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STUDENT SUPPORT
Why self-harm?
The Conversation (opinion by Joanne Dickson and
Peter Taylor), 27 Feb 2018
 People cause injury to
themselves for a variety of psychological reasons, two academics
write...
TEACHING PROFESSION
Maths teacher shortage
The Examiner, 27 Feb 2018
 Action needs to be
taken now to overcome Tasmania's shortage of specialised
mathematics teachers, in view of the impending loss of the
current aging ones and the recent loss of teachers recruited to
the Mainland, Mathematical Association of Tasmania president
Brett Stephenson says...
Lateral thinking needed,
says retired maths leader, The Examiner, 27 Feb 2018
TASMANIAN ELECTION
Student road safety promises
Tas Liberals media release, 26 Feb 2018
 Infrastructure minister Rene Hidding says
the Liberals' road safety and driver education election policy
includes:
funding for Ride2School bike education programs
a
program for Years 10-12 focusing on driver inattention
extending the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness program
...
 FEDERAL POLITICS
New Deputy PM
ABC News, 26 Feb 2018
Michael McCormack has
been elected by the Nationals as their new leader, replacing
Barnaby Joyce. He automatically becomes Deputy Prime Minister...
 CURRICULUM
Add 'Business' to STEM
stuff.co.nz (opinion by Hannah McQueen), 24 Feb 2018
STEM-based projects
cannot be turned into profitable enterprises without business
skills, but where can we add the B? (Perhaps a silent B at the
end?)...
 TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Sports vouchers for students
Tas Liberals media release, 24 Feb 2018
The Liberals' Ticket to Play $100
sports voucher would encourage concession-qualified students to
participate in sport, premier Will Hodgman says ...
Labor's $20m sports
investments initiatives, Michelle O'Byrne, Deputy Labor
Leader, 25 Feb 2018
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
TasTAFE boost
Tas Liberals media release, 23 Feb 2018
 Education minister
Jeremy Rockliff says a returned Liberal government would improve
training in Tasmania by spending $15.5 million on four centres:
a
Trades and Water Centre of Excellence
an
Agriculture Centre of Excellence (at Burnie's Freer Farm)
a
Drysdale delivery point n Hobart's northern suburbs
a
Drysdale training kitchen in Devonport.
As well:
small
business grants and payroll tax rebates totalling $16.9 million
would increase the number of apprentices and trainees, and
TasTAFE would receive a 70 per cent minimum funding guarantee
...
 NATIONAL
POLITICS
Barnaby Joyce resigns
ABC News, 23 Feb 2018
Barnaby Joyce has announced he
will resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader...
CYBERBULLYING
Online bullying remedies:
different for girls and boys
The Conversation (opinion by Roberta Thompson), 23 Feb 2018
 Combating the online bullying of girls needs
to take account of the different way girls behave online, a
researcher says...
ROLES FOR
SCHOOLS
Loyalty pledge proposed
SBS, 22 Feb 2018
 Home Affairs minister
Peter Dutton has proposed that schools introduce a US-style
pledge of loyalty by students...
 TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Where will they come from?
The Examiner, 22 Feb 2018
More school
psychologists have been promised by all three major parties, but
school psychologists are difficult to attract in Tasmania, the president of the
Tasmanian School Psychology Association, Lesley Fraser, says...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Learn how to grow and eat healthy
food
Tas Greens website [pdf], 22 Feb 2018
 The Greens would
promote the healthy consumption of food by students through an
expansion of the Local Food Unit, a review of school canteen
practices and the establishment of minimum nutritional
standards, Greens primary industries spokesperson Andrea Dawkins
says ...
THE ARTS: Explore new
arts projects in schools [pdf], Andrea Dawkins, Greens arts
spokesperson, 22 Feb 2018
SPORT: Promoting women's
sport by boosting regional school visits by the Hurricanes
cricket team [pdf], Cassy O'Connor, Greens leader,
22 Feb 2018
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
Arming teachers is the solution,
says Trump
ABC News, 22 Feb 2018
 Arming teachers and
sports coaches will form part of the solution to America's
school shootings spree, President Donald Trump told a group of
students...
Arming teachers will make
things worse, The Conversation (opinion by Rick
Sarre), 23 Feb 2018
TEACHING
PROFESSION
Principals' stress continues
The Conversation (opinion by Scott Imig), 21 Feb 2018
 Australia's principals
are increasingly suffering stress and being subjected to
physical and verbal abuse, an annual report by the Australian
Catholic University finds...
