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本帖最后由 limit-2010 于 2014-1-13 12:43 编辑
虽然跟论坛上的各种牛娃们关系不大， 但是还是分享一下这个新闻吧：
MATHS would become compulsory for Year 12 students under a radical proposal to address a statewide skills shortage.
Week-long work experience programs would also be replaced with a longer term mentoring scheme while TAFE would be overhauled to represent a "US-style college" system to make it more attractive to students.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Education Minister Adrian Piccoli will consider the recommendation, which is contained in a State parliamentary Economic Development committee report being drafted and scheduled to be tabled in State parliament next month.
The report follows an inquiry into the State's skills shortage held late last year, which examined the issues facing industry shortages in areas such as engineering, hospitality and catering and in local government.
It also comes after the release of the major international Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report last month which revealed Australia had slipped from 13th place to 17th place in maths ability among 15 year-olds in three years.
In NSW, students are only required to study maths until Year 10, with the subject having been made optional in high school senior years in 2001.
Industry representatives who took part in the inquiry claimed the decision had led to shortages in areas such as engineering and maths teaching while also producing high school graduates who were unable to perform maths task at work.
The ACT government is examining making both maths and English compulsory subjects in Years 11 and 12 as part of a curriculum review to take place this year.
Mr Piccoli told The Sunday Telegraph that he will be looking at the recommendation when the report was tabled in parliament.
"Maths ability, even basic maths ability, is something that is being raised by employers and universities as being a real weakness," he said.
"There's a movement towards prescribing more maths, even reasonably basic maths at school.
"I think most people later in life who didn't do maths regret it. In the modern world, you can't do anything without at least a basic knowledge of maths."
Maths advocate Nalini Joshi, who is Chair of Applied Mathematics at Sydney University, said maths should be made compulsory "at least" in Year 11.
"In centuries past we still had brick layers who could count three by four metres - nowadays we don't anymore.
"A lot of people, for example those who want to go into nursing, don't think they need maths, but when they come to university they get a shock when they find out they need to know statistics, be able to deliver drugs in proportion to weight and take into account risk factors.
"Maths should at least be made compulsory in Year 11."
Fellow university Research Methodology/Educational Assessment and Evaluation senior lecturer Rachel Wilson said Australia was one of the few developed nations where maths was not mandatory for high school graduation.
She blamed a "vicious cycle" of teachers with a "maths-phobia" shunning the teaching of the subject, resulting in an overall decline in numeracy skills in society.
"As a nation, how can we value numeracy, and worry over international performance, if we are sending messages to students and teachers that maths is an optional element of education?"
However, AMSI director Geoff Prince warned making maths compulsory would not work without addressing the severe shortage of qualified maths teachers.
"One third of secondary maths classes are not taught by qualified maths teachers - they are qualified teachers, but they didn't do enough maths at uni to be a maths teacher and are teaching out of their field," Mr Prince said.
"There are some schools in western Sydney that would not have one maths teacher graduate. In those circumstances, how smart is it to make maths compulsory, and do we want to be dragging students kicking and screaming to maths class?"
In a submission to the inquiry, Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia NSW Division executive officer John Roydhouse blamed the lack of students in Years 10-12 studying subjects suitable for engineering studies on a large dropout rate at university.
"Engineers are globally in short supply, with Australian higher education providers producing only around half of the graduates needed to fill domestic demand," he said.
Committee chair, Liberal MP David Elliott, who admitted not having studied maths at senior high school, said it was employers themselves that were calling for maths be made compulsory.
"I didn't study maths in year 11 or 12, but it's what industry groups are telling me that needs to happen if we are to build skilled workforce and address some of our shortages."
The recommendations to rebrand TAFE as a more "US-style college" was designed make it more attractive to students.
The rebranding would also include making universities work more closely with TAFE to allow students to transfer between the two.
Sydney University medical student Clara Choi quit maths in Year 10 because she didn't like it.
However, the North Sydney Girls High graduate is now a fan after taking it up as part of a university bridging course.
University of Western Sydney policial science and law student Jessica Winning, 21, also dumped 3-unit maths in Year 11 for arts as an "easier" way to boost her final HSC mark.
Now, the Castle Hill High School graduate is contemplating a bridging course to pursue a research-based Masters degree.
"I was good at maths, but decided the marks I could get in art would be easier so I dropped out," she said.
原文链接： http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au ... 0cx12-1226798956856 |
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主流社会是个什么东西？ (2007-12-20) coffeecorner 
发表于 2014-1-13 12:42
