OBE fails test with High School teachers

The controversy over the introduction of OBE into Year 11 and 12 classes in WA received another blow last week when teachers at Kelmscott High School voted unanimously on a motion of no confidence in the Curriculum Council.

The Curriculum Council are the writers and architects on the OBE-inspired courses which were delayed for a full year after teachers forced them to back down over introducing the courses in 2007. Teachers have repeatedly claimed that the courses were poorly written, impossible to assess accurately and less rigorous than the existing TEE courses. Another criticism is that the council had failed to produce a syllabus with clear content.
The courses are currently being re-written by the Curriculum Council but teachers are still finding the courses to be sufficiently flawed which has resulted in the no confidence vote being taken.
Staff at the Curriculum Council are still finishing writing many courses which will give teachers little time for feedback before the courses are to be implemented.
Feedback is currently being completed via an online survey.
All 13 OBE courses would be accredited by December 6. The council would also accredit another 25 new OBE courses originally scheduled for Year 11 in 2008.

OBE in WA a political shambles - Principal with principles

Outcomes based education in Western Australia was under attack this time from a Catholic Principal.
Brian Maher of Mazenod College in Perth has told parents that the bungled bid to implement OBE in 2007 had left teachers extremely frustrated and turned students into political footballs.
"The shambles of OBE and courses of study can, in my view, only be described as politically cynical," Father Maher said. "We must never allow our children to be sacrificed on the altar of ideological or political theory."

The Principal of Sacred Heart College, Ian Eider is similarly unimpressed with the OBE system and is considering changing his school to the International Baccalaureate. He believed the WA curriculum had been diluted in lower secondary school and the IB was a worthwhile alternative. "And we are still unclear on where we are going with the new courses of study (in Years 11 and 12)"

From The West Australian 1/11/06