THEAUSfRAU~ UNlVERSmES'REVIEW

3 SF: or CIo,. Encounter. ot lhe Tertl.ry Kind - Neil Ndason 11 COOfdlnatlon 01 Terti.ry Edue.tlon In Au, tr,ll, - R E pary 15 Fed'f.llntervlntlon In Au.lf,llIn EducaUon: Put, Pr••• nt end Future - W 0 Neal 20 Crl,l, Mln.gemlnl - TBfry Hare 28 The URi",,.lly T•• ch,r Strike. - or Almo.U - Kevlfl HI'1C8 35 Unlversitl •• snd T•• ch" Tr.l"i"g - Alan Barcan 42 Opening Tertl.ry Educ.non - Some Implications 0' Olff.r,nl App,.,.ch.. - Bram Smith .1 The Adjustment 01 Mature Age Unm.triculilled Entflnt, to lIf. I I Intern. I Studlnt • • t the Unlver.lly of New E"gllnd: A Pilot Study - David Walkins 52 Ac.demic St.ft Alloc:.tton Procedure. In In . tltullan. In Au,tr,lI, - ISH GMaon and E POlio 55 ReYle. and letler 10 the Editor

PUBLISHED BY FAUSA VOL. 22. 1979. No. 1 ISSN 0042-4560 Journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Siall Associations

1979 Vol. 22 No 1

EDITOR Vestes will In future be published tWice a year, once in April and Mr. J. E. Anwyl, once in November. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University 01 Melbourne Editorial Policy BUSINESS MANAGER Vestes is the journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Staff Mr, L. B. Wallis, Associations. It aims to be a forum for the discussion of issues con· General Secretary, fronting Australian universities with particular reference to those Federation of Australian University Staft Associalions, matters which concern FAUSA and its member associations. These 499 St, Kilda Road, can broadly be categorised as institutional issues and staff issues. Melbourne, Vic. 3004 Phone: (03) 26 1264 The institutional issues are those covered by such topics as univer­ EDITORIAL COMMITTEE sity funding and the role of funding bodies, government education Dr 8 8essant policy. commonwealth/state relationships. co·ordination and ra­ Dr A D. Spaull tionalisation of tertiary education, education inquiries, recurrent and Mr L 8. Wallis further education in universities, proposals lor amalgamation of in­ stitutions, tuition fees. research funding, state tertiary education co-ordinating bodies, university autonomy and accountability and ISSN 0042-4560 university and departmental government, The staff issues cover such topics as academic freedom and tenure, fixed-term appoint· ments, study leave and conference leave, academic salaries and conditions, promotion procedures and assessment of teaching

In each of these areas articles will be assessed on their intrinsic merit, by the use of independent referees, and the contribution which they make to the important issues of the day confronting the Federation, whether the articles in themselves support or oppose Federation policies: although the Editor will strive to achieve a balance of views in cases where an article takes an attitude direclly opposed to that of the Federation. A lower priority will be given to articles which are restricted to particular disciplinary areas, which are particularly oriented to student rather than stall ne"eds or prob· lems, or which deal with the details of educational tecllnlques rather than with broader university problems Notes to Contributors

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Rates available on application to Business Manager Current circula­ tion approx, 9000 copies per issue SF: OR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Neil School of Educa'lon. OF THE TERTIARY KIND Flinders UniverSity

New Foundation and Empire recommending that within the concept of a New Federalism the States and the Commonwealth Another galaxy, another time. might "jointly explore" ways to provide a "ra­ Once, under the wise rule of the Senate the Republic throve and grew. But as often tionalisation" of educational provision in Australia. happens, , , then appear those evil ones "Rationalisation" is currently the magic word, as we who have greed to match. all know; and the date eventually chosen fo~ the Star Wars. Prologue special meeting of representatives was the very day before the birthday of the newly formed Ter­ "SF", as we all know, stands for Shared Funding. tiary Education Commission. Admittedly my story does happen to begin like many a piece of science fiction, with a metamor­ No State could afford in the present season of En­ phosis. On the whole however it is closer to Kafka, quiries to boycott a meeting which offered col­ "We have" (says The Senator on the first page of a laboration, and which with its emphasis on coor­ script which I must say has had a surprisingly small dination and rationalisation was both in timing and circulation) - "we have one of those metamor­ intent not merely defensible but propitious. The phoses happening at midnight tonight. We have meeting was duly approved by the Premiers' Con­ with us a fellow named Peter Karmel who until mid­ ference in April 1977. The job of transforming this night tonight is the Chairman of the Universities occasion into a vehicle by which the States could Commission and tomorrow is the Chairman of the be softened up and the public prepared for the Tertiary'Education Commission." Prime Minister's determination to renege on Com­ monwealth financial responsibility for the univer­ But this is to anticipate. The slightly theatrical piece sities and colleges was left to The Senator. I just quoted gives only the faintest foretaste of the drama which is yet to unfold. We had heard The strategy was clearly adumbrated in that rumours of The Revolt in our local cluster - the February letter which Malcolm Fraser signed. barest hints dropped by frustrated politicians or Beginning with a concept as unexceptionable as anxious administrators. They spoke in whispers or "rationalisation" (for who would openly declare with studied ambiguity about "The Great En­ himself against Reason?) - beginning with this counter" which had taken place somewhere in the then, and slipping in "coordinatlon"(the Birthday) as East in June. Then the media got onto a bit of it and a catalyst, the problem was how to contrive a situa­ we received the astounding news that a further tion in which the States would end up with empty skirmish has taken place outside the System pockets but the promise of unlimited political (somewhere they say near the Kunstkopf Nebula, odium. They hoped to achieve even this however Messier:NZ 78/78) - at a cost of billions. And then by a blending of two strategies: the first, rhetorical silence. It was about this time that The Script arriv­ (rationalisation and all that): and the second, ed by mail, anonymously and in a plain wrapper. At substantive (States rights and all that). The former first I didn't realise its significance, and it was, after was reinforced as we have seen with a fine sense all, obviously only a fragment. But on looking at it of occasion; while the second offered splendid pro­ more closely I suddenly had the feeling that I was mise of dissension among the "cooperating" client onto something really big. Fragment though it was, States. it was all I had: and as I read and re-read it the characters, human and otherwise, acquired The rhetorical shift was achieved by grasping the substance, and gradually the whole thing began to "coordination" handle of rationalisation and fall into place . gradually twisting it as follows. Rationalisation in any practical sense must involve administration, There was one precious link with reality - the date. and administration in real sense involves finance. It has to have been 21 June 1977. I should guess The whole business of educational planning so far from internal evidence that the action lasts from has been frustrated (even, for example, in such ap­ about 10.07 a.m. until 3.32 in the afternoon, with a parently simple matters as the determination of break for lunch. Three of the characters are enrolments) by gratuitous idiosyncrasy. But surely definitely human: Neil Batt, Lindsay Thompson and the complementary process to tidying up the in­ Don Hopgood. And they are the ones worth telligence operation (the TEe.) would be to tidy watching in what follows. up the funding arrangements. This it seems would be as sensible as it is innocently procedural. Accor­ It all began it seems with a letter from the Prime dingly we have the Commonwealth people em­ Minister to the Premiers on 21 February 1977, phasizing the needless complexity of the present 2 3 arrangements. The total funding of universities and cise, how much it will delimit your souls if there is a Although Queensland and Western Australia cer­ problem about the present funding of universities colleges is contrasted with the shared funding of situation in which there is to be allowed an tainly had complaints about being a bit short and an and colleges" (78), and he resolutely refused to the schools. And within the post-secondary sector atmosphere in which the whole pressures are for honest desire that in some way "decision-making countenance any discussions along those lines. the total funding of the universities and colleges is expansion on the one hand and on your part a be returned to the States" (Peter Jones, 36). they "'We are not even interested in discussing it at of­ compared with the "topping up" arrangements with diminution of responsibility. "(9) were quite content to allow the Commonwealth to ficer level ... We believe simply that the funding of the variously controlled Further Education sector. It identify the problem as a funding one and hope for university and college education is not a matter for He made it quite clear that there was no way in is all very untidy. This still leaves it open of course better things for themselves from the projected discussion." (22. 61) which such a one as Neil Batt, offensively pro­ whether a "new overall system" designed to working party. The sources of principled and testing his delight with present arrangements, smooth out funding arrangements and make them theoretically based arguments in this meeting lay He was fully supported in this by Don Hopgood. would be permitted to increase that happiness by "more even" should treat all educational institutions with Batt, Hopgood and Thompson. Bedford, the While not as aggressive as Neil Batt very early in having any say in how the money was to be spent. like the universities and colleges or whether they Minister from NSW was certainly sympathetiC with the meeting he challenged the facile transition from Senator Carrick: "What I am bound to say to you is should all be managed like the schools. The thrust the Batt/Hopgood position but the very size of his talk about rationalisation to a concern with funding that it is for you to look at the question of on the one of the Commonwealth manoeuvring is directed of own State means that he has so much less to fear, arrangements. Certainly, he said, the major hand asking that you be brought into a cooperation course towards the latter. And to weight the argu­ What is more, as a relative newcomer, he was ob­ problems were those of "coordination and ra­ and, in the realisation, what you are asking is that ment in this direction they deploy the substantive viously stHi feeling his way. Bird represented tionalisation" (13), but as an approach to these the you should be allowed to cooperate in spending line of argument about State/Commonwealth rela­ Queensland. This left Peter Jones from Western Prime Minister's letter seemed an irrelevant excur­ Federal funds, whereas of course if the proposition tions. If the Commonwealth pays the bills it must be Australia and Thompson from Victoria as the two sion. was put that the Commonwealth should sit around a expected to call the tune. And what self-respecting crucial figures for Carrick to watch. He thought he table helping to spend State funds you would find State would want that? might get somewhere with Jones. There was ob­ When it came to preparing the press release and that absolutely abhorrent" (33) viously no way in which Thompson could be the resolution about th~ terms of reference for the manipulated, but the very strength and consistency proposed working party the meeting was This then was the job The Senator was given to do Lindsay Thompson was in like a shot: "To take that of his principles meant that with careful arrange­ presented with a motion from Lindsay Thompson in the preliminary but crucial confrontation in June one up for a start, the Governments have not got ment of the context he could at least be aimed at that they should "examine the present methods of 1977, and he failed. His failure was due mainly to any money. They are just taxpayers' payments, one or more of the others, funding education in Australia" (60): something the astuteness and intransigence of the Ministers taxpayers' funds ." (33). But Carrick is not so which it was plain that Batt and Hopgood had no in­ from Tasmania and South Australia. easily put down. "You must look", he goes on a bit Jones, although the newest member, was quite tention of accepting. Hopgood returned from lunch later as if Thompson didn't exist, "you must look at prepared after a while to pitch in, and (especially with his own motion which made no mention at all of The Senator anticipated trouble. And without over­ the point that I have made and that is whether any after lunch) he was Carrick's most valuable sup­ funding but concentrated on rationalisation, on the doing it in any way he tried to reassure the States Commonwealth Government would be willing, for porter. His docility made Batt almost frantic. "If we coordinating bodies (State and Federal) and on the about Commonwealth intentions. It is "probably fair example, to have decisions made virtually by are talking about education funding and decision­ Enquiries. The main action after lunch was the at­ to say" (the Minister from NSW had remarked) "that people who are not its people and to have its funds making returning to the States", said Jones, to Car­ tempt by Carrick to wear down Batt and Hopgood's we are all pretty nervous as well." Senator Carrick: committed outside itself." (41, italics mine) "What are you nervous about? ... I do want to say rick's great satisfaction, "we must be prepared to determination to add to the compromise document to you that there is no attempt by the Com­ It was very clear that some of the States stm had bite the bullet and look at the lot. We are happy to the statement that "the meeting recognised that monwealth to use such discussions, to abdicate in hopes of the New Federalism with, for example, its do that. . There are a few words in there that I there was no unanimity among the States on any sense or to shift burdens in any sense, so that move away from Section 96 special purpose would like to change but either we are dinkum whether existing financial arrangements should be it can gain monetarily or in any other fashion payments (with strings attached) to a percentage of about it or we are not. If we start picking out nuts disturbed." (92) We are not seeking any take-over bids or anything individual income tax collections. Thompson, for and bolts and bit and pieces that we do not like, and The following is a sample: of that nature. . the Commonwealth comes here example, still had hopes of a direct input from the so on, we are not going to get anywhere." (37, 70) with an open mind and there is no foreshadowed States into educational policy making by virtue of "Mr Batt: And you will add the last sentence of Dr. viewpoint there is no attempt by us to do a spending what they could call their own money - One of Carrick's people from the Commonwealth Hopgood's one will you, Mr. Thompson? sleight-ot-hand trick at all We, as the Com­ and preferably if, for example, "the Commonwealth Department of Education tried to slip in something Mr. Thompson: If you like. It does not worry me monwealth, are not seeking to do things which should vacate the tax field to the level of the money about the Commonwealth "providing all funding for greatly unless others object. would make you suspicious of our motives " they are now making available to schools". (16) If universities and coUeges of advanced education" Mr. Bird: I have no objection but it seems and so on, and so on. Believe me! No-one did. (pp. he could not get this at least he wanted "block (87), but Thompson was on him like a ton of bricks superfluous to me. 38, 5, 8, 12, 48) grants" without restrictions, (16) As an addendum ("they really docked it from the States 3 years ago" Mr. Batt: If you have no objection it looks as though to which point he then gave a fairly unconvincing etc. etc.). And mindful as always of his problems we can get agreement on it, so I would go along The best he could hope to do was make them ner­ account of what on earth, in that case, the Schools back home Thompson made a mild protest about with that. vous about different things. And there was plenty Commission would have left to do, But the line he the phr?se "institutional arrangements" sounding Mr. Peter Jones: I would like to know why we are of scope here. His strategy was to play on the ran was a principled one. He continually appealed as it does "a bit like the 1920 method of talking adding the last paragraph. desire of the States to achieve a greater role in to what he obviously regards as principles of good about who goes to em asylum". (67) And who if Mr. Batt: Because I want it there, that is one good educational decision making while at the same time government, as for example: "that the Government they know anything at all about the Victorian reason. maintaining obdurately that insotar as the Com­ spending money should also be responsible for "system" of coUeges, would blame him for being a Mr. Peter Jones: Have you a good reason? I do not monwealth continues to pay the piper it intends to raising it" (30). little sensitive? see why continue calling the tune. Mr. Batt: There is a good reason. I represent a This was the point of view he pushed conSistently It was left to Batt and Hopgood to maintain the State and! think my own State Government would Senator Carrick: "the States have often said that and aggressively in the face of Carrick's evasions attack. Batt realised that the Commonwealth's talk insist on that being there, what they wanted was more freedom for their own and Neil Batt's open scepticism about the good about the purely exploratory nature of the meeting Dr, Hopgood: That is true. I think my Cabinet would decision making and that they were irked by the faith of the present Government and wonderment was devious and that even to allow the main feel that I need my head read if I came back with growing pressure of the Commonwealth to dictate that Thompson could think that there were any problem to be identified as one of funding was anything less than that being down there. policies... you have to look towards how much "conceivable safeguards" (30) for such an ar­ already to give much of the game away. He Mr. Peter Jones: In other words, the implication is that affects the general sovereignty that you exer- rangement. therefore refused to "even accept there is a that the arrangements are satisfactory?

4 5 Mr. Batt: Yes, right. socially he did his best. At one stage during an Australian Education Council should not simply ad­ and settled on the Director-General of Education Dr. Hopgood: Until they can be proven to be awkward pause, he shuffled his papers and men­ vise, but, although six of its members have no for Tasmania. and the actual scribe (it is said) of that otherwise. tioned that there was a letter on something or other responsibility for putting funds in, it should make Tasmanian (Karmel) Report of 1976. Senator Carrick: Again I repeat to you ... It seems from F AUSA, but that they could probably read that decisions." (35) But there is no reason to believe "Senator Carrick: Does the Tasmanian Director­ to me quite superfluous and irrelevant to make that "on the aircraft" going home. (74) And there is that BaH was saying anything of the sort, and General wish to comment? Mr. Batt: Mr. Gough kind of situation. It is like saying that some hold a nothing like a dancing bear or two. Don't forget we certainly he immediately denied that this was his in­ does not want to comment. But I may share a cou­ view we should change and some hold a view we have Professor Karme! here, he wou!d say with tention. ple of pOints. . (55) should not change. That is the element in any work­ great good humour; "it may well be that we want to ing party. throw a dart at him". (50) We "have Professor Batt's second front concerns the two Commis­ And he was off again. Karme! as a target if we want him", he reminds sions. He insists that any advice from such sources Mr. Batt: There is no way in which I would agree to tham an hour or so later (71) during another must be genuine advice and not that of servants So Neil Batt knows a thing or two about keeping so­ any statement which did not include that. ! think Dr. awkward pause while they are waiting for some with a place to lose. He has doubts about the real called experts in their places. But for all that he Hopgood has said the same; I do not know about document. There were some questions this time independence of these bodies, and he believes went on to perform quite magnificently in his bare­ any other Minister. But I think we need that sort of and Professor Karme! spoke for a while and that it is the cynical intention of the present Govern­ faced way, and in particular to nail Carrick on.the in­ safeguard. Carrick's faith that he would not say anything was ment to use them to give a patina of expertise and dependence issue. How far, he asked, are the Senator Carrick: There is no reason at all why we fully justified. And then there was the Chairman of objective respectability to Government policy. On guidelines (and "directions were given to the could not agree on a statement. If Tasmania and the Schools Commission: this occasion he mounted a splendid attack concer­ Schools' Commission which I think must have been South Australia want to add a rider of their own. ning the dangers of political interference. Carrick of quite offensive to that body" (21), directions which Mr. Batt: It is much better to have a unanimous Senator Carrick: "Just one other thing, we have put course could move in very safely then with the the Ministers first heard about in the newspapers) statement The last paragraph does no harm Professor Karme! in the gunsights and I think this reminder that they must be "a group of people with - how far are these guidelines compatible with the was a good thing. If there are any specific ques­ expertise and a group of people with balance". right of the T.E.C. and the other councils "to make Mr. Bedford: ... if a statement is to go out, I think tions you want to direct either now or after lunch to (41) And what can you say to that? Do we really public statements about what they see as the this other sentence does indicate something. It Dr. McKinnon, please do so. That placid expres­ want a body of people representing interests - "a needs in the three areas?" (56) Carrick at first gives the Ministers from whatever $tate room to sion on his face belies the fact that he would be haggling body" as Thompson put it? (42) But that retreated into generalities. Carrick: One of their move. . when the Ministers start to get attacked happy to respond, but he will because I have told only left Batt grumbling about how his own sugges­ jobs of course is "the wider role of drawing atten­ by the media or take it to their Cabinet they can say him to do so." (64) tions for filling such places had been treated, and tion to what they see as wider issues" (56) - but that not everybody agreed to a change. whom they ended up with, and how that's not what please remember their "job is advisory. . to give Dr. Hopgood: If the decision today hits the deck, But nobody seemed to remember about it after he calls cooperation. And what is more (Carrick objective advice." (57) What's that you are saying? without this rider, there would be the clear implica­ lunch and we never got to hear anything from him at went on), as for that "criticism of persons" (43) You want to know if they can "publicly say that the tion that there was some agreement in principle on all. which Batt had gone in for when he was warming to guidelines are unacceptable?" (57) Well, as I said, the funding area. Working parties sort out the his subject, perhaps he would care to make "its job is advisory, I think we must make this very details. It will be seen in this light. ! know enough Communication criticisms like that in the proper place outside this clear. The Commissions themselves are made about people in the tertiary area to know that they particular meeting. (Sample, Batt: "I do not say that statutory bodies in order that they give objective are very easily scared. When they are scared they Faint Signals Through Cotton-Wool he is the last person whom I ever would have advice." (57) Isn't that clear? You still want to know put the worst possible construction on any set of They were in the wrong place at the wrong recommended, but certainly I have never heard of whether they can publicly say that our guidelines events Without this rider they will simply time. Naturally they became heroes. him and neither has anybody else in ·the TAFE and directions are unacceptable? "No, they cannot assume the worst." (pp. 81-83) Star Wars. Prologue area.") (21) Batt had the last word as usual. "It do that" - or, better: "the question of the Although Batt's first priority was to fight for what would have been polite to ask, that is all." (44) guidelines as to their acceptability or otherwise Before we speculate - indeed to allow us to Carrick referred to contemptuously as "the status does not arise.'· (57) speculate profitably now about what has been go­ quo" (23), he too shared the general concern that What Batt really thinks of those experts, local and ing Or) since last June let us look at some of the a way should be found for the States to have a imported, who gave their objective judgement in his Mr. Batt: "You will forgive me if I do not clearly related issues which were raised at this extraor­ greater part in educational decision making. He saw own Tasmanian enquiry we probably won't know understand this." dinary meeting. In this way we can at least establish two ways in which this might come about: (1) by until he writes his memoirs. Two of them, Professor some sort of form guide to support our guesses. giving an enhanced role to the Australian Education Karmel and Mr. A.V. Gough, were actually in the So Carrick tries again. Senator Carrick: ''The Com­ Council (which consists of the Commonwealth and room on this occasion. And at one point during that mission and councils are set up by statute. They Interlude: Hippos at Play State ministers, the Director Generals and the five hours Mr. Gough actually nearly got to say have terms of reference in which they work and Relief swept the war room, and it was most Secretary of the Commonwealth Department something. Dr. Sandover (Chairman BAE, SA) had that gives them considerable freedom. Mr. Batt: So noticeable in the face of the most beautiful (32,35). and (2) by improving the quality of the ad­ just raised a couple of points. He mentioned the they have that freedom then? Senator Carrick: Senator present. problem about the "overproduction of teachers" There is no doubt about that They have no Star Wars, chapter 12. vice given by the Commissions themselves. As to the first Batt reverted to an idea he had floated and went on to say that he thought "the universities authoritative function at all. They are purely It was not all as solemn as this however and Carrick before: "that we use the Australian Education would be very glad - if there were any feelings by advisory and the reason for their independence is certainly tried to provide some relief along the way. Council in relation to tertiary institutions without the Government that in some way either the col­ to improve the objectivity of their advice, that is all." There were a lot of people there: a sort of changing the funding arrangements." (35) His leges or the universities were not matching up to (59) I mean we could "have made the reports of augmented A.E.C. meeting. He had quite a few of argument is in effect that if the Commonwealth is the job they were doing - if this could be clearly the councils to the Commission confidential" (60), his own people from the Commonwealth Depart­ serious about cooperation then a "true spirit of stated and we get a chance to make a comment in couldn't we? But we didn't. No, not at all. "Now" ment of Education, and he had the chairman elect federalism" (32) could be demonstrated in this way return. So there would not be any feeling on either (jocularly), "this situation may drive the chairman of the new T.E.C. (Professor Karmel) and the chair­ by an enhanced and more effective advisory body. side that there was no communication." (55) Ob­ out of his mind, but it will at least expose to the man of the Schools Commission (Dr. McKinnon). The response to this was quite sharp and surpris­ viously neither Carrick nor Karmel was likely to get councils and the Commission what the councils He promised not to become "combative" once ingly defensive. Carrick: "I take it that your Premier caught on that one: and probably for no better subjectively thought and what the Commission, we after he had been sorely tried by the Minister from is supporting what you are saying?" (32) "What reason than this the spotlight bounced away hope, objectively rationalised, and then what we as Tasmania; and on the whole you could say that you are saying, as 1 understand it, is that the towards the Minister from Tasmania, went past him a Government modified, if we did modify it." (60) All this of course was as clear as mud.

