Simpson Prize 2006

The Simpson Prize is a national competition for year 9 and 10 students which will see eight students, one from each State and Territory, accompanied by two teachers flown to Gallipoli or the Western Front to attend the dawn service and other ANZAC Day ceremonies in 2006. Students can choose to respond to the topic by writing an essay or preparing an audio-visual presentation.

The competition, whilst managed by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia (HTAA) on behalf of the Australian Government, will be state based in terms of the judging. HTAA affiliates in each State/Territory will receive up to three entries from a school and will select the State/Territory winner and the runner up from these entries.

Entries close on 9 December 2005.

Details of the 2006 Simpson Prize are available here.

Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grants

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grants were developed in consultation with Business Educators Australasia (BEA) and aim to assist in the development of financial literacy skills of students in Years 7 to 12. A total of 100 grants were made in 2005.

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation Financial Literacy Grants program encourages schools to develop a creative and engaging financial literacy education program to teach students how to manage money with confidence.

A full listing of schools awarded grants in 2005 is available here.

2005 National Awards for Quality Schooling

Do you know a teacher who has made a difference to your child's learning, a principal whose leadership has played a role in attaining better outcomes for students, a support staff member who has made an important contribution to the whole community or a whole school that has pulled together to improve learning opportunities for students? If the answer is yes, then take this opportunity to nominate them for the 2005 National Awards for Quality Schooling.

The National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership is inviting applications for the awards, for which the Australian Government is providing over $1 million in prize money. The awards are open to government and non-government schools and staff, at pre-primary, primary and secondary levels.

For detailed information about the awards, including the selection criteria, application forms and the many and varied stories of the 2004 award winners,

visit www.niqtsl.edu.au or

ring freecall 1800 131 323 .

Applications for the awards close on 21 October 2005.

Online Literature Festival

Beginning in National Literacy and Numeracy Week and extending for two weeks from August 29th - September 9th, the Department of Education and the Arts' e-learning environment, The Learning Place, in partnership with State Library of Queensland, will be hosting our hugely popular Online Literature Festival once again. Over 100 online events have been organised that will build local capacity in the use of high quality and effective innovative communication technologies within literacy practices, through the online enhancement and celebration of the learning of teachers, teacher librarians, public library staff, new and beginning teachers.

The Festival will involve students from across Australia engaging with Australian children's authors and illustrators through online discussions or forums. These events will include Guess the Author, book discussions, character role play, book launches and story writing workshops.

Teachers are encouraged to celebrate and showcase student learning via active participation in the multiliteracies of chat rooms, forums, comic chats and collaborative online projects such as Book Raps and Travel Buddies.

Find out more about the Festival from our Professional Online Learning Community: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/ipswich/olf

Plan Your Own Enterprise Prize 2005

Plan Your Own Enterprise Competition 2005

Congratulations to the winners of the 2005 competition. Full details can be viewed here.

Simpson Prize 2005 winners

The History Teachers’ Association of Australia, in conjunction with its affiliates, is pleased to announce the prize winners of the Simpson Prize Competition for 2005.

Australian Capital Territory	Sally Reynolds	St Clare’s College
New South Wales	Di Yu	Pymble Ladies’ College
Northern Territory	Not awarded
Queensland	Kristy O’Brien	St Saviour’s College
South Australia	Caitlin Foxwell	Pembroke School
Tasmania	Jesse Murphy	St Patrick’s College
Victoria	Erin Ivanka	Melbourne Girls’ College
Western Australia	Matthew Dean	Narrogin Senior High School

The student winners and two teachers Ms Pam Rowney from The Wilderness School in South Australia and Mr Gerard Kay from St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School in Queensland will travel to Gallipoli for the April 2005 ANZAC day services.

A full listing of winners and runners-up with links to their essays is published here …

Two New Awards in the 2005 Australian Museum Eureka School Prizes

The 2005 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, Australia’s premier and most comprehensive national science awards, will include two new awards that significantly expand the range of students eligible to enter the Eureka school prizes. Further details here.

National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership

The National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership (NIQTSL) has been set up to support and advance the effectiveness and standing of the education profession in Australia. The Institute is active in four core areas:

professional standards and accreditation;
professional learning and course accreditation;
research and communication; and
promotion of the profession.

