State (of) education and the privates.

Last Friday I read the article that prompted this heated debate in the pages of the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/27/state-school-comprehensive-crisis-opinion and it really did get me thinking about state education and the private schooling on the other side of the fence. If this little foray into the world of Australian education has taught me one thing, it is that I don't think I would like a career in the private sector when I come back to the UK, although obviously, I am not going to rule it out completely, just in case!haha.

Sad as it seems, I actually do think about teaching a fair bit and at the weekend, I ended up having two conversations about state vs private at my cousin's wedding. The first was with a career primary state sector teacher who has been teaching for 30 years and genuinely made me enthused about getting to teach again out here, even as a relief teacher. She really saw the benefit of what she did and mentioned a sentence that I have heard on several occasions through my training from those in the private sector- that a for a large number of state pupils, coming to school, seeing their mates and possibly even their teachers is the highlight of their day-something that, even though people moan about the quality of state school teaching, both here and at home cannot be underestimated.

The second conversation was with a younger teacher, at the same stage as me in her career, teaching secondary home economics, she had just completed a year in a state school and literally could not stop talking about how much she hated it (knowing the school, it is actually one of the nicest state schools in the area as well!) and the lack of effort and impolite nature of the pupils. She has this term started work at a very exclusive private all girls school in Brisbane and waxed lyrical about the loveliness of the pupils and how polite they were to her, nothing about the quality of their work or their creativity, just how they were so polite and called her 'girlfriend'.Strange but each to their own I guess!

Whilst there are areas of the damning article on state schools I agreed with- one that comes to mind is the BTEC system. A good friend, a Science teacher and PHD holder is a wonderful practitioner and has the god given ability to make any element of the subject engaging and he has admitted that teaching the BTEC has sucked away his soul a little as pupils leave with the equivalent of 5 GCSEs but know very little about the subject he loves to teach and although I do not teach BTEC, I can appreciate his notions!-I feel that many/most state schools do their utmost to ensure that pupils achieve and have skills to help them in the real world and this extends to Australia where the divide between state and private is less obvious but it could be said has just as a definitive outcome on the successes of pupils. Even a school that would be considered a tidy state school would be fee paying over here and as such, it really does marginalise the pupils who just attend a state school, even though the teaching is, from what I have seen, good quality and the processes in place for the pupils very good and supportive.

After these two conversations, I realised that I would miss the banter, joys and the difficulties of state schools if I was to leave that arena and I would hope that as my practice progresses, every pupils will be polite to me, at least to my face!haha.It was lovely to see how enthused teachers can still be after seeing a fair number over here who although were delivering good lessons, sometimes did not seem the happiest with their jobs as a whole!

I really hope that after 30 years in the state system that I still carry the enthusiasm and poignancy of what I do on a day to day basis as much as the teacher I met at the weekend, or at least some of it!

Hopefully some relief work will come up for in the near future, else I am going to be applying to jobs for when I get back before I get work here again!Just to note that the jobs that I have applied for now extend to receptionist, librarian, admin assistant and sports marketing rep.It's all good!Hope everyone is well and fantastic to see my colleagues getting on so well (nice work on the trip mark!)

Religion

Religion is a very powerful subject and those who know me personally know that in an actual conversation, such a serious topic would be met with a glib remark from myself, usually moving focus towards an obscure footballer (think French ex Man Utd defender William Prunier or Arsenal wing wizard Glenn Helder) to ensure nothing got that serious. In the past few weeks though religion has actually impacted on my life and career.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Geography is a dying art in Australian schools and seems to be mostly the preserve of private, fee paying schools, whereas the state system has some Geography it is not very obvious. Now to the religious link- a large number of these private schools have some element of religious affiliation, whether it be lutheren, catholic or christian among others.

So, the majority of schools where Geography is taught and jobs are more likely to arise in the subject are also religious. I am not that much of a religious person. I was christened and attended church as a young lad but quickly established a scared approach to churches where I would run off crying!Whilst applying for some of the new Geography jobs I have been finding the last few weeks, I have noticed that there is one stumbling block in the application process that I cannot overcome.

It is usually on the last page and is only a name and address but I am unable to fill it. The section that asks for a church or religious reference, from the pastor of the church you last regularly attended. Therefore that application remains unfilled and due to the fact that by not filling in the section I do not meet the selection criteria for the post, am pretty much doomed to failure in getting the post.

I have spoken to several teachers out here who have applied to or work in such schools and they have mostly said that same thing-lie. But I can't do this, it does not feel right and I would feel a cad going to morning service or preaching the virtues outlined in the position specification when the only time I have visited a church in the last 10 years is for a friend's wedding and that was only for an hour!

