TEND COMMITTEE REPORT JUNE 1978 Report to the Hon
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TEND COMMITTEE REPORT JUNE 1978 Report to The Hon. H.N. Holgate, B.A., M.H.A., Minister for Education, Recreation, and the Arts INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL AND ADULT TEACHER EDUCATION 13iW1985 LIBRARY Education Department, Tasmania Hobart, June 1978 E. S. DOHEKTY, Acting Government Primer, Tasmania Tasmanian Schools and Colleges (SEE APPENDIX 5 FOR LIST OF METROPOLITAN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES AND UNATTACHED KINDERGARTENS NOT SHOWN ON THE MAP.) A74 EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HOBART TELEPHONE 30 9011 G.P.O. BOX No. 169B 7001 TASMANIA TEND COMMITTEE IN REPLY PLEASE QUOTE: FILE No IF TELEPHONING OR CALLING ASK FOR 8th June, 1978 The Honourable H.N. Holgate, B.A., M.H.A., Minister for Education, Recreation and the Arts, G.P.O. Box 169B, HOBART, Tasmania. 7001 Dear Mr. Holgate, We have pleasure in submitting to you the report of the Tasmanian Education: Next Decade (TEND) Committeeo, commissioned by your predecessor in the office of Minister for Education in November 1976. The members of the Committee were: W.F. Connell, (Chairman) Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Sydney. J.K. Edwards, General Manager and Chief Engineer, Port of Launceston Authority. Noela J. Foxcroft, Senior Mistress, Rose Bay High School. L.J. Harris, Manager, The Advocate Newspaper Pty. Ltd., Burnie. B.G. Mitchell, Deputy Director-General of Education, Education Department of Tasmania. Fr. E. Proietto, Principal, Dominic College. V.W. Smith, (Secretary) Education Department of Tasmania. The last comprehensive report was made in 1968. This one is submitted to you in 1978. We hope that this may establish a precedent for a substantial review each ten years. Education is a complex operation that should be periodically evaluated. It is also of central importance for the development and welfare of the people of the State, who need to have some regular opportunity of assessing its relevance, of seeing an analysis of its main lines of development and of learning about its possible future direction. We have conceived our task to be a two-fold one. We have had to try to determine the present state of education in Tasmania and the trends that have been developing in it, and we have had to make judgments and recommendations about desirable future developments in the light of our investigations and our own experience and knowledge. In the course of our review we received 213 submissions from the public, held six public meetings in various parts of the State, visited 51 schools, discussed a number of special topics with several selected groups, and accumulated a considerable body of documents and statistics dealing with a variety of aspects of Tasmanian education. Our report is a document designed to inform the community about its schools, and interest it in developing wider and better educational activities. We present to you our views and recommendations of what seem to us to be the most significant aspects of Tasmanian education. Yours sincerely, N.J. Foxcroft E. Proietto TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Map of Tasmanian Schools * i. Letter of transmittal ii. List of tables and diagrams vi. Acknowledgements vii Definitions . • vii Chapter 1 Basic Assumptions and Priorities Basic Assumptions _ 1 Tasmania and the Quality of Education 5 General Priorities 7 Chapter 2 Curriculum School-based Curricula . 13 Core Curriculum and General Education 16 Values Education . ... 19 Literacy and Numeracy 24 Examinations and Certification 28 Chapter 3 Organisation of Education The School System 33 Central Office 35 Regional Offices 36 Staffing of Central and Regional Offices ... 3b School Organisation i. Administrative Processes within Schools . 39 ii. Continuity 40 iii. Streaming . 4] iv. Open Education 4] v. Size of Schools 43 Pre School and Primary School 45 District Schools 48 High Schools 52 Independent Schools 57 Special Education 59 Education of Girls 60 Education Act 61 iv. Chapter 4 School and Local Community Page Present Practices 63 Attitudes to Community Involvement 64 Reasons for Encouraging Community Involvement... 65 School Participation in the Community 66 Requirements for Successful School-Community Involvement 67 Chapter 5 16 - 20 Present Situation 70 Characteristics of 16-20 year olds 72 Existing Structure of Educational Facilities ... 73 Future Needs of Students and the Community ... 74 Structural Changes 77 Curricular Changes 80 Attitudinal Changes 83 Chapter 6 Teachers and Teacher Education Supply of Teachers ... 85 Pre-service Education of Teachers 87 In-service Education 92 Chapter 7 Education in Rural Tasmania Disadvantages of Rural Schools 94 Educational Effects of Disadvantages 97 Improving the Situation of Rural Students ... 99 The Task of the Rural School 103 Chapter 8 Development and Innovation in Education 105 Summary of Recommendations 109 References 122 Appendices 125 v. LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS Page TABLES 1. Retention Rates for All Schools, by State, 1977. ... 