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SCHOOL EDUCATION NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA & THE UK
THE JOHN MARSDEN PRIZE FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIAN WRITERS
Best-selling author John Marsden is urging young Australian writers across the country to make themselves read.
May saw the launching of his fifth annual namesake competition encouraging
budding young novelists, poets and short story writers under 25 to send in their work with the enticing opportunity to win a chunk of the $4,500 prize money and the chance of publication.Facilitated by Express Media, the John Marsden Prize for Young Australian
Writers is judged by the celebrated author himself, who has donated the cash prize.
Winning entries will be published in Express Media’s literary quarterly, Voiceworks with applications to close Friday 28 August, 2009.
“Young writers often feel like they’re competing with the big guns of the industry, The John Marsden Prize helps to narrow the field and is a great place for young writers to feel they’re being taken seriously”.“Over the years the quality of writing has been consistently high and we
expect this year to be even better”, says Bel Schenk, Express Media’s Artistic Director.
For Entry forms and submission guidelines click here
ROLL UP, ROLL UP, CIRCUS TRAINING FOR SCHOOL
Boroondara Park Primary School students presented a circus extravaganza at the Besen Centre – the culmination of a semester of circus skills training.
Coached by the Little Devils Circus Company under the direction of Mahalia Brown, the students have mastered a range of circus skills including juggling, pois, ribbon twirling, hoola hoops and devil sticks.
The Circus Skills course is part of Boroondara Park Primary’s extensive Performing Arts Program, led by Perfoming Arts teachers Mrs Ruth Tenace and Mrs Lois Fleming.“The students have embraced the opportunity to learn the range of circus skills and have been inspired by the Circus Skills Team to exercise more and keep physically active”, said Ms Tenace.
Circus skills also develops a wide range of physical and thinking skills such as balance, concentration, coordination, spatial and body awareness, as well as general fitness; all of which have also been shown to enhance overall learning outcomes.
Circus skills programs are increasingly being implemented around the world as an innovative means of jointly addressing educational and physical development needs for young people.
Most recently within Australia, circus skills programs have been piloted as part of broader intervention programs for eating disorders and cerebral palsy.
DIG THE TROPIC
School children and students will have the opportunity to learn first-hand all about the geological wonders located along the Tropic of Capricorn, from the Great Barrier Reef and Yeppoon, to Boulia in Outback Queensland – this is ‘Dig the Tropic’ country – Australia’s newest geo-tourism destination.
Dig the Tropic will position the region as a world leader in geo-tourism - defined as “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents”.
Students are able to visit geo-tourism attractions and get their ‘hands on’ experience at a number of unique Dig the Tropic locations. For more information visit: www.digthetropic.com.au
THE AUSTRALIAN AWARDS FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE
The Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence recognise and celebrate the exceptional achievements of the teaching profession from early childhood through to senior secondary schooling.
The Awards raise the status of the teaching profession through:
* recognising, celebrating and rewarding teachers, principals, support staff and schools
* building greater appreciation in the commuity of the high quality of the Australian teaching profession
* providing professional learning experiences.
The Awards are an initiative of the Australian Government, managed by Teaching Australia with the assistance of the Australian College of Educators (ACE).
Nominations close 19 June 2009.
Click here to enter:
COMMUNITY HERITAGE GRANTS AVAILABLE
The National Library is calling for applications for the 2009 Community Heritage Grants. Grants of up to $15 000 are available to community groups around the country to help preserve and manage locally held, nationally significant cultural heritage collections for future generations.
Community organisations such as historical societies, museums, public libraries, archives, Indigenous and migrant community groups which provide public access to their cultural heritage collections are eligible to apply.
A wide range of projects may qualify for grants, including: significance assessments; preservation needs assessments; conservation and preservation activities and collection management training.
or further information, please visit http://www.nla.gov.au/chg or phone the CHG Coordinator on 02 6262 1147 or email chg@nla.gov.au
MCDONALD'S MAKES MAJOR MOVE INTO SCHOOL EDUCATION WITH FREE ONLINE MATHS PROGRAM
McDONALD'S will today make a major move into school education, offering a free maths program to more than 1.4 million students.
McDonald's restaurants across the nation are bankrolling the company's biggest foray yet into schools.
Under the scheme the Maths Online tutoring program - usually costing $40 per month - will be provided free to individuals, classes or entire schools in the government, Catholic and independent systems.
