Campaign for recognition of Australia’s First Peoples
30 May 2017
Section: News
The Referendum Council’s Uluru Statement, arising from the National Constitutional Convention attended by more than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates last week, calls for:
Talking and questioning improves student outcomes: CPL course
29 May 2017
Section: News
Ways to increase students’ attention spans were shared at the Centre for Professional Learning’s Improving Student Learning by Creating a Thinking Classroom course today. The brain is looking for novelty, presenter Sandra Rohan said. Other tools for increasing student attention spans include incorporating humour, music, movement, choice and games.
Public Education Day, 25 May 2017
25 May 2017
Section: News
A message from Maurie Mulheron, President NSW Teachers Federation
A cuppa and a chat with your MP to mark Public Education Day
25 May 2017
Section: News
Federation members and staff celebrated Public Education Day today with a morning tea during which they lobbied state and federal representatives to keep faith with the original full Gonski schools funding plan.
It takes a very special person to be a teacher: launch of new TV and cinema ads
23 May 2017
Section: News
It takes a very special person to be a teacher: launch of new TV and cinema ads
Powerful poetry gets giggles and raises issues faced by Aboriginal Australians
23 May 2017
Section: News
Federation’s Aboriginal Members Conference delegates were treated to performance poetry by Steven Oliver of Black Comedy fame on Saturday. His poems raise issues such as Aboriginal incarceration levels, reduced life-expectancy, substance abuse and suicide rates:
More than half of students with disability missing out on funded support, according to government figures
22 May 2017
Section: News
Figures from the 2016 Nationally Consistent Collection of Data confirm there is a crisis in disability education in Australia, said AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe in a media release on Saturday. “This annual census shows 469,000 students have a disability or learning difficulty but schools are only receiving funding to support 200,000 students with disability,” Ms Haythorpe said.
When commercialisation meets education: scripted lessons
22 May 2017
Section: News
The challenge to reverse the growing commercialisation and privatisation of education requires solidarity across nations, Education International project director Angelo Gavrielatos told Federation’s 20th Aboriginal Members Conference on Saturday.
Achievements and challenges of Aboriginal journeys shared at Friday Forum
20 May 2017
Section: News
The life journeys of several Aboriginal men and women were shared at Federation’s Friday Forum last night, ahead of today’s Aboriginal Members Conference. “I believe we are in the fourth phase of our shared history,” said Uncle Vic Chapman, who was the first Aboriginal principal in NSW public schools.
Aboriginal Members Conference
20 May 2017
Section: News
Federation’s 20th Aboriginal Members Conference gets underway this morning with an agenda full of topics of interest to teachers. Workshop sessions will cater for teachers’ varying interests, including:
Turnbull’s cuts agenda failed to convince State Ministers
18 May 2017
Section: News
Parents, school communities and state ministers remain united in their fight against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s agenda of education cuts that will see students miss out on $3.2 billion in funding in 2018 and 2019, the Australian Education Union said in a media release today. Today’s COAG Education Council meeting was a farce, aimed at giving states the illusion of consultation, in an attempt to railroad states to agree on a flawed plan, the federal union said.
IDAHOT marks turning point
17 May 2017
Section: News
Today is IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) or IDAHOBIT International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia), an internationally recognised day of action to give visibility to the experiences of LGBTIQ people around the world. The day marks the date that the World Health Organisation decided to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990 and as such is an appropriate day to take action against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
Teachers welcome Labor’s pledge to invest in public schools and TAFE
12 May 2017
Section: News
The NSW Teachers Federation welcomes Federal Labor’s budget reply announcement of greater investment in public schools and TAFE.
Data shows NSW public schools to lose millions under Turnbull funding plan
11 May 2017
Section: News
NSW public schools will lose $846 million under the Turnbull government’s plan for school funding, Acting Federation President Gary Zadkovich said today.
Dramatic intervention on school funding
11 May 2017
Section: News
In an unprecedented move, the head of NSW public education has been compelled to urgently write today to every public school principal in the state, instructing them not to rely upon or trust the funding figures released by the Turnbull Government.
Federal Budget robs NSW public school students of proper support
10 May 2017
Section: News
Last night’s federal Budget confirms the Turnbull government intends to abandon genuine needs-based schools funding, Federation Acting President Joan Lemaire said today. Under the six-year National Education Reform Agreement (NERA) signed between Commonwealth and NSW in 2013, all NSW public schools would have achieved the Schooling Resource Standard by 2019, but the Turnbull government’s plan to dishonour the Gonski agreement and spread less money over 10 years means schools might never meet the standard and will remain under-resourced.
Birmingham admits new plan won’t give all students the resources they need
5 May 2017
Section: News
Education Minister Simon Birmingham has admitted that there is no guarantee schools will reach the Schooling Resource Standard under the Turnbull government’s new funding model, the Australian Education Union (AEU) charged today. Mr Birmingham’s comment yesterday that how the states managed their share of education funding was up to them showed the federal government has effectively abandoned the most disadvantaged schools and is “pursuing equity between states at the expense of equity for students”, the AEU said.
Voters prefer Gonski to ‘out of touch’ Turnbull’s company tax cuts
4 May 2017
Section: News
Voters want next week’s federal Budget to fund Gonski in full rather than see Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gifting business with tax cuts, the Australian Education Union (AEU) said today, citing a new survey of 20 marginal seats. The polling, which shows 71 per cent of respondents see Mr Turnbull as being out of touch with their concerns, reinforces the AEU’s condemnation of the federal government’s announcement this week to leave schools $2 billion worse off in 2018-19 by not funding Gonski in full. Voters strongly supported increasing resources for schools.
Turnbull schools funding plan denies learning opportunities to NSW children
3 May 2017
Section: News
Every year that schools are not funded to the minimum resource standard students will be denied the opportunity to reach their potential, Federation Acting President Joan Lemaire said today. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday announced a 10-year funding plan that would effectively prevent all schools reaching the minimum schooling resource standard. If the Turnbull government fully funded its part of the six-year Gonski agreements signed with several state and territory governments, all schools would reach this standard by 2019.
The campaign is working! We must keep the pressure on Turnbull
2 May 2017
Section: News
Today’s announcement by the Federal government tells us that our schools funding campaign has been having a significant impact. It is now more important than ever to keep the pressure on the federal government to deliver the existing funding commitments. Tonight’s tweetathon is a vital chance to tell Malcolm Turnbull that he must deliver on current funding agreements. We need everyone to get on twitter tonight between 6:30 and 8:30pm, tag @turnbullmalcolm, and tell him that he must deliver the current schools funding agreements, now!