What's newEducation Week New South WalesEducation Week in New South Wales public schools will be held from Monday 26 May to Sunday 1 June 2008. The theme is 'A love of learning, NSW Public Schools – leading the way'. Schools and regions will be hosting a wide range of local and regional activities and events which showcase the quality and diversity of education across the State, from informative workshops and sample lessons to school expos, community projects, demonstrations and award presentations. NZ Techlink websiteThe Techlink website, an initiative of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, publishes a range of resources for teaching technology. The site includes case studies of successful and innovative ICT programs in schools. Four of the case studies are summarised in a Curriculum Leadership abstract published 24 April 2008. A popular additional case study added in March describes two schools who designed and constructed street luges and raced them at a track designed for Winter Olympics training. Other popular areas on the site are a student showcase for outstanding work and a parents' information section designed to inform parents about what their children are learning in technology and why it is important. Queensland principal appointment guidelinesNew Queensland Government guidelines for appointing principals will aim to improve stability for school communities while supporting school leaders’ career paths. Education and Training Minister, Rod Welford, said changes had been made to principal appointments and secondments to ensure greater consistency of leadership in schools. The new guidelines aim to limit the number and length of secondments outside the school. Principals should commit to lead a school for two years before they take up a transfer or promotion to a position at another state school in Queensland. See Minister's media release 29 April 2008. New specialist teachers to enter Queensland classroomsA new scholarship program from the Queensland Government will see more than 130 teachers complete specialist qualifications this semester. Areas such as special education, industrial technology and design, science and maths have been targeted to anticipate teacher shortages in these areas. Teachers are particularly in demand in some regional areas, where specialist teachers have opted out of schools in favour of the plentiful job positions in mining and trades. Teachers will be posted to schools with identified needs in Semester 2 of this year. See media release 30 April 2008 by Minister for Education and Training, Rod Welford. $84 million for school maintenance in QueenslandThe Queensland Government has launched a school maintenance program to ensure all students are able to learn in safe classrooms. State Minister for Education and Training, Rod Welford, has noted that as well as routine funds for school maintenance, there is also a range of special maintenance programs for larger projects. See Minister's media release 30 April 2008. Further discussion of NSW school staffing reformsThere has been further discussion of new staffing arrangements in public schools introduced by the New South Wales Government. See report on ABC News 28 April 2008 and earlier report in last week's edition of Curriculum Leadership. Evaluation of teachers in the classroomNew South Wales Minister for Education and Training, John Della Bosca, has rejected a proposal from the Australian Secondary Principals Association (ASPA) to record teachers in the classroom for purposes of performance evaluation. See report on ABC News 27 April 2008. Industrial ban on supervision of student teachers in TasmaniaIn Tasmania the Australian Education Union (AEU) has banned student teachers going into public schools, calling for more remuneration for the teachers that supervise them. See report on ABC News 28 April 2008 and AEU circular 2 April 2008. US report rates teacher experience higher than advanced degreesTeacher experience has a greater impact than advanced qualifications in lifting students' academic performance, according to a report in the USA published late last year. See article in SeattlePi 3 December 2007. British website offers forum for art debateBridgeman Education in Britain has launched an online gallery that will enable teachers and lecturers to discuss 'sometimes sensitive or taboo subjects through fine art images and photography', according to a media release 18 April 2008. |