriculum Produced? 33
ACARA is responsible for developing the Australian Curriculum. It
employsWhat
teamsAreofthe
writers for eachtosubject,
Prerequisites Becomeconsisting
a Teacher?of curriculum
35
Ongoing
experts, Professional
leading academics Development
in each field and representatives 37 of
How Much Does It Cost
relevant professional associations.to Become 7 a Teacher? 38
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract Future Talent?
The drafted curricula are sent out for consultation with interested 41
parties, including teachers, parents’ and citizens’ associations,
university educators,
Teachers’ Hours, thePrimary,
Independent
15 Years’Schools Council of Australia
Experience,
and the2017 or LatestCatholic
National Available Education Commission as well 42 as
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining
business, industry and community groups. Needless to say, this 45
causes significant, time-consuming, back-and-forth communication
while the curricula are assessed and revised. Some curricula are
Chapter
released4:while
Schools
theyofareThought
still at the revision stage, which could mean 59
that Choosing
they are substantially
a School rewritten even as they are being taught. 59
School Structure 60
TheSchool
ManySystems
Components of the Australian Curriculum 61
At the
Howbeginning of this
Do Our School chapter,
Systems RankI mentioned
Globally? that the Australian 62
Curriculum is the foundation stone upon which the building blocks of
Teaching-Learning
our national education system Process? are based. The curriculum is divided 67
into three multi-faceted dimensions.
Teaching-Learning Process? The first dimension is the three 68
Cross-Curriculum Priorities:
1. Sustainability
2.
WhyAsian
Aren’tand Australia’s
Schools Meeting engagement
the Needs ofwith Asia
Gifted Students? 72
3.
HowAboriginal
Effective Isand Torres
School Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Reporting? 73
7 For a full list of board members, see Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
Authority, About us, Board membership, www.acara.edu.au/about-us/acara-
governance-and-advisory-structure/board-membership, viewed October 10, 2018.78
What Type of Learning Works Best?
7
In short, the Australian Curriculum is intended to incorporate the

culture, history and geography of our peoples as well as those of
other peoples in the Asia-Pacific region and on our environment.
The second dimension is the seven General Capabilities, which

relates to various approaches to the syllabi that ensure students’
ability to achieve a broad understanding of the layers of each subject
they learn and accrue different capabilities and skills including:
1. Literacy
2. Numeracy
3. Information and communication technology (ICT) capability
4. Critical and creative thinking
5. Personal and social capability
6. Intercultural understanding
7. Ethical understanding
The third dimension is the eight Learning Areas, encompassing

all subjects taught in Australian schools under the key disciplines of:
1. English
2. Mathematics
3. Science
4. Humanities and social sciences
5. The Arts
6. Health and Physical Education
7. Languages
8. Technologies
8
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
What
Chapter Is Wrong
3: Teachers with This National Approach? 33
As I mentioned, ACARA produces the national curriculum by using
teams of Whatexpert
Are thewriters, along towith
Prerequisites extensive,
Become time-consuming
a Teacher? 35
Ongoing Professional
consultation Development The result is that in a fast-
with many stakeholders. 37
How Much Does It Cost to Become a Teacher?
paced, ever-changing world where technology, culture, language 38
and Are
pretty
Ourmuch everything
Teachers elseEnough
Being Paid is constantly and
to Attract rapidly
Future evolving,
Talent? 41
the curriculum
Teachers’becomes
Salaries,bogged
Primary, down andExperience,
15 Years’ can become redundant
2017itorreaches
by the time Latest Available
our students. To complicate matters, even 41 as
students are being taught the national curriculum, it continues to be
rewrittenMale
behind the scenes, creating
Teacher Numbers Are Declining uncertainty for those teaching
45
it, not
Howto Effective
mention Areour Our
students whose academic results are the end
Teachers? 46
What Other Challenges Do Teachers Face?
product. 53
Chapter
More4:importantly,
Schools of Thought 59
even though these curricula are mandated,
the Choosing
educationa system
School in each state and territory as well as each 59
School stream
education Structure
8
and school, can interpret them, develop syllabi 60
School Systems 61
and teach the content whichever way they choose.9
Approach to Pedagogy
AnotherTeaching-Learning
consideration is Process?
how the Australian Curriculum addresses 67
differentTeaching-Learning
learning styles. Let’s briefly consider how these learning
Process? 68
styles areDo
How catered for, bearing
Bureaucracy in mind that the
and Administration Australian
Impact Curriculum
Teaching? 68
is used as the foundation for teacher training and as the basis 70
Who Is Leading Schools? for
their teaching.
Why Aren’t Schools Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students?
The Australian Curriculum has seven General Capabilities, but 72
howHowwellEffective
do these cater toReporting?
Is School the full spectrum of learners? Are they
73
helping students reach their full potential?
What Typeindependent
8 Government, of LearningorWorks Best?
Catholic. 78
9 Any part of the Australian Curriculum can be downloaded at
School Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download?view=f10. 79
9
Future teachers are taught many pedagogies and theories at

university, but how much of that is practised in schools? Cognitive
Load Theory, for example, is taught at University of New South Wales
(UNSW), but how many of the teachers who graduate from UNSW
actually use it in the classroom? And if they do, how is it monitored
or enforced, particularly, if the author of the textbook being used did
not consider it or even does not know about it?
There are so many questions here, and we can see that the
issue is that pedagogies are not aligned to create effective teaching.
Textbooks Are Not an Open-and-Shut Case
Have you noticed there is often little or no correlation between

what your children are learning and what your friends’ or relatives’
children are learning even though they might be in the same year or
stage but attend different schools?
Each syllabus is written based on stage, not year. For example,

stage 4 covers Years 7 and 8. But it is unclear what goes in Year 7
and what goes in Year 8. Hence, it is left to the textbook authors to
decide. As a result, topics taught in Year 7 in one school may be
taught in Year 8 in another school that uses different textbooks.
The big question is, who writes these textbooks? Are they written
by teachers or researchers? Did the authors study methodology?
I have come across many textbooks that are supposed to teach
mathematics, but all they offer is a bunch of scattered questions.
They are confusing, offer no type of structure and do not include
any theoretical or methodical direction.
To make matters worse, there is no ‘one’ textbook for each

subject. Compare booklists for a Year 10 student at a government
school, an independent school and a Catholic school; they will most
likely be using different textbooks for each subject.
10
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Each3:year,
Chapter parents in Catholic and private schools are given33a
Teachers
list of textbooks
Teaching to purchase for their child, which are purchased34
the Teachers at
University or Teaching College?
considerable expense. Yet often, they are barely opened. Do you 34
What Are the Prerequisites to Become a Teacher?
ever scratch your head when your child brings textbooks home35 at
the end
Howof the Does
Much school year to
It Cost that still look
Become brand new?
a Teacher? 38
Meanwhile,
Are Our Teachers parents in Paid
Being public schools
Enough are not
to Attract given
Future any list41of
Talent?
books, with the exception
Teachers’ of some15selective
Salaries, Primary, schools that provide a
Years’ Experience,
2017 or Latest Available
list of books for mathematics and sometimes science. Thus, there41is
a disparity between the school systems and a lack of transparency
as I mentioned in the introduction.
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining It is very frustrating for parents to
45
not know what books
How Effective Are OurtheirTeachers?
children are learning from. 46
In most primary schools, textbooks are almost non-existent,
Chapter
especially 4: Schools of Thought teachers just use downloadable
in mathematics; 59
worksheets.
School Structure 60
You
SchoolwillSystems
recall that I mentioned an interview I conducted with 61
Selective High Schools
a 48-year-old primary school teacher whom I refer to as ‘AC’, who 62
graduated from an elite university in Sydney and has been teaching
for 26 years (with a total of
Teaching-Learning 16 years in the classroom). This is what
Process? 67
she How
had to
Dosay about
School textbooks:
Premises Impact the
Who Is Leading Schools?
Q: What textbooks do you use? 70
Are Schools Really Using Data to Improve Learning?
AC: There are no textbooks, and I hate that. There is no 72
Why Aren’t
program andSchools Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students?
no structure. 72
HowWhere
Q: Effective areIs School Reporting? to source your teaching 73
you supposed
materials?
Where
AC: I amand When Does
supposed Learning Start?my students’ needs (and
to accommodate 78
What Type of Learning Works
there are many levels in the Best?
same classroom) and create 78
11
individualised programs for them. I usually photocopy from

different textbooks I find by myself or download worksheets
from the internet.
Q: How does that affect the system?
AC: Well… you can imagine what chaos it creates; teachers

teach very different things in many different styles. There is
not one methodology. In the same school, you might find
10 different ways of teaching. It all depends on where the
material was downloaded from and how it was delivered.
Textbooks for primary schools need to show that they address

the outcomes stated in the syllabus, and schools should take the
time to check the claims of authors and publishers. I contacted
the Department of Education, seeking information regarding the
approval process for primary mathematics textbooks. Despite my
best efforts, I was unable to get a definitive response from anyone
regarding an approval process for textbooks. Suffice it to say, I have
to assume that there isn’t one.
Mathematics Is Not Compulsory in Senior High School
As long as mathematics is not a compulsory subject in senior high

school, we cannot expect Australia to be one of the top academic
countries in the world.
It seems mathematics isn’t even a priority. Consider the huge

variety of subjects being offered.10 Are Australian students given
10 Approximately 80 subjects taught in high schools are listed on

Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority, A–Z Senior Subject List,
www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/a-z-subject-list, viewed October 12, 2018.
12
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
too many choices? Over the course of their education, particularly

in high school years, students have the opportunity to learn many
subjects, but does this result in them being ‘a jack of all trades, but
master of none’? Does it create a superficiality in their knowledge
and skills? In some countries, such as the Netherlands and Finland,
fewer subjects are offered. So while school students in these
countries have fewer choices, they study the core subjects with
much greater depth.
In addition to all the subjects offered, extra-curricular activities,

such as sports, community service (which are both compulsory in
many schools) and the arts, also consume a significant amount of
time within the school day and outside of school hours.
Reliance on Online Mathematics Programs
Textbooks, particularly mathematics textbooks, appear to have

all but disappeared. These days, commercial online mathematics
programs are the mainstream way for students to learn maths and
do their homework. However, there are several problems with this
approach. First, there is little to no parent involvement in online
programs, whereas in the past, a child sat with his or her books open
so parents could see what they were working on. Now, parents
have no idea. The online programs are more like a ‘babysitter’,
keeping the child occupied while their parent (or teacher)
does other things. This passive way of learning mathematics
can be detrimental to the child’s learning of and progress in
mathematics, and I would caution teachers and parents against
relying on them solely to teach mathematics.
13
Q: What do you think teachers need to teach effectively?
AC: We need textbooks that are written with a structure in

mind by someone who studies methodology and the core
subject, which are approved by the department. I shouldn’t
have to bear the accountability to make that decision; the
decision-makers should. The internet is overloaded with
worksheets from everywhere.
Bureaucratic Interference
My final concern about the Australian Curriculum is bureaucracy. The

Australian Government oversees education via COAG’s Education
Council and ACARA, both of which are made up of multiple layers of
government. Educational bodies and professional organisations are
added to the mix in the production of the Australian Curriculum. Thus,
sweeping changes to education are protracted rather than dynamic.
At the coalface are schools trying to introduce new syllabi while
the curricula are hindered by bureaucracy, making teachers spend
more time completing paperwork than teaching. Even organising a
simple excursion requires copious form-filling and box-ticking.
In the meantime, our children are watching the world change

around them, wondering whether their education will be relevant by
the time they have finished school or university.
Back to Basics
A recent announcement of a review of the NSW education system

by the state government is an encouraging sign that this jam-
packed curriculum has finally been recognised as a major issue.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, ‘The world has changed rapidly
14
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
since the3:last
Chapter comprehensive review in 1989, and we must ensure
Teachers 33
the Teaching
curriculumtheisTeachers
as strong as it can be… This includes a greater 34
focus on the basics, including English, maths and the sciences.’ 34
Ongoing Professional Development
Education Minister Rob Stokes said, ‘This is a once-in-a- 37
generation chance to examine, declutter and improve the NSW 38
How Do Teaching Salaries Compare to Other Professions?11 39
curriculum
Are OurtoTeachers
make it Being
simpler to Enough
Paid understand and to
to Attract teach.’
Future Talent? 41
Whether this review is followed through with an actual overhaul
and/or is adoptedHours,
Teachers’ by other states
Primary, and territories
15 Years’ is yet to be seen.
Experience,
Another2017 or Latest
important Availableof course, is how a ‘pared back’ NSW
question, 42
Male
curriculum Teacher
will Numbers
align with Are Declining
the Australian Curriculum. 45
Methodology and Instructional Design
In my view, Methodology and Instructional Design are two crucial
factors in the development
School Structure of the Australian Curriculum. For readers
60
whoSchool
may not be familiar with these terms, here is a brief definition
Systems 61
of each: Selective High Schools 62
Methodology is an area of pedagogy that involves an analysis
Teaching-Learning
and evaluation of subjects Process?
and the methods used to teach them. 67
Methodology is crucial Process?
Teaching-Learning to good teaching practices because68it
enables
How teachers to better
Do Bureaucracy andcater to the different
Administration learning styles68
Impact Teaching? of
students in their classrooms, while also allowing students to become 70
actively involved in the learning process. If methodology was
applied
Why to the national
Aren’t curriculum,
Schools Meeting a cohesive
the Needs standard
of Gifted of teaching
Students? 72
would
Whybe delivered
Is There across
So Little all Australian
Transparency in Ourschools. This
Schools for approach
Parents? 73
How Effective Is School Reporting?
has worked in other countries, such as Finland, where teachers 73
Where
11 NSW and When
Government, Does
‘NSW Learning
launches Start?
school 78
curriculum review’, Media Releases
from the Premier, May 14, 2018, www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/the-premier/78
media-releases-from-the-premier/nsw-launches-school-curriculum-review, viewed
School
October Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
12, 2018. 79
15
cu rri culum conu nd rum
are held accountable and are expected to continue professional

development (PD) throughout their career.
Instructional Design focuses on the analysis of learning

needs and goals for all students, with the objective of enhancing
the effectiveness and proficiency of instruction and learning.
Instructional Design relies on research and learning theories in the
design and creation of learning materials and instruction.
Using Finland as an example, this is how Instructional Design

plays out in their schools:
Finnish classrooms emphasise the importance of learning

through doing, and place particular emphasis on group work,
creativity and problem-solving skills. From primary school onward,
students are expected to work collaboratively on interdisciplinary
projects. In many cases, students are expected to contribute to
the design of these projects as well. In upper secondary school,
students are expected to contribute to the design of their course
of study.
Finnish students receive fewer hours of instruction than

students in any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) country, being taught for only 600 hours a
year as compared to 1080 hours in the OECD countries with the most
hours of instruction. Finnish teachers spend their other
professional hours carefully crafting their lesson plans and
coming up with innovative ways to engage their students.
Teachers also pride themselves on personalising lessons to fit
their classroom and giving students individual attention.
16
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
In the3:early
Chapter years of school, Finnish students often stay together
Teachers 33
in a Teaching
class with
thethe same teacher for several years. That way, the
Teachers 34
teacher can follow their development over several grade levels, 34
and they are able to learn in what many consider to be a family-like
12
Development 37
environment.
Whichever method
Are Our Teachers of teaching
Being Paid Enougha school uses,
to Attract it needs
Future to have
Talent? 41
some theory,
Teachers’and this needs
Salaries, to15be
Primary, practised.
Years’ We can see that
Experience,
2017 or
in Australia, theLatest Available is not aligned to create effective
methodology 41
teaching.Teachers’ Hours, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,
NowMale
let’sTeacher
look at Numbers
some of Are
the Declining
other reasons Australian schools 45
are failing to teach.

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
Where Center
12 National and When Does Learning
on Education and the Start? 78
Economy (NCEE) Finland: Instructional
Systems, National
What Type Centre onWorks
of Learning Education
Best?and the Economy, n.d., ncee.org/what-
78
we-do/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/
finland-overview/finland-instructional-systems, viewed January 11, 2018.
17
Chapter 2
The STEM ‘Sell’
“I advise my students to listen carefully the

moment they decide to take no more mathematics
courses. They might be able to hear the
sound of closing doors.”
—James Caballero
S
TEM is the four disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics. In the face of poor results on an international
scale in recent years, the Australian Government has been
scrambling to introduce STEM at the primary and pre-primary
level in schools and enhance its teaching at the secondary level.
Historically, at primary level, little to no STEM has been taught,
mainly due to a lack of specialist teachers and/or teachers with
19
t he stem ‘sell’
poor mathematics skills, so students often find themselves having to

quickly grasp STEM subjects when they enter secondary education
if they want to pursue any of them for their Year 12 exams and
beyond.
What Is STEM?
The Australian Curriculum that I outlined in Chapter 1 is responsible
for STEM, which is the part of the curriculum that covers four specific
disciplines: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.13
STEM encompasses three of the learning areas, namely science,
technology and mathematics, and covers the general capabilities
of numeracy, ICT, and critical and creative thinking.14 Engineering is
one of the more common high school subjects addressed by STEM
and cuts across science, digital technologies and mathematics.
How Did STEM Come About?

In recent years, STEM education and its disciplines have been under
intense public, political and industry scrutiny. The main criticisms are
that Australian students are not performing well in these disciplines,
nor are students—particularly girls—taking up STEM-based careers.
To address this deficit, in 2015, the Australian government’s

education council created the National STEM School Education
Strategy,15 committing $12 million (on top of the $5 million allocated
the previous year to the Primary Connections and Science by Doing
13 For more information on STEM, see www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/stem.

14 See Australian Curriculum, STEM Report, n.d., www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
resources/stem/stem-report, viewed October 10, 2018.
15 Education Council, National Stem School Education Strategy, December 2015,
www.educationcouncil.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/National%20
STEM%20School%20Education%20Strategy.pdf.
20
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
16
programmes
Chapter ) to a 10-year plan starting in 2016 that would restore
3: Teachers 33
the Teaching
focus ontheSTEM and encourage students to take up STEM
Teachers 34
subjects during both primary and secondary schooling. 34
How Much The DoesSTEM
It Cost toConnections
Become a Teacher? Project 38
Shortly
Arebefore the publication
Our Teachers Being Paidof the National
Enough STEMFuture
to Attract School Education
Talent? 41
Strategy,Teachers’
ACARA—who is responsible
Salaries, for the
Primary, 15 Years’ Australian Curriculum—
Experience,
2017 or Latest
commissioned AvailableAssociation of Mathematics Teachers
the Australian 41
(AAMT) to conduct a research project investigating ‘the effectiveness
of usingMale
an integrated approach
Teacher Numbers Are Decliningto the teaching and learning of
45
STEMHowdisciplines’.
Effective Are Our Teachers? 46
In effect, the STEM Connections Project addressed the first of
Chapter 4: Schools
the National of Thought
STEM School Education Strategy’s two goals: 59
Goal 1: Ensure
School Structure all students finish school with strong foundational
60
knowledge in STEM and related skills.
School Systems 61
Goal
How Do2: Our
Ensure
School that students
Systems Rankare inspired to take on more
Globally? 62
How Does Timetabling
challenging STEM subjects. Influence
17 the
To some
How extent,Premises
Do School the project also addressed
Impact the each of the Strategy’s
Teaching-Learning Process?
five key areas for national action, namely: 68
1. Increasing student STEM ability, engagement, participation 70
and aspiration.
WhyIncreasing
2. Aren’t Schools Meeting
teacher the Needs
capacity of Gifted
and STEM Students?
teaching quality. 72
How Effective IsSTEM
3. Supporting School Reporting?
education 73
opportunities within school systems.
Where
16 For more and Whenon
information Does
theseLearning
programs,Start? 78
see Department of Education, Science
What
by DoingType
and of Learning
Primary Works Best?
Connections: 78
Linking Science with Literacy programmes,
May 13, 2014, docs.education.gov.au/node/35769, viewed
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and October 10, 2018.
School
17 Education Affect
Council, op. Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
cit., p7. 79
21
4. Facilitating effective partnerships with tertiary education.

providers, business and industry.
5. Building a strong evidence base.18
How Was the STEM Connections Project Implemented?
Twelve schools around Australia were selected as ‘guinea pigs’

to trial the integrated STEM project, which was based around the
key learning areas of mathematics, science and technologies. Each
school undertook a different project.19
Another aspect of the STEM Connections Project was for

participating schools to incorporate aspects of the Work Studies
curriculum and partner with at least one industry as part of their project.
What Is the Work Studies Curriculum?
The Work Studies curriculum is a special part of the Australian

Curriculum created for students in Years 9 and 10 to address
issues they face when leaving school, in particular, having relevant
training and education to find work in the real world—a world where
traditional jobs are disappearing and others are being created. This
future-focused program is described on the Australian Curriculum
website as ‘world-leading’, and ‘equal in quality, value and rigour to
more traditional academic programs’.20
18 Education Council, op. cit., p7.

