 Outstanding NW teacher dies
The Advocate, 30 Jun 2012
Former
Nixon Street Primary School teacher Robin Millwood died this week ...
BULLYING
Playground split to combat bullying
The Advocate, 30 Jun 2012
 Ridgley
Primary School reports that younger children have been separated from
others in the playground in order to eliminate bullying...
EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY LINKS
Local career pathways for West Coast students
Tas Govt media release, 29 Jun 2012
The
West Coast has a new Education and Industry Partnership Officer who will
enable students to access a wider range of local learning pathways, the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Skills, Paul
O'Halloran, said today ...
TASMANIAN SCHOOLS
 Faulty heater gives students a late pass
The Examiner, 29 Jun 2012
Grades
8, 9 and 10 students at George Town's Port Dalrymple School have been
asked to delay their school arrival to 11.30am today...
TEACHER SAFETY
Wynyard teacher allegedly assaulted
The Advocate, 28 Jun 2012
UPDATED, 28 Jun 2012, 4.25pm
Police
were called to Wynyard High School on Tuesday when a former student
allegedly hit a teacher...
-
ABC report, 29 Jun 2012
 INDUSTRIAL ACTION
NSW teachers' strike goes ahead
ABC News, 27 Jun 2012
Further
industrial action has not been ruled out by the NSW teachers who went on
strike today over expected reduced funding associated with the handing
of increased responsibility to principals ...
TAFE
TasTAFE timing criticised
ABC News, 27 Jun 2012
 Members
of the Legislative Council are not happy that the government's
announcement of its TAFE reforms occurred after the scrutiny of the
state budget had concluded...
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability Learning Centre holds promise
Tas Govt media release, 26 Jun 2012
 A
Sustainability Learning Centre with specialised building infrastructure
being built atop Mt Nelson will provide K-12 ecology and sustainable
education programs, and provide a home for the CSIRO Science Education
Centre and Greening Australia...
Australian Curriculum:
Sustainability page
 SCIENCE EDUCATION
Noble prize winner
Tas Govt media release, 26 Jun 2012
Tasmanian
students have been encouraged to pursue a career in science by a noble
Tasmanian, Nobel Prize winner Professor Elizabeth Blackburn...
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
What is Wednesday's NSW teachers' strike about?
ABC South East NSW, 26 Jun 2012
The
issues behind Wednesday's
strike of teachers in NSW emanate from the government's policy of
giving individual schools more power and responsibility...
TASMANIAN PRINCIPALS
New Northern principals
The Examiner, 26 Jun 2012
Ravenswood
Heights Primary School principal Britany Roestenburg is one of a number
of new principals appointed to schools in the North...
TASMANIAN PRINCIPALS
 Renewing principals
The Mercury, 25 Jun 2012
Goodwood Primary principal
Bonnie Jeffrey is one of the new principals renewing Tasmania's
education system...
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Science curriculum slammed
 SMH, 25 Jun 2012
The
draft national senior secondary science curriculum has been criticised
by a number of educators...
STUDENT SAFETY
Quick
thinking saved students
SMH, 24 Jun 2012
Cracking sounds from the ceiling prompted a Sydney school librarian to
immediately evacuate the students - and it was just in time...
Computer security alert
Windows XML flaw
23 June 2012
 The
bottom line of a warning from Microsoft is that your computer could be
vulnerable if you visit websites whose owners are unaware they have been
deliberately infected through exploitation of a newly revealed weakness.
Read the news report from
PC World, 22 June 2012.
Microsoft has a
simple fix to apply for those who manage their own computers (but as
the fix apparently causes a slight delay when your computer starts up,
remember to return to the page and click the Uninstall button once a
Microsoft Update has fixed the problem properly).
Microsoft Security Advisory 2719615 lists the software that is
affected.
 TEACHER
SALARIES
Queensland teachers in pay battle
Courier Mail, 22 Jun 2012
The
Queensland government is attempting to introduce a three-year delay in
annual increments for beginning teachers and to limit all teachers' pay
rises to inflation only...
- The
Queensland government's offer
TEACHING PROFESSION
Worst 5 per cent of Vic teachers could face the sack
The Age, 21 Jun 2012
 Under a plan for Victorian
students to reach the performance levels of Finnish and top Asian
students within 10 years, the lowest performing 5 per cent of teachers
could be removed, teachers could be required to do extra professional
development during holidays and principals could be selected from
non-teaching professions...
