The Courier-Mail of Friday 26 September 2014 included an opinion piece by Christopher Bantick which commented on the recently released recommendations of the ACER report into Queensland's system of senior school assessment and tertiary selection. It was entitled "External exams improve position".
I responded to this piece and an edited version of the letter below was published on the letters page of the edition of the paper for Saturday 27 September. The underlined words were deleted and the bracketed ones inserted. The letter was in the "in Brief" section and the paper used no heading. In addition, the paper printed the edited letter as a single paragraph.
Education commentator needs to do homework better
Melbourne-based teacher and commentator Christopher Bantick writes about the recent ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) report on proposed reforms to senior school assessment in Queensland (“External exams improve position”, 26/9).
He accurately says that the report recommends that there should be four assessments in each subject, three internal and one externally set and marked. But he then tells us (says) that “there has been no mention of weighting of these assessments”.
What this demonstrates is that he has either not read or not understood Recommendation 5 of the report. This proposes that student results be reported on a 60 point scale with the external assessment contributing 30 points and the three internal assessments 10 points each.
Bantick has never taught in Queensland and has no first-hand experience of the state’s existing secondary school assessment system. If The Courier-Mail is to pay this Victorian for his comments on school education in Queensland, it should at least insist that he do his homework properly.
Garry Collins
Tags: Assessment |
Short Stories - Year 11Emma Monfries and Kiri Lucas will present some practical activities and observations from Unit 2: Texts and Culture. With these activities, students can conceptualise in concrete ways the relationship between place and culture, for example, through layered maps, and to convey this in texts such as short stories. Students can a... |
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An Afternoon with Christine HillsThe Darling Downs Branch will present an Afternoon with Christine Hills and the Collins Writing Program on Wednesday, 26 February, 2020. Afternoon tea will be served from 3:15 to 3:45 pm. This workshop will allow teachers and school leaders an opportunity to: Explore elements of grammar that are central to good writing and align w... |
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March Seminar 2020: Diving Deep into StoryLiterature is the lifeblood of the English classroom and we all endeavour to make our classrooms creative spaces, helping students to experience the pleasures of responding to and creating literature. This seminar will explore diverse ideas related to creativity in English. The keynote address will be presented by Assoc. Professor Kim Wil... |
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Tony Hytch presentsTony will present a session on getting students assessment ready for Essential English. Further details are on the flyer.
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Early Career Conference 2020: Diving Deep into TeachingThis event for teachers in their first firve years of teaching and those who are new to the teaching of English will submerge you in a new, colourful, and enchanting world where you can engage with your peers. it is also a 'not to be missed' event for preservice teachers. For those who are interested in offering a presentati... |
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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.
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