 BIOSECURITY
Fruit fly zone widens
The Examiner, 20 Feb 2018
The
fruit fly control area has been expanded beyond the
Devonport/Spreyton area to include the northern Tamar region...
Biosecurity Tasmania fruit fly
page, DPIPWE
Fruit fly information for schools, students and parents
[pdf], DPIPWE, 21 Feb 2018
STATEWIDE FRUIT RECALL:
Fruit fly larvae found in Devonport store's nectarine
that had been through Victorian treatment plant,
The Examiner, 21 Feb 2018
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Devonport High promise
Tas Liberals media release, 19 Feb 2018
A Liberal government
would provide a $10.5 million redevelopment of Devonport High
School, education minister Jeremy Rockliff says...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Reassess high school extensions
policy
AEU media release, 19 Feb 2018
 The Liberals should
halt their program to extend all high schools to Years 11 and 12
while they reassess its costs and benefits along the lines of
the audits that Labor and the Greens have promised, the AEU's
Secondary Colleges Committee of Management's president
Peta-Maree Revell-Cook says...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Free school, free buses
ABC News, 18 Feb 2018
 A Labor government
would abolish school fees in government schools at a cost of $24
million, enable students to have free bus travel to their
nearest school and make school sport more affordable, Opposition
leader Rebecca White says...
Labor would remove school
fees,
TasLabor media release, 18 Feb 2018
But richer schools have higher fees, so their parents would gain
more, Jeremy Rockliff, Tas Liberals media release, 19 Feb
2018
Income cut-off for STAS too low, says TASSO, The Examiner,
19 Feb 2018
Schools will receive the same amount per student, Labor
Campaign Spokesperson Sarah Lovell, 19 Feb 2018
YEARS 9-12
REVIEW
Mainland expert appointed
The Examiner, 18 Feb 2018
 Dr Phil Lambert from
the University of Sydney has been appointed to follow up
recommendations related to Tasmania from ACER's Years 9-10
Review Report...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Libraries would be called libraries
Tas Liberals media release, 17 Feb 2018
A re-elected Liberal government would shelve the term
'LINC', claiming a return is long overdue to the better-understood term
'libraries' in the rebranded name Libraries Tasmania, education minister Jeremy Rockliff says.
(LINC stands for Learning and Information Network Centre.)...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Ten more TasTAFE staff from
Greens
Greens website [pdf], Feb 2018
Greens education
spokesperson Andrea Dawkins says her party's TasTAFE election
pledges include:
10
more TasTAFE staff
TasTAFE restored as a Centre of Excellence
TasTAFE receiving more government training contracts
release of the TasTAFE audit
$20
million in capital works funding
...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
TasTAFE plans needed
The Examiner, 17 Feb 2018
 The major political parties have not yet
provided comprehensive election policies for TasTAFE, UTAS
Professor Ian Hay says...
AEU calls for parties' TasTAFE
policies, AEU media release, 16 Feb 2018
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
Can school shootings be
prevented?
npr.org, 15 Feb 2018
 America's National School Safety Center has
provided a list of red flag behaviours that were evident in
students and former students responsible for violent deaths in
schools...
NAPLAN
NAPLAN faces scrutiny
ABC News, 15 Feb 2018
 Australia's education ministers say NAPLAN
has strayed from its original purpose and has taken on an
unwanted dominating role in schools...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Literacy and numeracy coaches
promised
Tas Liberals website, 15 Feb 2018
Thirty-five additional
literacy and numeracy coaches costing $25 million over six years
would be provided under a Liberal government, education minister
Jeremy Rockliff says...
 TASMANIAN
ELECTION
New high school at Brighton
Tas Liberals website, 15 Feb 2018
A new 7-12 high school would be built in
Brighton near the existing primary school if the government is
re-elected, Member for Lyons Guy Barnett says...
 TASMANIAN
ELECTION
School farm revitalisation
promised
Tas Liberals website, 15 Feb 2018
Ten new school farm
teachers and upgraded infrastructure at the Jordan River
Learning Federation School Farm and Sheffield School Farm have
been promised by the Premier, Will Hodgman...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
$324m over 6 years in Liberals'
education policy
Tas Liberals website, 14 Feb 2018
The Liberals have
promised 250 new teachers over the next six years in an
education policy released by Liberal leader Will Hodgman and
education minister Jeremy Rockliff today.
