How many of you follow Dumbo Steiner? It’s a roll-your-eyes, recognisable, cathartic Instagram capture of the frustration, exquisite hope and absolute absurdity that is teaching today. And yes, just one of those absurdities is the frantic line-up at the photocopier as the minutes tick down to the first lesson. Have you pondered the false… Read more
The Research Project is a great opportunity for students to loosen the shackles of a tight curriculum and immerse themselves in a project completely of their own choosing. We already understand how valuable the SACE Research Project is in developing those transferable skills that will serve young South Australians well throughout life, planning, research, communication,… Read more
Work and careers education is a different beast to that of a generation or two ago. It’s no longer the sole domain of the later years of secondary school, and no longer has the sole focus of student streaming. Sure, there’s still the preparation for subject choice and career pathways, the ever valued or… Read more
SEEK.com recently dug into their job ads to explore jobs growth throughout Australia in 2017, and some of the results are quite revealing. With all of the publicity surrounding the need for students to explore STEM options, it won’t come as any surprise to find that science, technology and engineering jobs recorded strong growth in… Read more
A shift in dynamics In what seems to have been the blink of an eye, the shape and dynamics of the workforce has shifted. The staid and steady career for life has largely given way to a patchwork of casual jobs, short-term contracts and innovative start-ups. Long-term security seems to have been lost, and some… Read more
What is DIPP? Defence Industry Pathways Program (DIPP) is collaboration between TAFESA, ASC, Department for State Development and the Advanced Technology Project (ATP); and that’s a mouthful of acronyms! Focussing on manufacturing and design, DIPP is a semester long course that helps students to develop the high-level employability skills so important to advanced manufacturing roles… Read more
For some educators teaching is a vocation to which they dedicate their entire working life. For others it’s a profession they visit for a time before moving on. Whichever direction they take, countless ex-teachers are out there carving successful careers, utilising the skills and resilience their time in the classroom has bestowed. Most ex-teachers go… Read more
As teachers we sometimes get so bound up in what’s going on in the classroom that it is easy to lose sight of the end goal. In particular, we can be so focussed meeting the letter of the law with regard to collecting evidence of a student’s competency that we forget that the purpose of… Read more
Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand. Confucius The classroom has always been the thriving domain of competition in the form of essays, role-play, quizzes and games. In today’s digital classroom, this type of good-natured competition takes on different forms. Gamification is now the buzz… Read more
We already know that the dynamic and changing workforce will see young people shifting through several jobs, and careers in their lifetime. It’s an exciting time, and might seem daunting to students. But it needn’t be. As jobs change and new jobs emerge, whether they realise it or not, they will be more prepared for… Read more
For several years now the big push in schools has been to encourage the uptake of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) – and rightly so. Young Australians need to be prepared to meet the challenges of a brave new world of innovation, discovery and disruptive technologies. But if we place the emphasis solely… Read more
