H. The conservative reaction


The conservative reaction: ‘politicising’ the Study Design

There were three major sources of opposition to the Study Design:

  • the state Opposition, led by Jeff Kennett, especially in the period leading up to the state election in 1992 which Labor, led by Premier Joan Kirner, the Minister for Education was likely to lose This is evident in the way in which the VCE itself was being increasingly characterized as an ideologically driven exercise in ‘social engineering’, socialist, sometimes even Marxist, in nature.
     
  • the university ‘establishment’, especially that based at the University of Melbourne, though later this opposition was supported by the Vice Chancellor Committee chaired by Monash University Vice Chancellor Mal Logan. Only one university vice chancellor consistently supported the VCE, Malcolm Skilbeck at Deakin. The primary focus of this opposition was the ‘reliability’ of the Study Design as an instrument for tertiary selection. It should be noted, however, that many individual academics, including those in the English Department at Melbourne ( Stephen Knight, Ken Ruthven, Terry Collits and others ) were publicly supportive of the concept of the Study Design.
     
  • the media, including both the tabloid and broadsheet varieties. The Herald Sun was particularly sensationalist in its undermining of public confidence in the Study Design with headlines focused on issues related to ‘inappropriate’ text selection ( ‘dumbing down the curriculum’) and ‘unreliable’ teacher assessment ( ‘Cheating!!!) ’ The Age was more even handed, though several of its regular columnists who saw ‘English’ in culturally elitist terms were relentless in their defence of ‘worthy’ literature.
     

Suggested reading list (items available in VATE office):

  1. Gill, M. (1994) ‘Who framed English? A case study of the media's role in curriculum change', Melbourne Studies in Education, pp. 96–113
     
  2. Keating, Jack and Pannel, Sujatha, ‘The VCE media debate: 1989-1992’, Australian Government Primary Principals Association
     
  3. Penington, David, ‘We need better VCE test’, opinion piece, Herald Sun, 5 June 1991
     
  4. Collits, Terry (English Department University of Melbourne), ‘Students are victims of cat-and-mouse game’, Letter to The Age, 28 November, 1990 - disassociating himself from Penington’s attacks on the Study Design.
     
  5. Barnard, Michael, ‘Will Kennett rescue our schools from mediocrity?’, Comment, The Age, 30 April 1991
     
  6. Donnelly, Kevin, ‘VCE English needs several levels’, Letter to The Age, 9 March 1992
     
  7. University of Melbourne Submission to VCAB Working Party on Assessment in VCE English, 11 May 1992
     
  8. Hayward, Don (Shadow Minister for Education), ‘Curriculum in Secondary Schools’, Hansard, 28 May 1992
     
  9. Video: VCAB panel - Michael Kimberley (VCAB Project Officer, as convenor), Marion Meiers, Ray Misson, Jill Brown, Mario Vilella explaining changes to external component of assessment with increase from 25% to 50%, new writing task test CAT, and text response with questions on individual texts rather than prompts. No Oral CAT. Text list reduced from 60 to 30.