Further erosion of the delivery of teacher education by Bendigo based staff is signalled. The La Trobe University website says “Changes proposed today include updating the way Initial Teacher Education is taught in Regional Victoria” – this will be achieved by providing more subjects online and teaching subjects in intensive mode and recruiting senior educators based at Bundoora who will be required travel across regional communities.  

In 2014 La Trobe University went through an organisational change process whereby the School of Education at Bendigo was abolished and the number of academic staff in teacher education based in Bendigo significantly reduced. In the four years since as continuing staff have resigned they have not been replaced. 

Further “exciting” teaching changes now being proposed serve to reduce even more the number of teacher education staff at Bendigo. The new model concentrates expertise in the metropolitan School of Education based at Bundoora. The proposal represents a very sad end to more than 120 years of academic governance of teacher education in Bendigo through the State College, then BCAE and much more recently La Trobe University. This it seems is what “all kinds of clever” represents.

Read more: La Trobe proposes changes to teacher education courses

I say well done to the group of students that took strike action from school to express their feelings on climate change. Theses students aged 13 or 14 are showing more intelligence and knowledge than our political leaders. Why? Because they are learning about it and they appreciate and understand the tragic situation that is being allowed to happen by our governments.

Our political leaders – who presumably went to school and university at tax payers’ expense –  most likely have never experienced real life in working a real job. The vast majority of our scientists are saying there needs to be a change in direction and policy to try and put a slow down the effect on the climate. In the recent byelection in Wentworth a big part of the swing against the government was about climate change. 

These students are showing leadership by standing up for what they believe in, just like a group of students at Weeroona College a few years ago went on strike over their education in elective subjects because they felt that they weren’t being listened to.

Far too often the leadership in all walks of life treat people as second rate, saying that you don’t have the right or knowledge to criticise or challenge decisions made by the leaders of our nation.

To those students, keep up your fight. Hopefully with the weight of numbers and the protest that you and others have we can get some level-headed and intelligent politicians –  not the skeptics and non action politicians that we have  – to change the direction we are heading. 

Read more: Start treating climate change like crisis it is: students 

Letters must carry the name, full address and  telephone number of the author. The writer’s name and suburb/town will be published. We reserve the right to edit letters. Letters which are deemed inappropriate will not be published.Send letters to Bendigo Advertiser, PO Box 61, Bendigo 3552 or at bendigoadvertiser.com.au

Letters commenting on election issues must bear the name and full address of the writer(s). Responsibility for election comment in this issue is accepted by editor Nicole Ferrie.

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