- Marist Brothers (Canberra, ACT)
- Calwell High School (Canberra, ACT)
- Craigie Senior High School (Perth, WA)
- Redbend Catholic College (Forbes, NSW)
- Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School (Canberra, ACT)
- Radford College (Canberra, ACT)
- Tranby College (Perth, WA)
- All Saints College (Perth, WA)
- Greensward College (Hockley, UK)
- The Plume (Maldon, UK)
- Newhall School (Chelmsford, UK)
- Aquinas College (Perth, WA)
- Ursulla Frayne Catholic College (Perth, WA)
- Christ Church Grammar School (Perth, WA)
- St Aloysius Catholic College (Kingston, TAS)
Mathematics and Science have been diluted two main ways:
1. The movement in education to make sure we all have tip top self esteem meters has meant failure/mistakes (and thus learning) is minimised in the belief that it causes long term harm. The curriculum has been dumbed down to match this ideal. When I went to Seoul in 2012 I worked with Intermediate Year 10 students in a school who were doing Math beyond most of my Year 12 top students back here in Australia. Students who fail (and their parents) are now more likely to blame the school than their own practises. Of course, we also now (after this historical dilution) no longer seem to have the teacher capacity to teach Math at this former level. Oops! Most of my student teachers over the last decade or so have been quite mathematically challenged. Not good...
2. The curriculum is very crowded now. Education is often seen as a solution to problems that exist in society. Too much obesity? More school sport! When I was a student we did a lot of core subject time - almost everything else was elective (including sport). Students did most sport/craft/cooking/etc outside of school hours (and often in clubs etc not linked to the school at all). Current students (and I suspect a vast number of educators) might be shocked to learn that the only Art I had access to at school was a one term elective in Year 8 (1976 - although I paint now - who would suspect!). In 2016 the curriculum is bristling with non-STEM stuff, all good for making more "rounded" citizens (and appeasing politicians who need to be seen doing something (anything) before the next election cycle), but the reality seems to be only rarely producing the STEM profiles we need in our society.
What does it all mean?
It seems that unless we halt these two main pressures on our STEM classes we will be condemned to import or outsource our STEM requirements. And when as a country we run out of rocks to sell (or more precisely the market for our rocks doesn't pay for the highly value added rocks we import), the economic consequences of the silent, lengthy and systematic dismantling of Australia's STEM capacity will, I suspect, make very sombre headlines.
As for me - I'm a grumpy old man for pointing all of this out...
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| Kym loves the Bruny Island Ferry! (and her MUX) |
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