• Personal computers in schools ·
• Transition from school to higher education
• QUEST - test analysis soft~are
• Performance testing
• Knowledge tools
No. 77 June 1993 ISSN 1038-4103 • Subject choice in senior
secondary years
PERSONAL COMPUTERS: A SOURCE OF LEARNING TOOLS
Helga Rowe
The growing use of computers in schools is only the first step to support learning- what is crucial is how new technologies are used. The computer itself cannot produce effective learning, but students can learn effectively with computers. This is the focus of ACER's current research in the area of educational computing - to develop and adapt computer-based tools with only one purpose in mind: to support learning. Some of these tools are differ- ent from task-specific tools- they can be generalised as tools that assist cognitive processes such as thinking, problem solving and learning. Thus we can refer to them as cognitive tools. Just as a convection oven supports the cooking process, cognitive tools support the learning process.
During the past two decades, methods of teaching and learning have become increasingly cognitively oriented. This is because we are giving more responsibil- ity to the students themselves for their learning and motivation. Teachers and curriculum developers are trying to engage learners in more meaningful tasks and hence more meaningful mental processing. Thus it seems ironical that few tools have been designed or produced specifically to aid learning.
The chalk board is one notable excep- tion, particularly in light of its popularity and longevity, though other tools, such as pencils, paper, rulers and calculators, have also become important in educa- tion. Many tools and, media, such as projectors, transmitter?and computers, have been adapted to serve educational purposes, but few have been developed with learning as the primary goal.
COGNITIVE TOOLS
The research literature defines cognitive tools as mental and computational devices that support, guide and extend the thinking process of their users. Many cognitive tools, such as specific thinking
strategies, are internal to the learner.
However, the tools being investigated and developed by ACER at present are external, computer-based procedures and environments that extend the think- ing process. They are tools that are used to engage learners in more meaningful cognitive processing of information. They are knowledge construction and facilita- tion tools that can be applied to most subjects to mediate learning.
THE MEDIATION OF LEARNING
Technologies don't directly bring about learning. People do not learn from computers, books, videos or other devices that have been adapted to transmit information. Rather, learning requires thinking on the part of the learner. Thinking processes are activated by instructional tasks and other learning activities. Learning processes are medi- ated by instructional interventions, including technologies. We ought, there- fore, in technology-rich classrooms, to concern ourselves less with the design and structures of technologies and more with how the learners are required to think when they are completing different tasks.
ACER's current work aims to find ways of teaching students how to think and learn more effectively. The focus is not on the development of even more power- ful teaching hardware, but rather on technologies that engage the thinking process in the individual's mind. The role of personal computers in learning and teaching is to display thinking tools - tools that are able to help students' thinking, problem solving and learning.
KNOWLEDGE TOOLS
THINKING AND LEARNING WITH K-LQG
Knowledge Tools offers computer-based tools that are handy for learning. There are step-by-step activities to start with, then projects that lead off in all directions. The basic tool is K-LOG, a friendly mini-language designed for handling information.
K-LOG is easy-to-use, suitable for upper primary to adult. It is also designed for senior secondary students with a focus on logic programming and artificial intelligence.
Activities promote general abilities, including comprehension, reasoning, persistence and cooperation. The emphasis is on cooperative working and clear thinking skills.
Activities cover a wide range of subjects and can easily be modified to cover specific content. The Knowledge Tools pack comprises a disk with K-LOG itself and all the programs, and a handbook introducing K-LOG and the numerous activities.
Students learn to create their own expert systems, databases, mysteries, range of puzzles and problem-solving games - all of which can be easily adapted to different content areas and ability levels.
For more information ask for the brochure listed on the back of the New Releases.
Cognitive tools lead to students learning with technologies instead of about them.
Leaming with technologies empowers the learner. Computer-based cognitive tools are intelligent resources, which learners can adapt to their individual needs in constructing personal knowl- edge. Importantly, they enable individu- als to engage in a level of thinking that would normally not be available to them without the cognitive tool.
AREAS OF APPLICATION
Initially, the computing tools are expected to assist students with:
• direct problem solving
• creating something, such as an object, idea or procedure
• finding new uses for computers.
The software being used includes word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, adventure games and simulations. The curriculum areas which are targeted by ACER's initial work are:
• the development of knowledge representation skills
• the development and enhancement of reading skills
• the development of creative writing
• problem solving
• planning and management of study
• self-monitoring and evaluation.
LEARNING STYLES
In a study of 120 Year 6 and Year 7 students who had their own personal computers to use as they liked at school in all subjects and at home over one and two years, important components of effective computer use were identified and measured. Student attitudes were
!ssessed and the contribution of teach- ers to the integration of computing.
Individual differences in learning styles were found to influence not only learn- ing outcomes but also students uses of computers. This study is reported in a recent ACER publication, entitled Learn- ing with Personal Computers, by Helga Rowe (050 BK NB $29.95).
Learning with Personal Computers also offers a general rationale for, the use of personal computers irt,; earning and teaching, providing exarri'ples of teach- ing activities and ideas for the integration of computers into the curriculum and assessment. It is a book for teachers, student teachers and all responsible for preservice and inservice education.
Above all, the book shows that the impact of personal computing on learn- ing processes and outcomes is entirely dependent on how computers are used.
ACER MAKES AVAILABLE ITS OWN TEST ANALYSIS SOFTWARE
Over the past Jew years ACER has put considerable effort into improving the way that student assessments are analysed and then reported to diverse audiences. In 1992 our success in this area was recognised through an award to ACER from the United States National Council on Measurement in Education for excellence in the dissemination of
educational measurement concepts.
