Scpp-00648-Sec-1980.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
School and Community N E W t S / rr•- .ч j ' и . -1 • ài ! п ØS •fм мп ti= • . • tk'• ^-+ .. - . č л.. , л .. .. ук г...: . ! : - ;_ €.J .. - • r?ï i✓ Х ы VOLUME 4, NO. 2 AUGUST 1980 А ISSN 0314 - 1543 FRONT COVER: Wreck Bay Fishermen (see article р.32) Photograph by Alison Taylor. THE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE SPECIAL PROJECTS PROGRAM OF THE SCHOOLS COMMISSION DIRECTOR: Patrick Brady School of Teacher Education Canberra College of Advanced Education PO Box 1 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 (tel: (062) 522469) The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Schools Commission CONTENT 5 Page Burwood Case Study: South Australian Open 'A' Class Appointments David Pettit 4 The Culture of the Disadvantaged: Three Views Rachel Sharp * An Analysis of Inequality in the Light of the Jervis Bay/Wreck Bay Innovations Project Margaret Clark ,,Reflections on the Jervis Bay/Wreck Bay Experience 32-45 February 1978-June 1980 Ann Nugent An Extract from Isolated Schools 46-47 C. Turney, K.E. Sinclair and L.G. Cairns Other Recent Publications 48-49 Some Impressions of Community Education in the United States 50-52 Terry Tierney EDITORIAL faced with the particular problems of educational disadvantage experienced by children in isolated In this edition of School and Community News a regions. number of the articles focus on questions of disadvantage and inequality. In a different vein, Terry Tierney's article provides some insights into the United States In the first article, which is also the last from the community education scene and suggests some pit- Burwood Case Study Project, David Pettit looks at one falls to be avoided here in Australia. South Australian approach to the problem of linking schools with special problems up with Principals with Mailing List Review ... special skills. In our last edition we asked readers to advise us The next three articles look, from quite different if they wished to continue to receive copies of perspectives, at the question of "cultural our publications in 1980. Over 600 readers disadvantage" in our schools. replied. We are pleased to know that so many of you find cur materials of value. Rachel Sharp's article, written as a discussion paper for the Disadvantaged Schools National Regional Response ... Dissemination and Communication Project, considers We recently canvassed all Regional Directors and three different ways of thinking about the culture Education Centres in an attempt to get some feel of disadvantaged groups in our society and their for the kinds of activities taking place at this educational implications. level. The response certainly indicates that people working at the regional level would appreciate The papers by Margaret Clark and Ann Nugent increased opportunities to link into networks that both centre man innovations project, developed by provide information about initiatives being tried Ann, and implemented at Jervis Bay/Wreck Bay, ACT. elsewhere. We will be looking, in the next few Both Margaret and Ann are Associate Members of the months, at ways in which the services of the Project School and Community Project and their papers show can be adapted to meet this need. a similarity in the direction of their thinking. This similarity is perhaps a reflection of the degree This edition of School and Community News is something of open dialogue and cross fertilization which has of a first for us in that, as we reported in the last been made possible, under the auspices of the Project, newsletter, with the completion of the Bzwwood Case during this year. Study Project, new approaches to the development of materials have had to be explored. Your responses to In our section on 'New Publications' we have included the materials in this newsletter would therefore be some extracts from the book Isolated Schools by doubly welcome. We would be happy to receive your Turney, Sinclair and Cairns. We have mainly focussed suggestions, criticisms and/or materials for future on the authors' recommendations in relation to publications. school and community but strongly recommend the book to all those parents, teachers and administrators Beverley Pope Project Officer. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN OPEN 'A CLASS APPOINTMENTS By: David Pettit Burwood Case Study How do you select the fifty best principals in and leadership are appropriate to the specific needs the State and how do you decide which schools of the schools to which they are applying. need those principals? In 1979 there were nearly two hundred applicants for A selection process is evolving in South Australia the thirty-four primary and secondary school positions. with the extensive co-operation between the Minister The panel short-listed to about a third of that for Education, the Department and the South number and then embarked upon a laborious process of Australian Institute of Teachers (BAIT). Under the reviewing the applications, studying the referee's arrangement up to fifty Principals 'A' are appointed comments, visiting the