Event Legend

2007 Newsletter No. 1

Welcome back to school, 2007. A change of education minister is always an interesting time and Mark McGowan has certainly made his presence felt. In November of last year, on behalf of the MAWA Committee, I wrote to Ljiljanna Ravlich, the then Minister for Education, requesting a twelve month delay in the implementation of the Mathematics Courses of Study.

This request was based on the existing extremely tight timeline for the rewriting of the courses (including collapsing three courses into two), the preparation of support materials for the new courses and the necessary PD for teachers. This was based on a number of concerns, including the following.

• Quality materials need time in preparation and it is unrealistic to expect first class materials to be prepared on the run. An extension of one year will enable both the Curriculum Council materials and those written commercially to be better than they may be otherwise.
• Content of the new courses needed to be more closely examined and debated by the reference group (I represent MAWA on this group and, in the interests of maintaining MAWA independence, am not paid for my time on this group). The issue of appropriate technology– including CAS calculators – needs lengthy discussion as does the question of what students need to learn this century and how this is affected by technology and employer demands. The then timeline did not allow for this discussion but a year's extension should enable it.
• Teachers of Mathematics need time to fully assimilate and consider the new courses in order to prepare their programmes. PD needs to be provided well in advance of the commencement of the courses and the proposed lead in time would not allow this.
• Teachers of middle year Mathematics need course information well in advance of their students commencing Year 10 so their programmes can align with the new courses. For the courses to start in 2008, teachers of Year 10s needed this information by mid '06.

Fortunately, Mr McGowan considered these, and similar, concerns to be extensive enough to delay the implementation timeline by one year, as he announced on January 22.

In the same announcement it was revealed that all stage two and three units will have external exams and that we will provide students with a percentage mark instead of a level and band. The Andrich report revealed uncertainties as to the potential for levels and bands to provide enough discrimination in students' final marks. This decision appeals to many teachers of Mathematics. We tend to be able to extract a great deal of information from a number, such as a percentage mark, so it is pleasing to note that this is now acknowledged.

Of significance to all teachers, it was further revealed that the K-10 syllabus work which has been underway for some months now will be shared with all teachers and also that these syllabi will have national credibility.

It is reassuring that the excellent work of K-10 teachers to date will not be thrown out (with the bath water, so to speak). Through MAWA over the last many years a significant number of teachers of Mathematics have shared their expertise, discoveries and strategies with other teachers.

In this brave new world of the information age and in which higher thinking skills are required of all people we cannot return to the yesteryear in which the syllabus could be delivered, often in just one teaching style, to all students at a given time and pace, regardless of how well they learned it, and then students would be assessed simply for the purposes of grading. Not that good teachers ever did that! Good teachers have always assessed students to discover what they know and understand and planned their programmes informed by this knowledge. Good teachers have always wanted to know what their students know, understand and can do as a result of their teaching. This has, however, proven difficult in times and places of extremely rigid syllabi and assessment schedules. In the interests of our students of the 21st Century we must ensure that good teachers can continue to do what is best for their students. Speaking of good teachers – many of these like to enter their students in our student events, such as MAD Mathematics Activity Day K-7, Have Sum Fun (both in person and/or on-line) and the Maths Talent Quest. Please visit our website to learn more about these and consider participating with your students.

One of the things MAWA needs is information as to the profile of our members. Who teaches where, what support MAWA can offer them and so on. Please complete the census form, coming soon, and return it ASAP.

The AAMT (of which all MAWA members hold membership) together with Early Childhood Australia, has published a position paper on Early Childhood Mathematics. You can read this at the AAMT website (www.aamt.edu.au) and I encourage all teachers of Early Childhood Mathematics to do so.

July 6 to 9 will see the AAMT biennial conference held in Hobart this year. A frosty conference is always great for getting the brain cells thinking and I encourage you to consider attending this major event. There will be international speakers (Rich Lehrer and John Mason ) and PD for everyone, K to 13. For more information, visit the AAMT website.

On that note...we at MAWA hope you all have a great year. We look forward to seeing you at our student and teacher events.

Cheers

Noemi Reynolds
President

Download the complete Newsletter
2007 Newsletter No. 1 (523kb)