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The little school getting big results the old fashioned way · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, August five, twenty twenty six. Businesses, manufacturers, schools,
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  Speaker 1: hospitals and farms will get a big discount if they
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  Speaker 1: install solar panel systems on their premises. Climate Change Minister
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  Speaker 1: Chris Bowen will announce the incentive in a major speech
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  Speaker 1: at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Multi lingual migrant
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  Speaker 1: students are boosting literacy and numeracy results in schools across Australia.
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  Speaker 1: That's according to the latest results from the National Assessment
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  Speaker 1: Program for Literacy and Numeracy released on Wednesday. Today, Education
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  Speaker 1: editor Natasha Beta joins me to unpack this year's napland
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  Speaker 1: results and go inside one school that's boosting skills the
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  Speaker 1: old fashioned way.
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  Speaker 2: National Day of reckoning for students across the nation with
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  Speaker 2: NAPLAN results just released.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor and Natasha, it's
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  Speaker 1: a big day in your world because the annual NAPLIN
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  Speaker 1: results are released today. What's the big takeaway from this
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  Speaker 1: year's results.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, we've got one in three students are not meeting
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  Speaker 3: the standards for reading and numeracy. So these are the
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  Speaker 3: National Assessment Program for Literacy and numeracy. It's been held
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  Speaker 3: every year since two thousand and eight and alas we're
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  Speaker 3: still flatlining. We've got a slight improvement in numeracy. Reading's
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  Speaker 3: gone down. It just keeps going down and down and down.
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  Speaker 3: But some interesting trends they're migrant students are doing really well.
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  Speaker 3: If you come from a family where you speaking up
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  Speaker 3: the language at home, or your parents speaking of the
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  Speaker 3: language at home, you're more likely to be one of
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  Speaker 3: the top performers in your class. Girls are doing better
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  Speaker 3: than boys in reading and writing. Boys are doing better
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  Speaker 3: than girls in numeracy. It's always been that way, but
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  Speaker 3: you know, it'd be good if they could even out
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  Speaker 3: a bit. And Aboriginal and Torrestrate Islander students unfortunately are
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  Speaker 3: still so far behind other students. So a lot of
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  Speaker 3: that is to do with living in remote areas, but
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  Speaker 3: Australia really does need to do a lot more to
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  Speaker 3: help them get hold of the basics of literacy and numeracy.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned there that migrant children are boosting our results
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  Speaker 1: across the board. Do you know what's driving that trend?
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  Speaker 1: Am On that cohort A.
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  Speaker 3: Kara, which runs the Naplan test, has not given any
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  Speaker 3: explanation for that. But we have had a big increase
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  Speaker 3: in migration from a lot of Asian countries and India
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  Speaker 3: which have got very strong education systems. They outperform the
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  Speaker 3: rest of the world in science and maths and language
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  Speaker 3: testing every year, and they come here and they're coming
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  Speaker 3: here for a better life, and they really do value education.
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  Speaker 3: Education is a priority for these families. A lot of
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  Speaker 3: them are going into the private schools, but the results
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  Speaker 3: this years show that the more likely to be top
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  Speaker 3: of the class.
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  Speaker 1: And how did these Naplan results compare with previous years
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  Speaker 1: in sort of general terms? Are there any areas where
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  Speaker 1: we've had an improvement?
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  Speaker 3: Akara changed the measurements in twenty twenty three, so it's
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  Speaker 3: impossible to do a proper comparison to anything before that.
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  Speaker 3: Since twenty twenty three, we've had a slight improvement in numeracy,
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  Speaker 3: but literacy has gone down. Reading and writing results are poorer.
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  Speaker 3: This could be a result of a big tech failed
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  Speaker 3: during the exam this year along the East Coast, where
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  Speaker 3: students found error messages when they were trying to do
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  Speaker 3: the writing. So I wouldn't be comparing any writing results
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  Speaker 3: to previous years. And also in Tasmania it has not
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  Speaker 3: been included in any of the national data this year
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  Speaker 3: because of industrial action from teachers around the time of testing.
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  Speaker 4: What what Tasmanian Public School staff rallying a lot alongside
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  Speaker 4: other state service workers, so they're feeling undervalued and disrespected
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  Speaker 4: by the state government.
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  Speaker 3: And also in March there was some flooding in parts
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  Speaker 3: of the Northern Territory which also impacted results. So it's
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  Speaker 3: pretty tricky to be able to compare to any other years.
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  Speaker 3: But the results aren't good enough and.
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  Speaker 1: It's quite ominous, isn't it that the portal that's been
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  Speaker 1: set up to measure these very things itself isn't working
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  Speaker 1: when we're talking about comprehension among school kids.
