Friday December 19 2008: Sydney, Australia NATIONAL CURRICULUM THE KEY TO SUCCESS A NATIONAL curriculum is the key to improving results for Australian students who are falling behind in maths and science before they reach high school, according to Education Minister Julia Gillard. The Trends in International Maths and Science Study shows that Year 8 science students in Australia have slipped in ranking, falling about 12 points over the past four years. It finds students are being overtaken in international tests by countries traditionally scorned for their poor educational standards, including England, the US, Russia and the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. While Ms Gillard noted today that Australian students' results were significantly above the average in maths and science at Year 4, she said they only achieved at the average in Year 8 maths. Of particular concern was the widening gap in the results of indigenous and non-indigenous students at the Year 4 level. Read more... Friday December 19 2008: Sydney, Australia DANGERS OF "CHILD'S PLAY" OUTLINED IN CURRICULUM REPORT POLITICAL correctness in the playground is the theme of the nation's first curriculum for childcare centres. A draft "early years learning framework", commissioned by the federal, state and territory governments, makes no mention of practical targets such as learning colours and numbers or building with blocks. Instead, it discusses the dangers of child's play - even referring to discrimination based on the "sexuality" of babies, toddlers and kindergarten kids. "Play is not always innocent and fun," says the document, drafted by a panel of academics and state and federal education bureaucrats. "Sometimes it can be cruel, unfair and unjust - a space for politics and power relations, where children are excluded on the basis of gender, age, size, skin colour, proficiency with English, class, ethnicity, sexuality and more." Read more... Friday December 19 2008: Perth, Australia NEW SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS IN NATIONAL TESTS A NEW support package is to be developed to help Western Australian public school teachers better prepare students for the new national literacy and numeracy tests. The resource package will be available to teachers in early 2009 to improve WA’s performance in the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The package will give teachers and principals the tools they need to help students become familiar with the national tests so they can perform at their optimum level. Inexperience in the testing situation can adversely affect a student’s performance, regardless of their actual ability or knowledge of the area being assessed. Apart from providing students with basic literacy and numeracy skills, schools also need to help students become accustomed to the nature of the national tests and the environment in which they are held. Read more... Thursday December 18 2008: Sydney, Australia AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS WORLD'S WORST BULLIES BULLYING in Australian primary schools is in the worst category in the world, a new study of education standards has found. In the Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study, which surveyed schools in about 40 countries, more than a quarter of Australian year 4 students said they had suffered bullying. The results have alarmed child-health experts and education bodies, which have been running strict anti-bullying programs in schools over the past six years. Australian primary school students suffer bullying at a rate of almost 50 per cent above the international average, putting Australia in the worst category for bullying. Of the 36 countries sampled in the survey of year 4 students, only Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and New Zealand fared worse than Australia. Read more... Thursday December 18 2008: Sydney, Australia AUSTRALIA HAS THIRD-WORST CHILDCARE AND EARLY LEARNING SYSTEM AUSTRALIA has the third-worst childcare and early learning system in the developed world, a new international report finds. Our early childhood services sit above only Canada and Ireland on a league table of OECD countries to be published today by the United Nations' children's rights arm, UNICEF. Using 10 benchmarks, including the amount of GDP spent on early childhood services, the availability of paid parental leave and the subsidies provided for childcare and education, the report ranks Mexico, Slovenia and Portugal higher than Australia. Read more... Thursday December 18 2008: Sydney, Australia REFUGEE AND MIGRANT STUDENTS AMONG TOP YEAR 12 RESULTS STUDENTS from refugee and migrant backgrounds have been applauded for ranking among the highest achievers graduating from Year 12. Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, Laurie Ferguson, congratulated the students from refugee and migrant backgrounds. “Some of these young people have had to start their schooling with little previous education and it is so wonderful to see how quickly they have embraced the opportunities our education system has offered,” Mr Ferguson said. “They have faced many obstacles in the past and also many challenges in settling into a new life in a new country.However they have proven through hard work and determination that success is possible for any young person who is prepared to give it a go." Read more... Thursday December 18 2008: Sydney, Australia ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL CENTRE FOR PEDAGOGY TEACHING Australia has released a report from Monash University proposing a new way to raise the quality of teaching in Australian schools. The report, A feasibility study: Establishing a national centre for pedagogy, makes a strong case for establishing a centre of excellence focusing on the practice of teaching and school leadership. The quality of teaching is widely recognised as the centrepiece for improved student learning and overcoming disadvantage. The study by a Monash University team, led by Professor John Loughran, shows that bringing together research about the actual practice of teaching -what works best in different contexts and subject areas – and disseminating that knowledge widely to teachers, principals and policy makers, would raise education outcomes. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Perth, Australia $4.67MILLION PACKAGE TO IMPROVE LITERACY AND NUMERACY THE WA State Government has launched the first stage of its campaign to improve literacy and numeracy levels in Western Australian public schools. Education Minister Liz Constable unveiled a suite of initiatives that will provide assistance and resources to schools and educators. Dr Constable said the $4.67million package was the first phase of a comprehensive strategy to boost literacy and numeracy standards in WA. It includes $1.5million over four years to provide primary school principals with mentoring and professional assistance to implement a whole-school approach to literacy plus $1.2million from now until 2010 for a pilot program to use paraprofessionals to provide support for teachers to help individual students develop essential literacy and numeracy skills. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Melbourne, Australia NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS FOR TOP VCE STUDENTS THE University of Melbourne will make its 2009 Melbourne National Scholarship offers to high-achieving Year 12 students after the release of final VCE results and ENTER scores on Monday, December 15. Victorian Year 12 students will find out their Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank after 7am Monday. To be eligible for a Melbourne National Scholarship, applicants must achieve an ENTER or equivalent of 99.9 or above (or be an Indigenous student with an ENTER of 90.0 or above). Successful Victorian applicants receive a HECS exempt Commonwealth Supported place and a $5000 annual allowance for the normal duration of their undergraduate degree. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Sydney, Australia AUSTLANG HELPS KEEP INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ALIVE AN innovative online resource is now available to support the preservation and revival of Australian Indigenous languages. AUSTLANG is the first online database to provide wide-ranging access to information on Australian Indigenous languages. The dynamic web-based features make it possible to search for Australian Indigenous languages by language name, place name or by navigating Australia through Google Maps. “Language is an important embodiment of cultural heritage, knowledge, tradition and identity unique to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” said Professor Mick Dodson, Chairperson of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Hobart, Australia YOU'VE GOT MAIL! RESULTS OUT THE anxious wait is over for more than 11,000 year 11 and 12 students who today received their Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE) results. More than 2230 students received a Tertiary Entrance Rank this year, compared to 2158 last year. A further 6196 other students received results in year 11 exams or non-exam subjects. This includes around 1247 year 10 students who studied college subjects. This will give them existing credit points when they begin the TCE next year. This year 946 students elected to have their results sent to them yesterday via email. All other students received their results in the mail today. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Darwin, Australia BETTER CAREER PLANNING FOR STUDENTS THE Northern Territory is now in the forefront of career planning for students following the graduation of 28 careers advisors. In March 2007 a national standard for career advisors was adopted by the Career Industry Council of Australia. This standard will be implemented across Australia by the end of 2011. Working with the Department of Education and Training, TAFE SA delivered the Certificate IV in Career Development to a cohort from across the Territory. Participants from Umbakumba, Alyangula, Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Milingimbi, Taminmin, Alice Springs, Darwin, Palmerston and the Northern Territory Open Education Centre commenced the two-year course in October 2007. Such was their enthusiasm that they fast-tracked the course, with 28 participants completing all requirements in October 2008, one full year ahead of schedule. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Adelaide, Australia MORE SA STUDENTS COMPLETE YEAR 12 THE highest number of South Australian students in 13 years – 12,208 in total – have achieved the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) in 2008. The SACE Board of South Australia has today detailed State-wide Year 12 results to coincide with students receiving their official results in letterboxes and online. These include 17,193 students completed at least one Stage 2 SACE subject in 2008, 12,208 students completed all the requirements of the SACE (compared to 12,030 students in 2007), including 133 indigenous students and 683 students achieved a total of 970 merits – 207 males and 476 females. Read more... Wednesday December 17 2008: Sydney, Australia SCHOOL SCORES FAIL UNI TEST ON PICKING BEST UNIVERSITIES are looking for broader ways to assess prospective students amid suggestions the tertiary sector needs to drop its reliance on a single school score. University vice-chancellors are concerned that school results are too narrow and are failing to identify talented students who fail to make the grade, especially from among the disadvantaged attending under-resourced state schools. As thousands of Victorian and NSW students wait for their results today and Wednesday, respectively, Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair wants to dump the whole idea of having schools produce a single entry score. Instead, Mr Blair said it should be left up to universities to assess students using a range of criteria, including a more rounded view of a student's school performance. Read more... Tuesday December 16 2008: Brisbane, Australia WORK EXPERIENCE HIGHS AND LOWS A NATIONAL report has revealed the problems, challenges and achievements of work-integrated learning (WIL), now acknowledged as an essential part of tertiary education. Queensland University of Technology, Swinburne University and Griffith University have all contributed to the report, which was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and released in conjunction with the Australian Collaborative Education Network. Dr Deborah Peach, QUT's Teaching & Learning Commissioned Projects Director, said the study aimed to put the spotlight on some of the major issues which came about in WIL. "The position the report takes is that WIL is essential for students to have this opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, reflect on practice and learn on-the-job, but there are a number of problematic areas," said Dr Peach. Read more... Tuesday December 16 2008: Sydney, Australia COURSE DECISION DAY TIME is fast approaching for prospective students to decide which university degree they will undertake in 2009. To help students make the choice that's right for them, the University of Western Sydney is hosting its Course Decision Day on January 5, 2009, at the UWS Parramatta Campus. UWS Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching), Professor Stuart Campbell, says Course Decision Day showcases