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Hi Marcus/Johnathon
Often the detailed study will be chosen by the teacher and the decision is based upon which topic they feel they can best teach. Admittedly I would find having to teach Einstein's Theory Of Special Relativity a challenge, particularly from the point of view of understanding it. I could teach it to pass the exam so to speak, but that's not the way I operate. I always let the students know which detailed studies I've taught in the past, and which ones I would feel most comfortable teaching based on my own skill set. And that's something that has developed over time. The first five or six years of my teaching Year 12 physics I didn't have to 'worry' about detailed studies - they didn't exist, although some of them, sound structures and further electronics were part of the core. Since the introduction of the detailed studies I have made a point of looking at each of them (progressively over the years) firstly to improve my own learning and understanding of physics, then to have them as an option for teaching. I started with those in the Yr11 curriculum and then followed them up with Yr12.
Johanthon's points are also quite valid - especially his second point. The more involved we are as parents with our children's education the better. Particularly when it comes to helping them gain a sense of joy in learning and reading. Generally they will follow the example we set for them at home. Stability in what we have to teach would be good but each successive government has its own ideas about this - so the wheel will continue to turn.
Finally, in some subject areas like Physics & Mathematics there is a developing shortage. Most state schools are fortunate if they have one 'genuine' physics teacher. From memory the average age of physics teachers is about 47 or so (I'm 50+) and there are very few physics teacher graduates at the end of each year to replace those who are retiring (It's almost ten years since I last had a student teacher for physics). I haven't seen the figures for a few years but I suspect that there is a small net loss most years. From my understanding the problem isn't quite as bad wrt mathematics teachers. However, it means that these teachers can afford to be more 'choosy' in where they teach, and this inevitably leads to some state schools suffering from a shortage of these types of teachers. Meaning that some schools find it quite difficult to cover these areas of the curriculum. These could be distant country schools, or in the metropolitan area it could be schools that are preceived to be difficult to teach in.
It will be interesting to see what the final outcomes are with the National Curriculum and Gonski.
Paul
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