Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

Measuring the Teaching and Learning Journey – John Hattie and Arran Hamilton
High-stakes assessment has been an important rite of passage throughout much of human history. Many ancient cultures and tribal societies required their young to undertake risky and painful quests to make the transition to adulthood. We continue to deploy this rite of passage in the form of national school leaver examinations today. Modern educational assessments are high stakes but without the physical risk of the tribal tests (although they can invoke high levels of stress). Read more

Musica Viva In Schools has three new touring ensembles for 2019
Musica Viva Australia have premiered three new ensembles to bring music to Australian classrooms in 2019; Adventures in Antarctica, Eastwinds; and Timmy and The Breakfast Band.
Students in Sydney, Central Coast NSW and Melbourne witnessed the debut performances of these ensembles in May. Each group will now embark on tours throughout Australia, including Adelaide, Geraldton and the Coral Coast, Perth and South Western WA and additional performances in Sydney. They join 12 other groups touring nationally for Musica Viva In Schools. Read more

Australian teachers do more with less
Australian public school teachers are innovative and adopt new ideas and approaches but face heavier workload than their peers internationally.
Bureaucracy and the pressures of dealing with complexity associated with socio economic issues eat into teaching time. Read more

Money matters more in low SES education
Like most things, money matters in education, a lot, but it’s effect is most pronounced in disadvantaged schools.
Three new US studies have found that increasing funding for disadvantaged students increases school results. They bring to 21 the number of studies in the last five years showing that funding targeted at disadvantaged students improves achievement.
In the face of the evidence even notorious sceptics of the worth of increasing school spending have been forced to concede that money matters. Read more

South Melbourne Primary School wins top architecture award
The South Melbourne Primary School designed by Architects Hayball has been named winner of the LEA’s 12th Annual Excellence in Educational Facilities Awards standing out due to its successful integration of educational pedagogies, community infrastructure and architectural design.
The architects challenged the Department of Education’s facility design standards to deliver a vertical school that sits within a public plaza and incorporates community facilities as well as an early learning centre. Read more

Kids lack basic physical skills
A program run by The University of Western Australia has found many Perth children are falling short of developing basic physical skills.
The UWA team tested more than 4000 children and found they lacked basic skills ranging from balance to running, jumping and ball skills. The team developed an eight week program concentrated on those areas and saw vast improvements.
The UWA KIDDO program, the largest of its kind in Perth, involved children aged between three and eight years with support from 41 schools and 11 early childhood education and care centres. Read more

20 years of university for people with intellectual disability
A SA university program that includes people with intellectual disability in regular university topics is celebrating its 20th.
Flinders University’s Up the Hill Project was the first of its kind in Australia and is one of just two programs nationally that support people with intellectual disability to participate in everyday university life.
Participants are assigned mentors – placement students in disability and developmental education or teaching – over the three-year program and gain improved knowledge, social skills and self-confidence. Read more

Chromebook App Hub brings hardware to life
Google found that educators were spending a lot of time researching the right apps and ideas for use in the classroom and the App Hub for Chromebooks is their response.
The online resource is designed to help educators, administrators and developers work together to learn about Chromebook apps and activity ideas for schools. Educators can discover apps for their lessons and share how they use them in their classrooms. IT administrators and curriculum designers can identify effective tools for their schools and see how technology complies with school policies. Read more