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2017 (17) 19 June 2017
ET News Digest
Your Weekly Education Newsletter
 Whose fault is it?Principals that assign teachers outside their qualifications risk their burning out - Dennis SleighIt is probably not news (at least to most teachers) to read about “Principals causing teachers stress”. That was the heading in a daily news bulletin (1) that I saw recently and as a former principal, I decided to see what my successors were up to now. The story turned out to be a report about Dr Anna Du Plessis, discussing the impact of allocating teachers to classes for which they are not trained.
Dr Du Plessis is a Research Scholar at ACU’s Learning Sciences Institute of Australia, and her book on teacher burnout will be published shortly. The article announced that “Principals need to be aware that when they assign teachers to positions outside their qualifications, it can lead to stress, burnout, and drag on student achievement”. It added that “…raising awareness of principal s about the implications of assigning teachers outside their qualifications was the first step in minimising the impacts (of burnout).” Read More Federal funds to be revoked from non-compliant Islamic College of South Australia
The Federal Government has announced that an internal review has reaffirmed the decision to revoke approval for access to funds.
Principal Kadir Emniyet told The Adelaide Advertiser he had been sacked by text message on Wednesday morning, and that the school has been insolvent for a fortnight and cannot pay staff. Read More  Children with food allergies more likely to be victims of bullyingFood allergy incidences are increasing in Australia, with most recent reports putting the figure at one in 12 children.
Recent evidence suggests that children with food allergies also experience an increased occurrence of bullying compared to other school-aged children. Some children reported being bullied because of their allergies and others were taunted, for example, by being touched with the food they were allergic to, or had their food contaminated with an allergen. Read More Gonski 2.0 updateThis week, the Australian Senate will vote to pass legislation on the new Gonski funding model.
The Australian Greens have highlighted several major concerns with the government’s proposed schools funding model in a Senate inquiry report that was tabled in the Parliament last week.
However Education Minister Simon Birmingham is "really hopeful" they will get the legislation through. Read More  Application essay for prospective teaching students in QLDFrom August 2017, prospective teaching students will be required to submit a 1000-word essay on why they want to teach before being accepted into Queensland universities.
As well as meeting academic requirements, applicants will have to write 500 words about their motivation and suitability to teach and another 500 words about their learning or leadership activities. Read More SA General Capabilities to help with learning and lifeThe SA Education Department has produced a ‘snapshot’ guide for parents and caregivers to summarise the seven general capabilities students learn throughout their schooling - which have been designed specifically to focus on the jobs of the future.
The seven general capabilities taught throughout the Australian curriculum are: Literacy; Numeracy, Information and Communication Technology, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding. Read More  Turning SA schools into community centresA set of videos has been released highlighting the SA government’s proposal to transform schools into hubs that enhance community engagement.
The videos feature a group of schools who discuss how they initiated the concept and now successfully use their sites to host programs and activities which align with community needs. Read More  Reading Leader Award announcedThroughout Australian schools there are teachers, librarians and support staff implementing programs and encouraging students to read more and enjoy reading. Through their actions and efforts we see more kids reading and kids reading more.
Scholastic Australia in partnership with APPA wants to celebrate Reading Leaders in schools by establishing the Scholastic Reading Leader award. Read More  School drop-outs cost the communityA report by The Mitchell Institute finds large numbers of young Australians are not succeeding in education and training, and it’s costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year.
The findings reveal one in eight Australians will never attain a Year 12 qualification, and some of them will make up the one in eight adults who will be disengaged from the workforce for most of their lives. Read More Year 1 phonics tests will only work if changing how phonics is taughtThe federal government’s plan to introduce literacy tests for all Australian pupils in Year 1 will only improve children’s reading skills if accompanied by a more systematic approach to the use of phonics, according to Adelaide educator Jenny Allen.
Allen, who is Director of REM+ Tuition in Tranmere, runs specialist programmes for pre-school and dyslexic children, and has successfully used phonics to teach children in Adelaide how to read for more than 16 years. Read More More teachers aides for QLD Prep classesEvery Queensland state school Prep class will have a Prep teacher aide from the beginning of the 2018 school year.
Over 100 additional full-time equivalent teacher aides will be allocated to ensure that all prep teachers can be supported by a dedicated teacher aide. Read More  
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