19 For details on the schools that participated and their allocated projects, see ACARA,
STEM Connections Project Report, June 2016, www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
media/3220/stem-connections-report.pdf, pp7–8, viewed October 10, 2018.
20 Australian Curriculum, F-10 Curriculum, Work Studies, Introduction, n.d.,
www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/work-studies/introduction/?searc
hTerm=equal+in+quality#dimension-content, viewed October 10, 2018.
22
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
The purpose
Chapter 3: Teachers of the program is to instil importance in the value 33
of work and the
Teaching lifelong
Teacherslearning and ensure that students in Years349
University or
and 10 (many of whom will notTeaching College?
complete Years 11 and 12) have34a
basic knowledge of how to secure work as well as ‘manage careers,
change
HowandMuch transitions
Does It Cost in an
to uncertain
Become a and changing future’.21 38
Teacher?
WhyAretheOurCorrelation
Teachers Being between STEM
Paid Enough and the
to Attract Work
Future Studies
Talent? 41
Curriculum?
The reasoning
Teachers’behind this was
Hours, Primary, basedExperience,
15 Years’ on evidence that STEM
education2017is or
more Latest Available
effective and successful when students are given 42
Male Teacher
the opportunity to learnNumbers Are Declining
the disciplines across various learnings and 45
capabilities and apply them in realistic, authentic ways, hence the
collaboration with industry partners.
The project also cut across the Australian Curriculum’s Cross-
curriculum Priorities
School Structure of Sustainability and Environment as well as
60
Product
Schooland Force and Motion.
Systems 61
How HowDidDoTeachers
Our School Cope with
Systems theGlobally?
Rank Project? 62
The STEM Connections Project
Teaching-Learning Process?Report revealed that participating 67
schools
How found
Do School that mathematics
Premises Impactwastheconsiderably more challenging in
terms of setting up and incorporating in the project than other disciplines. 68
School reports indicate that mathematics was the most 70
How Does the Distribution of Funding Affect Our Schools?
difficult learning area to plan for in the project. Some teachers 71
commented
Why Aren’t Schools that they foundthe
Meeting it hard to integrate
Needs mathematics 72
of Gifted Students?
effectively
Why Is There intoSothose projects that in
Little Transparency were
Our focused on Parents?
Schools for science 73
How Effective
or technologies. Is School
22 Reporting? 73
21 Australian Curriculum, F-10 Curriculum, Work Studies, Aims, n.d.,
www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/work-studies/aims/?searchTerm=
manage+careers%2c+change+and+transitions+in+an+uncertain+and+changing+fu 78
As Parents, How Doviewed
ture#dimension-content, Our Attitudes towards
October 10, 2018. Learning and
22 ACARA,School Affect Our Children’s
STEM Connections Approach
Project Report, p10. to Schooling? 79
23
What is interesting is the report also states that when mathematics

was integrated, students were highly engaged, which makes me
wonder why primary schools were not included in this project.
How Did Students Cope with the Project?
The majority of the participating schools in the STEM project were

large co-educational government schools (up to 2000 students) in
metropolitan areas. In the STEM Report, it was apparent that ‘less
confident learners did not like the freedom of the open-ended task;
they tended to “get lost”, became disengaged and ended up wasting
a lot of time. Some tasks needed more scaffolding for some groups.’23
Some of the reasons given included a lack of maturity, time

management skills or the ability to work autonomously. It was also
suggested that students needed some sort of preparation to cope
with ‘the interpersonal demands of working in groups, such as
managing conflict resolution and understanding the complex nature
of leadership roles.’24
One interesting case study was at Cherrybrook Technology High

School in Northwestern Sydney, where students undertook a project
to redesign their school playground. The project was conducted
by an elective technology class led by one technology teacher.
Mathematics and science teachers were available occasionally as
guest lecturers when required.
It’s interesting to note that in the STEM project, boys struggled

more with the lack of structure than girls. Girls generally outperformed
the boys and were more motivated to take on leadership roles in
their groups.25 Note, however, that the gender gap in STEM persists.
23 ACARA, STEM Connections Project Report, p10.

24 Ibid.
25 Ibid. p15.
24
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Chapter 3: Teachers Challenges 33

Are Teachers Equipped to Teach STEM?
One of the main issues with STEM is that schools need specialist
teachers who can
How Much Doesteach
It Costthese disciplines.
to Become While this may not be38a
a Teacher?
problem
How Doat the secondary
Teaching level,
Salaries it most
Compare to certainly creates problems
Other Professions? 39
Are Our Teachers
at the primary level. Being Paid Enough to Attract Future Talent? 41
The 2017
STEM or Latest AvailableProject Report noted problems that
Connections 41
participating teaching staff encountered during the project. In
particular, the open-ended nature
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining and group work focus of the
45
projects
How presented
Effective Are the following
Our Teachers? challenges: 46
• the need to surrender their role as leader of learning and
Chaptersubject
4: Schools of Thought
expert to allow greater autonomy for students 59
•School
classroom
Structure management and planning 60
School Systems 61
uncertainty about when and what content would be required
monitoring progress when groups were at different stages
Teaching-Learning
handling groupProcess?
dynamics 67
Teaching-Learning
• time Process?for team-planning, resource-sharing,
commitments required 68
personal learning and communication across the school
• school constraints, such as timetabling and staffing, impact
72
Whythe waySchools
Aren’t the project could
Meeting thebe delivered
Needs of Gifted Students? 72
IHow
think the key
Effective wordsReporting?
Is School here are surrender, uncertainty and 73
constraints. I suspect another problem with STEM is the lack of
Chapter
synergy 5: Studentsschools as to how STEM is taught; the open-
between 77
endedWhere and means
nature When Doesthat Learning
schools Start?
will adapt their STEM syllabi 78 to
suit their teachers’ ability or style of teaching STEM subjects. 78
26 Does
ACARA,theSTEM Connections
Wearing Project Report,
of Uniforms p19.
Give Students the
25
What about STEM in Primary Schools?
In primary schools, the focus is generally on mathematics—less so on

science, even less on technology, and certainly not on engineering.
This is partly because primary school teachers don’t specialise in any
one subject; they teach all primary subjects to all students in their class
and often teach only one year group or stage for many consecutive
years. Specialisation only occurs in secondary school, whereas in other
countries, specialisation in STEM starts from Year 3.
I will expand on the topic of teacher training in Chapter 3, but

briefly, the problem stems (no pun intended) from the fact that many
primary school teachers have poor mathematics skills, particularly
because the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for students
to study teaching at university is so low. Mathematics has not been
a compulsory Year 12 subject in New South Wales since 2001. Since
then, around a quarter of Year 12 students have completed their Year
12 exams without mathematics, many of whom have become teachers.
Apart from a lack of teachers who are competent in mathematics,

another issue is how mathematics is taught in primary school.
There appears to be little structure, as teachers can choose to
teach whatever they like (remember they are not specialised in
mathematics), resulting in the handing out of random worksheets
downloaded from the internet and, more importantly, an array of
different textbooks, which I discussed in Chapter 1. This has created
an unholy mess in schools’ mathematics syllabi and ultimately affects
students’ conceptual understanding of mathematics.
Closing the Gender Gap in STEM
In Australia, only 12 per cent of female STEM graduates earn $104,000

compared to 32 per cent of male STEM graduates (parenthood does
not explain the wage gap; women without children earn the same as
26
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
those with
Chapter children). Only 17 per cent of STEM university professors
3: Teachers 33
are Teaching
female, and the ‘traditionally male sectors’ of construction and
the Teachers 34
transport still employ few female STEM graduates at 12 per cent and 34
15 per cent respectively in comparison to education (41 per cent)
and How
healthcare
Much Does(60 per cent).
It Cost to Become a Teacher? 38
A datasheet
Are produced
Our Teachers Being by
Paidthe office to
Enough of Attract
Australia’s Chief
Future Scientist
Talent? 41
states, ‘Australia loses female
Teachers’ Salaries, Primary,talent at every
15 Years’ stage of the STEM
Experience,
pipeline2017 or Latest
despite no Available
innate cognitive gender differences.’27 This 41
excellent datasheet canPrimary,
Teachers’ Hours, be found 15 in
Years’
the Experience,
Appendices.
Male Teacher
Research Numbers
and testing Are Declining
have failed to prove the biological 45
argument that boys are better at spatial tasks while girls are better
at verbal ones.28 A more likely scenario is that cultural and societal
Chapter
influences4: Schools of Thought
play a role. Using the Program of International Students 59
Assessment
Choosing (PISA) data, Organisation for Economic Co-operation
a School 59
and School Structure (OECD) researchers found that girls in more
Development 60
School Systems 61
gender-neutral countries like Scandinavia outperformed boys in
STEMHowsubjects, whereas
Do Our School in more
Systems patriarchal
Rank Globally? countries like Turkey, 62
boys outperformed girls. 29Influence the
However,
How Do School evenPremises
in Scandinavian
Impact thecountries, these results don’t
translate into women’s pursuit of STEM careers. Perhaps another 68
How Do Bureaucracy and Administration30Impact Teaching? 68
factor is at play: a sense of belonging. Do young women feel
27 Australia’s
Are Schools ChiefReally
Scientist,
Using Datasheet
Data to2:Improve
Women Learning?
in Stem: A story of attrition,
72
Australian Government, November 2016, www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/
uploads/OCS_Women_in_STEM_datasheet.pdf , viewed October 15, 2018.
72
28 D Kimura, ‘Sex Differences in the Brain: Men and women display patterns of
How Effective
behavioral Is School
and cognitive Reporting?
differences that reflect varying hormonal influences73on
brain development’, Scientific American, May 13, 2002, www2.nau.edu/~bio372-c/
Chapter 5: Students
class/behavior/sexdif1.htm, viewed October 12, 2018. 77
29 Organisation
Where andforWhen
Economic
DoesCo-operation and Development, Equally prepared78
Learning Start? for
life?:
What How 15-year-old
Type boys and
of Learning girlsBest?
Works perform in school, PISA, OECD Publishing,
78
Paris, 2009, www.doi.org/10.1787/9789264064072-en.
30 Ibid. p18.
27
uncomfortable entering a traditionally male-dominated area of

tertiary study and/or profession?
Clearly, we have a long way to go in tackling gender stereotyping

and providing girls with more appropriate role models. Let’s face
it: What female role models are our daughters exposed to on a
day-to-day basis? Without mentioning names, I’m sure you’ll agree
they aren’t scientists or mathematicians.
In summary, it seems there are three main reasons STEM is

failing our children:
1. Currently, STEM is not being taught comprehensively in all

Australian schools and is not the focus of primary schools and
some high schools due to a lack of:
• specialist staff
• well-structured textbooks
• collaboration among staff
• take-up of STEM subjects by students31
2. STEM is being taught differently across schools; in particular, the

syllabi may differ between boys’ or co-educational schools and
girls’ schools. We need girls to be encouraged to pursue STEM
to the same degree as boys.32
31 This issue is tackled in Education Council, Optimising Stem Industry-School

Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation, Final Report April 2018, April 12,
2018, www.educationcouncil.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Reports%20
and%20publications/Publications/Optimising%20STEM%20Industry-School%20
Partnerships%20-%20Final%20Report.pdf, viewed October 10, 2018.
32 The Australian Government’s Department of Education and Training program
Curious Minds is a series of ‘hands-on summer schools’ for ‘high-achieving female
students in Years 9 and 10’, www.education.gov.au/support-science-technology-
engineering-and-mathematics.
28
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
3. Primary
Chapter school teachers are not trained to specialise in teaching
3: Teachers 33
STEM
Teachingsubjects; therefore, implementation of STEM in primary
the Teachers 34
University or Teaching
school syllabi is problematic.College? 34
How Much Does It Cost to Solutions
Become a Teacher? 38
Specialist
Are Our Teachers
Teachers BeingandPaid
Support
Enoughfor
to STEM in All Talent?
Attract Future Schools41
While it’s encouraging that the Australian government is now
throwingTeachers’
millionsHours,
of dollars
Primary,into promoting
15 Years’ STEM in schools,
Experience,
I wonder2017 or money
if the Latest Available 42
is being directed to the right places. It seems
Male
to me that theTeacher
focus isNumbers
more onAre
theDeclining 45
system of teaching STEM, rather
than ensuring universities are producing quality, specialised STEM
teachers. As it stands, it seems the onus has been put on schools to
Chapter 4: Schools
deliver STEM at all of Thought
stages of education; however, most schools 59 do
not Choosing
have specialist teachers (particularly primary schools), or their
a School 59
Schoolare
teachers Structure
ill-equipped to teach STEM. 60
School Systems 61
Specifically, I think ACARA and the Education Council should 62
focus on two of the National STEM School Education Strategy’s five
Areas for National Action:Process?
Teaching-Learning 67
1. increasing teacherProcess?
Teaching-Learning capacity and STEM teaching quality 68
How Do Bureaucracy
2. supporting STEMand Administration
education Impact within
opportunities Teaching? school 68
systems33
33 Education Council, National Stem School Education Strategy, op. cit., p6.
29
I believe the Education Council and ACARA must address these

first to ensure that our children have ample opportunity to receive
quality STEM education and the option to pursue STEM subjects in
high school and beyond.
Building on the question of specialist teachers, the next chapter

looks at the broader topic of teachers, including training and PD,
salaries, teacher effectiveness and some of the challenges our
teachers face.
30
Chapter 3
Teachers
“If you can’t explain it simply,

you don’t understand it well enough.”
—Albert Einstein
E
ducation is like a long bus journey. The bus is the curriculum, and
the driver—a teacher—must get their student passengers to their
destination: a quality education to equip them for their chosen career
path. Let’s call it Futureville. If your child were on this bus, you’d want
it to be a modern, high-tech vehicle, but more importantly, you’d
expect it to be driven by a suitably qualified, well-trained, highly
skilled driver who knows the most effective and efficient route to
get your child to Futureville. If the driver is incompetent, no matter
how colourful, high-tech and modern the bus is, the journey will not
be as joyful, and the destination may not be reached.
33
teachers
This is a simplistic analogy, but my point is that the basis of a

great education depends on two things:
1. a dependable, dynamic curriculum
2. outstanding teachers to drive it
We’ve already looked at the importance of curriculum (in

particular, STEM) in educating our children; this chapter focuses on
the second critical factor: teachers.
It takes many special qualities to be a teacher: patience,

resilience and a love of children and learning. Like nursing, teaching
is a vocation; it’s a profession you need to have a passion for. But
teaching also requires mental fortitude and intelligence.
Teaching the Teachers

Approximately two-thirds (65.6 per cent) of students in Australia

attend government schools, one-fifth (19.9 per cent) attend systemic
Catholic schools and 14.5 per cent attend independent schools.34
And just as Australian schools are not all created equal, neither
are universities. The quality of teaching degrees varies considerably,
as do the outcomes, style, methodology and approach to teaching
the degree. In Australia, there are currently 10 non-university
colleges offering primary school Teacher Education.35
34 Independent schools are mainly religious, such as non-denominational Christian,

Jewish, Islamic, Protestant or private (non-systemic) Catholic. There are also schools
with secular educational philosophies (e.g., Montessori, Steiner). Australian Bureau of
Statistics, Schools, Australia, 2017, February 2, 2018, www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.
nsf/0/9448F2F814FA0311CA2579C700118E2D?Opendocument, viewed October 10, 2018.
35 Quality indicators for learning and teaching (QILT), Teacher Education, www.qilt.edu.au/
study-areas/list/study-area/teacher-education?type=2&&searchString=Education%20
in%20Primary%20Teaching, viewed October 10, 2018.
34
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
What Are
Chapter the Prerequisites to Become a Teacher?
3: Teachers 33
To become a primary school teacher, a student must complete an
undergraduate
What AreBachelor of Education
the Prerequisites or a apostgraduate
to Become Teacher? degree,
35
suchOngoing
as a MasterProfessional Development
of Teaching. The bachelor’s degree is three years. 37
For secondary school teaching, the degree is a minimum of four 38
years
Are forOur
a Bachelor
Teachers of Education,
Being including
Paid Enough the study
to Attract FutureofTalent?
a particular
41
subject Teachers’
area, a double
Salaries, degree (Bachelor
Primary, 15 Years’ of Education/Bachelor of
Experience,
Science)2017or aorMaster
Latest of Available
Teaching. 41
Media 2017articles
or LatestinAvailable
2016 highlighted the low ATAR scores 42 of
students being accepted into education degrees at universities in 45
Australia, ranging from as low as 30 to an average of around 70.36
Some other articles in 2017 proposed that teachers need to further
Chapter
study 4: Schools
before enteringof Thought
the classroom.37 59
Notably, students
School Structure enrolling for a primary school education degree
60
do not
Schoolrequire Year 12 mathematics as a subject, which is alarming
Systems 61
when you consider they will be expected to teach mathematics to 62
their students when they graduate. If you take into consideration
STEM, which we looked at in
Teaching-Learning the previous chapter, you have to wonder
Process? 67
howHowa teacher
Do Schoolwho hasn’t Impact
Premises done Year
the 12 mathematics will impart
knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics68
Teaching-Learning Process? to
their students. In other words, they are teaching subjects for which
theyHow
haveDoes
no formal qualification
the Distribution and/or little
of Funding experience.
Affect Our Schools? 71
Students
Why Aren’twith low or
Schools no ATAR
Meeting who want
the Needs to study
of Gifted teaching can
Students? 72
enrol
Whyin foundation
Is There Sostudies, a one-yearinintensive
Little Transparency preparatory
Our Schools course
for Parents? 73
to gain the skills necessary to enter the undergraduate teaching 73
36 Western Sydney University, Foundation Studies, www.westernsydney.edu.au/
thecollege/courses_and_pathways/foundation_studies, viewed October 10, 2018
37 N Robinson, ‘Teachers should study postgraduate degree before joining 78
As Parents,
workforce, How Do
Australian Our Attitudes
Education towards
Union says’, Learning
ABC News, and
24 Nov 2017, www.abc.
net.au/news/2017–11–24/teachers-should-have-postgraduate-degree-union- 79
says/9186450
35
teachers
course at a university or teaching college. For example, students

who don’t have the required ATAR for a course can take subjects
such as mathematics. Alternatively, they can wait until they are 21
and enter as a mature-aged student with no ATAR and no foundation
studies. In short, anyone can be a teacher!
Q: Would you say that when you graduated, you were

sufficiently prepared to be working in a classroom?
AC: Absolutely not. What I learned during my university

degree was useless. It was mostly theory, which does not
apply in the classroom.
Q: But there was a practical aspect to it, wasn’t there?
AC: Yes, there was. But it was for one year only—not enough.
They don’t teach you how to be a teacher. It is like teaching
a builder all the theories of building and then putting them
on a construction site. They won’t know what to do. The
theories should be for the engineers, not the builders. The
builders need the practical, hands-on learning. It’s the same
for teachers; we need it to be like an apprenticeship.
It’s not all bad news, though. Since 2016, the New South Wales
Education Standards Authority (NESA) has required future teachers
to meet increased academic standards to study an accredited
undergraduate teaching degree in NSW, which includes a minimum
standard of three Band 5 Year 12 exam results, including one in
English or an approved equivalent.
Another requirement introduced in the NSW government’s

Great Teaching, Inspired Learning (GTIL) reforms was that from 2016,
36
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
teacher education
Chapter 3: Teachersstudents in NSW would need to pass a literacy
33
and Teaching
numeracy the test prior to their final professional experience
Teachers 34
placement. This approach obviously impressed other states and 34
was adopted nationally in July 2016.
However, teacher accreditation does vary from state to 38
state.
AreOnce a teacher
Our Teachers is registered
Being Paid Enough in to
one state
Attract or territory,
Future Talent? their
41
qualifications areSalaries,
Teachers’ recognised by the
Primary, others
15 Years’ (except in NSW, where
Experience,
teachers2017
fromorinterstate
Latest Available
need to re-register).38 41
2017 ortrained
Overseas Latest Available
teachers go through an extensive process 42
Male Teacher
to be approved Numbers
to teach Are Declining
in Australia. For example, in NSW they 45
need to be accredited by NESA. They also need to be approved
by Teach NSW by passing a stringent test, the Professional English
Chapter
Assessment4: Schools of Thought
for Teachers (PEAT) by attaining an ‘A’ grade in each59 of
the four components: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking as
wellSchool
as the Structure
International English Language Testing System for skilled 60
School Systems 61
migrants (IELTS) by receiving a mark of at least 7.5/9 in each of the
fourHow
components
Do Our Schooland aSystems
minimum overall
Rank mark of 8/9.
Globally? 62
Teaching-Learning
Ongoing ProfessionalProcess? Development 67
Teaching-Learning
Accredited teachers must Process?
complete 100 hours of PD every five years 68
(or seven years if they are casual or part-time).39 In the Appendices
is a How
detailed
Doesmap explainingofa Funding
the Distribution teacher’s journey
Affect to accreditation,
Our Schools? 71
from Stage 1 (conditional or provisional for students) to Stage 5 (lead 72
teacher). 72
38 tes.com, ‘How to navigate registration and accreditation’, August 8, 2017,
www.tes.com/en-au/jobs/careers-advice/pay-and-conditions/how-navigate-
registration-and-accreditation.
Where
39 For andone-page
a useful When Does Learning
‘global journey Start? 78
map’ of teacher accreditation, see NSW
Education Standards Authority, Guide to Accreditation, n.d., educationstandards.
nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/10a9587f-ceb6-4bc8-8966-d59e0612e28f/NESA-
School Affect Our Children’s Approach toviewed
GLOBAL-ART_A3+poster.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=, Schooling?
October 4, 2018.79
37
teachers
Q: What are your thoughts on professional development

(PD)?
AC: There used to be much more PD before, not as much

these days. A lot of it is irrelevant.
Q: How is it done and when?
AC: Usually after school in your own time. We also are

required to pay for it ourselves. There is no incentive. I
think we need to accumulate 100 hours of PD, otherwise,
we may lose our job, but I am not sure.