campus and student life at UWS, and gives visitors a helpful insight into the host of course, scholarship, leadership and career development opportunities the University has to offer. "We encourage anyone considering university study to consult as many sources as they possibly can before locking in their final preferences," says Professor Campbell. Read more... Tuesday December 16 2008: Canberra, Australia THERAPIST'S WORK WITH CHILDREN RECOGNISED AN ACT therapist has received national recognition for his work with children through the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists (OT Australia). Tom Bevitt, an occupational therapist at Therapy ACT has been awarded the Elaine B Wilson Memorial Award. Therapy ACT provides free therapy services and support in the areas of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, social work and psychology for people with delays in development, and developmental disabilities. Tom has been working with children at Therapy ACT for two years and was acknowledged for his amazing work to promote the occupational therapy and his exceptional skills in working with a diverse and complex client group at Therapy ACT. Read more... Tuesday December 16 2008: Canberra, Australia $204,000 FOR 2009 HEALTH PROMOTING SCHOOLS ACT Minister for Health Katy Gallagher MLA has announced $204,000 in ACT Government funding to support projects delivered by the local school community that promote the Australian Better Health Initiative's good nutrition and physical activity priorities. The early adoption of healthy lifestyle habits can lead to the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease in later life. The Minister was speaking about the 2009 ACT Health Promotion Grants Health Promoting Schools Funding Round that implements the health promotion objectives of the Department of Education's "Every Chance to Learn" Curriculum Framework for K-10. The 2009 Health Promoting Schools Funding Round awarded 13 successful health promoting schools projects. Read more... Tuesday December 16 2008: Canberra, Australia $580 MILLION FAST-TRACKED INTO UNIVERSITIES THE Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, and Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr have announced $580 million will be fast-tracked into universities through the Education Investment Fund. The Ministers approved 11 successful projects as part of a $4.7 billion nation-building infrastructure package announced by the Prime Minister to support Australia’s economy in tough times. The successful projects were selected from 55 eligible applications received through the 2009 funding round of the HEEF. This round focuses on capital expenditure and strengthening research facilities in Australian universities and the proposals selected highlight the diversity of the sector. The proposals are across the teaching, learning and research spectrum, as well as a variety of disciplinary areas ranging from education and creative arts to medical research, engineering and science. Read more... Saturday December 13 2008: Melbourne, Australia INVESTMENT IN UNIVERSITY INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATIVE Research Universities (IRU) Australia has applauded the Australian Government on its Nation Building package which will provide over $1 billion to Australia’s universities to fund teaching and learning infrastructure projects and fast-track funding allocations under the Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF). “Australia’s universities play a vital role in nation building through their production of graduates, conduct of research and significant contributions to intellectual, social, cultural and economic advancement,” IRU Australia Chair, Professor John Yovich, said. The funding will enable the IRU Australia member universities – Flinders, Griffith, James Cook, La Trobe, Murdoch and Newcastle – to proceed quickly with planned major new teaching and learning infrastructure projects and the modernisation of existing facilities. Read more... Saturday December 13 2008: Sydney, Australia EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS FOR NEW BACHELOR DEGREES HIGH THE results of the national 2008 Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) suggest that employment prospects for new bachelor degree graduates were the strongest they have been since 1990 in the period immediately prior to the recent global economic downturn. Early results from the AGS show that of bachelor degree graduates who were available for full-time employment. About 85.2 per cent were in full-time employment within four months of completing their degrees; 9.6 per cent were working on a part-time or casual basis while continuing to seek full-time employment; and 5.2 per cent were not working and still looking for full-time employment at the time of the survey. Read more... Thursday December 11 2008: Canberra, Australia ROUND TWO OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS MINISTER for Education, Julia Gillard, has invited schools to apply for funding in the supplementary Round Two process of the Rudd Government’s computers in schools program. As announced following the most recent Council of Australian Governments meeting, schools that did not apply in Round One or Round Two of the National Secondary School Computer Fund are encouraged to take this opportunity to apply under this supplementary Round Two process. Schools will have until 11 February 2009 to lodge an application. The aim of this round, together with Rounds One and Two, is to bring all secondary schools with Year 9-12 students in Australia, government and non-government, to a national target ratio of 1:2. More than $2 billion in the Digital Education Revolution. Read more... Thursday December 11 2008: Hobart, Australia TASMANIAN STUDENTS LEAD THE NATION IN YEAR 4 SCIENCE TASMANIA topped the nation in year 4 science in the international mathematics and science study released this week. In Year 4 science Tasmania was the best performing state with 14 per cent of students reaching the advanced international benchmark, and 43 per cent achieving the high international benchmark. NSW and Victoria both had 13 per cent of year 4 students reaching the advanced benchmark, while in the Northern Territory and Queensland only six per cent and four per cent of students respectively reached that benchmark. The 2006-07 testing program collected information on maths and science curriculum coverage as well as teacher preparation, resource availability and the use of technology. Read more... Thursday December 11 2008: Adelaide, Australia ‘LONDON CALLING’ FOR TOP SCIENCE STUDENTS TEN South Australian students are off to the United Kingdom for the science experience of a lifetime. The year 10 and 11 students are the 2008 recipients of the SpiRit of Science Maurice de Rohan Scholarships, which enable talented young people from South Australian public schools to attend the world-famous Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (Ri) in London. The scholarships were established in 2005 by former Adelaide Thinker in Residence Baroness Susan Greenfield to help students from low socio-economic communities develop their passion for science and inspire them to pursue science-related careers. The Christmas lectures are a British institution involving leading scientists presenting complex theories to young people in an informative and entertaining way. Read more... Wednesday December 10 2008: Adelaide, Australia SCHOOL GANGS BOAST OF BRUTAL CRIMES TEENAGE gangs are instigating brutal violence so they can record and broadcast the sickening images "for pleasure" on the internet. Investigations by local media revealed one group, Barossa's Most Wanted - based around street bashing, hoon driving and drugs - is striking often in towns in the region. Commissioner for Victims' Rights Michael O'Connell, a former police officer, said it was "frightening that much of the violence appears to be committed for pleasure". "These videos cater for the public fascination with violence, they promote hostility, and the victims are not always humans - animals are sickeningly mistreated, even mutilated," he said. Read more... Wednesday December 10 2008: Sydney, Australia "VULNERABLE KIDS AT RISK" VULNERABLE children are being put at even greater risk of harm because of a lack of early intervention and protection services. Despite a surge in the number of reported child abuse and neglect cases, an Australian Institute of Family Studies review of the nation's child protection systems found many are not being followed up. More than 150 cases of child abuse and neglect are reported to authorities each day, but less than one in five are substantiated, the research showed. The increase in cases has resulted in more resources being used for investigation and assessment rather than prevention and treatment. Research author Dr Daryl Higgins says there is a serious lack of resources available for prevention and treatment services. The Federal and state governments are working on a $2.6 million national child protection framework. Read more... Wednesday December 10 2008: Sydney, Australia ISLAM EDUCATION CENTRE PROPOSED A GROUP founded by a Muslim extremist who encourages children to kill themselves for Allah plans to build a huge complex in Sydney to teach young people Islam. In what it says is a world first, the Global Islamic Youth Centre is trying to raise more than $6 million to build a giant "prayer, learning and sporting" facility in Liverpool. It has already raised $700,000 towards a $1m land purchase. The organisation says it expects the local Muslim population to almost double to 20,000 in the next decade and notes that a third of the population is under 19. Read more... Wednesday December 10 2008: Sydney, Australia SOUTH PARK BLAMED FOR RACISM THE principal of an exclusive Sydney boys' school has blamed popular TV shows such as Summer Heights High and South Park for encouraging "derogatory, non-politically correct" humour, after some students allegedly posted anti-Semitic comments on Facebook. A forum on the social networking site, titled Jew Parking Appreciation Group, was allegedly run by students from The Scots College at Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east, The Australian reports. The "Jew Parking" group, which had 51 members, had been connected to another network administered by Scots College students with postings that included "support Holocaust denial" and a link titled "F--- Israel and Their Holocaust Bulls---". Students from Kambala School for Girls, at nearby Rose Bay, are also alleged to have contributed to the forum. Read more... Wednesday December 10 2008: Canberra, Australia AUSSIE STUDENTS SLIPPING IN MATHS AND SCIENCE AUSTRALIAN students are falling behind in maths and science before they reach high school and a national curriculum is the key to improving results, Education Minister Julia Gillard has warned. The Trends in International Maths and Science Study released this week shows that Year 8 science students in Australia have slipped in ranking, falling about 12 points over the past four years. It finds students are being overtaken in international tests by countries traditionally scorned for their poor educational standards, including England, the US, Russia and the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Ms Gillard noted that Australian students' results were significantly above the average in maths and science at Year 4, she said they only achieved at the average in Year 8 maths. Of particular concern was the widening gap in the results of indigenous and non-indigenous students at the Year 4 level,” she said. Read more... Tuesday December 9 2008: Canberra, Australia EDUCATION TAX REFUND PASSES PARLIAMENT THE Senate has passed the Federal Government’s $4.4 billion Education Tax Refund. A key part of the Education Revolution, the Education Tax Refund will help parents meet the costs of their children’s education, including laptop and home computers. About 1.3 million families across Australia, with 2.7 million students, stand to benefit from the Education Tax Refund and get some much-needed relief from the costs of educating their kids. Eligible families will receive a 50 per cent refund every year for eligible education expenses up to $375 per primary school child, per year and $750 per secondary school child, per year. Eligible families will be able to recoup the cost of key purchases for their children’s education, including ICT, tools for use at school, school text books and stationery. Read more... Tuesday December 9 2008: Sydney, Australia EDUCATION PROGRAM AIMS TO PREVENT SEXUAL ASSAULT A RESEARCHER from the University of Western Sydney has developed a new sexuality and sexual assault prevention program that will give young people the skills to protect themselves in dating situations. As part of a four year study, Associate Professor Moira Carmody from the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre at UWS interviewed men and women aged 16-25 years from rural and city areas. The findings, contained in a new 'Sex and Ethics' book pack to be released in Sydney today, reveal that young people want to learn skills to communicate with their partners effectively and have ethical sex, but feel there is little opportunity to explore these issues at school or with their families. Read more... Tuesday December 9 2008: Sydney, Australia ROLL OUT OF UP TO 15,000 LASER PRINTERS HEWLETT-Packard (HP) has announced a major contract with the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) to supply laser printers. HP anticipates the roll out of up to 15,000 laser printing devices across 2,400 public schools, 130 TAFEs and DET state offices in NSW in the first year under the terms of a three year contract with the Department of Education and Training. DET will roll out small, medium and large mono and colour, single function and multifunction HP LaserJet Printers and HP will also supply toner and associated services to provide an estimated target fleet of 25,000. The roll out is a long-term commitment by the Department to technology upgrades. DET is also replacing up to 65,000 of its current imaging devices with up to 30,000 new devices, which will make a huge difference to energy consumption, copy costs and better utilisation. Read more... Tuesday December 9 2008: Perth, Australia BEST-OF-THE-BEST WA TEACHERS RECOGNISED A TEACHER from Hamilton Senior High School has been named the WA Premier’s Teacher of the Year for 2008. Rosinda Seara, who has been teaching at Hamilton Senior High School for 21 years, collected the $100,000 award from Premier Colin Barnett this week. It was one of a number of honours presented to teachers, schools and school staff at the inaugural Western Australian Education Awards. Mr Barnett said Mrs Seara and all today’s winners represented the best-of-the-best in WA education. Mrs Seara was credited by the award judges as being a highly committed, passionate teacher of great integrity who refused to accept any socioeconomic, race or gender limitations to education. Read more... Tuesday December 9 2008: Perth, Australia HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES? A MULTI-faceted campaign to raise the status of teaching in Western Australian government schools began this week. Education Minister Liz Constable launched the first stage of the State-wide ‘Have you got what it takes’ campaign during the WA Education Awards function at the Burswood Complex this morning. Dr Constable said it was important to reward teachers financially, while highlighting the vital role they played in the lives of students. “The advertising campaign illustrates the long-lasting influence teachers have on students and how they make a difference in their everyday lives,” she said. The $350,000 campaign marks the beginning of a comprehensive strategy to raise the status of the teaching profession, recruit new teachers, retain current teachers and promote the diversity of public education. Read more... Monday December 8 2008: Melbourne, Australia BOYS JABBED BY SYRINGE IN PLAYGROUND THREE boys who accidentally pricked themselves with needles in a playground face an agonising wait for their blood test results. Efe and Mete Ozturk were playing with a friend in a Melbourne park when they came across the syringes, the Dandenong Leader reports. Efe, 8, had already pricked himself when he ran home carrying the needle in his hand. “As soon as I saw it, I just panicked and grabbed his hand,” worried mum Sevinc said. “I saw two spots where he had pricked himself and nearly fainted.” But the drama didn’t end there with Efe’s twin brother, Mete, also jabbing himself after he put a needle into his pocket. Neighbour Zane Raydan, 7, who was playing with the twins jabbed himself too. Read more... Monday December 8 2008: Sydney, Australia SCHOOLBOY SHOT DEAD AT RURAL SLEEPOVER THE distraught mother of a 14-year-old shooting victim has begged police to drop the murder charge on his best friend and alleged killer. Josef Cruickshank died from gun shot wounds during a sleepover at a rural property in Sydney's southwest on Saturday night. His mate, who cannot be identified, faces a charge of murder after he allegedly accidentally shot him and made a "frantic" triple 0 call to save his life. While she has just lost her only son, the 14-year-old boy she called "my little man", grieving mother Rosemary Cruickshank doesn't want a second young life destroyed. Read more... Monday December 8 2008: Sydney, Australia INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS APPLE'S Innovative Technology in Schools Conference, ITSC, will be held in Sydney this week. Described as a unique professional development opportunity for educators from around Australia, the event is expected to attract large numbers of teachers. As connected learning and teaching is the focus for educators world-wide, ITSC provides a forum to gain fresh ideas for the classroom and foster communities around the region. This year Apple is committed to supporting local Professional Development communities and will be running events in each mainland state to allow more people to experience the immersive learning environment that ITSC is renowned for. Dates and Locations: 9-12 Dec 2008, Sydney, NSW University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), 22-23 Jan 2009, Melbourne, VIC Coburg Senior High School 31 Jan - 1 Feb 2009, Brisbane, QLD Queensland Academy for Creative Industries, 20-21 April 2009, Perth, WA Christ Church Grammar School and 23-24 April 2009, Adelaide, SA Walford Anglican School for Girls. Read more... Friday December 5 2008: Sydney, Australia CATHOLIC TEACHERS ONE STEP CLOSER TO FULL STRIKE ACTION CATHOLIC school classrooms came to a halt this week despite a NSW Industrial Commission recommendation that a stop work meeting not proceed. Teachers in hundreds of Catholic schools met to vote in favour of further industrial action in support of a 5% pay rise. Teachers also resolved to meet in the second week of Term One next year to vote on a one-day strike on 10 February. Catholic employers have followed the Department of Education’s lead in offering a 2.5% interim pay increase from January 2009. Any extra pay would have to be funded by cuts to teachers’ working conditions, such as sick leave. Read more... Friday December 5 2008: Melbourne, Australia PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION THRIVES AROUND one in ten tertiary qualifications in Australia are now awarded by private providers as more students than ever choose to attend private colleges for higher education studies. The research was conducted by the sector’s peak industry association, the Australian College for Private Education and Training (ACPET). “Higher education in Australia is changing and it will continue to change,” Andrew Smith, National Executive Officer of ACPET said. “There is a rising demand for private higher education institutions. Not just for undergraduate degrees, but for postgraduate and research studies as well.” Mr Smith said there are around 150 specialist providers of private higher education in Australia operating alongside universities to provide greater choice and flexibility to students. Read more... Friday December 5 2008: Perth, Australia WA TEACHERS SAY ‘YES’ TO NEW $1BILLION PAY DEAL WESTERN Australian public school teachers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new $1.067billion salaries and conditions package for 21,000 public school teachers and school administrators. A ballot of State School Teachers’ Union members has ratified the proposed agreement reached last month between the Liberal-National Government and Union executive. Education Minister Liz Constable said it was a Liberal party pre-election commitment to deal with the teacher pay issue within the first 100 days of government. This commitment included an extra $120million on teacher salaries. Read more... Friday December 5 2008: Melbourne, Australia MUSIC TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE mtec09 is an engaging 3-day national conference in Melbourne, Australia, showcasing current technology and its applications in music education. This hands-on event will provide a unique opportunity for educators who are either new to music technology or experienced technology users. mtec09 is for primary school music teachers, secondary school music teachers, instrumental teachers, teachers-in-training, conductors, composers and arrangers. Keynote speakers include Thomas Rudolph (President, Technology Institute for Music Educators, USA), James Morrison (who happens to be an avid user of the latest music technology and uses computers extensively in his writing, recording and performance) and Marcel Pusey (from the UK, co-designed O-Generator educational music software). Read more... Thursday December 4 2008: Canberra, Australia PRIVATE SCHOOLS SECURE $28 BILLION OVER FOUR YEARS THE Federal Government's private schools funding Bill has passed Parliament after the opposition abandoned plans to amend it. The legislation, providing private schools with $28 billion over four years, was stalled in the Senate because the Opposition was concerned about a provision requiring schools to sign up to a planned national curriculum before it is written. The Opposition had planned to move an amendment to add a clause allowing private schools to teach the national curriculum "or an accredited equivalent''. But the Government found the proposed amendment unacceptable and accused the opposition of blocking the funding. During debate in the Senate today, the Opposition backed down after Government frontbencher Kim Carr made it clear the national curriculum would not "mandate particular classroom practices''. Read more... Thursday December 4 2008: Canberra, Australia FORMER MUSIC TEACHER JAILED OVER CHILD PORN A FORMER Canberra music teacher who downloaded thousands of child porn images, including pictures of children engaged in sex acts with animals, will spend three months in jail. Police raided the home of Richard John Llewellyn, 58, earlier this year and found 17,000 images and video files depicting child pornography and child abuse. His arrest was part of a worldwide investigation into child pornography. The married father of two pleaded guilty in April to using the internet to view child porn and possessing child porn. The man is said to have downloaded the "most disturbing kinds of images" with hundreds of young people involved including images of children "bound and gagged". Read more... Thursday December 4 2008: Melbourne, Australia TUBERCULOSIS OUTBREAK AT MELBOURNE COLLEGE ABOUT 150 year 10 students at a Melbourne girls' school will be tested for tuberculosis after a fellow student was treated for the disease. But some students and parents are upset that health authorities are not screening everyone at Mt St Joseph Girls College, Altona. "I'm worried that I could have it, seeing I was so closely involved in leading other students," year 12 student Chantelle Mizzi said yesterday. Ms Mizzi, a member of the student representative council, said the school was abuzz with concern. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Darwin, Australia WESTFIELD SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED NORTHERN TERRITORY English teacher Annabel Harris, has won the $12,000 Westfield Chief Minister’s Scholarship for 2008. The Scholarship Program encourages excellence and innovation in education by providing an opportunity to travel overseas and undertake research in teaching, learning and curriculum development to achieve improved teaching and learning outcomes in Territory schools. Mrs Harris, the Head of English and ESL at St John’s College in Darwin will use the scholarship to conduct research in schools in California and other parts of the United States. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Darwin, Australia KIDS' BOOK TELLS OF QUOLLS' BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL STUDENTS have responded positively to a new book,`Quoll’, a children’s story inspired by the Department of NRETAS Island Ark Program to protect the quoll species from devastating cane toads. Scientific research shows that quolls disappear from most areas colonised by cane toads. The Island Ark Program started in 2003 when a small number of northern quolls were relocated from the Northern Territory mainland to two islands off the Top End coast. The 64 northern quolls initially relocated thrived, and by December 2007, the population across the two islands had increased to more than 5600. Darwin’s Sandra Kendell wrote and illustrated the book, which was published this month. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Adelaide, Australia ONE-STOP EDUCATION AND CARE IN $216M PROJECT ELIGIBLE students who register their interest now will be guaranteed a place at six new schools to be built in metropolitan Adelaide. Families with children currently attending schools and preschools involved in the $216m Education Works project are being invited to register their interest now in enrolling. The new schools are set to open in 2010 and 2011 and child care enrolments for the four new Children’s Centres, to be built as part of the project, will be opened early next year. The prospect of one-stop education and care – from birth to Year 7 or Year 12 – along with onsite health and family support is expected to be a drawcard for enrolments in Adelaide. Planning is proceeding and, early in the new year, the successful bidder to build the schools will be announced. Once finalised, work is expected to start early next year and the first principals will be appointed soon and take up their positions in 2009. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Sydney, Australia 4000 AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN UNDER 10 ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS UNPUBLISHED figures show nearly 4000 children under 10 were prescribed antidepressants last financial year, including 553 children under five and 48 babies. The Australian reports the Commonwealth Department of Health statistics give an alarming, although most likely conservative, age-by-age breakdown of the national use of antidepressants. However, leading pediatricians and psychiatrists can offer no reason why infants would be given the drugs. Depression expert Gordon Parker said the numbers were "beyond comprehension" and urged the Federal Government to ask doctors responsible for supplying scripts for young children to justify their actions. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Sydney, Australia JUNK FOOD COMPANIES HIT ON KIDS JUNK food companies are collecting children's personal details via websites to direct marketing messages to them. New advertising regulations standards and privacy concerns have not stopped companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nestle obtaining children's phone numbers, dates of birth, and even home addresses through their youth-friendly websites. Some companies go a step further, asking children and teens to explain their personal spending habits and interests. A new study of internet-based marketing found young people are frequently offered online rewards to supply their friends' details to food companies, or to pass marketing messages to other people. Study author Prof Sandra Jones, of the University of Wollongong, said few parents knew what their children were signing up for. Read more... Wednesday December 3 2008: Sydney, Australia BOSSLEY PARK HS SNUBS LAPTOP SCHEME THE head of one of the biggest public high schools in New South Wales has launched an extraordinary attack on the State Government over its plan to spend Commonwealth money on giving a laptop computer to every senior student. Ian Parnaby, the principal of Bossley Park High School in Sydney's west, has allegedly dismissed the Commonwealth-funded laptop scheme as "crazy" and "ill-conceived". "I see risk to the students carrying them and even more in their durability when kids throw them around," he has told the media, challenging Education Minister Verity Firth to canvass public schools to find out whether they really want the laptops. He said Bossley Park High, which already has a sophisticated student computer system, wanted flexibility to spend the funds. Read more... Tuesday December 2 2008: Sydney, Australia SOCIAL FACTORS TO BLAME FOR HIGH MALE SUICIDE RATE THE assumption that most suicides are the result of depression or other mental illness has been challenged by a study of male suicide launched by researchers at the University of Western Sydney. Professor John Macdonald, Co director of the UWS Men's Health Information and Resource Centre (MHIRC) says there has been a tendency to relegate explanations of male suicide to mental illness, rather than looking at possible social causes. Professor Macdonald and colleagues conducted a qualitative study of suicide in men aged 25-44 living on the NSW Central Coast. The Central Coast research showed the pathways towards suicide included: A mix of issues to do with employment - overwork or insecurity, adverse childhood experiences and consequent involvement with drugs and alcohol. Mental health problems are still sometimes directly involved and difficult events can lead to mental stress. Read more... Tuesday December 2 2008: Canberra, Australia GILLARD DEFENDS SCHOOLS COMPUTER BLOWOUT JULIA Gillard has been accused of serial bungling, leading to an $800million blowout in the cost of meeting her pledge to provide computers for all students in years 9 to 12. The Opposition rounded on the Deputy Prime Minister in parliament yesterday after her weekend announcement that she would give the states and territories $807million to help them meet installation and ongoing costs involved in delivering the Rudd Government's election promise over computers. Ms Gillard defended the spending, saying the computer shortage, particularly in disadvantaged schools, was worse than Labor had thought. She added that Labor's election promise had included a clear undertaking to engage states on further funding needs. Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne focused on the extra schools spending, demanding Ms Gillard rule out further cost blowouts. Read more... Tuesday December 2 2008: Canberra, Australia EDUCATION INEQUALITY SCORES $1BN HANDOUT KEVIN Rudd will identify the nation's 1500 poorest-performing schools and flood them with $1.1 billion over the next five years in a front-on attack on inequality of access to education. The Prime Minister has also won agreement from the states to deliver the improvements by giving school principals greater power to hire and fire and to lift pay for their best teachers - smashing years of entrenched opposition from state governments and education unions. The changes sit at the centre of $140 billion worth of new commonwealth-state funding deals clinched between Mr Rudd and premiers at the Council of Australian Governments meeting on the weekend. COAG struck new agreements on health, education, housing, disability, productivity and indigenous services, most requiring states to publish data about their relative performance so voters would be able to assess whether the money was being used properly. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Canberra, Australia HISTORIC EDUCATION REFORM AGREEMENT THE Council of Australian Governments has finally delivered an unprecedented agreement to drive education reform. The Australian Government is now moving forward with plans to deliver critical transparency measures in a $42.4 billion National Education Agreement. The National Education Agreement will include $14 billion for government schools over the next four years. In addition, the Australian Government will deliver a National Partnership on Teacher Quality worth $550 million, a National Partnership on Literacy & Numeracy worth $540 million and a National Partnership on Low SES School Communities worth $1.1 billion over five years. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Canberra, Australia ADDITIONAL $807 MILLION FOR COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS MORE than $2 billion is being offered in the Digital Education Revolution after the Government agreed to provide a further $807 million to States and Territories for legitimate on-costs. In March, the Council of Australian Governments commissioned a review of legitimate and additional financial implications for the States and Territories arising from the implementation of the $1.2 billion National Secondary School Computer Fund. The Grimes Review was informed by submissions from State and Territory, Independent and Catholic school authorities and found that a reasonable overall estimate of the cost of deploying each additional computer stands at $2500. The additional funding of $807 million will be paid before the end of the 2008-09 financial year. This funding will cover the legitimate on-costs incurred for computers purchased through Round One as well as future on-costs associated with subsequent rounds. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Canberra, Australia $635 MILLION FOR GOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS GOVERNMENT primary schools will receive an additional $635 million over the next four years as part of the new National Education Agreement agreed at COAG. The new investment will see the end of an "unfair funding practice" where government primary schools received a smaller proportion of funding per student than government secondary schools. Under the previous schools funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories, government primary schools were awarded only 8.9 per cent of the Average Government School Recurrent Cost (AGSRC) index, while government secondary schools received 10 per cent of the AGSRC. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Brisbane, Australia INNOVATIVE PLANS TO KEEP TOP TEACHERS IN CLASSROOMS Top teaching graduates in Queensland will be offered scholarships to work at challenging schools as part of an innovative plan to improve outcomes for students. A series of new initiatives have been announced in which undergraduate teachers would be offered incentives to take jobs in specialist subject areas, difficult schools or remote locations. Recruiting and retaining top teachers is said to be the key to ensuring all Queensland students can access the best possible education, no matter where they live. There are shortages of teachers in subject areas including manual arts and maths B and C. Other positions are difficult to staff, including those at schools in areas of Bonded scholarships are being offered to high-calibre final year undergraduate students to teach in subjects where shortages have been identified, or in challenging and complex schools. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Melbourne, Australia SCHOOLS THINKING BIG ABOUT SMALL TECHNOLOGIES AN innovative secondary school resource that will assist science teachers to teach nanotechnology in Australian schools has been released. AccessNano, a cutting-edge educational resource, is designed to introduce accessible and innovative science and technology into classrooms, and provide an integrated approach to teaching nanotechnolgy. The Australian Office of Nanotechnology developed AccessNano following feedback from science teachers that children were asking to be taught about nanotechnology, but many teachers did not have the knowledge or resources to be able to teach the topic. Science teachers have since adapted Nanotechnology to fit in high school curriculums throughout Australia and it is one of the first such resources in the world to offer in-depth teaching modules about the study of nanosized technologies – at a scale of one billionth of a metre. Read more... Monday December 1 2008: Perth, Australia SHENTON COLLEGE STUDENT WINS NATIONAL HISTORY AWARD A Shenton College student, who wrote an in-depth essay on former Prime Minister John Curtin’s leadership during World War II, has been named Australian Young Historian of the Year. Year 12 student Luci Silverstrin was presented with the award at a ceremony in Canberra earlier this week. WA Education Minister Liz Constable said Luci was a fine example of what could be achieved by State Government school students and teachers. The judges commended Luci for her comprehensive approach to the essay and noted that she showed empathy for the difficulties John Curtin faced in making the decisions he did. Read more... Friday November 28 2008: Perth, Australia POSITIVE IMAGE AWARDS PROMOTING a positive image of young people has earned 29 Western Australian high school students the title of District Ambassador in the annual Positive Image Award, now in its 11th year. WA Youth Minister Donna Faragher presented the 29 District Ambassadors with their certificates at a ceremony at the WA Art Gallery this morning. “These students demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of young people are leading positive lives and making significant contributions to our community,” Mrs Faragher said. Read more... Friday November 28 2008: Canberra, Australia NEW NATIONAL EDUCATION AUTHORITY BILL PASSED THE Australian Curriculum, Asssessment and Reporting Authority Bill 2008 has been passed by the Senate, clearing the way for the creation of a new national statutory authority to manage the development of a National Curriculum and a national system of assessment and reporting. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) will be a key driver of the Australian Government’s Education Revolution, leading to a new era of transparency for Australian schools. In October, the Council of Australian Governments agreed that new the authority would be responsible for the management of curriculum, assessment and reporting at the national level. The Authority will be led by a 13 member expert Board of Directors made up of experts nominated by each of the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments as well as the Catholic and Independent school sectors. ACARA will report to all Australian education Ministers through the Ministerial Council. Read more... Friday November 28 2008: Brisbane, Australia QUEENSLAND STUDENTS FLYING HIGH QUEENSLAND'S brightest aerospace students reached new heights this week at the Aerospace Education Awards ceremony in Brisbane. There were 11 winners and 24 finalists from Queensland's 17 Aerospace Project schools who were recognised for their achievements over the 2008 academic year. Three students won aeroskills scholarships to cover the costs of 12 months' formal training including the theory and practical components of a Certificate IV in Aeroskills. One deserving teacher, Ross Humphreys of Springwood State High School, also won the Boeing Education Excellence Scholarship, which includes a study tour of the Boeing factories in Seattle in the United States and a place at Space Camp at the US Space and Rocket Centre. Around 700 Year 10, 11 and 12 students are now studying aerospace subjects. Read more... Friday November 28 2008: Canberra, Australia INCOME SUPPORT APPROVED FOR NEW MASTERS COURSES THE Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard has released a new list of Masters by Coursework studies approved for student income support, Youth Allowance and Austudy. The updated list of nearly 400 courses includes qualifications required for entry into a profession and builds on the list of previously approved Masters courses. The list also includes courses that provide the fastest pathway to professional entry, or where they are the only pathway offered by the higher education institution following a restructure of existing course delivery. Read more... Thursday November 27 2008: Sydney, Australia DOCS PICKS UP WRONG GIRL AT SCHOOL THE embattled Department of Community Services (DoCS) has apologised to the parents of a child mistakenly taken from a western Sydney primary school by one of its staff. The seven-year-old was picked up on Wednesday by a DoCS contact worker who had gone to the school to take another girl to an appointment with a speech therapist, a joint Education Department and DoCS statement said. The DoCs worker provided Penrith South Primary School with the girl's full name and was taken to a classroom by a staff member, but the wrong child was identified. The worker realised she did not have the right girl after they had driven away from the school, quickly turning around and bringing her back to the school within 10 minutes. Read more... Wednesday November 26 2008: Sydney, Australia HITTING GIRLS, FORCING SEX 'NOT A BIG DEAL' A NEW report has found that nearly one in seven teenage boys think it is OK to make a girl have sex with them, if she has been flirting with them. The study into the impact of violence on young people has prompted calls for violence prevention programs in schools. The report called An Assault on our Future was commissioned by the White Ribbon Foundation, a body that campaigns on the issue of violence against women. The report's co-author, Dr Michael Flood, says among the most worrying findings was that one in three young people had witnessed their fathers being violent towards their mothers and one in every three boys believe it is not a "big deal to hit a girl". Read more... Wednesday November 26 2008: Sydney, Australia SEXUAL ASSAULT 'PART OF SCHOOL LIFE' A NEW report has found sexual assault between school students is being ignored because it is seen as part of normal high school life. The Australian Institute of Family Studies report says school children are often reluctant to report sexual assault from other students because the fear the social consequences and do not think they will be believed. It says most children find it hard to define when they have been sexually assaulted by another student. The institute's general manager of research, Dr Daryl Higgins, says teachers are also dismissing sexual assault between high school students too easily. "I think for teachers it's really difficult to be able to recognise that there's a serious problem on their hands when children at their school are being subjected to, let's say, an assault from a peer at a school," he said. "It's much easier to turn a blind eye." Read more... Wednesday November 26 2008: Canberra, Australia CANTEENS TO LOOK AT EFFECTS OF SLUSHIES THE STATES health and education ministers have instructed their government representatives on the board of NSW's School Canteen Association to look into claims that products endorsed by the association are producing adverse reactions in students. The Whitty's brand of slushies, sold in an unknown number of school canteens throughout NSW, contain four artificial food colourings which are permitted in Australia but are being banned by the European Union, the US and Scandinavia because of their link to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The drinks, promoted as "99 per cent fruit" contain synthetic flavourings and preservatives including sodium benzoate, which is associated with ADHD and can affect people with asthma. Read more... Wednesday November 26 2008: Sydney, Australia TEACHING CRISIS LOOMS PUBLIC education in NSW is headed for a crisis as skyrocketing birth rates look set to clash with teacher retirement figures. The "baby bonus generation", representing the biggest birth spike in more than 30 years, will enter the education system from 2011. At the same time, more than half of NSW's teachers will hit retirement age. Educators and parent groups fear the system will not cope. NSW Teachers Federation acting president Bob Lipscomb said a 2008 NSW Auditor-General's report into the ageing of the teaching service revealed that more than half would reach retirement age by 2016. Read more... Wednesday November 26 2008: Sydney, Australia STUDENT TESTING 'GETS BEST RESULTS' TESTING literacy and numeracy is vital to helping students complete high school and continue their education into adulthood, says the head of New York's education department, Joel Klein. In Australia at the invitation of the federal Government, Mr Klein yesterday dismissed concerns that publicly reporting test results between peer groups of schools meant students only mastered what was in the tests. "What we've found is that kind of mastery is significant, and has the most significant impact on students' achievement," he told The Australian. "We're finding right now with student progress that you can seea direct correlation with likelihood of a student graduating and making it to post-secondary education." Mr Klein is a leading proponent of using tests to measure the improvement of students and school performance, and publicly reporting the results to share expertise and hold schools to account. Read more... Tuesday November 25 2008: Gosford, NSW FUTURE LEADERS STEP UP FOR MAX POTENTIAL 2009 APPLICATIONS for 2009 Max Potential youth leadership scholarships close at the end of Term 4, leaving a short time for students to register their interest for next year. Program facilitator, Tim Mackney, said after the success of the 2008 leadership initiative, Mingara Recreation Club had opened up the program to all Wyong Shire high schools and colleges extending the scheme to interested youths aged 16-25 years. "Having more schools involved increases the depth of experience the students have because they're not all from the same environment," he said. The program connects young people with their community and gives them the opportunity to work with a coach who genuinely cares about their future. Read more... Tuesday November 25 2008: Canberra, Australia A WASTE OF HUMAN PROMISE? THE Federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, has responded positively to criticism from media magnate Rupert Murdoch who said that the public school system was a failure and a disgrace. He described the failure of these schools as a moral scandal. Interestingly, Ms Gillard said Mr Murdoch's comments made a "lot of sense". "When we look at our children in international testing compared with children around the world, what we see is two disturbing things," she said. "Firstly, we’re not getting our high-achieving students up to the best possible standard. Secondly, we’ve got a long tail of underachievement. That is, lots of kids who don’t meet minimum benchmarks, and disproportionately they are the children of poor households." She added that there was a lot to fix in our education system. Read more... Tuesday November 25 2008: Canberra, Australia TEACHER "QUALITY" WINS $500 MILLION BOOST THE Commonwealth’s offer for a national partnership on teacher quality is a $500 million injection aimed at finding new ways to attract the best and brightest into teaching, according to Federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard. "We want to find new ways of getting the best and brightest into teaching," she said. "We want to find new ways of supporting teachers in front of classrooms and we want to find new ways of recognising highly accomplished teachers and rewarding them, particularly for teaching in the toughest of schools." "We’ve lost too much time in this nation with the former government fighting with states and territories. "I think we have to reward the best of our teachers. We want to do that by having national accreditation of accomplished teachers." Read more... Tuesday November 25 2008: Sydney, Australia UNIVERSITY PAIN IS WORTH A $1.5 MILLION GAIN UNI students pain is worth a $1.5 million gain, according to a new report. A university graduate has the potential to earn $1.5 million more over a lifetime compared to those whose highest qualification is Year 12. The statistics were identified in a new AMP.NATSEM report on the costs of tertiary education in Australia. While university graduates have a greater earning capacity, the report found that Australia has the third highest university fees out of all OECD countries, after the United States and Japan, with the average fee for a Bachelor degree totalling $20,579. The 21st AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report, What price the clever country?, focuses on Australian tertiary students today, who they are, how they meet the costs of living while they study and how their HECS debts get repaid. Read more... Monday November 24 2008: Canberra, Australia TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IN SCHOOLS THE Federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, has promised to transform the Australian education system claiming that "we’re leaving the piecemeal approach of the past behind and going further". She said as Education Minister, she wants nothing short of transformational change in Australia’s schools. "Let’s be honest," she said. "Current achievement levels are simply not good enough in too many schools. "Australia still performs well in international studies. But we do not achieve as highly as we should or could. Our performance at the higher levels of achievement is static or declining. And our persistent tail of low achievement, associated as it is with socioeconomic disadvantage, is too long." She has outlined a hiot listincluding improving teacher quality, improving standards in disadvantaged schools and more transparency and accountability, Read more... Monday November 24 2008: Sydney, Australia CRITICAL MASS: REGIONAL VOICES RISE THE voices of more than 150 country NSW music students will play a starring role in a special performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to mark the achievements of Regional Conservatoria. The mass choir will perform excerpts from Carl Orff’s magnificent “Carmina Burana” as a headline event of The Con’s inaugural Open Day next March. As a result of an invitation from the Dean and Principal of The Con, Professor Kim Walker, it will be only the second time that representatives from all regional conservatoriums have come together to participate collectively in a single performance in Sydney. Read more... Monday November 24 2008: Canberra, Australia NEW YORK'S JOEL KLEIN WELCOMED THE Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, has welcomed the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Mr Joel Klein, to Australia. Mr Klein has overseen reforms in New York City's public schools that have turned around student achievement and engagement in learning and is coming to Australia to share his experiences. Ms Gillard believes that Mr Klein is sure to bring energy and a new perspective to the current debate about how to improve schooling in Australia. "In reforming our system, Australia must look at the evidence and learn from successful experiences and programs both nationally and overseas," she said. Read more... Monday November 24 2008: Sydney, Australia "VAST GULF" IN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY THE failure of governments across the world to tackle deep and persistent inequalities in education is consigning millions of children to lives of poverty and diminished opportunity, according to a report published by UNESCO. Blaming a combination of political indifference, weak domestic policies and the failure of aid donors to act on commitments, the 2009 Education for All Global Monitoring Report – Overcoming inequality: why governance matters - warns that ‘unacceptable’ national and global education disparities are undermining efforts to achieve international development goals. “When financial systems fail, the consequences are highly visible and governments act,” commented UNESCO’s Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. The UNESCO report documents what it describes as a ‘vast gulf’ in educational opportunity separating rich and poor countries. Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Adelaide, Australia SOLAR POWER SWITCHED ON SOLAR panels on the roof of a local school are part of a $1.25 million SA State Government plan helping to save money and encouraging students to use less energy. The 12-panel solar energy unit was launched at Gumeracha Primary School on Thursday 20 November. The solar panels will generate two kilowatts of electricity and save up to 3000 kilowatt hours of power per year at the school, saving between $500 and $1000 a year. Across 250 schools, that equates to about 750 mega-watt hours of electricity, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 720 tonnes every year. Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Adelaide, Australia A NEW “GREEK ODYSSEY” GREEK language students took on “A Greek Odyssey” through the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide this week as part of a new hands-on language resource. The practical resource takes Reception to Year 10 students on an excursion that simulates a Greek Odyssey, where they learn about landmarks of ancient Greece, Greek myths, the Greek language and its origins, as well as Greek plants and herbs. It was developed by Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) teachers in partnership with the Department for Environment and Heritage. DECS Chief Executive Chris Robinson says this resource is an innovative approach to learning a language outside the classroom. Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Melbourne, Australia NEW BUILDINGS FOR 21ST CENTURY TEACHING Gladstone Park Secondary College and Gladstone Views Primary School have benefitted from a statewide schools rebuilding plan with the official opening of new, state-of-the-art facilities. Capital works worth more than $4.8 million at the schools, including separate performing arts centres, are examples of how modern buildings can help enhance modern education practises. The finished products at both schools are testament to a strong working relationship between the extremely active school communities in Gladstone Park. The Government said that students around Gladstone Park deserved to go to school in modern facilities and that their teachers deserved a modern environment to deliver 21st Century teaching and learning opportunities to 21st Century students. Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Melbourne, Australia SETTING THE RIGHT PERFORMANCE CULTURE MORE than 320 Victorian schools have been recognised for their commitment to nurturing and developing excellent teachers. Education Minister Bronwyn Pike has presented Performance and Development Culture Accreditation awards at a ceremony hosted by Strathmore Secondary College at The Clock Tower in Moonee Ponds. “It is fantastic to see such a diverse range of schools from across Victoria being recognised for their commitment to establishing a Performance and Development Culture right across the Victorian education sector,” Ms Pike said. “A teacher’s knowledge and skills are the most important educational resource a school possesses as teachers play a vital role in motivating and inspiring students to help create better outcomes for all students.” Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Sydney, Australia EXTREME LACK OF FUNDING THE REAL ISSUE A TYPICAL primary school receives less than $2 a week per student to buy teaching resources such as readers, maths equipment, pencils, crayons, paper, art materials and sporting equipment. For principal Terry Fisher, also president of the Wollongong Primary Principals Council in NSW, debates over league tables, accountability and public versus private schools miss the real problem in education - an extreme lack of funding! Mr Fisher, principal of Woonona Public School, north of Wollongong, has told the media that schools in disadvantaged areas rightly received extra funding, but even typical schools such as his struggled with inadequate resources. "We are good at making do, at surviving," he said. "But we shouldn't have to make do; we should be able to have the funds we need." Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Sydney, Australia STUDENTS LOSE IF LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS SHIELDED STUDENTS in low-performing schools have the most to gain from publicly reporting their results, with a report by the Centre for Independent Studies arguing this is one of a suite of reforms required to improve education. In a paper released this week, CIS research fellow Jennifer Buckingham says that arguments against so-called league tables protect schools at the expense of students and parents. Ms Buckingham says the concern is only about revealing the schools that do not perform well, not the high-achieving schools, for fear of stigmatising the students and damaging a school's reputation. "This argument holds no water," she says. "In essence, it says that students in under-performing schools will be fine as long as nobody knows they are getting a poor education." Read more... Friday November 21 2008: Darwin, Australia SCIENCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT THE Science Teachers Association of the NT (STANT), CSIRO and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) have presented a variety of awards to Northern Territory school students for their outstanding achievements in science studies during 2008. Awards include Most Outstanding Stage 1 Chemistry Student from each high school; RACI National Chemistry Quiz Award; RACI National Chemical Analysis; CSIRO Student Research Scheme; and the STANT Territory Young Scientists’ Awards. A total of 91 students from across the NT have won awards this year. Read more... Thursday November 20 2008: Sydney, Australia TEACHERS TO STRIKE IN JANUARY NSW Teachers Federation members have declared their commitment to a 48 hour strike by all members on January 28-29, 2009, over salaries, staffing and qualifications. In the absence of a negotiated settlement to the dispute, teachers have also indicated their willingness to take further industrial action. In a media release issued on the day, Federation President Bob Lipscombe said teachers had reinforced the gravity of this campaign. "The education of students in NSW public schools is far too important to be placed at risk by a government not prepared to recognise the significant implications of losing almost half the teaching workforce to retirement over the next eight years," he said. Read more... Thursday November 20 2008: Perth, Australia CRITICALLY ENGAGED LEARNING A NEW book, Critically Engaged Learning: Connecting to Young Lives, is providing insight into what is possible for schools and communities. Written by authors Professor John Smyth, Professor Lawrence Angus, Professor Barry Down (of Murdoch University) and Dr Peter McInerney, the book examines victim blaming and pathologising approaches and is the final report in a trilogy. The book describes how Australian schools and communities were able to benefit from working with 'street-level' bureaucrats who had reinvented themselves around notions of socially just forms of capacity-building. Critically Engaged Learning breaks new and important ground across urgent and fractured boundaries. Read more... Thursday November 20 2008: Brisbane, Australia KIDS: CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA A ‘Contemporary Australia: Optimism’ exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Queensland is offering a range of free activities, programs and resources for children, families and teachers until February 22, 2009. Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said the ‘Kids: Contemporary Australia’ program included interactive art works and projects by eleven Australian artists in the exhibition, the Summer Festival and touring component to regional Queensland in January, as well as kids animation film programs. "Education programs for teachers and students in conjunction with ‘Contemporary Australia: Optimism’ include professional development activities and online curriculum resources," Mr Ellwood said. Read more... Wednesday November 19 2008: New York, USA AUSTRALIAN COMPANY WORKING WITH NEW YORK SCHOOLS AN Australian-based education services firm, Editure, has won recognition for showcasing the talents of Aussie educators working overseas. The company has been operating in New York City since 1992 and provides on-site teacher professional development services to schools and workshops for group teacher training. Julia Gillard MP, Federal Minister for Education, recently invited Mr Joel Klein, the New York City Chancellor of Schools, over to Australia to discuss education reform. A key tenet of this reform will be providing teachers with professional development that can enhance their skills and broaden their capacity. Editure's mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of education for children from kindergarten to Year 12. Australian United States Services in Education (AUSSIE) is a division of Editure that specialises in providing ongoing teacher training or professional development to schools in the US. Read more... Wednesday November 19 2008: Canberra, Australia ACU MOST POPULAR FIRST CHOICE NATIONAL preference reports have confirmed that the Australian Catholic University (ACU National) is one of the most popular first choice learning facilities for new students. Across all six ACU National campuses, first preferences are up. Nationally, the university saw a 28% increase in first preference choice and a 23% increase in overall preference. In Brisbane, both first and overall preferences were up 40%. In the competitive Melbourne market, the university showed a 38% increase in first preference choice. In Canberra, the campus saw an especially large rise, with a 165% increase in overall preferences. Vice Chancellor Professor Greg Craven attributed this success to the commitment of staff members to providing a quality and responsive learning environment. Read more... Wednesday November 19 2008: Perth, Australia IMPROVING WA'S NUMERACY IN what is believed to be a WA first, Year 11 and 12 students from four Department of Education high schools in Perth's south will now have the opportunity to access weekly specialist maths at Murdoch University and a much larger choice of courses than ever previously offered. A new collaborative partnership between Murdoch University, Gilmore College, Rockingham Senior High School, Safety Bay Senior High School and Warnbro Community High School will improve the education opportunities for all students in the four schools. Murdoch's Faculty Dean of Arts and Education, Professor Andrew Taggart, said the unique collaboration, known as the Peron Alliance of Curriculum and Teaching (PACT), would strengthen public education in the Rockingham region. Read more... Wednesday November 19 2008: Sydney, Australia HEART OF GOLD THESE days it seems like everyone is longing for an infusion of hope, inspiration, laughter and fun. To help out, the "HEART OF GOLD" Short Film Festival tour is dishing up a gourmet platter of enriching soul food. A Women's Forum Australia film festival, the tour features positive and uplifting short films which encourage and inspire. WFA particularly recommends "Ruby Who", a charming short film by Hailey Bartholomew, about a little girl who realises that wanting the looks of other girls and the things they have, won't make her happy. The films, which are selected from the work of filmmakers around the world, will show at Hoyts Cinemas in NSW (Erina and Moore Park) – November 20-25, with a special opening night event at Moore Park tonight (November 19), ACT (Woden) – November 20-25, VIC (Ringwood and Chadstone) November 20-25 with a special opening night event at Chadstone on November 20. “There is something magical about this festival” - Margaret Pomera. Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Brisbane, Australia QLD SCHOOLS AFFECTED BY STORM DAMAGE A NUMBER of schools in the south east region of Queensland have suffered damage as a result of this week's severe lightening storms. Education and Training Minister, Rod Welford, said at least one school was closed and one other was taking students only for emergency supervision. “The safety of students and staff is the Department’s highest priority and the schools have taken police advice to stay closed today while the damage is assessed," the Minister said. Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Perth, Australia NEW ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRIMARY SCHOOL WORK began this week on the new Craigie Heights Primary School in WA with a sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of construction. Craigie Heights Primary School forms part of the Government’s election promise to commit $490.25million towards building new schools. The construction of this new school will provide students in the area with a first-class learning environment. The school’s students are currently at the old Camberwarra Primary site and will move to the new location at the end of 2009, when the school is expected to be complete. The next 13 months will be very exciting for staff, students and parents as they prepare for the creation of a new school, with a new vision and ethos. Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Washington DC, USA MOBILE PHONES A POWERFUL LEARNING TOOL OBNOXIOUS ring tones and disruptive text messaging have led many schools in the USA to ban cell phones from classrooms. But the author of a new book, Liz Kolb, says the cell phone doesn't necessarily have to be a purely social device. When used properly, it can be a powerful learning tool, she argues in her book "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education." She says the cell phone is the Swiss Army Knife of 21st-century learning. "Kids mostly see their cell phones as a social toy, not as a learning instrument but if you can get them thinking of cell phones as an anytime, anywhere, data-collection tool, it can open up a whole new world." Kolb doesn't advocate using phones in class, but she does discuss a host of innovative and highly interesting applications for the technology in this 230-page book, which is geared toward K-12 educators, technology coordinators, teacher educators and school and district administrators. Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Sydney, Australia NSW GOVERNMENT DROPS OPPOSITION TO NATIONAL CURRICULUM THE NSW Government has dropped its vehement opposition to the national curriculum and will seek a more active role in its development. In a letter to the federal Government, NSW Education Minister Verity Firth says draft curriculums released for English, history and the sciences represent "substantial progress in designing the highest quality national curriculum". The NSW Government also calls for a common framework fortraining and accrediting teachers, saying it is imperative a co-ordinated national approach be adopted. The Rees Government's approval of the national curriculum is a significant shift in attitude by NSW. Former premier Morris Iemma had repeatedly asserted that NSW would never relinquish its "gold-standard HSC". Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Hobart, Australia TASMANIAN STUDENT WINS HISTORIAN AWARD A TASMANIAN student from Taroona High School has been named the winner of the Young Historian for 2008. Premier David Bartlett congratulated 16-year-old Christopher Boon on winning the top award – the Premier’s Medal and naming him as the Tasmanian Young Historian 2008 - as part of the prestigious 2008 Australian National History Challenge. “Christopher will now go on to vie for the Australian Young Historian of the Year award at a ceremony in Canberra next week along side the other State and Territory Young Historians for 2008. He will travel with Julian Cook from Clarence High and Sam Upton from Rosny College who have already been named national award winners for their entries in the War and Peace category and History of Sport Category respectively. Read more... Tuesday November 18 2008: Adelaide, Australia UNITED TO HELP KIDS READ SOUTH Australia’s soccer heroes – Adelaide United – may have lost to Japan but they are inspiring tens of thousands of school students to read and to be more physically active. The entire Reds team has signed up to become Ambassadors for the Premier’s Reading Challenge and the Premier’s Be Active Challenge. It comes as official figures show that more than 106,000 students from 95% of schools completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge in 2008 – a five per cent increase from the previous year. And, a late influx of finishers in the Premier’s be active Challenge has taken the total for 2008 to 23,500 – more than triple the number of students who completed the Challenge last year. Read more... Wednesday November 12 2008: Brisbane, Australia QUEENSLAND'S GREENEST AND HEALTHIEST SCHOOL NAMED CROW's Nest State School has been named Queensland's Greenest and Healthiest School for 2008 in an awards ceremony at Parliament House. Education and Training Minister Rod Welford congratulated the Darling Downs school and five other winning schools in the annual Keep Australia Beautiful Queensland Awards. Mr Welford announced the winners and runners-up in the Queensland Green and Healthy Schools 2008 Awards, the Minister for Education's Young Legends Awards and the one-off Let's get Physical Awards. Crow's Nest State School is an example of a school running innovative programs to help their students be green and healthy. They include a frog pond and fern house projects, cockatoo friendly gardens, wildlife surveys, recycling, waterwise and Junior Landcare involvement and a 'Run Around Australia' program conducted on the school oval. To celebrate the Year of Physical Activity, Djarragun College, near Gordonvale in Far North Queensland, was also awarded the Let's get Physical Award. Read more... Wednesday November 12 2008: Sydney, Australia GREEN SCHOOLS CONNECT CELEBRATES 250TH PROJECT STUDENTS and staff from Homebush West Public School in Sydney has completed the 250th project of the Green Schools Connect program, a partnership between Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Vodafone Australian Foundation that teaches young people about the importance of conserving the environment. Green Schools Connect helps make environmental projects in Australian schools a reality. For Homebush West Public School, this project comprised building a series of "No-dig" vegetable gardens that don't require soil excavation within the school grounds. The gardens aim to engage children in sustainable practices, as well as encourage healthy eating. Parents are also encouraged to take ownership of the gardens and use it to grow a range of vegetables, making it a truly community initiative. Read more... Wednesday November 12 2008: Perth, Australia 2009 WA PREMIER’S ANZAC STUDENT TOUR A GROUP of 12 secondary school students have earned a place in a life-changing trip to the battlefields of the Western Front as part of the 2009 Premier’s ANZAC Student Tour next April. Education Minister Liz Constable announced the names of the successful students to coincide with Remembrance Day commemorations. Tour participants will travel to the Western Front for 10 days to pay tribute to the 313,000 Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium. They will attend ANZAC Day commemorations in Ypres, Belgium. With more than 570 students applying to take part in the tour, the successful students have worked extremely hard to earn their place. “Of the 46,000 Diggers who died at the Western Front during World War I, 18,000 have no known grave and the 2009 tour will have a particular emphasis on these missing soldiers. Read more... Tuesday November 11 2008: Melbourne, Australia FOOD FOR THOUGHT VICTORIA continues to lead the way in raising community awareness of anaphylaxis ensuring Victorian children are safer than ever before, Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said today. Australia has one of the highest rates of children who suffer from serious allergies, with admissions for anaphylaxis tripling from 23 in 2001 to 71 in 2006. And Victoria is leading the nation as the first state in Australia to mandate anaphylaxis training for thousands of child-care workers, kindergarten and school teachers across the state. Speaking at the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation’s International Scientific Conference, Ms Pike said community awareness was vital in managing anaphylaxis – a sudden, severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction. "We have introduced new laws to protect children who suffer from life threatening allergies, rolled out training for school and kindergarten staff and implemented an extensive information campaign to make Victorian schools and kindergartens even safer," Mrs Pike said. Read more... Tuesday November 11 2008: Hobart, Australia TCE EXAMS BEGIN IN TASSIE TASMANIAN Certificate of Education (TCE) exams began this week for more than 6800 Year 11 and 12 students. From Monday November 10 until Friday November 21, students will undertake 44 different written exams at 28 Tasmanian exam centres. For the first time in many years there are no students sitting exams interstate or overseas. Premier and Minister for Education and Skills, David Bartlett wished students the very best for their exams. “I understand that this time of year can be challenging for students and I encourage them to stay positive and motivated,” Mr Bartlett said. “I also know that they will be well supported by their teachers across the State." Read more... Tuesday November 11 2008: Adelaide, Australia BEING ACTIVE PAYS OFF ONE tonne of sports equipment has been distributed between 50 South Australian schools to celebrate the success of their students in the Premier’s be active Challenge. Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith is presenting 50 sports equipment packs, worth $1,000 each, to the 50 highest achieving schools at a reception at ETSA Park. The Premier’s be active Challenge has been a great success. A late influx of finishers took the total for 2008 to 23,500 students – more than triple the number of students who completed the Challenge last year. The Government introduced this Challenge for the first time in 2007 to encourage young people to lead healthier lifestyles and to help prevent obesity. Read more... Tuesday November 11 2008: Adelaide, Australia RIGHT THING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT SCHOOLS and community groups doing the right thing for the environment by recycling and cutting waste are to be rewarded by the SA State Government. Environment and Conservation Minister Jay Weatherill has announced $155,000 in funding for 32 school and community group projects across the State at the start of National Recycling Week. The funding will help groups with things like compost bins, recycling sheds, garden mulchers and worm farms. “These grants are aimed at kick-starting small community projects that can make a really big difference to school communities and regional areas,” Mr Weatherill said. One of the largest schools grants, $20,394, will be presented to McLaren Vale Primary School. Read more... Tuesday November 11 2008: Darwin, Australia CONNECTING THROUGH FILM - NT SCHOOLS FILM FESTIVAL ALICE Springs students had the opportunity to see the winners and runners-up in the inaugural Connecting Through Film NT Schools Film Festival at the Alice Springs Cinema. A number of entries from Alice Springs did very well in this competition. Centralian Senior College and Ross Park Primary won prizes for their entries Dream (Best Music Video) and Puppets (Best Film Years 4-6) respectively. Utopia School was named runner-up in two categories: Lizard Boy was Best Non-English Speaking Film runner-up; and Bush Coconut for The CSG Award for Best Film for Year 7 to 9. The school was presented with its awards today from Susan Bowden, Executive Director Central Australia, Department of Education and Training. Ms Bowden presented two $500 prizes to Licuria Morton, Zephaniah Morton, Lockyer Morton, Jazmarelda Morton, Martika Morton, Farron Bailey from Utopia School. Read more... Monday November 10 2008: Perth, Australia YOUNG AUSTRALIANS IN TOP 0.01% OF WORLD MATHS COMPETITION THE Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Dr Ken Michael, AC, has presented awards to 22 students who successfully took part in the 2008 Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) at a ceremony at the University of Western Australia. In each division of the competition, a limited number of medals are awarded for performances that are outstanding both within a state or country and overall in the Competition. There were 57 medals awarded globally this year to approximately the top 0.01% of the students who sat the AMC. Several hundred thousand entrants from a record number of primary and secondary schools across a record number of 42 countries sat this year’s AMC; the 31st. The competition emphasises the key life skill of problem-solving and is renowned for its high standard and integrity. It is one of the largest non-compulsory competitions per capita of its kind in the world, attracting more than 12.5 million entries since it began in Australia in 1978. Read more... Monday November 10 2008: North Carolina, USA FIDGETY BOYS: IMPROVING BEHAVIOUR AND LEARNING NATIONALLY acclaimed expert on educating boys, Bill Costello, will be speaking at the annual teacher conference of the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools to be held at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, North Carolina on November 14, 2008. His presentation is titled “Fidgety Boys: Activities for Improving Behavior and Learning in School.” Costello, who is training director of Making Minds Matter, will discuss new strategies for educating boys. Specifically, he will demonstrate how the use of certain activities can improve boys’ behavior and learning. Costello explained: “Look inside any classroom and you’ll probably notice that boys are more likely than girls to fidget, tap pencils, distract others, and disrupt instruction. They’re less likely to pay attention, complete assignments, and learn." Read more... Monday November 10 2008: Sydney, Australia HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE FIND THE RIGHT HEADSPACE A NEW advertising and social marketing campaign ‘headspace centres: Someone else to go to’ has been launched to encourage young Australians who are having a tough time to seek help. headspace’s CEO Mr Chris Tanti believes that the campaign’s launch marks a major milestone in helping the community to recognise the importance of youth mental health problems and the need take them seriously. ”The available evidence continues to highlight the community significance of poor mental health among Australia’s young people," he said. "These alarming statistics include hospitalisation rates increasing for intentional self-harm by 27% since 1998-99, suicide accounting for nearly 20% of all deaths amongst young men, one-quarter of teenagers risked short-term harm to their health from alcohol intake with one in six teenagers having used an illicit drug recently,” said Mr Tanti. Read more... Monday November 10 2008: Darwin, Australia DESERT KNOWLEDGE SYMPOSIUM A NEW and innovative approach to indigenous education in desert Australia is proposed to help people find jobs and move into a productive future life. This is in contrast to the approach recently announced by the Commonwealth Government for a national curriculum beginning with English, History, Maths and Science. Speaking at the Desert Knowledge Symposium in Alice Springs, Gregor Ramsey from Teaching Australia said that learning how to function successfully in both the indigenous and the wider Australian society is critical. "Rather than saying that education and learning is divided up into traditional disciplines, whose names we know are hundreds of years old, an alternative is an approach based on themes." Read more... Thursday November 6 2008: Perth, Australia BEST SCIENCE + MATHS TEACHERS AWARDED SOME of Western Australia’s best scientists; researchers; science teachers; communicators and students have been recognised by Premier Colin Barnett as finalists in one of Australia’s richest science competitions, the Premier’s Science Awards. Mr Barnett said this year’s Premier’s Science Awards boasts 20 outstanding finalists that showcase the depth of WA’s science talent. Some of the finalists’ work includes finding new and cheaper ways to generate drinking water and discoveries on how bacteria has the potential to produce drugs inexpensively for developing countries. The awards also recognise Australia’s most highly-cited mathematician, a teacher who has developed a hands-on course to teach students how to save wetlands and a university student studying radio astronomy who may help with the State’s bid to host the square kilometre array telescope project. Read more... Thursday November 6 2008: Brisbane, Australia $12,000 FOR TREE PLANTING DAY STUDENTS at a Brisbane Bayside school have won a $12,000 tree planting day and a visit from rugby league legend Shane Webcke for a film they produced about physical activity. Education and Training Minister Rod Welford said Year 6 students at Wondall Heights State School in Manly West have won a Suncorp Sunwise Smart Moves Challenge encouragement award for their film Better Health Better Life. "The Suncorp Sunwise Smart Moves Challenge has encouraged students to become active and healthy by recognising outstanding examples of school-based physical activities," Mr Welford said. "The Challenge supports our Government's Toward Q2 target to cut obesity and unsafe sun exposure by one third by 2020 and our vision for a healthier Queensland. Read more... Thursday November 6 2008: Sydney, Australia YOUNG TEACHERS NOT MORE ICT SAVVY IN March 2008, edna commissioned market research into ICT use by Australian educators. The research shows how a sample of 1167 Australian educators have assessed their capability into the use of ICT to support their teaching. Each band shows the percentage of educators with similar levels of teaching experience who described their ICT capability as foundation, emergent, proficient or transforming practice. Findings include the fact that overall ICT proficiency levels are similar for educators of all experience levels after 2 years practice, a greater proportion of teachers who are further into their career (10-20 years plus) rated their proficiency as transforming practice and late career teachers also use the Internet more frequently. Read more... Thursday November 6 2008: Sydney, Australia CONCERN OVER HSC CHANGES THE NSW Teachers Federation is concerned that the Board of Studies' proposed changes to HSC examinations and school assessment are cost cutting measures that seek to impose a "one size fits all" assessment policy and exam format on the diverse range of HSC syllabuses. The proposals for wholesale change have not come from practicing teachers, professional subject associations or syllabus/exam committees. They risk, as a total package, the high standards of assessment and examination of the current HSC. Federation's submission to the Board of Studies rejects proposals to: standardise exam format, total exam length, exam response length and the number of assessment tasks across subjects; introduce or increase the number of multiple choice exam responses; and dispense with external marking of major projects. Read more... Wednesday November 5 2008: Brisbane, Australia QUEENSLAND SCHOOLGIRL MAKES IDOL TOP FIVE QUEENSLAND Redcliffe State High School student, Chrislyn Hamilton, has been applauded for reaching the Top Five of Australian Idol. Chrislyn, 17, was voted off the popular TV show this week after making it to the Top Five last week and becoming the last female contestant in the competition. She was the last female standing out of the 35,000 hopefuls who auditioned for Idol this year. Chrislyn was told she has remarkable potential to achieve great things in the music industry, if she decides to continue down that career path. Read more... Wednesday November 5 2008: Sydney, Australia BOARDING SCHOOLS FEAR MAJOR FUNDING CUTS BOARDING schools catering for indigenous students fear they will lose funding under federal legislation before parliament, with some arguing their grants will be cut by 30 per cent at a time of rising enrolments. The Education Legislation Amendment Bill wraps four programs providing targeted funding for indigenous students into one program to simplify arrangements and reduce red tape. It is additional to the bulk of money given to private schools, based on the socio-economic status of the students. The bill provides two levels of funding, with schools in remote and very remote areas receiving $3850 per primary student and $4400 per high school student. Schools in non-remote areas receive $1600 per primary student and $2250 per secondary student. Read more... Wednesday November 5 2008: Adelaide, Australia SA TEACHERS THREATEN TO STRIKE TEACHERS are threatening an indefinite strike in South Australia, as thousands of students started their end-of-year examinations yesterday. The teachers' union executive endorsed the extraordinary strike action yesterday and will convene a meeting of union delegates on Thursday to decide the time and length of the walkout. It will then be put to the entire membership, but rank-and-file teachers suggested the indefinite stoppage to their leadership through an internal survey earlier this year and it gained a rousing roar of approval at a rally of around 5000 during a half-day strike in Adelaide last week. Read more... Tuesday November 4 2008: Brisbane, Australia STUDENTS ENCOURAGED TO CONSIDER ENGINEERING WITH a current shortfall of more than 20,000 engineers nationally, researchers from Queensland University of Technology are looking to close the gap with a program addressing secondary school students in their middle years of education. The three-year study into engineering education, will target secondary students in years seven, eight and nine as part of a push to encourage more young people to consider engineering as a career path. The project is a joint collaboration involving three researchers from QUT as well as industry professionals from the Department of Main Roads. Project leader Professor Lyn English said QUT researchers would work closely with teachers and students from three Brisbane schools - Anglican Church Grammar, Somerville House and Grace Lutheran College - to implement engineering-based problem solving activities and projects to foster students' appreciation of what engineers do and the way engineering shapes the world around them. Read more... Tuesday November 4 2008: Perth, Australia AGREEMENT REACHED OVER WA TEACHERS’ PAY THE Western Australian Government and the executive of the State School Teachers’ Union have reached a new agreement on a salaries and conditions package for more than 21,000 Government school teachers and administrators. The agreement, which is subject to acceptance by union members, includes the Liberal Party’s pre-election commitment to spend an extra $120million on teacher salaries. Premier Colin Barnett said the agreement was reached following the Government’s endorsement of further salary increases, in addition to the six per cent increase paid last month. The additional salary increases in the $1.067billion package include a five per cent pay increase for all teachers and school administrators in October 2009, salary and structural adjustments for all, ranging up to five per cent in February 2010 and a four per cent salary increase in October 2010. Read more... Tuesday November 4 2008: Sydney, Australia NEW IN-DEPTH ACCOUNT OF SCHOOL CULTURE TRANSFORMATIONS EXPECTATIONS have been raised in Australia and comparable countries for an 'education revolution' that will secure success for all students in all settings. Such a revolution must ensure the alignment of educational outcomes, the skills required for a strong economy, and the needs of a harmonious society. Why not the Best Schools? offers a ten-point, ten-year plan for an education revolution that will result in the transformation of Australia's schools. A new book, "Why not the Best Schools?" has gonoe beyond system characteristics to provide an in-depth account of how transformation occurs in schools. Fifty indicators are provided to help shape strategies for policy makers and practitioners in schools and school systems. Guidelines for leadership and governance ensure a future-focus for those who are determined to ensure that all students will succeed in the twentieth-first century. This book draws on a five-year study culminating in the International Project to Frame the Transformation of Schools conducted in Australia, China, England, Finland, the United States and Wales. The findings are consistent with the McKinsey & Company report on the world's best performing school systems and those arising from OECD's PISA. Read more... Tuesday November 4 2008: Darwin, Australia BI-LINGUAL EDUCATION IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE THE Northern Territory Education Union says the NT Government is ignoring international evidence that bi-lingual education improves academic performance of students. The Education Minister Marion Scrymgour has announced all schools would have to teach in english for the first four hours of the day starting next year. She says it does not spell the end to bi-lingual education as students can still study culture and language in the afternoons. Read more... Tuesday November 4 2008: Adelaide, Australia GREENER SOURCES OF SCHOOL ENERGY SOLAR panels being installed in State schools are helping to teach a new generation about greener sources of energy. Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith today told State Parliament that schools are using the solar systems for much more than supplementing their energy needs. “Each unit can save up to 3000kWh of power per year,” Dr Lomax-Smith says. “Across 250 schools, that equates to about 750 mega-watt hours of electricity, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 720 tonnes every years. "That is the equivalent of removing 240 large six-cylinder cars travelling 13,000km each year." Read more... Monday November 3 2008: Sydney, Australia MODEL TO CALCULATE FUNDING TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS "19TH-CENTURY THINKING" PRIMARY school students are neglected in education funding, as extra resources are being directed to infants and high school students while the primary years receive less funding than any other school year. In a keynote address to the Australian Primary Principals Association conference, emeritus professor of education Max Angus said that Australia's spending as a proportion of GDP on Years 3 to 6 was among the lowest of the OECD countries. Yet the achievement gap in literacy and numeracy between the brightest and struggling students started to widen during primary school. "The middle and upper primary years are the neglected years in the education system," Professor Angus said. "Yet it's the period in school where things go off the boil, where the kids who aren't achieving start to lag seriously behind." Professor Angus, from Edith Cowan University in Perth, specialises in education policy and school resourcing. He conducted a six-year research project into the level of resources in primary schools around the nation. He told the APPA conference of government and non-government principals that the funding model used by governments to calculate the amount to give to schools stemmed from 19th-century thinking on primary education. Read more... Monday November 3 2008: Hobart, Australia TASMANIA'S RATINGS TABLES STARKLY REVEAL DISPARITY BETWEEN SCHOOLS TASMANIA has become the first state to release ratings of every state primary and high school based on literacy, numeracy and other key performance indicators. Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday praised the move as "brave" and said the commonwealth would continue to push other states to follow. "The Tasmanian Government has been the first to take this important agenda forward and it is to be applauded," she said. Premier and Education Minister David Bartlett launched the data on a website, which includes colour-coded tables, rating key performance indicators from "excellent" in dark green to "concern" in dark red. The tables starkly reveal the disparity between schools in affluent areas and those in poorer neighbourhoods, with several in the latter dominated by red markers. Read more... Monday November 3 2008: Sydney, Australia FREE TRAVEL TO COST FAMILIES $400 FAMILIES are outraged by suggestions that a free school travel program operating for almost 700,000 students across NSW will be axed. The move will be a a huge blow for struggling families with the Rees government set to force parents to pay almost $400 a year to transport each child to and from school. The brutal overhaul of the School Student Transport Scheme, which has subsidised student travel to and from school for more than 40 years, is designed to save as much as $470 million a year. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Premier Nathan Rees regards the scheme as unsustainable and believes it has "blown out of control''. Sources claim the State Government is considering a raft of options to replace the scheme. The most likely model will be based on