# Workshop for Australian education policy/The Bruce Declaration

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Using Meeting Words for synchronous editing
This Declaration is made at the Recent Changes Camp 2011: Canberra held at the University of Canberra on 30 January 2011.

## Statement

As a nation Australia values the pivotal role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society— a society that is prosperous, cohesive, ecologically conscious and culturally diverse. Central to this are successful learners and inspirational teachers; informed, active, confident and creative individuals who are equipped to live harmoniously and make responsible decisions about social change and the future. This will be achieved through genuine Government/Community partnerships, a focus on individual and community well-being and strengthened accountability and transparency. This Declaration calls for a plan of action for a collaborative approach to education in Australia. One which not only supports vocational choices and employment opportunities, but also one which respects the right of all individuals to choose their own learning pathways via access to a variety of learning and teaching experiences and options. It is based on the understanding/assumption that relevant self-determined learning is a fundamental right for all people regardless of motivation or life circumstance, and that access to self-directed and community based learning opportunities will help ensure a safer, healthier, more responsible and environmentally sound world.
This declaration acknowledges that current education policy limits individual access to self-determined learning opportunities by restricting funding and support mechanisms, and recognises the need to expand the vision of educational opportunity in Australia, and to renew the commitment to free life wide and life long learning AND teaching for all citizens. It calls for a repositioning of education, placing learning and teaching back in the hands of communities and individuals with the support of infrastructure and strategies to support mentors and stimulating, collaborative learning environments. This is a declaration of peace as much as it is for learning, to strive for new beginnings based on what we know must be done. Robynjay 23:27, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
Version 1: As a nation Australia values the central role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society— a society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse, and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures as a key part of the nation’s history, present and future Educational
Version 2: We seek a right to free learning, and to free teaching. We recognise the role of the education sector in that, but not its monopoly. We value a sustained and informed, critical, creative, democratic, equitable and just society, that is prosperous, cohesive and diverse. One that respects and rebuilds Indigenous cultures, being key to our heritage, our identity and our wisdom. This is a declaration of peace as much as it is for learning, to strive for new beginnings based on what we know must be done.
(why the reference to Indigenous cultures? might this dilute the message? - Michael)
Goals Goal 1: ... Goal 2: ... – Successful learners – Confident and creative individuals – Active and informed citizens A Commitment to Action Developing stronger partnerships Supporting quality teaching and school leadership Strengthening education Enhancing ... development Supporting ... years of schooling and youth transitions Promoting world-class curriculum and assessment Improving educational outcomes for Indigenous youth and disadvantaged young Australians, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds Strengthening accountability and transparency Achieving the Educational Goals for Young Australians
Goal 2: ... – Successful learners – Confident and creative individuals – Active and informed citizens A Commitment to Action Developing stronger partnerships Supporting quality teaching and school leadership Strengthening education Enhancing ... development Supporting ... years of schooling and youth transitions Promoting world-class curriculum and assessment Improving educational outcomes for Indigenous youth and disadvantaged young Australians, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds Strengthening accountability and transparency Achieving the Educational Goals for Young Australians
(these are the kinds of statements everyone will agree to. Is that the process here - to make generic statements that everyone can agree to and have the real substance in the actions/methods proposed? - Michael