According to the Australian government website, Future Unlimited,
a Bachelor of Education Studies can cost anywhere from $41,000 to
$146,000,40 depending on the university and the type and level of
degree attained. Thus, most student teachers are left with a hefty
Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS)41 bill when they
graduate. Yet a graduate teacher starts on a salary of about $65,608
plus superannuation in their first year of teaching.42
40 Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Study in Australia,

Education costs in Australia, www.studyinaustralia.gov.au, viewed October 10, 2018.
41 Note that in April 2016, HECS was replaced with the Higher Education Loan
Programme (HELP), but most people still refer to it as HECS.
42 NSW Department of Education, Salary of a teacher, n.d., www.teach.nsw.edu.au/
exploreteaching/salary-of-a-teacher, viewed October 10, 2018.
38
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
ChapterHow Do Teaching
3: Teachers Salaries Compare to 33
Other Professions?
You may be surprised to learn that non-teaching roles within the
NSWHow
Department
Much DoesofIt Cost
Education attract
to Become much higher salaries than
a Teacher? 38
43
many teaching
How positions.
Do Teaching ForCompare
Salaries example,to let’s
Othersuppose an education
Professions? 39
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract Future
student with an ATAR of 94 does a combined commerce/accounting Talent? 41
degree. When they graduate, they can get a graduate position with
the NSWTeachers’
Department of Primary,
Hours, Education with a Experience,
15 Years’ starting salary of $120,000.
2017another
Meanwhile, or Latesteducation
Available student who’s completing a teaching 42
degree Male Teacher
will most likelyNumbers
be offeredAreaDeclining
graduate teaching position with45a
starting salary of $65,000.44

Q: How much do you make?
School
AC: AfterStructure
26 years in the system, I am on just over $95k. It is 60
School Systems 61
good money, but I think if I had studied law or accounting or
anything
How Do Our to do with Systems
School banking Rank
or economics,
Globally? I would probably 62
How Does Timetabling Influence
be on double or triple that money. the
Q:
How Is Do
it just
SchoolthePremises
money Impact
that would
the make you avoid this
career path if you went back in time? 68
WhoNo.
AC: Is Leading
If I knewSchools?
that the education system was going to be 70
like this, I would have never chosen to be a teacher. It is not
an
Why effective teaching
Aren’t Schools system.
Meeting theThe decision-makers
Needs have lost
of Gifted Students? 72
touch
Why Iswith
Therewhat it should
So Little look like.in Our Schools for Parents? 73
Transparency
43 Department of Education and Training, Jobs at the Department of Education and
Where n.d.,
Training, andwww.education.gov.au/jobs-department-education-and-training,
When Does Learning Start? 78
viewed
What Type of
October 10, 2018. Learning Works Best? 78
As for
44 See Parents,
example,How
NSWDo Our Attitudes
Government, towards
I Work for Learning and
NSW, www.iworkfor.nsw.gov.au/job/finance-
School Affect Our Children’s Approach toviewed
and-administration-officer-clerk-grade-3-4-198498-113139, Schooling?
October 10, 2018.79
39
teachers
Q: Can you elaborate?
AC: They have lost touch with the classroom. We should go

back to the basics.
Q: What do you mean by basics?
AC: I mean, we need to teach more basic skills: mathematics,

numeracy skills, spelling strategies, grammar, punctuation,
reading—and teach it consistently.
Q: So, you are saying this is not done in schools now?
AC: It might be done in some schools but not in a consistent

or structured way.
Below are some examples of non-teaching positions advertised on

the NSW Department of Education website (October 2018):45
• Collaboration Administrator, Clerk – $116,302
• Learning and Well-being Coordinator – $166,589
• Aboriginal Education and Engagement Adviser – $150,141
• Project Officer, Excellence in School Administration, Primary

– $116,302
45 See for example, NSW Government, I Work for NSW, www.iworkfor.nsw.gov.

au/jobs/all-keywords/all-agencies/department-of-education/all-categories/all-
locations/all-worktypes?agenciesid=62, viewed October 10, 2018.
40
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
ChapterAre Our Teachers

3: Teachers Being Paid Enough to 33
Attract Future Talent?
In manyWhat Are the Prerequisites to Become a Teacher?
countries, teaching is a highly respected profession. 35
In Finland and Does
How Much Israel,It for example,
Cost teachers
to Become must attain—and
a Teacher? 38
maintain—a high standard
How Do Teaching of tertiary
Salaries Compare education to practise teaching
to Other Professions? 39
as a profession. While the annual rate of pay for teachers in some 41
of these countries is lower than in Australia, education results
compared in international
Teachers’ tests puts
Hours, Primary, students
15 Years’ ahead of their
Experience,
2017
Australian or Latest Available
counterparts. They also have lower teacher-pupil ratios 42
and work Male
lessTeacher Numbers Are Declining
hours.46 45
What Other
Recent OECD Challenges
figures Do
showTeachers Face?
that the 53
annual pay for Australian
teachers with at least 15 years’ experience compares favourably
with teachers’ pay in other countries.47
School Structure
Teachers’ Salaries, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience, 2017 60 or
School Systems 61
Latest Selective
AvailableHigh Schools 62
How Do Our School Systems Rank Globally?
Source: Education at a glance: Teachers’ statutory salaries 62
Teaching-Learning
Location Process? US dollars 67
Luxembourg Process?
Teaching-Learning 102,504.8 68
How Do Bureaucracy
Germany and Administration Impact Teaching?
70,693.4 68
Who Is Leading
CanadaSchools? 65,473.8 70
UnitedReally
Are Schools States 61,028.2
Using Data to Improve Learning? 72
46 P Dolton,
Chapter O Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, A Still, The Efficiency Index, Which education
5: Students 77
systems deliver, the best value for money?, GEMS Education Solutions, 2014, sro.
Where and When Does Learning Start?
sussex.ac.uk/63813/1/The%20Efficiency%20Index.pdf 78
47 Comparative
What Typetoofother professions,
Learning Works however,
Best? less experienced teachers do 78 not
draw an attractive salary. OECD Library, Teachers’ Salaries,
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and OECD, 2018, data.oecd.
org/eduresource/teachers-salaries.htm, viewed October 10, 2018.
41
teachers
Australia 59,568.0
Ireland 59,458.9
Netherlands 58,035.7
Korea 53,405.0
Japan 51,593.0
Denmark 51,505.8
Austria 49,961.1
Norway 47,686.9
New Zealand 46,337.2
Spain 45,068.9
Sweden 43,200.8
Portugal 42,488.9
Finland 40,991.1
Bear in mind that this data tells another story when you look at the
total number of hours teachers worked in 2017.48
Teachers’ Hours, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience, 2017 or

Latest Available
Source: Education at a glance: Teachers’ teaching and working time
Location Hours per year

Costa Rica 1,188.00
Chile 1,063.56
Latvia 1,020.00
United States 1,004.37
48 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Teaching hours

(indicator), 2018, data.oecd.org/eduresource/teaching-hours.htm, viewed October
10, 2018.
42
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Chapter 3: Teachers
Colombia 1,000.00 33
Netherlands
Teaching the Teachers 930.00 34
University or
New Zealand Teaching College? 921.60 34
Ireland
Ongoing Professional Development 910.00 37
How MuchFrance
Does It Cost to Become a Teacher?900.00 38
How Do Teaching
Spain Salaries Compare to Other Professions?
880.00 39
Australia
Teachers’ 865.27
Salaries, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,
2017 orIsrael
Latest Available 843.35 41
Teachers’ Hours,
Switzerland Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,
817.00
Luxembourg 809.60
Germany
How Effective Are Our Teachers? 800.54 46
What Other Challenges Do Teachers Face? 800.00
Mexico 53
Canada 797.77
Slovak Republic 793.80
Denmark
School Structure 784.00 60
School Systems
Austria 779.40 61
Portugal 778.50
Italy
How Does Timetabling Influence the 765.60
Teaching-Learning
Japan Process? 742.10 67
Norway 741.00
Turkey
How Do Bureaucracy 720.00
and Administration Impact Teaching? 68
Who Is Leading
Finland Schools? 673.20 70
The Why
results show
Aren’t that inMeeting
Schools one year,
theAustralian teachers
Needs of Gifted worked more
Students? 72
thanWhy
teachers in many OECD countries, including almost 200 hours
Is There So Little Transparency in Our Schools for Parents? 73
moreHow Effective
than FinnishIsteachers!
School Reporting? 73
Chapter 5: Students
In 2017, the Productivity Commission’s five-year productivity 77
Where
report, and When
Shifting Does
the Dial, Learning
noted Start?of teacher training and pay,
the issue 78
What
stating: Type of Learning Works Best? 78
43
teachers
Australian governments should:
• ... improve the skills and effectiveness of the existing teacher

workforce, with comprehensive professional development
initiatives and other mechanisms, supported by evidence
that these are genuinely effective
• continue the current reforms to improve the quality and

effectiveness of new teachers, but test their value
The report recommended ‘teacher salary differentials should

also be used to overcome subject-based teacher shortages.’49
By contrast, Finnish teachers are reasonably well-remunerated

in comparison to other professions in their nation, ranking fourth
after doctors, accountants and engineers.50
Q: If you were to go back in time, would you still become

a teacher?
AC: No. I spent four years studying at university, and it was a waste
of time and money. I learned things I never use in the classroom.
It took me eight years to pay my HECS debt. I do enjoy teaching,
but it has taken me so many years to build my confidence and
ability to be an effective teacher, and as I mentioned, I am still a
temporary teacher. At any point in time, I might not have a job. I
do not enjoy the politics and the bureaucracy.
49 Productivity Commission, Shifting the Dial: 5 Year Productivity Review, Report No.
84, 2017, Canberra, www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/report/
productivity-review.pdf, viewed October 10, 2018.
50 World Salaries, Finland Average Salaries & Expenditures, 2005, www.worldsalaries.
org/finland.shtml#average-salary-job, viewed October 10, 2018.
44
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Male Teacher
Chapter Numbers Are Declining
3: Teachers 33
Does the lack of respect for teaching as a career and relatively low
rates ofWhatpay Are
partially explain theto overwhelming
the Prerequisites Become a Teacher? (and worsening)
35
Ongoing
disparity Professional
between Development
the number of male and female teacher numbers 37
in Australia? According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 38
in 2015,
Are Ourstatistics
Teachersconfirmed
Being Paid ‘there weretoconsiderably
Enough Attract Futuremore female
Talent? 41
teachingTeachers’
staff than male.’
Salaries, In primary
Primary, 15 Years’schools, female teachers
Experience,
‘comprised2017 83.2
or Latest
perAvailable
cent of teaching staff (FTE)51 in Catholic 41
schools, 81.8 per cent in government schools, and 77.6 per cent in
Independent schools. The highest
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining proportion of male teaching staff
45
52
wasHow
at theEffective
secondaryAre OurlevelTeachers?
in Independent schools (43.5 per cent).’ 46
These statistics are hardly surprising when you look at
Chapter
Australian 4: workers’
Schools ofaverage
Thoughtweekly earnings by industry. As you 59
can Choosing
see, average a Schoolweekly cash earnings are by far the highest59 in
School Structure
male-dominated industries, such as mining, utilities and finance and 60
School Systems 61
insurance services. Earnings in mining are double that of teaching.
Note,
How too,Dothat
Ourindustries which predominantly
School Systems Rank Globally? hire women, such62 as
education and training, arts and recreation and accommodation and
Teaching-Learning
food services, attract much Process?
lower earnings.53 67
How Effective
51 Full-time Is School Reporting?
equivalent. 73
52 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Schools, Australia 2015, March 3, 2016,
www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/4221.0Main%20
Features502015?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4221.0&issue=
Where and When
2015&num=&view=, DoesOctober
viewed Learning Start?
10, 2018. 78
53 Australian
What Type Bureau of Statistics,
of Learning 6306.0Best?
Works – Employee Earnings and Hours, 78
Australia, May 2016, www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and PrimaryMainFeatures/
6306.0?OpenDocument, viewed October 10, 2018.
45
teachers
Average weekly
Award/Collective
total cash earnings
agreement
by industry
Estimate $
Mining 2,488.00
Electricity, gas, water and waste services 1,809.60
Construction 1,545.10
Transport, postal and warehousing 1,502.40
Public administration and safety 1,476.90
Finance and insurance services 1,468.10
Information media and telecommunications 1,349.80
Education and training 1,260.60
Professional, scientific and technical services 1,236.00
Health care and social assistance 1,170.30
Manufacturing 1,146.00
Administrative and support services 811.10
Arts and recreation services 603.60
Retail trade 552.70
How Effective Are Our Teachers?
Q: What do you think about the ability of the teachers in

your school?
AC: About a quarter of them can teach mathematics

effectively.
Q: What about the other three-quarters?
AC: They teach less mathematics.
46
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Q: Are they
Teaching monitored?
the Teachers 34
AC: No.
WhatNoAreone knows
the if I am teaching
Prerequisites to Become mathematics
a Teacher? or not. I can 35
get away with teaching visual arts all day for many days. There 37
How
is no Much
system Does It Cost to Become
of accountability; it isaallTeacher?
down to the individual 38
teacher. I am goodBeing
Are Our Teachers at mathematics
Paid Enoughand enjoy Future
to Attract teaching it, so I
Talent? 41
teach betweenSalaries,
Teachers’ 60 to 90 minutes
Primary, 15 aYears’
day ofExperience,
mathematics. On the
other hand, if I didn’t enjoy it or was not very good at it, I could 41
Teachers’
just skip it. ThisHours,
job is Primary,
so ‘safe’15 Years’
that Experience,
if I want to, I can teach visual
arts Male
for a whole
Teacher day, and noAre
Numbers oneDeclining
knows or cares. 45
Q: Are you saying that no one monitors what’s happening
in the classroom?
AC: No, they don’t. No one is in charge of overseeing that
teachers deliver quality lessons. What the focus is on is data
School Structure 60
collection.
School Systems 61
Q:
HowWhat
Do Our doSchool
you meanSystems by data
Rankcollection?
Globally? 62
AC: Teaching-Learning
We have data collection
Process? software where we need to 67
report
How Do where
Schoolevery student
Premises is atthe
Impact in their learning outcomes.
It is basically ticking boxes. 68
Citing a recent report by the Australian Government’s Productivity
Commission,
Why Aren’tShifting
Schoolsthe Dial: the
Meeting 5 Year
Needs Productivity Review,54 Ross
Gittins,
Whyeconomics
Is There So editor for the Sydney
Little Transparency in OurMorning
Schools Herald argues,
for Parents? 73
‘We’ve done too little testing of the effectiveness of different ways 73
of teaching and too little dissemination of the results of what testing
54 Australian
What Type Government Productivity
of Learning Works Commission,
Best? Shifting the Dial: 5 Year Productivity
78
Review, August 3, 2017, www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/
report/productivity-review.pdf
47
teachers
we’ve done. It’s obvious our classroom teaching isn’t as effective

as it needs to be, but we’ve done little about it.’55 The Commission
came up with several solutions:
• ... address teaching out of field within a tight timeframe…

addressed through targeted professional development of
existing teachers willing to acquire the relevant knowledge.
• ... improve the skills and effectiveness of the existing teacher

workforce, with comprehensive professional development
initiatives and other mechanisms, supported by evidence
that these are genuinely effective.
• ... continue the current reforms to improve the quality and

effectiveness of new teachers, but test their value.
• Teacher salary differentials should also be used to overcome

subject-based teacher shortages.
• To improve teacher effectiveness, a more rigorous micro-

evidence base about what works in schools and how it
should be implemented is required. But existing laws mean
that data sharing between governments is poor. This should
be the subject of institutional-level reform as outlined in the
Productivity Commission’s recent inquiry reports into Data
Access and the Education Evidence Base.
Gittins sums up the Commission’s findings by saying it ‘has

convincingly demonstrated the case for putting the quality of the nation’s
teaching at the top of our list of things needing urgent improvement.’56
55 R Gittins, ‘We need better teaching at every level’, The Sydney Morning Herald,
November 11, 2017, www.rossgittins.com/2017/11/we-need-better-teaching-at-every-
level.html, viewed October 12, 2018.
56 Australian Government Productivity Commission, op. cit., p15.
48
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Let’s 3:
Chapter focus on the Commission’s last point:
Teachers 33
To improve
What Areteacher effectiveness,
the Prerequisites a more
to Become rigorous micro- 35
a Teacher?
evidence base about Development
what works in schools and how it 37
should be implemented isBecome
How Much Does It Cost to a Teacher?
required. But existing laws mean 38
that dataTeachers
Are Our sharing Being
between Paidgovernments is poor.
Enough to Attract Future Talent? 41
Does this lackHours,
Teachers’ of dataPrimary,
sharing15explain why there is no one system
2017 or Latest
or methodology Availablein Australia? Is this why the outcomes
for teaching 42
are so poor? 45
WhatCommission’s
The Other Challenges Do is
finding Teachers Face?
surprising, 53
considering we have had
a set of national standards for teachers since December 2010. The
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers was conceived by
the Ministerial Council
School Structure for Education, Early Childhood Development60
and School
Youth Affairs
Systems (MCEECDYA, now the Education Council) in 2009. 61
The
How Australian
Do Our SchoolInstitute
Systems for Rank
Teaching and School Leadership
Globally? 62
(AITSL) assumed responsibility for the standards in July 2010, and
MCEECDYATeaching-Learning
endorsed them Process?
in December 2010. The standards 67
comprise a set of seven standards
Teaching-Learning Process? that ‘outline what teachers should 68
57
know andDo
How beBureaucracy
able to do.’and Administration Impact Teaching? 68
Standard
How Does the1: Know students
Distribution and how
of Funding theyOur
Affect learn.
Schools? 71
Standard
Why Aren’t2:Schools
Know Meeting
the content and how
the Needs to teach
of Gifted it.
Students? 72
Standard 3: Plan
How Effective for and
Is School implement effective teaching and learning.
Reporting? 73
Where and
57 Australian When
Institute Does Learning
for Teaching Start?
& School Leadership, Australian Professional 78
Standards
What Type for Teachers, n.d., www.aitsl.edu.au,
of Learning Works Best? viewed July 15, 2019. 78
49
teachers
Standard 4: Create and maintain effective teaching and learning.
Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning.
Standard 6: Engage in professional learning.
Standard 7: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/

carers and the community.
The standards are interrelated and cover three domains of

teaching:58
1. professional knowledge
2. professional practice
3. professional engagement
Undoubtedly, these descriptions are very broad, but they

provide a sound basis to inform universities and schools what their
priorities should be in developing teacher training programs.
Needless to say that quality teachers is the paramount element in

any education system. Particularly in the primary level, where students
develop their initial understanding of concepts. Some teachers are
proficient, skilled and have the passion for mathematics. But sadly, we
encounter incompetent teachers in primary school quite often.
Let me share with you two recent experiences:
A few months ago, I interviewed a qualified NSW primary teacher

with a view to employing him as a tutor. He told me he had passed
the prerequisite literacy and numeracy test and was approved
to work in the public education system. During the interview,
58 Australian Institute for Teaching & School Leadership, Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers, n.d., www.aitsl.edu.au, viewed July 15, 2019.
50
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
he mentioned
Chapter his ATAR was 37. This alarmed me and prompted me
3: Teachers 33
to ask him some
Teaching mathematics questions. One of these was:
the Teachers 34
1 1
__ + __ =?
3 5 37
His
Howanswer:
Do Teaching Salaries Compare to Other Professions? 39
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough
2 to Attract Future Talent? 41
__
8
...'
He added proudly, ‘I can simplify that to 1/4
Male
I gave himTeacher Numbers to
a few seconds Are Decliningbefore I asked, ‘How can
celebrate 45
the answer be smaller than one of the fractions you added?’
He shook his head and said, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
This teacher
Choosing is currently teaching in the public school system.
a School 59
School
No one Structure
would raise a concern about the answers he is giving60 to
School Systems 61
his students, as I did in the interview. No one is evaluating what he
delivers
How in Dothe
Ourclassroom.
School Systems Rank Globally? 62
The Teaching-Learning
second experience was another interview I conducted with
Process? 67
a student
How Do in his finalPremises
School year of aImpact
secondary
the education degree at one of
the top universities in Sydney. I asked about his method of teaching 68
Pythagoras’ theorem (a simple Year 8 topic). He was embarrassed
to admit
How that
Doesthetheonly thing heofknew
Distribution about
Funding Pythagoras’
Affect theorem was
Our Schools? 71
that it has something to do with a right-angled triangle. I suggested 72
Why Aren’t
he revise Schools
the topic Meeting
before the Needs
he enters of Gifted Students?
a classroom. 72
How ATAR
Low Effective Is School Reporting?
requirements often raise the question of whether 73 or
not teachers become teachers because they are passionate about
the profession or because they simply cannot get into university to
do something
What Type else. It is disturbing
of Learning to think the latter might be true.
Works Best? 78
51
teachers
Of course, there are many wonderful, intelligent, passionate,

hardworking teachers in our education system. But the ‘politics of
collaborative expertise’59 that John Hattie propounds doesn’t exist
in Australia. Teachers work autonomously, not collaboratively.
Hattie claims, and I agree with him 100 per cent, it is not the
teachers who are the problem, but the system in which they are
expected to teach. He writes:
TASK 1: SHIFT THE NARRATIVE