6 7 Mr, Batt: "I think that is valuable" (60, italics mine). Mr. Bird from Queensland who declared himself of teacher unemployment at a cost of $7,000 to number of very distinguished academics"; and as ("I don't want to break up this private argument" "very pleased to hear that most people do somebody. They were probably wrong on both for the other reports he said that "eminent people says Thompson, "but what about the working par­ appreciate the fact that the personnel on the Com­ points. The meeting was held in New Zealand had been engaged in them" too (Hansard, 27 April ty? I've got something all ready to move." 60) mission are responsible people and that they will be because the New Zealand minister is regularly 1977). But then I never denied that the members taking forward the cases of each and every State." invited as an observer at A.E.C. meetings in of those committees were eminent and dis­ Australian and 1978 happened to be the centenary The Second Law of Robotics (44) But there is no doubt at all that the kinds of tinguished or even that they were academics. All I danger Carrick alludes to are very serious indeed. of pubhc education in New Zealand. And since said was that they had written nonsense and seem­ Resign! Cee Threepio shuddered (the slim As Carrick himself explained: "If there is a pressure members also took their wives with the intention of ed to be getting away with it. robot had been programmed to blend to drum up a new institution and the pressure suc· doing a lot more than talk about education it certain­ perfectly among human company). Resign. ceeds, and the Commonwealth pays for it, all of ly cost a great deal in excess of $7,000 - to This leaves us with two questions: (1) Why have Thoughts of escape did not enter his mind. you suffer if it is an irrelevant institution." (49) No somebody, they been getting away with so much for so long? Such a concept was utterly alien to a one could argue with that. But what will save us and (2) Why has this situation changed significantly mechanical. The more intelligent a robot from this sort of thing? Why, says Carrick: we can If anything this superficially adverse publicity has (as I believe it has) within the last few months? was, the more abhorrent and unthinkable get "a group of people with expertise and a group been quite useful to Carrick since with the the concept. Besides had he tried to resign unemployment thing attracting so much attention built-in sensors would have detected the of people with balance" (41 ) who will "have a job to Admittedly the problems are very difficult and one critical logic malfunction and melted every do in terms of the objective study of institutions and but with a resolution coming from this meet'lng to would have to draw for their solution upon an circuit in his brain. He had to stay and he development across Australia in an Australian-wide hold an enquiry into teacher employment the issue extraordinary range of knowledge and experience. had to produce what would suit his human context." (41) But that's what we were supposed which ought to have caused public alarm a possi­ But for all that we deserve better than we are get­ owner because of the well-known Second to have had when the A.U.C. itself looked into the ble return to shared tertiary funding remained ting. The most concerted and detailed efforts of Law. question of a fourth university in Victoria with the conveniently undisturbed. So the situation at pres­ this kind so far have been organized in the service present chairman of the T.E.C. then as the man in ent is this. The teacher unemployment issue has of government by enquiry. And when you consider It is interesting to note here that when Batt is ex­ charge. been defused for the moment pending the out­ the irresponsibly poor quality of so much of this pressing thanks for all these clarifications and come of an enquiry, and the shared funding issue endeavour the apathy of post-secondary practi­ reassurance, hoping thereby to sow the seeds of Conclusion which people ought to be getting upset about is tioners does invite some sort of explanation. The all kinds of disquiet, and saying how pleased he is moving along nicely ready for a full-scale cosmetic obvious ones to blame are the educationists. What to get it all into the record however self-evident it The discussions at officer level did subsequently treatment at the April meeting of the A.E.C, is being done in those departments of Education in might seem to Senator Garrick - it is interesting to take place - on 4 August 1977; and although the the nineteen universities, not to speak of the fifty or note that he is insisting on a very important principle question of shared funding was again pushed hard (April 1978) so tertiary education units scattered throughout the indeed. "I am hoping to learn", Batt protests during by the Commonwealth, the representatives from universities and colleges? The units, with one' or the above exchange, "that the two commissions in some of the States were well briefed to make pro­ Postscript (January 1979) two notable exceptions, tend to concentrate on the fact can fulfil a role for the Australian people rather gress as difficult as possible. They did this in the details of practical pedagogy leaving more fun­ than only one for the Government." (57) He might most effective way possible. They demanded an This piece is a bit old now - I wrote it up in April damental theoretical issues to others - well have had in mind what Menzies once said educational justification for the Commonwealth 1978, ten months even then after the actual presumably the departments of education. But when he was discussing the establishment of the moves. events - and accordingly I have been asked to these in turn tend to concentrate again on Universities Commission in 1952. J,F. Cairns tells provide a postscript I wrote it the way I did pedagogical and managerial details, and this time at the story. It is possible to piece together something of a story because! was really worried by this new develop­ primary and secondary school level. There is some from the very small amount of information which ment. I talked about it a lot at the time but people truth in the assertion that education is too important "When in 1958, after apparent delay in appointing has been made available during these last few tended to shrug their shoulders. Why get so upset to be left to the educationists. There is not an area a Commission, I asked the Prime Minister in the months. Largely we have to rely on guesswork, about the educational theory produced by politi­ of knowledge or intellectual skill represented in our House when the Commission would be appointed, though there is certainly something we can do here cians and their academic retainers? Isn't educa­ ,universities which does not have educational he walked across the House after question-time if we have paid adequate attention to the form ex­ tional theory a bit like that anyway even at the best implications. And many of these bear directly upon and said to me: "You can rest assured there will be hibited by some of the leading protagonists above. of times? But that was before the Study Leave our present difficulties. What then are the respon­ no unnecessary delay, but I will not make an ap­ Report. sibilities of these academics? Could we not expect pointment until I can get a Chairman who will stand Neil Batt has gone now and I have no idea how a little action? up to the Treasury!" effective his replacement might be at meetings Even at this stage, however! think it is useful to such as these. But Neil Batt is now Deputy Premier have one detailed example in the record of the But (as I said) things are changing. It is not merely And according to R.D. Wright, Menzies also on one and Treasurer and this should guarantee that con­ intellectual context within which the really big cynical to mention the Study Leave Report. The occasion expressed "the most severe disapproval tinued pressure against funding changes will be educational decisions are being made in this coun­ Karme! Report on a fourth university in Victoria of the Holt government for reducing the Australian kept up at cabinet level in Tasmania. try. ! don't unfortunately have any comparable (1973) which established Deakin was just as bad Universities Commission's recommended grants blow-by-blow account of the deHberations of some but its unpleasant consequences for members of and of the Commission for not resigning when so Don Hopgood is still there and from one or two of our more famous post-secondary committees of the university community themselves were neither treated. " things he has let drop in the press he is certainly enquiry, but judging by their fruits, the modulation as evident nor as immediate as those of the Study carrying on the fight perhaps on his own. from a committee room of "experts" to the explicit· Leave Report. It just happens too that conclusions Iy political arena of an A.E.C. meeting would which are extremely unpleasant from the In the face of Batt's anxiety about the quality of the academic's point of view were arrived at by means advice to be had from the two Commissions, The A.E.C. decided to discuss the whole issue, probably not seem all that abrupt For this reason I including the report of the August working party, at found the scene depicted above particularly of a particularly inept piece of educational reason­ Carrick went out of his way to be reassuring. "It ing, And it is important to remember this because, may well be that somebody could say we have not their February (1978) meeting. This meeting interesting, 1 had been complaining for some time attracted the attention of the press because about the quality of many of thos'8 reports; When considering the present disarray of the whole sec­ been well done by but I think it would be hard, look­ tor, there are undoubtedly many equally unpleasant ing around this table, for people to say that on the members of the A.E.G. were flown to New Zealand these complaints were brought to Senator Carrick's for the occasion. The papers talked about a "secret attention he assured the House that the Tasmanian conclusions which could be drawn on the basis of Commission and the councils they do not have competent educational investigation. We do need pretty useful people." (42) This succeeded with meeting" in New Zealand to discuss the hot subject enquiry, for example, had been "carried out by a

9 8 independent "experts" brave enough to draw such fieer level. The matter was raised at the next COORDINATION OF R. E. conclusions, and with sufficient credibility to lend Premiers' Conference, where the Premier of Chairman them authority. Western Australia gave his opinion that the Schools TERTIARY EDUCATION N S.W. Higher Education Board Commission might as well be wound up. Senator IN AUSTRALIA But perhaps the most important factor in fostering a Carrick reminded the members of the A.E.C. of all new aggressive attitude among academics recently this and a great deal besides in a confidential paper is the backlash against the New Accountabilism. Of dated 16 November 1978, prior to the December course we are accountable. But even when (8th. and 9th.) meeting in Melbourne. "The formula someone is plainly accountable the procedures for for sharing could be on a basis of payments of $2 calling that person to account can be objectionable by the Commonwealth for each $1 by the State. for This is an edited version of a paper delivered at the Can" The coatifion parties are convinced that and therefore to some extent self-stultifying. To cal! both recurrent and capital purposes. This formula ference Australian Tertiary Education in the Aftermath of national objectives can be fully asserted the universities, say, to account against a could be applied either to the university and college Expansion at the Australian National University, July, and social reforms achieved and maintain­ background of vote-catching scurrility could quite areas only with T AFE continuing on its present 1978. The complete paper will be published in 1979 in ed with a more selective use of such grants literally be described as punishment. And to punish basis, or for all three areas of tertiary education." G.S. Harman and A.H. Miller (eds) Academia Becalmed: and without heavy-handed interference and academics is currently very good politics. But I And for those concerned about the traditional Australian Tertiary Education in the Aftermath of Expan­ duplication of functions. have dealt with accountability as punishment in sion, (A.N.U. Press.) Many of the existing Section 96 grants are responsibilities of the universities there is an now part of welf-established and universally more detail elsewhere (1979). interesting sentence on the same page where What one must do at the outset in an exercise such accepted programmes within the States. Senator Carrick recommends "further considera­ as this is to ask what is meant by the expression The monies for such programmes could be The notion of accountability is double-edged tion of the appropriate extent of devolution to the federal system. The vogue term federalism can transferred to general purpose revenue however, and this is particularly significant when it States of responsibility for the approval of teaching evoke a wide variety of perceptions in the minds of reimbursements and ultimately absorbed in comes to considering remedies. The increasing activities in the university and college of advanced those who hear it, and in employing it today we the States' income tax revenue. control of education at all levels is facilitated by use education sectors". We have slipped a long way need to know to which variant of this chameleon­ of an elaborate academic support operation, one here from Menzies' ideal of the universities as a The final sentence of this statement forecasts a like ideology we are referring. Do we mean, for significant reversal of the trends of the past: manifestation of which has been the familiar post­ national resource. example, the current Canadian form of federalism, secondary enquiry industry of the last few years. in which the financial sovereignty of the provinces Indeed, Section 96 will be used as it was People have been put into positions of great power This document was promptly leaked to the press is strengthening - even to the point where who are academic authorities - or have been. And originally intended as it should be used, and caused a gratifying stir during the first week of Quebec has moved to reject federal grants for namely to make grants to the States for although this kind of support is familiar enough in December. Because of illness the South Australian education in the interests of underlining its provin­ special purposes and not to make inroads government there is one respect in which this par­ Minister, Don Hopgood, was replaced for the occa­ cia! independence? Or perhaps the West German into the constitutional responsibilities of the ticular application of it is entirely distinctive. A post­ sion by Hugh Hudson who, I am told, opposed the variety, where the term cooperative federalism States secondary enquiry for example - an enquiry into proposal for changed funding quite in the style of really does have meaning, where the Council of the knowledge industry itself - is part of the very Neil Batt, and threatened at one stage to walk out. State Ministers of Education has a Secretariat of Over the past two years Government spokesmen enterprise it is investigating (Nilsson and Sheldrake, Despite that, three working parties were estab­ 180, each State has a permanent office in Bonn have reaffirmed their commitment to these poliCies. 1979). Moreover much of the respectability which lished to look further into funding arrangements. and the Federal Minister of Education and Science In particular, the Commonwealth Minister for invests the instruments that are being used to These working parties will report back to the next writes and asks to attend meetings of the Council? Education, who is also Minister in charge of federal erode important values in higher education is itself meeting of the A.E.C. on the 8th. and 9th. of Or, assuming that we are bound to confine affairs, has consistently re-iterated these sen­ borrowed from the previous achievements of that February when the whole question will probably be ourselves to the Australian product, which model of timents in the most unambiguous of language in sector. And insofar as the work of these "experts" re-opened. federalism are we considering? The original 1900 public statements and when addressing the State is peddled as academic (and there is no doubt that model, or the models as they appeared after suc­ Ministers for Education assembled at the Australian the ability to provide this kind of imprimatur is one of References cessive High Court judgements, such as those in Education Council. their main attractions for the politicians who employ 1926, 1939 and 19570 Or the model announced them) - there is no doubt at aU as to whether and Commonwealth of Australia. Conference of Com­ by Prime Minister Whitlam at the 1973 Premiers' On the other hand, at least two factors tend to dim to whom they are accountable. They are accoun­ monwealth and State Ministers for Education. Held at Conference, which marked the beginning of the one's expectations. Some of the States continue to Sydney, 21 June 1977. Proceedings ofthe Conference table to us. I recommend this as the best strategy most intense period of what has become known as show their understandable reluctance to reject currently available. (Proof). 92 pp Commonwealth offers of conditional grants under Cairns, J.F. "The Government, the A.U.C. and the coercive federalism, following Professor Russell Mathews' definition of that expression as a system Section 96, maintaining that bitter experience has universities, "Vestes", III. 1 (1960), 9-13. shown that a sufficient offset in the form of an So perhaps J shouldn't have been quite so disap­ Lucas, George. Star Wars, 1976. marked by centralisation of power, unequal pointed. Things are moving at last. There is a grow­ Nilsson, N.A. "Accountability: philosophy and practice", bargainiQg strength and distortion of priorities at improved tax reimbursement formula cannot be ing concern among academics about the quality of in Peter Sheldrake and Russell Linke, eds .. Accountabili­ lower {evels of government? Or finally, perhaps we relied upon and, secondly, the observable pattern the decisions that are being foisted upon them, and ty in Higher Education. Sydney: George Allen and Unwin, mean the new federalism, either in the form pro­ of relationships between the relevant Com­ I think this is a factor which should not be 1979 (in press). mulgated by the present government in 1975 or monwealth and State bureaucracies still seems to underestimated. Senator Carrick's job on funding, Nilsson, N.A. and P.F. Sheldrake. 'The costs and the none-too-recognisably similar form in which it is reflect scant variation from that of the heydays of benefits of post-secondary education enquiries·', for example, is significantly more difficult today than in practice in 1978. coerciveness in 1974. Thus, on the whole, I could it was eighteen months ago. But he is still trying. Research and Development in Higher Education. I, ed. be convinced that Geoffrey Sawer was prophetic R.D. Linke. Kensington, N.S.W.: H.E.R.D.S.A., Tertiary when he said, in the 1976 Robert Garran Oration: Education Research Centre, University of N.S.W .. 1979, To anchor the discussion somewhere, one must There were two meetings of the States and the 9'30. take some assumption about the course which Commonwealth about the funding issue in 1977 - Wright, R.D. "Australian university staffs, their past and federalism will take from now on in Australia. Here I I do not believe, however, that Mr Fraser or one at Ministerial level and a subsequent one at of- their prospects," Vestes, XX, 3 (1977), 3-8. Senator Carrick or anyone else is capable am torn between hope and cynicism. On the one of stemming the growth of Commonwealth hand are the ringing tones of the policy statement authority, and, certainly the deal on income of the Liberal and National Country Parties in tax-promoted by Mr Fraser in 1976 is far September 1975: from being a return to cooperative

10 11 federalism. - /I is but a difference in the must. within a decade or so, to continue to warrant ments continue to exist, their poliCies and enact" assume the total funding of T AFE in Australia - (an style of Commonwealth domination . .. the that classification. the need for special husbandry ments will have social and financial consequences unlikely prospect, one senses, for several obvious drift towards organic federalism will con­ which cannot help but have implications for a ser­ reasons) - it would be quite impracticable for a tinue. passes, and with it should pass away the relevant bureaucracy. On this view, one would not see the vice so closely responsive to the changing single Commonwealth coordinating body to deal It may also not be without significance that the present Commonwealth coordinating structure as a characteristics of the community as is education. effectively with several hundred TAFE institutions Prime Minister was reported in the daily press as permanent one. Nor, indeed, would one find much The conurbations of people are in the States, not in in addition to the universities and CAEs. Involve­ having said, at the Premiers' Conference last to praise in the current Victorian scene, where the the Territories, and the complexities of inter­ ment of the State in some form will be essential. month, that the Commonwealth's national role in parallel existence of the Victoria Institute of Col­ institutional relationships are there, too. It is the education was important and that it would continue. leges and the State College of Victoria since 1973 States, and only the States, which can resolve the has been defensible only on the score that a pass­ problems arising from these relationships on a day­ In my view, the charter of a Commonwealth coor­ " " " " * ing need existed to promote and protect the special to-day basis. dinating body should include the following:- interests of the teachers colleges as they emerged I have dwelt on the likely turn of events in our from departmental control to corporate status. The If a State government were to fail in the manage­ (i) First, and above all else, the setting of the federal system, because it is clearly a pivotal ques­ contemplation of both bodies continuing their ment of this complex social service which is educa­ philosophical stage. As a nation, we must know tion in determining the most appropriate form of statutory existence in some uneasy triangular com­ tion and allow, for example, the school and tertiary whether we are maintaining an orderly tertiary coordination for the tertiary sector of the future. If petition with the newly-proposed Post-Secondary systems to fall totally out of relationship with one system in which there is a limited number of there is to eventuate the promised - but as yet on­ Education Commission rather takes the breath another, or the technical education system to categories of institutions whose roles are nationally ly dimly discernible - movement away from coer­ away. Only the weakest of coordination could develop a disjointed relationship with schools, ter­ defined and which are prevented from wandering cive federallsm to the cooperative variety, then a result from such a structure, and I imagine that early tiary institutions or the employing community, the out of those roles at will, and a national body is clearer view can be taken of the roles to be fulfilled action will be taken to coalesce the three bodies. remedy can only lie, in our constitutional context, needed to make the broad appraisals implicit in that by the coordinating agencies established by both with the electors at the State ballot box. Whatever task. This is a far cry from a nit-picking disapproval Commonwealth and State Governments. What Although my plea is thus for comprehensive coor­ the influences the Commonwealth might properly of individual courses that have succeeded in win­ follows is based on the stubborn hope that the new dinating bodies, it is worth noting that ample oppor­ bring to bear on the situation, it is the State which, ning the support of State authorities. It involves federalism will indeed reflect the Federal Govern­ tunity exists, within the internal frameworks of so far as education is concerned, must get things being alert to and taking an interest in those poten­ ment's policy commitment and that the present those organisations, for special fostering bodies, right, and it must, as a consequence, have the tial developments which could result in a de facto aberrant contra-indicators are but a transient where these are needed, but they should not be of machinery to do so. change in the national philosphy of post-secondary phase. the kind that can engage in the counter-productive education. administrative warfare that invariably characterises One of the facts most often overlooked in the This said, I turn to the notion of coordination itself. threatened oligarchies. discussion of this issue is that the States have This task would involve, in the current context, The concept has to be explored in two dimensions. never been, and will never be, without a de facto keeping a close eye on the long-term implications There is the question of breadth of coordination " * " " * educational coordinating body in the form of the of the following recent or speculative across the various kinds of educational institutions State Treasury. In the absence of more specialised developments: that may exist and the question of the number of How many levels of coordination should there be? ! and visible coordinating bureaucracies, Treasuries levels at which coordination is attempted. do not mean to sound trite when I say that there can, and do, accrue the expertise to exert a major e The granting of a separate legislative charter by a should be the absolute minimum, and this probably influence on educational standards and practices. State Government to an individual CAE; On the former, I advance the proposition that the means one at State level and one at Com­ Let it not be forgotten that Section 96 grants are wider the span of types of institutions covered by a monwealth level. The reasons for postulating one at grants to the State, not to institutions or depart­ $The absorption of a primary teachers' college into coordinating body, the more effective the coordina­ each level are worth pursuing, at least briefly. It is ments, and, albeit they are conditional grants, they a university, as at Deakin and as sometimes tion. Now I know that this generalisation needs commonly suggested that, since the Com­ are paid into the State Treasuries. postulated for other provincial locations; some immediate qualification. Special types of monwealth is totally funding higher education, coor­ The second argument is a less legalistiC and a more institutions need special agencies to safeguard dination of the university and CAE sectors could II!> The location of the Sydney College of the Arts in their interests if they are to survive and prosper in well be confined to the national commission, thus contemporary one. It revolves around the fact that the grounds of Macquarie University; the wide arena, and single coordinating bodies can obviating much administrative cost, delay and the rapidly developing sector of T AFE is, at this become too large, bureaucratic, autocratic, and frustration. One does not have to establish that time, even more clearly in a betwixt and between $The development of self-governing post­ insensitive if they are not subject to the checks and such an arrangement would be unworkable in order state, constitutionally speaking, than the other two secondary colleges in Western Australia; balances brought by other agencies having a to make the case for State involvement. No doubt sectors of post~secondary education. While the special vested interest. These considerations, one 100 or so tertiary institutions could be coordinated vast majority of operating funds for TAFE are still $ The merger of matriculation colleges and TAFE gathers, formed the philosophy underlying the from Canberra, given a bureaucracy of suffiCient provided by the States, the scale of Com­ colleges in Tasmania; Commonwealth's Tertiary EdUcation Commission size and expertise, though what would be the fate monwealth capital grants has escalated greatly and the Commonwealth Government's policy legislation! with its provision for separate statutory of some colleges, against whom some old scores

