AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE
DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
PRESS RELEASE 387
SIMON CREAN; NEW EDUCATION
MINISTER
A RARE THING IN POLITICS:
A GRADUATE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
2 July 2010
We have had
an ex-Prime Minister (Rudd) who was not only was a graduate of a country High
School (Nambour). He specifically rejected his earlier years at a conservative
Our new Prime Minister, Julia
Gillard is also a graduate of State primary and secondary schools in
The new federal Minister for
Education, Simon Crean is also a graduate of the public system. Crean is
a Victorian whose electorate is Hotham. He was educated
in public schools, including
Simon
Crean who was previously Minister for Trade will take on Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations. Maralyn Parker on her 28 June Blog for the Sydney Telegraph had this perspective on
Crean:
Crean has already had a stint
as Minister for Employment, Education and Training. This is on his website
about his achievements back then:
From
December 1993 until March 1996, Simon was Minister for Employment, Education
and Training. In that role he had primary responsibility for developing and
implementing the four-year Working Nation jobs and training strategy, an
initiative focused on ensuring everyone who was out of work, especially the
long-term unemployed, could receive the training and assistance they needed to
get back into the workforce. He was also responsible for policy relating to
higher education, schools and vocational education.
His
previous experiences as Minister for Science and Technology will probably be
useful for him in getting his head around the Digital Education Revolution.
However there are cracks appearing in that too as far as NSW goes. I am getting
reports that many teachers are not taking to using laptops in their Year 9
classes in NSW, and those that are enthusiastic have to battle constantly with
issues with the DET portal.
Gillard has made a safe
decision as far as the Employment and Workplace Relations goes. But is it a
good choice for Education?
The Education
Revolution, already losing its gloss, will need some mighty attention from the
Labor veteran Crean. The Building the Education Revolution has cracks
appearing, especially in NSW where more and more schools are coming forward
with complaints and concerns.
Also the teacher unions
are gearing up for another confrontation over the My School website. A
symposium hosted by the national teacher union and the primary and secondary
principal organisations is planned for next month - to deliver “advice for
ministers and ACARA”.
If ever there was a time
to pay attention to Education is it now. I am disappointed Gillard has not
given the portfolio to someone as a stand alone responsibility.
I would say many
educators would have liked one of those new young faces ( especially from NSW )
take on the Education portfolio. I guess we will have to wait until after the
election. If Gillard is PM I have no doubt there will be a rethink of
ministerial roles.
DOGS note that political leaders like Rudd, Gillard
and Crean who owe so much to the public system of education should first repay
their debt by taking on the aggressive greed of the sectarian school interests
For starters:
Ø
Is Crean prepared to appoint more public school representatives on the
Funding Review Committee?, The percentage of children in public schools
throughout the nation ashould at least
be represented rather than have three to one member ranged against them?
Ø
Is Crean prepared to abandon the MySchool website and abolish
Ø
Is Crean going to ask the Review of the Building the Education Revolution
to examine the outrageous expenditure of public money on wealthy sectarian
schools that are already over-resourced?
DEFEND
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND STOP STATE AID TO PRIVATE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS.
Listen to the DOGS program
3CR, 855 on the A.M. dial
12 Noon Saturdays