It's Time for a Real Revolution

Abstract

Teacher in Australia has been reviewed more than 40 times in the past four decades, yet its broad framework remains the same. However, there is now a real prospect of significant change. Australia began its education in 2008. The revolution is a series of reforms with an unprecedented partnership between the federal government and governments in the six states and two territories. While the term, education revolution, comes from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose Labor Government came to power in late 2007, the reform agenda was driven by his then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education Julia Gillard. A revolution of another kind (some have called it an assassination) occurred in June when Gillard challenged Rudd for leadership of the Labor Party and won with such overwhelming support from her parliamentary colleagues that Rudd did not recontest the position. This is the first time in Australian history that a prime minister, after a single term, was deposed by his own party before an election. It's especially remarkable because Rudd enjoyed stratospheric levels of popularity less than 12 months ago. The reasons for Rudd's implosion are complex, but he lost the confidence of his colleagues, and public opinion polls showed the likely defeat of the Labor Party in elections due in late 2010. Gillard immediately restored the popularity of Labor and called an election in August, the result of which will be known at the time this column appears. Labor is likely to be returned because a first-term government has not been re-elected only once in Australia. Gillard has placed reform at the center of public policy, and this is likely to remain the case now that she is prime minister. The reform focused on creating a national curriculum, nationwide tests in literacy and numeracy, reporting schools' performance on the My School web site, ensuring that all senior secondary students have a computer (Digital Education Revolution, or DER), and building new facilities in most elementary and many secondary schools (Building the Education Revolution, or BER). The public and many professional educators approved the reforms, though the Australian Education Union almost boycotted the national tests because of concerns about publishing league tables of school performance. However, there is evidence of mismanagement of funds and questions about value for money in both DER and BER. Education on the Agenda While the policies of the major political parties had not been announced at the time of writing, it's clear that teacher is high on the agenda regardless of the election outcome. Designing a national frame-work is the responsibility of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), whose board of directors consists mostly of representatives of the states and territories. Because of national partnership agreements between different levels of government, AITSL's recommendations are almost certain to be implemented. I am co-leading a review of teacher and school induction in Queensland, which has the longest experience of any state in the accreditation of teacher programs and the registration (certification) of teachers. …