12 13 ------"-,~,--.,,-'"--,------~------~---

comparisons with other nations in our economic that all sectors of education are more properly FEDERAL INTERVENTION w. D. peer group. represented, I believe that a new era has been Cilairman entered, in which the Council can be used as a IN AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION: Western Australian Post-Secondary (iii) Thirdly, recommending to the Commonwealth more effective means of bringing consistency and Education Commission Government the block funds which the Com­ order to Australian education without recourse to PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE monwealth might offer to the States (whether on a the offensiveness of coercive federalism. In this total funding or shared funding basis, according to connection, one can see it developing along similar the political ideology of the day) for expenditure at lines to the Councils of Ministers of Education in the discretion of the States on the whole package Canada and West Germany. of post-secondary education, with the expectation that the States would be strongly influenced by the I suggest, too, that even when the best form of published national guidelines. Significant depar­ coordination of post-secondary education has This is a preliminary draft of a paper to be published in I would be happier about writing this paper if I had tures from these guidelines might be the subject of been established within the precepts of 1979 in D. Smart and G.S. Harman (eds.) Federal not read Ron Parry's paper entitled: "Coordination post hoc commentary by the Commonwealth body cooperative federalism, Australia will still lack Intervention in Australian Education (Australian Interna­ in the Federal System" given earlier this year in in later published analyses, and recommended something whose absence attracted the comment tional Press.) It was delivered in this form at a Workshop Canberra. He has pre-empted some of what I grant levels might be amended accordingly. of the North American group of educators who at the Conference of the Australian Association for should like to say - particularly by way of introduc­ Research in Education, Perth, 1978. visited Australia last year under the auspices of the tion. Parry draws attention to the coercive And that, broadly speaking, would be the end of it. Internationa! Council for Educational Development. I should like to clarify two things immediately, Federalism period introduced by Prime Minister The remaining coordinating functions would fall to There does seem to be a need for a national body namely: Whitlam at the 1973 Premiers' Conference and the State bodies, which can quite effectively - perhaps only small - which can stand in­ Professor Russell Mathews' definition of that as a distribute funds, determine priorities, monitor dependently of the governments and the establish­ • I am speaking from my individual view of the role system "marked by centralisation of power, awards (to the declining extent that that is ed educational bodies and make a sustained study of the State coordinating authority, and more par­ unequal bargaining strength and distortion of necessary), ensure diversity (how one yearns for of where post secondary education - even all ticularly of its Chairman, and not on behalf of the priorities at lower levels of government". Parry also the day when diversity wi!! actually have to be education - ought to be some 15 or 20 years Western Australian Post Secondary Education points out the difference in theory implied in the encouraged in higher education - the public is hence. A detached, long-range and continuing view Commission or of the Government; and policy statement of the Libera! and National Country parties in September 1975 which stated - convinced that there is far too much diversity now), is badly needed. • I believe strongly in States' rights and j believe facilitate student transfer, and rationalise institu­ that the continuing intervention of the Com­ tions. The Coalition Parties are convinced that Finally, you wi!! have noted that I have made no monwealth Government in post secondary educa­ national objectives can be fully asserted reference to the aftermath of expansion. Unless tion along present lines will become increasingly and social reforms achieved and maintain­ Apart from representing an acceptable manifesta­ one is prepared to condone financial profligacy in dysfunctional. ed with a more selective use of such grants tion of cooperative federalism in action, the above expansionary times, the issues surrounding the and without heavy handed interference and division of coordinating responsibilities would result coordination of tertiary education in a federal One might well ask why such strong concern duplication of functions. in some immediate economies and administrative system are common both to periods of growth and should be expressed in a country of little more than Many of the existing Section 96 grants are reforms. to periods of decline. A greater urgency is !ent to 12 million people when much bigger countries the need for good decision-making structures dur­ now part of well established and universally .,. .,. .,. .,. such as England and much bigger jurisdictions .. ing the latter, that's all. The great test of our accepted programmes within the States. within countries - such as in the United States Moneys for such programmes could be systems is how well they maintain their checks and and, to a degree, Canada, have introduced a transferred to general purpose revenue I should like, before concluding, to make at least balances and how successful they are in keeping greater degree of centralism in the planning and reimbursements and ultimately absorbed in brief reference to the role of a body which receives the really difficult decisions about the balance of coordination of post secondary education and the States' Income Tax Revenue. scant attention in discussions of this kind. This is funding in education out of the realm of sheer appear to be reasonably satisfied with the result. I And, again, the statement says - the Australian Education Council, which meets politics. If you wanted me, as an act of concluding can only speculate about those reasons, but one once or twice a year and is comprised of the devilment, to suggest a litmus test to apply to factor might be that in the countries mentioned Ministers for Education from the States and the assess which way we are drifting in the months to there is a much stronger tradition of local participa­ Indeed, Section 96 will be used as it was Commonwealth. With the current establishment of come, you might keep a desultory eye on the inner tion in educational decision-making and hence originally intended it should be used, name­ ly to make grants to the States for special a full-time secretariat for the Council, and the city colleges of advanced education in Sydney and perhaps there is a greater degree of checks and reform of its standing committee of permanent on Casey University. purposes and not to make inroads into the balances when centralism becomes the increasing constitutional responsibilities of the States. heads of the various educational bureaucracies so mode of operation. Be that as it may, I hope that the case I shall make wHi stand on its own feet. As I have maintained already in this paper, and as Ron Parry fears also, there has been little evidence It can be demonstrated, I believe, that centrallsm is in the past two years of any progress towards increasing, and this despite the statements being decentralisation of authority. Unfortunately the made about the new Federalism, and despite ten· evidence points the other way, as I shall attempt to tative attempts by the Tertiary Education Commis­ demonstrate later. sion to hand back some authority for decision mak­ ing to State coordinating authorities. As a result of What are Planning and Coordination All About? recent reports centralism may well increase within For purposes of this discussion! need simply some State jurisdictions as well as within the Federal one. broad headings to indicate the kind of tasks and This does not make the principle any more activities involved and on which I can then anchor a palatable, even though it may be necessary to discussion of Commonwealth and State relation­ agree that some centralism is inevitable under ships, Again, I have had some recourse to Ron present circumstances,

14 15 Parry's paper in which he quotes Grant Harman's the funds, why shouldn't we have a say in it?' is teaching activities go through somewhat the same as illustrated in Volume II of the TEe Report for 'Taxonomy of Coordination' published in his occa­ rather remarkable. The insensitivity of the Com­ route at the Commonwealth level, being forwarded 1979-81 Triennium and certain comments in the sional paper NO.3 for the Anderson Inquiry in South monwealth is well shown in the Tertiary Education directly to the Universities Council for considera­ recently published Sax Committee Report on Australia and then goes on to add several other Commission Report for the 1979-81 Triennium, tion. Nursing Education. tasks to the Harman list. For my purposes j prefer a Volume II (pp 153/154) The Advanced Education much simpler list leaving a number of the tasks Council, in talking about the proposal for devolution The Tertiary Education Commission in the Volume II The Study Leave Report, of course, imposes a mentioned by Harman and Parry to be considered of responsibility for funding, advises the Commis­ Report already quoted states as follows: number of restrictions on the autonomy of institu­ more as the implementation stage. I suggest, sion as follows: tions to use their resources as they see fit, and pro­ 1.57 Given the almost static position of therefore, that planning and coordination in post­ poses to establish a monitoring system to make secondary education are concerned with the C. 8 7 The Advanced Education Council, University and Advanced Education however, advises that in its view the enrolments and the need to consolidate sure that institutions conform. following: responsibility for making recommendations course offerings, particularly in the to the Commonwealth Government on Advanced Education sector, the Commis­ With respect to teacher education, the Tertiary • establishing an overall philosophy for the post­ aflocations of recurrent funds for individual sion will be reluctant to permit the com­ secondary education system; Education Commission really excels itself. On page institutions should remain with the Commis­ mencement of a new teaching activity in 43 it says: * planning broad goals within that philosophy; sion. This wi/{ ensure the balanced and 1979 or 1980 unless there'are strong

16 17 of States, the view has been taken that The Attitude Towards the Sectors States more than in others. The past five years sensitive to the relationships involved and to the comment is justified for two reasons. First. have certainly seen the emergence of a regulatory basic principles that are important to institu­ an impressive volume of evidence has The responsibilities of the Western Australian Post role. tion health and vitality. been taken and the community should not Secondary Education Commission (with one be deprived of its analysis. Second, and of qualification) are the same with respect to Univer­ Accountability Similarly, it is accepted that a return to complete more direct significance, the Com­ sities, Colleges of Advanced Education and State responsibility for post secondary education monwealth pays 50% of the net operating costs of hospitals. including their schools technical institutions. Because of the very different One of the difficulties that emerges from the seems unlikely, since opposition exists in some of nursing. ways of working within each sector, as far as the present system is knowing who is accountable for States and certainly in many institutions. Probably Commonwealth is concerned, the State Commis­ what. An institution is left to some degree in limbo. the whole university sector at least would prefer The recommendations that follow would affect sion has to adopt very different policies and pro­ On the one hand it operates under State legislation. the present arrangement, and certainly many col­ drastically State departments of Health and State cedures. While this is in part a result of history and On the other, colleges and universities obtain their leges would do so too. It is necessary in my hospitals and it should be remembered also that in part the result of State legislation so that the finance and a great deal of their instructions from opinion, however, to try to work towards some this Committee was established by the Com­ Commonwealth cannot be held entirely respon­ the Commonwealth Government. Quite apart from solution of the problem which is positive and not monwealth with four representatives of the Minister sible, nevertheless for a State coordinating authori­ any crunch situations which may arise, the general just an uneasy compromise. I believe with good wi!! for Health and four representatives of the Minister ty with responsibilities across more than one sec­ atmosphere of uncertainty seems to be dysfunc­ that it can be done. for Education and two nominees of the Hospital and tor, complications ensue. Planning and coordina­ tional. In these days when the emphasis is upon Allied Services Advisory Council. Its Chairman was tion within a State surely requires that all post accountability, and when we need to work very As a final comment on the present state of affairs, I also appointed by the Commonwealth Government. secondary education institutions have a common hard at it in a sense of professional commitment draw your attention to the rash of formal inquiries meeting point with the coordinating authority. While and with as much institutional autonomy as pos­ which have been considered necessary because The Growth of Bureaucracy most of the procedures do and should depend on sible, I believe that the whole situation leaves the existing planning and coordinating machinery goodwill and a desire on the part of the institutions something that is sadly lacking. must be regarded as inadequate to cope with the As may be expected, many of the features of to work for the good of the system as well as for situation. These have occurred at the Com­ classical bureaucracy emerge in a system as com­ themselves, frustrations can and do occur and Final Comments monwealth level (Williams, Auchmuty, Sax) and in plicated as the one which administers post second­ coordination is often inefficient. As indicated the majority of the States (Partridge, Anderson, ary education in Australia. Some of the features above, the Commonwealth involvement accen­ The present Commonwealth/State relationships are Partridge again and Carney). The !ist is by no which can be well documented are as follows: tuates the situation rather than causes jt. very confused, to say the least. Some of the dif­ means complete. Surely serious questions must be ficulties that emerge for Commissions and per­ raised about the adequacy of the present Com­ III The gradual development of bureaucratic Stopping and Starting manent staff are very much a result of the uncertain monwealth and States' procedures and relationship machinery and complicated procedures for obtain­ political situation. There is certainly no guarantee if we can only solve our problems by major ing approvals; Surely nothing can have been more disturbing in that many of the difficulties would not arise within a interventions of this type. • The tendency to delay proposals which are recent years than the uncertainty which has sur­ State if the State coordinating authority is not highly somewhat different from normal, either by just rounded the planning and implementation of post losing it in the machinery or in the case of course secondary education. The dramatic and traumatic proposals by delaying a decision until a policy for events of 1973-74 set off an era of uncertainty Australia has been developed: from which the country has not yet recovered. It III A tendency to apply blanket policies to would surely have been better to have a more Australia as a whole without regard to the particular gradual developmental phase rather than the circumstances of States or situations within States; stop/start situation that has prevailed in recent .. The increasing power of permanent officers years. and the involvement of specialists, say, from the Department of Finance in the procedures; and It may well have been that because of the cir­ .. The readiness to impose demands for informa­ cumstances attached to economic development, or tion and decision making requiring rapid responses lack of it, the States would have found themselves in contrast to the delay in responding to State pro­ in a similar kind of situation. Undoubtedly some posals. restriction of growth would have been inevitable, yet it seems apparent that the involvement of the The above may sound like sour grapes but in fact Commonwealth made it much worse. It is my there are sufficient examples to document them. A opinion that greater control of planning within the delay in finalising the 1978 Budget for the advanc­ State and, therefore, much better face to face in­ ed education sector in Western Australia from teraction between the institutions and the Commis­ December 1977 to the current period, less than sion on the one hand and the Commission and two months before the end of the academic year, is Government on the other, might have avoided one example. The turning down of, proposals for some of the unnecessary excesses of action and courses of the liberal arts type in teachers colleges reaction that have taken place. for diversification until the whole thing can be examined for general policy development is The difficult circumstances of recent years another example, and so the list can go on. It may themselves possibly contributed towards the be that this is an inevitable feature of bureaucratic increase in more restrictive procedures. Neverthe­ organisations and the accusation has been made less it is true that in the early days of Com­ often with justification that the same thing applies monwealth involvement, particularly in the second within the States. The involvement of the Com­ half of the sixties, the Commonwealth committees monwealth adds those extra levels. took much more of a stimulatory role - in some

19 18 on the shoulders of the student himself". (ibid., Lack of Funds CRISIS MANAGEMENT Hore p.113). But let us actively prevent the foUow.ing Higher Education parody on orchestral efficiency becoming Even without supporting innovations, the cost of Advisory and Research Unit appropriate to this institution: maintaining tertiary institutions increase~ annually, Monash UniverSity through inflation and "incremental creep (the cost A time-and-motion study team investigated of automatic salary increments for staff on all but an orchestra and came up with several the top rung of their respective salary lad~ers). money-saving recommendations, for exam­ Something over 85 % of the cost ?f running. a This article was first published in Notes on Higher Educa­ which they dislike" In the following issue of the ple, university is taken up by paying sala.nes. so while tion Monash University: HEARU, No. 13 June 1978. Supplement, Mrs. Williams, the Secretary of State .. Since ten violinists are playing the same one can increase the length of time between for Education and Science in the United Kingdom, melody, sack nine and amplify the sound maintenance rounds and stop expenditure on In an earlier paper I discussed factors external to warned universities that they must discuss the electronically. capital works, the majority of decisions will involv.e the universities likely to affect higher education. future or if they "did not make the extremely dif­ .. Some musical phrases are repeated - finding money from the salary budget and Will This issue looks at the proposals which institutions ficult decisions necessary, the government would this seems a waste; omit all repetitions. .. It is recommended that all pieces be directly affect some staff positions. Such as: in Australia and overseas have either suggested or have to impose its own solution". This paper is already implemented in response to "steady state" played at twice the indicated speed, as this called "Crisis Management" because tertiary in­ would save a significant portion of the or­ e a freeze on all staff vacancies condit"lons. The term "steady state" "IS used here to stitutions have been forced by default, into reacting chestra's time, (and so on.) o a freeze on all promotions indicate a lack of additional funds being injected in­ to governmental well-intentioned action or whim. • a freeze on all increments . to the system to promote growth and/or develop­ Usually, the reaction has been made at short notice All these actions save money but they are nonsen­ • encouraging staff to seek outside consultancles ment and generally the collective intelligence of the sical since they destroy orchestral music. Simil~rly .. encouraging staff to seek secondment institutional decision-makers has enabled it to find external pressures on universities may force inst~tu­ elsewhere Background creative solutions. Whether a reactive stance is tions to reduce or abolish small group teaching • encourage leave without pay . inevitable or whether the locus of action should since it is expensive. The managerial use of cost­ • offer fractional rather than full apPointments, Over the past 25 years there has been a significant shift towards an institution considering alternative benefit analysis emphasizes quantity at the ex­ which are "secure" if not tenured growth in tertiary education. During that time futures and working actively towards a preferable pense of quality issues and demonstrates a lack of • attempt to improve the efficiency of the lecturer eleven of Australia's nineteen universities were future, has been discussed elsewhere (Hore, Linke understanding of an academic's task. A recent (and the student) founded and student numbers quadrupled. This and West, 1978) and is not pursued here. The example of this is seen in Holland where, from May • increase the size of the group to be taught buoyant condition was supported both by industry most urgent need is to persuade academics to take 1 st 1978 academics have to clock in and out, and .. increase staff contact hours and by the general electorate. Many of these points the likely consequences of little growth for the be 'presen't in the university buildings from 8.~O • make more intensive use of the physical and are made in Notes on Higher Education number 1 2, universities seriously. a.m. to 5.15 p.m. each week day. This appites manpower resources through four-~erm years so I need not labour them here. The point I wish to from the most senior professor to the newest • increase the teaching/administrative load emphasise is that "many of the management skHls So let us consider some of the problems of "steady typist (Times Higher Education Suppfement, 24 • legislate to restrain academic sal~ries to make which were highly desirable .. in the last 30 years state" institutions and the solutions which have March, 1978, No. 333). them less attractive by comparison With other ar~as may no longer be the skills which are needed in the appeared in writings by academics, administrators • make promotion less attractive by heavy taxation next 30 years" (Carnegie Council for the Advance­ and commentators. Demand-driven funding, beneficial to institutions in .. introduce a "double-tenure" system of 3 years ment of Teaching, 1975, p. 82). The Carnegie times of growth has led now to closures of institu­ probation, then if satisfactory, an additional 3 years Council goes on to say" ... a good place to start is Accountability tions overseas (the Department of Education ~nd before becoming tenured . with the recognition that growth fosters neither the Science in the United Kingdom proposed clOSing .. replace tenure with a periodic reView for all sta.ff habits of mind nor the organisational arrangements A general effect of slow growth seen in America thirty seven teacher-training institutions; the St~te • impose an internal tax levy on all departments In required for adjusting to declining growth" (ibid., p. and Britain already is that the increasing move to of Washington recommended the abolition of fifty order to fund innovation 85). Cope (1977) in wri1ing about the Australian what has been called accountability, that is, not on­ three degree programmes, out of slightly more t~an • abolish or reduce study leave entitlement scene suggested that new styles of management ly in the sense of the staff of tertiary institutions be­ three hundred, in the state's twenty eight tertiary • reintroduce fees were needed, ones which gave greater control ing more willing to speak up for the values of a ter­ institutions.) In Australia, Professor Butland over planning, evaluation and resource allocation. tiary education, but also in the strict sense of being (National Times, 19th September, 1977) sug­ All of these have been mentioned in the literature One of the problems with this suggestion is that more accountable to the public for the large share gested closing the Guild Teachers' College at from overseas a few have been discussed in within Australia we have very few guidelines about of the gross national product which higher educa­ Ultimo, scaling down the Sydney Teachers' .Col­ Australia, viz the on-going investigation into study coping with a non-growth situation. Aim, et af., tion consumes. Extreme pressures along this line lege and amalgamating others. The Par!ndge leave. 1977, saw this as a major problem throughout the can have a strangling effect on teaching and !earn­ Report on post-secondary education in Victona has world as there were ". . few guidelines and the ing, as this extract from a recent American book made us believe in the possibility of what one com­ As mentioned earlier, the present method of fund­ near absence of shared experience." (p. 154). suggests: mentator has called a "biodegradable" College of ing tertiary education is enrolment-driven, based on Because of this apparent lack, this paper seeks to Instructors are being asked to provide Advanced Education. (Nilsson, 1977) estimated numbers of "efts" - equivalent-tuB-time­ give information about techniques of management evidence that students learn as a result of students or "WSU's" - weighted student units. which appear in the literature so that academic and their teaching. . Educators must develop With an unsympathetic public and government, the administrative staff can think about the implications and adopt relevant standards of account· tertiary sector can expect little growth over t~e Institutions could lobby for a change in the f~rn:ula that these may have for their universities. indeed, it ability. Otherwise, state legislatures, under next decade or two. This raises the two major by which this funding system workS. but thl? IS a is critical that members of the academic community pressures from their constituencies, will im­ doubtful strategy since government IS seeking to pose efficiency criteria which might have a problems: consider the issues raised here; otherwise govern­ reduce the expenditure on educat!on. For ma~y detrimental effect on the teaching and ments will take the initiative without the benefit of learning process. (Davis, Abedor and Witt, (1) Lack of funds. institutions or faculties the problem IS one of main­ our contribution. As Dahrendorf says, (Times 1976,p.112). (2) Lack of staff mobility in tertiary education. taining the level of student numbers in :xder to Higher Education Supplement, 17th March, 1978) maintain their level of income. Two techmques to "If institutions of tertiary education do not give con­ While it is unlikely that Australia will move so far attract students have been seen, mainly in the structive answers themselves, they have little down this path it is true that "the day is past when reason to complain about government answers institutions could lay the full blame of student failure

