What's newPrimary teachers 'should specialise'Some primary teachers should become specialists to help schools deal with the crowded curriculum, according to Professor Stephen Dinham, Research Director for Teaching and Leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Professor Dinham has called for two broad teaching specialisations, one emphasising numeracy and embracing maths, science and technology, the other centred on literacy and the humanities. See article in The Age: Education 5 November 2007. Universities consider ways to encourage LOTE in schoolsAn article in The Australian 7 November 2007 describes discussions amongst university leaders about ways to support and encourage the teaching of languages other than English in schools. Students need more guidance on IT careers, say leading industry figuresSpeakers at a forum of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Foundation have argued that the technology sector is failing to convey IT career opportunities to school students, who are uncertain of how to achieve a technology career. See report in The Australian 8 November 2007. Expert suggests ways to identify dyslexiaA research team led by Dr Everada Cunningham, an Associate Dean at Swinburne University of Technology, has devised simple ways to help parents and teachers identify learning problems such as dyslexia. See article in The Age: Education 5 November 2007. Physical Education initiative in ACTAustralian Capital Territory Minister for Education and Training, Andrew Barr, has announced that the ACT Government will invest $1.2 million to ensure high quality PE in pubic primary schools. Mr Barr has also released the interim results of the LOOK (Lifestyle of Our Kids) longitudinal research project. Involving 800 ACT primary school students, the study found that at the age of 8, girls are already 20% less active than boys, but also that even boys were not very active by international standards. The LOOK project began in 2005 and will end in 2009. The London-based Commonwealth Institute is funding the research, which is effectively being used as a pilot study looking at the health of children across the developed world. See Minister's media release 7 November 2007 and report in the Canberra Times 8 November 2007. Teacher pay offer in Western AustraliaWestern Australia’s Education Minister Mark McGowan has announced a pay offer to the State's teaching workforce. See Minister's statement 3 November 2007. Article queries alternative education programs in VictoriaAn article in the Herald Sun 7 November 2007 reviews the range of alternative education programs offered in Victorian public primary schools, citing concerns about them. |