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WA Parents: What the OBE means to YOU and YOUR CHILD:

The media has been full of reports about OBE, or Outcomes Based Education in recent times.  But what actually is OBE?  We have attempted to explain the concept of OBE briefly, and unbiassedly, before presenting our stance on the contentious issue.

From where we stand, OBE is a name used by the media to describe the WA Curriculum Council's New WA Certificate of Education system, which began in 2005 with Aviation Studies being available for Year 11 and 12 students.  The system is the result of a four year review of the current education system, in terms of how relevant our methods of teaching are in today's world.

The world has certainly changed, with the majority of the Australian population now having ready access to electronic media, such as television and the internet, and new issues confronting our citizens on a day-to-day basis.  The new WACE (which relies on outcomes, rather than a set syllabus) is designed to reflect these changes.  It revolves around the concept of courses coprising of units, rather than individual subjects of study.

Students enrolling in Year 12 for 2008 will study subjects such as English, Chemistry, Physics, and Economics under the new OBE system, with other subjects such as Mathematics and Languages Other Than English (LOTE) scheduled for introduction in 2009.  Also in 2009 will be a selection of new courses, such as Dance, Philosophy, Indigenous Languages, Psychology and many new subjects.

The main advantage of an Outcomes Based Education system is the comparability of grades between subjects.  For instance, as of now, a grade of A in Year 12 Calculus is not equivalent to a grade of A in Discrete Mathematics.  OBE uses different levels of achievement (1 through to 8, with 8 being the highest) from Year 1 to Year 12.  The levels are comparable across all years and all subjects.  This removes the need for scaling of subjects, however a degree of moderation and standardisation may still be required.

We are excited about the New WACE, however have some concerns about its implementation.  Our views do not correspond with the image portrayed by the media, which we believe, to some extent, are unknowledgeable attacks on a new system, designed to create community controversy.  For instance, according to David Axworthy, A/CEO of the WA Curriculum Council, poor spelling, grammar, and punctuation WILL be penalised in English subjects.

However, according to other academics, the new system does not possess the same rigour and requirement of discipline as more traditional methods.  The WA Curriculum Council disputes this, however.

Education has probably lost much of its need for discipline ever since long division was removed from the primary syllabus, and when the use of graphics calculators was encouraged in upper high school.  We believe that learning requires hard work, dedication, and persistence.  Too many times do we see students who do not know their multiplication tables, or who are not comfortable adding two digit numbers without the use of a calculator.  Fraction and basic algebra skills seem to be almost dead.  This is only in the Mathematics courses.

With a larger focus on technology (in a Curriculum Council sample English examination paper, reference was made to Wikipedia, a new age source which despite self claims is not readily or extensively peer-reviewed, and probably should be utilised for interest purposes only) we see the possibility that OBE could be too 'new age' to be of any great benefit to students.  The ability to count achievements in subjects such as Dance (although we are a sponsor of one of WA's largest online Dance websites - See Links) towards a Tertiary Entrance Rank is questionable.

Another aspect of the New WACE is the implementation of self-directed learning (SDL).  Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own education, with teachers as facilitators rather than lecturers.  This seems like an attractive idea, but are the majority of students aged between 5 and 17 capable of the discipline to undertake SDL?  Traditionally this form of teaching has been left until tertiary study, when more students posess the maturity to manage their own education.  The top students most likely already have this ability, however the majority probably still require direct guidance rather than mere suggestive encouragement.

We have always believed, contrary to current political thinking, that students should be pressured: they should be placed outside their comfort zone every now and again, to promote essential coping strategies in the world beyond school.  OBE on the surface could be seen as coating our children with bubble wrap.  This is the reason why we push our clients to succeed through dedication, perseverance and discipline.  There is the Parable of the Lucky Man, used by educators to stress this point:

If the New WACE challenges students, and teaches them discipline and determination, then all of the media hype and concern about its implementation will be without basis.  However all we can do in the meantime is teach our children these skills outside the classroom, and hope that they remain self-motivated, until history judges whether OBE is the right way to educate.

Nullum gratuitum prandium.
Latin Proverb

To speak to one of our consultants about this, or any other issue, phone  (08) 9284 0666