21 20 United States but with some moderated examples In a seminar at The University of Melbourne on Already in these notes some methods of doing this how does the university find the money to buy up in Australia. These are the "Madison Avenue" and November 9th, i 977, Professor D. E. Caro, the have been mentioned - secondment elsewhere, policies or provide the "golden handshakes" which the "Bounty Hunter" approaches. Some colleges then Deputy Vice-Chancellor of that university, leave without pay, fractional appointments, etc., may be involved. The recent move by the Univer­ are employing advertising consultants to present highlighted one of the two problems associated but if one asks one's colleagues about staff mobil­ sity of Melbourne to consider an internal superan­ the most attractive collegiate image. An embryonic with the lack of mobility, when he said that ity, they are usually complacent and expect that nuation fund and the withdrawal from the scheme form of this approach was used by a college in academic staff as they become older, "lack incen­ there will be movement of staff out of the university presently run by insurance companies, may pro­ Melbourne which used a "Women Wanted" poster tives, become increasingly conservative, more dif­ and other institutions by (1) "Normal" turnover to vide a solution. to attract females into its engineering department. ficult to change and motivate and possibly lazy and other jobs, (2) Death and (3) Retirement. let's eX" A local newspaper (The Herald, 24 December, less innovative". The second problem is that staff at amine each of these: How many senior academics would feel like the 1976) commented that it was more like a recruit­ the lower levels will become increasingly more mili­ Vice-Chancellor of Keele University who resigned ment poster for a massage parlour than an educa­ tant. Two years ago in The Times Higher Educa­ (1) Staff Turnover. In 1967 the staff turnover rate four years before retirement and was reported in tional establishment. The bounty hunter approach tional Supplement (16.6.76), it was reported that: in Australian universities was 28%. By 1976 the The Times Higher Educational Supplement (No. has not yet been seen here, but could emerge if turnover rate was 7.6% (Tables 5.6 and 5.7 in 310,14110/77) as saying: " ... it would improve fees are re-introduced; it offers cash incentives to The growth of faculty unionism in an era of Universities Commission Report for 1977-79 the opportunity for promotion of younger men and any student who can persuade another to enrol! increasing austerity promises to be the Triennium, July, 1976). By inspecting the univer­ women if more senior members retired early". source of most important intra-mural con­ sity and college employment columns of The Times lack of Staff Mobility flicts in academe in the next decade, Higher Education Supplement or The Australian Fractional Appointments Perhaps a more acceptable option is to move from The notion of "collective bargaining" wi!! emerge one would guess that, in 1978, this percentage The most difficult prospect for academic staff to would be even lower. a full position to a fractional appoIntment. Apart face will be the significant decrease in mobility, again, prompted this time by questions of account­ from the obvious taxation benefits, and the ubi­ ability, as well as by the earlier concerns for greater either upwards, to higher academic levels in their quitous problems of superannuation,. it may ~e involvement in institutional decision-making. Some (2) Death. Academic lifE: does not seem to own institution or other institutions, or sideways; possible to sweeten a fractional appoIntment With commentators have suggested (Fox & Blackburn, predispose persons towards an early death. When movements to other institutions/departments at the an increase in status - personal chairs with all the 1975) that if the goals of academics and ad­ one realises that the average age of the pro­ same level of salary. Mobility will be restrained by fessoriate (professors, readers and associate pro­ titles and privileges or "Senior Readers" who are lack of growth in all sections of higher education, ministrators are similar then collective bargaining is unlikely. fessors) at Monash University is 47 years, and insulated from all duties other than research. except for the Technical and Further Education 66% of academic staff of lecturer and above are section, by the relative youth of persons in senior Early retirement and moves towards fractional The most likely way to obtain the finance necessary under the age of 44 years, death does not seem to academic positions (I wi!! return to this point later) appOintments are not unattractive and they would to maintain the present system, with its built-in cost be an answer. and by the blocking of promotion prospects be voluntary decisions at the academic and not an escalations such as "incremental creep", or to fund through the aggregation of staff at the top rung of imposed solution like retrenchment. new developments, is to recoup some of the 85% (3) Retirement. In the University Commission's each salary range (see Fig. 1 for the distribution of Report for the 1977-79 Triennium it was stated Monash University academic staff). or more of recurrent funds spent on salaries. The interesting question is "how?" (Section 3.29) that retirements over the next five Retrenchment years in the total university system ". are In times of expansion one has never considered Distribution of Academic Staff by Salary Range expected to constitute only about one-half of one that university staffs would ever be faced by the percent of the total academic staff of 12,000". If prospect of retrenchment. If mentioned in conver­ Retirement Pattern by Year and Grade there are to be only 60 retirements ov~r the next sation it would always be countered by some com­ five years in the whole of Australia then "normal" ment about the security of tenure. But in the __..... _ ..._ .. ..::::J Associate Prof/Reader retirement does not appear to be a solution either. October, 1977 Newsletter (No. 7716) of the Figure 2 gives the retirement pattern by year and Federation of Australian University Staff Associa­ grade for Monash University and shows that in the tions an article appeared entitled "You may think five years between 1978 and 1982, only five Pro­ you have tenure - but have you?" The article fessors, one Associate Professor/Reader, four indicated that out of the 1 9 Australian Universities Senior Lecturers, two Principal Tutors and one only six had tenure in the "true" sense of. "A Senior Tutor will retire. permanent apPOintment until retirement - subject .. Professor to dismissal only in cases of ill-health, gross o Associate ProflReader In some departments no professorial vacancies will misconduct or dereliction of duty" _Monash Univer­ II1l Senior Lecturer occur until after the year 2008. sity was not a member of that group but one of a B Lecturer Lecturer o Principal Tutor group of six where sub-professorial staff could be Possible Remedies dismissed without cause provided six months The ilonLonlal l'IlCS ,_. 1 Q Senior Tutor wllil,n QracJ"s rcpresent I t:lI Tutor notice was given. To this time in Australia few, if ddfere[]t s81ary scalps Early Retirement any, cases of dismissal of tenured staff have been Principal Tulor As one book put it one needs to "precipitate migra­ seen, but it remains a legal possibility. In those tion", and as we have seen "normal" retirement will universities with "qualified" tenure, financial ex­ .-----T not assist, so we need to consider the possibility of igencies provide the legal loophole which Ameri~an _._--J. early retirement - an estate which one writer administrators have used in successfully defeating l~ called "Pedagogicide". One can see that retire­ actions brought against tertiary institutions by Senior Tutor ment at 55 years of age would have a major effect tenured staff. on the distribution shown in Fig. 2, but would It be an attractive proposition for academic staff? The­ Retraining problem appears to be the drop in the level of in­ Declining student numbers in specific sections of a Tutor come the staff member will accept or alternatively, university mean either decreasing income or an

22 23 Most commentators agree that a new type of stu­ their part every academic needs to examine increase in the workload on staff in other sections, What of the Future? seriously the issues raised here and prompt ad­ since up to now staff have not been relocated or dent should be attracted - the mature student. Mrs. Williams, The Secretary of State for Education ministrators to take a more active stance towards retrained for other positions. But for how long can Are all universities ready with policies and plans? and Science in the United Kingdom emphasized the future. personal research time be allowed to expand in Have they all established a group to look into the direct proportion to the decline in students future like the University of Queensland's group of (THES, No. 334, 7/4/78) References attracted to one's discipline? Retraining for posi­ futurologists which has been charged with the task tions outside the university or within it is favoured in of planning for the next twenty-five years (OROS, that these non-traditional students the literature; one mention was made of the would have to be drawn in by deliberate Alm, K,G,. Ehrle, E.B. and Webster, B.Ft Managing September 1977, p. 2). Or, instead of anticipating educational planning, in particular the crea­ faculty reductions. Journal of Higher Education, 1977. possibility of taking out "mid-stream" insurance to the future and creat"lng the most preferable from a tion of links between the universities and 48.153-163 support redundant staff wishing to "change range of possible futures, will most universities the continuing education system. One or Campbell, R. Flexibility in a steady state university. horses". lurch from crisis to crisis? We see evidence of such two year bridging courses would have to be Vestes, 1977,20.9-17. forward planning from the Department of Education developed to bring people up to the univer­ Cope, R.G. Some new higher education realities. Univer­ Rood (1977 p. 123) stated that: and Science in Britain with its five models for the sities' two A-level entry requirement. sity of Melbourne Gazette. December, 1977 future up to 1995 (THES No. 329, 24/2/78). Davis, R.H., Abedor, A,J. and Witt, P.W.F, Commitment Termination has a more dramatic effect Perhaps, at Monash at least, the recently establ­ A compromise will need to be made between ex­ to excellence: a case study of educational innovation. than ever before: not only are there fewer ished Council Planning Committee wHi accept the cellence and survival - but this compromise does Michigan: Michigan State University, 1976. openings, but appointments are frequently not mean lowering the standards and debasing the Fox, T.G_ and Blackburn, R.T. Factors influencing task when it can untangle itself from the demands medical school faculty disposition towards collective restricted to the minimum salaries. To stay, for submissions from the Tertiary Education Com­ degree but providing "pre-university" courses, protest and fight becomes more attractive. bargaining. Journal of Medical Education, 1975, 50, miSSion. perhaps in the summer period, to provide potentia! students with the required pre-requisites. This may 229-236. Flexible ranking Hare, T., Linke, R.D. and West, L.H.T. The future of Along with the University of Queensland, the entail academic staff acquiring new skills in task higher education in Australia. Melbourne: Macmillan, Flexible ranking is a personal move to return to a analysis and course design. Mrs. Williams con­ lower rank (Mann, 1973) for example, a pro­ Australian National University has shown some con­ 1978 cern for problems of the steady state (Campbell, tinued: Mann, W.R. Is the tenure controversy a red herring? fessor reverts to a reader or senior lecturer level Journal of Higher Education, 1973, 44, 85-94. position. It is not "management-prompted" and may 1977) one item from which led to the following Nilsson, N_ Hobart: the case of a disappearing C.A.E. parody: The traditionally central role of academic appeal to some senior academics. staff as teachers in British universities will HERDSA Newsletter, 1977,3,5-10. be crucial for their expansion into new Rood, H.J_ Legal issues in faculty termination. Journal of Protected positions ;'If money cannot be found for expansion areas though teacher-training for Higher Education, 1977, 48. 123-152 When positions are scarce applications are and new appointments" said Mr. Fitzgerald, academics - stiff largely neglected - wiff The Carnegie Council for the Advancement of accepted only from citizens of the country where ''ANU will have more senior citizens on its need to be developed. Teaching. More than survival: prospects for higher staff in twenty years than the Goodwin education in a time of uncertainty. San Francisco: the vacancy occurs. In the United Kingdom work Homes for the Aged. In this case, universi­ At least in Australia, 1 5 of the 1 9 universities have Jossey-Bass, 1975 permits perform this task, and according to a THES ty planning will need to reflect the re­ teaching-research units, but before they can plan report (No.305, 2/9/77) one university was asked quirements of its ageing staff. " to state that there was no British applicant who could have done adequately a job which was given Mr Fitzgerald outlined some possible to a Canadian citizen. developments:

Some of these remedies are in the control of the .. Replacement of the university creche by an intensive care unit for senior lecturers; individual (e.g. early retirement, fractional appoint­ "Large print editions of newspapers and ments); some are institutional decisions (e.g. books for common rooms and libraries; retrenchment), but some are within the ambit of .. The fitting of stairs with ramps for easier governments. Earlier in this article mention was manoeuvring of wheelchairs; made of making academic positions less attractive "The elimination of alcoholic drinks from by reducing study leave; similarly legislat"lon could the staff bistro in favour of pharmaceutical be enacted to require mandatory percentage salary preparations; reductions (Sprenger & Schultz, 1974), or other­ .. Emphasis on youth drug development and gland transplants at the John Curtin School wise restrain salaries so they compare less of Medical Research; favourably with comparable positions outside '" Young female undergraduates may be academia. asked to walk more slowly.

Career Aspirations The Tertiary Education Commission wi/!, no doubt, be asked to examine these pro­ While the career grade of the majority of academics posals. is said to be senior lecturer, the staff in univerSities now have entered and progressed through a (ANUAeporter, 26Nov., 1976). developing system where higher aspirations could As humorous as that may appear, the problem re­ be entertained and achieved. More people will have quires a re-examination of course offerings in order to settle on the career grade of senior lecturer, be to maintain student numbers and therefore, under prepared to wait longer to get there and seek job­ the present system, income. satisfaction within that framework.

25 24 THE UNIVERSITY Kevin Hince Discontent among the non-professorial staff at the to the Trade Union Congress. Nationally, however. Industrial Relations Progr2:rmnc then new provincial universities before the first ASTMS accounts for a small minority of academic TEACHER STRIKES - University of Melbourne World War provided the origins of AUT. The non­ staff. and has no official bargaining recognition. OR ALMOST! professorial staff claimed that, relative to the pro­ fessors, they did a large part of the work without The main events of 16 November were conducted appropriate salary or status levels. A conference ullder the auspices of AUT, although as we shall was first held in 1917, the AUT was formed nat­ see, a small glimmer of inter-union (association) ionally in 1 91 9, and a Scottish association in rivalry was evident. Clerical staff, secretarial staff, The initial drafts of this paper were completed whilst the events had been organised and publicised by the 1922. A merger in 1949 made the single union of junior administrative and library personnel on author was Visiting Fellow at the Industrial Relations Association. after the decision had been taken at today.:> university campuses are organised (if at all) by the Research Unit, University of Warwick, Thanks are offered an Emergency Council meeting called under the National Association of Local Government Officers to the Director and staff of the Unit. to my colleagues at AUT rules and held on 30 September. The AUT is comprised of approved local associa­ (NALGO), and were not, along with the manual the Industrial Relations Programme, University of tions each based on a campus of a university, col­ unions, involved in the 'day of action'. Melbourne and to Professor Bill Howard. Monash Univer­ sity for comments and assistance. Responsibility remains The semantics referred to above have a relevance lege or associated institution. Council is the mine. to one aspect of this dispute, namely, the use of governing body of the Association charged with the Salary Determination Procedures 'nice' and 'nasty' words to rationalise, explain, determination of policy. It consists of repre" For some twenty years prior to 1963 the salaries Introduction justify human behaviour in general, and industrial sentatives elected by local Associations,4 members of university teachers in the UK were settled on the relations behaviour, in particular. Nevertheless, the of the Executive (ex-officio), and up to eight co­ basis of a recommendation to Government by the The sse news on the morning of Wednesday, 1 6 'name' is not central, and certainly not as significant opted members. Ordinary meetings of Council are University Grants Committee (UGC),5 made after November 1977 announced that 6000 university as the event itself. and more particularly, why it held twice-yearly at a minimum of eight weeks discussion with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors teachers would march on Parliament that afternoon happened. It is to these aspects that the following notice. The rules provide for calling special Council and Principals, and the AUT. In 1963-64 there was in a mass demonstration 'against the government comments are directed. meetings at 21 days notice for a specified purpose a departure from this practice when the National pay policy'. at the request of 25 Council members. Altern­ Incomes Commission was asked to investigate Two key themes emerge from this micro case atively the President may at his discretion after university salary levels. Increases averaging 14 per Subsequently that afternoon over 6000 1 con­ study; one specific and narrowly related to the receiving such a request convene an Emergency cent were recommended. The old procedure was gregated at Central Hall, Westminster in the academic community, the other broader and more Meeting of Council at 7 days notice. !n such Cases resorted to in 1966, but two years later the shadow of the Abbey and after a mass meeting general in its implications for students of industrial the meeting comprises one representative of each National Board for Prices and Incomes was given marched, under police escort, across to Parliament relations. The specific theme is the focus on the local association voting on behalf of the group. the task of 'investigating and reporting', Subse­ House to lobby MPs. Later, a delegation met the slow, but steady creation of industrial militancy in a quently the current negotiating structure emerged. Secretary of State for Education, group of workers who, historically, (and in a con­ Council elects a President, five Vice-Presidents This structure is based on two negotiating commit~ temporary social sense) embody conservatism, and a Treasurer. These officers, the Honorary tees known as Committee A and Committee B, Was this the seeds of an intellectual revolt against elitism, industrial weakness and characteristics of a Secretary of the AUT of Scotland, fifteen ordinary supplemented by third party mediation and arbitral the broad ineptitudes of the government? Or was it positive anti-militancy.2 The broad and more members (also elected by Council) and up to three procedures,s a case of militancy of the weak in search of increas­ general theme is that yet another case study co-opted members comprise the Executive of ed sustenance? Was this a 'strike', a 'lobby', a 'day focuses on the implications of government spon­ AUT. All are lay officials. The Executive is respons­ Initial negotiations occur in Committee A between of action' - all words used by commentators to sored 'voluntary' income restraint for public sector ible to Council for the execution of policy and the representatives of the AUT and the University describe the activities, both prior to and subse­ employees or public funded work groups, as well general administration of the Association. A Authorities Panel (UAP) with a member of the UGC quent to the event. as the Industrially weak. General Secretary, a Deputy General Secretary, as observer. Negotiations here are to determine a three Assistant Secretaries and approximately fif­ 'joint' university claim to go forward to Committee The posters issued by the Association of University Succeeding sections of this paper look at the teen support office staff service the Executive and B. An independent chairman can assist this initial Teachers (AUT) to advertise the event had referred background to the event - the unions involved the Councils. process by mediation, or, if necessary, arbitration. to a 'National Meeting' and 'National Lobby'. One procedures of salary determination in acade'mia, correspondent to the Guardian earlier in the week the relationship to government pay policy and the The Association has a long history of involvement in Subsequent to an initial agreement the AUT and exemplified this confusion of terminology in a letter, events and attitude in the period leading up to issues related to salaries, superannuation and con­ UAP 'jointly' negotiate on Committee B with which at one and the same time denounced the ex­ November 16 - before outlining the events of that ditions of service of university staff, as well as con­ representatives of the Oepartment of Education cesses of the AUT, announced publicly resignation day. and the aftermath. A final section seeks to cern with the 'state of the profession'. Never­ and Science (DES) supplemented by one Treasury from the Association, and concluded by saying that identify and assess the 'happening' with regard to theless it had no prior history of centralised official and one UGC observer. This departmental it wasn't a strike at any rate because the lecturers Industrial relations generally, and to industrial rela­ direct actio[1 on any issue at all - industrial or representation on negotiating Committee B brings had arranged to give their classes at other times. tions in universities in particular. otherwise government and ministerial involvement to the negotiating process. Further governmental control Academics were away from campus in large The Background The Association of Scientific, Technical and exists via funding and the freedom to implement or numbers but few of the easily recognisable Managerial Staff (ASTMS), a conglomerate union of refuse to implement (as occurred in the case under features of a 'strike' were apparent. Strike pay was The Associations (Unions) technicians, lower and middle level managers, has review) the results of these negotiations or a not involved, picket lines were not established The AUT is, the dominant union organising a component of academic membership as well as subsequent arbitration. learning (production) continued in the libraries, stu~ academic, senior administrative and library staff in organising technical and laboratory staff in univer­ dent rooms, cafes and bars. and with a few excep­ universities. Membership is approximately 27,000, sities. Reasons for academic staff joining ASTMS in Looked at from the point of view of the academic tions, deductions were not made from the individual or about 65 per cent of the potentia!. Organisation preference to AUT included a reaction of junior staff member it must be realised that his associa­ pay packet. The demands of the public image and is strongest in the provincial red brick universities staff to the involvement of more senior academic tion, the AUT, must reach agreement with the private consciences made the emphasis on term­ weaker in the London metropolitan area and colleagues in AUT local associations, a reaction 'employers' organisation (the UAP) on a single pro­ inology important. Although the action may not weakest on the Oxbridge campuses. against the general lack of militancy by AUT, and posal before negotiations with the 'funding' author­ have been a strike, it certainly was official. The the fact that the AUT was not (until 1976) affiliated ity (the DES) are commenced. The procedure

26 27 involves negotiating twice over (with the possibility Provision for exceptions (self-financing productivity to accept the retrospectivity to October 1 974, and The Emergency Meeting of the AUT Council was of arbitration each time) to complete the process, deals, is one already mentioned, 'rectifying announced the implementation date as 1 October held 011 30 September. The Executive recommen­ Even then government policy exercised by the anomaJies' (see later), was another) was included in 1975. Second, the government announced 1 July dation to Council was. that Secretary of State may (did) preclude implementa­ the announced government policy. Each stage of 1975 as the commencement date of the 'pay tion of the result of the process. the policy was endorsed by the TUC at executive policy' and in accordance with these provisions the . . as a first step a national meeting of all and Congress level, and the Government sought to immediate increase to flow from the tribunal award univerSity teachers to be held in central Government Pay Policy - A General Statement operate the policy in the private sector by exhorta­ was limited to £6, (£312 p.a.) London in November, coupled with a lobby The Wednesday in question, the day of the AUT tion. s More direct control existed in the public of Parliament. This would necessarily entail lobby, was the third day of a national strike of sector - via funding, provision of subsidies or The 1977 pay issue for AUT therefore comprised the cancellalion of lectures and tutorials for that day. It would be backed by a campaign firemen. A week earlier a compromise formula had direct ministerial decision making. 16 per cent to fully implement the 1975 arbitration of letters and deputations to MPs with emerged which enabled a planned national strike of (and rectify the anomaly) and an amount to be Government Pay Policy - the case of the AUT special attention paid to those in marginal policemen to be called off at the eleventh hour. In negotiated for the 1977 Stage 3 increase. The seats. 9 the months immediately prior to the day, industrial Negotiations to establish new salary levels for Association maintained a tactical stance of seeking action, both in the form of noises and overt action, academic staff during 1975 were ultimately abor­ to make up the 16 per cent before commencing Other agenda items called for a withdrawal of by more traditionally militant groups - engineering tive, and reference had been made to arbitration. negotiations for the 1977 quantum, This tactic labour by AUT members working for the Univer­ workers, car workers, miners, transport workers­ itself was subject to a wide debate at Executive and sities Central Council (so that the admissions pro­ had been continuous. First time official strike action Agreement had been reached at the Committee A rank-and-file level during the immediate period cedure would grind to a halt), the establishment of.a had been undertaken by groups such as bakers stage, and negotiations with government at Com­ leading up to the 'day of action'. strike fund, withdrawal from all government commit­ and air traffic control assistants, as well as the mittee B leve! focused on a two part claim, Part I tees, refusal to release examination results and firemen referred to above. In most cases the cen­ involved a claim for increases based on broad com­ The Events - 1975 to November, 1977 consideration of strike action on undergraduate tral target was the pay policy of the Labour Govern­ parability along the 'Houghton Report' principles. teaching in the autumn of 1978. ment, or more specifically the restraints imposed Lord Houghton of Sowerby C.H. had been A flurry of localised, low key militancy occurred as on collective bargaining and wage determination appointed by the Government as a committee of an immediate response to the interference with the The more militant proposals were defeated but generally by that pay policy. The unevenness of the inquiry into the pay of non-university teachers. arbitrated award. At Warwick, for example, the voting 230 to 9 Council endorsed the Executive impact of the 'freeze' added to sectional pressures, Sa!ary increases in the range of of 22%-30% local association had voted to suspend teaching recommendation for a mass meeting and lobby. backdated to May, 1974 flowed to teachers in fur­ and held a mass meeting. However, during the The date was set for 16 November. 10 The public stance of both private and public ther education colleges as a direct result. Universi- remainder of 1975, during 1976 and most of employers in the face of wage demands had been , ty staff argued a disturbance of traditional and 1977 there was little activity at the local or rank and The decision having been taken it remained to one of 'regret' and a reply around a variant of the justified relativities, Part II of the AUT claim involved file level, and Executive action was low key. It has organise the activities. Three aspects of the action theme, "we can't, because of the pay policy", or "it a cost of living component from a base date of been suggested as part explanation of this that the were to be a mass meeting (2 pm Central Hall, is outside the guidelines". The private stance of October 1974. £ 31 2 increase was itself a substantial increase Westminster), a mass lobby of members of Parlia­ many private employers when faced with a crisis and the largest for some time, and that during ment (from 3.15 pm on) and a delegation to the and when backs were forced to the wall was to The DES concurred with the underlying principles 1975-76 there was a general community accep­ Secretary of State for Education. The first two of seek a way through the guidelines. The 'self­ but negotiations broke down on the quantum of the tance of a need for an effective pay policy and that these (and probably the third) required mass financing productivity deal' was often the means. In Part I claim. The independent Board of Arbitration a further increase under this policy - of 5 per cent membership support to achieve any semblance of at least one case the government's bluff was sat on 29 May. A joint Committee A submission up to a maximum of £208 p.a. - occurred in tactical gain. Posters announcing the events were called. stressed the structural differences as between October 1976. distributed to individual campuses together with further education and university salaries 'post basic organisational information, Organisation of However, the private stance of the public employer Houghton', whilst a separate UAP memorandum But attitudes changed with the passage of time and the numbers and the mechanical arrangements of could not diverge as much from the public stance stressed recruiting difficulties and that the com­ the lack of results. In August 1977, the local staff transport etc. were left to activists at the local level. and, in general, was limited to expressions of sym­ parability claim was a 'once for an exercise'. Addi­ association at Glasgow started in train the pro­ The equivalent of the barnstorming, flag rallying pathy. The closer connection of government fund­ tiona! AUT arguments covered comparability with cedures (a petition of twenty-five Council represen­ sweep and solidarity call by the official hierarchy ing and/or ministerial control was one explanation, further education coneges, in addition to arguing tatives) necessary to call an emergency meeting of was not used. whilst in the service sectors of public activity and that the absolute levels claimed were justified on the AUT Council. This action appeared to force the enterprise productivity deals were more difficult in the grounds of responsibilities of academic staff, hand of the Executive. In retrospect the ultimate size of the rally (which entry standards, research requirements, qualifica­ theory as welJ as reality. 7 must be gauged inter alia, against this background tion levels and outside comparisons with profes­ The AUT secretariat had continued to press for the of organisation and non-involvement of association The Government pay policy in question had been sional public employment. implementation of the 1975 arbitration award officials) is more clearly indicative of the feeling of formally introduced as part of the 'Social Contract' through the normal negotiating and departmenl injustice motivating at the activist and general rank­ by the White Paper 'Attack on Inflation' issued in The Tribunal decision of 2 June, accepting these channels, and the Executive had continued to and-file level. The writer was, perhaps, initially July 1975, and was to be implemented in suc­ arguments in the main, recommended a 24 per accept assurances that a settlement was imminent. observing the activism in a slightly artificial cessive stages. Stage 1 of the policy operative cent average increase on 1974 levels, and that a The Executive of the AUT could be described, in atmosphere - that of an Industrial Relations from July 1975 placed a limit of £6 per week on separate cost of living increase for the 1974-1975 common with the executives of many other 'profes­ Research Unit and School of Industrial and wage increases from that date, Stage 2 (July period be negotiated for addition to this amount. AU sional' or 'white collar' associations, as more Business Studies. However, even if local interest 1976) provided £2.50 to £4 with a maximum of parties agreed on retrospectivity to October 1 974. militant than the general run of membership, and observed by the writer could be explained by 4 % per cent. whilst a 10 per cent limit was placed the reticence of the Executive can be explained by professional background or discipline, industrial on Stage 3 settlements to be operative in The award of the arbitration tribunal was not an uncertalnty of rank-and-file responses to more relations researchers and teachers could not be 1977-78. Associated with these stages was the implemented and the anomaly of the 1977 'protest militant postures. The Glasgow move precipitated a (praised, blamed) for the extent of rank-and-file 'twelve month rule' seeking to limit settlements to placards' came into existence, chance for the Executive to test the current fee!­ support on the day that mattered. The descriptive that length of interval. ings and attitudes of the membership. cliche used in the report of the rally appearing in the Two separate actions by government were involv­ Morning Star, of Thursday, 17 November, aptly ed. First the government throuQh the DES refused

