Articles

Congratulations Renee McCarthy 2017 ARIA Music Teacher of the Year At the 2017 ARIA Awards, Renee McCarthy (Ms Mac if you’re her student) from Woodcroft College in Morphett Vale South Australia received the inaugural ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award.

Amgen biotech experience There’s nothing like getting your hands dirty when you’re learning something new or, in the case of the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE), your micropipette. The program which has run for close to 30 years in the US and the UK launched in Australia in September after pilot programs were well attended and received. And that’s for good reason; the program gives teachers and students access to (expensive) industry standard equipment and exposure to the work that biomedical researchers and technicians perform every day.

Gaming education If there was one thing that came out of the recently released Digital Australia Report which looked into the effects of gaming in Australia it’s that video games have infused every part of the society.

Mentoring girls into maths The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) and the BHP Billiton Foundation’s Choose Maths Gender Report makes for some concerning reading.

Recognising the value of industry-driven skills   There’s nothing wrong with a job where you come home with your hands dirty and sweat upon your brow, plenty will tell you of the fun to be had in physical work and indeed many trades can be very financially rewarding.

There’s more than one path to a satisfying career We all make youthful mistakes, it's just the ones we make with regard to education are particularly persistent. Too many students are dropping out of uni, too many regret the electives they’ve chosen.

Schools still gatekeeping disabled students We’ve come a long way toward inclusion of disabled students in schools but we’re far from done. While a lot of schools are doing a great job with disabled students some are still actively blocking them from attending.

NDIS exclusion of education a missed opportunity The opportunity to develop a progressive disability policy-funding system providing seamless access to appropriate services and support has not been realised with the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, show researchers from Deakin University.

Arts:Live adds Sustainable Songs to online lessons Sustainable Songs is a new music resource developed by Arts:Live in partnership with The a2 Milk Company. The project takes children through a process of making and playing fruit and veggie instruments and then recycling the scraps to make a delicious Musical Soup.

NSW DEC challenges construction and design community to develop model to reduce demountables The construction and design community is being challenged to develop a new high-quality, classroom model that can reduce the number of demountable classrooms used in NSW government schools.

Outstanding teachers recognised in WA 2017 Education Awards Outstanding teachers, administrators and schools have been recognised in the 2017 WA Education Awards. The individual award winners received $25,000, 50% for professional development and 50% cash. Finalists in each category received $2500. The primary and secondary schools and The WA Premier’s Excellence in Aboriginal Education winners received $15.000. 

Empowering leadership through proactive strategies We all see how schools, as with other organisations, are becoming busier with reduced resourcing and funding. We are left with a need to contemplate how we find the energy and techniques to better engage our staff, develop professional practice and achieve improved student learning outcomes? A leader’s role is to ensure smooth facilitation of school requirements, be it regulatory needs, staff management or responding to student issues.