The following letter was published in The Courier-Mail of Wednesday 31 Dec 2014 so it was my last for the year. Editing was minimal on this occasion with underlined words deleted and the bracketed one inserted. They also adjusted my original paragraphing. The paper's heading for a collection of three letters beneath a photo of students in an examination hall was " Devil is in the detail for overhaul of education".
Changes to Year 12 assessment
I suggest that your headline "Teachers give tick to school overhaul" (30/12) is jumping the gun.
Most high school teachers I talk to want to see more detail before they will be convinced that proposed reforms to Year 12 assessment and tertiary entrance in Queensland will constitute a net improvement over current arrangements.
The devil is ever in the detail.
Your report suggests that abolition of the Core Skills Test will remove "teaching to a test". But if external assessment in subjects is to be introduced, teachers will naturally focus on preparing students for these exams.
In addition, until it is clear how universities will select incoming students, it is difficult to really know how the new system will work.
Acknowledging that there are problems with the way that the existing OP system is now working (works) does not necessarily mean that all proposed changes are good ones. Sometimes "solutions" create new problems.
Garry Collins
Immediate Past President, English Teachers Association of Queensland
Tags: Assessment |
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 with 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. The Program Our fi... |
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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 ... |
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May Masterclass 2021THE CHALLENGE OF TEACHING ANALYSIS: DO WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR PRACTICES? Teaching the process of analysing texts in order for students to produce a spoken or written response remains amongst the most exciting and difficult challenges we face as a community of English teachers. Building on lessons from ETAQ's 2020 student and teacher ev... |
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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... |
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Grammar DayETAQ will be conducting another of the very successful grammar days on Saturday 29 May 2021. The venue will be Elanora SHS; any one who wishes to come is welcome. |
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Jennifer Alford, QUT
The six practices of English teachers who effectively exercise their agency.
Tristan Bancks, author
Keynote: A future-facing method for inspiring young writers
Workshop: Vision boarding
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.