Report of the first ASPA Executive meeting for 2010 held in Canberra on 21 to 23 February 2010

Executive put the finishing touches to the plan which had been considered by the previous two Delegates’ meetings held in 2008 and 2009. The significant pillars on which the plan is based, plus the priorities for 2010, will be placed on the association’s website in the next few weeks.

Other material such as the ‘Principals 2030’ visionary statement which has been part of these discussions will also be placed on the website along with other material as it is developed.

The business of the association will be conducted by portfolio areas, the membership of which was determined at the meeting. Executive hopes that this process will involve more people in ASPA’s work, as well as increasing and expanding the expertise of a wider range of people. As part of this process, Executive agreed on an accountability process which includes regular reports to it and the membership via the website.

ASPA is one of the major supporters of the Public Education Forum to be held in Canberra on 27^th March, 2010. Arrangements will involve selected principals who are well informed on the debate related to the finding of government schools and who can speak with authority on what is happening in key electorates across the nation.

Affiliates have nominated people who will join with Executive members and other key educational leaders from all sectors who will assist in shaping a national view on how government schools should be funded. All are agreed that the current unfair and dysfunctional system cannot be allowed to continue. This event is a great opportunity to form a national view which can be put before the government’s proposed inquiry into school funding. This inquiry is to guide the system to be used for school finding for the quadrennium commencing in 2012. 

Executive met with ACARA CEO, Peter Hill, for extensive discussions on the website and the information it purports to provide to the public. Executive is far from convinced that the information provided is as useful or reliable as claimed and has pressed for significant improvements to the data and the index on which it is based. It is pleased that some of its views have been adopted and that others will be considered in its next iteration. ASPA will maintain contact with Dr Hill and ACARA to ensure pressure for improvement is maintained.

ASPA has maintained its efforts on securing a fairer and more sustainable basis on which the Commonwealth funds all schools. It will engage the best thinkers on this issue to guide its actions. This research, along with frequent contacts with relevant DEEWR officers and others with expertise in the field, will ensure ASPA makes a significant contribution to the terms of reference which is adopted by the government and to the inquiry once it is established.

Executive is concerned that the Board of this body does not include a practising principal. While it intends to work closely with Allan Shaw who has been appointed to represent principals’ associations, it intends to communicate directly to the Board and its Chair to ensure that the views of those who lead the secondary schools which educate 70% of students are heard. It intends to emphasise strategies which deeply embed processes which enhance school leadership. While the Board appears to be a difficult group to influence due to its membership, ASPA will work through its subcommittees and officers as it seeks to enhance the skills of leaders of government schools and the schools for which they are responsible.

ASPA is in broad agreement with the aims of the national curriculum. However it is concerned that ‘the devil is in the detail’. It is well aware that there has been no commitment to provide resources to implement what is proposed. ASPA will monitor what is happening in each state and territory and ensure that ACARA, DEEWR and the Minister are informed on issues which concern secondary schools.

Among other things it will survey school leaders to understand how the My School website has influenced decisions made at school level about what is taught and how it is taught. Despite assurances that the process ensures that ‘teaching to the test’ will be counter-productive, ASPA is well aware of pressures from some jurisdictions to try to influence school leaders to adopt school processes designed to enhance system outcomes, as well as others where individual school leaders are being pressured via accountability processes to justify school results and to adopt processes to improve them.

ASPA has commenced action to ensure it is able to influence candidates standing for the forthcoming federal election. Action will re-develop the successful ‘trifold’ developed for the last federal election to ensure it covers recent developments and assists members wanting to use relevant resources in their local community. It is also looking closely at relationships with other relevant areas such as health , which have common aims to advance the nation’s economic, social and well-being agendas. ASPAs’ existing policies on student well-being and the adequate funding of government secondary schools will inform its approach.

Another week, and still education is the centrepiece on the table. The Prime Minister made the announcements about additional information to be contained on the My School website some time in the future, and the Deputy Prime Minister has provided ongoing commentary about how the government will provide additional support for those schools that were identified through the My School website as underperforming.

These announcements present us with two key challenges:

1. To ensure that any additional data is relevant, rich and non simplistic; and
2. If there is support for under performing schools, what is the quantum? What do those school communities really need to make a difference? 

ASPA supports the government in its commitment to improve parent access to reliable and valid information about student performance and school performance, and in many states this information is already available.

It is not a debate about transparency and accountability. The issue is that ASPA can not support the My School website when it has the capacity to be used to generate simple comparisons between schools.

ASPA is calling for measures to be taken to prevent the compilation of league tables.