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 RELIGIOUS
SCHOOLS
Discrimination Bill passes lower house
The Examiner, 30
Apr 2015
A Bill to allow schools to discriminate between students on
religious grounds has been passed by the House of Assembly...
 STUDENT
CERTIFICATION
TASC to replace TQA
Tas Govt media release, 1
May 2015
Parliament has passed the
legislation that will enable the new Office of Tasmanian Assessment,
Standards and Certification to replace the Tasmanian Qualifications
Authority..
NUMERACY
Teaching times tables
The Conversation (opinion),
1 May 2015
 Children need to do more than just learn the times tables by rote, a
professor of psychology says...
REVIEW OF
THE EDUCATION ACT
Handling bad behaviour by parents
The Mercury, 1 May 2015
 The Tasmanian Principals
Association and the Catholic schools have called for legislated
changes to the ways aggressive behaviour by parents and students can
be handled..
Review of the
Tasmanian Education Act website
PRINCIPAL
WELFARE
Stressed principals
The Mercury, 28 Apr 2015
 Tasmania's principals, as
well as those in other states, are stressed from overwork and from
dealing with a lack of resources, a survey by the Australian
Catholic University shows..
TASMANIA'S
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Online programs key for colleges
The Mercury (opinion), 27
Apr 2015
 Success in enhancing the education system at
college level in Tasmania requires greater exploitation of the
potential of online learning programs and increased participation at
that level by past Year 10 leavers, education consultant Mike
Middleton writes..
EDUCATION
FORUM
Education key to lifting incomes
 The Examiner, 24
Apr 2015
Economist Saul Eslake told an education forum in
Burnie that the incomes of Tasmanians would be raised if they stayed
at school longer..
Education forum video clips, The Advocate, 24 Apr 2015
 ANZAC
COMMEMORATIONS
Schools hold Anzac ceremonies
The Examiner, 24
Apr 2015
Schools have recognised
the Anzac centenary and this year's Anzac Day by holding a variety
of special ceremonies ..
LITERACY
Reading Challenge looms
Tas Govt media release, 23
Apr 2015
 The 2015 Premier's Reading
Challenge begins on Tuesday 9 June..
Reading Challenge website
REPLACEMENT OF TQA
Fear for TQA's TCE
ABC News, 18
Apr 2015
Two
UTAS academics have called for a public inquiry over concerns the
replacement of the Tasmanian Qualifications Authority with a
bureaucrat. will lead to a lowering of standards in awarding the
Tasmanian Certificate of Education..
REVIEW OF
THE EDUCATION ACT
Submissions made public
Tas Govt media release, 17
Apr 2015
Submissions made to the
government's review of the Tasmanian Education Act have been placed
online, education minister Jeremy Rockliff announced today...
Review of the Tasmanian
Education Act: SUBMISSIONS
Review of the
Tasmanian Education Act website
Commissioner for Children
urges alternatives for school suspensions, The Mercury, 18 Apr 2015
CENTENARY
OF ANZAC
Anzac exhibition open at TMAG
Tas Govt media release, 17
Apr 2015
 The Suspense is Awful: Tasmania and the Great War,
a free exhibition to mark the Centenary of Anzac, is now open at the
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. (Note that TMAG is closed on
Mondays.)...
Suspense is Awful website
 UPSKILLING
SCHOOL STAFF
Diplomas for school admin staff
Tas Govt media release, 16
Apr 2015
School business managers are to have the
opportunity to earn a Diploma of Business Administration which could
eventually lead to a Bachelor of Business Administration
qualification, education minister Jeremy Rockliff announced today...
 GENDER ROLES
Avoiding career gender-stereotyping
The Conversation (opinion),
16
Apr 2015
Countering the formation
of gender-based career aims in young people needs to begin when
children are very young, argues a PhD student...
STARTING
AND LEAVING AGES
Raise leaving age, says uni
The Examiner, 14
Apr 2015
A submission from UTAS's Education
Faculty argues the school leaving age should be raised to 18 years
and the starting age of prep should be raised to four-and-a-half years...
TEACHER
TRAINING
New teacher intern system for Tas
Tas Govt media release, 14
Apr 2015
The Minister for Education
and Training, Jeremy Rockliff, has announced an alternative final
year teacher education program in which student teachers spend their
final year in government schools...
