What's newUpdate 14 May: Australian budget impacts on educationAustralian Government ministers have issued announcements covering the new budget's impact on school funding, early years language education, indigenous education, higher education, university research, and the retention of the school chaplaincy program. See also report and comment in The Conversation, article on school funding in the Sydney Morning Herald, and article on higher education in the Canberra Times, all 14 May 2014. National school trades reform support securedA new national agreement will address the shortage of school students taking up trades and training. The agreement was reached at the recent meeting of the COAG Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood: see Communiqué 11 April, and statement from the Australian Government's Assistant Minister for Education, Sussan Ley, 26 April 2014. 'The seven messages of highly effective reading teachers'Effective teachers of reading characteristically convey a range of key messages to their students: see opinion article in The Conversation 1 May 2014 by Brian Cambourne, Principal Fellow, Faculty of Education at University of Wollongong. Further discussion of Review of the Australian CurriculumThe Australian Government's Review of the Australian Curriculum has too narrow a focus, according to Dr Tom Stehlik, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of South Australia: see opinion article on AARE's Eduresearch Matters blog, 27 April 2014. NAPLAN online: will Australian schools and students be ready?Glenn Finger, Professor of Education at Griffith University, discusses issues surrounding the introduction of online NAPLAN assessments, in an article on The Conversation website, 18 April 2014. How to improve faculty meetingsFormer US teacher and administrator Naphtali Hoff suggests ways to improve faculty meetings in schools, in a Smartblogs post 1 May 2014. 'Grammar matters and should be taught – differently'Students need more opportunities to learn grammar, in a way that brings the subject to life: see opinion article in The Conversation 17 April 2014 from Misty Adoniou, Senior Lecturer in Language, Literacy and TESL at University of Canberra. |