Natasha Bita is the National Education Correspondent for The Australian. The email below was sent in response to a piece she had in the weekend edition of the paper for 8-9 August 2015. I have not received a reply but I was not absolutely sure of the email address so perhaps she did not receive it.
Hello Natasha
In your Inquirer piece in this weekend's edition ("New school of thought on early intervention", August 8-9) you identify Kevin Donnelly as "one of the two education academics who reviewed the national curriculum for the Abbott government".
This clearly implies that Professor Kenneth Wiltshire is an "education academic". I suggest that this is not accurate. Wiltshire is certainly an academic but I think you will find that he has never worked in a university school or faculty of education. He is definitely not a member of the staff of the School of Education at The University of Queensland. I am sure of this because I work there part-time as a sessional tutor. He is, instead, the JD Story Professor of Public Administration and works in the university's Business School. See https://www.business.uq.edu.au/staff/ken-wiltshire .
Your piece refers to "the dumbing down of a generation of Australian students". There was a time when even cadet journalists were expected to get the basic facts right. Has there perhaps also been a dumbing down in journalism?
Regards
Garry Collins
President
Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE)
Tags: General news |
Literature SpectacularGraham Joseph from Ryan Catholic College will present a workshop designed for teachers who are thinking about introducing Literature, delivering Literature for the first time or looking to review their Literature course in the near future. In the first part of the workshop, we will explore a framework for delivering a Literature course that c... |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Register | |||||||||||||||
March Seminar 2021: Challenge and Change: Doing things differentlyWe are delighted to announce that we will be back with face to face professional learing events in 2021 - usual format but wtih some important changes: the March Seminar will be a full day event; the AATE-ALEA National Conference will be held in Brisbane in July and consequently there will not be a state conference. Other events for the year ... |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Register | ||||||||||||||||||
Grammar at Hervey BayA grammar workshop will be held at Hervey Bay State High School to assist attendees to develop their understandings of grammar in order to fully comprehend and to effectively teach the Australia Curriculum: English (AC:E). Also highly relevant to Years 11 & 12. This will be an updated re-run of the activity conducted in both 2018 and ... |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Register | ||||||||||||||||||
JCU SpectacularJoin Dr Claire Hansen for a two-hour session on teaching Macbeth. We'll dive into an exploration of the language of Macbeth and teaching strategies to engage students with Shakespeare's Scottish play. The workshop will also explore learning activities for Macbeth created by the Shakespeare Reloaded project. This session will... |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Register | |||||||||||||||
Grammar DayETAQ will be conducting another of the very successful grammar days on Saturday 29 May 2021. If your school would like to host this event, please contact Admin Officer. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Register | ||||||||||||
This is the first time I have been to an ETAQ conference and it was really sensational to get so much at all of the sessions.
ETAQ conferences always have sessions that make me excited to be a teacher.
I know that ETAQ conferences in the past have never disappointed - valuable, relevant, practical, inspiring so I came again.
Read AllConnect to a great range of people who are passionate about English and have their finger on the pulse.