applicants' existing schools to specific 'Open A' class schools for a five year and interviewing. During the interviews matters of tenure and receive an extra loading of between two management, innovation, devolution of responsibility, and three thousand dollars a year for the staff development, budget processes, community responsibility. involvement and participation beyond the school were discussed. Members of the panel visited the applicants' The Principals 'A' are chosen by a selection panel present schools talking to students, teachers, staff of eight people - three of SAIT, three from the and parents, looking at programmes and discussing Education Department and two Ministerial appointees. organisation and morale. The panel then made recom- There are two panels : one for primary and one for mendation to the Director General and the Minister. secondary principals. SAIT holds an election for If referred back the position may be re-advertised five primary and five secondary teachers from which although in practice this has rarely happened. It is three are chosen for the panels, two primary and an indication of the thoroughness of the panel's work one secondary for a primary panel and vice-versa that positions are not filled if they consider that for a secondary panel. The Department Officers none of the candidates are suitable : this has happened are fairly senior and the ministerial appointees on several occasions and twice during the 1979 round of are parents drawn from the Parent Teachers Council appointments. of South Australia. When the Principal 'A' class came into being five years The Principal 'A' positions are widely advertised ago it was a personal classification and not a school in Australia and New Zealand. Potential applicants classification. Having identified the people, schools can obtain on request further information about the were then selected : consequently the matching was not particular characteristics of each 'Open A' school peřfect although a total of nearly one hundred schools ('Open' because openly advertised). The applicants became eligible for a Class 'A' Principal. The decision have to demonstrate that their qualities, experience to designate certain schools as 'Open A' schools because of'special need' had been accepted in the In the process of selecting Open 'A' schools a original agreement but was not activated until later. fairly strong and tangible improvement philosophy The selection and designation of the schools with has developed. The early concept of using Class 'A' special needs has made the choice of principals principals as 'troubleshooters' has given way to for them particularly important. more of a 'lighthouse' approach, using achievements in the schools to improve the performance and broaden There are twenty secondary and thirty primary the perspectives of adjacent schools. The process Principal 'A' schools eligible for Principals has also enabled the Department and its Regional Class 'A' at any one time. The primary school list Directors to develop ideas about what ought to happen includes three or four junior primary, a special in schools even if there is not always agreement. and one or two rural area schools. In creating a list of possible Open 'A' class schools the The innovation could not have taken place without the Department takes three considerations into account: support of SAIT. Like most agreements between the the size of the school, its complexity as indicated Minister, the Department and the Union it resulted by the socio-economic status of the parents and the from a trade-off. During a work conditions case in migrant and aboriginal component and 'special 1974 SAIT selected the more complex Class 1 schools considerations'. This last category includes the as examples for work values. Consequently the innovativeness of the programmes in the school, differences within the Class 1 schools became more the relationship with University and College pre- obvious. The Department wanted a re-classification service programmes and the school's past history. to reduce the number of classes of schools and after Past history could take into account such consider- negotiation this was agreed to in exchange for the ations as the turnover of principals brought about by creation of fifty Principal 'A' positions and the promotion, death, long service leave, accouchement inclusion of SAIT in the selection process. The leave etc; schools recently combined but on different changes, psrticularly in the system of tenure, campuses and 'experimental' schools such as K-12 and required considerable negotiation. There was con- 'community' schools. There is a tendency for a strong siderable opposition within the SAIT at the time and representation of 'disadvantaged' or 'priority project' the issue was only finally passed through in SAIT schools to be represented on the list. Council when the Open 'A' appointments were tied to more complex and demanding schools. Theoretically, Most Open 'A' schools are in metropolitan Adelaide the system offers opportunities for accelerated and there is no formula for taking into account the promotion.