YOU ARE BLOCKED by Rebecca (@BeckRSaunders) on 13.1.24.

                                                                  

Rebecca Saunder's profile on Twitter https://twitter.com/BeckRSaunders says she is a Professional Learning Coach.

The following is what she tweeted.

I have been screaming this into the void for years - why would kids care about an exam that means nothing to them?

Australian students aren’t trying in the Pisa exams. They should be congratulated for their disdain.

She copied that statement, without thinking, from an article by Van Badham a Guardian Australia columnist.

 

Here are a few extracts from the article and my comments:

Van Badham:

The Save Our Schools Coalition has surveyed the year 9 students about shared attitudes towards the “Programme for International Student Assessment” exams that are taken annually.

My comment:

The Australians may know a little more than me but I thought the PISA tests are done once every 3 years and not annually. Surely the Guardian will not have published this if it is wrong.

Van Badham:

The most meaningful information to come out of the Pisa assessment is the revelation that Australian kids don’t give a shit about it.

News this week revealed that a full three-quarters of Australian high school students admit they aren’t “fully trying” in their Pisa tests.

My comment:

What else is new? What else can we expect from students who have done badly in the tests?

Van Badham:

Our kids might be brilliant, they may be contrarian, they may be dopey; likely, all three.

My comment:

The kids who are brilliant and contrarian are the kids I am concerned about. These are the kids who more often than not leave school as illiterates. What can we expect when so-called ‘Professional Learning Coaches’ like Rebecca Saunders have such a bad attitude?

Anyway, I tweeted the following to the tweet by Rebecca above and I was blocked. Unfortunately, I don’t have the further tweets by Rebecca.

I believe the smart kids in Australia are waiting to leave school as illiterates while those in Singapore are taking part in the PISA exam. Please read my hypothesis about why Singapore is always number 1 while Australia, the UK and the US are not even in the top 10.

Below is my hypothesis.

Hypothesis (Part 1) LINK

Hypothesis (Part 2) LINK

Hypothesis (Part 3) LINK

Your opinion will be appreciated.

Then came the words on Twitter: 'YOU ARE BLOCKED'.

The problem with many Australians is, they think they know everything there is to know. How will they ever reduce illiteracy if they do not discuss matters openly.