Secondary Education in Tasmania

LIBRARY SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TASMANIA - A review for the Education Department by the Committee on Secondary Education EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF TASMANIA HOBART MARCH 1977 SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TASMANIA review for the Education Department by the Committee on Secondary Education. Education. Department of Tasmania Hobart March 1977. (iii) Statement by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth after she had opened Bridgewater High School, 15 March, 1977: The best investment a nation can make for the years to come is therefore in education provided it is in the -right sort. And more than anything else that means having good teachers liAAt and then good buildings and equipment. I have been much encouraged by what I have seen today. The high school is evidence of Tasmania's concern to pro vide just this sort of education and the young people we have met give me much confidence. (v) MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE J.G. Scott, Director of Schools and Colleges, Chairman N.L. Behrens, Principal Education Officer (Services) Secretary N.H. Campbell, Director of Services R.F. Chapman, President, Tasmanian Teachers Federation T.H. Childs, Principal, Riverside High School N.J. Foxcroft, Senior Mistress, Rose Bay High School B.J. Freezer, Senior Lecturer, Tasmanian College of Advanced Education (Mt. Nelson) D.E. Henning, Teacher, Clarence High School M.P. Howard, Senior Mistress, Kingston High School T.C. Johnson, Principal, Campbell Town District School J.P. Kelly, Supervisor of Mathematics J.G. Maddison, Teacher, Wentworth Special School H.J. Shea, Principal, Warrane High School CB. Ward, Superintendent, Northern Region (vii) CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1, THE SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL SETTING 1.1 EDUCATION AND THE SOCIAL CONTEXT 3 Key themes in considering the social context 3 Changing social situations 5 Some implications for education 9 1.2 ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOLING .... 11 Physical development and personality ... 11 Dependence and independence 13 The search for identity 14 The adolescent and his peers 15 1.3 THE PURPOSES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 16 Purposes arising from politically-based social change 17 Purposes arising from changed educational thinking 19 1.4 CURRICULUM PLANNING AND EVALUATION 23 CHAPTER 2. NEW CONCERNS AND ORIENTATIONS 2.1 THE SCHOOL AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD 3 0 The relationship between schools and the Education Department 33 The role of the individual parent 36 Community participation in secondary schools 38 Using the resources of the community ... 41 2.2 THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND OTHER AUTHORITIES 44 2.3 EDUCATION AND DISADVANTAGE 4 6 Disadvantage and the school 46 Socially disadvantaged children 51 Country children 52 Girls 57 2.4 THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOLING TO WORK .... 59 The nature of the problem 59 The. relationship between schooling and work 59 Present problems with transition 60 The effect of a changing occupational structure 61 (viii) CHAPTER 2. NEW CONCERNS AND ORIENTATIONS (Cont.) Unemployment among young people 62 The particular problems of early school-leavers 63 Initiatives in the area of schooling and work 65 Recurrent education 69 CHAPTER 3, THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 3.1 TEACHING AND LEARNING 78 3.2 GUIDELINES FOR A BALANCED CURRICULUM ... 82 A new method of achieving curriculum balance 82 Guidelines on curriculum areas 83 Learning outcomes 86 3.3 SOME GENERAL CURRICULUM QUESTIONS 88 The reconciliation of general and pre-vocational education 88 Assessment of skills in expression and calculation 93 Misunderstandings between parents and teachers about teaching and learning . 94 Choice and diversity in the program ... 95 3.4 ISSUES RELATED TO PARTICULAR AREAS IN THE CURRICULUM 96 Language and literacy 96 Foreign languages 104 Numeracy 106 Environmental education and other special interests 109 Education through the Arts 110 Teaching about moral and ethical issues 112 3.5 THE EVALUATION OF SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS . 116 Self-evaluation by secondary schools . 116 Monitoring standards of achievement . 118 The assessment of students 119 Moderation and certification 121 CHAPTER 4. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 4.1 INTRODUCTION: SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND STUDENT INVOLVEMENT 130 4.2 SIZE OF SCHOOLS 133 4.3 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHER AND STUDENT 137 (ix) CHAPTER 4. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL (Cont.) 4.4 AUTHORITY AND STUDENT BEHAVIOUR 14 0 School rules and discipline 140 The use of punishment in secondary schools 142 The problem of severely deviant children 145 4.5 PROVISIONS FOR PASTORAL CARE 145 4.6 THE GROUPING OF STUDENTS 149 4.7 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 153 4.8 DECISION-MAKING BY STUDENTS 161 Provision for student choice 161 Student participation in the school organization 163 4.9 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT, DECISION-MAKING AND ORGANIZATION OF STAFF 166 Management and decision-making in Tasmanian schools 166 The leadership function of the principal 168 The processes of participant decision making 171 The involvement of the senior staff and the whole staff 173 The organization of staff 175 CHAPTER 5. RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS 5.1 TEACHER EDUCATION AND TEACHER DEVELOPMENT . 18 5 Pre-service education 185 In-service education 187 The special needs of beginning teachers . 191 5.2 SPECIAL SUPPORT FOR NEW SCHOOLS 192 5.3 LIBRARIES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION 194 5.4 SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SCHOOLS 197 5.5 RESOURCES FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT ... 200 CHAPTER 6. RECOMMENDATIONS 2 09 Acknowledgements 240 - 1 - INTRODUCTION This report on secondary education in Tasmania has been produced by a Committee set up by Mr. A.V. Gough, the Director-General of Education, in February 1976. Along with many other educators throughout the world, the Director-General considered that the early secondary years were most in need of review to assist future policy-making. As indicated by the terms of reference, he favoured a study focusing on school organization and the educational program: The Committee is to undertake an examination of secondary education in Tasmanian high schools and district schools. In carrying out this role the Committee is to consider existing provisions and desirable lines of future development with particular reference to the educational program and the organisation of secon dary schools. A committee of fourteen people directly concerned with secondary education was appointed and began the Survey of Secondary Education which provided an invalu able source of knowledge on secondary-school practice in 1976. A grant of $5,500 from the Curriculum Devel opment Centre enabled the Committee to engage three interstate consultants who worked with principals and teachers in secondary schools to produce reports for the Committee (and also for the Curriculum Development Centre) on desirable developments in the next decade. Written and oral submissions by groups and individuals, both from within the education profession and from the community, provided further valuable evidence to the Committee. The report is the work of a committed group which sat for 120 hours in full meetings and approximately 200 hours in sub-committee meetings, to say nothing of individual efforts in research and editorial tasks. This group was splendidly supported by three seconded principals who worked in the schools while the Survey of Secondary Education was being completed, by those in schools who provided time and information and by many inside and outside the Education Department who prepared papers for the Committee. As the report developed it became clear that al though the report had been requested by the Director- General of Education, its major audience would be those who work in Tasmanian secondary schools. If the review - 2 - does not reach that audience in a significant way in the next decade, it will have failed. The Committee will be surprised if this happens since, throughout the review, extensive use has been made of the recent ex periences of schools. The core of the Report is the two chapters dealing with the educational program and the organization of schools (chapters 3 and 4). The major emphasis of the Committee come out most clearly in these two chapters: * As indicated in the Survey of Secondary Edu cation schools do seek guidelines and support from the Education Department. The Report en deavours to provide these guidelines and to identify areas that need support by the system. * Educational programs are about aiming for excellence in all kinds of human potential; the Report suggests paths which it hopes will lead to quality in secondary education and an in creased level of student involvement in their school experience. * Learning is closely associated with human re lationships; the report suggests ways of organizing schools and setting-up learning situations which support the development of good relationships between all those in schools. The Committee has responded to what it sees to be the wishes of schools by defining the limits of school autonomy. This has. been done to guide school staffs in shaping their own philosophies to purposeful education programs, in establishing school organizations sympa thetic to those programs, and in developing self-evalu ation procedures which enable them to make an on-going review of their activity. This particular review of secondary education is timely in that the Tasmanian Education - Next Decade Committee has just begun a major review of education (from Kindergarten to Year 12) in Tasmania and plans to present a report during 1977. The secondary report will provide important material for consideration by the T.E.N.D. Committee. The Committee formally acknowledges the generous

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