SCHOOL CHAPLAINS
School chaplaincy program invalid
ABC News, 20 Jun 2012
 The
High Court has held that the national school chaplaincy program is
invalid, but Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says the federal government
will continue to fund the program...
-
ABC News update 26 Jun 2012
-
The Mercury's report, 21 Jun 2012
-
The Examiner's report, 21 Jun 2012
-
SMH report, 20 Jun 2012
TEACHING PROFESSION
Stress hits teachers
The Examiner, 20 Jun 2012
Stress was keeping 31
Tasmanian teachers out of the classroom towards the end of term 1,
figures tabled in the Legislative Council show...
Earthquake shakes southern Victoria
ABC News, 19 Jun 2012, 9pm
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
NSW strike looms
news.com.au, 19 Jun 2012
NSW
teachers are threatening to strike on Wednesday next week over staffing
and resources...
TEACHER TRAINING
Teaching course standards too low
ABC News, 19 Jun 2012
The NSW education minister
says that too many students with low marks are being accepted into
teaching courses...
SCHOOL AUTONOMY
Enrolments decline in many trial schools
SMH, 19 Jun 2012
Of the 47 schools in a
statewide NSW trial giving schools greater autonomy in
such matters as staffing, 20 schools have shown a fall in enrolments...
 SCHOOL ZONE ROAD SAFETY
Police warning
over school zone blitz
The Examiner, 18 Jun 2012
Police are targeting
Tasmanian school zones this week...
LITERACY AND NUMERACY
Literacy and numeracy program made improvements after all
SMH, 18 Jun 2012
 A
COAG (Council of Australian Governments) report showed that a $540
million literacy and numeracy program was effective, contrary to an
Auditor-General's report (SMH,
15 Jun 2012) which had simply compared schools taking part with
those that did not - instead of measuring the performances of individual
students...
STUDENT SUPPORT
 Learning disability solved
SMH, 18 Jun 2012
Students
could be mistakenly diagnosed with dyslexia or ADHD when in fact their
logic-related learning disability emanates from parts of the brain where
it can be cured by strenuous mental exercises...
-
Arrowsmith Prorgram needs independent evidence, SMH, 18 Jun 2012
TEACHER SALARIES
Teacher quality solution is simple
SMH (Opinion), 18 Jun 2012
 Governments
need to ensure teacher salaries are on a par with other professions as
in Finland, which would attract better university students to the
profession and avoid the need to fiddle with bonus schemes and become
concerned with weaker teachers...
SCHOOL FUNDING
 Gonski funding campaign commences
The Mercury, 18 Jun 2012
The
Australian Education Union is mounting a national campaign aimed at
securing the $5 billion needed to implement the recommendations of the
Gonski report on school funding...
BULLYING
Students were queued to hit bully
ABC News (US), 16 Jun 2012
A
Texas teacher lined up more than 20 kindergarten students so they could
take turns at hitting a fellow student accused of bullying...
 TEACHER NUMBERS
373 fewer teachers
Michael Ferguson website, 16 Jun 2012
Education
minister Nick McKim has shrunk the number of teachers in Tasmania by 373
and the number of teacher assistants by 118, Opposition education
spokesman Michael Ferguson says...
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Almost 600 fewer employees
The Examiner, 16 Jun 2012
 There
has been a big drop in frontline teaching staff in the Department of
Education this year, though some of the fall has been due to a different
method of counting employees...
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Victorian dispute over performance-based pay, too
ABC News, 15 Jun 2012
The
recent Victorian teachers' strike was motivated not only by pay demands
but also by fear of the harmful and unfair effects of introducing
performance-based pay in school situations...
SCHOOL AUTONOMY
Students benefit from school autonomy
National Times (Opinion), 15 Jun 2012
Increasing evidence shows
that students perform better in schools that are free from centralised
and bureaucratic control...
BULLYING
Schools and parents should be held accountable for bullying
ABC News, 15 Jun 2012
Schools
should be held responsible for student bullying that occurs out of
school hours, a former judge says...
LITERACY AND NUMERACY
Literacy and numeracy program made little difference
 SMH, 15 Jun 2012
A
$540 million federal government program to raise literacy and numeracy
rates "is yet to make a statistically significant improvement", the
Australian National Audit Office says, but a spokesman for federal
schools minister Peter Garrett says the benefits could take several
years...
