What's newCensus at School 2008CensusAtSchool 2008, produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, will begin first term next year with the second questionnaire available to teachers and students. Please send feedback to censusatschool@abs.gov.au by the end of September 2007. During October and November 2007 ABS Education Services will be conducting teacher focus groups in capital cities to trial the new questionnaire. If you would like to take part in one of these after-hours groups, email your interest to censusatschool@abs.gov.au. You will be compensated for your time. National Science Week and National Engineering Week eventsIn celebration of National Science Week and National Engineering Week, CSIRO and Macquarie University are hosting various events for schools and the public. Activities include lectures, movie screenings and observatory tours and will run 18–24 August 2007. Universities 'turn away from single entry mark'Macquarie University will offer places to some school leavers using a combination of the students' Year 12 results and other tests, and at least five other universities may follow in a sign of their lack of confidence in the present admissions system, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald 10 August 2007. Tertiary study option for Year 12 students proposed by University of TasmaniaHigh achieving senior secondary students would be able to commence undergraduate university degrees in their final year of high school under a plan proposed by the University of Tasmania. Secondary-school teachers would be trained by the University to teach the first-year subjects and the institution would set up centres of excellence in the state's senior secondary colleges, which now are just Years 11 and 12. See report in The Australian 1 August 2007. Call to support LOTE in primary schoolsIn a response to the Charter on Primary Schooling recently launched by the Australian Primary Principal's Association, Professor Michael Clyne has called for Languages other than English to be among the core subjects at primary school. See article on the Languages Education website. Manual to help principals respond to sexual assault cases in VictoriaPrincipals in Victorian government schools will be provided with a comprehensive manual to strengthen their response to allegations by students of sexual assault. The Minister for Education Services, Jacinta Allan, today launched Responding to Allegations of Student Sexual Assault – Procedures for Victorian Government Schools. The procedures outline the step-by-step processes on how school staff must respond to an allegation or disclosure of student sexual assault. See Ministerial media release 2 August 2007. Australian Technical College head resigns in Melbourne amid governance concernsThe head of the first Australian Technical College to open in Melbourne has resigned 'amid concerns over how the fledgling college is governed', according to a report in The Age 10 August 2007. Victorian Department of Education fined over health and safety caseThe Department of Education in Victoria has been fined $8000 for failing to respond to complaints about the safety of the teachers' lunch room at Altona Primary School. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that the school's representative had notified the Department in 2004 of an occupational health and safety breach. See report in The Age 10 August 2007. Australian Technical Colleges Program reportA performance audit report on the Australian Technical Colleges program has been released by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), 19 July 2007. |