Articles

Draft national guideline to improve diagnostic practices for Australians on the autism spectrum released Australia’s first draft national guideline for autism diagnosis have been released for consultation. The draft guideline aims to create greater consistency in diagnostic practices across the country to ensure autistic individuals and their families can be assured of quality and knowledgeable advice.

Health offers future opportunities but 30% still jobless four months after graduating The 2018 edition of The Good Universities Guide reveals that while universities around the country are providing a high-quality experience for students, it’s not translating to graduate jobs. Across many courses and fields of study, Australian university students are overwhelmingly enjoying and excelling during their time at university 

Girls sweep eight medals including gold at the Int'l Physics Olympiad YiJie Neo, a Year 12 student from John Monash Science School in Melbourne, has won a gold medal in the International Earth Science Olympiad in France, bringing the Australian team medal haul to 17 at the UNESCO-sanctioned 2017 International Science Olympiads. 

$1 million boost for Northern Territory school administrators An additional $1 million per year to support business managers in Territory schools has been announced by Minister for Education Eva Lawler to assist in reducing the administrative burden on schools.

Mentoring program for early career teachers in the Northern Territory In an initiative designed to reduce the attrition rate which can be as high as 50% in the first five years, the NT Dept of Education has launched a mentoring program to support teachers in the early stages of their career.

ELLA preschool language program to be expanded The Commonwealth Government will expand the Early Learning Languages Australia program (ELLA) in 2018 with Modern Greek and Hindi to be added to Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

Education has 'dropped the ball' in teaching writing skills Many Australian children are leaving primary school without the handwriting and keyboarding skills to enable them to perform at their best in writing tasks across the curriculum, according to an Australian literacy academic.

Rissalah College to pay back $4.3 million to NSW government Rissalah College in Lakemba, Sydney, has agreed to repay $4.3m and will lose all funding if it employs, contracts with or pays long-time former Principal Ali Roude or members of his family at any future time.

Engineering is Elementary program for schools launched Questacon, Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre, and Raytheon Australia and have marked 10 years of partnership by announcing the development of a pilot of the Engineering is Elementary program for schools. 

Most disadvantaged schools missing out on Teach for Australia recruits Public schools pressure group Save our Schools (SOS) has used the findings of the Teach for Australia Evaluation Report released by the Commonwealth Dept of Education and Training to criticise the fast-track teacher training program.

$2.7m funds for intensive English tuition for refugee children in NSW schools Newly arrived refugees attending Catholic and independent schools will benefit from $2.7 million to fund intensive language tuition and other specialist support.

AITSL adds to school leadership resources collection AITSL has added to its collection of materials to support the professional growth of current and aspiring school leaders and new principals. There is a three-step guide for principals: watch the video; read the guide; explore the resources.