Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

There is no teacher who can teach a student who does not want to learn
William Glasser acknowledges that "there [are] no doubt ... some teachers who are more skilful at motivating than [others; however,] there is no teacher, no matter how skilled, who can teach a student who does not want to learn." Glasser adds to this by noting: “We can force ... students to stay in school ... but we can no more make those students work than we can make the proverbial horse drink even though we tether him to the water trough." Read more

Young inventors' chance to visit NASA
There’s a few days left for budding young inventors to enter Origin’s littleBIGidea competition and potentially win a trip to NASA in the USA.
littleBIGidea invites Aussie kids in grades three to eight to enter their innovative ideas, entries close on Friday 13 September 2019 and hundreds of ideas have already been received.
New judge and 2018 NSW Young Australian of the Year, Macinley Butson is looking for ideas that demonstrate creative thinking and practicality. Read more

New perspectives of first contact in Australia
To examine first contact in Australia from a different perspective, Flinders University academics Dr Gillian Dooley and Dr Danielle Clode have edited a new book that presents an alternative view of early coastal contact history.
The First Wave draws together 26 essays, stories, and poems from a range of authors, some of Aboriginal heritage. This includes thought-provoking poetry by Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal poet Ali Cobby Eckermann and fiction by Miles Franklin award-winning Noongar author Kim Scott.
Read more

Villawood North Public School picks up $15k for STEAM
Beating 1600 other entrants, Villawood North Public School primary teacher Thuy Nguyen, has been announced as the national winner of the 2019 OfficeMax and Winc Australia STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) Grants Program.
Villawood North Public School is a public school in Fairfield East providing education for a richly diverse community with 90% of students having a language background other than English.
The annual OfficeMax and Winc Australia Grants Program provides support to schools with resources and funding to integrate STEAM learning. On top of the $5000 grant won as the New South Wales state winner, Thuy was awarded an additional $10,000. Read more

Majority of young girls with disabilities bullied on the quiet
Some 57% of girls with disabilities in upper primary school have experienced covert bullying where they are excluded from social circles, rejected, subjected to vicious rumours, whispering and threatening looks.
A research team, led by University of South Australia researcher Dr Anna Moffat and including Prof Gerry Redmond and Assoc Prof Pammi Raghavendra from Flinders University, used data from the Australian Child Wellbeing Project, a survey of 4753 Australian children aged 8-14 years, 490 of whom identified as living with a disability.  Read more

Pay equity for school administrative and support staff
More than 18,000 administrative and support staff in 2200 NSW public schools will benefit from an 11% pay rise after the NSW Department of Education and the Public Service Association reached an in-principle agreement in the union’s pay equity application in the IRC.
Mark Scott, Secretary of the DOE said, "The new three-year award includes changes to SASS classifications, recruitment and work practices that will enhance the day to day operations of schools and directly benefit our many SAS staff, the vast majority of whom are women." Read more

ATO’s 2019 Tax, Super + You competition finalists
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has named 14 finalists in the 2019 Tax, Super + You competition with shortlisted entries including songs, animations and rap music videos.
This year, the Tax, Super + You competition saw a record number of submissions with 178 entries received from high school students across the country. Students from Western Australia submitted the highest number of entries (84), followed by New South Wales (45) and Victoria (34). Read more