Our speaker this week was Cheryl Lacey, a Rational Education Strategist and author of a recently released book :”Marching Schools Forward: Discussions on the Direction of Australian Education “ from Connor Court Publishing.

Whilst Cheryl advised us at the opening that 4 million families have been impacted by the move to homeschooling of children through COVID-19, she explained the origin of her interest in  education when a Grade 3 child and peoples’ responsibility to contribute to primary education. Cheryl  denoted that belonging, responsibility and person fulfillment are crucial for better primary education in providing fairness for all. Cheryl then gave an erudite explanation of three principles (of twenty) expanded upon in her recent book:

1 Diversibility, the dignified currency - which is needed to achieve good outcomes both for high achievers and disabled children as well as the middle stream. Teachers cannot excel at everything, but need to be able to work on their strengths and individuality to enjoy and succeed in their work.

2 A Stable Curriculum National standards exist in English, Maths, Health and Physical  Education and Western Civilisation. High standards are made difficult to achieve because of the plethora of groups impacting and able to tweak curricula via their different perspectives and priorities, as well as disparate political positions - from federal policies (NAPLAN) to state responsibility for schools, regional authorities, union interaction and individual school management (not to mention different drivers in metropolitan compared with rural sites and individual classroom dynamics).

3 Negotiate on Merit. Recognising and rewarding good performance has been damaged by universities replacing designated teacher training places and minimising formal in-place practice and internship at schools before registration. This has reduced standards for teacher regulation and assessment through the variety of skills at level 1, wide ranging interests at level 2 and attracting high performers for specific needs at level 3.

Cheryl feels that improving these three principles would not cost more money but requires desire to change. Teachers need to be given more autonomy for leadership to flourish.

 Cheryl has found resonance for these principles in Rotary ( and her club, Melbourne) and is encouraged that our management structure and  members’ desire to serve fairly could enable us to help accelerate the necessary change.(We can learn more in her book!)

Thank you Cheryl for a thought provoking and challenging talk and sharing with us actions we need to take for Australian education success.