28 29 describes the all embracing nature and extent of the stated object to minimise the impact on others experience, because for the first time in to read 'ANOMALISE THE RECTIFIER', Those who this support. It stated, 'Contingents had travelled this was to be lauded. The effectiveness (or other­ their lives they had cast aside all the bonds waited 'for the militancy of the mood to be increas­ that constraiQ most people in their every· from Aberdeen, Ulster and Aberystwyth. ' I! wise) of the action was not to be gauged by the and the chant of 'Rectify the Anomaly, Rectify day life. 13 :d physical appearances of the campus. It is more ,he Anomaly to begin, were doomed to positive and appropriate to gauge this from events disappointment. Administrative arrangements for the day - hall The academic was behaving like a worker-or elsewhere. bookings, banners, steward recruitment and almost. and enjoying it. Stewards announced to the organisation, and liaison providing for police Meanwhile the AUT Secretary addressed the waiti~g queue that the hall was full, a second assistance - were undertaken by the central office At the Demo! overflow meeting. A delegation of AUT officers was The Warwick delegation assembled soon after 11 meeting would be held at 3.15 pm and requested of the Association. the queue to disperse. The queue dispersed. This to Illeet the Secretary of State for Education Jater in am in the booking hall of Coventry station. A cheap the evening. was ord~rliness in industrial(?) disputation(?) at its PriQr to detailing the events of the day it is useful to group excursion fare had been arranged and about best. In~lde the ha.1J the General Secretary review­ briefly note the reaction of other interested parties. sixty travelled together. Others had proceeded The Aftermalh ed the hJ,sto.ry Issues the dispute (traditional) In general the stance of university administrators independently by earlier trains, or from more ~nd, o~ The immediate press coverage was extensive and from an obJe~~lve standpoint (of a partisan), made was low key, and they 'played it cool'. As expected convenient stations. A few had driven down the favourable. Lon.don evening papers carried reports. motorway. the (also traditional) calls for solidarity and outlined university administrations turned down a request the arrangements for the events to foHow the and next morning most national dailies presented from AUT to officially close on the day. However, meeting. Perhaps the highlight of the meeting was repo.rts with headlines including, 'Government most administrations refrained from public com­ An announcement was made on the train by one of ~dmlt~ Dons are Badly Paid' (Daily Telegraph), the local shop stewards, a Senior Lecturer in the receptio~ (expected) to the well stage manag­ ments, and many from internally circulated com­ ed presentation of the written parliamentary answer E?ons Salary Scales Lagging By 35%' (Financial ment. At least one administration circularised staff Industrial Relations, that delegates should 'make rimes). The Times Higher Education Supplement their own way from Euston Station to Central Hall'. f:om the Under-Secretary for Education to a ques· asking them to notify the accounts officers if they tlon asked earlier in the House by one Professor !ncluded a lengthy and sympathetic report in the attended the lobby, so that appropriate salary Was this an attempt by AUT to subvert the Issue of November 18, 1977 and continued to arrangements for a 'march' from Euston to Central James, the Conservative MP for Cambridge. The deductions could be made, but in other cases question, which had been carefully framed for report events and comment weekly during H~II organised by the rival ASTMS? As it turned out, internally circulated memoranda were limited to effect, had asked what the arbitration tribunals November and December. dealing with the desirability of making alternative thiS was not a result of inter-union conflict, but merely the failure of inter-union communication. re.commended figures would be today if updated arrangements to fulfil teaching commitments. with movements of the Retail Price Index. The The meeting of the AUT deputation with the Whilst the rest of the Warwick contingent Secretary of State produced little result and was an an~wer t received with acclaim, stated that if the Positive messages of support were issued by proceeded independently the 'steward' belatedly national scales of 1 974 were updated in this anti-climax to the events of the day. The Minister some authorities. In addition the Vice-Chancellor of seeing the march, marched. manner the increases would be in the range of had told the deputation that the university teachers' Leeds University and current chairman of the Com­ ,£1314- £5371, The function and impact of this case was an anomaly that needed righting but any mittee of Vice-Chancellors (Lord Boyle - who inci­ At Central Hall the capacity (approximately 3500) se~tlement must be within Government pay policy. was reached soon after the scheduled 2 pm start­ question and answer' exemplified the role of dentally, but possibly, irrelevantly, was a former 'orchestration'; events do not just occur. ThiS, of course, represented no advance in the Conservative Education Minister) joined the AUT ing time, and a queue of academics extending 2-3 pos!t!on of AUT.14 And no further change in the executive on the platform at the mass meeting. deep for 200-300 yards still waited. Surprise was position occurred prior to the normal Winter Coun­ the clear and immediate reaction of many who Lobby tickets were distributed and the meeting concluded. After the posed press photographs on cil meeting of AUT held at Heriot-Watt University The Day Itself arrived at this time to see the length of the queue, Edinburgh on 15-17 December 1977. ' 8.nd to hear of the packed hall. The overall size of the steps of the hal! the procession moved off Events on the individual campuses and in London the participating group was a comfort. The under ~olice escort through the grounds adjoining Westminster Abbey, across Parliament Square and At this meeting the Salary and Grading Committee are each relevant to the ultimate assessment and presence of an extremely large foot and mounted proposed a modified pay strategy which involved t~e Embankment to form the lobby queues-invita­ impact of the actions. The writer observed the police contingent, controlling the queue, traffic and In effect, postponing for at least 12 months any tl.on holders to the left, ticket holders to the fur~ activities at Warwick and in London first hand (you pedestrian movements (together with re­ ther move to 'rectify the anomaly'. Council agreed. could say he was a fraternal delegate). inforcements sitting in nearby buses), produced nght-along the footpaths outside the main lobby many smiles and chuckles which could perhaps doors of Parliament House. However, it has been shown in retrospect that the On Campus have been interpreted as saying, 'Do they think we temporary gloom of the December annual meeting There were no overt signs of industrial action - are like dockers, or miners?' or 'Do they think this is The good humour, cheerfulness and decorum con­ was premature. It is now a matter of record that on picketing, pre-meeting meetings or assemblies - another Grunwick?12 It was for many, a matter of tinued to be a feature of the long and patient waiting May 5th, 1978 the Government announced a 30% queue, and a heavy shower of rain did not dissipate on the Warwick campus. disbelief that police (and in such numbers) would (appr~x.) s~lary in.crease for University academic be needed to control us! To others it added to the the crowd or the mood. A less than charitable staff, Including an Immediate 10%, (the Stage 3 in­ observ.e.r could explain this by the suggestion that Secretaries were busy (on the backload of past importance, reality and legitimacy of the occasion. cre~se),. and 20% to be phased over three years productivity), junior library staff were issuing books, the British were so used to queuing-for meat (to rectify the anomaly'). The first cash instalment the hum of clerical activity continued, and students Academics cheerily greeted colleagues from scat­ bread, buses etc.,-they were even prepared to wa.s receiv.ed in October 1978. A brief chronology walked, talked, ate and read around and about the tered campuses whom they normally only saw in queue to protest. Needless to say such an of Intervening events is enscapuJated in the follow­ campus. the more cloistered serenity of academic con­ observer would have to be a 'colonia!'. ing headings appearing in The Times Higher Educa­ ferences and conventions. The general mood was tion Supplement: Academic and other senior staff are, of course, a cheerful and of 'bonhomie'. In fact, the writer T.he .same observer would also have noted that the small proportion of the total university population. believes that the description offered by Lane and dignity and decorum of the procession was not 2 December Hopes for phased settlement of Moreover, a large proportion of the work of the Roberts of the reaction of the 'first ever strikers' at marred by the official banners. These read simply 1977 lecturers' pay fade. academic is not clearly observable, need not be the St. Helens Pilkington plant is quite apposite, 'AUT, LOBBY' or 'AUT SAYS RECTIFY THE 23 December Members will refuse to put pen to carried out in the plant and hence the evidence of They said: ANOMALY'. They were clearly in sharp contrast to 1977 examination paper. the 'stopped machine' does not exist. At Warwick the more conventional 'WE WANT MORE' and one 10 March Dons give Government deadline for - except for some postponed classes - it The strike for most of the RFSe (rank-and­ could almost wis.h for at leas~ one wag (y~u usually 1978 improved pay claim. appeared to be largely, business as usual. Given file Strike Committee) was then a liberating get at !east one In a procession) to alter his banner 30 March Legal threat if Dons don't mark 1978 finals.

30 31 28 April Pay surprise as Dons get 'special the university teachers continued into its ninth A case for progressive militancy 5. The University Grants Committee (UGC) comprised 1978 case' treatment. week and a return to work occurred without con­ Militancy is not necessarily a synonym for strike ac­ of (in the main) academics who advise government The official announcement was made on 5 May, cessions straying outside the pay guidelines. The tion. In fact, many of the more militant unions rarely on the overall needs of Universities, receives the firemen's case was a straight pay claim and not an strike or strike in few situations. The concept of total grant and is responsible for the allocation of and then: capital and recurrent grants to individual univer­ 9 May 1978 Lecturers' boycott off (The Guar­ 'anomaly' issue, but the hardened attitude and the progressive militancy is often relevant in such extent of resistance demonstrated by government sities. dian) cases. It is also relevant as a means of changing the Other bodies to be referred to by initials in this sec­ in defence of its pay policy when under threat from nature of an 'association' and its response to tion include: Assessment firefighters clearly suggested that AUT should take, industrial issues. DES-Department of Education and Science, being A brief assessment of the events, actions and at­ with appropriate seriousness, the views expressed the government department currently charged with titudes outlined above is warranted, !n addition to a by the Secretary of State at the deputation and in November 16, and the events of that day are responsibility for universities in particular, and general overall evaluation of the specific case some the letter of 29 September. The changed position significant in the slow but fundamental change in education, in genera!. points of general industrial relations interest warrant on the salary campaign taken at the December the nature of the AUT. The campaign for affiliation UAP-University Authorities Panel, being a representative of Universities as institutions or ad­ brief reference. Council meeting was not unexpected. Never­ with the Trade Union Congress and the ballots of 16 ministrative entities. Input occurs at the Vice­ theless, the academic pay anomaly was to be rec­ 1973 and 1976 were other events indicative of Chancellor, Registrar level. The UAP is concerned The overall evaluation of the campaign tified. Cause and effect, the reaction to the action, this evolutionary change occurring under the solely with salary negotiations. A separate Commit­ The campaign had, in a technical sense, extended are not always precise and identifiable in industria! pressures of time, changed externalities and an tee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals exists for over a long period. Initially, with a quiescent ex­ relations. But if the demonstration of November 16, education for militancy. discussion of other matters of common interest at ecutive and membership, the actions were formal the subsequent letter writing campaign, the an­ that level of the university hierarchies. and low key. The threat to withhold exam results nouncement of the ban on marking final papers, the Conclusion 6. The national negotiating procedures described here and the first day of action of 1975 faded into the press releases and briefings, and the publicity The hard cash question was ultimately settled in have been used to establish salary levels and struc­ associated with such activities, did not 'cause' the ture, annual leave, maternity leave and sick pay. past. The effluxion of time itself was the first factor favour of the academic staff and, although the Local negotiations cover other issues, including to permit a changed mood, and once the initial government to change its stance, they did serve to tenuous chords of causality are recognized, the inter alia: holiday entitlement for library and moves for an Emergency Council meeting were in keep the matter 'hot' and under active considera­ idea of a link between militant action and positive administrative staff, health and safety, creche train there were some sustaining events which tion, and, at least, provided a rationale for govern­ results has been effectively demonstrated. Even if facilities, car parking and the initial support of assisted the momentum to challenge government ment reaction, the money result had not been as favourable it can individual grievance cases. dilatoriness. Subsequently external events would still be argued that the AUT will never be the same 7. Although it can be noted that publiCity surrounding have a more deleterious effect on the momentum The relevance of a sympathetic management again. The size of the demonstration, the the AUT case was quick to point out that in the cur­ The existence of a sympathetic management was geographical spread of the participants and hence rent academic year student numbers were up 6.5% of the campaign. In each case we have clear yet the number of full-time teaching staff increased examples of the importance of a 'proximity in­ of importance in the genera! campaign and in the relative difficulties overcome to attend, and the assisting the scale of response to the 'day of ac­ by only 0.7%. Mr, L. Sapper, General Secretary of fluence'15 at work in industrial relationships. spirit of the day, clearly suggest, at least to this AUT; speaking on this point was quoted as saying: tion'. The positive response of university ad­ observer, that given the cause and the issue it Can you imagine the miners or the engineers Air Traffic Control Assistants had had a similar ministrations and senior academic staff may have would be easier next time. It remains to be seen being expected to take a 6.5% increase in 'anomalies' claim which arose at about the same been based more on concern with 'the brain drain' whether the same could be said about the their workload just like that without any talk time with the first implementation of the pay policy. or recruitment difficulties, but it was not without its Australian counterparts-the academics and their of reward for the effort involved? (Daify A six week strike, which followed a work-to-rule significance. An even more critical point was that associations. Telegraph 17.11.77) the absence of condemnatory or disparaging The potential double-edge of this argument should campaign and shorter strikes, culminated in be noted, however, before joining the applause. negotiations that produced an offer and a settle­ remarks by those important elements of 'manage­ Notes and References ment' allowed the freer participation of many who 8. Minor cases of announced sanctions occurred in ment recognised by the men (and observers) as relation to potential breaches of the policy (e.g. substantially rectifying the anomaly. The Air Traffic would normally identify through aims, aspirations, 1. Close to an average of published estimates: for ex­ threat 'of cancellation of export insurance, govern­ Control Assistants with a clear non-militant record innate conservatism, or fear, with such elements. ample, Daify Telegraph required two guesses, ments orders etc.). Spurious self-financing produc­ had been forced to the threshold, and had driven stating early in the text ' .. , nearly 7000', and tivity deals COUld, in theory, rebound if the firm through the 'proviso' provisions of the voluntary Perception and industrial relations issues following up with' ... police estimates in excess of sought permission from the Prices Commission 5000'; SSC news-'8000'; Morning Star-'over incomes policy. Clearly the AUT was not likely to Green is a bright colour with images of nice things; within twelve months to increase prices. This, of the park, lawn tennis, the countryside. Black 7000'; Financial Times-'more than 5000'. course, did not affect the case of the firm with mount similar action, even if for the only reason that 2. The British academic, in a general sense, has not resources who wanted to pay more. the short-term cost-effectiveness of stopping denotes nastiness, evil and is symbolic of the shown the same degree of group activism on con­ darker side. 'Green bans' are therefore better, 9. Times Higher Education Supplement 30.9.77. lecturing university students is quite different from temporary social and political issues-e.g. Vietnam) 10. Less than charitable observers pointed to the that of stopping civil commercial aviation traffic. nicer and more socially acceptable than the trade apartheid, abortion, nuclear power, the environ­ choice of Wednesday as a further example of the union tactic of the 'black ban'. In essence, of ment, etc.-as students; nor, in so far as one can conservative, non-industrial image conscious nature Nevertheless, the Air Traffic Control Assistants' course, they are the same thing. The relevance and compare, as the Australian academic, (although one of the academics. Wednesday being in the UK, as in importance of terminology and related perceptions wouldn't necessarily place the latter with the ultra Australia, traditionally, a lighter day in terms of lec­ case did provide moral support in that it militant on all of these issues). Moreover one com· demonstrated the wiUingness of the Government to in industrial behaviour was reiterated in the AUT ture and teaching commitments (historically, sports mentator has suggested that the British academic afternoon to be more precise), disturbance to the redefine or re-interpret the precise meanings of the 'lobby', 'demonstration', 'protest', 'rally', 'day of ac­ tion', 'strike'. The confusion surrounding the has even failed to rise to defend academic freedom. individual conscience would be lessened. guidelines of the pay policy. Furthermore, this case See, for example: A. Arblaster, Academic Freedom, writers' inability to clarify the terminology used in The experienced industrial relations observer would again re-affirmed the necessity for public sector Penguin, especially Chapter 6. have, perhaps, been more charitable and seen prac­ employees to engage in a continuous challenge this paper should not be allowed to obscure the 3. See H. Perkins, 'Manchester and the Origins of tical wisdom and public relations benefits in this during a period of income restraint policy. Other­ issue, and the lesson that, in the final analysis, it is AUT', British Universities Annual, 1964, pp. choice, and in the decisions to rearrange rather than wise the non-policy of 'let sleeping dogs He' would the events and actions which ar~ significant rather 88-91. Also H. Perkins, Key Profession-The cancel lectures. Each of these actions sought to continue to apply. than the terminology. However, it is the ter­ History of the Association of University Teachers. minimise the effect on that oft-injured and much minology which may enable the events and actions 4. Local associations elect council representatives in quoted casualty of employee-employer disputa­ to take place. the ratio 1: 1 25 or part thereof of financial member­ tion-innocent third parties. In any event the However, the national strike by firemen which com­ ship, with a minimum of 5 representatives. National Union of Students announced support for menced three days before the London protest of actions of AUT.

32 33 11. The cliche refers to the three relative most See AUT Bulletin, November 1977, p. 4. UNIVERSITIES AND Alan Bacoan geographically dispersed campuses in Scotland. 15 See J. Shister, "Logic of Union Growth", Journal of Political Economy, October 1953, pp, 413-433 Department of Education Northern Ireland and Wales. TEACHER TRAINING Universily of Newcastle 12. In the week prior to the academic 'day of action' for discussion of this concept. over 100 arrests and 70 injuries were reported on 16. In 1973 a proposal to affiliate with the TUC was re­ the picket line at Grunwick Processing Laboratories, jected by a 2:1 majority (approx.) in a ballot of North London. membership. The campaign for affiliation restarted In Australia, as in Britain, America and other little discussion at the time, partly because of the 13. T. Lane and K. Roberts, Strike at Pilkingtons, almost immediately. For example, Mr. L. Murray, "western" countries, some sectors of tertiary great shortage of teachers and the willingness of Fontana, p. 167. General Secretary of the TUC, accepted an invita­ education face reduced enrolments resulting from state Departments of Education to let universities 14. The position held by the Secretary of State was the tion to address the Executive in December 1974. a falling demand for teachers. In addition, the meet some of the cost of teacher training. The Correspondence and debate on the issue was same as that expressed in a letter from her to the adverse economic climate which has prevailed articles and other writings which did discuss the AUT dated 29 September, stating, inter alia: recommended in the AUT Bulletin. In 1976 a 2: 1 since 1 974 has encouraged moves to economise It has been and remains our decfared intention majority (approx.) voted in favour of affiliation. new trend were mainly by proponents of university by consolidating the number of institutions under­ participation in teacher training. to see the anomaly rectified as soon as the taking teacher training. Rationalisation, redundancy Government's pay p0/icy permits. and retrenchment have become the 3 R's of ter­ Today the falling demand for teachers makes tiary education. university participation in teacher training program­ mes a matter for debate. !t has also raised the University involvement in teacher training is a question of the role of colleges of advanced educa­ recent development in Australia. True, in the 19th tion in teacher training. Once again, however, the century a few students at training schools attended danger is that decisions will be taken and a new

universities part-time. The training colleges were pattern emerge without much serious discussion. j saved the expense of providing academic courses, the thinly-populated universities obtained a few The Falling Demand for Teachers more students. But the universities took no part in the actual training of these student-teachers, In the In 1976, for the first time since 1940, the supply first half of the 20th century a few universities con­ of teachers started to exceed the demand. "Our ferred diplomas in education. But these training present production of teachers means we will soon courses were actually provided by neighbouring be in over-supply" the Federal Education Minister, state teachers' colleges. Although some of these Senator Carrick, warned in July, 1976. He remark· colleges were located in university grounds, this ar­ ed that many students were now being trained in rangement was simply to give the college ad­ areas in which they could not expect employment. ministration closer contact with undergraduate students on teacher training scholarships. It also The current surplus of teachers applies equally to made it easier for college lecturers to offer Educa­ primary and secondary schools. In 1971 tion as an undergraduate Arts subject. But enrolments in N,S. W. state primary schools these Education subjects were academic or reached a peak of 504,11 o. By 1 975 they were general ones, not professional, teacher training down to 490,769, a fall of 2.6%. This fall will con­ subjects. In many cases the Principal of the tinue with the declining birthrate. However there is Teachers' College was also part-time Professor of a slight bulge in enrolments within the primary Education. school and this should reach secondary schools in 1982. It was the growth of post-graduate research work (B.Ed, M.Ed., and even Ph.D courses) which forc­ In N.S.W. state secondary schools, however, ed the separation of universities and colleges. Full­ enrolments have been consistently rising: time Professors of Education were appointed at Melbourne in 1939, at Sydney in 1947. University 1971 257,600 1975 298,400 Faculties or Departments of Education started to 1972 277,800 1976 303,400 expand. 1973 282,000 1977 307,400 1974 286,900 The growth of secondary education in the 1950's and 1960's increased the demand for graduate Enrolments should continue to increase until 1980. teachers and provided an opportunity for other universities to move into teacher training. In 1948 The annual increase has fluctuated - 20,200 in the University of Tasmania took over all teacher 1972; 4,200 in 1973; 4,900 in 1974; 11,500 in training in Tasmania. This arrangement proved un­ 1975; 5000 in 1976; and 4000 in 1977. This satisfactory and the Department of Education soon fluctuation reflects variation in the number staying re-established teachers' colleges, though the on at school in Years 11 and 12, I.e. beyond the university continued its teacher training pro­ minimum school leaving age. The "persistence gramme. After about 1954 most other universities rate" responds to economic conditions, particularly entered directly into the job of training future the condition of the labour market. In 1971 29.2% secondary and even primary teachers. This great of the 1966 Year 7 intake had reached Year 12. In incursion of universities into teacher training raised 1972 the proportion which had persisted to year

