Australian Geography Teachers’ Association biennial national conference
The AGTA national conference will be held in Adelaide, South Australia from 10-13 January 2011. Further details here
6th World Environmental Education Congress
You are invited to join us in Brisbane, Australia to learn from, meet and network with environmental and sustainability educators from around the world.
The most recent Congress was held in Montréal in May 2009, with some 2200 participants from 106 countries. The 6th World Congress in Brisbane, Australia in July 2011 provides environmental educators with a unique opportunity to share and showcase their work with colleagues from around the world.
Register your interest to attend at www.weec2011.org
Email: info@weec2011.org
Pacific Neighbours: Understanding the Pacific islands
Pacific Neighbours: Understanding the Pacific islands has been produced to help students develop their
knowledge and understanding of the Pacific region, its history and geography, its political and social
development, and its people and their cultures. They will examine a range of issues that impact on the region,
consider Australia’s place and role in the Pacific and explore opportunities to take action.
AFSSSE has been funded to provide to promote and support teachers implement the teaching of this resource.
Feedback: Evaluation of professional learning activity
Sharing ideas and resources: Online dscussion forum
Resources:
Teacher's guide :: Professional learning package :: Teacher background resources :: PowerPoint presentation
Validation of Teacher Standards
AITSL has been commissioned by the Ministerial Council on Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) to validate the newly drafted National Professional Standards for Teachers. The Standards provide a key building block in raising the quality of teaching across Australia.
Any interested teachers outside the schools targeted for participation in the online surveys are invited to take part in Study two which will go live on 8 October 2010. The survey will be available on the SiMERR website: http://www.une.edu.au/simerr between 8 October and 29 October 2010.
National Regional Profiles: The One Stop Shop for data about a geographic area
National Regional Profiles (NRP) available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website provide 'snapshots' for over 2,000 regions across Australia. The profiles contain a range of data from both the ABS and other sources, for geographic areas such as Local Government Areas, Statistical Local Areas up to States and Territories. The data are presented for a number of years (2004-2008) where it is available, and therefore provides the opportunity to compare regions over time. The National Regional Profiles are found on the left hand navigation bar of the home page of the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au).
Visa launches interactive football game to help students gain money management skills
Visa has teamed up with the educational community to launch Financial Football, a fast-paced interactive game that engages students while teaching them money management skills. The FIFA World CupTM-themed game encourages players to compete by answering financial questions to pass the ball and score goals. Financial Football is free to play and available in five different languages (English, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese and Korean). To play the game or find out more about the rules, visit www.visa-asia.com/financialfootball.
Plan your own enterprise 2010 Competition
Secondary school students can gain an in-depth appreciation of the business world and its operations through the CPA Australia 'Plan your own enterprise' (PYOE) competition.
The competition requires students to submit a business plan of up to 3000 words with their creative idea for a small business.
Further details here or download the 2010 PYOE competition brochure
Asia Literacy Ambassadors – Partnering Businesses & Schools project
The project is establishing and supporting partnerships between businesses and schools to stimulate and increase student and school community demand for Asia literacy.
Skilled professionals from the business sector (Ambassadors) are being matched to secondary schools across Australia. By sharing their own story, Ambassadors are assisting school communities to better understand the diverse career and life opportunities available to employees who are knowledgeable about Asia, who speak an Asian language and have the skills and dispositions needed to effectively engage with the people and cultures of Asia, off-shore and domestically.
Ambassadors and their partner schools have the flexibility to establish a partnership that best suits the specific interests, expertise and availability of the Ambassador and the needs of the school community. Partnerships take many forms – for example, student visits to the Ambassador's workplace, presentations to student groups, dialogue with leadership teams, career practitioners, teachers and school councils, or mentoring students involved in career planning and decision-making.
Partnering Ambassadors and schools are required to participate in at least three face-to-face interactions over a six-to eight month period. Further details here.
Launch of AusCivics
Constitution Education Fund Australia (CEFA) will shortly announce detailed implementation for AusCivics, the National Imperative, a ten year pioneering strategy designed to engage and excite interest in civics education across Australia at grass roots levels. Through the medium of film, AusCivics will complement and support Australia’s current civics education programs by offering exciting new civics opportunities which will engage Australians of all ages.
To be launched in September 2010 in Broken Hill, maximum educational impact and effectiveness will be achieved through the AusCivics film festivals and road shows which will then roll out across Australia. AusCivics will also launch a national civics prize which will be focused on the designated AusCivics CEFA Pillar for that year. The AusCivics website will become a national Civics channel dedicated to multimedia “broadcast quality” resources for Australia.
Professional Standards for Teaching School Geography
The GTAV is one of four sponsors of the 'Standards for Teaching School Geography' project. The draft of these standards is now complete and teachers are invited to complete a survey to provide feedback to the project team.
Get your students thinking - BEYOND BELIEFS!