When they open the program on their computers, students will see the McDonald's logo and the words: "Proudly provided by your local McDonald's restaurant." Like the idea or shake your head in disbelief - To read further click here
SCHOOLS INVITED TO TAKE PART IN 2009 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM EUREKA PRIZES
This year the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are celebrating two milestones, the 20th anniversary of the program and a decade of rewarding science in the classroom.
Students, teachers and schools can win over $30,000 worth of cash and prizes.
The 2009 Australian Museum Eureka School Science program includes the:
• Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Action Against Climate Change Eureka Prize – develop a science presentation about reducing the effects of climate change
• University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize – produce a short film telling a science story in an entertaining and accessible way
• UTS Eureka Prize for Science Teaching – awarded to a science teacher who has motivated and inspired students to become involved in student-centred investigation
For further details go to australianmuseum.net.au/eureka for competition details, entry forms, lesson plans, examples of winning entries and much more.
AUSTRALIA'S SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE $14.7 BILLION
9540 schools are set to receive $14.7 billion over three years for new buildings and maintenance in the single largest measure in the Rudd Government's rescue package.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the money would boost the construction industry and the education sector. "First and foremost within this nation-building plan, is the single largest school modernisation program in Australia's history," Mr Rudd said. "This investment in every one of the nation's seven and a half thousand primary schools is designed to build the primary schools we need for the 21st century."
Most of the, $12.4 billion, will be spent on building facilities, such as libraries and gyms, for all of Australia's primary schools,.
The package also contains $1.3 billion over two years for building repairs and maintenance. Schools can claim up to $200,000 each.
Grants under both the major building and maintenance elements of the package will be linked to the number of students attending each school,
That money will be allocated through a competitive application process, and will be based on a school's need and ability to complete the construction by June 30, 2010.
CONSTRUCTION CAREERS FAST TRACKED AT RMIT
Skill shortages in the Australian construction industry are at critical levels and the Building Pathways to Construction launched recently at RMIT in Melbourne enables students to begin their vocational training in Year 11 and gain three qualifications and a broad range of industry experience in just four years.
Elise Toomey, Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Schools Manager at RMIT, said 12 students from schools across Melbourne had joined the pilot project.
"Students who successfully complete the credit-bearing Certificates and Diplomas can bypass ENTER score requirements and gain direct entry into a Bachelor program," Ms Toomey said.
Under the program, students study for a Certificate IV in Building and Construction in Year 11 and 12, enabling them to begin the second year of a Diploma once they have finished secondary school.
On completing the Diploma in Building and Construction, they can then progress directly into the third year of either a Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management) or a Bachelor of Applied Science (Project Management) at RMIT.
Ten of the 12 students involved in the pilot project at RMIT.
Photo: RMIT
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PLAN TO GIVE PARENTS THE POWER TO OUST UNDER PERFORMING HEADMASTERS
Parents would be able to rate their children’s education and trigger the overthrow of poor headmasters under plans being drawn up by ministers.
Councils will be required to act on their views and send in superheads or open new primaries and secondaries where families are dissatisfied.
Officials will also be expected to expand popular schools if large numbers of pupils miss out on their first choice school.
The ‘parent power’ proposals are expected to form part of a White Paper to be unveiled later this month by Schools Secretary Ed Balls. To read more about this controversial plan click here.
HEAD TEACHER WITH THE "WOW"FACTOR
Just under four years ago, New College, Leicester in England, was billed the "worst school in England", with rock-bottom exam results, poor behaviour, and demoralised staff and students. Now it is unrecognisably improved and last week Jane Brown, the "wow" headteacher brought in to transform the secondary school's fortunes, was rewarded for her success in the East Midlands regional finals of this year's Teaching Awards.
"The school was completely dysfunctional and morale was really low," Brown explains. "There were 25 unqualified or supply teachers who felt beaten and the young people were embarrassed to be at the school, which was the hardest thing to see."
With the help of an "amazing executive head", Brown set about recruiting new staff with a "flame inside them" who could make the transformation the school so badly needed.
"We've gone from 'special measures' to a school that's heading towards 'good', and that's a tribute to governors, staff and students," she says. "Without them, New College wouldn't be where it is now."
Brown has helped to create a culture of achievement in the school, pushing staff and students to progress. "The kids used to believe that they can't and now they believe they can," she adds. "They used to think they would go on the dole after they left school, but now they want to be doctors, lawyers and scientists, and all these wonderful opportunities they want to see." Read further
TWO TIER EDUCATION SYSTEM FEAR AS PUPILS TAKE RIVAL EXAM TO A-LEVELS
Record numbers of teenagers are taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) instead of A-levels, new Government figures revealed.