34 35 12 rose to 31.2%.lt dropped to 31.1% in 1973 are heavily committed to technical education, lege, which then provided a Diploma in Education irrelevance and seek to become change others to teacher training. Many universities course on behalf of the University of Sydney. agents who educate teachers for the best and 29.8% in 1974. Then it recovered to 30.2% of all non-existent worlds. in 1975 and in 1976 passed the previous 1971 throughout Australia are highly dependent on required student teachers to take two major methods (e.g History Method and English Method) peak by reaching 31.3%. trainee teachers for their students, especially in The academic freedom which is granted to uni­ and one minor method (e.g. Latin Method). Today day enrolments in Arts faculties. An awkward situa­ versity lecturers - and properly so - makes it hard in some institutions the requirement has shrunk to On the other hand, in 1977 the number entering tion arises. to develop a coherent "philosophy of teacher train­ two methods and in others to one method. Yet it is universities, colleges of advanced education and ing" in university Diploma in Education courses. well-known that most teachers will teach at least technical colleges seems to have stablilized if not On the other hand, the fall in the demand for Each lecturer is his own authority. Moreover, the two different subjects. fallen. In the past, periods of high unemployment teachers and in the resignation rate amongst criteria adopted by the universities in recruiting produced increased enrolments in universities and teachers is a good thing for the schools. Stability in staff are not necessarily best suited for the recruit­ A third relaxation introduced in some universities technical colleges. Today unemployment the teaching service has been desperately needed. ment of teacher trainees. University appointment was to reduce the length of method courses. Once allowances are higher than student allowances, and The Education Departments now have a breathing committees tend to look for higher degree and three hours per week was normal. As enrolments this fact, coupled with the realization that a univer­ space to solve their problems - though I am not research ability when interviewing applicants. What rose so did the temptation to reduce the number of sity degree no longer guarantees employment, has optimistic that they will use it. The falling demand is needed for lecturers in teacher training courses provides an opportunity to improve the quality of hours per week in order to keep lecturers' teaching produced a new pattern of response. is a minimum of successful practical experience in teacher training. It also provides an opportunity to loads at a reasonable level. schools (say three years), together with some improve the system of training. This is because the The fluctuating demand for teachers is illustrated ability to teach at the tertiary level. by the annual increase in the state service of incessant pressure of large numbers has been one A certain embarrassment has developed in univer­ N.S.W. in recent years: reason for poor training. Phillip Hughes, Head of sities and even in colleges of advanced education The autonomy of academics also brings its the School of Teacher Education, Canberra Col­ over teaching as a practical training course. This is disadvantages in other areas of professional train­ Primary Secondary lege of Advanced Education, commented in 1972: reflected in vaguer, more "academic" terminology ing. The Dean of Medicine at Adelaide University "It is the need to recruit so heavily to teacher which has come into favour. Instead of Method, the 1972 528 1251 recently complained that methods of making education programmes which cause recruitment terms Curriculum and Method has been adopted; in 1973 -148 804 university staff pull their proper weight in university practices which enlist so many students who are places of practice teaching the more pretentious 1974 529 865 and hospitals are non-existent, "even when it is uncommitted to teaching, and who frequently but vaguer "practicum" has come into vogue. 1975 1019 1625 manifest they are not carrying out their tasks prove personally unsuitable. "3 These unsuitable "Teacher training" is in disfavour; "teacher educa­ responsibly. "5 Numbers entering the secondary service are con­ teachers often resigned in their first year or so, and tion" or "teacher preparation" is preferred. The Sistently higher than those entering the primary. the high resignation rate intensified the need to phrase "teaching methods" is replaced by the Advantages of the Old System recruit. Hughes might also have added that the more eleg.ant "reading strategies". The resignation rate is highly relevant to the large numbers of trainee teachers undermined the The system of teacher training operating before the demand for teachers. At the end of 1974 the loss training system, particularly where mass lectures The academization of teacher training is an universities entered the field and before training rate of teachers suddenly dropped. The tightening became necessary, where students attending lec­ unhealthy outcome of the university entry into this colleges became transmogrified into C.A.E.'s had employment situation discouraged teachers resign­ tures were not very interested in teaching, and field. But does this mean that universities should quite a few advantages. One strength of the old ing to take other jobs or go abroad for a few years where pressure of numbers undermined the quality vacate the field completely? teachers' colleges was that the lecturing staff on recreation. In 1974/75 losses of primary of practice teaching in the schools. usually (though not invariably) had a minimum of teachers totalled 2,133 or 11.2% of teachers. In Should Universities Train Teachers? three years' successful experience in teaching. One way in which large enrolments undermined the the previous three years the loss rate had been They had usually taught in the state schools of their 12.4% (1971/2), 12.4% (1972/3) and 12.3% quality of university teacher training was .by Dr. Martin Haberman, Professor of Curriculum and state, and hence knew the schools for which they (1973/4). Losses of secondary teachers in encouraging universities to hand over practice Instruction at the University of Wisconsin has were training teachers. For this reason, and teaching supervision to "master teachers" in the 1974/75 totalled 2,206 or 12.5%. In the previous presented "Twenty-three Reasons Universities because the colleges were usually small and unpre­ three years the loss had been 15.1 %, 14.5% and school, who received payment for their service~. Can't Educate Teachers".4 Not all of these reasons tentious, relationships with the schools were Theory and practice often moved apart. The uni­ 14.9%. In other words the loss rate has become are relevant to the Australian system of education. reasonably close and reasonably cordial. Because much the same for primary and secondary ser­ versity retained nominal responsibility but abandon­ But among other things Dr. Haberman challenges of the centralised control within colleges they often ed real responsibility for practice teaching. The vices, and the fall in resignations and retire.ments is the assumption that universities are able to co­ had a clear educational policy. However, the same contact of the method lecturer with the schools and operate with schools; that academics are able to likely to be about the same for other servIces. '2 central control meant that where a college principal with his trainee teachers was weakened. relate their education theories to school practice; was inadequate this weakness could be trans­ Another factor influencing the demand for teachers and that the leadership within the university schools mitted within the college, College lecturers were is class size. Demand can be stimulated by a reduc­ Large enrolments can reduce the quality of of education are concerned and involved with prob­ usually hard-working. They were close to the tion in class size. But this, in turn, must await on teaching training in other ways. Large numbers and lems of the lower schools. In his opening remarks students, they had heavy teaching loads, and they availability of classrooms. In any case, if the birth­ the cost of practice teaching has encouraged Dr. Haberman says: "After a century of struggle to had little concern with research. rate continues to fall smaller classes will be the reduction in the length of practice teaching. In become respectable, teacher educators need result, even without an increased intake of N.S.W. many training institutions only require six critically to re-examine what we gave up in return Certainly the teachers' college system carried its weeks practice per year, sometimes augmented by teachers. for membership in the university club." He then disadvantages - a narrow spirit often prevailed, weekly "school experience" on a half-day or daily suggests that such a re-examination could have the paternalistic control over students reflected the Some Consequences of this Falling Demand basis. Other states, however, often require a three results: similar control of the principal over his staff. Staff­ longer period of practice teaching. room talk was of schOOls and teachers. A "school" The falling demand for teachers carries implications We might try to change a few of the Univer­ atmosphere prevailed - something which was at for teacher training. In New South Wales and some Another example of retreat in teacher training is a sity conditions that mitigate against teacher times criticised by outsiders but which had some reduction in the number of teaching method education; we might try to support rather advantages for the training of practical, hardwork­ other states many Colleges of Advanced Education than crush organisations outside the rely heavily on teacher training for their existence. courses to be taken by trainees preparing for the ing teachers. secondary school. In 1946 Sydney Teachers' Col- university that seek to prepare teaching In Victoria C.A.E.'s tend to be specialized; many personnel; we might revel in our

36 37 ------

One of the advantages of the small teacher training amalgamation to indicate that teachers in primary When a merger proposal was put to Armidale gained by a mere addition of courses, nor institutions was that the lecturers learnt from each schools were not true professionals. "No amount of Teachers' College in 1971 the secretary of the necessarily improved by his seeking "credits·' from other; young, newly-recruited lecturers learnt from B.Ed.-ery will stop them doing SO."10 Staff Association remarked that the staff could see another institution. They are best acquired in an their older, more experienced colleagues. In the no advantage for teacher education, and that what integrated fashion. and under conditions in which large university-type institution it is often assumed In Australia, by contrast with England, teachers col­ was integration as far as the university was con­ as much is gained from the prevailing spirit and at­ that the lecturers involved in teacher training leges started to undergo a transmogrification cerned was disintegration as far as the college was mosphere of his college as from offiCial courses du­ already have full wisdom when they join the staff. In somewhat earlier. The Martin Committee, after pro­ concerned. But tertiary education in Armidale ly completed'· any case, they are granted full "academic" longed gestation, had produced a new academic rested on two foundations, primary industry and autonomy, and hence a system of induction­ infant - colleges of advanced education. From teacher training, and both were declining The N.S.W. Committee of Enquiry into Teacher training is not easy. 1969 onwards these entered into teacher training, industries. Hence the crisis was sufficiently severe Education in 1971 13 was dubious of the univer­ as part of their mUlti-purpose character. From the to force some rationalisation. The university Faculty sities' role in teacher training. It pointed out that Mergers in England early 1970's, too, some teachers colleges, of Education took over responsibility for the training student-teachers in universities were vocationally encouraged by the prospect of Commonwealth of all secondary teachers from the beginning of isolated; they needed more contact with their In England mergers between universities and funding, developed into multi-purpose C.A.E.'s. 1976, leaving Armidale C.A.E. with the training of future profession. The wastage rate of trainee teachers colleges and between polytechnics and Thus in Australia pressure for amalgamation or all primary teachers. The university took over the teachers in college courses was about 10%; in teachers colleges were arranged in 1974 and after rationalisation involves rather different institutions. academically respectable courses and lecturers, universities the loss was about 50%, though 20% as a means of "rationalisation" - economic Another difference with England is that technical leaving primary courses and lecturers as a rump. were recovered by transferring to colleges after rationalisation was what was primarily sought. The colleges are not involved in merger proposals Some members of the C.A.E. staff obtained univer­ university failure. In N.S.W. universities about 50% great majority of redundant colleges were merged though some C.A.E.'s do sustain technical-style sity posts in open competition. Others have been of total enrolments in arts, science and economics with polytechniCS, not universities. Polytechnics courses. employed by the university on tutor's rates as part­ were holders of teacher education scholarships. In were controlled by local authorities; universities time teachers. The question of amalgamation is still some universities the proportion approached 67%. were independent. Mergers in Australia under debate; how this would save money is not at "In spite of this situation, the status of teacher aU obvious. preparation in universities does not seem to be high For some months the reorganisation raised not the In Australia the development of some teachers' col­ and the universities themselves must bear some of Slightest protest. Then, in an article in June 19746 leges into multi-purpose institutions, particularly in What is needed is not further academization of the burden for the unfortunate image of teaching John Vaizey remarked, in passing, that "teacher­ New South Wales, stirred the universities in 1971 teacher training, but more practical and smaller held by many students. "14 training colleges are being turned into general col­ to propose mergers in order to forestall possible institutions engaged in teacher training. If mergers leges without any specific aims" and warned competitors. This early effort proved unsuccessful. are required, the best solution would be to This approach is now, in some senses, antedilu­ against "mere bureaucratic amalgamation without Then, in 1975, the merger of the higher education separate Diploma in Education courses from the vian. The inflation of teachers' colleges into col­ any consistent phHosophy". This brief comment commissions in the states and commonwealth and universities and the teacher training courses from leges of advanced education, the translation of gave others courage. M. Brearley, a retired prin­ the emergence of tertiary commissions suggested the C.A.E.'s and set up quite independent such colleges into multi-purpose institutions, and Cipal, attributed the lack of concerted protest to the possibility of a merger of educational institu­ Institutes of Education. Such an institution could the expansion of university participation in teacher "the Machiavellian system of the Department of tions. Indeed, the Universities Commission, in its offer concurrent training, rather than "end on" train­ training helped change the situation. The 1972 Education and Science of picking off colleges one Sixth Report, urged such a step at Townsville, ing. Concurrent training is not easily accom­ Report of the Senate Standing Committee on by one The smokescreen of 'consolidation'" Armidale and Wollongong. In the three regions modated in academic universities. If the objective is Education, Science and the Arts, on "The Com­ The absence of philosophy to attack and the there has been conSiderable resistance to the pro­ to save money, then two-year training courses monwealth's Role in Teacher Education" recom­ apparent vesting of power in the hands of posal for mergers. The condition of Armidale might be sufficient for primary and infant teachers mended the establishment of integrated courses in bureaucrats "and the indifference of the general C.A.E, provides an example of what can happen and a one-year course for university graduates. A education (i.e. concurrent as distinct from end-on public and parliament arising from th-e incidence of when mergers, or semi-mergers are bungled just three year course is not, in itself, necessarily better courses) and the introduction of four year minimum greater crises than ours".7 Max Morris of the as Wagga provided a case study of the disasters than a two year one. Mergers of disparate institu­ teacher education courses (one wonders how long National Union of Teachers drew attention to the which can happen to teacher training when the tions are unlikely in the long run to produce financial the maximum courses would be). Admittedly this lack of serious fight by staffs of colleges. s translation of a teachers' college into a C.A.E. is saving. was a committee of politicians, not educationists; bungled. 11 but it is remarkable that the argument justifying Cyril Bibby, principal of Hull College of Education, Should all Teachers be four year trained four-year courses consisted of one sentence only. referred to American experience 9 Armidale Teachers' College, established in 1928, graduates? Such courses were desirable "for recognition of quickly built up a reputation as an efficient teacher teacher training degree and diplomas as profes­ In the United States, where the teachers' training institution. From 1955 to 1962 the college Those who support complete university control of sional qualifications" and because of the complex co/feges were compulsorily merged with provided the post-graduate Diploma in Education teacher training sometimes argue that all teachers nature of courses (p. 26). The argument is circular. large multi-purpose institutions, the results training course on behalf of the university. In 1962 should be graduates, and that the period of training Four year courses were necessary to validate have already proved so unsatisfactory that the posts of principal of the college and professor should be four years. ! do not agree with either degrees and diplomas and since these courses some states are now struggling to reo establish what they so unwisely destroyed of education became separated and the Depart­ suggestion, The Martin Committee said were so complex· they needed to extend for four Do we really have to go through the ment of Education at the university started to exert years. The need for degrees was assumed; the same sad experience ourselves in order to a more independent role. From 1962 until 1970 The Committee does not believe that pro­ need for complexity of courses was also assumed, learn the same lessons? the Diploma in Education was jointly administered vision can be made far all teachers to by the Department and the Teachers' College. become graduates even in the reasonably The fact that four or even five year teacher training Sir Alec Clegg. a former Director of Education in near future. Nor, indeed, does it believe the West Riding of Yorkshire, argued that the Then, in 1969, a separate Faculty of Education courses exist in some tertiary institutions in North that all teachers should be graduates of the America is indicative not of the production of a teachers' colleges had produced a teaching ser­ was established in the university, and took over full type traditianalfy recognised by univer' vice widely admired; that having realised the error responsibility for the Diploma, providing its own sities. 12 superior class of teachers but of the decline in the of having schools which are too large, England was academic staff. quality of academic secondary education. I am not now repeating this error with colleges; and bitterly After remarking on some of the characteristics sure that in Australia expansion in the duration of predicted that the new institutions would use the helping to make a good teacher the Martin Commit­ teacher training to compensate for defective tee commented: "These qualifications are not secondary education has yet become necessary.

38 39 I would argue: preferably residential, preferably for teachers be­ where students take academic subjects, profes­ 6 J. Vaizey, Time,9- Educational Supplement, June tween their 5th and 10th years of service (young sional studies and practical work simultaneously) 1974. are more likely to work successfully. 7 M, Brearley, Times Educational Supplement, 1. That granting all future teachers a degree enough to be enthusiastic, old enough to be com­ 17-7-74. would not necessarily raise the prestige of the pro­ mitted) and preferably given by successful 8. M. Morris, Times Educational Supplement. fession nor necessarily the quality of teachers. teachers, with recent experience in teaching the 20·9·74 methods they recommend. References 9 C. Bibby. Times Educational Supplement, 12-7-74 2. jf a bachelor's degree in Education is to mean 10 Sir Alec Clegg. Times Educational Supplement, anything it must be of a fairly high standard. Quite a Conclusion I have recently considered the role of C.A.E."s in 13-9-74. few teacher trainees are not capable of taking a "Exciting Times C.A.E.'s" (The Australian Quarterly, 11 For the Wagga case cf. Barcan, "Exciting Times for degree, though they would nevertheless make I believe that Australian universities should retain March, 1978). For an earlier survey of universities C.A.E.'s", op. cit. Elucidation of the intricate some role in the training of future teachers, if only and C.A.E."s in teacher training see Barcan, "Pro­ manouvres at Wagga, Armidale, Wollongong and quite good and conscientious teachers. After some blems of Teacher Training", (Current Affairs elsewhere is a difficult task for outsiders; while years of further maturation they might develop suf­ because lecturers in Education need some contact Buffetin, 1 st June 1972). those directly involved are sometimes either loath to ficiently to take a degree at night. with schools and school teaching. But this should 2. Figures taken from Report, NS. W Minister for speak or else liable to present over-coloured ver­ be a reduced role. During practice teaching the Education, 1976. sions. 3. Many primary and infant teacher trainees do maximum number of lessons most lecturers in a 3. G. Harman and C. Selby~Smith, Australian Higher 12. Tertiary Education in Australia (The Martin Report). not want a degree. In the 1950's and 1960's many secondary method course can supervise ade­ Education, p. 33. August 1974. teachers' college students in the infant sections quately each week is about ten. This suggests a 4. M. Haberman, Journal of Teacher Education, Sumc 13. Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Teacher had academic records which would have admitted maximum enrolment of ten in each major method mer1971. Education, N.S.W., September 1971. 5, Canberra Times, 16-3-73 14 Ibid, p. 51. them to universities, but they preferred teachers' course, or an enrolment in the Diploma of Educa­ colleges. These students had a commitment to tion course of about 70 students. If trainees took teaching, they wanted to become infant teachers two method courses total enrolments could fall to as quickly as possible. Many primary and infant 50. An enrolment of this size would reduce the trainees, ! believe, would prefer a two year course cost of practice teaching, no insignificant matter. It to a three year one and a three year one to a four would permit closer contact between lecturer and year one, student - and in teacher training a master­ apprentice relationship is valuable, 4, Already the formal educational system has been inordinately protracted. It is bad enough for If the universities are serious about teacher training the child to start at a pre-school aged 3 % years and they will increase the amount of time students then stay on till he reaches a minimum leaving age spend on practice teaching; they will increase the of 15 years. A further two years of secondary number of method courses taken to at least two: school, plus four years of tertiary education is too and they will ensure that lecturers engaged in the much. Enough is enough! For many people the real teacher training programme have themselves had business of life is postponed untH the mid-20's. But experience as teachers in Australian schools. for aU this protraction of forma! education, the quali­ ty of the end product is not noticeably improved. I do not deny that some colleges of advanced education face problems in teacher training similar 5. I believe the supply of able teacher trainers is to those in the universities - unnecessary limited, and that in recent decades we reached and academization of courses, the danger of estrange­ exceeded the optimum. Instead of increasing still ment between college lecturers and classroom further the number of lecturers engaged in training teachers, increasing diversity in the interests of teachers we should seek rather to reduce this lecturers as colleges become multi-purpose; im­ number and permit some of the experts to make personality in institutions which have become too their contribution directly in the schools rather than large. Like the universities, the colleges of advanc­ indirectly through their disciples. ed education wi!! have to solve these problems jf teacher training is to regain its quality, 6. There is a limit to the benefit which previous training can give to intending teachers. Teaching is Current discussion about teacher training very easi­ a practical matter, in many respects best learnt on ly loses sight of the central issue - the quality of the job. We should not delay entry into the the teachers being produced. Governments are classroom for too long. concerned with economising in teacher training; lecturers are concerned with preserving their jobs 7. If introduction of a four year degree course is or improving their conditions; university ad­ desired the best approach would be to let the ministrators are concerned with maximising students take a two year college or university enrolments and hence maximising the Com­ course; then teach for two years; and then let monwealth Government's grant. Too often the those so wishing return to college or university for educational issue is lost sight of. In my view, a further two years and a degree. teacher training is best conducted in small, specialized, autonomous institutions working in 8. One of the best methods of improving the close harmony with the schools. In such institutions quality of teachers is by in-service training courses, practical, concurrent teacher training courses (i.e.

