$50m federal education body is under review amid claims of ‘nonsense’ advice
A $50m federal education research body established to get Australian schools on track is under review amid a mutiny from teachers objecting to its “nonsense” advice.
Education
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A $50m federal education research body established to get Australian schools on track is under review amid a mutiny from teachers objecting to its “nonsense” advice.
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) was established in 2020 to lift education standards and align teaching priorities with gaps identified by NAPLAN tests and other data sources.
But AERO has been criticised by some educators and academics for talking down to teachers and offering “nonsense” solutions.
On one education platform, academics Rachael Dwyer, Brad Fuller and James Humberstone suggest that AERO is “a new avenue for governments to further intrude into the classroom”.
“Why doesn’t AERO trust teachers?” they wrote.
Rob Hattam, Emeritus Professor of Education from Adelaide University, said AERO’s advice was “nonsense”.
“They say they have the evidence for things they do, but it’s not true. They undermine the professional autonomy of teachers by giving them a narrow script to follow and fail to include classroom challenges,” he said.
The independent review, initiated by state and government education ministers, is being conducted by KPMG and is costing nearly $400,000.
AERO, which receives around $20m a year from state and federal governments, made a loss of more than $800,000 last year. It has 16 key managers paid an average of $131,000.
Materials from the organisation which have come under criticism include a package of classroom management resources which include tips on how to get children to enter and exit the classroom. AERO also released a writing instruction framework which stressed the need for a “systematic and explicit” approach.
Despite the criticism, AERO’s resources have been widely distributed and used in many schools.
Opposition education spokesman Jonno Duniam said AERO “plays an important role in our education system to ensure that what is taught to our kids is evidence-based and effective”.
“Any attempts to weaken AERO’s role won’t serve Australia well in trying to overcome these problems, but would rather set us backwards.”
Colleen Harkin, director of the Institute of Public Affairs’ Schools Program, said that “if Australia is serious about lifting education outcomes, we must ensure that evidence-based, and teacher-led instruction, is embedded from day one of training, not treated as optional or ideological.”
“It is not AERO’s fault that a generation of teachers has emerged from faculties of education where explicit instruction is dismissed as outdated.”
An AERO spokeswoman said: “As a publicly funded organisation, AERO welcomes periodic review of its operations and looks forward to engaging in the process.”
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has been contacted for comment.
The review is due to be published in May next year.
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