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  Speaker 3: Well, in fact, the education ministers have now asked Akara
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  Speaker 3: to consider going back to pen and paper testing because
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  Speaker 3: of this tech fail, which is probably a really good idea.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like it from another story that you
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  Speaker 1: have in the Australian Today about Como West Public School,
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  Speaker 1: tell me what's happening there. They seem to be kicking
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  Speaker 1: at old school already.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, so there's Como Wester Public School as a primary
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  Speaker 3: school in the Southerland shire of Sydney. The principal, Felicity Preston,
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  Speaker 3: has gotten rid of digital devices. So you know, you
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  Speaker 3: might remember back in I think it was two thousand
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  Speaker 3: and eight there was this big digital education revolution and
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  Speaker 3: kids had to bring their own devices and parents had
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  Speaker 3: to shell out for laptops and iPads. Well, thank goodness,
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  Speaker 3: where we've decided that that was a pretty failed experiment
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  Speaker 3: and this principle is as brought back pen and paper.
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  Speaker 2: We haven't thrown technology out the window. We still do
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  Speaker 2: have that as one of our rotation tasks within the
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  Speaker 2: literacy block for example, though instead of the technology being
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  Speaker 2: the program, it might be a small element where children
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  Speaker 2: are learning how to touch type, for example, because that
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  Speaker 2: is a skill that they will need further on in
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  Speaker 2: their lives. But the main focus definitely is using real books,
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  Speaker 2: pen and paper. Engaging the children that isn't a screen
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  Speaker 2: is really key.
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  Speaker 3: She said that the kids love learning more, they love
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  Speaker 3: reading more, they're more engaged, they're less distracted. She also
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  Speaker 3: is a great champion of explicit instruction, which is a
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  Speaker 3: teaching style that went out of favor because teachers just
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  Speaker 3: wanted kids to have fun and learn in a way
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  Speaker 3: that interests them and that's relevant to them. This is
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  Speaker 3: a teaching method that just goes back to the teacher
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  Speaker 3: leading the class, explaining topics very very clearly and importantly,
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  Speaker 3: very sequentially, so that the children are building on their
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  Speaker 3: knowledge so.
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  Speaker 2: Excellent and then putting navy putting our adults out actually.
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  Speaker 3: And also testing them as they're going, so the teacher
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  Speaker 3: is actually getting live feedback from the students instead of
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  Speaker 3: waiting for the end of term exam and discovering the
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  Speaker 3: little Jill did not understand the concepts of maths and
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  Speaker 3: that's why she's struggling with the rest of it. Because
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  Speaker 3: these first three years of school, like the KINDI or
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  Speaker 3: prep year one, year two, is so fundamental to what
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  Speaker 3: children will experience throughout schooling. They need to learn to
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  Speaker 3: read and write and the basics of maths. The maths
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  Speaker 3: results for year three were worse this year, and ministers
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  Speaker 3: are so concerned about this they have told a car
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  Speaker 3: to change the curriculum and ensure that it is much
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  Speaker 3: more sequential because they're concerned that kids just aren't picking
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  Speaker 3: up the fundamentals of addition, subtraction multiplication. If they don't
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  Speaker 3: learn this in the first few years, they're not going
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  Speaker 3: to be flourishing in high school unless their parents can
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  Speaker 3: pay for tutors. But that should not be how our
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  Speaker 3: education system works.
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  Speaker 1: Was there a particular moment at Como West Public School
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  Speaker 1: that sort of prompted this decision to put down the
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  Speaker 1: devices and revert back to pen and paper or has
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  Speaker 1: it been something a change that sort of happened organically.
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  Speaker 3: So Miss Preston said she was looking at research which
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  Speaker 3: was showing that children do learn better when they're taking notes.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, she gives lessons on note taking to children
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  Speaker 3: in year three, so they learn how to summarize something
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  Speaker 3: as they're listening to it, rather than just passively looking
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  Speaker 3: at a device where you don't remember what you've seen.
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  Speaker 3: And also she was sort of concerned about kids' attention spans,
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  Speaker 3: and she said that most children are kind of surrounded
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  Speaker 3: by screens at home. They're watching TV, or they're gaming,
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  Speaker 3: they're on social media, they're on their phone, so school
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  Speaker 3: should be a space where they learn to kind of
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  Speaker 3: slow down enjoy reading a book. I know it sounds
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  Speaker 3: really really old school, but there is just something that
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  Speaker 3: is very I suppose mindful, you know, mindfuls the big buzzword,
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  Speaker 3: but it's very important for children's mental health as well.
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  Speaker 3: Instead of having things just flashing and everything changing every
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  Speaker 3: three seconds, there's something lovely and calm about immersing into
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  Speaker 3: a book and children love it too. It's time, it's
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  Speaker 3: quality time with their parents. If their parents are reading
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  Speaker 3: to them at night, it is a very lovely and
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  Speaker 3: calming routine, especially before bedtime, and it really helps your children.