Details include:
 358 new staff altogether:
277
new staff within 4 years
80
teacher assistants over six years (with a focus on support in
Prep)
10 of
the teachers to revitalise school farms
12
new early years staff to cover 6 new Early Learning Hubs (4
operational by 2024)
new
teachers to allow principals to be freed from having teaching
roles
new
teachers to enable every high school to be extended to Year 12
by 2022
ensuring teachers are teaching inside areas of subject expertise
Special funding for:
free
pre-school for disadvantaged or vulnerable 3-year-olds
$6
million for students with a disability, and $250,000 to test a
needs-based model
delaying transition of the Early Childhood Intervention Service
to the NDIS
extending Autism Specific Support Classes
$1
million to Relationships Australia and SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTy
$1
million to the Beacon Foundation
$179m for education infrastructure, including:
new
school at Legana, $20m
Penguin District High K-12, $20m
Sorell School K-12, $20m
Cosgrove High to Year 12, $12m
See
Taking Education to the Next Level
[pdf] for full details, including a list identifying which of
the above items have already been covered by the State Budget.
More teachers, school at
Legana, The Examiner, 14 Feb 2018
Liberal Party announces
$324m six-year policy, ABC News, 14 Feb 2018
Early learning, staffing focus, The Advocate, 14 Feb 2018
Education plan welcome, AEU media release, 14 Feb 2018
New $20m school for Legana, Tas Liberal media release, 14
Feb 2018
Liberals' policy includes post-2022 spending, TasLabor media
release, 14 Feb 2018
Specialist teacher shortage data not collected by DoE, The
Examiner, 16 Feb 2018
WEATHER ALERT
Damaging
winds alert
Bo M website, 14 Feb 2018
Many power lines are down as
thunderstorms and damaging winds gusting to 110km/h move across
Tasmania..
DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 130 KM/H are
expected in parts of the north coast...
BoM
warnings
Power outages (TasNetworks)
LITERACY
The US has a phonics issue, too
npr.org, 12 Feb 2018
 Teachers are
insufficiently aware of the importance of phonics and the
science behind learning to read, cognitive scientist Mark
Seidenberg says in his book Language at the Speed of Sight.
...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Welding skills boost for NW
TasLabor website, 8 Feb 2018
 Labor's $150 million North West Development
Package, announced by Labor leader Rebecca White today,
includes:
$250,000 towards a welding simulator to benefit apprentices and
those requiring certification for Defence Force supply
contracting
Industry Advisory Councils to advise TAFE and the training
sector
$3.5
million for a Child and Family Centre in Smithton
$20
million for a K-12 school at Penguin
...
SCHOOL LUNCHES
Fresh fruit fruit fly fear
The Examiner, 7 Feb 2018
 Teachers, parents and students in and around
the fruit fly control zones at Flinders Island and Spreyton have
been asked by DPIPWE to ensure only fruit for school lunch boxes
that has been cut up, and therefore properly examined, leaves
the zones and that any fruit taken into a zone remains there...
SCHOOL LUNCHES
Lamington found in lunch box
7News, 7 Feb 2018
 A Melbourne mum says
she is angry that a 40-calories lamington she packed in her
kindergarten daughter's lunch box was returned uneaten along with a note saying the lamington "doesn't comply with the
school's nutrition policy" and instructing her not to include
one again...
 FEDERAL POLITICS
Steve Martin kicked out of JLN
The Examiner, 7 Feb 2018
Devonport mayor and
newly confirmed Jacqui Lambie Network senator Steve Martin has
been told by Jacqui Lambie he will be removed from the party as
he intends not to resign to give her his Senate place...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Disability education boost
TasLabor website, 7 Feb 2018
 A majority Labor government would provide
$8.8 million to support the Early Childhood Intervention
Service, Opposition leader Rebecca White said today. Education
spokesperson Michelle O'Byrne said disability finding would be
needs-based rather than IQ-based and a children's disability
advocate would be appointed...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Water and sewerage skills boost
Tas Liberals media release, 7 Feb 2018
A majority Liberal government would spend
$7 million to establish a Trades and Water Centre of Excellence
in Clarence, education spokesperson Jeremy Rockliff said today...
