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Outcomes-based education must be ditched
22 Jul 2006 16:46:42 -0700 misc.education
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< teaching content is for the dinosaurs. To many of our educationists and academics there is no such thing as a fact; everything is open to interpretation.>> ========================= This article was sent via eLibrary from ProQuest Information and Learning. http://elibrary.bigchalk.com The Australian Physics will add up only with maths BYLINE: Peter Ridd Outcomes-based education must be ditched for content-based syllabuses, writes Peter Ridd THE fortresses of outcomes-based education have been tumbling across Australia in the past few weeks, with West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter overriding his embattled Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravlich, to instigate an overhaul of the proposed outcomes-based syllabuses in that state. This was followed by comments from Ravlich's NSW counterpart, Carmel Tebbutt, that syllabuses must prescribe some content to protect students from educational fads sweeping other states. That would be states such as Queensland. To most of us, the idea of a syllabus without some content or facts is almost inconceivable, but in the ethereal world of education theory, teaching content is for the dinosaurs. To many of our educationists and academics there is no such thing as a fact; everything is open to interpretation. That may be OK for psychology and philosophy, but in physics there are facts with a capital F. It is impossible to teach science and maths without some minimum level of content, and it is the role of the syllabus to guide teachers on what to teach. However, the latest physics syllabus in Queensland dispenses with facts entirely. The 30-odd page document, full of edu-speak and equity statements, has but a single completely unhelpful page devoted to the content to be taught. The teachers are free to teach anything they like to whatever depth they wish. There is also no guidance on the level of mathematics to be used in the physics course. Some teachers will elect to remove the maths entirely because some of the students may be frightened by a few equations. But physics without maths is like having one leg chopped off. You can stagger around, but you won't go far. toto...
In Queensland, not only do we have a physics syllabus devoid of physics, we have a Year 10 maths syllabus devoid of a single equation. No wonder the first-year university mathematics, physics and engineering lecturers complain bitterly about the appalling standard of algebra of school-leavers. Universities across the country have had to water down mathematics standards and shift material to later years to compensate. This is not exactly the stuff of the clever country or the smart state. Just to prove how opposed to anything numerate is the Queensland system: we have an assessment scheme that forbids the use of marks, percentages and weighting. Instead teachers are supposed to give a letter grade for each piece of assessment, then use a dubious subjective procedure to come up with a final mark; sorry, I mean letter. Perhaps the reason this system has been dreamed up by university education faculties is that university educationists are so innumerate they feel uncomfortable with any numbers at all. But it does not end there. The Queensland system has slowly but surely been eliminating exams, instead using assignments for the bulk or all of the assessment. This is all very well if you are a child of a comfortable middle-class family with university-educated parents. Mummy can help you with your assignments. It's not exactly cheating, but it surely discriminates against students from less comfortable backgrounds. Queensland Education Minister Rod Welford has instigated a review of the syllabuses for the senior phase of learning. It is a good start, but he has asked the Queensland Studies Authority to undertake the task. This is precisely the group that is responsible for some of the world's silliest syllabus documents. It is an organisation rotten to the core with modern educational theory. How can it possibly be entrusted to do this review? Instead we need an independent review that would include a significant input from the universities; not the educationists but university engineers, biologists, mathematicians. These people will see a large proportion of our school-leavers. Their students can make Queensland the smart state, if we are prepared to do something drastic about our education system. Peter Ridd is a senior lecturer in physics at James Cook University. |