The innovative approaches that ACER has adopted in many assessment programs and research studies have been made possible by access to test analysis and reporting software that conveniently implements advanced techniques in item response modelling. This software, named QUEST, has been developed and improved over the last three years by researchers Khoo Siek-Toon and Dr Ray Adams to meet the various in-house analysis needs of ACER.
QUEST is the software that has made possible recent innovative approaches to assessment that have been widely adopted by ACER in many assessment programs and research studies.
QUEST is currently being used by ACER in the validation of the National Profiles. It is also the basic analysis tool used by ACER and others in programs such as the Western Australian Monitor- ing Standards in Education program and the NSW Basic Skills Testing program. In the Victorian Achievement studies, QUEST's facility to analyse data from
both traditional and from alternative assessments has been drawn upon heavily in the construction of measures of conceptual understanding in areas as diverse as Science and Social Education.
QUEST offers a comprehensive test and questionnaire analysis environment by providing access to the most recent developments in Rasch measurement theory, as well as a range of traditional analysis procedures. It scores and analyses multiple-choice tests, Likert- type rating scales, short answer items, and partial credit items.
QUEST is easy to use and is suitable for both small and large test analysis.
The QUEST user interface is designed primarily to encourage exploration of test data. The interactive environment and the Display Manager included in the program allow for browsing through analysis results before deciding upon the next series of actions. QUEST also allows groups of commands or the entire job to be lined up and run unattended.
It also has enhancements and facilities for importing and exporting files.
The QUEST emphasis for output is graphical. Informative visual displays are used to summarise and communi- cate key characteristics of the items and tests/questionnaires under analysis.
QUEST has been implemented on several platforms including IBM PC and compatibles running PC/MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh and Vax-VMS. Tailored versions can be prepared for other plat- forms. For further information, contact Ray Adams or Peter Congdon at ACER.
SUBJECT CHOICE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
The subjects chosen by students in the senior secondary years are important in shaping their educational and occupational futures. Differences in subject choice involve issues of equity. One of the first national research studies of patterns of subject choice was conducted in 1989 and 1990 by John Ainley, Warren Jones and K. K. Navaratnam of ACER. This study used student level data to examine enrolments in various subject areas and the combinations of subjects commonly taken by students in Years 11 and 12. Results indicated that differences in patterns of subject choice were associated with earlier school achievements and interests, gender, social and ethnic background, and school type and location. The report, Subject Choice in Senior Secondary School, was published by AGPS.
Since 1990, important changes in the curriculum structures for Years 11 and 12 have occurred in several States, along with the continuing rise in school retention rates. The Department of Employment, Education and Training has commissioned ACER to undertake another study of subject choice by senior secondary students.
By comparing results from the new study with the 1990 results, it will be possible to identify changes in the patterns of subject choice which are associated with the new curriculum structures. Results will also be reported in relation to the eight broad learning areas of the national curriculum. Dr John Ainley will direct the project.
ENTERING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 1980S
stages in terms of the probability of individuals getting to any of these stages.
The analyses reported here are of the higher education participation rates of those eligible to participate - those who completed Year 12. The report describes participation in higher educa- tion during the 1980s, and changes in participation over the decade. The statis- tics presented describe the participation rates of various groups within the popu- lation - groups defined by social and economic criteria, gender, location, school system, and achievement within school. Between-group differences in participation rates offer insights into the matter of access to higher education, the equity of this access, and the general question of talent wastage. The report also looks at how these participation rates changed, as the higher education system itself changed, and as the pro- portion of young people entering higher education increased. The effects of these changes on the demographic, social, economic and academic make-up of populations of higher education entrants is also examined in detail.
Trevor Williams
The 1980s was a decade that saw much change and some turmoil in Australia's system of higher education. Higher education policy moved strongly toward an investment in education to increase productivity with the aim in part to increase the international competitive- ness of Australian industry. This policy encouraged the growth of participation in higher education, changes in higher education institutions, and a redefined relationship between these institutions and the Commonwealth Government.
In the early 1980s the higher education sector had a structure comprising uni- versities on the one hand and Colleges of Advanced Education on the other. By the end of the decade, institutional amalga- mations had replaced 68 CAEs and 19 universities with less than 40 universities.
These institutional changes were accompanied by an increased demand for places in higher education, and an increase in the number of places funded by government. The participation rates of young people grew substantially - from 9.6 per cent of 17 to 19-year-olds in 1982 to 15.2 per cent in 1990. Funding this rapid expansion became an issue for all concerned. Tuition fees, not levied since 1973, were introduced, reflecting the government's commitment to the principle of 'user-pays'.
During this same period the traditional commitment of Labor Governments to equity and social justice was maintained.
Questions about the efficiency of the education system existed side-by-side with the government's concerns about disadvantage. Gender differences, eth- nic disadvantage, traditional concerns about the social and economic imbal- ance in higher education populations, the handicaps of a rural background, and such, continued to have force.
YOUTH IN TRANSITIONi-1
During this same period.ACER was con- ducting annual surveys of samples of Australian youth as part of a program of longitudinal studies called Youth in Transition, now in its fifteenth year.
Members of three of the four samples (cohorts) being surveyed - several thousand individuals born in 1961, 1965 and 1970 - who were entering higher education, did so in the beginning, the
middle, and the closing years of the 1980s. As such they offered a unique perspective on higher education during the decade, and the information with which to conduct statistical analyses bearing on the equity and productivity of Australian higher education.
