What's newAustralian Curriculum: consultation on General CapabilitiesACARA is conducting consultation on the General Capabilities within the Australian Curriculum from 10 June to 7 August 2011. Following consultation, general capabilities materials will be revised prior to publication on the Australian Curriculum website in November 2011. National Literacy and Numeracy WeekSchools across the country are being encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities in National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2011 (NLWN), which will run from 29 August to 4 September. ALEA National Conference 2011The 2011 National Conference of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (ALEA) will be held at Hilton on the Park, Melbourne, Friday 8 July to Sunday 10 July 2011. Eight tech trends for school librariansAn article in Harvard Education Newsletter May/June 2011 described eight ways in which school library staff are using technology to assist student learning. Refugee Week 2011Refugee Week is Australia's peak annual activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. This year it has been held 19–25 June. The website includes facts and figures about refugees, lesson plans and links to further resources including books, documentaries, films and online games on refugee-related issues. See also additional list of links available via Courier Mail blog post 20 June 2011. New $5m scheme for teachers in remote communitiesThe Australian Government is investing $5 million in a scheme to attract and retain high-quality teachers in remote areas. The Teach Remote program will focus on recruiting, training, supporting and rewarding teachers working in these communities. It will be managed by the National Alliance for Remote Indigenous Schools (NARIS), a partnership between the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales governments. See statement 20 June 2011 by Australian Government Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett. Education content providers collaborate to streamline education-related web searchingThe Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and Creative Commons (CC) are collaborating to improve the results of education-related online searches, through the creation of a new metadata framework. See article on MindShift website 7 June 2011. Further discussion of RI in VictoriaIn the last fortnight the media has continued to cover the issue of religious instruction in Victorian schools. See article in The Age 19 June 2011 and article in the Casey Weekly 13 June 2011. New online database of non-fiction writingByliner.com is a free, new discovery engine for narrative non-fiction. See article 21 June 2011 on the Nieman Journalism Lab website, supported by Harvard University. |