40 41 Bria" Smith of success, as measured by whatever accredita­ of it and the chances are that more customers will OPENING leave the store with their shopping incomplete - Director oj Community programmes tion the institutions give. And it is just a brute fact TERTiARY EDUCATION - University of Newcastle that cannot be denied that, whatever the shortcom­ but they have had a far wider range of options ings of conventional selection procedures may be, presented to them and a much better chance to SOME IMPLICATIONS OF they do nevertheless provide student bodies about purchase precisely what they want. DIFFERENT APPROACHES which certain expectations can be held. And the methods, assumptions and standards of univer­ The 'Primrose Path' Approach sities are geared to these expectations. Any univer­ sity which moved wholly to a first-come-first-served Taken too far, the likening of the British Open admission policy would inevitably suffer a marked University to an escalator could certainly be During a recent study leave I had opportunity to of society as a whole and the role that education fall in its success-rate unless it either lowered its misleading. It is definitely not the case that O. U. talk, and listen, to a great many people, sometimes plays in it. I suggest, therefore, that if we are standards or made radical changes to its teaching students need merely stand still and be carried for­ singly and sometimes in organised conferences, realistic about our ultimate aims we will recognise methods and its evaluation criteria. It cannot be ward; they are required to work hard, diligently and about what they variously describe according to that the most we can do is select approaches to assumed, of course, that such changes would productively, But they are not required, I suspect their backgrounds and prejudices as Open Univer­ open tertiary education which will tend on the one necessarily be changes for the worse. not even desired, to show great initiative. The op­ sity, University for the Workers, or a continuing­ hand to favour equality of opportunity with all its im­ tions before them are extremely limited, the ap­ education approach to university. Whilst there are plications for meritocracy, or, on the other hand, a The Options for 'Totally Open' University proaches to study meticulously prescribed, the undoubtedly differences between them, both in breaking down of the nexus between being Education steps and stages neatly paced out with appropriate aims and in preferred methods, all of them were at educated and being clever and the achievement feedback mechanisms like a well designed least agreed that university education should be thereby of a more egalitarian and more rational I want, therefore, to consider what methods and teaching machine. The admirable counselling­ more widely available to people who are older society. approaches might be adopted, together with a support provided is wholly geared to reconciling and/or less traditionally qualified than the policy of totally open access, to ensure that the students to the prescribed content of courses and matriculated, predominantly middle-class, I do not, therefore, find it surprising that those who prospects of student success remain acceptably ensuring that they develop the prescribed learning eighteen-ta-twenty year aids who make up the bulk see social change, including radical readjustments high and, at the same time, what we might regard techniques. It is a system in which less native ability of the student intakes of most universities at the of the education process, as their major aim tend to as reasonable university standards of proficiency can be compensated for quite effectively by more present time, Discussion nearly always tended to favour totally open admission policies, whilst those are maintained, and to do so by looking at the work. It ensures that every student has the texts he revolve around one of three major questions. who think mainly in terms of greater and more styles and experience of two major institutions - needs, with the appropriate passages underlined, Should selection procedures be made more varied, equitable opportunity for individual advancement the British Open University and the University of and completes all the essential exercises in the ap­ appropriate and generally accessible or should look mainly to modifications of selection methods to Paris (VIII) at Vincennes - both of which have had proved manner. He is largely relieved of the need they be abandoned altogether? Should we 'open' achieve this. There are considerable differences totally open admission poliCies since their almost for decision-making, and is not expected to make existing institutions or establish new equivalent in­ between the implications of letting everybody enter contemporary inceptions about nine years ago. 1 any great contribution to his own education, other stitutions geared to the needs, advantages and a race and, like Alice, declaring everybody the win­ than by dedicated receptivity, or to the education limitations of more heterogeneous student bodies? ner and handing out prizes all round. It makes Since the British Open University has taken great of his fellows. However, tremendous care and sen­ And, more fundamentally, is the prime purpose to sense to talk of increasing social mobility via educa­ care to ensure equivalence of standard by con­ sitivity have gone into the preparation of course provide opportunities to individuals for their per­ tional opportunity only on the assumption that sulting outside examiners from other British univer­ material, both in its communication-effectiveness sonal advancement or to create a more equitable society will retain a definite socia! structure and that sities 2 and Vincennes is subject to the normal con­ and in the selection of content. In a situation in and more efficient society? I suggest that there is a the educational currency wlll not be debased. ditions of the University of Paris, there can be no which it would be unrealistic to expect students to greater interdependence between these questions Granted these assumptions, then the widening of suggestion in either case of a deliberate lowering of extend their enquiries beyond specifically prescrib­ than is generally acknowledged. I also believe that, the catchment net cannot but have the effect of in­ standards. The high level of success that they have ed material, the material provided does, I believe, especially in determining what the prime objective creasing competition: pushing standards up and achieved must, therefore, be attributable to the ap­ ensure that people leave the O.U. very much better is, we must differentiate between ideas which are putting an ever-greater premium on native ability. proaches and methods they have adopted. What I informed and generally better equipped than they conceptually distinct on the one hand and strategic find particularly interesting is that, in diverging from enter it - which is, after all, the purpose of educa­ Whereas I can well understand that many aims which are in practice separable on the other. t~a?it.iona! university methods to meet their respon­ tion. educators would view this prospect with dismay S!bllitles to student bodies which are plainly more Theoretical Designs and Their Practical and would seek, therefore, something much more heterogeneous and have a lower background It would be foolish to question that the British Open Limitations akin to Alice's caucus race, something which education level and, very probab!y, a lower average University does what it does extremely well and assumes that all men, if not actually equal, are at intellectual capacity, these two institutions have that what it does is well worth doing. It would, Whatever our aims may be, our activities can only least equally entitled to extend their own education moved in diametrically opposed directions. however, be equally foolish to deny that it provides take the form of enabling and encouraging in­ to the limits of their own energy and ability and gain a somewhat 'bllnkered' education process geared dividuals to embark upon tertiary education public recognition for so doing, I feel that such peo­ If I might be permitted an analogy, it is as if two to upgrading mediocrity rather than to developing courses. Since the success of these activities must ple must recognise that they are, in effect, commit­ department stores wished to ensure that all excellence. depend on the co-operation and the personal ting themselves to establishing tertiary institutions customers, including the halt and the lame, could motivations of those individuals it will tend to follow which, whatever they might call themselves, are im­ move from the ground floor to the top floor, pur­ This is totally justifiable, almost inevitable, I believe, that, irrespective of the intentions of the planners, portantly different from universities as we now chasing their vital needs in the process; one for an institution with vast student numbers which the students themselves will think quite definitely in know them. achieves this by providing an escalator system with must operate by distance teaching methods and terms of meeting their own aspirations within the a limited but essentia! range of goods in close prox­ which has a moral obligation to self-selected existing frameworks of society. At the same time, They are so commUted, I ma'lntain, because from imity to each stag'lng point, the other by a profusion students to set a course that they can run. irrespective of their motivations, the introduction of the viewpoints both of political expediency and of of short stairways, ramps and lifts such that the However, there is no reason why the approaches large numbers of people who already have firm decency and responsibility to the students it is really determined customer can always find some and methods employed by the O. U. of necessity roots in all sections of the community into the essential that those who are admitted can manageable way to reach the goods he needs. The could not be adopted by other institutions from 'graduate segment of society', with all that this im­ reasonably be expected to cope with the program­ second store's way win tend to make harder work choice. University of Paris (VIII) at Vincennes, for plies, must bring about some changes to the nature mes of study offered and achieve a fairly high level

42 43 instance which is a metropolitan, non-residential, it offers an extremely wide range of semester­ The same gentleman, however, was far from com­ underprivileged sections: rather they typify those face-to-f~ce institution with something like 30,000 units· for the ordinary degree a student must suc­ placent. He was aware that since such institutions minorities found in all sections of society who tend enrolled students, could have elected to use the cessfully complete 30 of these, usually 20 from could operate only in centres of great population to take any opportunity which is presented for the same 'closed circuit' methods to ensure an accept­ within (broadly speaking) a given subject area, the such as Paris they could never be a general, advancement of themselves or their beliefs. able leve! of student success. Indeed I suspect that other 1 0 from any areas at aiL But there are no across-the-board answer to the problem of pro­ prerequisites; all semester-units are parallel.and many Australian teachers' colleges in the d~ys of viding university education for 'the workers' in a That Vincennes does present such an opportunity can be taken in any order at all. There are no tlme­ the bonded student did precisely this to avoid the way that they could reasonably be expected to is, in itself, excellent. It is also excellent that the limits whatsoever. The design and control of each embarrassment of failures. take advantage of. He also admitted that Vincennes success achieved both in attracting good students semester-unit is the sole prerogative of the inevitably attracted, and had to live with, a propor­ and in providing sound education by radical means lecturer-in-charge, as is the assessment of The ~Mulmude of Possibilities' Approach tion of students whose motivation was political is causing other, more conventional, universities to students. Formal examinations are extremely rare rather than educational and who could be a damned re-examine many of their basic assumptions, as is and, I understand, it is most unusual for any stud~nt Such a decision at Vincennes, however,. would nuisance; to reject such people, he believed, the quite different yet no !ess remarkable success to be denied accreditation in a unit if the lecturer-In­ have run totally counter to the spirit in which that would be to compromise those principles which of the British Open University. By their innovations charge is satisfied that he has applied himself to it institution was established following the 1968 were quite vital to the university's philosophy and to meet new and more difficult tasks both are con­ to the best of his ability. student riots. My feeling is that its fund~mentally its success as an open institution. He felt an obliga­ tributing to a steady, evolutionary change in liberal approaches to education are a reactlo.n more tion to take all comers but was aware that this led to received educational wisdom. And by facilitation of against the rigidity and narrowness than agal.nst t~e Students enrol in the university and then, in effect, staff-student ratios which put unreasonable make their arrangements direct with the v~rious increased socia! mobility they are obviously pro· exclusiveness of traditional French university burdens on staff members and possibly made ducing some modification, however slight, of the education so that, although a radically different staff members to take their semester-units. A unfair demands on students; the amount of face-to­ student may be credited with up to six units taken genera! socia! structure. admission policy was, as it were, part of. the ~ec:.I, face tuition that could be provided was far !ess than concurrently (it is, therefore, possible to co~plete the aim was to set up an ultra-flexible university In desirable and, because of this, drop-out was But I doubt whether either of these institutions has which students would be thrown heavily on ~o their a degree in 2 % years) but no centra! record IS kept higher, he felt, than it need be. In a situation where of which students are taking which units. The the radical effects upon general attitudes to educa­ own initiatives, would have a definite particlpat?ry only one institution amongst many accepts res­ tion and its role in SOCiety as a criterion for social role in designing programmes and establishing university is able to say how many students are ponsibility for educating all those who present enrolled and how many units any student has been and economic preferment that the fully-fledged criteria for accreditation to ensure that relevance, themselves, without setting quotas as the British social engineers would wish, I have seen nothing to that somewhat mystical quality so d~ar. to credited with to date but has no means of knowing, Open University does, it is almost inescapable that except approximately by consulting all staff make me doubt that their successful students are undergraduate hearts, would pervade the In~t!tu­ its human and physical resources will be overwhelmingly motivated by the (quite respect­ tion and its works. The Vincennes ap~r~~ch IS to members individually, how many units have been dangerously overstretched. And he did commenced and withdrawn from. able) desire for personal advancement and are the provide so wide a range of posslblhtles and acknowledge, albeit reluctantly, that the more con­ kind of people who would come forward quite combination-options that every student can d? ~he servative sections of the French establishment are When I raised the obvious misgivings with the happily for traditional university education if it were things he is best at doing; he can alw~.ys maxlrr:lse stHl somewhat dubious about Vincennes graduates. offered to them under practicable conditions. his own existing skills rather than forcing them Into Director of Studies his answers were disarmingly logical: Why should they concern themse!ves a new and unfamiliar mould. Like other autonomous Does Totally Open Admission Attract 'Ordinary If I am right in my belief that an institution does not, sections of the University of Paris, Vincennes about what students have attempted and falle.d; People'? what matters is what they have succeeded In, simply by declaring itself totally open, attract specialises in certain broad fields of enquiry rather students who are differently motivated or students than attempting to cover the whole spectrum. Its Although there are no fixed quotas it is com­ Interestingly, however, the main source of paratively easy within the system f.or a lecturer to who would not otherwise present themselves as courses are almost entirely within those areas of dissatisfaction at Vincennes, as at the British Open teritary education candidates, then it is hard to see guide the right people, and the. nght num~er of the humanities and social sciences in whic~ th.e University, is that, despite all their efforts to provide what case there can be, apart from a somewhat student's experience of life plays a vital part I~ his people, into his class. Since ~hat IS. covered In ~ny curricula, methods and approaches calculated to semester-unit can be deCided In consultation barren ideological commitment to total equality, for grasp of the subject and earli~~ formal study IS of make success possible for well-motivated people the abandonment of all preselection. Indeed, it Ilttle relevance. It is not surprising, therefore, t~at between lecturer and student group, pursuit of an of fair-average-quality intellect irrespective of their enquiry in greater depth is quite possible without could be argued that, if we are in any case stuck this university, which has adhered steadfastly, to ItS educational background, the 'ordinary people' at with a system in which educational qualification is original policies over its nine years of operation to formal prerequisites. Standards can look after which open education schemes are aimed form a themselves; no intellectual concessions ar? made seen and sought as a means to individual social and date, has proved well-suited to the needs of a great comparatively small proportion of the student body. it by staff-members, however sympat~etlc, and economic advantage, then is more equitable that number of self-selected students. Even though the British Open University indulges such qualification should be Hmited to those who patient they may be, and what student IS gOing to quite openly in ad hoc adjustment of its quotas, its persevere dully and uncomprehe~dingly through prove themselves better equipped within a com­ Apart from the incredibly dilapidated state o~ ~he student body stubbornly remains predominantly petitive system. Here, of course, we must take buildings, the thing that I first found mc:st .stnk!ng thirty semester-units? Either he w!!! ~evelop to .a 'middle-class'.3 This would not be true of the point where he is worthy of accredlta.tlon or he Will care not to think in hard 'either-or' terms - either about it is its pervasive attitude of permissiveness student body at Vincennes but neither would it be totally open entry or the exclusion of all but the very and supportiveness. I felt that every me':lber of quietly fade away. And if a 'few du1!-wlt~ed but dog~ true that they are 'ordinary people' as that term is bright. A suffiCiently flexible competitive syst~m staff administrative as well as academiC, was gedly determined people secure .a first ~egree, generally understood. Rather they tend to be does this really matter? Nobody IS permitted to can still provide opportunity for the hardworking totall'y convinced of the rightness of what t~~y are activists, 'alternative-life-style" people, acentrics and highly motivated fair-average-quality student. doing and how they are doing it and was willing to move on to post-graduate work without the strong from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. The Parisian recommendation of his undergraduate teachers. go to great lengths to assist individual stud~nts to 'typical working man' is no more attracted to The Modified Selection Method Alternative work out and profit from the courses mo~t SUited to The system may be somewhat c~mfusing for new Vincennes that his British counterpart is to the students, especially those coming from a non­ their particular interests and talent~. ThiS ~nusual Open University. Certaintly I gained the impression My own view is that a policy of totally open admis­ staff-student relationship is not the kind of thing th~t education background, but staff members are all that a very high proportion of the students are from willing and accessible to help and advise; if people sion would need to have more advantages than are can be quantified or even described exactly, but It under-privileged sections of the community (it is manifest in the two very different examples! have is an absolutely essential ingredient of a syste~ cannot or will not seek and secure the necessary particularly noticeable how many of them are non­ advice perhaps it is better that they do not I?r?~e.ed here considered to compensate for its drawbacks. which departs quite radically from the customary In white in what is a predominantly white SOCiety) but Since it is simply a brute fact that some people its regulations and methods. with a course which will certainly demand 100tiative they are not, ! think, fairly representative of those from them at every stage. make better students than others, it inevitably

44 45 entails departures from university education level and devise for each a pattern of preparatory sity aspirants over the past twelve years, is that we 2. The assessment and examination procedures of processes and demands which have evolved over education and assessment which would provide an should devote our energy and ingenuity to the the Open University are discussed in detail by years of dealing with preselected students and effective prediction of university success - and design, not of specially tai!ored 'different-but-equal' Walter Perry in Chapter 8 of Open University established the widespread confidence which and attractive proposition to the people in those universities-for-the-workers, but of a full range of (Open University Press 1976). university education enjoys. There are at least categories. different-but-equivalent education and assessment 3 In Open University (po 149) Walter Perry writes grounds for supposing that if these departures take procedures through which the right people from (of enrolment by students identified as working­ the British O.U. direction then the institution's This last point, that the selection process should be every segment of society could be channelled with class) 'This is a slow increase but the fact that it graduates, however well-trained they may be, wHi attractive as weI! as effective, 1 regard as very confidence into our existing university system. has been a continuous one has been of great tend to lack some of those qualities we look for in important indeed. It is widely acknowledged that interest to us. We hope that these people will university graduates whereas, if they take the totally open entry policies have falled to attract 'or­ References come forward in increasing numbers as the institu­ Vincennes direction, only the hardy will survive dinary people' - 'the workers' if you prefer that tion becomes more widely known ' The anyway and these will tend to be somewhat loaded term - into higher education in any 1. A very comprehensive account of the aims, increase he speaks of is from 10% of the suspect by the graduates of more traditional institu­ methods and history to date of Vincennes is given applicants in 1970 to 15% of the applicants in appreciable numbers. I am fairly convinced that the 1975 tions and also by employing authorities. main reason for this is that most of the people who by its Director of Studies, Michel Debeauvais in L'Universite Ouverte: Les Dossiers de Vincennes are totally out of contact with universities and 4. The Tertiary Education Research Centre at the And I believe that there is a reasonable alternative. (Presses Universitaires de Grenoble 1976). university people are generally unwilling or unable Unfortunately this publication does not appear to University of New South Wales has been making a We have all tended to think and talk as though, if we to believe that without conSiderable preparation be available in English. detailed study of Mature and Unmatriculated are to have selection procedures at all, then there they have the ability to tackle a university degree; Although much has been published about the Students for several years and produces regular is one proper means of selection of university they feel that they would simply make themselves British Open University, I believe that the clearest progress reports. These indicate much better­ students, the assessment by established formula of ridiculous and face certain failure and humiliation. picture of its aims and methods can be gained than·average results by these students. Similar a person's capacity to absorb six years of high from the Prospectus, the B.A. Degree Handbook positive results have been found at all other This does not mean that such people have no Australian Universities which have conducted school teaching, and any variation from this is some interest in higher education; it does mean that and the Guide for Applicants to Undergraduate Courses issued each year by the University. such studies. kind of 'special arrangement', a concession to some means must be devised to introduce them some minority group who 'should be given a into the higher education stream by stages which chance'. What is to prevent any university from are not felt by them to be threatening, which enable designing a range of selection procedures, all with them to develop confidence by discovering for appropriate tuition provision available, to meet the themselves that they are as competent as most needs and situations of different categories of people. It also means that they need to be sub­ people, so that only those who lack the necessary jected to objective assessment procedures which ability or motivation to achieve success are debar­ vest in people whose views they respect the ;,,~'::">::,,;:":"::"::"::,,;:":"::":":":":,,;:":":"::"::":,,:"::"::',:"::"::"::"::"::"::,,;:"::'::'::"::,;: "--' ::,,;:"::"::"::"::"::"::">::"::"::"::"::"::"::"::"::"::'>::"::"::"::"::';; red from higher education within the existing tradi­ responsibility for deciding whether they should or tional framework. should not aspire to ongoing higher education. They are happy to enter university only when so­ !:~ STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES ::: In Australia all the indications are that 'special entry' meone who they feel has the appropriate authority students perform quite as well in the traditional can say to them: "I've seen your work and the way U C. H. CURREY MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP -"- university as other students,4 and as well as they you are developing and I feel that this is now the would be likely to in such specially designed institu­ correct step for you to take; you have been weigh­ tions as the British Open University and Paris (VIII) ed in the balance and not found wanting." This is at Vincennes. Why, then, do we continue to regard possible, of course, only if the universities, or other ii ii, them as 'special' and to assume that they must organisations working in close association with Lib;:r~ ~'0~~~~~t~~we~~~:~'0~',~sw~~~~~t~~ ~~~~se~l~~~s~:~U~~/~~de forever be a tiny minority of the student population? them, are willing to be involved in the design and The rate of admission of such 'non-standard' peo­ conduct of the kind of preparatory courses that ~,::::::,::i"",;",_: by the late charlesh~~~~:7r~~r;~~ ';;~~~~~~~~:~:s~riting of Australian ~:; ple into even the most liberal traditional universities people need and will accept. has to date very rarely been more than about 200 ',: The late Dr. Currey was a well known Australian historian and lecturer in ;;;~ students a year. And the methods employed for To return, then, to my starting point: I am _ history at the Sydney Teachers College who was very conscious of the needs ~:: their selection have frequently developed in an ad suggesting that, whatever our ideological motiva­ and problems of research workers not otherwise supported by grants from :n: hoc way, generally as some concessional modifica­ tion may be! our methods must provide, and be :n: institutions such as universities, It was for this reason that he made such '::' tion of standard matriculation examinations; rarely seen to provide, opportunities for individuals to :n: provision for the encouragement of writing Australian history. :n: are they specifically designed as effective predic­ advance via education within the existing social tive mechanisms for the group or groups of people structure. I believe that this can be achieved most ;"!'"',,.t.: Three fellowships, each of $1,350.00, will be awarded in 1980; the award may ;~ in question. effectively by providing wider access to the kind of :: be expended as the recipient sees fit, but within the terms of the general education generally recognised and accepted as n Surely there is no reason why this must be so. the prerogative of universities and that abandon­ Nothing in the constitutions or methodologies or ment of all preselection of students leads inevitably even the traditions of most universities puts any to departures from that recognised and accepted li' Application forms are avai::~~:tf:~::~::::t: Librarian, State Library of ~:! ceiling on the proportion of mature undergraduates kind of university education. Furthermore, there that can be accommodated or prescribes that all are reasons to suppose that it fails to attract large students be selected in any given way. It should numbers of potentially capable people into higher not be beyond the capacity of professional education. My firm belief, therefore, based upon r: c""" :.:::::: ~,:::;.:::::::::.::::':: ::::::0:'::" "" educators to identify within their own communities I discussion, observation and my quite extensive different categories of background-and-education experience with 'non-standard' mature-age univer- ~:~,;:,,;:,,;:,,;:~,;:,,::,,;:,,::,,;:,,;:,,;:,,::,~:~,::,,;:,,;~,;:,,;:,~:,,;:,,::,~:,,;:,~:~;;:,~:~;;:,;;:,;;:~;::~,;:~;;~,;:,,::,,;:,~;:,,;:,~;:,;::,,;;~;::~>;:~~:~;;:,,;:,;;:,;;;,,;:,,::,~:~~;:,~:,,::,,::,~;:,,;:,,;:~ .,,"'~":';:'~;:";:"::'~;:'