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  Speaker 3: But we need to fix the education system in this
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  Speaker 3: country because if we're going to talk about productivity and
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  Speaker 3: social cohesion, it is starting in the schools, and we
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  Speaker 3: need to do more to support the teachers because they're
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  Speaker 3: not miracle workers. They can do their best at school,
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  Speaker 3: but we need parents to be supportive. What I found
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  Speaker 3: a little depressing about the Naplan data is looking at
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  Speaker 3: the difference in achievement levels between children who've got parents
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  Speaker 3: with well paid managerial or professional jobs. We're assuming they
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  Speaker 3: have a higher level of education. Again students whose parents
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  Speaker 3: may be working in unskilled laboring jobs or who are unemployed,
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  Speaker 3: and it really is a two class system, and this
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  Speaker 3: shows that some parents just don't have the capacity to
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  Speaker 3: compensate for any failures in schooling. So if a school
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  Speaker 3: is not using the right teaching methods and not paying
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  Speaker 3: attention to children who are struggling, parents with money or
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  Speaker 3: parents who realize themselves, oh that's not right. Why I'll
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  Speaker 3: help you with your maths, I'll help you with your reading.
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  Speaker 3: Those children have such an advantage over kids whose parents
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  Speaker 3: don't have the money for tutoring and they may not
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  Speaker 3: have the education or background themselves to understand that their
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  Speaker 3: child is struggling. And then you just get this intergenerational
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  Speaker 3: inequity like this government likes to talk about generational equity.
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  Speaker 3: The best thing they could do is fix the education system.
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  Speaker 3: I know they are trying with extra funding, but I
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  Speaker 3: wish they kind of hurry up a bit, Like it
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  Speaker 3: shouldn't be taking so long to fix the curriculum for maths.
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  Speaker 3: They should pick up the curriculum from New South Wales.
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  Speaker 3: New South Wales has its own syllabus because it was
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  Speaker 3: so unhappy with the National curriculum. It is a brilliant syllabus.
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  Speaker 3: It is clear, it is sequential. The teachers aren't wondering
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  Speaker 3: what they're meant to be teaching every day, and their
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  Speaker 3: results are so much better than, for example, Queensland or
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  Speaker 3: South Australia. So I do not understand why ministers don't
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  Speaker 3: just say, hey, what we've got is not working. Let's
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  Speaker 3: go and look at New South Wales which has offered
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  Speaker 3: to give it syllabus to everybody else and use it.
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  Speaker 3: But as usual, we're in a federal situation where everybody
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  Speaker 3: wants thinks that their own method is the best. They
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  Speaker 3: should be looking at this data because the data tells
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  Speaker 3: the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Natasha, it's certainly been a long while since I've
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  Speaker 1: sat at the dining room table and struggled through some
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  Speaker 1: long division. How are the kids at Como West responding
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  Speaker 1: to this change that probably feels pretty foreign to them.
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  Speaker 3: The kids at Como West are flourishing and they love it.
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  Speaker 3: And the principle has explained to me that these methods
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  Speaker 3: of explicit instruction, where the kids feel confident in what
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  Speaker 3: they're learning, they're not falling behind and not given space
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  Speaker 3: to fall behind. And also the phonics using phonics to
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  Speaker 3: teach reading, which is sounding out words instead of just
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  Speaker 3: trying to memorize them all or gets them by looking
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  Speaker 3: at pictures, that is helping children with dyslexia, and it's
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  Speaker 3: helping children with autism. So these are children who often
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  Speaker 3: label as difficult or badly behaved because they're not understanding.
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  Speaker 3: But the principle is saying that for children with autism,
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  Speaker 3: this method of teaching is wonderful for them because they
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  Speaker 3: love it. They engage that, they understand what's coming up,
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  Speaker 3: they've got consistency. It benefits all students. She also tries
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  Speaker 3: to extend the students who are a bit ahead so
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  Speaker 3: they're not bored. So boredom is another reason children misbehave.
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  Speaker 3: They shouldn't be punished for that, they should be extended.
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  Speaker 3: These things are not impossible. We have schools here which
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  Speaker 3: are showing they are improving results. They're getting kids to
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  Speaker 3: want to go to school. Kids are enjoying learning. They're
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  Speaker 3: in a calmer classroom, so they're not getting all stressed
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  Speaker 3: out and anxious because someone's throwing rubbers across the room.
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  Speaker 3: The other issue we have in Australia's school refusal. This
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  Speaker 3: has been a growing issue ever since the pandemic. And
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  Speaker 3: you can't teach a child who's not attending lessons. It's impossible.
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  Speaker 3: You've got to get them to school. So I just think,
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  Speaker 3: starting with our primary schools, we can turn this whole
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  Speaker 3: system around because it's so important for Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor. You can read
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  Speaker 1: her reporting and analysis of this year's NAPLAN results right
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au