Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

Why good teachers leave the profession
Teachers leave the profession regularly, especially the good ones, money is one reason, but it isn’t the primary one.
Based on US figures from Gallup, the primary reason teachers gave for leaving their last job was career advancement or development; 60% of teachers who left voluntarily said a lack of career advancement was why they were going elsewhere. Read more

Boys’ club leads to bullying of females in schools
Around half of female teachers say that they’ve experienced discrimination in schools which isn’t great, but on the upside around half also reported that they’re happy enough in their jobs.
While the teaching profession is female dominated with 70.6% of the workforce being women, the gender of those in leadership positions still doesn’t reflect that. Read more

A light goes on…
So you are a digital class or teacher? Work in a 1:1 environment? Paperless school? That means you’ve cracked it right? The digital utopia is yours, you are a 21st-century educator leading edge etc… But somewhere in the back of your mind is this nagging doubt … Is this it? You have attended conferences, PLD, you can converse about the SAMR model and TPACK but still your class has really really expensive typewriters? Read more

Teacher registration changed to consider child safety
An independent review into the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) has seen children’s safety placed front and centre when assessing prospective teachers’ suitability for the profession.
The 34 recommendations from the review will begin to put changes into place to enhance the way the VIT functions, including making legislative changes. Read more

Cancer researcher and entrepreneur win indigenous STEM awards
As well as being the first Indigenous Australian to attend Oxford and Cambridge Universities as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr Misty Jenkins has worked with Nobel Laureates and is a passionate advocate for building the STEM literacy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
A cancer researcher and Gunditjmara woman, Dr Jenkins took out the STEM Professional Career Achievement Award at the second Indigenous STEM Awards. Read more

Young teachers lack support, so they leave
It's a hard life being a young teacher, your employment is insecure, you get little support and as a consequence, many throw their hands up and leave for a different profession.
Slipping through the cracks: teachers who miss out on early career support looks into the phenomenon and is surprisingly the first investigation of the issue. Early career teachers were most likely to report missing out on mentoring, orientation programs and reduced workload. Read more

Attendance leads to achievement
If kids don’t go to school regularly, their academic careers and futures look shakey, it’s one of those simple but profound realisations that can lead to better outcomes for students if policy is framed in the right way.
Rather than penalise those who regularly skip school the behaviour should be seen as an indication to step in and help says The Smith Family report – Attendance lifts achievement: Building the evidence base to improve student outcomes.
Read more