With financial support from the Higher Education Division of the Department of Employment, Education and Training, these analyses were undertaken over the past two years and are to be reported in four volumes. The first of these looks at the question of becoming eligible to enter higher education - by virtue of completing Year 12. This work was published recently by AGPS entitled Year 12 in the 1980s. The second, which is the subject of this article, looks at the question of entry to higher education among those eligible to enter - those who have completed Year 12. The third examines graduation rates of those who entered, looking at both minimum time rates and rates in the longer term. The fourth provides a summary of all three Some conclusions from the study are:
The report, Entering Higher Educa- tion in the 1980s, byT. Williams, M. Long, P. Carpenter and M. Hayden, will be available in June from AGPS, Canberra.
• Transition rates of Year 12 graduates changed little across the decade.
• The population base for higher education is changing as more and more students stay on to Year 12.
• The make-up of the student population in higher education is changing.
• Higher social status families promote higher levels of achievement.
• Well educated parents are an advantage.
• It helps to be rich.
• Children of immigrants participate at higher rates than the Australian-born.
• Living in a rural area is something of a disadvantage.
• Differences between students from government and non-government schools are substantial.
• Outside of personal preference and achievement there seem to be few real barriers to access to higher education.
• The growth in Year 12 completion rates opened up higher education to students with lower levels of achievement without affecting participation rates of high achieving students.
• Talent wastage is apparent as only six out of every ten of the most capable students enter higher education (see below).
80 , - - - -- - -- - -
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1961 cohort 25 29 45 62
1984
1965 cohort 16 26 46 66
Higher education participation rates by achievement by cohort 1989
1970 cohort 13 28 52 61
I PERFORMANCE TESTING I
Geoff Masters
So you've found a handful of torch bat- teries, but are any of them any good?
That's the real-life problem that confronted students in ACER's recent survey of science achievement in Victorian schools.
Each student was given an empty two- battery torch and four batteries. Two batteries were brand new, two were worn out. The task was to find the good batteries. How did students go about solving the problem? How systematic were their battery-testing strategies? How successful were they in finding the two good batteries?
On average, Year 9 students took as long to get an answer as Year 5 students - just under 5 minutes. While Year 9 students were a little more systematic, they were not much more successful than Year 5 students (62 percent of Year 9 students and 56 per cent of Year 5 students identified the good batteries).
In another task, students tested seeds for oiliness. Each student was given six different kinds of seeds (peanuts, rice, buckwheat, coffee beans, poppy seeds and sunflower) and shown how to test for oiliness by crushing the seeds inside
Performance assessments can tap areas of student achievement not accessible through pencil and paper methods.
folded paper and then holding the pa- per to the light to check for an oily mark.
ifhe initial task was to order the seeds from least to most oily. Students then tested the seeds to see which floated or sank, and developed a seed classifica- tion scheme using criteria of their choos- ing (such as shape, colour, hardness).
In yet another task students assem- bled a home-made 'weighing machine' out of provided materials (a wooden base and post, a bolt and nut, a plastic container for holding coins to be weighed, and a rubber, band for sus- pending the container). Sfudents placed coins in the plastic container and meas- ured the amount of stretch in the rubber band for 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 identical coins.
They then graphed the stretch against the number of coins, predicted the stretch for five coins, and tested the predictions.
These tasks are examples of the kinds of items many testing agencies are now including alongside more traditional questions on student achievement tests.
They are time-consuming to administer and not always easy to mark, but when carefully designed, these performance assessments are able to tap areas of student achievement not accessible through standard paper and pencil items.
Interest in performance testing has reached unprecedented levels in many countries. Drawing on the pioneering work of the Assessment of Performance Unit in England in the 1970s, 'Standard Assessment Tasks' in that country's National Curriculum involve students in practical, problem-solving activities, sometimes working in groups. As in the Victorian science study, teachers observe students undertaking tasks and record their observations on provided sheets.
In Toronto, as part of the 'Bench- marks' program, teachers are given videotapes that illustrate students' per- formances on assessment tasks. These are used as guides to grading student performances. In the United States, some 40 states are reported to be considering adding performance assessments to ex- isting paper and pencil testing programs.
Some states, such as New York and Kentucky, are drawing on experience of performance testing in England to assess students' practical and problem-solving skills.Others, such as Vermont and Con- necticut, are also including in statewide programs assessments of portfolios of student work completed during.class.
These developments are changing the face of educational testing. The need for valid, dependable information about levels of student achievement, particu- larly in literacy, mathematics and science, is great. Work underway at ACER and centres around the world is addressing the question of how testing practices can be broadened to include higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills.
CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
CHIIDREN and YOU1H with EMOTIONAL or BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS The Fifth Conference will be held at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, Western Aus- tralia from Friday 24 September to Tuesday 28 September. This conference is for teach- ers, service providers, and related profes- sionals concerned with contemporary approaches to teaching students who have emotional or behavioural disorders, distinct from or associated with other disabilities.
ACER's Development and Training Division has arranged the conference in conjunction with the Western Australian Behaviour Problems Network and Edith Cowan University, WA. Brochures and registration forms are available from ACER.
1994 Conference Call for Papers ACER's Development and Training Division is calling for offers of presenta- tions for the Sixth Behaviour Problems Conference to be held in September 1994.
Those intending to make an offer of a paper, workshop or symposium for this conference should check the guidelines booklet available from ACER.
Deadlines
Abstracts: 30 November 1993 Accepted manuscripts: 30 April 1994
LEADERSHIP SKIIJ.S COURSES for PARENT EDUCATORS
ACER leadership skills courses for parent educators are intended to give partici- pants confidence in group skills and group processes, and in the content of the program being offered. The following courses are offered in 1993:
Early Childhood STEP: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting of Children under Six
Course 1 14, 15 and 16 July (3 days) Course 2 6, 7 and 8 October (3 days) Parenting Today: A program which links home and school discipline and gives parents effective parenting skills 26 and 27 August 1993 (2 days) General Group Leadership Skills:
1, 2 and 3 September 1993 (3 days) For enrolments and further information contact Joanna Goldsworthy, ACER, on (03) 8191400orfreecall outside Melbourne 008 338 402.
ACER NEWSLETTER
This newsletter is published three times a year by the Australian Council for Educational Research, PO Box 210, Hawthorn, Vic 3122 Australia. Any en- quiries could be directed to the editor, Rhonda ldczak, at this address.
ph (03) 819 1400 fax (03) 819 5502
ACN 004 398 145
COMPETENCE OR EXPERTISE
Barry McGaw, Director of ACER
Reprint of the Director's Comment from the 1991-92 ACER Annual Report
Two strong trends have shaped much of the current debate in education. One is increasing participation rates as more and more young people stay in the formal education system beyond the compulsory years; the other is a shift in focus from the inputs to education to outcomes and a sharpening of the way in which the outcomes are defined.
INCREASED PARTICIPATION
Increasing participation in education is a long-term trend that can be traced back to the 1860s and 1870s when at least some education was made compulsory for all, though 80 years later, after the Second World War, many still did not stay beyond primary school. The boom in secondary education began in the early 1950s when government secondary school systems were expanded dramatically to meet a growth in demand. By the end of the 1960s more than 80 per cent of those students commencing secondary education continued to Year 10. A decade later this was over 90 per cent. Universal lower secondary education had effectively been achieved within 30 years of the beginning of expansion.
In the late 1960s, enrolments in Years 11 and 12 began to grow. By 1973, almost half the students who commenced secondary school entered Year 11 and almost a third continued on to Year 12. By 1983, the retention rate to Year 12 had reached 40 per cent, and almost a decade later, in 1992, exceeds 70 per cent. Universal upper secondary education is rapidly approaching. A growth in enrolment rates that took 30 years in lower secondary education has taken little more than 10 years in upper secondary educa- tion. For all sorts of reasons, more and more Australians
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Early achievement level
Year 12 completion rates by early achievement levels
want more education and upper secondary education across the country has been transformed as a consequence.
Initially, the final years of secondary schooling prepared a relatively narrow group of students for higher education with more than half of those completing Year 12 proceed- ing immediately to higher education. The growth in upper secondary enrolments, particularly the rapid growth in the 1980s, has dramatically broadened the distribution of students in these final secondary years (Williams et al.
1992). There have always been some students with high levels of early educational achievement who have not continued beyond Year 10 but by far the majority have. As shown in the figure, of the top quarter of students in terms of their earlier academic achievement, 67 per cent completed Year 12 in 1980 and 83 per cent by 1989. For students in the second top quarter (the third quartile in the figure) in terms of earlier achievement, the percentage completing Year 12 rose more markedly from 37 per cent in 1980 to 57 per cent in 1989. For those in the second bottom quarter, the growth in Year 12 completion rate was even greater, rising from 22 per cent in 1980 to 51 per cent in 1989. For the bottom quarter of students the growth was least of all but was still from 10 per cent in 1980 to 22 per cent in 1989.
The dilemma for schools in the face of this growth has been how to provide appropriate curricula for their altered clientele. In most systems it was very difficult to achieve reform of the traditional Years 11 and 12 curricula and the associated assessment procedures so reforms were gener- ally introduced outside the mainstream. The details and the names differed but the pattern was the same. In Western Australia, Certificate of Secondary Education (General) subjects were introduced alongside the traditional Tertiary Admissions Examination subjects. In South Australia, School Assessed subjects were introduced alongside traditional Public Examination Board subjects. Similar developments occurred in New South Wales, though more slowly as participation rates in Years 11 and 12 grew more slowly there than elsewhere. In Victoria, no single development seemed to suffice. First, Group 2 subjects were introduced alongside the traditional Group 1 subjects in the Higher School Certificate; then the Schools Year 12 and Tertiary Entrance Certificate (STC), the Tertiary Orientation Program (TOP) and the Technical Year 12 (T12) were developed as further options. Only in Queensland and the Australian
Capital Territory were the reforms accommodated within the mainstream arrangements. In both of these systems external examinations had been abolished by the mid 1970s so more flexible structures were available in which to accommodate the reforms. By the late 1980s, all education systems which had created multiple certificates and differ- ent course structures in Years 11 and 12 moved towards integration into single certificates.
As upper secondary education was accommodating the changes in its student body with changes in subject offerings and in certification, the place of technical and further education in the scheme of things was an important issue. At first there were moves for technical and further education to vacate the upper secondary years and to become an exclusively post-secondary offering. More recently that trend has been reversed as the alternative of flexible pathways between secondary education and T AFE is being explored. Beyond the secondary level, the place of TAFE has also been problematic, primarily because of the enormous growth in higher education.
A significant contributing factor in diminishing the TAFE option has been the insatiable demand for growth in higher education and the willingness of all the interested parties to pursue it. Governments have sought to fund growth in university places, oppositions and the media have demanded it, and so have the Vice-Chancellors. The result, over the last decade, has been a massive growth in university enrolments, though that growth has been obscured in much public discussion because it has been slower than the growth in Year 12 enrolments and so has accomodated a declining proportion of students completing Year 12. For students completing Year 12 it has actually become easier to obtain a place in higher education as many more places are available. The competition may appear to be greater because the numbers of Year 12 students competing has grown faster than the number of places available but, if one were to consider a student of a particular level of achieve- llient, that student would find it easier to gain a place in 1992 than in 1982 and so on back to earlier years. This fact is further obscured by the normative way in which tertiary admissions scores are typically expressed. As the Year 12 enrolments have grown and a constant proportion of candidates is awarded particular aggregate scores, a growing number of students achieves each of those scores.
Any university academic observing that students with a particular score are 'not what they used to be' would be correct in the observation but typically wrong in then presuming that the cause la¥ in the schools when it, in fact, lay largely in the unive~ity's admissions policy.
The recent growth in university enrolments has taken Australia to the point where more than 40 per cent of any age group will enrol in university at some stage, 28 per cent using a Year 12 tertiary entrance score, and 12 per cent entering as mature age students. A mass university educa- tion system has been created without much open debate about whether that is the appropriate pattern of post- secondary education and without seriously enough consid- ering the impact on the T AFE option.
New linkages being forged between secondary education and T AFE and between T AFE and higher education off er important prospects but there is a tendency to see these primarily as opening new pathways from school to higher education via TAFE rather than to a vocational preparation that is important and valuable in its own right.
A legitimate fear is that these new developments may all be too late; that too large a university sector has already been built without sufficient thought about the conse- quences or other educational options.
SHIFT IN FOCUS FROM INPUTS TO OUTCOMES
The second trend shaping current educational debate is the shift in focus from inputs to outcomes. Questions of equality of opportunity and fairness have always had a dominant place in Australian education. They have influenced the response to increased demands for education in recent years, and also the development of centralised education systems in earlier years as uniformity of provision was embraced as a strategy for providing equal access to educational opportunities. The reforms of the 1960s and early 1970s were similarly driven by a concern about equality of opportunity and were focused largely on equalising the inputs to education systems after a period of rapid expansion.
By the end of the 1970s, the focus had shifted from inputs to outcomes under pressure from both the left and the right.
The criticism from the left was that provision of more equal access to educational programs and facilities was not providing a fairer distribution of the benefits of education.
The new catch cry of 'equality of outcomes' expressed a desire for a fairer distribution of outcomes. It was not seriously used to mean uniformity of outcomes though it does invite that interpretation. What the critics on the left wanted was a translation of equality of access into a fair share of the benefits of education.
The criticism from the right was that, while expenditure on school education had been increased over the decade from 1972 to 1982 by around 50 per cent per student in real terms, it was not evident that improvements in the quality of education had resulted. For these critics the focus needed to shift from a concern about 'equality' to a concern about 'quality'. In 1984, the Commonwealth Government established the Quality of Education Review Committee to see what evidence there was of benefits flowing from the increased expenditure. The evidence was relatively thin, not because there was counter evidence of no gain, but because there was simply little evidence of any sort. Those who had managed the use of the extra resources, both in the public sector and in non-government schools, had got on with the job of using those resources without seeking much systematic evidence for themselves or anyone else about the effects of their initiatives (Quality of Education Review Committee 1985).
A decade later, in the early 1990s, the concern about outcomes remains, though more is being done by govern- ments of all political persuasions to gather evidence through system-level monitoring and through the
collaborative efforts among systems to develop explicit standards of achievement for different year levels in the major curriculum areas.
An apparently new feature of the current concerns about outputs from the education systems is a concern about students' acquisition of workforce skills. The focus on outcomes remains, though it is expressed more sharply now in terms of the skills individual students should acquire. The new concept is 'competence'. It entered the national educational lexicon most clearly in the 1991 report of a national committee chaired by Brian Finn (Australian Education Council Review Committee 1991) but there are other origins of the use of the term too - in developments in the UK and the USA and in other Australian initiatives.
The notion had been used, for example, by the Quality of Education Review Committee.
One of the early applications of a focus on competencies occurred in the treatment of migrants to Australia with professional skills. For a period, Australia had a Council on Overseas Professional Qualifications ( COPQ) with a charter to assess qualifications obtained overseas to determine which ones might adequately qualify migrants to practice in Australia. That office changed its strategy and changed its name to the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR). The focus in assessing individuals was shifted from the manner of their preparation (their qualifications) to the skills they hold.
At the level of upper secondary education, the Finn Committee similarly adopted a focus on competencies, nominating six broad key competencies: language and communication; mathematics; scientific and technological understanding; cultural understanding; problem solving;
and personal and interpersonal competencies. In vocational education, the Carmichael Report (Employment and Skills Formation Council 1992) has pressed for application of a similar focus on competencies.
The Finn and Carmichael Committees had general briefs
• and the concepts and language of their reports are general.
The competencies they defined are generic competencies - inevitably so, given the breadth of their task and the timeline for reporting. The big question now is whether their ideas can be implemented in any sensible way in practical situations with more focus, such as a mathematics course in Years 11 and 12, a TAFE course in motor mechanics, or an undergraduate course in engineering, and so on.
At the upper secondary level and in technical and further education, the Mayer Committee is now attempting to work out in more detail ho~ :o apply this approach in curriculum and assessment practices. At the professional education level, the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition and the National Training Board are sponsoring application of the ideas to professional education. All sorts of professional groups are now trying to develop statements of the competencies that members of their profession require - the veterinarians are apparently among the most advanced, the Australian Psychological Society has the contract to do the work in psychology, the Family Medicine Program is
attempting to do it for general medical practitioners, and so on. Guidelines have been developed to suggest strategies for undertaking the task (Heywood 1992).
This enormously important development in Australian education has rapidly gathered a great deal of momentum.
That, in itself, may be some cause for concern. The generic language of the reports pressing an emphasis on competen- cies is such that the proposals are almost unarguable. Who could deny the importance of the six key competencies defined by the Finn Committee? Who could nominate a specific competence that could not be shown to fit within one of the six generic competencies? The problem with the general language and the general concepts they express is that they may obscure the difficulties and the costs of application.
The members of these general committees understand this, of course, and know that the detail is yet to be worked out. Typically, they give an example of what working it out would mean. This is to show both that they understand what is yet to be done and how it should be done. To do this they take the most straightforward examples. They can show, for example, how the education of motor mechanics has been transformed by a focus on competencies. Students need no longer spend a fixed amount of time in a course.
They can graduate as soon as they can demonstrate that they possess the competencies that the course is intended to develop. This approach transforms the teaching as well as the study. Students keep the workshop area tidy because it is in everybody's interests to be able to find things and to get on with the work. Having pointed to such examples, the Committees then imply, or state more directly, that others should now be able to get on and work out how to apply these powerful ideas in other areas - such as specific curriculum areas at the school level and areas of professional education such as medicine, psychology, speech pathology, engineering - and presumably general science and humanities. In the case of the professions, the task is said to be one of defining the competencies at entry level to a profession and not to specify the curriculum for those preparing neophytes for the profession but the potential influence upon curriculum is acknowledged and held to be a benefit (Heywood 1992).
The great benefit of this approach is that it carries a strong emphasis on the outcomes of education. Course construc- tors and teachers have to be clear about what competencies they intend their students to acquire and then to concern themselves with whether their students acquire them. That is not a bad thing since teachers can be tempted to see their responsibilities ending with teaching and not extending to students' learning. Along with the benefit of attention to skill development, however, are some significant risks.
♦ Attention to generic competencies at the school level may divert attention from specific subject competence.
Research on the nature and acquisition of expertise makes clear that the manner in which experts represent and solve problems is largely specific to their domain of expertise and that it is highly dependtnt on knowledge of the domain.
♦ The link between some general intellectual competencies and specific courses of instruction is likely to be weak.
How, for example, might a historian define the link between the specific competencies of a professional historian and the content of a particular history course?
♦ Some of the most important competencies may be the most difficult to define in ways that make the task of assessing them feasible. Related to this is the risk that it may then lead to greater emphasis on those competen- cies that can be most easily defined. This is just a new version of the old complaint that courses are too often reduced to only those things that an external examiner can assess in a three hour written examination. New courses would be reduced to a concern with only those competencies that can be most easily specified and assessed.
♦ The approach may become too utilitarian, focusing only on obviously employment-related skills. This risk may be heightened by the role being given to spokespeople for employers in the whole reform process. An interest- ing variant of this concern being expressed in the universities is that it may increase the level of external control over what the universities teach, beyond that which professional associations already exercise in some areas. It is difficult to be sympathetic about that form of the concern given the propensity of university spokespeople to seek to exercise control over what schools do. They can appear to be claiming that, while they are well-placed to influence secondary education because they receive the graduates, employers of university graduates are not similarly well-placed to influence university education because only university staff themselves have the expertise to judge what is considered best.
♦ The whole may be lost for the parts. That is, the trees will be exposed by atomising the skills of each professional
• and other group into specific, relatively isolated competencies, but the forest of well-rounded, integrated expertise may be lost from view. There may then be the untested assumption that the appropriate pedagogy for developing the integrated performance of the expert is a concentration on the development of the isolated competencies.
♦ Only the cognitive aspects of learning may be consid- ered with the value dimension being lost. That is always a risk, of course. Under utilitarian pressures, particularly at times when workforce skills are being emphasised, the relevance of valu~ commitments may be diminished and the importance of addressing their development in education downplayed. In a multi-value society, there is already a tendency to avoid value issues on which there are divisions in the community by removing them from such consideration. That serves no one well since it trivialises what are the big questions of life, implying by the failure to consider them that they are unimportant.
A focus on specific competencies could reinforce that tendency.
A focus on outcomes is a good thing. Teachers at all levels should be concerned about what they achieve and not just about what they do. What must not be lost, in gaining this focus, is attention to longer term, ultimately more important, higher level competencies and to the value issues that must be addressed by all students as they come to understand their place in the scheme of things and to determine how they will relate to others and to the world around them.
SUMMARY
In summa1y then, Australia is in the midst of some radical rethinking about education. Some of it is driven by a continuing growth in demand for education; some of it by concern that education is insufficiently linked to workforce requirements. The benefits are likely to be new thinking about the options available in the postcompulsory years;
serious attempts to define multiple pathways and to facilitate students' movement through and between them; and a healthy focus on the benefits that students should obtain at each stage of their education.
The risks are that the hierarchical arrangements of post- school institutions that have been strengthened through the almost unfettered growth of universities will be too strong for a genuinely respectable technical education stream to emerge to prepare highly valued people with highly valued technical skills; and that the new attempts to focus on the development of specific competencies will trivialise the educational process because the competencies will be, on the one hand, too general to be useful or, on the other, specified in ways that encourage people to lose sight of the integration of competencies that characterises the performance of experts.
BARRvMcGAw Director
REFERENCES
Australian Education Council Review Committee (Chair: Mr T.B. Finn) 0991). Young people's participation in post- compulsory education and training. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Employment and Skills Formation Council (Chair: Mr L.
Carmichael) 0992). The Australian Vocational Certificate training system. Canberra: National Board
of Employment, Education and Training.
Heywood, L. 0992). A guide to development of competency standards for professions. National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition Research Paper No. 7. Canberra:
Australian Government Publishing Service.
Quality of Education Review Committee 0985). Quality of education in Australia. Canberra: Australian Govern- ment Publishing Service.
Williams, T., Long, M., Carpenter, P. & Hayden, P. 0992).
Year 12 in the 1980s. Hawthorn: Australian Council for Educational Research (mimeo).
Australian Council for Educational Research 9 Frederick Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 Phone: (03) 819 1400
Fax: (03) 819 5502
•
June 1993
SPELLING IN CONTEXT
Here are proven strategies for teachers and for learners. Built on the authors' research and lengthy teaching experi- ences, Spelling in Context will give teachers:
• a structure which encourages children to write with enthusiasm as well as supporting their develop- ment as spellers
• four diagnostic dictations and a grid to find, assess and overcome spelling difficulties
• many illustrated examples of the work of children (handwritten, 'scribed' writing, computer)
• ten case studies with helpful solutions.
This new 1993 edition of Margaret Peter's and Brigid Smith's manual for teachers, first published in the UK by NFER- Nelson, is a very useful package for Australian schools. It includes two large posters on how to learn to spell and to support inexperienced readers and spellers, as well as masters for photo- copying. 990 IC NB $65
OVERCOMING THE MATTHEW EFFECT
Author Tom Nicholson, University of Auckland, has subtitled his well priced book 'Solving Reading Problems across the Curriculum'. He tells why some people end up poor readers and how they get dragged down by the Matthew Effect. .. 'where the poor get even poorer'.
But his aim is to stop the rot and he soon moves, with optimism, to teaching strat- egies and ideas for all ages. One chapter includes his handy 'no-fuss informal reading test'. Others look closely at the reading process; reading problems that occur in different classrooms (maths, science, English, social studies); how parents can help; and two quick guides to action. Reading hints and tricks of the trade for all teachers and parents.
NZCER 253 BK NB $12.95
'TWENTY-FIVE SPECIAL YEARS'
'A seminal and significant history of twenty-five formative years of Austral- ian education', is an apt wiy to describe Bill Connell's latest"'·. ook Reshaping Australian Education 1960-1985.
The book takes a national perspective, while putting education into its cultural and social settings. No mere chronol- ogy of events, Professor Connell's book is very much concerned with the ideas and the practices that shaped Australian education: from kindergarten to adult education.
303 BK NB $75.00, casebound.
Knowing How to Teach Well
Essential reading for all teachers and a rich resource to draw on while they strive to be better teachers. The three authors - Margaret Batten, Pere Marland, Mon Khamis - talked with teachers in Australian schools. The result is an important book very much fo- cused on teachers' craft knowledge.
From their time with teachers, the authors teased out the practical knowledge teachers use every day in providing successful, productive and enjoyable educational experiences for their students. Ideal for professional devel- opment programs.
The authors' approach makes an excel- lent model for schools to provide sup- port for beginning teachers. A useful book too for schools as they develop teacher appraisal structures.
014 BK NB $19.95
Reprinted already!
MAKING SCHOOLS MORE EFFECTIVE The first printing sold out in weeks, and the popular Making Schools More Effective was straight back to reprint. It is a major book with national implications. A third of all Australian schools responded to the survey and made their views known, loud and clear, about how to make our schools better. Essential read- ing in all schools, it is now back in stock and available from ACER.
133 BK NB $29.95
FITTING PEOPLE IN JOBS
MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR MBTI
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a very widely used personality inven- tory. It's used in indust1y and educa- tion for career counselling, personal development and team building. A mother-daughter team, Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, devised the MBTI, drawing on the work of Carl Jung. ACER offers a very wide range of MBTI materials and has recently extended this range. New in the MBTI range available from ACER are the:
MBTI Team Building Program The Character of Organisations New Directions in Career Planning and the Workplace
The Inner Image: A Resource for Type Development
Work, Play and Type: Achieving Balance in Your Life.
ACER TEST OF EMPLOYMENT ENTRY MATHEMATICS
ACER's new test is designed for use in the selection of apprentices, trainees, and other technical or trades person- nel who need a facility with maths to do their job. The test can also work well in counselling people who are keen to work in these areas.
TEEM is a group test of numerical aspects of mathematical ability. It is easily scored and test booklets are reusable. Devised in Australia and with Australian data, TEEM is suitable for age levels 15+. Time: 25 minutes
CRITICAL REASONING TESTS
A test for the selection of junior and of middle-grade managers, NFER- Nelson's CRTs assess the key intel- lectual skills needed for success in any managerial post. They are suit- able for use with school leavers or mature employees currently holding non-managerial positions. They con- tain both verbal and numerical assessments.
8CEK
TEST OF
EMPLOYMENT ENTRY
MATHEMATICS
POSITION CLASSIFICATION INVENTORY
This is a job· analysis inventory from PAR, based on the RIAS EC theory of personality and work environments.
A long-awaited practical tool, the Position Classification Inventory (PCI) enhances person-job fit. For use with adults. Time: 10 minutes.
For more information on the full range of MBTI products ask for your free copy of the 1993 edition of the Per- sonnel Selection and Human Resource
Development Catalogue. For more information about these products contact Peter Mccrossin or Customer Services at ACER.
COMING OUT SOON!
TAPPING STUDENTS SCIENCE BELIEFS
This science kit (1SSB) will give teachers insights int~ their students' science beliefs. The kit assesses mid primary to upper secondary students in five segments of science:
• Force and motion
• Earth and space
• Structure of matter
• Light and sight
• Life and environment
PROFILES OF PROBLEM SOLVING
This unique Australian assessment package for teachers examines the underlying processes children use when tackling mathematical problem solving. For use with upper primary grades, POPS is suitable for individuals or for groups.
It is not just an assessment package, as the manual offers lots of strategies for teachers to use with children after they have been assessed by POPS.
Contact John King at ACER for more about the TSSB and the POPS kits.
I
Philosophy for ChildrenI
Here are the very latest resources from ACER on the teaching of philosophy for children. Tick the box on the back page of this New Releases if you wish to be sent our full philosophy list with prices.
