Who owns AITSL and cherrypicking research

• The following letter was written in response to a piece by journalist Justine Ferrari and submitted to The Australian to appear in the edition of Monday 7 July 2014. It was not, however, selected for publication.

Politicians and journalists choose their own adventure

John Fleming, a deputy principal at a Victorian private school, has recently been appointed as Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). Justine Ferrari describes him as “the new deputy chair of the national teachers’ institute” (“Schools cool to direct instruction as teachers ‘choose their own adventure’”, 5-6 July). Her use of the possessive apostrophe suggests that this body is collectively owned by teachers. It is not. It is a company wholly owned by the federal Minister for Education.

In the same article, I was amused to read Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive Geoff Masters reported as saying that the teaching profession “is guilty of cherrypicking research to back up its beliefs”. Isn’t this precisely what our political leaders routinely do?

Garry Collins
President, Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE)