A Lesson From Down Under

Apparently school principals are tired of their schools becoming the parents to Austrialia's school children and are demanding a change.

The Australian Primary Principals Association, representing more than 7000 government and non-government primary schools, will today release a position paper calling for a charter to redefine the role of primary schools and cull the curriculum to focus on education rather than social welfare.

APPA president Leonie Trimper called on the nation's education ministers to discuss the issue at their meeting next month and form an independent group of primary educators to draft a charter.

Ms Trimper said it was time to reassess the curriculum and the importance placed on different aspects of traditional subjects like literacy.

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Ms Trimper said rather than schools supplementing parental responsibilities, the pendulum had swung too far. Schools were now forced to offer breakfast programs, values education, nutrition, personal finance, road safety, and even awareness of dog-biting and parenting programs.

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Ms Trimper said the needs of primary schools rarely featured in public debate or government policy.

The policy paper prepared by Greg Robson, from Edith Cowan University, says the pressures placed on primary schools "may well be undermining their capacity to deliver continuing success".

"The pressures are significant, the expectations unrealistic, the appreciation of what is needed underdeveloped and the phase has lost its pre-eminence as a point of focus in education," the paper says.

While some social programs are useful and schools are in a position to fulfill some of them, the fact is that schools are responsible for education, not parenting. Too many American school leaders have forgotten that.

Hat Tip: Mike Antonucci