• When We Talk: Essays on Classroom Conversation Philosophers, teachers and artists from around the world discuss how classroom talk might be structured to be most productive of meaning and truth.
• Philosophy Goes to School Matthew Lipman's book looks at philosophy and its relationship with science, language and writing, and personal and social education and ethics.
• Studies in Philosophy for Children: Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery
This provides an introduction for teachers to Harry himself and the book's philosophical themes.
STRENGTH CARDS
Strength Cards are user-friendly and non-threatening. They can be used to help children, students, adults and families to identify their strengths. Once in touch with inner resources, individuals or groups can draw on them to face life's problems and to find solutions.
CAPA
The well cartooned cards are a versatile and attractive resource: for all age groups and socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Ideal for working with those whose self-esteem is low. Extensively researched and devised by St Luke's Family Care, Strength Cards include a free booklet with ideas on how to use them to best
advantage. 990 ID NB Price on application
STOP PRESS
in Schools
The new video on bullying in schools is in great demand. Bullying is a problem in many schools, and Ken Rigby's and Phillip Slee's first-class video offers hope and help. It is based on Australian research with 3000 students in the 8 to 16 years age range and over 50 teachers. The video gives facts, dispels myths, and offers ways to counter bullying. Send for our brochure on the video, or order on the back page.
700 HV NB $90
QUEST is ACER's new interactive test analysis system for Macintosh
• -#.
and PC. Devised at ACER by Rayi;,f/'
Adams and Khoo Siek-Toon, it is a software package which provides flexible methods of test scoring and data recording. It scores and analy- ses such instruments as multiple- choice tests, Likert-type rating scales, short-answer items and partial- credit items. QUEST includes an easy-to-use control language. The command statements are logical and can be learnt easily.Tick the box on the back page if you would like a copy of our QUEST brochure which tells you more about QUEST and how to order. See the feature on QUEST elsewhere in this June Newsletter.
Attention: Librarians, Careers Teachers and Counsellors!
Australian Journal of Career Development
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The first 'regular' issue of ACER's new careers journal is now out. This follows the special Inaugural Issue published in November, which new subscribers will still be sent free.
The AJCD is an exciting new ven- ture, keenly awaited by careers teachers, principals, employers and others. Articles in the March 1993 edition live up to expectations:
• Staff and Student Attitudes towards Career Education
• Career-related Information
• Employment Opportunities for Arts and Other Graduates
• Women as Mature-age Engineer- ing Students
• Occupational Information at a Critical Time of Decision Making
• A Diagnostic Approach to Subject Selection Counselling.
Subscribe now to the AJCD 993 PC NB $65 pa (freight inclusive)
THE ELEVENTH MENTAL MEASUREMENTS YEARBOOK
The MMY is an essential reference for all those interested in tests and testing.
The eleventh edition contains 703 re- views of 477 tests which are new (or significantly revised) since the tenth MMY was published in 1989. Well organised and easy to use, the MMY offers details, references and critical reviews of all commercially published English-language tests.
098 BK NB $235
Personnel Selection and Human Resource Development
1993 CATALOGUE OF TESTS AND MATERIALS
ACER's newest catalogue, Personnel Selection and Human Resource Development, is now available with a selection of materials to meet the needs of personnel practitioners. Most of the materials featured are tests for application in personnel selection, though some items have other human resource uses such as assessing employee attitudes to their work environment, career guidance and personality assessment. For further details contact Peter Mccrossin on (03) 819 1400.
set
number one 1993
June 1993
Phone (03) 819 1400 Fax (03) 819 5502
Readable research reports and stories for every- one interested in education: teachers, principals, students, lecturers, employers, involved parents ...
Produced twice yearly, set is a collection of features and reports which are easy-to-read, covering a range of topics of specific interest to teachers. This edition of set covers such topics as Educational Strategies for Chronically Ill Students, Stress and Emergency Teaching, Peer Tutoring in Computer Skills, Students at Risk, Going Back to School as an Adult, Gambling with Maths, and many more issues.
For subscriptions contact Jan Gardiner at ACER.
Do not miss out on this educational resource.
993 PS NB Aust. sub $45 pa (freight inclusive)
Title
FREIGHT/HANDLING CHARGES
ACER Parent Education Catalogue
1993
The ACER Parent Education Catalogue 1993 is available on request. It covers the wide range of parenting programs and books available from ACER. For further details contact Joanna Goldsworthy on (03) 819 1400 or by free call outside Melbourne on 008 338 402.
r---,
I REPRINT I
I Parenting Teenagers I I in the 1990s I I
This highly successful bookI I
by Bob Myers has now beenI I
reprinted. It is compulsoryI I
reading for parents or anyoneI I
who fills the parenting role,I I
temporarilyorotherwise. IdealI I
for teachers to recommend toI
all parents.
I
124BK NB $14.95I
L---..1
ACER Customer Services PO Box 210 Hawthorn Vic 3122 Australia
Cat. No. Price Qty Total Price
Freight NB: Prepayment required/or orders
up to $50.00 in value. $3.00 for orders less than $30.00 $10.00 for orders $101.00 - $500.00
Grand Total $
$5.00 for orders $31.00 - $100.00 $20.00 for orders over $500.00
Tick(✓) to receive
~~
Name Brochure: QUEST
Street Address Brochure: Bullying Video
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School/Organisation Publications
Account No Telephone No Brochure: Knowledge Tools
Enclosed cheque/Bankcard/Mastercard/ American ExpressNisa authorisation
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
ACER Paperbacks Catalogue Catalogue of Psych. Tests
Name (please print) Parent Education Catalogue
Signature Card Expiry Date Personnel Catalogue