I did contemplate bending the truth slightly, but the specification for the roles makes it so clear that you would have to undertake a massive array of religious tasks I felt it was unfair to lie in such a situation.

Conversely it seems, getting a child into the religious private schooling sector is a far easier process. I have spoken to several parents and pupils who do not really follow the guidelines of the religious sector of the school but happily get their child into the school and continue their for the entirety of their schooling. Could it be that the money that the child brings into the school means more than the perpetuation of the faith that the school promotes?

I feel that my difficulty in getting any work, relief or otherwise this term has meant that I have become even more determined to improve my practice through whatever means necessary and this evaluative process is standing me in good stead as I work through creating resources, reading journals and teaching myself new skills that I can implement in my future teaching, all good fun!

Hope everyone is well and I am still making my flood and cyclone resources!

An Englishman, a Norwegian and some Aussies walk into a bar

As with all the best last minute decisions, well at least a good percentage, they turn out the best. At midday Friday, after the car breaking down and our plans for a roadtrip going down the pan, we decided to do the obvious thing- go towards the cyclone to the north of Queensland.

We only travelled a little way up the coast to Noosa, where the secondary impact was evident.The majority of hostels in the popular coastal town were full to bursting where backpackers and holidaymakers had been evacuated from towns to the North to the safety of Noosa, well away from the weather system of Cyclone Yasi.

Cyclone Yasi ( a category 5 cyclone) was the largest cyclone to hit the land of Australia since 1918 and was a beast. It primarily hit the small towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully, avoiding the main residential areas of Townsville and Cairns, which was little relief to many residents of Northern Queensland. The weather system itself was about the size of the USA with an eye containing winds of up to 320 km/h which decimated much of the towns/regions it hit and ruined several tourism areas, particularly areas around the incredibly popular Whitsundays islands, one of the jewels in Tourism Queensland's crown- another blow to the industry.

One of the craziest aspects was that places like Mount Isa, hundreds of kms inland were actually hit by Yasi, although it had been downgraded to a category 1/2 by the time it reached those areas, that fact it was reached at all was wholly unexpected for the area.

After meeting up with two Aussie girls who were staying in our dorm, they told us several stories about being evacuated out of Airlie beach, which in their words "was not any fun anyway, we must have been the only people in history who thought it was very dull". Possibly the best was the 5 Essex girls ( not perpetuating a stereotype of course) in their dorm who all slept in the same single bed for fear of being blown away by the high winds hundreds of kilometres away.

We had a great time in Noosa and the only physical impact of the cyclone that we saw was the strong winds that accompanied the weather system in more Southerly areas managing to blow in a load of Bluebottle Jellyfish to the main beaches of the areas leading to hundreds of people being stung and the surf club busiest day of the year so far!

The actual impact of the cyclone was brutal and has yet again meant that the tourism industry of the state has taken a battering (a good example was a pub in Airlie beach that has on average of 200 punters a night at this time of year but currently has an average of about 15) as well as the residential problems that have arisen. Many people's homes have been literally blown away, although those that have been built to cyclone standards were pretty much fine. An interesting sidenote is the clever get out clause that the state government are using about not all homes being cyclone proof- it was stated that after cyclone larry of 5 years ago that all NEW buildings in cyclone affected areas will be built to withstand cyclones of up to category 5 (which Yasi was), but existing buildings did not have to be upgraded. This has meant outcry in Innisfail, which was brutalised in Larry, as many residents were led to believe by local authorities that ALL homes would be made cyclone proof and whose homes were blown away again!

This new disaster has meant that the flood levy has been at the forefront of political thinking and has led to the Gillard g'ment having the lowest approval rating since it came to power, with or without Kevin Rudd. The levy has still to pass through parliament and some crucial people who decide whether the levy will pass are undecided on its future.

Couple all this wild weather with the bushfires in Western Australia that have destroyed 60 homes so far and all in all you have a country of incredible differences.

I am going to try and create a case study of the cyclone as well as the existing Brisbane flood one and have them both finished quite soon and possibly a bushfire one if I can manage it. This is all dependent on whether any school in Queensland actually decides they need an English relief teacher!Which I blooming hope they do!haha.

Hope everyone is happy and well!

Oh and the title of the blog refers to the people we went clubbing with in Noosa, although in reality it was 3 english, 2 norwegians, 2 aussies and a canadian!

It never rains but it pours......