46 47 THE ADJUSTMENT OF David Walkins From Table I it can be seen that the great majority fluenced by the closeness of U.N.E. to home but University of New England of MAA entrants claimed to be very strongly the internal group was somewhat more swayed by MATURE AGE motivated to come to university and their mean U.N.E. 's being the only university offering the UNMATRICULATED ENTRANTS motivation score was well above that of the remain­ course they wanted and the offer of a scholarship ing 1977 internal intake. The MAA students' main to U.N.E. MAA students were sometimes influenc­ TO LIFE AS INTERNAL reasons for coming to university were to further ed by U.N.E.'s being the only university they STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY their education, to obtain a degree for career pur­ qualified for. poses, and an interest in a particular course. These OF NEW ENGLAND: were also the reasons most often reported by the Expectations and reality of university life 1975 internal; intake but the latter were more fre­ The subjects were asked to state how the realities A PILOT STUDY quentty influenced by the desire to experience of seven aspects of university compared to their university, family pressure, the award of a scholar­ expectations using the following sca!e: ship, and the thought that they would try university. 1 = more than expected 2 = just as expected 3 = The rural, more personalised atmosphere of U.N.E. less than expected. The results can be seen in Primarily as a result of community pressure mature educational disadvantage; literacy of the letter; was its major attraction to both the MAA and inter­ Table II, age students are occupying an increasing number degree of persuasiveness of their arguments; nal students. Both groups were also slightly in- of places at most Australian universities. Several evidence of quasi-professional qualifications; con­ reports have indicated that such students tend to tact with current tertiary students and experience perform better academically than their fellows who of life, Table II have proceeded more directly from school to Mean Scores of 1977 MAA and 1975 Internal Intake to Items on Reasons for coming to University teritary study (van Heiden, 1975; Barrett, 1977; The Survey and to U_N.E. in Particular and their Expectations of University Life Bowlay, 1977), This finding is usually attributed to 1977 MAA 1975 Regular Intake the assumed greater motivation and commitment In the second half of 1977 a mail survey was sent (n=21) (n=424) possessed by the mature age student. After all out to about two-thirds of the new internal first year Reasons lor going to university interest in a particular course 3.57 373 most mature age students have had to make signifi­ students at U.N.E. A response rate of about 60% to experience university 1.33 2.30 cant financial and social sacrifices to attend univer­ was obtained with usable responses being to obtain degree for career purposes 3.95 3.97 sity. Such a step would not be taken without received from 366 students. Replies were receiv­ to further education 4.05 3.35 awarded scholarship 0.05 1.44 considerable thought. However) such students are ed from 21 01 the 32 MAA entrants (a 66% family pressure 0.10 1.02 thought, at least initially, to tend to have more response rate). Because of the small number of thought would try university 0.20 1.06 problems adjusting to university life, more doubts MAA respondents (particularly relative to the about their ability to succeed in their studies, and overall survey response) and other statistical prob­ Reason for coming to U.N.E. only university offering course 0.81 1.82 more difhculty with their studies due to the lems it was felt that statistical tests would be of little U.N.E. is close to home 1.48 1.60 rustiness of their study skills and techniques value or validity and so the attitudes of the MAA and only university qualified for 1.33 0.45 (Barrett, 1977; Bowlay, 1977), To date no other entrants will be compared by inspection only. U.N.E. was first offer received 0.47 0.77 rural more personalised atmosphere 2.79 3.24 Australian research has examined directly the offered scholarship to U.N.E 0.05 1.13 veracity of these assumptions about the adjustment The responses of the MAA subjects to global family pressure 0.00 0.64 of mature age students. Such a study wi!! be variables such as their motivation to attend univer­ reported here, but because of the small numbers of sity, overall satisfaction with life at both Armidale Expectation of U.N.E. life workload 1.90 1.76 mature age students involved this research can and U.N.E., study methods and overall self-esteem course difficulty 2.05 1.75 only be considered exploratory in nature. rating will be compared to those of the other 1977 academic background assumed 2.00 2.00 respondents (see Table I) but their responses to opportunities to talk to staff 1.85 1.90 discussion of world problems 2.48 2.38 The Mature Age Admission (MAA) Scheme at more detailed items (see Tables II, III) will be com­ relevance of courses to real world 2.10 2.24 the University of New England pared to those of the new internal U.N.E. an intellectual atmosphere 2.33 2.41 undergraduates in 1975 (Watkins, 1976) as these In 1974 the University of New England (U,NE,) data are not yet available for other 1977 students. introduced a Trial Admission Scheme under which It would appear that the MAA found that there were had also found the workload and the course difficul­ persons who were at least 25 years of age but who Motivation fewer discussions of world problems and less of an ty to be greater and courses to be somewhat less lacked formal academic attainments were invited to The subjects were asked to rate the strength of intellectual atmosphere at U.N.E. than many had relevant to the real world than they had expected. apply for admission to U.N.E. stating why they their motivation and the importance of their reasons expected. believed they could succeed in a university course. for coming to U.N.E, using a 6-point Likert scale Satisfaction with life in Armidale . In 1974 and 1975 only external study was open to from 0 to 5. The workload, course difficulty, academic The students were asked to rate the importance of such entrants. After it was shown that the perform­ Table t background assumed, opportunities to talk to staff, [using a 6-point scale from 0 (unimportant) to 5 (im­ ance of these Trial Admission entrants compared Mean Scores of 1977 MAA and Regular and the relevance of the courses to the rea! world portant)] and their satisfaction with [using a 6-point favourably with those of the normal U.N.E. intake Students on Global Variables were much as the great majority of the MAA group scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied)] this scheme was extended and made available to Regular had anticipated. nine aspects of Armidale Hfe and their overall internal students - subject to a strict quota. In MAA Intake satisfaction with life in Armidale. The results are 197732 of the applicants were enrolled internally (n=21) (n=345) Variables The 1975 internal students surveyed, in contrast, shown in Table III. as full-time students. Although there were no hard Strength of motivation to attend U.N.E 4.43 3.77 and fast criteria for granting admission under this Overall satisfaction with life in Armidale 3.95 3.82 scheme the following factors were looked for in the Overall satisfaction with life at U.N.E 3.84 3.62 Study methods 8.86 7.01 applications of prospective entrants: evidence of Self-esteem 3.90 3.70

48 49 Table III (e) to be well satisfied with life both at U.N.E. and study techniques. Furt!ger research is currently Mean Importance and Satisfaction Ratings with life at Arrnidale and at U.N.E. in Particular of 1977 MAA Armidale; being undertaken to investigate these matters and 1975 Inlernal Intake (d) to have high self-esteem. more adequately. 1977 MAA 1975 Regular Inlake 2. Relative to the regular internal intake the MAA jn=21) (n=424) entrants tended: References Importance Satisfaction Importance Satisfaction (a) to be more strongly motivated to attend U.N.E.: Ratings Ratings Ratings Ratings Rating of life areas in ArmidaJe (b) to have found U.N.E. closer to their expecta­ Barret, E. Mature age unmatriculated students. Progress accommodation 4.57 3.95 4.18 3.55 tions. The regular intake being more likely to find Report No.3, University of N.S.W., 1977. finance 4.19 3.05 4.08 2.52 the work load and course difficulty to be greater 8owlay, D. J. The open·door and some welcome guests. transport 3.52 3.71 2.94 3.42 Supplement to U,N.E. External Studies Gazette, 21, 4, health and courses less relevant than they had expected: 4.05 3.67 4.10 4.01 (c) to be at least as well satisfied with life both at 1977. recreation 3.43 3.62 3.86 4.77 Entwistle, N. J., Nisbet, J., Entwistle, D., and Cowell, M. entertainment 2.52 3.19 3.52 3.29 U.N.E. and Armidale; D. The academic performance of students, British Journal social life 2.86 3.57 3.72 3.46 (d) to have better study methods; of Educational Psychology, 1971,41, 258-267. sexual adjustment 2.33 3.57 3.04 3.49 (e) to have higher self-esteem. psychological adjustment 2.38 3.71 2_24 3.88 van Heiden, F. M. Student performance in relation to age. Australian University, 1975, 13, 262-270. Ratings of life areas at U.N.E. While these conclusions are only tentative, it would Watkins, D. The development and evaluation of self­ administration 3.33 3.55 2.60 3.13 appear that the claim that mature age students tend esteem measuring instruments. Journal of Personality leaching staff 4.48 3.80 3.85 3.39 to be more highly motivated and have greater com­ Assessment. 1978.42.171-182. fellow students 3,55 3.33 4.28 3.94 Watkins, D. Student satisfaction with the University of lectures 4.40 3.65 mitment than the regular intake is supported by 392 3.12 New England: A multivariate analysis according to facul­ tutorials 4.60 3.80 3.87 3.14 this study. However, there is no evidence here that course content ty. Paper given at the Annual Conference of Australian 4.79 3.70 4.15 3.06 they also have more problems adjusting to univer­ assessment methods 4.33 3.55 4.08 3.16 Psychological Society, Armidale, 1976. union facilities 2.44 3.55 3.13 3.01 sity life, less academic self-confidence and poorer social activities on campus 1.67 3.15 3.24 3.82

The MAA, similar to the 1975 intake, rated accom­ They tended to express higher levels of satisfac­ modation, finance, and health to be the most impor­ tion than did the 1975 undergraduates with tant aspects of their lives in Armidale. The respect to all aspects of life at U.N.E. except their undergraduates were more likely to rate the social fellow students. and recreational aspects of their lives to be impor­ tant than the MAA students who placed more em­ Study me/hods phasis on accommodation and transport. The great A fourteen item study methods scale (Entwistle, majority of both the MAA and regular Nisbet, Entwistle, and Cowell, 1971 (was used to undergraduate subjects were satisfied with life in assess the study techniques of the 1977 MAA and Armidale (only 2 out of 21 of the former expressing regular students. The results are shown in Table I. overall dissatisfaction). The MAA groups were It can be seen that the MAA displayed study generally fairly satisfied with all aspects of life in Ar­ methods on average somewhat better than the midale - finance and entertainment being the most other students (15 out of the 21 MAA scored AUSTRALIAN ACADEMICS common sources of dissatisfaction. above the mean for the other students). FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Satfsfaction with life at U.N.E. Self esteem A.A.P.M.E. is an association which seeks to promote informed discussion on the The subjects were asked to rate the importance of A self-esteem rating scale (Watkins, 1978) was conditions for a just and lasting peace between the State of Israel and the Arab [using a 6-point scale from 0 (unimportant) to 5 (im­ used to compare the self-esteem of the 1977 MAA world. portant)] and their satisfaction with [using a 6-point and regular intake. It can be seen, from Tab!e I, that scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied)] both groups had generally high self-esteem (a Its activities include the organisation of meetings and conferences, and the spon­ nine aspects of life at U.N.E. and their overall score of 0 representing very low and 5 very high sorship of study missions. Two study missions of members of AAPME have visited satisfaction with life at UNE. The MAA group, self-esteem). The mean self~esteem scores of the Israel in recent years, and further missions to Israel and other countries of the Mid­ unlike the 1975 undergraduate intake, generally MAA groups was slightly higher than that of the dle East are planned for the future, including one at the end of 1979. Members considered the university facilities and social ac­ other students. Only 3 of the 21 MAA subjects ex­ receive a subscription to Middle East Review, a publication of the American tivities on campus to be relatively unimportant. The pressed low self-esteem. Academic Association for Peace in the Middle East. former also were less concerned with their fellow Membership is open to teaching and research staff ($15 p.a.) and research students but tended to place more emphasis on the Conclusions postgraduate students ($ 7 .50 p.a.) at universities, other tertiary educational institu­ academic side of university hfe - the teaching Although this research was only exploratory in tions and research institutes throughout Australia. staff, lectures, tutorials, course content, and nature the following trends were of interest: assesment methods. Enquiries regarding membership of AAPME, and of its activities, are invited. Please 1. The great majority of MAA entrants sampled telephone Professor P. L. Waller (Melbourne 541 -0811 ) or Associate Professor G. Both groups were generally satisfied with Ilfe at here claimed: de Vahl Davis (Sydney 662-2955) or write to U.N.E. (only one of the twenty-one MAA group ex­ (a) to be strongly motivated to attend U.N.E.; National Secretary, AAPM E, pressing overall dissatisfaction). The MAA subjects (b) to have found life at U.N.E. to be much as they P.O. Box 275, tended to rate all academic aspects of U.N.E. life anticipated except there were fewer discussions of Prahran, Victoria, 3181. ADVERT. as being quite satisfactory-the social activities on world problems, and less of an intellectual campus were their main source of Qissatisfaction. atmosphere than they had expected;

50 51 i.S.H. Gasson and E.P. Olio ACADEMIC STAFF The respondents primarily using student load as a $ Work for external students. Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education criteria also supplied details of the student ALLOCATION PROCEDURES @ Organization of teaching practice load :staff ratios operating in their respective institu­ @ Course development load. IN INSTITUTIONS IN tions. The mean student load:staff ratios by depart­ a Budget allocation according to W.S.U. formula. ments at those institutions primarily using this AUSTRALIA @ Course administration. method of staff allocation are shown in Table III. § Basic academic requirement of a course especiaHy in low enrolment areas. Introduction Results and Discussion Table III a Minimum staffing needs of small disciplines. The largest single element in the recurrent budget The high response of 89 per cent of the univer­ Mean Sludenl-Load:Staff Ratios by @ Spread of subjects. of most tertiary institutions in Australia is academic sities, and 81 per cent of the colleges of advanced Departments in Tertiary Institutions which @ Size of the department. staff salaries. Financial constraints have caused the education surveyed, suggests that the data in this Allocate Academic Staff by this Method ® Nature of teaching. denial of many competing internal demands for paper presents a comprehensive description of Department University G.A,E. It Type of discipline. academic staff, and have made it increasingly current practice for the allocation of academic staff Arts 13,4 (N=5J 12.3 (N=10J @ Distribution of students between years. necessary for each institution to adopt a system to departments within tertiary institutions in Business 15,1 (N=2) 137 (N=8) @ Number and proportion of post-graduate that distributes the academic staff between depart­ Australia. Education 12,5 (N=4) 12.1 (N=22) students, Engineering 78 (N=2) 9,7 (N=3) ments on an agreed and equitable basis. Science g,g (N=5) 10,3 (N=8) t1 External responsibilities. Table I • Amount of marking involved in the subject. In the UK and the U.S.A. the problem of internal Questionnaire Returns, by type of The wide variation in the student:staff ratios be­ (!I The extent to which subjects are practical or ver­ allocation of staff resources has received a lot of at­ Tertiary Institution tween the five departments sampled prompted fur­ bal such as Art, Home Economics, Socia! tention recently, in response to pressures placed ther investigation, and a follow-up questionnaire Questionnaires Sciences, etc. "None of these factors take on institutions to balance expenditures with in­ Sent Returned was sent out to those 13 institutions which precedence. The college is still small enough for come. Some writers have recommended the use of Institution reported the variations, 11 of which replied, No decisions to be made by agreement and adjust." management science techniques which emphasize University 18 16 substantial reason was offered for such wide varia­ • The distribution of staff in the various grades and G,A E 58 47 revenue-cost ratios, to improve institutional pro­ tions in student load:staff ratios between depart­ the proportion of part-time staff to full-time staff. TOTALS 76 63 ductivity.1 Other administrators have emphasized ments, except that it was "traditional". (I The average number of lectures and tutorials the use of faculty workload data,:1 and some have Methods of Allocating Academic Staff given per member of the lecturing staff. recommended the abandonment of the traditional It can be seen in Table II, which summarizes the Although university respondents did not report the .. The breadth of subjects needed to be offered to resource allocation based on departments, in responses to questions on internal academic staff use of contact hours, respondents at severa! encompass satisfactorily each of the various favour of an analysis of the whole institution's allocation, that about 44 per cent of the responding C.A.E.'s did, together with details of the number of disciplines. timetable, on the assumption that the teaching universities primarily allocated staff to departments hours required of each staff member according to • The special problems of small departments efforts of an institution are directly related to its on the basis of pre~determined student load:staff rank. A summary of the mean contact hours per where the impact of study leave has particular pro­ timetable. 3 In general, the approaches to the alloca­ ratios. week, by rank and department, for C.A.E.'s which blems. tion of internal resources have differed widely in used contact hours as the prime basis for academic <) The back-up staff in the form of administrative response to the needs of particular institutions,4 Student load is often expressed in Weighted Stu­ staff allocation, is found in Table IV. It can be seen and technical staff in relation to the academic posi­ and the recognition that situations and needs alter dent Units - W,S.U.7 Moreover, approximately 49 that, although there is a wide range of hours be­ tions. in response to many external and internal forces, per cent of the responding colleges of advanced tween ranks, there is almost complete uniformity e Any other special problems aSSOCiated with the resulting in an administrative process that, at best, education also used a student load:staff ratio as the within ranks across departments. teaching technology of particular departments may be only an imperfect adjustment to a changing primary basis of academic staff allocation. In this which differentiate it from other departments in the world. context, student load is often expressed in Full Table IV institution. Time Equivalent Students - F.T.E.S.B Mean Staff Contact Hours Per week by Rank, Although both the Australian Universities Commis­ and by Department, in C.A.E.s, which Allocate Sabbatical and Study Leave Provisions sion 5 and the Commission on Advanced Education 6 However, while 32 per cent of the responding Academic Staff by this Method Coupled with the allocation of academic staff to have requested tertiary institutions to provide stu­ e.A.E.'s reported the use of contact hours per Department H,O.D departments is the question of the provision of dent load statistics, there is little published informa­ week as a primary basis for academic staff alloca­ Princ;' Sen Sec replacements for those who go on sabbatical and tion available in Australia on methods employed to tion, none of the universities reported the use of Lec! Lec! Lect Tutor Tutor study leave. It can be seen from Table V that 19 Arts (N=13) determine the internal allocation of academic staff. this method. The remainder of the university and 6.4 11.2 14.6 16.8 16.8 per cent of the universities reported making a Business (N =8) 6.5 11.4 14.0 17.3 16.5 C,A.E. respondents used other approaches to the Education (N=14) 6.2 11,2 14.4 15.0 14,0 budgetary provision for replacement staff, com­ This study was undertaken to determine the nature problem. These are summarized later in this report. Engineering (N=7) 6.9 11,9 15.2 17.3 17,6 pared to 45 per cent of the colleges of advanced of academic staff allocation procedures used in Science (N =8) 6.6 11.8 15.5 17.3 17,6 education. Australian tertiary institutions. Table II Respondents at tertiary institutions which did not Summary of Methods of Academic Staff use either student load :staff ratios or contact hours However, although the statistics show a much Procedure Allocation in Tertiary InsHtutions as the primary method for determining academic higher percentage of the colleges of adVanced A questionnaire designed to gath\,:!r information education than universities making a formal Institution SSR' CONTACT OTHER' staff allocation, listed numerous other factors which about methods employed to determine the alloca­ HOURS they took into account when assessing the number budgetary provision, the experience of the authors tion of staff within tertiary institutions in Australia University 7 0 9 of academic staff needed by a department. The led them to believe that most universities have suffi­ was mailed to 1 8 universities and 59 colleges of GAE 23 15 9 following factors were mentioned by at least one cient internal resource allocation flexibility to allow advanced education throughout Australia, early in 30 15 18 respondent: their academic staff to have sabbatical and study 1976. Excluded from the survey were all institu­ 1. SSR, Student Staff ratio. In univerSities the ratio is usually to an leave without imposing heavy loads on the remain­ tions concerned primarily with agricultural manage­ index of student load known as a weighted student unit (WSU) ing staff. @ Higher degree load. ment training, home economics, music, mining, and in GAEs. It is usually to a full lime equivalent student $ Research reputation. health and defence training. (F.T,E.S,) 2, In several cases the method included a SSR. formula as one of a number of determinants.

52 53 Table V This may be so, but the lack of the use of any for­ Provision of Budgetary Allocation for mula at all seems questionable, especially as it is Employment of Temporary Staff to Replace recognised that some sort of formula should be the Staff on Sabbatical or Study Leave, by primary basis for decision making, although it Computers and tile The authors have provided a valuable service by Type of institution should be applied with some flexibility in order to F/Jture of Education documenting and substantiating a position that Institution Allocation Made Allocation not encourage growth and change. One would expect, Barry W, Smith and Barry Z, De Ferrranii many would arrive at intuitively. One aspect of this made for instance, that discussions would occur within in­ Centre for Continuing Education. The australian National UnlverSI· subject that deserves further study is the role of Part- Full· Part & stitutions which centered on the relevance of some ty, Canberra. A.C.T. 1976 computers in education itself. time time Full- of the additional factors listed earlier, especially in only only time The report presents the results of an eighteen University 0 1 2 13 situations where a strict adherence to formula­ David K. Robinson CAE 6 1 14 26 based results would be inappropriate. month investigation into the prOjected manpower University of New South Wales TOTALS 6 2 16 39 needs for computing professionals in Australia and In sum, it appears that with the closer scrutiny of how this will and should impinge upon the Australian Conclusion expenditure in tertiary education, and the demands academic scene. This is indeed a very complex Although the student load: staff ratio scheme is the for increasing accountability, that progressive problem because to ensure the study's relevance, one most used in tertiary institutions in Australia as refinements to existing objective methods, in­ it must be viewed in the context of current social LETTER TO the primary method of allocating academic staff, cluding the possible use of an internal budgetary changes, some of which have encouraged the use THE EDITOR many C.A.E.'s still rely on the contact hours allocation according to a student load formula, of computers and some of which have been ac­ scheme and its correlation with rank as their should be explored. celerated by their use. The authors have met this primary determinant. The authors find this surpris­ challenge and have effectively related computers Study Leave in the United Kingdom ing as the use of the latter scheme, especially in References to the contemporary society. multi-purpose institutions, has the potential to 1. Sommers, A. N., "University productivity", restrict experiment and flexibility in the presenta­ Educational Record, 1977, 57, 4, 251·256. !n the past many attempts have been made to an­ From D. E. Martin tion of subjects, for fear of losing formula­ 2. Doi, J. I. (ed.), "Assessing faculty effort", New ticipate manpower requirements but these Research Officer calculated staff contact hours. Directions in Institutional Research, 1974, No.2. endeavours have always been limited by the many Association of University Teachers 3. Birch, D. W. and Calvert, J. R." "A comparative constraints that have been placed upon the predic­ United Kingdom 24 October 1978 limetable analysis for undergraduate programmes tive models. Thus, in retrospect, many studies As both Commissions are requiring student load in a polytechnic and a university", Higher Educa­ statistics, by department, from their respective in­ tion Review, 1976, 8, 3, 29-39. have been found to be deficient. The authors have stitutions as an objective measure of resources 4. Adams, W. H. "Faculty load", Improving College to some extent been spared this problem because Sir, needs, many more institution administrators should and University Teaching, 1976, 24, 4, 215-226. of the nature of computer usage. The computer in­ I was surprised to read in Colin Dyer's article on consider using this statistic as a prime, if not sole, 5,7. Australian Universities Commission. Sixth Report. dustry is only thirty years old but during this period Study Leave (Vestes Vol. 12, 1978 1 and 2) a determinant of department loads and consequent Canberra. Australian government Publishing Ser­ of time, computing has shown remarkable market paragraph implying he had asked AUT for details of academic staff allocation. vice. 1975. p. 153. penetration. Most large business and government U.K. university practice on study leave and had fail­ 6 Commission on Advanced Education. Fourth organisations now rely upon computers for their ed to get his question answered. In checking the In addition to the adherence to one of the Report on Advanced Education, 1976-1978. operation. Not only is this dependence growing Canberra, Australian government Publishing Ser· position in this office I found, on the contrary that aforementioned schemes for allocating staff, some vice, 1976, p. 49. but, in addition, smaller and smaller firms are finding Colin Dyer had not asked for Study Leave deta·lls at institutions reported using a set of criteria which 8. Commission on Advanced Education. Annual computing necessary and cost-competitive. Thus all but had asked for annual leave entitlement only allows a more subjective interpretation, and claims Questionnaire {or Statistics on Advanced Educa· the authors' prediction of a growing demand for and this information was sent to him. to more suitably meet the varying needs of the tion Form 11/ - student Load by Department - Ap­ computer professionals able to service this market respective institutions. proved Courses. 1976. pp. 10-13. is realistic. They expect that the bulk of the demand I should be grateful if you could publish this letter ·In will be for "low technology" graduates suitable for Vestes or perhaps correct the false impression general commercial uWization as opposed to "high given in the article in any other way you may prefer. technology" graduates of which only a few will be required for computer hardware and software D. E. Martin development. It the present demand for staff con­ tinues then there wili be a significant shortfall in trained personnel. Thus it is reasonable to redirect significant resources to teaching computing as a discipline in its own right as weI! as incorporating it CORRIGENDUM in other courses where relevant. The authors In the last issue of Vestes, a review appeared of J. stress the need to prepare people with "adaptabili­ P. Powell's publication Higher Education - A ty", so that they can respond to the developing, Select Bibliography. The first line of that review and hence changing, job market. The authors freely mentions ''The Society for Research into Higher acknowledge that the redirection of resources will Education". This should read instead "The Higher be limited by the availability of trained teachers, by Education Research and Development Society of computing facilities and by general tertiary funding. Australia". Our apologies. Ed.

55 54 Carnpus, L

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