In this issue:

• Early childhood education at the crossroads
• Training and employment participation
• ACER UPDATE

Australia is at a crossroads when it comes to early childhood care and education services. In a new review of education released by ACER on 15 November, the provision of early childhood care and education services in this country is described as insufficient, fragmented, under funded and inconsistent. There is no universal planned, systematic provision; rather, services have developed in an ad hoc way with a largely two-tiered but multi-dimensional system of ‘care’ and ‘education’ with blurring of boundaries in some areas.

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Employment participation is central to two critical problems presently facing Australia, according to a presentation by Michael Keating at the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) Conference held in Melbourne on 3 November. Michael Keating AC is from the ANU and is Chairman of the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.

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Centre for Professional Learning Courses gain University Accreditation

Deakin University recently formally accredited several of the multi-day ACER PLUS programs offered by ACER's Centre for Professional Learning. These programs offer participants the opportunity to complete externally examined assessment in order to gain credit points toward enrolment into Deakin University’s Bachelor of Education – Fourth Year, or Graduate Certificate of Education (Professional Development) course.

It is hoped that several more courses will be accredited in the coming months and be expanded to accreditation from several other Tertiary Institutions. More information about ACER PLUS programs are available on the Centre for Professional Learning section of the ACER website.

 

Research Developments issue 16 now available online

The latest edition of ACER's newsletter, Research Developments, issue 16, Summer 2006 is now available online. Print copies will be available in early December. This issue features articles on the report on options for a single national Year 12 certificate - an Australian Certificate of Education, the importance of developing pre-literacy skills or reading 'readiness' in young children before they begin school, a report on a study for Teaching Australia to investigate standards for school leadership and a summary of issues discussed at ACER's recent Research Conference on Boosting Science Learning. To read the newsletter online or request a print copy, visit the Research Developments website.

Evaluation of the Victorian Literacy Improvement Teams Initiative 2007-08

ACER was recently awarded a project with the Victorian Department of Education and Training to evaluate the Literacy Improvement Teams initiative. The initiative will be implemented during 2007 and 2008. The ACER evaluation commenced in November 2006 and will be completed in December 2008.

The objective of the DE&T Literacy Improvement Teams initiative is to build capacity in leaders and teachers in schools to strengthen the quality of literacy teaching-learning relationships. The initiative provides for the employment of an additional 45 equivalent full time (EFT) trained Literacy Specialists to coach and mentor teachers of Years 3-8 students who are not achieving expected outcomes in literacy. The Literacy Specialists will work in approximately 160 identified primary and secondary schools in 2007 and 2008.

The evaluation will focus on a number of key questions, for example, to what extent have the Literacy Specialists impacted on students’ literacy outcomes in participating schools?