Hello from the QLD, home of floods, insane rainfall and now, cyclones. Just after people were getting over the floods, and some are still a way away from 'getting over' them, two major things have happened:

1. Julia Gillard has created a tax flood levy to pay for the Queensland rebuild. It constitutes 0.5% of annual wages if you make between $50-100k and 1% if you make over $100k. People are very much 50/50 about this. It seems that if you live in Queensland, you are happy with it, but if you live in any other state of Australia, then you are not at all happy for the most part (about 68% at the moment are not willing to pay it). Many people still feel that a disaster fund for any possible future event is the way forward and the way to pay for QLD.

This has meant that Gillard has gone from great leader to a money grabbing scoundrel quite quickly!Team this with her late response to the plight of Australians in Egypt and she has not had a great week. In a direct comparison, the approval rating of Anna Bligh, QLD premier, continues to rise because of her response to:

2. Tropical cyclone Jasi!The latest addition to the wild weather summer that Queensland is experiencing is expected to hit land late wednesday or early thursday. It has been said it could be the worst cyclone ever to hit QLD, tropical QLD particularly, coming in at a category 4 cyclone, winds of up to 230 km/h and torrential rainfall hitting tourist areas such as the Whitsundays, Airlie Beach and up and around Townsville. The weather system could extend 500km and take in large swathes of the state that have already been affected by the floods and reflood many areas that were very badly hit. I really do feel for everyone involved and it really is a shocker for tropical Queensland.

In other news, I was offered a year's contract in the primary school that I worked in in Ipswich, the quite hard school. I turned it down for the reason that even for me, a two and a half hour commute each way to work is a little excessive, but I must have done something right whilst I was there!haha.

I will update everyone after Thursday's expected landfall and here is hoping that it fades away in the Coral sea and merely becomes a whisper of rain over the next few days!

You have to love relevant graffitti. Found in Brisbane.

Flood update- with added Oprah

I have just returned from a 5 day excursion down to Melbourne(melbourne rebels first ever match, eng vs aus odi @mcg and 2 days of aussie open with a bbc sport appearance after catching murrays sweatband!) to visit friends so have been unable to help out with the flood rebuild, but I thought I would update you on what has gone on.

The clean up is going well, many places are completely free of water now and the altruistic nature of the public and especially big business is coming to the fore through many donations of items by large companies to people who have been particularly badly hit.

The local transport systems have been completely free for the last week and a half, which has been an excellent idea as many are still struggling to reach certain areas of the city and as the public transport system is very wide ranging in Brisbane, I believe it has helped thousands out in a time of need.

Being in Victoria over the last few days has allowed me to see another state's appreciation of the floods and it was very generous, incredible scenes of fundraising, lots of examples at the australian open tennis of people willing to give large sums of money (the cynic in me may think that this may have something to do with the social demographic of tennis fans!) and lots of people just giving what they can!

There is a king tide expected tomorrow morning, which is likely to re flood some areas, a hammer blow to some people who have literally just managed to get their homes emptied of water.

The impact of Oprah Winfrey on the floods is the most surprising factor. Oprah came over to Oz a few months ago to film some show and excursions, which are now being shown both here and in the US. These shows have had flood disaster starts to them and segments where Oprah has explained what has happened. QLD premier Anna Bligh reported today that after the first show had been aired in the US, the donations jumped $20 million overnight. The incredible luck and coincidence that airing these shows at this times is having a majpr effect on the image of QLD and the flood donations. It is crazy to think that it has been said that once a book is endorsed by the big O, then it will become a bestseller that week, and the same it can be said is happening with the donations to the flood appeal.

An interesting side note- what would happen if the shows had been about Brazil and Rio, would there be an appeal or the same amount of public donations?Is it fair that Brazil does not have the media outlet that Australia does at the moment, albeit luck in terms of timing?

There is a song by Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip that mentions that as much attention should be paid to disasters in non English speaking countries as to those in English speaking countries and there is a case, although the floods here have been awful here, that those in Brazil have killed more people and what truly measures the scale of a disaster, financial cost or loss of life?

The clean up in Brisbane continues and unfortunately, the Lockyer valley is expecting yet more flash flooding in an area that was devastated by the floods and my thoughts are with the people whose homes are still there and those that have been forced to move away. All the best guys!

The day after the flood

Here are a few pictures from the day after the flood, bear these points in mind-

The media coverage is extensive, hence the helicopters.

People were told at length not to enter flood waters.

The flood peak was a metre less than predicted.

I am in one of the least affected areas and cannot reach the worst areas.Cannot reach any areas really.

Most of the pictures should have a walkway in them, except they are either 6 foot under water or have been washed away!

More pictures to follow.