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I attended state run schools in Australia in the 90s and this experience sounds so foreign to me. Sure, there were shitty kids and other problems, but we were l

I attended state run schools in Australia in the 90s and this experience sounds so foreign to me. Sure, there were shitty kids and other problems, but we were learning consistently. The Australian Federal government has since introduced standardised testing in the form of NAPLAN and, yes, schools try to teach to the test. But the idea of teachers outright cheating on behalf of students is unfathomable. Was I an outlier? Or did the author just have bad luck?

corty 6y ago
We once had a young teacher, who had to pass his own entrance exam for a permanent position. He was to be tested by teaching us, while a senior teacher sitting in the back judges him. A week before his test, this young teacher then goes through everything that was supposed to happen in that class with us, right down to the questions he'd ask and the answers a specific pupil was supposed to give. At the end of it, he promised us a keg of beer if he passed (Germany, younger pupils would maybe have gotten sweets). He passed with flying colours, after which the senior teacher asked discreetely when we intended to drink that beer, because he wanted to attend. Obviously stuff like this was completely normal and expected.
ajxs 6y ago
I went to a state run (public in local parlance) high school in Australia in the 2000s. The school was in an area that was beginning to gentrify. It had students from a variety of backgrounds, with the majority being working class. The school had many problem students to keep staff occupied and looked as though it was very under-funded. However I agree with GP: I never saw any of the kind of incompetence and institutional dishonesty this article talks about. One thing I'll say of Australia, it's public institutions seem reasonably honest.
iso1210 6y ago
I don't get this cheating comment. Schools have internal exams sure, but they don't count for much - the ones that count (at high school) are GCSEs, A-Levels, and other external exams. Teachers can't cheat on these as they don't have the tests until it opens. If the actual exams were happening in the way the author depicts, then 1) There would be a whistleblower 2) The people marking the exams would notice that people were getting the exact same answers (unlike US SATs, UK exams are mainly written answers, very few questions are multiple choice) Now teachers do have copies of previous years exams, and go over those in class, and use them for mock-exams earlier in the year, isn't that normal? It's not cheating -- exams are an imperfect system, but if you're going to have exams, having test exams and going over what worked and what didn't is valid.

corty 6y ago

We once had a young teacher, who had to pass his own entrance exam for a permanent position. He was to be tested by teaching us, while a senior teacher sitting in the back judges him. A week before his test, this young teacher then goes through everything that was supposed to happen in that class with us, right down to the questions he'd ask and the answers a specific pupil was supposed to give. At the end of it, he promised us a keg of beer if he passed (Germany, younger pupils would maybe have gotten sweets). He passed with flying colours, after which the senior teacher asked discreetely when we intended to drink that beer, because he wanted to attend. Obviously stuff like this was completely normal and expected.

ajxs 6y ago

I went to a state run (public in local parlance) high school in Australia in the 2000s. The school was in an area that was beginning to gentrify. It had students from a variety of backgrounds, with the majority being working class. The school had many problem students to keep staff occupied and looked as though it was very under-funded. However I agree with GP: I never saw any of the kind of incompetence and institutional dishonesty this article talks about. One thing I'll say of Australia, it's public institutions seem reasonably honest.

iso1210 6y ago

I don't get this cheating comment. Schools have internal exams sure, but they don't count for much - the ones that count (at high school) are GCSEs, A-Levels, and other external exams. Teachers can't cheat on these as they don't have the tests until it opens. If the actual exams were happening in the way the author depicts, then 1) There would be a whistleblower 2) The people marking the exams would notice that people were getting the exact same answers (unlike US SATs, UK exams are mainly written answers, very few questions are multiple choice) Now teachers do have copies of previous years exams, and go over those in class, and use them for mock-exams earlier in the year, isn't that normal? It's not cheating -- exams are an imperfect system, but if you're going to have exams, having test exams and going over what worked and what didn't is valid.