## Review and critique

The objective of this section is to list significant works (good or bad) that are seen as influential to the public conception of the notion of learning and education, and then to link to or post synopsis of its critique in relation to the position of this declaration.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, General Assembly of the United Nations, December 10, 1948 Article 26
    Article 26
      * (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
      * (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
      * (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, December 2008
Bradley Review Fails on e-Learning
    A quality student experience in higher education ... An accessible and sophisticated online learning environment. ...
       From: Review of Australian Higher Education, Final Report, Denise Bradley, December 2008
While the Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education asserts that a higher education requires a sophisticated online learning environment, there is only one mention of "online learning" in the 304 page report. The report contains no mention of the role of the Internet or the web in higher education, apart from noting that some alumni associations run web sites. Computer literacy is mentioned once, with reference to mature-age students who and those from rural and low socio-economic backgrounds. ...
US Government National Emerging Technology Plan 2010
    Calls for applying the advanced technologies used in our daily personal and professional lives to our entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement.
Ministerial Declaration on Adult and Community Education
Learn Canada 2020
    Learn Canada 2020 is the framework the provincial and territorial ministers of education, through the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, will use to enhance Canada’s education systems, learning opportunities, and overall education outcomes. The vision of Learn Canada 2020 is Quality Lifelong Learning Opportunities for All Canadians.
Learn Canada 2020 recognizes the direct link between a well-educated population and (1) a vibrant knowledge-based economy in the 21st Century, (2) a socially progressive, sustainable society, and (3) enhanced personal growth opportunities for all Canadians.
Helen Vale Foundation now Total Health & Education Foundation from a review of Future Education By Vijayadev Yogendra, Centre Publications, 1985 "... the over-emphasis on material prosperity and individualism has been at the expense of personal and family life; education has been re-shaped to meet the needs of industrial expansion and in the process, the consideration of individual uniqueness and personal growth has been lost. ... education for the future must be re-oriented to counter these trends, to prepare children for a world of ever increasing change, and to develop future citizens who have self-reliance, tolerance of their fellow man and the capacity to cope confidently with any life situation." see another book review with excerpt
Modern Education, 1933
State Based Statements and Plans - Vocational and K-12 NSW VIC TAS - Tasmanian Skills Strategy - The strategy has now been further developed around four themes:
* increasing opportunity;
* a better system for clients;
* workforce development; and
* skills for the future.
The themes take into account the big challenges facing Tasmania in the 21st Century, including the management of increasingly scarce water resources; the rapid race of the telecommunications revolution; and the imperative for creating sustainable and renewable energy. SA WA NT ACT QLD
Critics
* David Orr - What Is Education For? Higher ed: the mass production of people literally unfit for anything except to take part in an elaborate charade.
* Gatto
* Illich
* Friere
* Illich Journal
* International Journal Self Directed Learning
* VC University of New England - opinion column in the Australia - future of education
* Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Blue Paper 2006
* Human Rights Education Association - Sustainable Development hrea.org
* Bradley Review
* Life Learning Magazine
* Life Learning Magazine
* Skills australia publications
* Social Policy Research Centre (UNSW)
National Partnership on Productivity Places Program
    COAG Document that describes money directions...
Students as Scholar not Customers http://blog.tomw.net.au/2009/12/students-as-scholar-not-customers.html
... Professor Paul Ramsden, Chief Executive of the UK Higher Education Academy, paper "The Future of Higher Education - Teaching and the Student Experience" http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/policy/paulramsden_teaching_and_student_experience.doc

## Emerging alternatives

* http://universityforstrategicoptimism.wordpress.com/about/
* http://reallyopenuniversity.wordpress.com/what-is-the-rou/
* http://www.universityofutopia.org/about
* http://collapsonomics.org/
* University of the People
* Peer 2 Peer University
* School of Everything
* http://educationactivistnetwork.wordpress.com/about/
* http://publicuniversity.org.uk/about/
* http://purposed.org.uk/about/
* http://www.khanacademy.org/

## Ethics

* Autonomous learning: Autonomous learning is a school of education which sees learners as individuals who can and should be autonomous i.e. be responsible for their own learning climate.
Autonomous education helps students develop their self-consciousness, vision, practicality and freedom of discussion. These attributes serve to aid the student in his/her independent learning. (from Wikipedia)
* Retooling learning
* Coming together
* Beyond schooling (deschooling, unschooling)
* Life wide learning
Life as Learning, LEARN Life as Learning (LEARN) is a multi-scientific national research programme on learning. The themes studied in the programme include developing teaching and learning in the school system, new challenges of learning in the working life, new forms of learning, and new teachership and teacher education.
* Taking back the concept of "education" and putting it back in the hands of "real" people and communities, and avoiding the "carving up" of resources through institutions (People learning)(much of Rose's last email post on Feb 9th could go here - Michael)
* Triage of educational and academic service - teaching, research, community participation

## Principles

Education should:
* social and individual benefit from education
* Empower people to have meaningful and productive lives
* equip individuals to participate actively in community and work
* no or minimal cost
* no one model for teaching and learning, formal, informal
* inputs equally important as outputs
* resilient community for creative economics
* transparency
* public funded should be open
* Bring benefits to one and all (benefits come from education - social and individual )
* Empower meaningful participation ( Empower people to have meaningful and productive lives, equip individuals to participate actively in community and work)
* Recognise learning - learning is non linear and eclectic. Develop methods that can encompass this. reject exclusions
* Use edges and value the marginal - Occupy the space between institutions and ekstitutions. There is a space developing between private and public concepts of education, occupy these spaces
* value the capital of human experience and build on the strengths of individuals
* seek to develop the full potential of each individual
* direct social change
* be life based
* no or minimal cost
* no one model for teaching and learning, formal, informal
* inputs equally important as outputs
* resilient community for creative economics
* transparency
* public funded should be open

## Methods

Australian Learning Commons Proposal