Arrested deVELopment

In response to he Victorian Government Release of the VELs (Victorian Essential Learning Standards)
Remember that friend or relative that planned their renovation or dream home for so long that you thought they enjoyed the plans more than the reality ? Well….meet the Victorian DE&T (Department of Education and Training). They love planning ! Plans for everything are sent out to schools as expensive glossy pamphlets, show bags, newspapers (lovingly called “Pravda” by teachers) and even as a stream of SPAM to their large captive audience of employees.

Their greatest love is planning curriculum. “Curriculum” may sound like a doctors description of something children vomit up, but really it is a description of what we are hoping children will swallow.

I have been teaching for nearly 25 years and every few years the Education Department brings out a new amazing plan that justifies the salaries of the Minister and the bureaucracy.

Most recently we have VELS ! Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Don’t get me wrong - this new plan is full of great ideas ! So was the last one – Frameworks II, and the one before that Framework I and the one before that etc. etc. I love them as much as the fantastic new circular house plan one of my students showed me. It has new curved sinks and an amazing curved TV screen to match the wall and give a “surround” feeling. Rubin (real name suppressed) is very creative and very mature. She knows that there is a world of work ahead if the plan is to be made real. Pity DE&T isn’t as smart.

What’s next Rubin ? Well, we need to develop some new technologies like curved screens. We need to get a curved sink made – that could cost ! We need to hire a draughtsman, then a builder, then pay for the materials…. All possible if we have the money, time and willpower.

If DE&T was planning Rubin’s house they would have paid the draughtsman alright, but then they just email a copy of the plan to each family member and sit back !

No, that is a bit unfair ! They would have asked a few different builders to make parts of wall, one great cupboard, an incredible toilet roll holder. Then they sit back and encourage everyone to live in the new house !

What a negative view from a conservative maths teacher ! Aha ! I thought so ! Too old to change !

Not true !! I, and many many other math teachers, would love to be freed from the discipline of the subject into a world of investigative fun. It’s just that no one has actually built a curriculum that we can use.

You see, most teachers can’t write high quality curriculum materials; few have the time and why duplicate effort in hundreds of schools to perpetually “reinvent the wheel”. Teachers are expert at selecting materials for their class; preparing them for use (often tweaking to taste); teaching 25 different individuals at a time; correcting work as often as possible; reporting to parents, administrators and to DE&T. Not enough ! You say ! Write the curriculum as well !

We tried that during the late 70’s and 80’s with another one of those great new ideas – “school-based curriculum development”. Trouble was that it encouraged teachers to have a bash at being curriculum writers. A plethora of low quality “units of work” were celebrated in so many schools. The philosophy is still so seductive – no need to buy expensive curriculum materials from publishers ! Just get the teachers to write them as they go ! Just look at the VELS plan. Lots of “exemplars” for teachers to follow. Lots of “seeding” activities and programs to get them started. Let them experiment on the children with “action research”. “Great”, Rubin would say. “But aren’t they going to get any proper builders ?”

Look at school booklists. Jam packed with expensive textbooks. Why ? Because they are a defacto state-wide standard in the absence of any state-provided curriculum materials. Because they provide a comprehensive sequence that ensures students are prepared for the harsh numerical ranking of the VCE. Because they are developed by respected teachers and publishers who have special expertise in curriculum development.

Many government and school planners wonder why all their planning efforts are so unappreciated, so quickly superceded and so ineffective in actually changing what goes on in the classrooms. Any clear thinking student could tell you that if you want people to move house you need more than plans. If only the planners would talk to publishers. They might be very interested in investing in a curriculum to match the VELS as long as the government gave it the stamp for use in all schools. Anyone can plan. Build it and they will come !