Month: May 2026

The Concoction of “Why Maths Must Change”

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May 31, 2026

6:40 pm

8 Comments on The Concoction of “Why Maths Must Change”

ACARA

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Long, long ago, Dear Readers, when you were little children, Uncle Marty submitted an FOI …

Long-time readers may remember back to 2021 and the farce of Why Maths Must Change, the idiotic open letter signed by AAMT and MERGA and ATSIMA and “AAS” and, most egregiously and most absurdly, “AMSI”,1 in support of ACARA’s still-then-invisible draft mathematics curriculum. Readers can learn about and/or refresh their memories of this farce here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Although ACARA was nowhere mentioned in WMMC, it smelled as if ACARA were involved and a few but a few too many months later, I submitted an FOI to ACARA. I requested information on WMMC, including “any emails to and/or from and/or between ACARA officers related to [WMMC]”. I won. Continue reading “The Concoction of “Why Maths Must Change”” →

VCAA Does Something Very Right

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May 28, 2026

5:58 pm

8 Comments on VCAA Does Something Very Right

CAS

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VCAA has just announced that,

[VCAA] require custom functionality – including User Defined Functions (UDFs) – on Computer Algebra System (CAS) calculators to be restricted during VCE Mathematics examinations from 2027. 

The full statement is here, and is transcribed below.

This is, needless to say, very good news. Yes, there are churlish responses that come to mind, but let’s leave it as the good news it is. Continue reading “VCAA Does Something Very Right” →

PoSWW 58: AI, Captain!

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May 28, 2026

9:51 am

1 Comment on PoSWW 58: AI, Captain!

PoSWW

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The Australian Government Primary Principals Association has been meeting this week, and reportedly has a brilliant new idea (M,P):

Scrap ‘flawed’ NAPLAN writing test for AI and wellbeing assessments, principals urge

And, from another report:

AGPPA President Pat Murphy said the association is calling for a need to review the writing in order to make it relevant for today’s learners. “The review should consider the need for higher-order skills students need in an increasingly AI-enabled world,” Murphy told The Educator. “In practice, this would involve moving towards a more balanced assessment model.”

Yep, more balanced between absurdity and straight-out stupidity. But perhaps this new stupidity is no surprise, coming from the clowns whose glossy strategic plan can fail to once mention “reading” or “writing” or “literacy” or “mathematics” or “arithmetic” or “numeracy”.

And then people wonder why primary schools are screwed. Continue reading “PoSWW 58: AI, Captain!” →

Lying, Thinking of England, Command Terms, Sketchy Logic and VCAA’s Accountability

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May 26, 2026

11:40 pm

10 Comments on Lying, Thinking of England, Command Terms, Sketchy Logic and VCAA’s Accountability

VCAA

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This post is a mulligan stew. I’m still crazy-busy, making it very difficult to find any peace or writing rhythm to tackle the posts that I’m keener to do. There have also been a few “maybe” news stories to write about, and some follow-up slaps to hand to VCAA, but nothing sufficiently compelling to make the time. So, I’ve decided to just throw a few leftovers together in a pot and call it a post. Then, I’ll look to get to the larger posts, quietly stewing on back burners. (As it is, the AMSI-MAV clown show and Geoff Masters being a nitwit, again, will just have to be left on the shelf.) Continue reading “Lying, Thinking of England, Command Terms, Sketchy Logic and VCAA’s Accountability” →

AustMS and the Boycotting of the ICM

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May 7, 2026

9:26 am

1 Comment on AustMS and the Boycotting of the ICM

mathematics

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The International Congress of Mathematicians, the mathematicians’ quadrennial monster conference, is scheduled to be held in July, in Philadelphia. Given the current American madness and, in particular, the viciousness of Trump’s Brownshirts, the scheduling of this international event in America is of great concern to a great many people. And, as usual, the opposition arising from this very reasonable concern is a mess. Continue reading “AustMS and the Boycotting of the ICM” →