TEACHING PROFESSION
Students
had voted to watch video but teacher suspended
BBC News, 13 Jun 2012
 A
Canadian teacher was suspended after he showed his class an online
video said to show the stabbing and dismembering of a man whose body
parts were later sent off by post ...
EXTREME SAFETY
 No hugging, high-fives or other touching
SMH, 15 Jun 2012
A Victorian primary school
has introduced a rule banning physical contact of any kind...
LITERACY
 Premier's Reading Challenge: 18 June to 24 August
Tas Govt media release, 14 Jun 2012
More
Tasmanian schools are encouraged to become involved in the Premier's
Reading Challenge, premier Lara Giddings said today...
- More information:
Premier's Reading Challenge website
 ONLINE SAFETY
Call for compulsory cybersafety education
The Age, 14 Jun 2012
In
the lead-up to a Victorian cyberbullying exercise for school students
involving the state government and Facebook, a cybersafety expert says
cybersafety education should be compulsory in all schools, citing the overwhelming
number of students who do not use the safety settings on Facebook
properly...
GAMES-BASED LEARNING
 Computer games bring fun into the classroom
The Age, 14 Jun 2012
A trial of games-based
learning in Victorian schools has yielded positive results...
VET
Mark Sayer to head VET reforms
Tas Govt media release, 13 Jun 2012
 Former
head of the premier's office Mark Sayer will head the team to implement
the state government's recently announced VET changes ...
-
The Examiner's report, 14 Jun 2012
STANDARDISED TESTS
US backlash against standardised tests
The West Australian (Reuters), 12 Jun 2012
New opposition to high-stakes
standardised testing is sweeping the USA...
 SCHOOL CLOSURES
Closure funding details in Term 2
The Examiner, 13 Jun 2012
More
detail on the state government's funds to encourage schools to close or
amalgamate can be expected in Term 2, education minister Nick McKim says...
SCHOOL AUTONOMY
School autonomy not efficient use of funds
SMH, 13 Jun 2012
The federal government's push
towards school autonomy was not an efficient way of using funds to raise
student achievement and in any case research results are mixed at best,
education researcher Trevor Cobbold says...
TEACHING PROFESSION
 Aspiring teachers need to do better
Courier Mail, 11 Jun 2012
About
40 per cent of the students at the Queensland College of Teachers who
took a test for aspiring teachers failed the literacy, numeracy or
science component...
-
Comments by academics, Courier Mail, 12 June 2012
-
TRY THE TESTS YOURSELF
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Civics curriculum will save our democracy
SMH, 11 Jun 2012
 With
Australia's schools having failed to teach young Australians how
superior our democratic system is, the new Civics and Citizenship
curriculum comes at the right time...
 STUDENT HEALTH AND SAFETY
Increased allergy threat for schools
SMH, 11 Jun 2012
In
response to an increase in the number of students with
life-threatening allergies, the parents at one school of 500 agreed to
pay $70 each to fund a school nurse ...
-
Using an EpiPen (The Children's Hospital, Westmead, NSW)
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Bullying claims over NSW strike action
The Telegraph, 10 Jun 2012
NSW
teachers refusing to join strike action over the government's school
autonomy policy say they are being bullied by representatives of the NSW
Teachers' Federation ...
STUDENT SAFETY
Coroner's findings accepted
The Advocate, 10 Jun 2012
The
Minister for Education and Skills, Nick McKim, said today that he had
received the Coroner's report into the death of Latrobe High School
student Rene Levi and the the Department of Education had accepted the
Coroner's recommendations...
 INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Another rally on the cards in Victoria?
The Age, 8 Jun 2012
The
AEU's Victorian branch has vowed that another strike will be held if
there is no breakthrough over the Victorian government's pre-election
salaries promise and its plan to introduce performance-based pay...
STUDENT SAFETY
Ed Department accepts Coroner's findings
DoE website (Department Responses), 8 Jun 2012
DoE
Secretary Colin Pettit says the department has accepted the findings and
recommendations of the Coroner following the inquest into the death of
Rene Levi, and he outlined a number of steps to improve student safety
that the department had already taken...
-
The Examiner's report, 9 Jun 2012
-
The Advocate's report, 9 Jun 2012
TEACHER RETIREMENTS
Teacher retirement questions answered
DoE website (Department Responses), 5 Jun 2012
The
average age at retirement and the number of teachers who took up the
offer of the Workforce Renewal Incentive Program are among questions
answered by Andrew Finch, DoE Deputy Secretary...