From ‘fixing the teacher’ to collaborative expertise
The current debate is very much focused on the ‘teacher’, but such
an approach places too much responsibility on one person. It falsely
implies that if only we can ‘fix the teacher’, all will be well; it ignores
the many other influences and conditions of success outside the
control of the individual teacher. There is no way that a system will
make an overall difference to student achievement by working one
teacher at a time.
Instead, the onus needs to be on everyone working collectively

to improve student achievement: the teachers, the school leaders,
the other adults in the schools (such as teaching aides), the parents
(and voters), the policy-makers and the students.60
59 J Hattie, What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise,

Pearson, June 2015, www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-
com/files/hattie/150526_ExpertiseWEB_V1.pdf
60 Ibid. p5.
52
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
What
Chapter Other
3: Teachers Challenges Do Teachers Face? 33
Q: What
What is
Areyour
the biggest dailytochallenge?
Prerequisites Become a Teacher? 35
AC:
HowOh, thanks
Much Doesfor asking
It Cost the question.
to Become I am a hardworking
a Teacher? 38
teacher. I start mySalaries
How Do Teaching day at 8Compare
a.m. andtodo not Professions?
Other go home before 39
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract
4:30 p.m. I am happy to do that, but my problem FutureisTalent?
having 41
many students in my classroom with a broad range of abilities.
I teach a Year Hours,
Teachers’ 1 to Year 2 (composite)
Primary, 15 Years’ class. In my class, there
Experience,
are 2017 or Latest
students fromAvailable
Year 1 to Year 3 levels of ability. It is a 42
huge Male
job Teacher
for me to Numbers Are Declining
accommodate all these differing abilities 45
in one classroom. At the end of the day, I am one person.
I do not have an assistant or anything like that. I am not
Chapter 4: Schools
complaining of Thought
about the number of students in the classroom. 59
IChoosing
could teach 35 students if they were the same or have 59
a School
School abilities.
similar StructureHowever, teaching such a variety of abilities 60
School Systems 61
is so challenging. Inevitably, some will be left behind. I know
we
Howare
Do supposed
Our Schoolto createRank
Systems individualised
Globally? programs, but it 62
is just not doable sometimes when you have no guidance.
There
How Do is School
no PD Premises
I can do to help the
Impact me to develop such a skill.
An accreditation system is now in place where teachers can 70
earn accreditation to climb the pay scale. However, this is easier
saidWhythan done.
Aren’t SchoolsTo Meeting
earn—and keep—accreditation,
the Needs graduate
teachers
Why Ismust
Theremeet minimum
So Little work hour
Transparency in Ourrequirements and fulfil
Schools for Parents? 73
PD obligations. But many schools will not hire graduate teachers 73
on a full-time basis or are not willing to give them time off (and pay
for them) to undertake PD.
53
teachers
In 2013, the OECD produced its Education Policy Outlook for

Australia.61 It found that ‘the key to raising achievement in Australia’s
9,435 schools is developing the conditions for school leaders and
teachers to succeed.’ Challenges faced by Australian teachers
included a need for more professional development, lack of
feedback, heavy workloads and long hours (in comparison to their
peers in other OECD countries). The report states that while efforts
are being made to improve the quality of teachers and teaching in
Australia, there are several ongoing problems, including:
• Lack of articulation on how Australia’s national curriculum

and assessment framework ‘can generate improvements in
classroom practice.’
• A ‘great diversity of practices based on locally-defined

school improvement frameworks.’
• Lack of accountability – ‘Teachers are granted extensive

autonomy, but there are few opportunities for professional
feedback, and the quality of teacher appraisals can vary
widely.’
In short, despite the standards and a national curriculum,

teachers and teaching in Australia are ‘all at sea’. There is no clarity
or coherence between states and territories, between different
systems of education or between schools. Feedback is minimal,
and PD is almost impractical.
Unlike in Israel or Finland, where PD is tied in with salary

increases and is actively encouraged and (in Israel) is financially
61 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Education Policy

Outlook: Australia, June 2013, www.oecd.org/education/EDUCATION%20
POLICY%20OUTLOOK%20AUSTRALIA_EN.pdf, pp10–12.
54
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
supported
Chapter by the teachers’ union, PD in Australia has little incentive
3: Teachers 33
for teachers; theyTeachers
Teaching the are simply expected to attain a certain amount34 of
University or
PD with little reward. Teaching College? 34
John Hattie sums this up eloquently in What Doesn’t Work37
Ongoing Professional Development in
How Much Does It Cost to Become a
62 Teacher?
Education: The Politics of Distraction. He says: 38
… teachers cannot do it on their own: they need support, they 41
need to collaborate with others in and across schools, they
need to develop
Teachers’ Hours,expertise,
Primary, and theyExperience,
15 Years’ need excellent school
2017 Further,
leaders. or Latest supportive
Available and great systems are needed 42
Male Teacher
to support Numbers
and nurture Are Declining
great leaders. But more often the 45
debate is about improving teacher education, introducing
performance pay and other such distractions.
The message from all this is clear. Despite there being a national
curriculum, a national
School Structure system of testing (Year 12 exams/National
60
Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]) and
School Systems 61
national standards for teachers, there is still a lack of coherence, 62
collaboration and, above all, support for educators of our children in
Australia. I emphatically agree
Teaching-Learning Process?with Hattie that teachers cannot 67do
it onHow
theirDoown.
School Premises Impact the
However, teachers who
How Do Bureaucracy choose the profession
and Administration because they
Impact Teaching? 68
are passionate about it, not because they cannot get to something 70
else, should have the initiative to do small things in their classrooms.
Why Aren’t
One thing atSchools
a time.Meeting thegoing
It is not Needstoofchange
Gifted Students? 72
the world or the
system,
How but at least
Effective it mayReporting?
Is School have an impact on 25 children in one 73
classroom.
62 J What
Hattie,Type
What of
Doesn’t WorkWorks
Learning in Education:
Best?The Politics of Distraction, June 2015,
78
www.visible-learning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/John-Hattie-Visible-
Learning-creative-commons-book-free-PDF-download-What-doesn-t-work-in-
School Affect Our Children’s Approach top19.
education_the-politics-of-distraction-pearson-2015.pdf, Schooling? 79
55
teachers
As Ghandi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’
Q: So where do you think the education system is going

wrong?
AC: I believe our children are being let down by the system,
and there are four reasons:
1. Parents are not taking enough responsibility for their

children’s learning.
2. There is no accountability system for teachers.
3. Decision-makers have lost touch with what’s happening

in the classroom.
4. Universities need to teach us to be teachers. We need

to learn more practical teaching skills and less theory.
I’ll close this chapter with another great quote from

Understanding by Design® Framework by Jay McTighe and Grant
Wiggins, which I think eloquently sums up the crucial role of
teachers:
Teachers are coaches of understanding, not mere purveyors of

content knowledge, skill, or activity. They focus on ensuring that
learning happens, not just teaching (and assuming that what was
taught was learned); they always aim and check for successful
meaning making and transfer by the learner.63
63 J McTighe, G Wiggins, Understanding By Design® Framework, ASCD, 2012,

www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf
56
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
In the
Chapter next chapter, I’ll look at how schools are navigating
3: Teachers 33
the Teaching
challenges we’ve looked at, including teachers, principals,
the Teachers 34
bureaucracy and—the big issue for parents—reporting. 34

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
57
Chapter 4
Schools of
Thought
W
e often hear, ‘Oh, that’s a great school,’ or ‘Do you know any
good schools in the area?’ Schools seem to be labelled good
or poor. But what defines a ‘good’ school? Its results? Its sense of
community? Its ideology? Its teachers? As a parent, what factors
influenced your decision?
Choosing a School
What school will you send your child to? It’s a topic of conversation
that crops up as soon as our children are born, sometimes even
before.
For many parents, choice is not an option; for financial,

geographical or other reasons, their children will go to local
government schools. For others who have the means or opportunity
to choose schools for their child, there is much to consider. In Australia,
there is a range of school systems available for our children, and
59
schools of t hought
each school’s success tends to be measured by their Year 12 exam

results, NAPLAN ranking or reputation. But school choice can be
based on additional factors, such as quality of teaching, ideology,
faith, locations, fees and so on.
School Structure
Australia has several stages as well as different systems of education.
Before starting formal education, though, a child’s development
in their first two years of life is dependent on their parent(s) and/
or carers. Then, as parents return to work or have another child,
there are the options of occasional care, day care, nannies or—
increasingly these days—grandparents.
Preschool, which is currently not mandatory in Australia, is usually

attended one or two years before formal education begins when the
child starts kindergarten. This occurs around the age of five, depending
on the child’s birth date, the start of the school year in their state or
territory or state/territory government legislation stipulating what age a
child must start school.
Primary school education is from K–Year 6, and in Year 7, they

move to secondary education. Some schools break secondary
education into junior, middle and senior schools (in some schools,
uniforms change with each stage); others, including government
high schools, do not make this distinction. By the time children have
graduated in Year 12, they will have completed 13 years of formal
school education. Students may finish school before Year 12, but
education is compulsory until they turn 16.
60
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
According
Chapter to the Australian government’s Future Unlimited
3: Teachers 33
website, ‘All schools
Teaching must be registered with the state or territory
the Teachers 34
education department and are subject to government requirements 34
in terms of infrastructure and teacher registration.’64
How Do Teaching Salaries School Systems
Compare to Other Professions? 39
AustraliaTeachers’
has a wideSalaries,
choice of non-government
Primary, and independent schools,
15 Years’ Experience,
which can be faith or value-based (e.g., Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Anglican, 41
Teachers’ Hours, Primary, 15 Years’
Greek Orthodox, Lutheran, Uniting Church, Seventh Day Experience,
Adventist, Presbyterian) or philosophy-focused
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining (e.g., Rudolf Steiner
45
& Montessori).
How EffectiveSome Are Ourstates also have schools constituted under
Teachers? 46
Whatacts
specific OtherofChallenges
parliament, Dosuch
Teachers Face?
as grammar 53
schools, Indigenous
community schools and schools that specialise in meeting the needs of
students with disability. Some schools also cater for students at severe
educational risk due
School Structure to a range of social/emotional/behavioural or other
60
risk factors.
School Systems 61
Over
How Do theOurpast
School two decades,
Systems student enrolments in non-
Rank Globally? 62
government schools have been on the rise. According to a
Teaching-Learning
2013 report by McCrindle Process?
Research, the trend was part of ‘a broader 67
trend towards paying forProcess?
Teaching-Learning services that were once government 68
provisions.
How Do From privateand
Bureaucracy hospitals to theImpact
Administration privatisation
Teaching?of public
68
transport options and even the growth of toll roads, Australians 70
are increasingly likely to pay for something that they value.’
However, thereSchools
Why Aren’t are signs this trend
Meeting might
the Needs ofbe reversing,
Gifted with more
Students? 72
66
students
Why Isenrolling
There SoinLittle
government
Transparency schools in Schools
in Our 2015. for Parents? 73
64 Australian Government, Future Unlimited, ‘Schools in Australia’, n.d., www.studyinaustralia.
gov.au/english/australian-education/schools,
Chapter 5: Students viewed October 10, 2018. 77
65 McCrindle Research, ‘A Snapshot of Schools in Australia 2013’, n.d., www.mccrindle.
com.au/wp-content/uploads/Snapshot-of-Schools-in-Australia-2013_McCrindle- 78
Research.pdf,
What Type viewed October
of Learning 10, 2018.
Works Best? 78
66 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Schools, Australia,
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and 2017, Summary of Findings,
www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4221.0main+features22017,
viewed October 10, 2018.
61
schools of t hought
Independent schools vary in size considerably, from more than

2000 students to fewer than 50. Government schools are generally
smaller, with an average of 300 to 400 students.67
Selective high schools are government schools that cater for

academically high-performing students. Not all states in Australia
have selective high schools; the majority are in NSW. To enter a
selective high school in Year 7, students must sit a rigorous test early
in Year 6. For some parents, this is a major goal that they are very
determined for their child to achieve, to the extent that they start
preparing him or her for this test in Year 1 or 2.
Selective high school students unarguably outperform their

counterparts in non-selective government schools and also non-
government schools. Almost every year, at least eight out of the top
10 performing schools in NSW are selective high schools.
How Do Our School Systems Rank Globally?

According to the World Economic Forum’s latest Global
Competitiveness Report, Australia’s primary education system does
not rank in the top 11, but neither do the US and UK. Interestingly,
though, among those countries that do make the grade, some have
predominantly government school systems (e.g., Barbados, which is
ranked 9, and Finland, which is ranked 1), some have predominantly
independent school systems (e.g., Ireland, which is ranked 6),
and others are similar to Australia with a mix of independent and
67 Independent Schools Council of Australia, ‘Independent Schools Overview’, n.d.,

www.isca.edu.au/about-independent-schools/independent-schools-overview/
#1487647986318-704f2799-58c7, viewed October 10, 2018.
62
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
government
Chapter school systems.68 So, is the system of schooling even
3: Teachers 33
relevant? If schools
Teaching have different ideologies, faiths or values, how
the Teachers 34
much does that come into play as long as they are all striving 34
University or Teaching College? to
achieve optimum academic results from their students?
If we consider the effectiveness of Australian school systems 38
based
AreonOurthe latest Being
Teachers Year 12 exam
Paid results
Enough in NSW
to Attract (2017),
Future the top
Talent? 41
five ranked schools
Teachers’ werePrimary,
Salaries, selective government
15 Years’ schools, and only
Experience,
2017 or Latestschools
three non-selective Availablemade the top 10.69 Competitiveness41 to
get children into free government selective high schools continues
to intensify, with children going
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining through rigorous tutoring to
45
passHowentry exams.
Effective AreThere has been a rise in parents forging their
Our Teachers? 46
residential location to ensure their children get into higher ranking, 53
non-selective government high schools. The NSW Department of
Education includes the following warning on its selective school
information page:
School Structure 60
School Systems 61
School principals are required to check claims of residency
status
How Doand Ourcitizenship against
School Systems Rankschool records… Offers and 62
Globally?
enrolments will be cancelled if the placement was based on
falseTeaching-Learning Process? 70
or misleading information. 67
ThereTeaching-Learning
has also been Process? 68
an interesting increase in property prices
near ‘good’ schools. In a 2016 report by John Haisken-DeNew et al.,
theyHow
found ‘thatthe
Does theDistribution
release ofofinformation about
Funding Affect high-quality
Our Schools? schools
71
(“good news”) increases property prices by 3.6 per cent ($36,000 on 72
How Effective
68 World Economic IsForum,
SchoolTheReporting? 73
Global Competitiveness Report 2016–2017,
www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitiveness
Report2016-2017_FINAL.pdf,
69 Better Education, HSC School Ranking 2017 (NSW), n.d., www.bettereducation.com.
Where and When Doesviewed
au/Results/Hsc.aspx?yr=2017, Learning Start?
October 11, 2018. 78
70 NSW Department of Education, Selective high schools and opportunity classes, 78
Information for applicants, education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-
and-opportunity-classes/year-7/information-for-applicants,
School Affect Our Children’s Approach toviewed October 11, 2018. 79
Schooling?
63
schools of t hought
a million-dollar home, common in large Australian cities), whereas the

release of information about low-quality schools (“bad news”) has no
significant effect.’71
One has to ask, what if all schools in Australia, regardless of

their system, performed as well as these selective schools? Why is
the selective system so successful that it consistently outperforms
private and other government schools? And should we judge
schools purely by their Year 12 exam results or whether they
produce well-adjusted, socially conscious students ready to take
on the challenges of further education or, more importantly, a career
and the world at large?
According to Naomi Sani, Finland appears to have the balance

about right. Sani is a teacher and parent who visited several schools
in Helsinki to try to determine what makes the Finnish world leaders
in education.72 She made the following observations:
• There is a relaxed atmosphere; teachers maintain calm

control.
• The class sizes are small, and the classrooms are spacious.
• No uniform and teachers are addressed by their first name.
• Children don’t start school until they turn seven, and school
days are shorter.
71 J P Haisken-DeNew, S Hasan, N Jha, M Sinning, ‘Unawareness and Selective

Disclosure: The Effect of School Quality Information on Property Prices’, IZA
Institute of Labor Economics, December 27, 2016, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.
cfm?abstract_id=2889680, p18.
72 N Sani, ‘Mum’s gone to Finland. One parent’s lesson in why Finnish children excel
at school – and love it too’, SchoolGuide.co.uk, April 7, 2014, www.schoolguide.
co.uk/blog/mums-gone-to-finland-one-parents-lesson-in-why-finnish-children-
excel-at-school-and-love-it-too.
64
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
• Discipline
Chapter 3: Teachers is present but not overbearing, and disruptive 33
behaviour
Teaching is minimal.
the Teachers 34
• There
What Areis low reliance on to
the Prerequisites technology, but there are lots35
Become a Teacher? of
class discussion. Development 37
•HowThere is no testing
Do Teaching or Compare
Salaries exams until age 18.
to Other Professions? 39
• Homework is mandatory
Teachers’ Salaries, Primary,and is expected
15 Years’ to be done.
Experience,
• Significant parental
Teachers’ Hours, involvement
Primary, and public confidence in
2017 or Latest
teachers Available
and the school system. 42
•HowChildren
Effectiveare
Areall treated
Our equal, and every child is valued; 46
Teachers? no
What Other Challenges
streams or sets. Do Teachers Face? 53
Chapter 4: Schools
• Teachers areof well
Thought 59
trained, highly valued and well paid, and
professional
Choosing a Schooldevelopment is ongoing. 59
School Structure 60
School Systems 61
65
schools of t hought
Let’s compare each of these points vis-à-vis Australian schools

(in any system):
FINLAND AUSTRALIA
Relaxed atmosphere; Disciplined atmosphere;
teachers maintain calm control teacher demands control
Large class sizes, often in
demountable or cramped
Small class sizes in spacious conditions/composites;
classrooms no air-conditioning
other than the principal and
administration rooms
Mandatory uniform at most
No uniform and teachers are schools; teachers usually
addressed by their first name addressed formally
Children start school at age five;
Children don’t start school until school days are not overly long,
they turn seven, and school but commuting and before/after-
days are shorter school care can add significantly
to the child’s day
Discipline is present, and
Discipline is present but not disruptive behaviour is common
overbearing, and disruptive at many schools; classroom
behaviour is minimal management takes up a high
portion of the day
High reliance on technology for
Low reliance on passive learning (e.g., online
technology but lots of class mathematics programs,
discussion reading eggs, etc.)
Regular testing, annual exams
No testing or exams until age 18 and national testing, including
NAPLAN, Year 12 exams, etc.
In most schools,
homework is mandatory and
Homework is mandatory and is is expected to be done; some
expected to be done schools are now adopting
‘no homework’ policies
66
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Significant parental involvement Parental involvement by parents
Teaching theconfidence
Teachers in who choose to be involved; 34
and public varied confidence in teachers
teachers and theorschool
University Teachingsystem
College? and the school system73 34
Ongoing Professional Development Some schools have remedial 37
or
Children are all treated equal, classes for gifted children; other
How Much Does It Cost
and every child is valued; no to Become a Teacher? 38
How Do Teaching Salaries Compare children are Professions?
to Other treated as a cohort 39
streams or sets rather
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract Future than as individuals
Talent? 41
Teachers receive adequate
2017 or Latest Available education but insufficient 41
Teachers’ Hours, Primary, 15 Years’ training;
Experience,professional
2017 or Latest Available development is required but42
Teachers are well trained,
Malevalued,
Teacherwell
Numbers difficult to fulfil; teachers are 45
highly paid, Are Declining
How Effective Are Our Teachers? paid just above the average 46
and professional development salary, definitely not to the
What Otheris ongoing
Challenges Do Teachersextent Face?that the salary is an 53
attractive alternative to working
Chapter 4: Schools of Thought in the private sector. Highly 59
Choosing a School valued? Questionable! 59
School Structure 60
School Systems 61
It seemsTeaching-Learning Process?
logical to have mathematics and English at the beginning 67
of the day while students Process?
Teaching-Learning are still fresh and alert. How many school 68
timetables
How Dodo this? Not and
Bureaucracy many. In primary Impact
Administration schools, the factors 68
Teaching? for
timetable planning are usually around teachers’ availability and, 70
increasingly, administrative considerations.
Why
In Aren’t
high Schools
schools, Meeting is
timetabling the Needs
more of Gifted
complex, Students?
with many variables72
at play.
HowThe school
Effective Is staffing allocations do play a significant part, but
School Reporting? 73
I do not think that administrative considerations would be a major
73 Recent increases in government school enrolments may indicate this perception 78
isAs Parents,
changing, or How
it mayDo Our Attitudes
indicate loss of faithtowards Learning and system and/or
in the non-government
School
financial Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
considerations. 79
67
schools of t hought
factor in timetabling. Each Key Learning Area (KLA) would have a

number of subjects on offer, and students’ choices (and consequently
student numbers for each subject) have to be balanced with the
period allocations of the teachers in that particular KLA.
In addition, subjects are usually grouped into ‘lines’ to allow a fair

spread from which students make their choice. Timetabling classes
so that these lines are matched with the available KLA teachers is
apparently quite challenging.

