Testing States On Our Schools

It’s bad for Australia to have eight separate school systems, all making their own rules.

In education, Australia is effectively eight different countries---all with different rules and regulations. Children start school at different ages around the nation, there are six primary years in some states and seven in others. Some have curriculum frameworks based on content, others swear by performance standards to define what schools are supposed to do.

Defenders of the status quo traditionally say none of this matters and that Canberra should not meddle.

But it matters to the 80,000 children who move states each year. It matters to school-leavers who sit the 300-plus university entrance exams and find the marks that qualify them for tertiary education in one state do not apply in another. And it matters to all the parents around the country who wonder whether their children are receiving a best-practice education in the core learning areas of literacy, numeracy and science.

Education theorists might not think mental arithmetic matters much, but parents do---and they have a right to know how their children are faring compared with national and international best practice. And while regional differences must be respected, there is simply no need for different curriculums in core areas---the laws of physics do not change when a student crosses the Murray River or the Nullarbor Plain.

A national approach to curriculums and standards will make the states accountable for the quality of the education they provide.

Category:      Education
Source:         Adapted from: The Australian, June 27, 2003
Words:         250

检查各州的学校状况

澳大利亚有8个不同的、分别制定各自规则的学校体制，这不是件好事。

从教育来看，澳大利亚实际上分为8个不同国家—它们各有不同规定和规章制度。全国不同地方的儿童上学年龄也不同，而且有些州小学是六年制，其它州则是七年制。有些州的课程结构是以内容为根据的，而其它州则极其信赖成绩标准，以此来规定学校应该做什么。

维护现状的人士通常都说这一切无关紧要，堪培拉不应干预。

但是，对于每年移居它州的8万名儿童来说，这一切却是很重要的。 对于那些参加300多场大学入学考试的中学毕业生来说，这一切也是重要的，因为他们在某个州获得的大学入学资格分数在其它州却不适用。同时，对于全国所有的家长们来说，这一切也是很重要的，因为他们想知道孩子们在识字、识数和自然科学等基础学习领域里是否得到最佳训练教育。

教育理论家也许会认为心算并不重要，但是家长们却持不同观点 – 而且他们有权知道，与国内和国际最佳训练教育相比，他们的孩子的学习情况究竟如何。尽管地区差异必须受到尊重，但在基础领域却完全没有必要采用不同的课程 – 物理学定律是不会因为某个学生跨过墨累河 （Murray River）或者穿过纳勒博平原（Nullarboe Plain）而随之改变的。

全国统一课程和标准的做法将促使各州对其提供的教育质量负起责任。