A leading educational academic has urged Australian teachers to avoid becoming cautious under the ‘transparency’ of the modern Australian classroom.

 

Professor of Education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Stephen Kemmis said, “The work of Australian schools in 2010 is open to scrutiny in ways the work of medical doctors, lawyers, electricians or car mechanics will never be”.

 

“Politicians call the detailed curricula, assessments and recommended teaching techniques ‘transparency’ but the right name for them is scrutiny. This scrutiny will make the teaching profession very cautious and some teachers much more timid.”

 

The internationally-recognised CSU academic says the job of teachers is to educate students, not just to give them schooling.

 

“Teachers  must find times and ways to take their eyes off the details of the national curriculum, the official tests and assessments, the NAPLAN results, the My School data and the ways of teaching the experts recommend,” Professor Kemmis said.

 

He said the educational job is always concerned with the lives of students - not just their grades - and with the fates we share in our communities. 

 

Addressing teaching graduates at CSU in Wagga Wagga, Professor Kemmis acknowledged there is a day-to-day struggle between education and schooling and conflicting curriculum, assessment, employer and professional demands.

 

“As teachers stand in that class, it is all too easy to listen to the army of advisors and supervisors insistently murmuring their advice and expectations over your shoulder. Sometimes their murmur rises to a roar loud enough to drown out the voices of the students.”

 

Ahead of the start of the National Assessment Program for Numeracy and Literacy (NAPLAN) from Tuesday 11 May, Professor Kemmis has urged Australian teachers not to give up on education and to “hold fast to the educational mission”.