TEACHER
SUPPORT
Focus on teacher support, not My School
The Conversation
(opinion), 10
Apr 2015
Student outcomes will be improved by providing teachers with better
ways to know about their students' learning rather than by believing
in the My School website's ability to create effective competition
between schools, two Grattan Institute researchers say...
 CRICKET
Richie Benaud dies
ABC News, 10
Apr 2015
Cricket commentator and
former Australian cricket team captain Richie Benaud has died aged
84 ...
TEACHING
METHODS
Teach explicitly more
The Conversation
(opinion by Greg Ashman), 9
Apr 2015
Teachers need to consider using more explicit teaching and rely less
on inquiry learning, a PhD candidate argues ...
TASANIAN
EDUCATION SYSTEM
MOFO's Hothouse to focus on Tas education
 The Mercury, 8
Apr 2015
MOFO's Hothouse Project will promote discussion
of ideas to improve the educational outcomes of Tasmania's students...
MOFO Hothouse Project website
RELIGIOUS
SCHOOLS
Concern over Bill's threat to human rights
The Examiner, 8
Apr 2015
Proposed Tasmanian
legislation to allow schools to discriminate between students on
religious grounds has been criticised by the Anti-Discrimination
Commissioner, Robin Banks...
Bill should be withdrawn, Nick McKim, Greens education
spokesperson, 8 Apr 2015
EFFICIENCY
IN EDUCATION
Tas education system needs to change
The Examiner, 7
Apr 2015
Economist Saul Eslake says the number of
relatively small government schools in Tasmania needs to be reduced...
Missing boy found
 ABC News, 7
Apr 2015
The 11-year-old boy
with autism missing for five days in Central Victoria has been found
alive...
 STUDENT
SUPPORT
Call for disabilities inquiry
ABC News, 5
Apr 2015
Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten has called for a
national inquiry into the education of children with a disability
following the caging of a Canberra student with autism...
DAYLIGHT
SAVING
Turn clocks back tonight
timeanddate.com, 4
Apr 2015
Clocks should be turned back one hour before you go to bed tonight,
ready for the daylight saving changeover at 3.00am on Sunday morning
when the time reverts to 2.00am EST...
ASTRONOMY
Cloud to hide eclipse of moon?
news.com.au, 4
Apr 2015
 The current odds are that tonight's
lunar eclipse will be eclipsed by local clouds, but anyway here are
the times:
- 9.16pm: partial eclipse commences
-
10.58pm-11.03pm: total eclipse
- 12.45am Sun: partial eclipse
ends
...
EXTENSION
TO YEARS 11 AND 12
Six more extended schools
Tas Govt media release, 2
Apr 2015
 Education minister
Jeremy Rockliff has announced that the following schools will
receive funding to support the extension of their classes to Years
11 and 12:
- Campbell Town District High School
- Mountain
Heights District School
- New Norfolk and Glenora District High
Schools (in partnership
- Rosebery District High School
-
Tasman District High School
- Cressy District High School (from
2017)...
APRIL
FOOLS' DAY
Pranks galore
The Mercury, 1 Apr 2015
 Even The Mercury joined in
today's April Fools' Day fun, running a story (on page 3) about the
moss being cleaned off rocks on Mt Wellington to "bring out the
natural beauty" of the rocks...
Others worth mentioning:
Zombie Outbreak Response Unit formed by Tasmania Police (Tas Police
Facebook page)
North West potato farmer developing
world's first square potatoes (The Advocate)
Labor to launch
onion-a-day health policy (Bill Shorten's Facebook page)
A children's internet safety
promoter announced that NSW premier Mike Baird would be
selling off the state's playgrounds because "Kids don't play in playgrounds
any more" (From list in The Examiner)
Perhaps the best one was the ABC
Country Hour's story about
cows equipped with wi-fi facilities (ABC web page: the story is the last one
on the audio)
But the prize for (possibly) being
really mischievous goes to the Independent Education Union for
choosing April Fools' Day to announce that their long-running
dispute with the Catholic Education Office was (actually)
finally over.
EDUCATION
BUDGET
Rally warns against further cuts
ABC News, 1 Apr 2015
 Parents, union officials and
politicians gathered in front of Parliament House today to call on
the state government to refrain from carrying out any further
education cuts, prompting education minister Jeremy Rockliff to
promise that next month's Budget will contain no new cuts to schools...
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