Many government schools lack air-conditioning or heating.
Sometimes a fan is in the classroom near the teacher. During
summer, students do not enjoy comfortable conditions to be able to
concentrate and learn. The same goes for cold days in winter.
How Do Bureaucracy and

Administration Impact Teaching?
Teachers are required to complete paperwork all the time. It seems
that sometimes teachers do more paperwork than teaching. The
Australian Education Union’s 2016 ‘State of Our Schools’ report
found that teachers are working ever longer hours, with many
leaving the profession because they feel overworked and stressed.
Key statistics from the 2016 report include the following:74
74 S Barry, ‘AEU calls on government to reduce teacher workload’, SchoolNews,

November 1, 2016, www.school-news.com.au/health-and-safety/aeu-calls-on-
government-to-reduce-teacher-workload, viewed October 11, 2018.
68
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
• Seventy-seven
Chapter 3: Teachers per cent of teachers say their workload has 33
increased
Teaching in the last year, and just 2 per cent say it has
the Teachers 34
University
decreased. or Teaching College? 34
•Ongoing Professional
Twenty-six per centDevelopment
of teachers say they are working more 37
Howthan
Much Does It Cost to Become a Teacher?
55 hours per week (up from 23 per cent in the 2015 38
Are survey) and another
Our Teachers Being Paid45 per centto
Enough say moreFuture
Attract than 45 hours (up
Talent? 41
from 42 per
Teachers’ cent inPrimary,
Salaries, the 2015 survey).
• There
Teachers’hasHours,
been significant growthExperience,
Primary, 15 Years’ in the number of teachers
2017 believe
who or LatestitAvailable
is getting more difficult to retain teachers, now42
Male
up to Teacher Numbers
69 per cent fromAre58 Declining
per cent in 2015. 45
•What Otheronly
While Challenges Do Teachers
17 per cent Face?are considering leaving
of teachers 53
the profession, this number has increased from 14 per cent
in 2015.
•School
For Structure
these teachers, workload is by far the biggest issue, with 60
School Systems 61
74 per cent saying it would be the most important factor in
Howany
Do decision
Our Schoolto Systems
leave, upRank
fromGlobally?
66 per cent in 2015. 62
Q:
HowWhat is thePremises
Do School ratio of Impact
teaching theto paperwork hours you
Teaching-Learning
spend at school? Process? 68
AC: I love teaching, so I spend as much time as I can on 70
actual teaching (especially mathematics and English), but 71
there are aSchools
Why Aren’t lot of non-teaching
Meeting the NeedshoursofI need
Gifted to do as well, 72
Students?
such
Why IsasThere
paperwork
So Littleand ticking boxes.
Transparency in OurISchools
would say it is 1:1. 73
for Parents?
On a regular day, I will spend an hour doing other things to 73
every hour I spend teaching.
69
schools of t hought

Traditionally, Australian schools are led by the principal, with input
from an inner circle, such as the deputy principal and one or two
other trusted teachers or heads of department. In some schools,
teachers generally have no say in the school’s philosophy or
direction. However, in other schools, it is a completely different
situation where heads of departments have regular meetings to
make decisions. In conclusion, it is based on individual schools and
how they are led, which is determined by the principals.
Q: You said you are on a temporary contract with the

school where you are currently working. What does this
mean?
AC: It means I get all the benefits a permanent teacher gets,

but I am not guaranteed a position next year. It is a year-by-
year contract.
Q: So you may not have a job next year?
AC: That is true, but I have been in the same school for 12
years. It’s never happened that my contract hasn’t been
renewed. In saying that, nothing is guaranteed.
Q: Why is that?
AC: Well… if we get a new principal tomorrow who may not

like me or has someone else in mind for the job, as a temp,
I am the first one to go.
70
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Q: So it is the
Teaching theTeachers
principal who decides who stays and who goes? 34
AC: What
Yes, ofArecourse; they maketothe
the Prerequisites decisions.
Become It comes down
a Teacher? 35
to two factors: what connections you have in the inner circle 37
Howprincipal
(the Much Does andItthe
Cost to Become
people around a Teacher?
him or her) and if you are 38
aAre
male
OurorTeachers
a female. You Paid
Being are more
Enough likely to be Future
to Attract favoured if you
Talent? 41
are aTeachers’
male. Also, it is not
Salaries, easy to
Primary, 15 remove a teacher once they
are permanent so they play it safe. A temp is easier for them. 41
HowHow Does
Effective Are Ourthe Distribution of Funding
Teachers? 46
Affect Our Schools?
As we have seen, not all schools are equal. There are many schools
that School
are desperate
Structure for better premises, more teachers and more
60
resources. The Gonski Report has addressed the issue of needs-
School Systems 61
based funding in detail. Unfortunately, though, the politics of 62
distraction always appear to get in the way of action.75 Federal Labor
leader Bill Shorten has pledged
Teaching-Learning Process?billions of dollars to education67if
76
theyHow
win Do
theSchool
next election.
Premises It’s a shame
Impact the that children’s education is
always dependent on how their parents vote. Education should 68
Teaching-Learning Process? be
a priority for all Australians and all governments, regardless of their
political
Howleaning.
Does the Distribution of Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
75 GHow Effective
C Savage, ‘Give Is SchoolFunding
a Gonski? Reporting? 73
myths and politicking derail schools debate’,
The Conversation, July 9, 2015, www.theconversation.com/give-a-gonski-funding-
Chapter 5: Students
myths-and-politicking-derail-schools-debate-44308 77
76 Australian
Where andLaborWhen
Party, Bill’s
Does Media Releases,
Learning Start? 78
‘Public
WhatSchools
Type ofInLearning
Every State And Territory
Works Best? To Benefit From Labor’s Investment’,
78
October 11, 2018, www.billshorten.com.au/public_schools_in_every_state_and_
territory_to_benefit_from_labor_s_investment_thursday_11_october_2018,
viewed School
OctoberAffect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
15, 2018. 79
71
schools of t hought
Are Schools Really Using Data to

Improve Learning?
NAPLAN results are sent to schools and parents. In addition, there
is a significant amount of data schools have access to. Schools
are also given a login to access and use the School Assessment
and Reporting Toolkit (SMART), an analysis tool schools can use to
better understand their students’ performance and help teachers
identify and diagnose students’ weaknesses and strengths; hence,
increasing the ability to address students’ needs. I am not sure how
many schools are really using the data. If the data from NAPLAN
are used by the schools to better direct, guide and modify their
teaching-learning process, we should witness a rise in results with
time. Sadly, this is not the case.
Why Aren’t Schools Meeting the

Needs of Gifted Students?
Not many teachers are qualified to teach gifted and talented
students, and it seems that most schools are ill-equipped to deal
with these students if they are scattered in different levels and
classrooms. The Australian Curriculum, acknowledges that gifted
and talented students are entitled to a learning style and content
that meet their needs. In addition, it encourages teachers to develop
personalised learning plans including programs and activities to
achieve this goal. Teachers are supposed to follow the Critical and
Creative Thinking Learning Continuum and adjust their teaching
approach accordingly. This sound simple and feasible for a spectator.
It is not the case for teachers in a classroom of 20 or more students
with different abilities that range from below average to gifted. Unless
the class is made of homogenous gifted and talented students, this
remains a nice idea.
72
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Why
Chapter Is There
3: Teachers So Little Transparency in Our 33
Schools for Parents?
In primary schools, parents have minimal contact with teachers. Have
you How
ever Much
tried to phone
Does a teacher
It Cost or book
to Become a meeting to see a teacher
a Teacher? 38
and How
wereDo given the run-around?
Teaching In primary
Salaries Compare to school, there are no exams/
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract
assessments shown to parents other than NAPLAN. CommunicationFuture Talent? 41
from the school comes via a generic weekly newsletter (not student-
specific Teachers’
news); you won’t
Hours, hear 15from
Primary, theExperience,
Years’ school, especially not a
teacher,2017
unlessor Latest
there isAvailable
an issue with your child. 42
The twice-yearly reports produced by primary schools are also very
generic. They don’t really say anything specific about the student.
As they are handed
School Structure out at the end of the term, students and parents
60
haveSchool
no opportunity
Systems to query or discuss the report’s contents. 61
Parents (and sometimes teachers) have no idea how these grades 62
were determined.
Teaching-Learning
It’s not much better inProcess?
high schools. Parent-teacher interviews 67
are done once or twice aProcess?
Teaching-Learning year. With an allocation of a mere five68 to
seven
How minutes per teacher,
Do Bureaucracy andit’s rather like speed
Administration Impactdating, and in large
Teaching? 68
schools, the teacher might have a photo of the student to remind 70
them which child they’re talking about. Cases of mistaken identity
are quite common.
Like
How primary
Effectiveschool,
Is Schoolhigh school reports tend to be generic73
Reporting? in
nature and are handed out at the end of term, giving students and
Chapter 5: Students
parents little or no opportunity to follow up or query any concerns. 77
73
schools of t hought
Reports are usually distributed twice a year; the first one at the
end of term 2—just before the 2–3-week July holiday—while the
second one is handed out at the end of the school year, just before
the long summer break. From a parent’s point of view, this means I
need to wait half a year to see how my child is performing. That’s a
bit too late to work on their weaknesses. It also means my child is
uninformed about their own performance. The next time I am given
a report is at the end of the year, just before the long holiday. The
following year, my child is in a new class with a new teacher. And the
story repeats. So, are these reports effective for learning? I doubt
it. As a parent of three children who went through primary and high
schools, I found the reports almost useless.
Now, let’s turn our attention to those who are most affected by
the education system, schools and teachers: the students.
74
Chapter 5
Students
I
recently chatted with three students who attend local government
schools in different areas of Sydney. These are some of their
comments:
Ananton is a Year 5 student who arrived recently from Singapore.

He says, ‘School here is so easy… I have done this [work] in Year 3 in
Singapore. Teachers are so nice; there is no homework.’
Ben is a local student; he, his parents and grandparents were

all born here. ‘My teacher thinks we [students] are stupid,’ he says.
‘She gives us very easy and boring questions. I am always bored
at school. They wanted to expel me because they think I am a bad
boy. I am only bored at school.’
William is Australian born, but his parents are from China. He

says, ‘My parents always give me more work to do at home and
send me for more and more tutoring. They say they learned much
more back in China when they were my age.’
77
st udent s st udent s
st udent s
ve looked at We’ve
schoolslooked
and how they shape
at schools our students
and how they shape our students 5.
We’ve
ct their education looked
based on at schools
school system,and how they
ideology, shape our students
faith,
and affect their education based on school system, ideology, faith, 6.
and next
s, etc. In the affectchapter,
their education
we will based
look on school
more system,
closely at ideology, faith,
teachers, etc. In the next chapter, we will look more closely at
teachers,
influenceparents’ etc. In
on education as the
well next
as the chapter,
broader we will look more closely at
influence on education as welleffects
as theofbroader effects of Hi
erceptions.parents’
However,
public
influence
parentalon
perceptions.
education
influence
However,
as well
is also
parental
as the broader effects of
pertinent
influenceinis also pertinent in affecte
public to
pter as it relates perceptions.
theas direct However,
impact parental influence is also pertinent in
this chapter it relates to itthe
has on their
direct children
impact it has on their children very p
hey become, thisand
chapter asthey
it relates
whilebecome, are,and to the direct impact it has on their children
students. metho
before they while they are, students.
before they become, and while they are, students. makin
Where and When Does
Where andLearning Start?
When Does Learning Start? Ha
s an oldThere saying:is an ‘Education
old saying: starts ‘Education
at the mother’sstarts at the mother’s yet he
Nowadays,There is an we old should
knee.’ Nowadays, of course, at
of course, saying:say ‘Education
we the
starts at the mother’s
parents’
should say at the parents’ chang
knee.’
Children learn Nowadays, of course, we should say at the parents’
knees.from Childrentheir learn
parents,
fromsiblings and other
their parents, siblings and other and w
knees.
s from therelatives
moment Children
they learn
are born,from their upparents,
soaking language,siblings and other end o
from the moment they are born, soaking up language,
relatives
sms, values, emotions fromand thetraditions,
momentas they
wellareas born, soaking up language,
our faults
mannerisms, values, emotions and traditions, as well as our faults
mannerisms,
udices. Suffice it to say, values,
by the emotions
time a childand traditions,
starts preschoolas well as our faults
and prejudices. Suffice it to say, by the time a child starts preschool A
and
ary school,or
they prejudices.
are already Suffice it to say,
of by the they
time ahave
child starts preschool
primary school, athey product
are already what a product of what they have
or primary
at home—good and school,
bad. they
They aremayalready
have aimpeccable
product of what they have
learned at home—good and bad. They may have impeccable
learned
s or not. They mayat home—good and bad. Theybemayable have impeccable
manners orhave
not.goodTheylanguage
may have skills
good andlanguage skills and be able
manners
their name; or not.able Theyto may haveowngood language skills and be able
to they
writemaytheirbe name; they tie
maytheir
be able shoelaces,
to tie their own shoelaces, Once
mpathy toto write peers,
their name; they may be able
show empathy to their peers, follow abide
their follow instructions and to tie their
by own
instructions
shoelaces,
and abide by towar
r not. show empathy to their peers, follow instructions and abide by
rules—or not. influen
rules—or not.
social
What Type of What
Learning
TypeWorks Best? Works Best?
of Learning influen
9, Professor John Hattie
In 2009, addressed
Professor the question:
John Hattie ‘What
addressed the question: ‘What who s
In 2009,
est in education?’ ToProfessor
answer John
this Hattie
question,addressed
he looked the
at question: ‘What
works best in education?’ To answer this question, he looked at
works
s of learning, best in education?’ To answer this question, he looked at
namely:
he studentsix areas of learning, namely:
1. theofstudent
six areas learning, namely: 77 J H
1. the student Ach
he home 2. the home influ
2. the home 78 J H
he school 3. the school of T
3. the school org
he curricula 4. the curricula
4. the curricula
78
78
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
5. the
Chapter teacher
3: Teachers 33
6. teaching and learning approaches
His research found 195 influences and effect sizes that directly
affected learning
How Much outcomes
Does It Cost to on the spectrum
Become a Teacher?of very negative 38 to
77
veryHow
positive, with theSalaries
Do Teaching mid-point beingtothe
Compare hinge
Other point. Using this
Professions? 39
methodology, he ‘found that the key to making a difference was Talent? 41
making teaching and learning visible.’
Hattie has since updated his data twice, most recently in 2015,78
yet he Male
concluded that ‘the story underlying
Teacher Numbers Are Declining the data has hardly
45
changed over time—even
How Effective though some effect sizes were updated
Are Our Teachers? 46
and What Othersome
we have Challenges Do Teachers
new entries Face?
at the top, at the middle and at the53
end of the list.’
As Parents,
School Structure How Do Our Attitudes towards 60
School Systems 61
Learning and School Affect Our Children’s 62
Approach to Schooling?
Once a Teaching-Learning Process?
child is in the school system, the foundation of their attitude67
towardsTeaching-Learning
learning and discipline
Process?is already set in place before other
68
influences
How Dolike the school
Bureaucracy andthey attend, their
Administration teachers,
Impact their peers,
Teaching? 68
social media and public perceptions come into play. Parental 70
influence is no longer all-powerful, but it remains significant. Parents
whoWhyshow genuine
Aren’t interest
Schools in their
Meeting child’s of
the Needs learning and are engaged
Gifted Students? 72
77 J Hattie, ‘Hattie Ranking: 195 Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student
Chapter 5: Students
Achievement’, Visible Learning, n.d., www.visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-77
influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement,
Where and When Does Learning Start? viewed October 11, 2018. 78
78 J What
Hattie,Type
‘The of LearningofWorks
applicability VisibleBest? 78
Learning to higher education’, Scholarship
ofAsTeaching and Learning in Psychology, Vol 1(1),
Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning andMar 2015, 79–91, www.dx.doi.
org/10.1037/stl0000021.
79
students
with their school must surely have a positive effect on their child’s
attitude towards learning.
Some parents pressure their children into succeeding at school,

while others prefer to step back and let their child make their way
through at their own pace, fearing a backlash or that putting pressure
on their child could affect their well-being. Many parents enrol their
children in tutoring from a young age to maximise their chances of
getting into selective schools or to give them a better education.
In her article ‘Testing times: selective schools and tiger parents’,

