Comments on: Climbing the summit http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/04/09/climbing-the-summit/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:59:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Andrew Leigh » Blog Archive » More summit statements http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/04/09/climbing-the-summit/#comment-259905 Andrew Leigh » Blog Archive » More summit statements Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:56:06 +0000 http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/04/09/climbing-the-summit/#comment-259905 [...] are Nicholas Gruen’s 2020 answers (you can discuss them here too if you prefer). 1. If you could do one thing in your stream area what would it be? What is it that [...] [...] are Nicholas Gruen’s 2020 answers (you can discuss them here too if you prefer). 1. If you could do one thing in your stream area what would it be? What is it that [...]

]]> By: Mark Cully http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/04/09/climbing-the-summit/#comment-259898 Mark Cully Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:19:37 +0000 http://clubtroppo.com.au/2008/04/09/climbing-the-summit/#comment-259898 Nick, I'm a strong supporter of your idea. Can I give you two very practical examples from education that could be readily implemented at no cost, they require only political courage. The first is data in the vocational training sector that NCVER holds on student satisfaction and destinations. Every two years, around 100,000 exiting students complete a questionnaire where they rate the quality of the training they received and detail their current employment circumstances. The sample size is this large so as to provide each TAFE institute in the country with statistically reliable estimates of their "performance". This information is not put into the public domain, due to "data protocols" determined by officials, where it might inform prospective students about course choice. The second example comes from schooling. Australia, as far as I'm aware, is the only OECD member state which participates in PISA - a triennial assessment of literacy and numeracy levels of 15 year olds - that does not allow the results to be disaggregated by public and private schools. This is something that, to their shame, Ministers agreed to (MCEETYA). Both are examples of where producer interests have been given primacy over consumer interests. Nick,

I’m a strong supporter of your idea. Can I give you two very practical examples from education that could be readily implemented at no cost, they require only political courage.

The first is data in the vocational training sector that NCVER holds on student satisfaction and destinations. Every two years, around 100,000 exiting students complete a questionnaire where they rate the quality of the training they received and detail their current employment circumstances. The sample size is this large so as to provide each TAFE institute in the country with statistically reliable estimates of their “performance”. This information is not put into the public domain, due to “data protocols” determined by officials, where it might inform prospective students about course choice.

The second example comes from schooling. Australia, as far as I’m aware, is the only OECD member state which participates in PISA – a triennial assessment of literacy and numeracy levels of 15 year olds – that does not allow the results to be disaggregated by public and private schools. This is something that, to their shame, Ministers agreed to (MCEETYA).

Both are examples of where producer interests have been given primacy over consumer interests.

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