Until mid 2005, the Institute is governed by an Interim Board, which had its fourth meeting at the Australian National University in Canberra on 12 November 2004.

The Institute’s program of work

The Board agreed at its meeting on 12 November to a program of work which will allow the Institute to move towards some significant outcomes for the education profession. These include:

A national system for the accreditation of teachers and school leaders against advanced standards for teaching and leadership.
A national system of accreditation of pre-service teacher training programs.
A strengthened national research and evidence base to inform quality teaching and school leadership.
Enhancements to the quality of ongoing professional practice through national professional learning strategies and opportunities.
An increased pool of people who want to be teachers, because of a more positive image of the profession.

To achieve these results, the Institute plans to fund consultancies, research and investigation, fellowships and scholarships, feasibility studies, seminars and conferences and specific purpose projects. Given the broad range of possible activities, the Board has agreed to give early attention to action in areas central to its four core functions.

Action identified for early attention includes:

1. Developing guidelines for a high quality teaching practicum, as a contribution to raising the standard of initial teacher preparation across Australia and as a first step towards a national system of accreditation of pre-service teacher training programs. A consultant will advise the Institute on the key elements of a high quality teaching practicum, with a view to developing a framework that can be adopted across Australia.

2. Pilot projects to improve links between teacher training programs and schools, to support newly trained teachers in schools. These projects will fund teacher time and resources to give beginning teachers mentoring and support from experienced teachers.

3. A national school leadership learning program, a program to be developed in association with a leadership learning institution to offer high status programs on leadership standards, styles and skills, on release, to teachers and school leaders at all career stages.

4. Developing a national approach to the introduction and accreditation of advanced standards for school leadership and for accomplished teaching, using as a foundation point the National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching endorsed by Commonwealth and State Ministers in November 2003.

5. A national scenario building project, examining possible schooling futures and their implications for quality teaching and school leadership.

6. An environmental scan of existing research on quality teaching and school leadership, identifying areas where there are gaps in the research evidence, priorities for a research agenda to support the profession and strategies for communicating research findings.

7. A national awards program to recognise and reward highly accomplished teaching and school leadership.

8. Investigation of the feasibility of setting up a national centre for pedagogy.

9. Investigation of the feasibility of establishing a national clearinghouse for research on quality teaching and school leadership.

10. A series of funded projects in priority areas including primary education, mathematics, science and technology and Indigenous education, engaging education professionals in school-based action inquiry built around the concept of schools as learning communities and focused on improved student outcomes.

Involvement with the Institute

The interim period provides a wonderful opportunity for interested people to participate in and shape the preliminary work of the Institute and influence its future directions. The Board welcomes contact about these matters. Contact details are:

Interim NIQTSL
Australian National University
5 Liversidge Street
ACTON ACT 0200
Phone: 1800 337 872
Fax: (02) 6125 1644
Email: NIQTSL@NIQTSL.edu.au

Values Education, Civics and Citizenship across Australia

AFSSSE was funded by the Department of Science, Education and Training, Commonwealth of Australia, through the Quality Outcomes Programme to

host teacher professional development activities, one in each State and Territory between November 2003 and March 2004, and
provide summaries from each of the teacher professional development activities.

The Project was successfully concluded in June 2004. Reports on the teacher professional development activities held are available here on the AFSSSE website.

New member association welcomed

We are pleased to welcome the Legal Studies Association of NSW Inc. who have become a member of the Business Educators Australasia (BEA).

We look forward to a long association with our colleagues in NSW and wish them well with their activities.

Further details about the Legal Studies Association of NSW Inc. can be obtained from Brian Elliott Moorebank High School (Telephone 02 9601 3999, Fax 02 98225096 or email brelliott@ozemail.com.au).

Harmony Day celebrations

Over six hundred students accompanied by the staff of St Mary's Anglican Girls' School, Western Australia took part in a celebration of Harmony Day. Meredith Wright, HTAA’s representative on the AFSSSE Board looks on as the students participate in one of the day’s activities.

Details of the activities held at St Mary's Anglican Girls' School can be obtained from Meredith Wright.

Harmony Day at St Mary's Anglican Girls' School, Western Australia