Anna Broinowski quotes Mohan Dhall, CEO of the Australian Tutoring
Association (ATA), who states that ‘75 to 95 per cent’ of students
entering government selective high schools are coached. But
coaching appears to work; an estimated 97 per cent of students at
Sydney’s top selective school, James Ruse Agricultural High, are of a
language background other than English (LBOTE); at other selective
schools, the statistics are similar: 90 per cent at North Sydney Boys’
selective and 88 per cent at Hornsby Girls, with similar LBOTE
percentages in Victorian selective government high schools.79
Being a multicultural country, Australian schools—particularly

non-denominational and government schools—are a melting pot of
children from different cultures, nationalities and, to some extent,
socioeconomic backgrounds. Teachers and school leaders must
navigate all this to ensure schools are inclusive for all pupils inside
and outside the classroom.
79 A Broinowski, ‘Testing times: selective schools and tiger parents’, The Sydney
Morning Herald, January 24, 2015, www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/testing-times-
selective-schools-and-tiger-parents-20150108–12kecw.html, viewed October 11, 2018.
80
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Does
Chapter 3: Teachers the Wearing of Uniforms 33
Give Students the Sense of Belonging?
In many countries, most schools do not have uniforms. In Finland,
for example,
How Much there
Does Itare
Costnoto school
Becomeuniforms.
a Teacher?However, there are 38
compelling arguments
How Do Teaching in favour
Salaries Compareof to
uniforms, saying they give
students a sense of pride and belonging to their school community. 41
There is also the benefit of no pressure to keep up with fashion
trends, particularly for students
Teachers’ Hours, Primary, who come
15 Years’ from less well-off families
Experience,
2017schools,
(and many or Latest including
Available private schools, have second-hand 42
clothingMale Teacher
pools). Numbers
Whether Are of
the lack Declining
distraction by having everyone 45
look the same has any bearing on students’ performance in the
classroom is debatable. It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that once
Chapter
students4:leave
Schools of Thought
school, many jobs require uniforms. 59
School Structure
Are Australian Students Happy? 60
School Systems 61
It’s safe to say that in Australia, the primary wish of parents for their
children is simply for them to be happy, and there’s evidence that
happy children learn better.
Teaching-Learning According to PISA 2015, teenagers who
Process? 67
feel How
part Do
of aSchool
schoolPremises
community andthe
Impact enjoy good relations with their
parents and teachers are more likely to perform better academically 68
and be happier with their lives.80
But what aspects of schooling can affect students’ happiness?
According to the
Why Aren’t first Meeting
Schools OECD PISA assessment
the Needs of Giftedof students’ well-
Students? 72
being, bullying
Why Is Thereis So
oneLittle
of the key issues affecting
Transparency students’
in Our Schools happiness,
for Parents? 73
particularly with today’s prevalence of social media. Children who 73
80 PISA
What2015,
TypeCountry Overview,
of Learning Australia,
Works Best? www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa/
78
country/aus?lg=en, viewed October 11, 2018.
81 Organisation
School for Economic
Affect Co-operation
Our Children’s and Development,
Approach to Schooling?‘Are students
79
happy?: PISA 2015 results: students’ well-being’,
Does the Wearing of Uniforms Give Students the PISA in Focus, No. 71, OECD
Publishing, Paris, 2017, www.doi.org/10.1787/3512d7ae-en.
81
students
are bullied find it hard to escape, unlike ‘back in our day’ when all
we had to do was go home and close the door.
Another factor affecting student happiness is the pressure to

perform well, with schoolwork anxiety ranking high as a reason for
students’ unhappiness.82
Being bright and performing well at school don’t guarantee

happiness. Citing PISA’s study on the happiness of schoolchildren in
OECD countries, Sophie McBain points out, ‘We might look enviously
at the performance of South Korean students, who ranked 5th for
mathematics and reading and 7th for science, but schoolchildren
in South Korea are also the unhappiest; fewer than 60 per cent
report being happy at school. Is that an education system we want
to emulate?’83
Matt Phillips of Quartz Media agrees. ‘Compounding the stress

are expectations from Korean parents, which are some of the
highest in the world, according to the OECD.’84
82 OECD Newsroom, ‘Most teenagers happy with their lives but schoolwork anxiety and
bullying an issue’, April 19, 2017, www.oecd.org/newsroom/most-teenagers-happy-with-
their-lives-but-schoolwork-anxiety-and-bullying-an-issue.htm.
83 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ‘Are students happy?,
op. cit.
84 M Phillips, ‘Korea is the world’s top producer of unhappy school children’, Quartz Media,
December 4, 2013, www.qz.com/153380/korea-is-the-worlds-top-producer-of-unhappy-
school-children, viewed October 12, 2018.
82
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
That said, in 2012, Australia also ranked below the OECD average
Teaching-Learning
of students Process?
who report being 67
happy at school, and interestingly,
AustraliaTeaching-Learning
was one of the few OECD schools that didn’t participate68
Process? in
the PISA
How 2015 survey on students’
Do Bureaucracy happiness.
and Administration EvenTeaching?
Impact more interesting,
68
some countries that performed poorly education-wise appeared70
Who Is Leading Schools? to
have happy students, such as Indonesia and Peru, which ranked
first Why
and Aren’t
third respectively on the
Schools Meeting thehappiness scale.Students?
Needs of Gifted 72
Are Students Engaged in Learning? 73
Chapter 5: Students
Happy students 77
are one thing, but how engaged are they in learning?
You Where andchild,
ask your When‘How
Doeswas
Learning Start? day?’ and their response
your school 78
What Type of Learning Works
is, ‘Boring.’ Sounds familiar? Best? 78
83
students
Are our teachers able to keep students’ attention and interest,

or is the challenge too great? To be fair, keeping 30 children of
varying abilities with different levels of interest engaged in a subject
is far from easy, particularly if it’s the end of the day or the end of the
week, and they just want to get out of the classroom. Often, students
complain of being ‘bored’. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach,
teachers must be skilled in setting different tasks for groups of
students. However, given AC’s comments in her interview, I’m not
sure how well university prepares teachers to do this effectively.
Does a Student’s Self-Esteem Play a Role in His or Her

Ability to Learn?
A student with low self-esteem is less likely to ask questions or ask

for help for fear of ridicule by peers/teachers. This contributes even
more to their underperformance, creating a vicious cycle. Students
need to be empowered by measuring their performance against
their own personal best performance. An assessment for learning
instead of a summative assessment may help them to get out of that
cycle and improve their self-esteem.
Do Students Have Too Many Choices in

Where to Focus Their Energies?
An overloaded curriculum plus extra-curricular activities means our
children never get to switch off. Add to the mix their seemingly incessant
use of mobile devices to access social media, it’s little wonder why
so many young people are suffering burnout. It’s not unusual for very
young children to be addicted to online games. The Longitudinal Study
of Australian Children Annual Statistical Report 2015 by the Australian
Institute of Family Studies found that ‘the proportion of children who
played electronic games or used the computer increased with age—
84
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
according3:toTeachers
Chapter the time use data, the percentage spending some time33 on
this activity
Teaching increased from 24 per cent to 69 per cent for the ages 4–5
the Teachers 34
years through to 12–13 years.’ College?
85 34
Ongoing
Most Professional
schools Development
allow students to carry mobile devices with them 37
at school and, of course, they also have the use of laptops, which 38
haveAre
access to Wi-Fi. Being
Our Teachers SomePaidschools
Enoughhaveto aAttract
mobile phone
Future policy, 41
Talent? for
86
example, Mount St
Teachers’ Benedict
Salaries, College
Primary, in Sydney’s
15 Years’ north. While the
Experience,
NSW government does not yet have a policy banning mobile phones 41
in schools, it has launched a review ‘into the non-educational use of
2017 or Latest Available 87 42
mobile devices in NSW schools’.
DoWhatGifted Students
Other Challenges DoNeed
Teachers More
Face? Inspiration and53
Challenges
Chapter toofKeep
4: Schools Them
Thought Engaged in Learning?
59
As ISchool
mentionedStructure in the previous chapter, the Australian Curriculum 60
appears
School to Systems
give little guidance to schools as to how to engage and 61
teach gifted students. Another issue is lack of teachers equipped 62
with the skills to teach these children.
GiftedTeaching-Learning
students in primary Process?
school are often not identified. There 67
is the usual reporting fromProcess?
Teaching-Learning the teachers and NAPLAN, which cannot 68
diagnose
How Do above the 80thand
Bureaucracy percentile. TheseImpact
Administration students often complain
Teaching? 68
Are Schools
85 Australian InstituteReally Using
of Family DataThe
Studies, to Improve
LongitudinalLearning? 72
Study of Australian Children
Annual Statistical
Why Aren’t Report 2015,
Schools Melbourne,
Meeting 2016, p112,
the Needs www.growingupinaustralia.gov.
au/sites/default/files/asr2015.pdf, viewed October 11, 2018.
How Effective
86 Mount St BenedictIs Collect,
School‘Mobile
Reporting?
Phone Policy’, Mount St Benedict College 73
Orientation Handbook, October 2017, p49, www.msben.nsw.edu.au/Future-
Families-Information/Year-7-2018/Information/Orientation%20Handbook%20
for%20Y07%202018.pdf, viewed October 11, 2018.
87 NSW Department of Education, Strategies and Reports, Review into the non-
78
What Type
educational ofofLearning
use WorksinBest?
mobile devices 78
NSW schools, October 4, 2018, education.
nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/our-reports-and-reviews/mobile-
School Affect
devices-in-schools, Our October
viewed Children’s Approach to Schooling?
11, 2018. 79
85
students
about being bored at school and, with time, they lose interest in
learning and might develop behavioural problems. Many students
who are labelled as problematic are found to be highly intelligent.
Discipline/Respect for Teachers?

As we discussed in previous chapters, in Australia, teaching is not
highly regarded or respected as a profession. Inevitably, this is
reflected in the way students treat their teachers at school. If society
does not respect teachers, how can we expect our students to?
In other countries, such as Finland and Japan, teachers are highly
educated, and teaching is a revered profession. It follows that Finnish
teachers enjoy the respect of their peers, parents and students.
Student Performance
Do We Need NAPLAN?
Given Finland’s successful education system without tests or exams

until their students turn 18, it’s a fair question that parents, children
and even teachers might ask, ‘Do we need NAPLAN?’
One of the benefits of NAPLAN is it gives us an idea of how

students are tracking—individually, by state and nationally—by
providing a scorecard of their numeracy and literacy levels. But
according to the NAPLAN Commentary88 summarising the 2018
NAPLAN results, students’ performance has basically flat-lined, with
no significant improvements (or declines) compared to recent years
as depicted in the reading and numeracy results below.
88 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, National Assessment

Program, Literacy and Numeracy Achievement in Reading, Writing, Language
Conventions and Numeracy: National Report for 2018, 2018, p357, https://nap.
edu.au/docs/default-source/resources/2018-naplan-national-report.pdf?sfvrsn=2,
viewed April 20, 2019.
86
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
Over the period of 2008 to 2018, students’ results in reading
haveHownotDoes
significantly improved
the Distribution nationally
of Funding (there
Affect Our was a slight
Schools? 71
improvement in Years 3, 5 and 9 reading results in 2018, while 72
YearWhy Aren’t Schools
7 results showedMeeting the Needs
a decline). of Gifted
However, thereStudents? 72
are factors that
affect
Howfluctuations,
Effective Issuch as Reporting?
School an increase in LBOTE students and other 73
considerations, such as socioeconomic demographics, an increase
Chapter 5: Students
in migrants whose second language is English, change in numbers 77
Where and
of students withWhen Does
special Learning
needs, etc.Start? 78
87
students
Numeracy results have also been stable, with a decline in Year

3 and Year 7 in 2018 results.
Gradually, NAPLAN has moved online. In 2018, 15 per cent of

the students have sat NAPLAN online in an attempt to complete
the transition in a few years. As the test results were published in
a single scaled dataset by ACARA, the actual differences in raw
results between the pen-and-paper and the online method are far
from being determined. However, ACARA states that the results are
always to be interpreted with caution.
International Tests and What They Tell Us
As well as using NAPLAN results to compare students’ performance

nationally and by state/territory, we can also compare the outcomes
of Australian students against other nations. To do this, we generally
turn to PISA, which is run every three years by the OECD with the
aim to allow countries to make improvements to their education
policies based on evidence from international test results.
If we look at PISA 2015’s results for Australia,89 we find:
• science – performing better than OECD average, but a

decline since 2006
• mathematics – performing better than OECD average, but a

decline since 2006
• reading – performing better than OECD average, but a

decline since 2006
• equity – boys vs. girls – better than OECD average, stable

since 2006
89 PISA 2015, op. cit.
88
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
• social
Chapter background – around OECD average, stable since
3: Teachers 33
2006the Teachers
Teaching 34
• immigrant
What Are thestudents – better
Prerequisites than OECD
to Become average, stable
a Teacher? 35
Ongoing
sinceProfessional
2006 Development 37
ItHow
is interesting
Do TeachingtoSalaries
note, however,
Compare to that while
Other the performance
Professions? 39
gap between girls and boys in mathematics is growing, boys lag Talent? 41
considerably in collaborative problem-solving, a critical skill for
studentsTeachers’
once they finish
Hours, their education
Primary, and enter the workforce
(PISA, 2015). 42
IfHow
weEffective
look atAre
theOur
PISA 2015 results in mathematics from 46
Teachers? an
international perspective, we can see that Australia is lagging. 53
Indeed, the trend for the results of Australian students in mathematics,
reading and science has been downwards between 2003 and 2015
59
compared to students
School Structure around the world. 60
School Systems 61
Selective
Data tableHigh Schools
for Mathematics performance (PISA), 62
How Do Our School
Boys Systems Rank Globally?
/ Girls, Mean score, 2015 62
Teaching-Learning
Location Process? Boys Girls 67
How Do School
Singapore Premises Impact the
564 564
Hong
How DoKong, China and Administration
Bureaucracy 549 Impact Teaching?547 68
WhoChinese
Is Leading Schools?
Taipei 545 539 70
HowMacau,
Does the Distribution
China of Funding
540Affect Our Schools?
548 71
Japan
Why Aren’t Schools Meeting the Needs 539 of Gifted Students?
525 72
Switzerland
Why Is There So Little Transparency527 515
in Our Schools for Parents? 73
How Effective
EstoniaIs School Reporting? 522 517 73
90 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Mathematics 78
As Parents,(PISA)
performance How Do Our2018,
(indicator), Attitudes towards Learning and
data.oecd.org/pisa/mathematics-performance-
School
pisa.htm, Affect
viewed June Our Children’s Approach to Schooling?
4, 2018. 79
89
students
Korea 521 528

Canada 520 511
Denmark 516 506
Germany 514 498
Belgium 514 500
Netherlands 513 511
Slovenia 512 508
Ireland 512 495
Austria 510 483
Poland 510 499
Finland 507 515
Norway 501 503
Italy 500 480
New Zealand 499 491
United Kingdom 498 487
Australia 497 491
Portugal 497 487
Russia 497 491
France 496 490
Czech Republic 496 489
Spain 494 478
OECD - Average 494 486
What Are TIMSS and PIRLS?
Other than PISA, another useful source for gauging the performance
of Australian students is tests run by the International Association
for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). These tests
are known as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy
Study (PIRLS). TIMSS tests have been conducted internationally
every four years since 1995, which ‘enables countries around the
90
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
world to 3:measure
Chapter Teachershow effective they are in teaching mathematics 33
and Teaching
science. the
Entering
Teachersinto its third decade and seventh cycle of data34
collection, TIMSS is a well-established international assessment… 34
the longest of any international education study.’91 PIRLS tests have
92
37
been running
How Muchsince
Does 2001.
It Cost to Become a Teacher? 38
Education at a Glance
The OECD also produces a report called Education at a Glance,93
which it Teachers’
claims is ‘the authoritative
Hours, Primary, 15source for information on the state
2017 or
of education Latest the
around Available
world’, which ‘provides key information 42 on
the output of educational institutions; the impact of learning across 45
countries; the financial and human resources invested in education;
access, participation and progression in education; and the learning
Chapter 4: Schools
environment of Thought of schools’. The latest edition59
and organisation is
interesting
Choosingbecause it also presents ‘a new focus on fields of study,
a School 59
School Structure
investigating both trends in enrolment at upper secondary and 60
School Systems 61
tertiary level, student mobility, and labour market outcomes of the
qualifications
How Do Our obtained
School in these Rank
Systems fields’.Globally? 62
How Do Australian Students
Teaching-Learning Process?Rank Globally? 67
According to the PISA 2015
Teaching-Learning results, which specifically looked68
Process? at
15-year-old
How Do students around
Bureaucracy the world, Australian
and Administration students are two
Impact Teaching? 68
years behind some of their top overseas peers in subjects like 70
mathematics and science, and their performance in problem-solving
has Why
also Aren’t
declined. Australia’s
Schools Meetingmedia
the Needswasofquick
GiftedtoStudents?
pick up on this,
72
91 TIMMS & PIRLS International Study Center, ‘About TIMMS 2019’, timssandpirls.
bc.edu/timss2019/index.html,
92 TIMMS & PIRLS International Study Center, ‘PIRLS and ePIRLS Around the World’,
timssandpirls.bc.edu/latest-news/epirls-around-the-world.html, 78
viewed October 11, 2018.
93 Organisation
What Typefor ofEconomic
LearningCo-operation
Works Best? and Development, Education at a Glance 78
2017: OECD Indicators, 2017, OECD Publishing,
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and Paris, www.oecd-ilibrary.org/
education/education-at-a-glance-2017_eag-2017-en
91
students
with Kelsey Munro (education editor) and Eryk Bagshaw (economics

reporter) of The Sydney Morning Herald pointing out that Australian
students ‘were the equivalent of 1½ years behind top-performer
Singapore’s students in science; a year behind them in reading; and
2⅓ years behind in mathematics’.94
But while Australia has managed to stay above the OECD average,
Munro and Bagshaw also point out that the report reveals our students
are ‘behind Slovenia, New Zealand and Vietnam in scientific literacy,
while it lags behind the Netherlands, Estonia and Poland in reading.’
Our weakest subject internationally is mathematics, falling behind
several countries, including Sweden, Russia and Ireland.
What is interesting is that these sliding results affect all school

systems, although the gaps in performance among government
(non-selective), Catholic and independent schools—and for
Indigenous or disadvantaged students—is pertinent.
New South Wales is faring worse than Victoria, where ‘45 per
cent of students are not mathematically proficient or are unable to
use mathematics in “real-life situations”’, the article states.
It’s also interesting to note, says Bagshaw and Munro, that ‘in
Australia, on average, the first-generation children of migrants performed
significantly better than both Australian-born and foreign-born students.’
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

(UNICEF) published its annual report card on June 16, 2017, which
includes an overview of education around the world. The UNICEF
94 K Munro, E Bagshaw, ‘Australian school students two years behind world’s best
performing systems’, Sydney Morning Herald, December 6, 2016, www.smh.com.
au/national/education/australian-school-students-two-years-behind-worlds-best-
performing-systems-20161206-gt4w8p.html
92
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
report has
Chapter caught the eye of Australian politicians. For example,
3: Teachers 33
it was discussed
Teaching in Tasmania’s state parliament in August 2017 34
the Teachers as
part of a debate on the Education Amendment Bill 2017 (No. 46). 34
The Honourable Ivan Dean APM, MLC, member for Windermere,
highlighted
How Much theDoes
following
It Costfindings:
to Become a Teacher? 38
The report
Are Our foundBeing
Teachers that only 71.7 pertocent
Paid Enough of Future
Attract Australian 15-year-
Talent? 41
olds areTeachers’
achieving baseline
Salaries, standards
Primary, 15 Years’inExperience,
the three key areas of
2017based
education, or Latest
on Available
the latest PISA assessment, and only 80.3 per 41
cent of children are attending ‘organised preschool learning’ for at
least a year, according to 2014 figures.
By comparison, 81.4 per cent of Finnish 15-year-olds are achieving
the minimum standard in reading, maths and science, and 99.8 per
Chapter 4: Schools
cent of children of Thought
attend organised early schooling in Finland, which 59
wasChoosing
the top-ranked
a School country for quality education… 59
School Structure 60
Australia has been ranked 39 out of 41 high- and middle-income
School Systems 61
countries... in achieving quality education, in the latest international 62
report to find that the country is falling behind in basic measures of
teachingTeaching-Learning
and learning. Only two countries in the world within that
Process? 67
organisation fall behind
How Do School us – Impact
Premises Turkeythe
and Romania. All the others are
far in excess of our position in education.95 68
Amy Lamoin, director of policy and advocacy of UNICEF 70
Australia, said, ‘Education is such a strong predictor of life outcomes
and Why
we’re setting
Aren’t a fairly
Schools concerning
Meeting trajectory…
the Needs There’s certainly
a decline
Why Is in realSo
There terms
Littlein the education
Transparency space
in Our in Australia,
Schools partly
for Parents? 73
because we have yet to see education reform that goes beyond 73
funding-model debates.’96
95 Parliament of Tasmania, Education Amendment Bill 2017 (No. 46), August 23, 2017,
www.parliament.tas.gov.au/lc/dean/20170823%20-%20Education%20Amendment
As Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards
%20Bill%202017%20%28No.%2046%29.pdf, viewed Learning
October 11,and
2018.
96 Ibid. School Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling? 79
93
students
What Is the Political Reaction to Our Students’ Decline in

Performance?
Funding-model debates are perhaps a key point in Amy Lamoin’s

above comment. Certainly, education funding has been a hot topic
of debate in recent years.
When the PISA 2015 report was released, the then Federal
Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham, said:
We must acknowledge the reality that our performance is

slipping. Given the wealth of our nation and scale of our investment,
we should expect to be a clear education leader, not risk becoming
a laggard.
Commonwealth funding for schools has increased by 50 per

cent since 2003 while our results are going backwards. I’m not
suggesting that money is not important, of course it is vital, but...
Australia ranks as spending the fifth highest amount on education in
the OECD and once you get to that level there is little value in just
increasing spending.97
Former NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli’s response to

the results was similar. In The Sydney Morning Herald, he wrote:
‘I admit to being disappointed. Other countries appear to have
made progress; Australia has been in decline since the PISA tests,
administered by the OECD, were introduced in 2000.’98
97 Ministers for the Department of Education and Training Media Centre, ‘Minister
urges cooperation to address ‘worrying’ education results’, December 7, 2016,
ministers.education.gov.au/birmingham/minister-urges-cooperation-address-
worrying-education-results, viewed October 11, 2018.
98 A Piccoli, A, ‘Federal government needs to stop Gonski funding row so we can
fix schools’, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 12, 2016, www.smh.com.au/
opinion/the-federal-government-needs-to-stop-bickering-about-gonski-funding-
so-we-can-start-fixing-schools-20161212-gt9hro.html, viewed October 11, 2018.
94
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Meanwhile,
Chapter Federal Shadow Minister for Education Tanya
3: Teachers 33
Plibersek
Teachingreacted with a tweet. ‘These results show exactly why
the Teachers 34
@AustralianLabor believes in extra needs-based funding for our 34
schools.’99
Needs-based funding, of course, is a reference to the Gonski 38
model,
Are which I will discuss
Our Teachers as part
Being Paid of the
Enough to crucial issue of
Attract Future funding41in
Talent?
ChapterTeachers’
7. Salaries, Primary, 15 Years’ Experience,

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
99 THow Effective
Plibersek, ‘TheseIsresults
School Reporting?
show 73
exactly why @AustralianLabor believes in extra
needs-based funding for our schools.’ Twitter, November 29, 2016, www.twitter.
Chapter 5: Students
com/tanya_plibersek/status/803747467082612736, viewed October 11, 2018. 77
95
Chapter 6
Parent and Public

Perceptions
A
ustralian-born mum Jenny has sent her son to the same public
school she attended as a girl. She takes time off work to volunteer
at the school and be available to help her son. She volunteers as
much as she can, yet she feels ‘locked out’.
Melania is a migrant who came on a skilled migration visa when

her son was two years old. He is 10 now. Melania volunteers when
her time permits and tries to talk to the office ladies, but she does not
get a good vibe from them. Melania feels the same way as Jenny…
Why do parents often feel so unwelcome at their children’s

school?
Without a doubt, parents are the main decision-makers on

where and how their child will be educated. Parents are their child’s
primary educators in the first few years until they employ the care
of others, such as child care or preschool, and then the education
97
parent and public perceptions
system. Parents are the ones who choose which school(s) their
child will attend, although there may not actually be a choice. They
might not be able to afford school fees, so there is no choice other
than the local government school, or they may live in a remote area
where there is only one school. But for those parents who do have
a choice, let’s look at what factors come into play.
What Do Parents Classify as a ‘Good’ School?