CLASSROOM DESIGN
Classrooms redesigned without the
evidence
The Conversation (opinion by Terry Byers and Peter
C. Lippman), 7 Feb 2018
Too many new classroom designs follow
architectural fads rather than evidence of learning impact, two
researchers say...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
More teachers and new city school
from Labor
ABC News, 6 Feb 2018
In announcing the ALP's state election
education policy, Opposition leader Rebecca White says a Labor
government would provide significantly more teachers but no
immediate unpicking of the high schools extension program,
although an audit might lead to later changes. Details include:
89
new teachers
the return of 50 teachers from non-teaching roles
40 early years
teachers and maintenance of 22 Early Childhood Intervention
Service teachers
30 teacher
assistants and administrative staff
30 professional
support staff such as speech pathologists, school psychologists
and social workers
17 Pathway
Planning staff
30 Child and
Family Centre staff
a new
co-educational high school in Hobart
new K-12 schools
in Penguin and Sorell
...
Labor's education plan released, TasLabor website, 6 Feb 2018
Does Labor support next year's five new extension schools?,
Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training, 6 Feb 2018
Audit is a smokescreen, Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for
Education and Training, 6 Feb 2018
Labor's teacher and support staff boost welcomed, AEU media
release, 6 Feb 2018
Returning 50 teachers to schools will cut critical services,
Andrea Dawkins, Greens education spokesperson, 6 Feb 2018
Special focus on students with a disability, TasLabor
website, 7 Feb 2018
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Beware Bitcoin?
ABC News, 6 Feb 2018
 After a Brisbane high school found that its
students were teaching each other how to make money from
cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, it has decided to run an
information session for students, parents and staff...
AUSTRALIAN
CURRICULUM
Make maths compulsory
ABC News (opinion), 5 Feb 2018
STEM supporter David
van Gogh urges all states and territories except Tasmania to
make mathematics compulsory across all years of high school. (It
is already compulsory in all years in Tasmania.)...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
Higher pay for teachers, says JLN
The Examiner, 4 Feb 2018
 Tasmania's teachers should be the highest
paid and the most qualified, JLN (Jacqui Lambie Network) leader
Jacqui Lambie says in introducing a state election education
policy that includes:
250
additional teaching jobs
RAISING university entry requirements for new teachers
REQUIRING
five-year degree equivalents for new teachers
SECOND-YEAR
student teachers completing up to 20 hours per week in a Teacher
Assistant role
INCREASED
professional and other support staff
REGULAR classes
running social and emotional learning programs
A COMMITMENT to
funding 75 per cent of the Schools Resource Standard
A COMPREHENSIVE
review of TasTAFE's operations
...
Tasmania's Education
System (election policy), JLN website
JLN education policies welcomed, AEU media release, 4 Feb
2018
 MOBILE PHONE
POLICY
Ban smartphones in classrooms
SBS, 4 Feb 2018
Federal education
minister Simon Birmingham has called for mobile phones to be
kept in school lockers in order to prevent cyberbullying from
the classroom...
Banning phones 'bizarre', ABC News, 5 Feb 2018
SCHOOL UNIFORM
Short skirts furore
ABC News, 4 Feb 2018
 A Sydney school
principal who attempted to prevent female students drawing
attention to themselves by wearing short skirts and coloured
bras has succeeded in drawing national attention to herself
because she referred to sexual harassment in the same talk...
TASMANIAN
ELECTION
More teachers in Greens'
education policy
Tas Greens website [pdf], 2 Feb 2018
Greens education spokesperson
Andrea Dawkins says the Greens' education policy for the 2018
state election includes:
INCREASING government teacher
numbers by 250
 INCREASING teacher
assistants by 200
INCREASING school
psychologists, social workers and speech therapists by 133
EXTENDING trauma-related care
ACCELERATING needs-based funding for students with a disability
REVIEWING the Years 11-12 high schools program
...
Greens announce $145m education package,
The Examiner, 2 Feb 2018
Greens' staff commitment welcome, AEU media release, 3 Feb
2018
AUSTRALIAN
CURRICULUM
ACARA learning progressions
released
ACARA website, 2 Feb 2018
 ACARA has released the
National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions which help
teachers identify the stage of development of individual
students...
National Literacy and
Numeracy Learning Progressions, ACARA website
 YEARS 11 AND 12
Year 12 completion up
Tas Liberals website, 1 Feb 2018
The rise in the Year
12 attainment rate by 9 percentage points from 2015 to 2016 is
evidence the high school extension program is working, education
minister Jeremy Rockliff says...
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