53 2. Enrolments in Tasmanian Schools, 1966-77 62 3. Percentage of Population Aged 15-24 Years in Full-time Education, 1975. 70 4. Estimated Student and Teacher Numbers in Tasmanian State and Non-State Schools. 86 5. Tasmania: Rural and Urban Population, 1961-76. ... 94 6. Basic Skills of Reading of 10-Year-Old Tasmanian Students 98 7. Rural School Children -. Indicators of Disadvantage. ... 99 DIAGRAMS Map of Tasmanian Schools i. 1. School System of Tasmania 33 2. Retention Rates for Tasmanian Government Secondary Schools, Pupils in Level 6 in 1971 and Level 12 in 3. Retention Rates for Tasmanian Government Secondary Schools, 1961-73. 55 4. Existing Structure of Educational Facilities for the 16-20 Year Old Group. 73 5. Students in Tasmanian Technical Colleges by Age, 1977. 76 6. Projected"School Enrolments, Australia, 1977-2000. ... 85 vi. Acknowledgements The TEND Committee would like to record their pleasure at the substantial contribution made by the Tasmanian community to the construction of this report. We received 213 written submissions from individuals and groups, many of them covering, thoughtfully and in detail, a wide range of our terms of reference. The afternoon seminars and evening public meetings that we held in various parts of the State were well attended and of great value to the Committee. We are grateful also to the teachers, administrators and community members who attended special meetings and workshops for the discussion of particular topics of interest to us. Similarly, we received great help from very many teachers and students on the visits we made to the Departmental and Independent schools of the State. To the Director- General and his departmental officers, we are particularly grateful for their constant assistance and prompt response to our various requests for information; in particular, the Research and Planning sections supplied valuable and much needed material to us, and the Development and Information Service and the Medica Centre assisted greatly with general publicity and the preparation of this report. We are particularly indebted to a small group of reactors for their frank criticism and advice on the various chapters of the report which they received in the course of its writing. For our committee meetings in the north of the State, the Port of Launceston Authority was our very generous host. Finally, we would like to record our gratitude to our two full-time staff members. Lesley Longden, our typist-stenographer, managed successfully to disentangle our discussions and debates and has coped admirably with the various drafts of our report. To Vince Smith, our Secretary, we have a sense of deep obligation for his unremitting industry in organising our varied activities and movements, and in producing our final report. Definitions We have noticed that, in recent discussions on Tasmanian education, confusion has been caused by the use of the terms describing types and levels of education. Throughout this report, the following terms are used as defined here. We have defined them according to the level of work done at each stage, not according to the age of the students involved. secondary education means the period of six years of education following year 6 in the primary school, i.e. education from year 7 to year 12. It may be divided into two periods, junior or lower secondary, and senior or upper secondary. junior of lower secondary education covers the first four years of secondary education from year 7 to year 10. District schools and high schools offer junior secondary education. vii. senior or upper secondary education covers the final two years of secondary education, i.e. years 11 and 12. Secondary colleges offer two-year full-time and technical colleges offer up to two-year full- and up to four-year part-time secondary education for students who transfer into them after completing all or most of a junior secondary education. tertiary or higher education is undertaken by those who have completed their secondary education, i.e. have completed year 12 or a standard judged to be equivalent. Post secondary is a term sometimes used in place of tertiary. Tertiary education is offered at present by the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education. advanced education is a form of tertiary education offered by Colleges of Advanced Education of which the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education at Newnham and Mt. Nelson is the only example at present in Tasmania. It provides courses leading to under graduate awards known as Associate Diplomas (UG3), Diplomas (UG2) and Degrees (UG1), and may also offer some post-graduate awards. In one Australian State, some of the technical colleges also offer a few advanced education courses at the UG3 level. None of the technical colleges in Tasmania provides any form of advanced education. technical education is a form of vocational preparation in any area, e.g. the term is used to cover such diverse courses as those in commerce, engineering and art. Technical courses are offered in Technical Colleges and may also be offered in Community Colleges (see chapter 5).