At the beginning of Chapter 4, we considered some of the factors
that parents believe determine a ‘good’ school. Now, imagine you
meet two parents. One is from Finland; the other is Australian.
When you ask the Finnish parent which is the best school, they
will likely answer, ‘The closest one.’
When you ask the Australian parent, they may come up with any
of the following:
• Location. Children don’t always attend a school that’s close

to home, and in some cases, they may have to board.
• Fees. These vary considerably between Catholic, other

faith-based and independent schools.
• Selective/non-selective. Parent may steer their child towards

one or the other.
• Special program for talented/gifted students?
• Special program for children with disability or learning

difficulties?
• School’s philosophy/reputation. If the parent has a sporty,

musical or artistic child, they may choose a school that will
foster those talents.
98
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
• Reputation/recommendation.
Chapter 3: Teachers Parent often listens to the
33
recommendations
Teaching the Teachers of other parents, friends and family 34
members to help guide their choice of school. 34
•Ongoing Professionalties.
Tradition/family Development
Parent sends their children to a school 37
Howbecause
Much Does It Cost to Become a Teacher?
‘Dad went there, and so did his father’. Sometimes 38
Are aOur
school is chosen
Teachers because
Being Paid extended
Enough to Attractfamily
Future(e.g., cousins)
Talent? 41
also attends.
• Parent works
Teachers’ there.
Hours, If a parent
Primary, is aExperience,
15 Years’ teacher, it’s not uncommon
2017
for or Latest
their child toAvailable
attend the same school where they teach. 42
How Do the Education Background and 53
Expectations of Parents Play a
Role in Student Education?
School Structure 60
For migrant parents, they may have received an excellent education
School Systems 61
in the country from which they came, and surely, they expect their 62
children to receive an education of equal quality. By contrast, if
they came from a countryProcess?
Teaching-Learning where education standards were poor— 67
perhaps even
How Do non-existent—they
School Premises Impactmaythe have few expectations and
are just grateful their child is receiving an education. Or they might 68
be driven to ensure their child receives a better education than they
did to give
How them
Does thethe chance to
Distribution of succeed.
Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
For
Why Australian-born parents,
Aren’t Schools Meeting the most
Needswill haveStudents?
of Gifted received a full 72
education—at
Why Is There least until Transparency
So Little Year 10—andin their attitudefortowards
Our Schools Parents?their
73
child’s education may be more relaxed. By putting their faith in 73
whichever school they send their child to, they are confident he or
she will receive a decent education, just as they did. On the other
hand, if they
What Typehad
of aLearning
government
Workseducation
Best? and felt it was inadequate,
78
theyAs
may striveHow
Parents, to send
Do Ourtheir child to
Attitudes a fee-paying
towards Learning school
and to give
them a better chance to excel academically and professionally. 79
99
Can Parents Be Positively Involved in Schools?

Parents tend to be more involved in their school community at
primary school level, mainly because most primary schools, be they
free or fee-paying, rely on an army of parent volunteers for things,
such as fundraising, running the school canteen, parent-teacher
associations, helping out at sports carnivals, reading and so on.
Volunteering and fundraising continue in high school but to a lesser
extent.
The amount of time a parent is involved with a school community

will largely depend on their work commitments. Stay-at-home, self-
employed parents or parents working part-time can usually commit
more time to helping the school community than those who work
full-time for an employer.
Schools are generally grateful for the time and money parents
put in, as without it, things like canteen staffing, new buildings and
equipment would have to be paid for out of school funds, or they’d
just have to go without until the government grants them some
money.
Parents are also involved in their child’s schooling through

parent-teacher meetings, and often, parents form friendships among
themselves that can endure well after their child has left the school.
The strength of a school community and its importance to the wider
community should not be underestimated.
100
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Do 3:Parents
Chapter Teachers Play a Role in Schools’ Attitudes 33
towards Transparency?
Q:
HowWho
MuchdoDoes
you think
It Costruns the school?
AC: At my
Are Our school,Being
Teachers it is the
Paidparents.
Enough IttoisAttract
so important for the 41
Future Talent?
principal to beSalaries,
Teachers’ liked and accepted
Primary, by the
15 Years’ community. He will
Experience,
do anything to achieve that. 41
From my Male Teacher
many Numbers Areschools
observations, Declining
build different circles 45 of
parents around them. Some circles are closer than others. The inner
circle is usually made of parents who have some connection or
Chapter 4: Schools
relationship with theofprincipal
Thoughtor the close-to-principal staff. And the 59
outer circle is amade
Choosing of migrant parents who have not yet integrated
School 59
School
in the StructureYet there are other circles made of parents60
community. of
School Systems 61
the same cultural backgrounds, such as second-generation Greeks,
Chinese,
How DoLebanese or Indian.
Our School SystemsThis
Rankstructure
Globally?makes it very hard 62for
someone who does not belong to one of these groups to integrate
Teaching-Learning
in the school community. Process? 67
What
How Do Are the Different
Bureaucracy Parenting
and Administration Impact Styles
Teaching?and 68
How Does the Their Impact
Distribution on Students?
of Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
Q:
WhyWhat do So
Is There theLittle
demographics
Transparencylook likeSchools
in Our at yourforschool?
Parents? 73
AC: About 50 per cent are second-generation migrants and
Chapter 5: Students
the rest are Aussies. 77
101
Q: How would you describe each category in relation to

the school?
AC: The Aussie parents, I feel, are too controlling of the

school. The principal fears and wants their acceptance. Their
children feel entitled. These are the ones who do not do
homework. Meanwhile, the second-generation migrants are
hardworking, and parents have high expectations of their
children. They care a lot about their children’s academic
achievement.
Parents practise parenting differently, depending on their values,

faith, upbringing, personality and current circumstances. We hear
various terms connected with over-parenting, such as tiger parents
(overly protective), helicopter parents (ones who can’t let go),
pushy parents, overly competitive parents and so on. At the other
end of the scale are parents who appear to be absent from their
children’s life for one reason or another or take a more laidback
attitude towards parenting. These parents can be labelled, mostly
wrongfully, as neglectful, lazy or even abusive.
Inevitably, children are the product of a particular parenting

style. A child might toe the line and follow their parents’ guidance,
or they could rebel against it. How much this affects their academic
performance is hard to gauge, although, as we saw in the previous
chapter, some LBOTE parents are particularly pushy when it comes to
seeing their child succeed academically, and certainly international
results and Year 12 exam results attest to this; LBOTE children
outperform their peers significantly in national and international
tests.
102
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
How Do
Chapter Parent/Carer
3: Teachers Attitudes towards Different
33
Subjects Affect Their Children’s Attitudes? 34
Do you ever say to your children, ‘Oh, I was awful at mathematics,’ or
‘I was a great
How Muchspeller,’
Does It as if mathematics
Cost to Become a and English ability are purely
Teacher? 38
genetic
Howrather than dependent
Do Teaching on teaching
Salaries Compare andProfessions?
to Other other factors? 39
Westpac’s
Teachers’2017 Numeracy
Salaries, Study
Primary, revealed
15 Years’ that ‘half of Aussie
Experience,
adults couldn’t help a Year 10 student with their mathematics’ and 41
‘31 per cent of Australian adults experience mathematics anxiety’.100
KeithMale Teacher
Barnett fromNumbers
EppingAre Declining
North Public School was recently 45
honoured as the most outstanding primary teacher in the country
by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI). Keith says,
Chapter 4: Schools
‘As a child, I hatedofmathematics
Thought because I didn’t think it had any 59
relevance
Choosingto my life, until a phenomenal teacher showed me all the
a School 59
School
amazing waysStructure
it could be used.’101 60
School Systems 61
I always say, the best thing parents can do to help their children 62
to love and eventually excel in mathematics is to bring it to life. In
other words, show them how
Teaching-Learning essential and relevant mathematics67
Process? is
in our
Howdaily
Do life. When
School I usedImpact
Premises to shopthewith my children, we played a
game where each one of us had to add up all the items in the trolley 68
before we reached the register. The closest to the correct amount
wasHowthe winner.
Does the (I tried to let them
Distribution win every
of Funding Affectnow
Our and then!)
Schools? 71
100 Westpac, ‘New Australian
How Effective Is School research supports need to make maths a national
Reporting? 73
priority’, Media Releases, May 1, 2017, www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/media/
media-releases/2017/1-may-1, viewed October 11, 2018.
101 J Morphet, ‘New survey reveals half of Aussie adults couldn’t help a year 10 student
Where
with their and When
maths’, Does Learning
The Sunday Telegraph,Start?
September 3, 2017, www.dailytelegraph. 78
com.au/news/nsw/new-survey-reveals-half-of-aussie-adults-couldnt-help-a-year- 78
10-student-with-their-maths/news-story/82cba6073efcd7855443c3a046b91a5b,
viewed October
School 11, 2018.
Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling? 79
103
Another tip: Parents can talk about fractions when they share
a pizza or a cake. Instead of talking about a slice, talk about an
eighth or a quarter. And when you talk about interest rates going
up, include your high school child in the conversation. Very simple
things like this can make a difference.
Are Parents Over-Committing Their Children with

Too Many Extra-Curricular Activities?
Students these days appear to be involved in a lot of extra-curricular
activities, within and outside of school—music or dance lessons,
drama, sport, scouts, community service and coding to name but a
few. It’s unclear how much of this is down to the choice of the child
or from parents ‘pushing’ their children to be involved because it’s
deemed advantageous. Certainly, parents with more than one child
often lament the hours they spend juggling schedules and ferrying
their children around to after-school or weekend activities, not to
mention all the additional expenses involved. So, how much is too
much? If it comes to a point where the child is reluctant to continue,
moans that they’re too tired or is obviously not enjoying the activity,
perhaps it’s time to let it go. As they get to the final years of high
school, coursework and homework demands will take priority, and
a lot of these commitments will fall by the wayside.
Are Financial Pressures Keeping Parents Too

Busy Working to Parent Effectively?
There are many families where both parents work full-time, and without
family support, they rely on their children attending before and after-
school care, often from a very young age. Before and after-school care
is often run at schools by private operators. Generally, the programs
104
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
are well 3:
Chapter run; if the children have homework, they do it there so they
Teachers 33
don’tTeaching
have to the
do itTeachers
when they get home late and tired. They are usually 34
fed a snack, and those who don’t have homework can take part34
University or Teaching College? in
activities with their peers. Whether children find such long days at
school
How exhausting
Much Does and are disadvantaged
It Cost in comparison to their peers
whoHowonly Do
attend duringSalaries
Teaching school Compare
hours is atomatter
Otherfor debate.
Professions? 39
Do Parents Have the Added Pressure to
Teachers’
Monitor Hours,Children’s
Their Primary, 15 Years’
CyberExperience,
Interaction at
Male TeacherHome Numbers Are Declining
and at School? 45
In a What
worldOther Challenges
of social media,Doparents
Teachers Face?
have 53
the added worry of their
children constantly being online. We hear horror stories of children
being cyberbullied or groomed by paedophiles. Most parents are
clueless about who
School Structure their children talk to online and what they are
60
talking about.
School The genie is out of the bottle, so to speak. Perhaps the
Systems 61
best approach is to have open, frank talks with our children about 62
cyber safety, and let them know that they should talk to a trusted family
member,Teaching-Learning
parent or otherwise, if they ever feel unsafe or bullied. Some
Process? 67
children
How don’t like sharing
Do School Premisesthings
Impactwith the their parents but will confide
in an aunt, uncle or grandparent. For parents who feel they lack the 68
knowledge to cope with all this, they can try discussing it with other
parents
Howeither
Doesat thethe school or via
Distribution parenting
of Funding websites/blogs.
Affect Our Schools?It’s hard71
to
strike a balance between prying into our children’s lives and respecting 72
theirWhy Aren’t
privacy Schools
while keepingMeeting the Needs
them safe. Schoolsof Gifted Students?
generally make students72
awareHow ofEffective
the dangers of cyberbullying
Is School Reporting? and online stranger danger 73
these days, too, but by all accounts, it is still widespread.
105
How Do Custody Battles and Separated Families

Keep a Dialogue with Students and Their Schools?
It’s a sad fact that a large proportion of today’s students are affected
by the relationship breakdown of their parents or are from single-
parent families. Breakups can often be acrimonious, and children
are caught in the middle—even used as pawns in a power struggle
between the separated parents. When there is a toxic situation such
as this, the children can find themselves affected by issues like
misunderstandings over drop-offs/pickups at handover between
parents, having a set of uniforms on hand at each home or forgetting
textbooks and homework that are at the other parent’s house.
Parents might also fight over who will pay school fees and other
expenses. In short, children feel scattered and not focused in these
cases. The sad part is that there are too many students who find
themselves in this situation throughout their school years and need
support, whether it be through pastoral care, mentors or their peers.
Does the Threat of Legal Action by Parents and

Schools Impact Children’s Education?
On rare occasions, parents may sue a school, usually in relation to
their child being a victim of bullying at the hands of other students
or by staff.102 There have also been incidences where schools have
sued parents for defamation, harassment and assault. Legal action is
unpleasant for all concerned, especially for the child of the parents
involved, whether they stay at the school or move elsewhere.
102 T Auerbach, B McDougall, ‘Ravenswood School: Bullies locked girl in cupboard’,

The Daily Telegraph, December 11, 2015, www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/
ravenswood-school-bullies-locked-girl-in-cupboard/news-story/465b5612108aca2
d432c7ef1568755d7, viewed October 11, 2018.
106
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Trust –3:ATeachers
Chapter Crucial Factor in a School’s Success and
33
a Teacher’s Career
While the media only tends to report negative experiences, there
are How
manyMuch
positive
Does Itstories
Cost tothat are anot
Become reported. However, the
Teacher? 38
importance
How Do of mutualSalaries
Teaching trust between
Compare schools
to Otherand parents cannot 39
Professions? be
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough
overstated, and it ties in with respect. to Attract Future Talent? 41
We 2017 or Latest
entrust our Available
children to the education system on the 41
understanding they will come out with the knowledge and skills they
need forMale
adulthood/further education;
Teacher Numbers Are Declining we trust our schools to keep
45
our How
children safe;Are
Effective weOurtrust the teachers to look after our children
Teachers? 46
and What
instil Other Challenges
the right values andDo Teachers Face?
lead by example. 53
Chapter 4: Schools
In some schools,ofminimal
Thought 59
trust by parents makes teaching almost
impossible.
ChoosingTeachers
a School are terrified of coming into physical contact 59
withSchool Structure
students as they can be accused of inappropriate physical 60
School Systems 61
contact, leading to suspension and even possibly deregistration.
Primary
Howschool
Do Ourteachers or teachers
School Systems Rank of children with disabilities find
Globally? 62
this particularly tricky as physical contact is sometimes necessary.
To
Howfoster trust and
Do School respectImpact
Premises in schools
the and teachers, parents need
to be careful how they speak about teachers in front of their children. 68
How Does the DistributionTutoring of Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
So, what actionSchools
Why Aren’t do parents takethe
Meeting when theyofare
Needs dissatisfied
Gifted Students?with their
72
child’s
Whyprogress?
Is There SoPerhaps it is a lack ofinfaith
Little Transparency Our and trustfor
Schools in Parents?
our schools
73
and teachers that has led to the explosion of tutoring services in 73
Australia. There’s no doubt that tutoring is a growing industry, and it
is largely unregulated. There are a few types of tutoring practices:
107
1. private tutors who tutor at their own house or premises—often

retired teachers, university students, accountants, dentists
2. private tutors who tutor at the student’s home or in a library—

often teachers, university students, etc.
3. agencies that match a student with a tutor (there are many of them)
4. learning centres that employ predominantly university

students as tutors
5. learning centres that have qualified teachers as tutors (very rare)
If we look at tutoring as a quick fix or for homework help, then types

1 to 4 can be helpful. However, if we look at tutoring as a specialised,
professional service, then only type 5 will be beneficial.
Without a doubt, a qualified professional tutor can complement

a student’s school studies, or if a child has a weakness or lacks
confidence in a subject but cannot get individual attention at school,
tutoring can certainly help.
There are many respectable tutoring businesses. However,

private tutoring is largely guesswork. Tutors might be unqualified to
teach certain subjects—or unqualified to teach at all—and may also
be unfamiliar with the curriculum the student is learning.
So, how are parents supposed to choose? Check their website

and familiarise yourself with their methodology and philosophy if it is
explained there. Check the qualifications of the tutors, ask if they provide
training and monitor the tutors. It’s best to make an appointment and
visit the centre, ask to sit down with the manager/founder and listen to
what they have to say.
108
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
I trust3:aTeachers
Chapter dentist, not a teacher, to fix my teeth, and hence, as33a
parent, I trustthe
Teaching a Teachers
teacher, not a dentist or an accountant, to teach 34
my child. An accountant might know numbers, but teaching maths 34
is a completely different skill. I believe teaching is a vocation, an
art and
HowaMuch
gift that
DoesisIt not
Costgiven to everyone.
to Become a Teacher? We need to be very 38
careful
HowhowDo and
TeachingwhatSalaries
our children are taught
Compare to Other and by whom. It is way
Professions? 39
more challenging to teach a concept correctly if it has already been Talent? 41
taught incorrectly.
Parents who are considering tutoring for their student are
wise to Male
look Teacher
to specialised professionals
Numbers Are Declining who should have higher
45
qualifications and Are
How Effective moreOurexperience
Teachers? than school teachers; otherwise, 46
whyWhat Other money
pay more Challenges Do Teachersthey
for something Face?can get for free from the53
schools? The same goes for the size of the groups; if the group size
in the learning centre is equal or exceeds the size of the classroom
in the school, it
School Structureis not going to benefit the child. 60
School Systems 61
The NSW Department of Fair Trading has a Tutoring Tips for
Parents
Howfact
Do sheet
Our School available on itsRank
Systems website with translations in Arabic,
Globally? 62
Chinese, Hindi, Korean and Vietnamese. the 103
103 NSW Department of Fair Trading, ‘Tutoring’, n.d., www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/
buying-products-and-services/buying-services/education-and-training/tutoring,
As Parents,
viewed OctoberHow Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and
9, 2018.
109
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Chapter 3: Teachers Chapter337

Vision for
Success

School Structure 60
School “Leaders
Systems are limited by their vision 61
How Do Our rather
School than
Systems byRank
their abilities.”
Globally? 62
—Roy T Bennett, author of The Light in the Heart (2016)
I
n the previous chapters, I discussed the main factors that impact
Australia’s
How Doeseducation system,
the Distribution including
of Funding Affectthe
Ourcurriculum,
Schools? STEM, 71
teaching, schools, students and parents. It’s evident that Australia has 72
Why Aren’t
important issuesSchools Meeting
to address if it isthe Needs
to stem theofdecline
Gifted Students? 72
in results attained
by our
How students
Effectivevis-à-vis the
Is School rest of the world. In my view, these are
Reporting? 73
the three main concerns that need to be tackled immediately:
1. flat-lining or declining results in numeracy and literacy
2. insufficiently-trained teachers, particularly for STEM and 78
specialist subjects
111
vision for success
3. over-governance and bureaucracy of the education system

and its allocation of funding
So, how do we get Australia’s education system back on track?