 GONSKI REPORT
Tasmania would gain from plan that funds all schools the same way
The Mercury, 8 Jun 2012
Tasmania
would benefit from implementation of the Gonski report's
recommendations, federal Minister for School Education Peter Garrett
said in Hobart yesterday...
TEACHER SALARIES
Pay rise of 2 per cent would break promise
The Examiner, 8 Jun 2012
An
expected proposal for Tasmanian teachers to accept a 2 per cent pay rise
each year for the next two years would effectively break an election
promise made by former premier David Bartlett...
CUTTING CARBON IN SCHOOLS
 Solar Schools program expensive
SMH, 8 Jun 2012
The
cost of cutting carbon under the National Solar Schools Program is $284
per tonne - 12 times the carbon price of $23 per tonne...
VET
McKim rejects $150m TAFE cost claim
ABC News, 8 Jun 2012
Education
minister Nick McKim rejects the Tasmanian Education Association's claim
that the cost of the abolished Tasmania Tomorrow changes was $150
million.
He says the cost in the year 2010 was $4.5 million.
Treasury said last year the overall changes had cost more than $70
million...
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Maths teachers divided
SMH, 7 Jun 2012
The
proposed new mathematics curriculum increases the amount of statistics
at the expense of algebra and geometry...
GONSKI REPORT
Cooperation promised
Tas Govt media release, 7 Jun 2012
Tasmanian education minister Nick McKim says he is committed to working
with the federal government to implement the Gonski Report into school
funding...
POST YEAR 10
Call for no more political interference in TAFE
The Advocate, 7 Jun 2012
Tasmanian
Education Association president Greg Brown says political
experimentation and interference in vocational education and training
and other post-year 10 education must stop....
SCHOOL FUNDING
Garrett swoops in to talk about school funding
Aust Govt media release, 7 Jun 2012
The Federal Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, is in Tasmania
today to discuss the future of school funding in the light of the Gonski
report.
Other media releases issued by Peter Garrett's office today:
-
Interview on ABC 936, 7 Jun 2012
-
Early childhood initiatives, 7 Jun 2012
...
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Victorians strike
ABC News, 7 Jun 2012
Thousands
of Victorian teachers rallied this morning over pay and conditions,
particularly over the state government reneging on its promise to make
them the highest paid teachers in Australia ...
-
The Mercury's report, 7 Jun 2012
TEACHING PROFESSION
Remove or help inadequate teachers
The Examiner, 7 Jun 2012
A former Tasmanian principal
says Tasmania needs to address the issue of underperforming teachers...
VET
TAFE bill divergence
The Mercury, 7 Jun 2012
The
Tasmanian Education Association says the cost of the Tasmania Tomorrow
reforms associated with replacing the old TAFE was more than $150
million, but the education minister says the cost was just over $4.5
million...
-
The Examiner's report, 7 Jun 2012
-
The Advocate's report, 7 Jun 2012
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Victorian teachers to strike on Thursday
ABC News, 6 Jun 2012
About 150 Victorian schools
will be closed on Thursday when teachers strike over pay and conditions
and against the introduction of a merit pay system...
-
The Age's report, 6 Jun 2012
FOUR-TERM SCHOOL YEAR
 Minister welcomes AEU's four-terms decision
Tas Govt media release, 6 Jun 2012
Education
minister Nick McKim has welcomed the AEU's decision to agree to
four-term school years from 2013...
FOUR-TERM SCHOOL YEAR
Teachers agree to four terms
ABC News, 6 Jun 2012
The
AEU has decided not to challenge the Tasmanian Industrial Commission's
decision on the implementation of four terms next year...
-
The Mercury's report, 7 Jun 2012
-
AEU media release, 6 Jun 2012
VET
TasTAFE jobs concerns
ABC News, 6 Jun 2012
Unions
have warned that the jobs uncertainty created by the merger of the
Tasmanian Skills Institute and the Polytechnic is of concern...
-
AEU media release, 5 Jun 2012
VET
TasTAFE is different
Tas Govt media release, 6 Jun 2012
The
new TasTAFE will be different from the old TAFE, the Minister for
Education and Skills, Nick McKim, said today...
