Edideology

Such a narrow and superficial view restricts the purpose of education to what is immediately useful and what can be easily quantified – hence the empty and meaningless promise to have Australian students performing among the top 5 Asian countries in maths and science by 2025.

Talk to teachers and school leaders and it’s clear that classrooms are already drowning in bureaucratic red-tape, the cost of complying with Canberra’s dictates and the need to implement whatever is being enforced because of short term political expediency.

There is an alternative. Education is too important to become a plaything of whoever is the government of the day. Centrally mandated and imposed programs like the national curriculum, national testing and national teacher registration and certification should be voluntary.

Schools must have the autonomy and flexibility within general guidelines, what in the Catholic system is known as subsidiarity, to set to set their own course as they are in the best position to reflect the needs and aspirations of their local communities.

Given the lack of teachers and the expense, a crucial aspect of delivering the government’s Asian White paper is utilising the new technologies.

Ignored is that education is essentially a human affair and that no amount of surfing the net or entering virtual classrooms can replace face to face contact. It is also vital to understand the while technology can provide information it can never provide wisdom.

As argued by Pope Benedict XVI is a 2011 speech to teachers in the UK: “As you know, the task of a teacher is not simply to impart information or to provide training in skills intended to deliver some economic benefit to society; education is not and must never be considered as purely utilitarian. It is about forming the human person, equipping him or her to live life to the full – in short it is about imparting wisdom.”