The S-Files

There is an Education Minister on Deck

S-Award given to Julia Gillard, Minister of Education, Australia

Contra Celsum is pleased to nominate Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Australia for an S-Award to acknowledge some of the most refreshing utterances heard from a Minister of Education in a long, long time.

Citation:

Recently, Julia Gillard delivered a speech to the Christian Schools Group in Canberra.

Below is an excerpt from her speech:

Above all, we have to ensure we are teaching young people the right things in the right way.
This includes early emphasis on reading, literacy and numeracy, the foundation learning skills.
To improve our performance in this crucial area, the Budget allocated $577.4 million over four years to a National Action Plan on Literacy and Numeracy.

I have to say, when it comes to teaching something as basic as literacy, I'm somewhat old fashioned and a strong supporter of a practical and rigorous approach. I think the teaching of phonics, grammar and punctuation are an important part of the learning process. . . .

That clarity and rigour is something that we should aim to apply to the whole curriculum and underscores the importance of our national curriculum policy. One of the criticisms often made of educationalists is that to help disadvantaged children, they are too often prepared to 'dumb down' what is taught. In my view, dumbing down is the cruelest joke we can play on someone who has to battle against the odds to succeed.

My life has been far from a battle, but as someone from an immigrant family from a coal mining village, whose own life has benefited from studying in the final year of high school demanding academic subjects like English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Economics and then at university law and arts with an economic major, I am a passionate believer in the benefits of the rigorous study of traditional disciplines.

Such studies provide the basis for understanding a rapidly changing world. But more than that, they are a civilising and individually uplifting force that requires no wider economic or social justification. They foster creativity, inquiry, research skills and expression. And they play a big part in imparting values to our young people.

I want students to:

• have an understanding of the logic that lies behind computers;
• have a grounding in narrative history so they can make sense of world events;
• read Shakespeare's plays and modern literature to help them know themselves as well as they know the world; and
• develop high-level numerical skills and be capable of mental arithmetic.
  

I also want students to imbibe some of the great liberal values that come from study like:

• like honesty and intellectual courage;
• standing up for others;
• aspiration, ambition and humility; and
• respect for democracy, individual rights and difference.
  

The details will properly be left to educators and experts, not politicians. But ideas like these will be broadly reflected in the new National Goals for Schooling in Australia to be released later this year and in the new National Curriculum, to be completed in 2010.

Now, one has to wonder what will happen to her ideas, once the “educators and experts” get to work on the National Curriculum. Nevertheless, it is both refreshing and encouraging to see an Education Minister declare that:

1. Dumbing down of subjects is the cruelest joke one could play on disadvantaged children.
2. Formal teaching in phonics, grammar and punctuation is an important part of the learning process. (One can just hear the choking in our own Ministry of Education)
3. She is a passionate believer in the rigorous study of traditional disciplines; that such study and such disciplines provide the basis for understanding a rapidly changing world.
4. The study of narrative history gives students the keys to understand current world events.
5. Reading Shakespeare's plays and literature helps students to know themselves and understand the world in which they live.
6. Mental arithmetic capability is necessary.

Also refreshing was Gillard's public recognition of the significant contribution which Christian Schools make to the educational landscape in Australia. She said: “I know that many of our Christian schools play a hugely important role in helping children and families to overcome disadvantage. It is often a role driven by their sense of purpose and social mission.”

Such sentiments would never be uttered in New Zealand given the current stranglehold of the secular humanist Teacher Unions over the Ministry of Education educational and curriculum policies.

As mentioned above, it remains to be seen what will happen as Gillard's views and wishes go through the “Yes, minister” process. However, it remains refreshing to hear such commitments from an Education Minister who appears to be worthy of the name. It is a long time since New Zealand has seen anything of similar ilk.

We believe that if Gillard were to succeed, the Kiwi exodus to Australia would quicken yet again.

Julia Gillard: S-Award, Class I for actions in the course of duty that were Smart, Sound, and Salutary.