LEARNING DISABILITIES
Spacing letters helps students with dyslexia
 ABC Science, 5 Jun 2012
Dyslexic children can read
faster and better when the letters in their reading material are spaced
more widely, research shows...
-
WebMD report, 4 June 2012
VET
Polytechnic and Skills Institute to become TasTAFE
The Examiner, 5 Jun 2012
The
Tasmanian Polytechnic and the Skills Institute will effectively turn
back into a single TAFE institution...
VET
Libs welcome return of TAFE
Michael Ferguson website, 5 Jun 2012
Opposition
education spokesman Michael Ferguson says the return to a single TAFE is
two years too late...
VET
Govt to create new TAFE
ABC News, 5 Jun 2012
The
state government proposes to merge the Skills Institute and the
Polytechnic into a single VET provider, taking up one of the
recommendations of a review into the provision of public VET services in
Tasmania...
VET
A single TAFE again
Tas Govt media release, 5 Jun 2012
A
new single VET provider called TasTAFE will be created for public sector
vocational education and training, the Minister for Education and
Skills, Nick McKim, announced today...
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Civics curriculum released
SMH, 5 Jun 2012
The
draft Civics and Citizenship curriculum was released for discussion
yesterday...
- ACARA
Civics and Citizenship page
- Download the
Civics and Citizenship Draft Shape Paper [pdf]
-
Media release from Minister for School Education Peter Garrett, 4
June 2012
EDUCATION SYSTEMS
 What makes Finnish education so good?
The Age, 5 Jun 2012
A group of Australian school
principals visited Finland to find out why that country's education
system is so successful...
DIGITAL LITERACY
 Aussie students near top of the world
SMH, 4 Jun 2012
Australian students are
almost best in the world at using digital texts...
ASTRONOMY
Two astronomical events to watch
SBS, 3 Jun 2012
There is a double treat for
skywatchers this week.
On Monday night, a
partial eclipse of the Moon will occur when the Earth moves between
the Moon and the Sun.
On early Wednesday morning,
the transit of Venus across the Sun will occur when Venus moves
between the Earth and the Sun. However, looking at the Sun to
watch this event will cause eye damage. You can instead
watch it online at a ninemsn.com.au site presented in conjunction with Sydney
Observatory...
EDUCATION FUNDING
Survey shows support for immediate funding
Herald Sun, 3 Jun 2012
A massive 88 per cent of Australians believe education funding of public
schools should be increased as soon as possible, an AEU survey shows ...
NBN, ONLINE LEARNING
 Children with internet-savvy parents will learn more as NBN rolls out
The Mercury, 3 Jun 2012
Parents
will have an increasingly significant role in their children's education
with the expansion of the National Broadband Network.
[So is there a duty of schools to educate parents who have yet to
embrace the internet?] ...
STUDENT SUPPORT, EDUCATION BUDGET
Principals having to pick support time winners
The Mercury, 3 Jun 2012
Principals are carrying the
burden of reduced funding as they choose which students with
disabilities and learning difficulties receive extra support ...
TASMANIAN SCHOOLS
Moriarty celebratory
The Advocate, 3 Jun 2012
Moriarty Primary School
students have farewelled their acting principal, Julie Argent, and
celebrated the school's achievements...
-
video
CHOOKS IN SCHOOLS
Forth students scramble
The Examiner, 3 Jun 2012
Young students at Forth
Primary and other north-west schools are focusing on egg production and
cooking...
STUDENT HEALTH AND SAFETY
Schools need to be more aware of allergies
ABC News, 2 Jun 2012
The death on a cadets camp of a Victorian
student from an allergic reaction to the peanut content of satay has
prompted his parents to call for greater awareness of the fatal effects
of some allergies...
TEACHING METHODS
Kumon worksheet method still around
SMH, 2 Jun 2012
An increasing number of
Australian students are learning English and maths with the Japanese
Kumon method which makes extensive use of worksheets...
STUDENT SUPPORT
NSW reduces disability funding
SMH, 2 Jun 2012
Many NSW students with autism and other conditions that are not
"serious" will soon lose special funding...
FOUR-TERM YEAR
Longest term ends
The
Mercury, 1 Jun 2012
Australia's longest school term comes to an end in Tasmania today...
STUDENT SUPPORT
Respect central to good relationships
The Advocate, 1 Jun 2012
People need empathy before
learning respect, Learning Services North-West school support manager
Russell Horton says...
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