The trend prompted fears of a 'two-tier' education system as it emerged the growth in entries is driven by private schools and sixth-form colleges.
The total number taking the IB last year was almost 2,500 - a 40 per cent rise in just two years.
The IB - which involves studying maths, a science, a foreign language and a humanity - is seen as attractive because grading is independent of the Government.
It has also been given a greater weighting than A-levels in the UCAS university entry points system, although advocates of A-levels dispute this. To continue reading: click here.
AND MORE ON THE IB:
ALL SCHOOLS SHOULD BE FREE TO DROP GCSEs
All schools should be given the freedom to ditch GCSEs in favour of a new baccalaureate qualification for 16-year-olds, the headteacher of one of the country's leading independent schools will say tomorrow.
Anthony Seldon, head of Wellington College, will argue that all schools should be free to adopt the International Baccalaureate's middle years programme for 13 to 16-year-olds.
His own school and Dartford Grammar School, a selective state school, are pioneering the new qualification. Dr Seldon expects most of his pupils to opt for it instead of GCSEs from September.
Heads have claimed GCSEs no longer stretch the brightest pupils enough or prepare them for A-level studies. Dr Seldon says the new IBO (International Baccalaureate Organisation) MYP – as it is called – gives schools more freedom to design their own curriculum. Read further
BECTA HELPS PARENTS ENGAGE WITH CHILDREN’S LEARNING
As parents how often have you asked your child after school, what they did at school today, only to hear, “Oh nothing much”?
A new report from the UK’s Becta exposes the after-school communication challenge for parents and shows the use of simple technologies aids three-way dialogue between school, parents and children
- A third of parents feel excluded by their children
- Only 16% of children proactively talk about school day
- Children admit they want to keep ‘hassling’ parents away from school life
To read further click here
BURSARIES, A MEANS TO AN END
An insight into why private schools are so eager to recruit pupils from poorer backgrounds.
We offer means-tested bursaries,” is the near-unanimous cry from Scotland’s independent schools if ever there are suggestions of elitism. The message emanates from almost the entire sector: schools big and small, boarding and day, rural and city.
A good thing too, you might think, in these days of economic hardship — particularly for those in the financial sector, whose senior employees have been such stalwart supporters of fee-paying education.
This sudden enthusiasm is more complex than it first might appear, however. To read more click here
NO FRILLS EDUCATION: HOW TO SKIP THE SCHOOL FEES
On the face of it, the Church of Our Lady of the Holy Souls in Kensal Town, West London, does not look much like a prep school. Far from promising the playing fields of Eton, the local park doubles as the playground; there is no assembly hall and music lessons take place in the local Christian centre.
Housed in the church and “a prefab hut”, the £5,000-a-year New Model Maple Walk school is one of a new breed of less expensive private schools, for which demand is outstripping supply. Carla Power, 42, a freelance writer and mother of two, has nothing but praise for her daughters' “no-frills” prep school. “If you want rolling grounds and endless lawns for badminton, forget it. But I don't feel my girls are being intellectually or artistically impoverished,” she says. “I know that when there's a funeral in the community centre, they can't do yoga. But I'm not aware of any classes being cancelled yet, and we pray for good health in the community.” To read further click here
LEARN TO BE A TEACHER IN SIX MONTHS
People who formerly worked in the financial services and high tech industries who have lost their jobs because of the recession are being targetted to become teachers with a fast-track training scheme announced today in the UK. It is hoped that subject areas where there are a shortage of teachers such as science and maths will benefit from those people who have been made redundant because of the recession.
Schools minister Jim Knight said: "There are thousands of highly talented individuals in this country who are considering their next move, who want to do something challenging, rewarding, that is highly respected and where good people have great prospects.
"My message to them is to see what they can offer teaching and what teaching can offer them."
There has been mixed reaction to this news which has sparked anger from teachers and parents in some cases and praise from others. Many teachers are annoyed because it has taken them up to four years to qualify and parents don't want to have "failed bankers" teaching their children.
More details will be known as the program develops over the next few months with the hope that a "summer school" will be in operation for would-be teachers.
SPARKING YOUR CHILD'S IMAGINATION CAN IMPROVE THEIR APPETITE, CLAIMS SCIENTISTS
Parents can get their children to eat vegetables by giving them new 'cool' names like 'dinosaur broccoli trees' or 'power peas', according to new research.
