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The recent parliamentary inquiry into the state of NSW's education system painted a grim picture and put forward over 60 recommendations – including making direct explicit instruction mandatory and using school inspectors to assess teachers in the classroom without prior notice.
Campus Review reached out to Dr Poulomee Datta, a senior lecturer at Macquarie University's School of Education, to find out what she thought about the inquiry, which was chaired by One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham, and its recommendations.
As she mentions in the podcast, Datta believes NSW's performance in tests such as PISA and NAPLAN are rightly concerning and solutions must be canvassed to at least slow down or reverse the decline. Based on a strong corpus of research evidence, Datta also supports the mandatory adoption of direct/explicit instruction in NSW schools, although she cautions that some activities may require a different pedagogical approach.
The Macquarie University academic also believes a school inspector should be able to enter a classroom without notice, provided their "temperament" is right and they are offering "constructive feedback".
She also believes the school inspector strategy should be varied, with a wide range of assessments being utilised.
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The old inspectors system was worth keeping but it needed to be divided into two functions:
Assistance
And
Evaluation
These functions should be distinct not expected of one person fulfilling both roles at once
It’s just so convenient for academics, politicians, parents or the media to blame the teacher.
Teachers are working harder than they ever have. Ask any teacher how much more difficult kids of today are to engage and earn the respect of.