Page 4400 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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In each formal notice of decision to close 11 primary schools in 2006 the research of Professor Caldwell was cited to justify closing the school because it had fewer than 300 to 400 students. The notices stated that the school concerned was too small, based on Professor Caldwell’s research, and was more than likely unable to provide an adequate education because of its size. However this contradicts the professor, and the committee’s report at page 47 cites the professor as follows:
There is to my knowledge no evidence to support a conclusion that primary schools of less than 300-400 students are necessarily less educationally effective because of their size.
On pages 46 and 47 the professor is quoted as saying:
… research has repeatedly found small schools to be superior to large schools on most measures and equal to them on the rest.
The committee’s report goes on at page 47 to conclude:
The committee has concluded that Professor Caldwell’s research had been used to support a particular policy conclusion when it supports the provision of quality education services in school settings of various sizes including in small schools. The committee also observed that this interpretation had been used to support a decision-making process without significant contact or verification of the interpretation from the author.
This is completely misleading. If this part of the evidence used to close schools was misrepresented, how on earth can we trust the rest of the so-called evidence? The community was, quite rightly, incensed by these revelations of the minister’s misrepresentations, and the community as represented by the Save Our Schools Committee called on the minister for education to resign. I quote from the media release dated 20 September 2009:
Save Our Schools today called on the ACT Minister for Education, Andrew Barr, to resign because he misused research evidence in his decisions to close schools.
SOS Convenor, Trevor Cobbold, said that the Legislative Assembly should pass a no confidence motion in the Minister if he fails to tender his resignation.
Mr Cobbold is quoted as saying:
The minister has no choice but to resign following the Assembly report on school closures which shows that he misused research in his decision to close small schools.
The minister has been indicted by the Education Committee of the Legislative Assembly for wrongly using the research findings of Professor Brian Caldwell on small schools to justify school closures. He has been repudiated by the Professor himself. He has been effectively condemned by his own Labor colleagues on the Education Committee.
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