Issue No 45 | 10 March 2000 | |
Letters to the EditorTeachers Row
In relation to the current NSW Teacher Federation ban on the ELLA tests may I suggest that the Federation has made a grave error of policy. So, too, has the State Government! The ELLA test is a literacy test aimed at measuring student literacy skills in Years 7 and 8. This year the State Government used those test results to place STLD teachers in schools. The NSW Federation has protested the use of the test results for staffing and has banned the test this year. I believe that the Federation is wrong to object to resource (staffing) distribution to schools less privileged. That is a Government right and I believe that more resources should be transferred to those in need. Whether enough resources have been so placed is another matter. It is therefore unwise for the Federation to protest the staffing of schools less well-off. We all would surely like those who require support to be given priority. This is a principle all who profess loyalty to the principle of equity should support. However I do believe that the ELLA test should be banned. The test itself is the problem. It is a blunt instrument and is based on a poor definition of literacy. It is effectively a meaningless test. That the Government is using such a test shows its total lack of understanding of good educational practice and casts doubt on the capacity of its advisers. The Government and the Federation should enter meaningful talks, not over the issue of staffing, but over an effective test instrument that really measure literacy. In this way we shall proceed with the good of students at the centre and not revert to posturing - on both sides. Brian Everingham
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Interview: Working Women Nareen Young talks about how services are being delivered to our most vulnerable workers - and what unions need to do to make them their own. Unions: Into the New Frontier IT professionals are part of the new workforce that unions need to win over - and while they are often contractors, they're workers too. History: Handling The Ladies 1943 - women were filling the gap in the workforce left by the diggers abroad and Australian managers needed some advice on how to deal with these strange creatures. Technology: Building The Hypermacho Man In a stinging critque of the �Wired� culture, Melanie Stewart Miller argues digital cultural is creating a new super-Man. International: The Long March Home Trade union women round the world used International Women�s Day to launch the World March of Women Against Poverty and Violence. Satire: Kerosene Dilution Racket The nursing home industry has been rocked by a new scandal with the revelation that some unscrupulous proprietors have been diluting their patients� kerosene baths with illicit liquids. Review: Power and the Back Bar In an upcoming book, Julia Gillard argues the ALP retains a male culture that is fast losing step with contemporary society.
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