(2009-3 A Fair Go for all HSC students V2.doc)
Agenda item for meeting of the Northern Sydney Regional council of P&C
submitted by Alister Sharp (Hunters Hill High School):
Failure to timetable rooms or teachers for HSC classes
The year the DET has not provided some High schools with sufficient teachers to teach a full quota of HSC classes.
Not withstanding that students were allowed to choose HSC subjects at the start of Year 11, when they started Year 12, students in some Year 12 classes found they had neither classrooms nor teachers for up to a third of their classes.
Normally each subject is taught for 9 classes per fortnight. Yet at one high school this year the timetable shows that:
Japanese, Music, IPT (Information Technology) and Hospitality students have only 6 classes per fortnight,
Business Studies and Drama students have only 7 classes per fortnight
Chemistry, Physics, and Modern History students have only 8 classes per fortnight (and one of the Physics classes is shared with Year 11).
i.e. Out of a total of 23 subjects, ten were not fully staffed.
In addition, 3- and 4-Unit Extension Maths students, and 3- and 4-Unit English students are also being taught for fewer than the full quota of classes.
This is unacceptable! At exam time, these students will be obviously disadvantaged relative to students in other Public and Private schools who are being taught for the full 9 periods per fortnight.
I have discussed this problem with Meredith Ash, Acting School Education Director Lane Cove. Ms Ash explained that the reason for not staffing all classes is purely financial, a result of the DET's staffing formula.
This may be the reason for the school's inability to staff some HSC classes, but it is not unacceptable!
The DET's failure to fully staff some subjects is a serious betrayal of students who, in good faith, selected their HSC subjects from those offered by the school. The students were not warned that some subjects might not be fully supported throughout the two-year, Year 11/12 HSC period. They were not given the option of transferring to another school where the subject would be taught for a full quota of classes. Their parents were not even informed.
Proposed motion
This meeting calls on the DET
- to immediately make available additional teaching staff to enable all High Schools to staff the full quota of 9 classes per subject this year, and
- to ensure that in all future years any class taught in Year 11 will be supported with a full quota of classes up until the HSC exam in that subject.