1000 more schools to get the blame

Today education minister Peter Garrett issued a release that the National Partnership Agreements will be extended to 1000 more schools next year.

Please let parents and citizens know they are being hoodwinked. Write to local papers.  Spread the truth of NPAs and local control.

Parents and citizens beware. Global budgeting and staffing in schools is sold to the community as a way for principals and schools to determine their own needs.  In reality, they have become a means by which governments of all persuasions have been able to continually slash education budgets without having to wear the pain. The responsibility, and blame, is handed over to local school principals and parent boards.

Our situation is part of a much larger issue of declining education funding.  Over the past 20 years, education funding in Australia has declined, as funding in other OECD countries has increased.  We are now among the lowest funding countries in the developed world, 28th after Lithuania and Greece.

Under local control of staffing, principals have to hire from reduced budgets and cash in specialist teachers  no longer quarantined in staffing formulas.  The National Partnership Agreements give schools extra funds to experiment with staffing mixes.  What a surprise that they are happier with more staff! But with the reality of state funding cuts, this school based management is the reason we have hemorrhaged specialist teachers such as counsellors and teacher librarians around the country for the past two decades.

Now NSW wants to follow suit. Don’t be hoodwinked by Local Schools, Local Decisions.  There is plentiful evidence to show qualified teacher librarians improve student literacy and learning.  There is no evidence to show that localized staffing, and the dismantling of a state transfer system which ensures teachers in country regions, will improve student learning.

 

Further reading:

NSWTF on 47 NPA trial schools <http://www.nswtf.org.au/journal/education-92-11/index.html>

NSW next in line <http://hubinfo.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/nsw-next-in-line/>

Resending Petition Update Today

Thank you to all who have supported our petition for Quality School Libraries in Australia.  The original was sent two years ago on 16 November 2009 with 1600 signatures.  An update will now be sent to Julia through Peter Garrett, who needs to be informed of the fact that the federal government DOES have a role to play in education nationally (hmm, thought Julia might have shown him a few of the current federal initiatives….and our Inquiry Report.)

So call out all teacher librarian and school library supporters today who have not yet signed to sign our petition now.  But please don’t sign again as I am having to spend the day eliminating all the duplicate signatures name by name.  We need to have a valid petition, even though I know you REALLY care!

There IS a role for the federal government to play in supporting TL training, developing national guidelines, collecting workforce data, tying resource funding, preserving TL staffing under National Partnership Agreements and requiring that literacy programs and other national curricula explicitly recognize the central role school libraries have in student achievement, literacy attainment, and preparation for post-secondary success.

We are frankly appalled that Peter Garrett is giving us the same message which federal parliamentarians fobbed us off with four years ago. Peter Garrett, time to come back from apparently being Lost in Space and Time!

 

Principal Autonomy: Federal policy vs Federal Inquiry

What will the Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians be able to say about the current push by Julia Gillard for locally empowered schools.  15 years of principal autonomy in staffing, with no conditions for retention of specialist staff, has resulted in Victorian government schools having qualified teacher librarians in only 13% of their schools. Under the Independent Public Schools (IPS) trial in 34 Western Australia schools, half of teacher librarian staffing in some high schools has been lost this year.  Another 64 schools will participate next year.

Under the Locally Empowered Schools program, 1,000 public schools throughout the country will be offered control of their own budgets, staff appointments and long-term planning.  This policy is being implemented through an expansion of the National Partnership Agreements which offer no protection for specialist staff such as teacher librarians.  Under the guise of improving teacher quality, teaching quality supported by professionally trained teacher librarians is being thrown out with the bath water.

Join with US (Keith Curry Lance, Stephen Krashen and more), Australian and UK activists and researchers to exchange ideas on what we can do to influence federal and state policy.  Advocacy conference goes live on Friday 4 March.