We need a roadmap to guide us to a brighter educational future for
our children. But most importantly, we need VISION.
Do Australian governments have a 20-year, 10-year or even a

five-year vision? Or just a win-the-next-election vision?
If they do have a vision, who knows about it? And how do we get
educators, parents and students on board?
Who Is Responsible for Having a Vision?

Governments
The Australian Government is responsible for our education system

nationally. Through ACARA, we have a national curriculum and
STEM, national teacher Standards and national testing (NAPLAN).
But state and territory governments are responsible for education
in their respective jurisdictions, and the political ‘argy-bargy’ over
funding and other matters between federal and state governments
has shown that short-term political vision is not translating to long-
term positive results for education.
So, who should fix it and how? If we are to seek new leadership
in education, it needs to be drawn from those who recognise that
our children and their education are our future.
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals

for Young Australians
You may not have heard of it, but in December 2008, all education
ministers (federal, state and territory) signed the Melbourne
112
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Declaration
Chapter on Educational Goals for Young Australians.104 This is33a
3: Teachers
20-page declaration
Teaching that addresses two main educational goals 34
the Teachers for
young Australians, namely: College? 34
Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence37
Goal
How Do 2: Teaching
All youngSalaries
Australians become
Compare to Other Professions? 39
• successful
Teachers’ learners15 Years’ Experience,
Salaries, Primary,
• confident
Teachers’ and creative
Hours, Primary, individuals
• active and informed citizens
The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and
Youth Affairs signed similar declarations in 1989 (in Hobart) and in
Chapter
1999 (in 4: Schools of
Adelaide). Thoughtthe 2008 Melbourne Declaration, the
However, 59
Council claims,
Choosing a is different because ‘in contrast to earlier declarations
School 59
School Structure
on schooling, [it] has a broader frame and sets out educational goals 60
School Systems 61
for young Australians’.
The 2008 declaration begins with an overview of our education
system, Teaching-Learning
stating in the Preamble:Process? 67
Australia has developed
Teaching-Learning Process?a high quality, world-class 68
schooling system, which
How Do Bureaucracy performs strongly
and Administration against other 68
Impact Teaching?
countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation 70
and Development (OECD). In international benchmarking of 71
educational outcomes
Why Aren’t Schools for 15-year-olds
Meeting in the Students?
the Needs of Gifted 2006 OECD 72
Programme
Why Is Therefor SoInternational Student
Little Transparency Assessment,
in Our Schools forAustralia
Parents? 73
ranked among the top 10 countries across all three 73
education domains assessed. [my emphasis]
104 Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs
(Australia), Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians,
As Parents,
Melbourne, How
2008, Do Our Attitudes towards
www.nla.gov.au/nla.arc-93985, Learning
viewed and
October 11, 2018.
113
vision for success
Despite this rosy picture, Australia has slipped outside the top
10 since 2006. So, does this mean the vision isn’t working? Or is it
that other countries are just improving faster than Australia? And if
other countries are improving and Australia is not catching up, does
this mean that Australian education is not aligning with the vision of
excellence?
The declaration goes on to state that Australia should ‘aspire’ to

become ‘second to none among the world’s best school systems’. In
my dictionary, second to none means first so clearly, we have work
to do if we are to emulate the likes of Singapore and Finland.
A key priority of the declaration is addressing the poor

performance of Indigenous Australians and students from low
socioeconomic backgrounds. Attention is also paid to room for
improvement in encouraging students to complete schooling to
Year 12 or equivalent, with a focus on literacy and numeracy in
primary schooling and development of ‘skills in areas such as social
interaction, cross-disciplinary thinking and the use of digital media,
which are essential in all 21st-century occupations’.
Signatories to the Melbourne Declaration state they will

‘seek to achieve the highest possible level of collaboration with
the government, Catholic and independent school sectors and
across and between all levels of government’ as well as with ‘all
stakeholders in the education of young Australians’.
In an effort to avoid this declaration becoming nothing more

than hollow rhetoric to make the politicians feel good (perhaps I
am cynical, but it was signed just before Christmas), the declaration
includes a commitment to action and to achieving the educational
goals for young Australians.
114
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
So, what
Chapter actions have the Australian and state governments
3: Teachers 33
taken since 2008
Teaching in working towards this vision?
the Teachers 34
Are We Getting a Return on Our Investment?
As I mentioned in Chapter 5, funding for education has been a 38
hot topic
Are Ourof Teachers
debate, particularly since the
Being Paid Enough release
to Attract of the
Future PISA 2015
Talent? 41
report where both
Teachers’ sides of
Salaries, the government
Primary, admitted something is
2017 with
really amiss or Latest Available
Australia’s education system. 41
This2017 or Latest
raises Available
an important question. If education were a business42
and youMalewereTeacher Numbers Are
a shareholder, Declining
would you be satisfied with your45
return on investment? The statistics on government expenditure on
education report that total expenditure (including primary, secondary
Chapter 4: Schools
and tertiary) of Thought
increased by 3.9 per cent from 2015 to 2017. And with 59
a federal election
Choosing looming in 2019, politicians have made promises
a School 59
Schooleven
to spend Structure
more.105 On the other hand, performance results 60
School Systems 61
are flattening or even declining. If we are going to pour an
increasing
How Doamount
Our School of Systems
money Rankinto Globally?
education, surely we should 62
expect to see academic results improve, not decline or flat-line? 106
Where and
105 Australian LaborWhen Does
Party, Bill’s Learning
media Start?
releases, op. cit. 78
106 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5518.0.55.001 - Government Finance Statistics,
As Parents,
Education, How 2016-17,
Australia, Do Ourabs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/5518.0.55.001
Attitudes towards Learning and
School Affect Our Children’s Approach
Main+Features12016-17?OpenDocument, to Schooling?
viewed October 11, 2018. 79
115
vision for success
This brings us to a discussion on the solution to the funding

problem: the Gonski model.
What Is the Gonski Model?
The Gonski model is named after David Michael Gonski AC, who,
in 2010, was commissioned by the Labor government to head up a
panel and make recommendations regarding education funding. The
report is known as the Gonski Report and its vision was as follows:
The panel has concluded that Australia must aspire to have

a schooling system that is among the best in the world for
its quality and equity, and must prioritise support for its
lowest performing students. Every child should have access
to the best possible education, regardless of where they
live, the income of their family or the school they attend.
116
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Further,
Chapter no student in Australia should leave school without
3: Teachers 33
the basicthe
Teaching skills and competencies needed to participate
Teachers 34
in the workforce and lead College?
successful and productive lives. 34
The system as a whole must work to meet the needs of all
Australian
How Muchchildren, nowtoand
Does It Cost in the afuture.
Become The panel believes
Teacher? 38
that
How Do theTeaching
key to Salaries
achieving this vision
Compare to OtherisProfessions?
to strengthen 39
the current national schooling reforms through Talent?
Are Our Teachers Being Paid Enough to Attract Future funding 41
reform.107 [my emphasis]
When the Federal government changed to a Liberal/National Coalition
in 2011, the report was effectively shelved,
Male Teacher Numbers Are Declining but then (under pressure)
45it
was How
resurrected
Effectiveand
Arewatered down. States were invited to sign up46
Our Teachers? to
the reforms recommended in the report, which included Victoria, NSW, 53
the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Tasmania and South Australia, and
were to share needs-based funding over a four-year period.
School
Six Structure
years later, our politicians are still fighting over Gonski—over60
School Systems 61
who gets what and how and when it will be distributed. Clearly, when
government
How Do OurgetsSchool
involved, nothing
Systems happens
Rank quickly. Meanwhile, after
Globally? 62
Giving a Gonski, only to have the report shelved after the 2013 Federal
election,Teaching-Learning
we now have Gonski Process?
2.0, published on April 30, 2018. 67
ThisTeaching-Learning Process?
new review is called the ‘Review to Achieve Educational 68
Excellence in Australian Schools’ and was commissioned by
the How
Turnbull
Does government
the Distribution(we have now
of Funding Affecthad a Gonski report
Our Schools? 71
commissioned by both Labor and Liberal Coalition governments) 72
Why Aren’t
to ‘build the Schools
evidence Meeting
base the Needs to
needed of Gifted
ensureStudents? 72
the additional
funding providedIs School
How Effective by theReporting?
Australian Government is spent 73 on
proven initiatives that make a difference to student outcomes’.108
107 Gonski et al, op. cit., p15.
108 Independent Schools Council of Australia, ‘What is Gonski 2.0?’, n.d., www.isca.
As Parents, How Do viewed
edu.au/blog/gonski-2-0, Our Attitudes towards
October 15, 2018. Learning and
117
vision for success
Amendments to the Australian Education Act 2013 were passed

through the Federal Parliament on June 23, 2017 to give effect to
the Australian Government’s Quality Schools package.
The NSW government claims it is channelling the funding it does

receive into raising ‘the entry standard for new teachers, improve
teacher quality in every classroom and establish minimum literacy
and numeracy standards for HSC students’.
While this sounds encouraging, we need to ensure the funding

is being allocated to the right places. As long as our politicians
are caught in the midst of national leadership crises, a solution is
unlikely to be on the horizon.
We need our country’s leaders to rise above politics for the sake
of our children’s future!
Other Countries Have Visions too

Finland
Finland’s Ministry of Education has a ‘vision for higher education

and research in 2030’ 109 stating that its aim ‘is to formulate a future
scenario which enables the development of a high-quality, effective
and internationally competitive higher education system in Finland
by the year 2030’.
The development includes trying various ‘alternatives and models

for improving the Finnish higher education system’ with ‘their impacts
and feasibility assessed’. It sounds as though Finnish students and
teachers are going to be guinea pigs over the next decade or so to
determine which of these models work and which don’t.
109 Ministry of Education and Culture, ‘Vision for higher education and research in
2030’, n.d., www.minedu.fi/en/vision-2030, viewed April 20, 2019.
118
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
A key
Chapter 3: feature
Teachersof this plan is an ‘online brainstorming platform 33
for higher
Teachingeducation
the Teachers and research’ in which students, staff and 34
stakeholders can participate. The platform is also available ‘for 34
public debate’.
Recent (summer 2017) results from the brainstorming method 38
haveAre come up with two
Our Teachers Beingmain
Paidthemes
Enoughto to address: ‘first,Talent?
Attract Future a need 41
for
more experts
Teachers’with an academic
Salaries, Primary, 15degree and new kinds of skills,
and second, a need for a culture of working together and visionary 41
know-how evolving from it.’
Male Teacher
To conclude, I’d Numbers Are Declining
like to present this summary of the Finnish 45
education system by Marianne Matilainen.110 I think you’ll agree that
it’s obvious where we are going wrong:
• Teachers*
School Structure
high quality 60
School Systems 61
Selective High
autonomy Schools 62
• Student-centred Influence the
How Dosupport
School Premises Impact the
How Doconstructive
Bureaucracy learning
and Administration Impact Teaching? 68
•HowTrust
Does the Distribution of Funding Affect Our Schools? 71
no national
Why Aren’t tests of the
Schools Meeting learning
Needsoutcomes
no school
How Effective ranking
Is School lists
Reporting? 73
*Note that teachers are at the top of the list!
110 MAs
Matilainen, Finnish education model – pedagogical
Parents, How Do Our Attitudes towards Learning and approach, n.d.,
www.ims.mii.lt/ims/files/EducationmodelFinland_Marianne.pdf,
School Affect Our Children’s Approach to Schooling? viewed October 10, 2018.
79
119
vision for success
Singapore
Singapore’s Ministry of Education clearly states its mission and

vision on its website, with ‘Thinking Schools, Learning Nation’ as
its motto.111 Like most nations, Singapore’s vision is focused on 21st-
century challenges and promoting lifelong learning:
This vision describes a nation of thinking and committed

citizens capable of meeting future challenges, and an
education system geared to the needs of the 21st century.
Thinking Schools will be learning organisations in every

sense, constantly challenging assumptions, and seeking
better ways of doing things through participation, creativity
and innovation. Thinking Schools will be the cradle of thinking
students as well as thinking adults and this spirit of learning
should accompany our students even after they leave school.
A Learning Nation envisions a national culture and social

environment that promotes lifelong learning in our people. The
capacity of Singaporeans to continually learn, both for
professional development and for personal enrichment,
will determine our collective tolerance for change.
The onus is very much on teachers to take responsibility for and

be leaders of their students, and the Ministry’s website includes a
Teachers’ Pledge:
We, the teachers* of Singapore, pledge that:
We will be true to our mission to bring out the best in our

students.
111 Ministry of Education Singapore, About Us, n.d., www.moe.gov.sg/about, viewed

January 11, 2018.
120
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
We will
Chapter be exemplary in the discharge of our duties and 33
3: Teachers
responsibilities.
We will
Whatguide ourPrerequisites
Are the students to be good and
to Become useful citizens of 35
a Teacher?
Singapore. 37
We
Howwill
Docontinue
Teachingto learn and
Salaries pass to
Compare onOther
the love of learning to 39
Professions?
Are Our Teachers
our students. Being Paid Enough to Attract Future Talent? 41
2017win
We will or the
Latest Available
trust, support and cooperation of parents and 41
the community so as to enable us to achieve our mission.
Maleteachers
*Again, Teacher are
Numbers Are Declining
prioritised. 45
What Otheralso
Singapore Challenges
places Do Teachers
emphasis onFace? 53
the public and parents’ role
in education.
We can only
Choosing succeed in our mission with the full support and
a School 59
School Structure
confidence of parents and the community. We seek to work together 60
School Systems 61
with them as partners, to develop our children to their fullest
potential.
How Do Education
Our SchoolwillSystems
make our children’s
Rank Globally?future and in turn, they
62
will determine Singapore’s future. the
A Teacher’s
Teaching-Learning Process? Vision 68
Q:
HowWhat
Doesisthe
your vision forofbeing
Distribution able
Funding to teach
Affect properly? 71
Our Schools?
AC:
Why First
Aren’twe needMeeting
Schools structure—structure in the
the Needs of Gifted classroom, 72
Students?
in
Whythe textbooks,
Is There in Transparency
So Little the methodology. Second,forwe
in Our Schools need 73
Parents?
accountability—someone making sure that every teacher is 73
accountable.
121
vision for success
Is There a Solution?
There is always a solution! Australia can learn a lot from the education
systems of other countries, particularly those who rank higher than
us. In the Introduction, we looked at some of the best education
systems in the world. Let’s recap on two of these: Singapore and
Finland.
Singapore’s education system is one of the best in the world,

however, it’s meritocratic and almost all children are privately
tutored.
By contrast, Finland has no ‘gifted’ programs and (as in Japan)

bright students are expected to help their classmates. In Finland,
private tutoring is almost unheard of, as is selective admission.112
Clearly, both countries’ approach to education is in stark

contrast to the other and is certainly very different to Australia’s, so
there is little point in comparing, but I do think we can learn a lot by
researching and possibly adopting some of the principles that make
their education systems so successful.
Two of the top education systems in the world are at the opposite
ends of the spectrum in their approach to and style of education. So,
what makes them both so successful yet so different? The answer:
Each country’s education system synergises with its
people’s culture, faith and value system.
112 Global Systems of Education, ‘Finland: Educational Utopia?’, September 23, 2017,
www.globalsystemsofeducation.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/finland-educational-
utopia.
122
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
Bear 3:
Chapter in Teachers
mind, however, that Singapore and Finland are relatively
33
(but Teaching
obviouslythe
notTeachers
totally) homogenous in comparison to multicultural
34
Australia. This raises a crucial question: 34
Ongoing
How does Professional
Australia’sDevelopment
education system synergise with its 37
people’s
How Do Teaching cultures,
Salaries faiths
Compare toand values?

School Structure 60
School Systems 61
123
My Vision for a
World-Leading
Australian Education
System
“You have your way.
I have my way.
As for the right way, the correct way,
and the only way, it does not exist.”
—Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
W
e would all prefer our children to relax or play sports after
school and not have to study to fill the gaps in their education
at considerable expense to us as parents, right?
So here are five key points that form my vision to make Australia’s
education system one of the best in the world:
Long-term, non-partisan vision. We need a national, long-term,

non-partisan vision that is transparent to and understood by all
stakeholders, including government, education leaders, teachers,
parents and students.
125
M y Vi s i o n f o r a W o r l d - L e a d i n g A u s t r a l i a n E d u c a t i o n S y s t e m
Measurable milestones. This vision should include measurable

milestones: short, medium and long-term.
Quality, accountable, supported teachers. Teacher quality is

paramount. We need to pay teachers well and respect and value
them. This will attract talented, capable and passionate individuals to
this profession. And we must provide them with continuous support
and constant professional development to keep them passionate
about teaching.
Adequate funding is paramount, but we probably do not need

more money to build more halls and libraries in schools; we need to
spend the money in the right places, including teachers’ professional
development, methodologies and giving students proper textbooks
rather than relying on passive, commercial online programs.
Mathematics must be a compulsory subject through all stages of

education.
Because we do care about maths, and it does matter!
126
Majeda Awawdeh, PHD
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34
34
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133
List of appendices
134
APPENDIX 1
Australia’s Chief Scientist, Datasheet 2:
Women in STEM: A story of attrition
135
List of appendices
136
APPENDIX 2
137
In Who Cares about Maths, Anyway?, Dr Majeda Awawdeh, PhD
addresses the top issues with Australia’s current education system
in her honest, analytical overview. Over the course of the book,
teachers, students and parents are given the opportunity to
explore the deep-seated problems of their current school system,
including a lack of teacher training and development, one-size-fits-
all curricula and unfocused government funding.
Along with this insightful analysis, Dr Awawdeh introduces a long-
term vision that can improve the system for all involved, resulting in
the progression of student success and higher ranking worldwide.
Individuals looking for in-depth research in the area of the Australian
education system will find her book a valuable resource in their quest
to solve the problems today’s students face.
Dr Majeda Awawdeh, PhD is a passionate mathematics

teacher who believes the Australian education system can
be one of the best in the world, but a significant change
in mindset by all stakeholders is necessary to achieve this.
As a frustrated high school mathematics teacher, she
exited the system, and based on her doctoral research in
primary school mathematics education and Cognitive
Load Theory, founded an elite, research-based learning
centre that teaches mathematics and English.
While running her centre, she met with many unsatisfied parents who sought
her professional services to support their children’s education. She decided
to write this book to help parents, students and teachers voice their concerns
about Australia’s education system.
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Copyright © MMXIX Majeda Awawdeh, PhD

THIS IS A PRE-PUBLICATION EDITION

Author: Majeda Awawdeh, PhD

Publisher: Black Card Books

LIMITS OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The author and publisher of this book

Chapter 1: Curriculum Conundrum 5

Chapter 2: The STEM ‘Sell’ 19

Chapter 4: Schools of Thought 59

Are Australian Students Happy? 81

Chapter 6: Parent and Public Perceptions 97

Does the Threat of Legal Action by Parents and Schools

Chapter 7: Vision for Success 111

My Vision for a World-Leading Australian Education System 125

“Dr. Majeda Awawdeh is a very experienced, knowledgeable,

AAMT Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers

ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics

ACARA Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting

ACT Australian Capital Territory

AITSL Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

ATAR Australian Tertiary Admission Rank

COAG Council of Australian Governments

FTE Full-time equivalent

HECS Higher Education Contribution Scheme (replaced by

HSC Higher School Certificate (NSW)

IELTS International English Language Testing System

LBOTE Language background other than English

MCEECDYA Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood

NAPLAN National Assessment Program – Literacy and

NESA NSW Education Standards Authority

NSW New South Wales

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

PEAT Professional English Assessment for Teachers

PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

PISA Program of International Students Assessment

SCSEEC Standing Council on School Education and Early

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

“If I were again beginning my studies,

If I had met Dr Majeda Awawdeh when I was completing my

Majeda and I met when we both worked in a centre for educational

Majeda has a sharp, analytical mind, which is evident in this

Majeda examines relevant issues for parents, such as choice of

Being a secondary school teacher in Sydney, I have had the

Readers will find this book informative and thought-provoking.

I arrived in Australia from Nazareth, Israel, with my family in 2005.

Today, during the course of my work at the learning centre I run,

flourishing ones as well as those that are less effective) in other

I carried out significant research into what does and doesn’t

I cannot emphasise enough that this book is unbiased politically.

I begin this book with an overview of the Australian Curriculum

Australian Capital Territory: Year 12 Certificate

New South Wales: Higher School Certificate (HSC)

Northern Territory: Northern Territory Certificate of

Queensland: Queensland Core Skills Test

South Australia: South Australian Certificate of

1 For more information on Australia’s schooling systems, including home schooling,

Tasmania: Tasmanian Certificate of Education

Victoria: Victoria Certificate of Education (VCE).

Western Australia: Western Australia Certificate of

I refer to all these collectively as ‘Year 12 exams’.

Chapters 3 to 6 each looks at Australia’s education system from

An important aspect of this book is the personal experiences I

As a parent and educator, I want to do more than just highlight