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News bulletins from the Australian Council for Educational Research published March 2008 3134 subscribers Subscribe Now In this issue: Study of mathematics declines Australian teacher named ‘Cultural Educator of the Year’ in ACER-VIF program Defining disadvantage ACER UPDATE Study of mathematics declines The study of mathematics, particularly higher mathematics, is important if Australia is to develop a scientifically literate workforce. Participation in mathematics study at higher levels is declining, and a recent paper begins to consider some of the reasons for this. Year 12 Students and Higher Mathematics: Emerging Issues, was presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education conference in 2007, and published in 2008. The authors were Mohan Chinnappan (University of Wollongong), Stephen Dinham (ACER), Anthony Herrington (University of Wollongong) and Dale Scott (University of Wollongong). Continue reading » Australian teacher named ‘Cultural Educator of the Year’ in ACER-VIF program An Australian teacher has been recognised in the annual awards for the United States’ Visiting International Faculty (VIF) program. The VIF program is the largest cultural exchange program for international educators who want to teach in the United States. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has recently formed an alliance with the VIF program with an aim to expand opportunities for Australian teachers to benefit from the rich professional development to be gained by teaching in different contexts and in different cultures. Continue reading » Defining disadvantage Next month federal, state and territory education ministers will meet at the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). School funding reform should be high on their agenda argued ACER researcher Dr Andrew Dowling in this recent opinion article. Continue reading » ACER UPDATE Assessing teachers for professional certification A new book by ACER Principal Research Fellow Dr Lawrence Ingvarson and University of Auckland Professor John Hattie outlines the development over the first ten years of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in the USA. Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards brings together, for international as well as non-specialist audiences, papers written by the key researchers involved in the development of National Board assessments between 1987 and 1997. The authors argue that NBPTS provides an example of a well researched certification scheme for measuring teacher quality that can provide a service to governments and employers seeking a reliable indicator of teacher quality. Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is published by Blackwell. It can be purchased in Australia online through the Holistic Internet Store. Information and communications technology (ICT) terms described A new set of terms used in education to describe information and communications technology (ICT) is now available through the Australian Thesaurus of Educational Descriptors (ATED) managed by ACER’s Cunningham Library. The terms were developed through a collaborative project by education.au and ACER as part of the InspireED project. Around 80 new and revised terms have been described including ‘accessibility,’ ‘bandwidth,’ ‘Blogs,’ ‘digital divide,’ ‘mobile learning,’ ‘internet safety,’ and ‘Wikis.’ uniTEST to be administered at Danish university uniTEST will be administered by the University of Southern Denmark (USD) to assist the selection of students into its medical faculty. The test will be taken in Danish in May. Around 1500 prospective students are expected to participate. 2008 Employer of Choice for Women ACER has been awarded 2008 Employer of Choice for Women status by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). ACER is one of 99 Australian employers to receive the citation. ACER was awarded the citation on the basis of our policies and practices that support women across the organisation and have a positive outcome for both women and our business. The citation is a significant public acknowledgement of our efforts in the area of equal opportunity for women. A media release and other information is available from the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace website
Copyright © Australian Council for Educational Research 2013 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Please address any requests to reproduce information to communications@acer.edu.au Subscribe Unsubscribe Australian Council for Educational Research Private Bag 55, Camberwell, Victoria Australia 3124 Tel: + 61 3 9277 5555 Fax: + 61 3 9277 5500 Web: www.acer.edu.au

News bulletins from the Australian Council for Educational Research published March 2008
3134 subscribers
Subscribe Now

In this issue:

Study of mathematics declines

The study of mathematics, particularly higher mathematics, is important if Australia is to develop a scientifically literate workforce. Participation in mathematics study at higher levels is declining, and a recent paper begins to consider some of the reasons for this.

Year 12 Students and Higher Mathematics: Emerging Issues, was presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education conference in 2007, and published in 2008. The authors were Mohan Chinnappan (University of Wollongong), Stephen Dinham (ACER), Anthony Herrington (University of Wollongong) and Dale Scott (University of Wollongong).

Australian teacher named ‘Cultural Educator of the Year’ in ACER-VIF program

An Australian teacher has been recognised in the annual awards for the United States’ Visiting International Faculty (VIF) program. The VIF program is the largest cultural exchange program for international educators who want to teach in the United States. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has recently formed an alliance with the VIF program with an aim to expand opportunities for Australian teachers to benefit from the rich professional development to be gained by teaching in different contexts and in different cultures.

Defining disadvantage

Next month federal, state and territory education ministers will meet at the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). School funding reform should be high on their agenda argued ACER researcher Dr Andrew Dowling in this recent opinion article.

ACER UPDATE

Assessing teachers for professional certification

A new book by ACER Principal Research Fellow Dr Lawrence Ingvarson and University of Auckland Professor John Hattie outlines the development over the first ten years of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in the USA.

Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards brings together, for international as well as non-specialist audiences, papers written by the key researchers involved in the development of National Board assessments between 1987 and 1997.

The authors argue that NBPTS provides an example of a well researched certification scheme for measuring teacher quality that can provide a service to governments and employers seeking a reliable indicator of teacher quality.

Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is published by Blackwell. It can be purchased in Australia online through the Holistic Internet Store.

Information and communications technology (ICT) terms described

A new set of terms used in education to describe information and communications technology (ICT) is now available through the Australian Thesaurus of Educational Descriptors (ATED) managed by ACER’s Cunningham Library. The terms were developed through a collaborative project by education.au and ACER as part of the InspireED project.

Around 80 new and revised terms have been described including ‘accessibility,’ ‘bandwidth,’ ‘Blogs,’ ‘digital divide,’ ‘mobile learning,’ ‘internet safety,’ and ‘Wikis.’

uniTEST to be administered at Danish university

uniTEST will be administered by the University of Southern Denmark (USD) to assist the selection of students into its medical faculty. The test will be taken in Danish in May. Around 1500 prospective students are expected to participate.

2008 Employer of Choice for Women

ACER has been awarded 2008 Employer of Choice for Women status by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). ACER is one of 99 Australian employers to receive the citation.

ACER was awarded the citation on the basis of our policies and practices that support women across the organisation and have a positive outcome for both women and our business. The citation is a significant public acknowledgement of our efforts in the area of equal opportunity for women.

A media release and other information is available from the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace website

All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Please address any requests to reproduce information to communications@acer.edu.au

Subscribe Unsubscribe

Australian Council for Educational Research
Private Bag 55, Camberwell, Victoria Australia 3124
Tel: + 61 3 9277 5555
Fax: + 61 3 9277 5500
Web: www.acer.edu.au