
News bulletins from the Australian Council for Educational Research published August 2008 3134 subscribers Subscribe Now In this issue: Students must meet minimum standards to complete schooling Educators urged to respond to ‘civilisational challenge’ Secondary school reform needed to lower youth unemployment Teaching citizenship skills may prevent civil conflict ACER UPDATE Introduction Students must meet minimum standards to complete schooling After 13 years of schooling all students must have fundamental skills and understandings essential to successful functioning as an adult member of Australian society and the workforce according to Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) chief executive Professor Geoff Masters. Professor Masters told delegates to ACER’s Research Conference 2008 in Brisbane on 11 August that the skills and knowledge students need for life beyond school go well beyond proficiency in the traditional ‘3 Rs’. Continue reading » Educators urged to respond to ‘civilisational challenge’ The single most significant omission from educational thinking and practice is the absence of any kind of effective futures studies according to futures expert Professor Richard Slaughter. Speaking at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference in Brisbane on 11 August, Professor Slaughter said this situation has become indefensible. He called on educators to take very seriously what he describes as the ‘civilisational challenge.’ Continue reading » Secondary school reform needed to lower youth unemployment The education system pumps far too many poorly qualified and inadequately skilled young people onto a labour market that has little need for them, and only reform to the model of secondary education can address the problem, according to education expert Professor Richard Sweet. Professor Sweet, of Sweet Group and the University of Melbourne, presented his views in a keynote address at the ACER annual research conference in Brisbane 12 August. Professor Sweet contends that a low level of Year 12 completion results in too high a rate of teenage unemployment despite a strong and youth-friendly labour market. Continue reading » Teaching citizenship skills may prevent civil conflict Australia must build people’s skills for citizenship as well as work, argues Monash University Professor of Education Terri Seddon. Recent policy reform has emphasised skills for work but forgotten to consider how people develop skills for citizenship, Professor Seddon told the ACER research conference on 11 August. The primary goal of schooling is to prepare young people for productive and responsible adult lives as workers and citizens, she contends. Continue reading » ACER UPDATE Research Conference 2009 ACER’s fourteenth annual research conference will take place in Perth from 16-18 August 2009 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The theme for Research Conference 2009 is Assessment and Student Learning: Collecting, interpreting and using data to inform teaching. Further information about the conference will be posted on the Professional Learning section of the ACER website as it becomes available. Enquiries may be directed to Margaret Taylor in ACER’s Centre for Professional Learning by phone on 03 9277 5403 or by email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Information available to date is included in the conference flyer. Special address by The Hon. Julia Gillard The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Education and Minister for Social Inclusion delivered a special address to the ACER Research Conference on 11 August. Ms Gillard’s address focused on the connection between education, employment and social inclusion. A recording of the address is available from the Research Conference 2008 web page. Conference proceedings and audio recordings available online The full conference proceedings and individual papers from Research Conference 2008 are now available online. Power Point presentations and audio recordings are also available from sessions. These can be downloaded from the conference web page. Introduction Research Conference 2008 special edition The following articles are based on papers presented at the ACER Research Conference 2008, held in Brisbane, 11-12 August 2008 on the theme of Touching the Future: Building skills for life and work.
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 August 2008
3134 subscribers
Subscribe Now

In this issue:

Students must meet minimum standards to complete schooling

After 13 years of schooling all students must have fundamental skills and understandings essential to successful functioning as an adult member of Australian society and the workforce according to Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) chief executive Professor Geoff Masters.

Professor Masters told delegates to ACER’s Research Conference 2008 in Brisbane on 11 August that the skills and knowledge students need for life beyond school go well beyond proficiency in the traditional ‘3 Rs’.

Educators urged to respond to ‘civilisational challenge’

The single most significant omission from educational thinking and practice is the absence of any kind of effective futures studies according to futures expert Professor Richard Slaughter.
Speaking at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference in Brisbane on 11 August, Professor Slaughter said this situation has become indefensible. He called on educators to take very seriously what he describes as the ‘civilisational challenge.’

Secondary school reform needed to lower youth unemployment

The education system pumps far too many poorly qualified and inadequately skilled young people onto a labour market that has little need for them, and only reform to the model of secondary education can address the problem, according to education expert Professor Richard Sweet.

Professor Sweet, of Sweet Group and the University of Melbourne, presented his views in a keynote address at the ACER annual research conference in Brisbane 12 August. Professor Sweet contends that a low level of Year 12 completion results in too high a rate of teenage unemployment despite a strong and youth-friendly labour market.

Teaching citizenship skills may prevent civil conflict

Australia must build people’s skills for citizenship as well as work, argues Monash University Professor of Education Terri Seddon.
Recent policy reform has emphasised skills for work but forgotten to consider how people develop skills for citizenship, Professor Seddon told the ACER research conference on 11 August. The primary goal of schooling is to prepare young people for productive and responsible adult lives as workers and citizens, she contends.

ACER UPDATE

Research Conference 2009

ACER’s fourteenth annual research conference will take place in Perth from 16-18 August 2009 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The theme for Research Conference 2009 is Assessment and Student Learning: Collecting, interpreting and using data to inform teaching. Further information about the conference will be posted on the Professional Learning section of the ACER website as it becomes available. Enquiries may be directed to Margaret Taylor in ACER’s Centre for Professional Learning by phone on 03 9277 5403 or by email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Information available to date is included in the conference flyer.

Special address by The Hon. Julia Gillard

The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Education and Minister for Social Inclusion delivered a special address to the ACER Research Conference on 11 August. Ms Gillard’s address focused on the connection between education, employment and social inclusion. A recording of the address is available from the Research Conference 2008 web page.

Conference proceedings and audio recordings available online

The full conference proceedings and individual papers from Research Conference 2008 are now available online. Power Point presentations and audio recordings are also available from sessions. These can be downloaded from the conference web page.

Introduction

Research Conference 2008 special edition

The following articles are based on papers presented at the ACER Research Conference 2008, held in Brisbane, 11-12 August 2008 on the theme of Touching the Future: Building skills for life and work.

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