ACSA is running free professional development workshops with funding from the Myer Foundation. While the subject matter is about Muslim issues it would be particularly suitable for teachers of SOSE, English, Media, Psychology, Philosophy, Civics and Citizenship and Values Education.
ADELAIDE: Monday 19 October, Adelaide Convention Centre
MELBOURNE: Thursday 22 October, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
PERTH: Thursday 29 October, Hyatt Regency Perth
SYDNEY: Monday 2 November, Hilton Sydney
BRISBANE: Thursday 5 November, Stamford Plaza
Further details here.
Indigenous Statistics for Schools
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has developed a new, free online resource to provide teachers and students with access to data on Indigenous Australia. Indigenous Statistics for Schools (ISS) provides easy to use data for students and teachers on topics such as Indigenous population, education, health, housing, work and more. Links to the original on-line data sources are also provided for those who want more information.
The ISS web pages also cover general issues such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification (including the history of the Census questions on ethnicity), how Indigenous statistics are collected and the importance of accurate Indigenous statistics. The resource offers easy to find data for classroom use, particularly for assignments. Students can use it as a 'jumping off' point to more detailed information found in ABS publications. The resource also aim to improve students ability to appropriately and rigorously examine numerical data
This free educational resource is available from the education pages of the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au/students> and <www.abs.gov.au/teacher>.
For further information please contact Education Services on Free call 1800 623 273 or email.
Energy Safety Week
Energy Safety Week runs from 3-7 August 2009 and helps students in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland to understand energy and be safe and smart when using gas and electricity in the kitchen. Last year more than 100,000 primary and pre-primary students got involved through their schools. Involvement begins with a free toolkit which teachers can order from the Origin webpage. The toolkit hands on, has strong links to the curriculum, and comes with additional support materials. More information on Energy Safety Week is available at http://www.originenergy.com.au/esw.
National curriculum initiatives
History
Details of the national history curriculum being developed by the National Curriculum Board are available here.
Geography
Details of the 'Towards a national geography curriculum for Australia' project being undertaken by AGTA, the RGSQ and IAG are available here.
Geography – It's essential
A clear and user-friendly guide produced by the Geography Teachers' Association of Victoria setting out the place of Geography in the curiculum. The booklet aims to
* increase awareness and understanding of the characteristics and value of Geography
* support both primary and secondary educators in clarifying the essential components of teaching
Geography
* draw together all the current resources that have been written about Geography methodology and
skill development, providing links to these.
The full document is available here. Links within the document are hyperlinked to supporting documents.
Geography's place in the curriculum
- A Study into the Teaching of Geography in Years 3-10: Maps state and territory syllabus and curriculum documents and draws on interviews with representatives from key organisations. Further details here. A copy of the report can be obtained here.
- Supporting Geography in Our Schools: Media Release from The Hon Julia Gillard MP on 7 April, 2008. Further details here.
- Gillard puts geography on the map: News article published in the Age newspaper on 8 April 2008. Further details here.
Teaching for uncertain futures
Teaching Australia has released a scenario book Teaching for Uncertain Futures, about possible futures for teaching in Australia through to the year 2030. Teaching for Uncertain Futures is the work of teachers and principals from around Australia who were involved in a national scenario building project, the Open Book Scenarios, supported by Teaching Australia in partnership with the Neville Freeman Agency. The central question of the project was “What will the Australian teaching profession have to do to be successful in 2030?”
Read Teaching Australia's press release or request a copy of Teaching for Uncertain Futures from Teaching Australia, email info@teachingaustralia.edu.au.
Do you want to promote business education?
BEAQ has designed a series of full colour brochures which are suitable for use at subject and career selection and parent‑teacher evenings. Download an order form here.
Civics and citizenship education:
state of the nation
Read about developments in the implementation and assessment of the achievement of the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century relating to civics and citizenship education. National and state/territory developments, the key features of civics and citizenship education, and the results of a national program to assess the achievement of these goals are discussed. Read the article …
Understanding Money
Where does financial literacy fit into education and training? The Financial Literacy Foundation has been established by the Australian Government to give all Australians the opportunity to better manage their money. A section of the Understanding Money website provides support and advice to teachers, trainers and human resource professionals who deliver financial literacy programs. It also provides advice for developers of financial literacy educational materials.
(Financial Literacy logo Copyright waiver)
Help Geography students make their subject choice
A useful document for students about to make subject choices for the following year.
Download a copy of this updated document here. (676 KB Adobe Acrobat file)
Educating for a Sustainable Future
A National Environmental Education Statement for Australian Schools
Educating for a Sustainable Future - A National Environmental Education Statement for Australian Schools provides a nationally agreed description of the nature and purpose of environmental education for sustainability through all years of schooling, including a vision and a framework for its implementation. It is intended for teachers, schools and their communities, education systems and developers of curriculum materials. It is also intended as a companion to existing State and Territory polices and programmes and does not replace them. Download the statement as a PDF document here.