The study found that youngsters who were given carrots for their lunch two days running ate nearly twice as many when they were renamed 'X-ray vision carrots'.
The researchers found that the influence of the new titles carried on being affective in the days following.
The children continued to eat about 50 per cent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labelled as anything special. To read this article in full click here
YEARLY SCHOOL REPORT COULD SAVE PARENTS DETECTIVE WORK
Head teachers should publish staff turnover figures, pupil exclusion rates and numbers of applications per place, to make it easier for parents to select a school for their child, a leading education adviser has said.
Sir Cyril Taylor, who advised successive education secretaries for more than ten years, said choosing a good local school was a major challenge for many parents, who often found the experience very stressful. To read this article from The Times Online click here
ST MARY'S HALL TO MERGE WITH ROEDEAN
"Mergers, acquisitions, openings and closures in the independent schools sector occur in good times and in bad due to particular local circumstances, SAID ISC Chief Executive, David Lyscom, speaking on the BBC on 25 February.
It had been clear for some time that in and around Brighton there was a structural problem in the girls' school sector, and that the pressures that led to this merger are not due to economic events since 2008. The fact that the issue of overcapacity has been resolved in a way that offers parents and children security and choice is to be welcomed, and those who negotiated this outcome are to be congratulated on achieving a solution that takes into account the needs of the children up to the end of this school year.
The best evidence ISC has from the Heads of its schools is that pupil numbers are holding up well, and that there is strong interest in filling places into the future. Many schools have waiting lists, and school open days are attracting large numbers of parents who continue to believe that UK independent schools offer the best education for their children. A recent HMC survey supported this picture. Schools will obviously approach the future prudently, and will be looking carefully at their cost base. But evidence from the 1992 recession suggests that, if there is a fall in pupil numbers, it will be gradual and modest. From 1992 to 1996 pupil numbers fell in total by only 2.4%, and they bounced back immediately thereafter.
Experience shows that expenditure on education is one of the last areas where parents will cut back.
SOME SCOTTISH SCHOOLS OFFERING BUY ONE GET ONE FREE DEALS
As private schools in Scotland are feeling the pinch of the credit crisis, many are considering staff redundancies, others are offering a buy one, get one free deal for siblings and school terms and others are putting off major renovation schemes.
To read more about how some independent schools in Scotland are dealing with the credit crunch, click here
CHILDREN LEARNING TWO LANGUAGES CAN HAVE HIGHER I.Q.s
(courtesy of BBC)
According to Professor Colin Baker from the University of Bangor, in Wales, an expert in bilingual education says bilingual children have an advantage in terms of their intelligence. "They actually have a higher IQ," he said."It seems having two languages in the brain stimulates it, adds extra associations into the brain and deepens thinking." Professor David Reynolds from the University of Pymouth, England, identifies a further reason why this trend towards learning a local language appears to have taken hold.
He said that in an increasingly globalised world, people are more keen to keep sight of their identity, and one way of achieving this is through learning your local language.
To read more click on this link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7885493.stm
TEACHERS LEAVE BRITAIN TO FIND RICH LIFE ABROAD
Schools may soon fall into crisis as increasing numbers of qualified staff take jobs overseas
Record numbers of teachers are quitting the UK to work abroad, raising fears of an exodus that will leave British schools understaffed.
The number of qualified teachers who have left to take up posts in schools overseas where the national curriculum is the same as in England and Wales has risen by 26% in three years, new figures reveal.
There are now 74,264 teachers from the UK in such schools - known as British international schools. That number is equal to almost 14% of teachers in UK state schools. ISC Research, which analyses the international schools market and collected the figures, predicts that by 2013 the number will have risen by a further 54% to nearly 115,000.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that the flight of teachers from the UK could exacerbate a shortage of maths and science teachers across the country.
To see the original article click on this link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/25/teachers-work-abroad
"BULLYING" CAN BE GOOD FOR YOU
- leave pupils to sort out spats, says expert
(by Sarah Harris Courtesy of Mail Online)
Bullying at school can actually be good for children, an academic said yesterday. She said teachers should not protect pupils from playground spats as they can help them handle difficult events in the future.
Helene Guldberg, associate lecturer in child development at the Open University, says official fretting 'over the supposedly terrible dangers of bullying in the playground, can do more harm than good'.
It denies children 'the experiences they need to develop', such as being able to resolve their own disputes, as well as stunting their development and harming their social interaction with others.
To see the original article click on this link:
