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News bulletins from the Australian Council for Educational Research published November 2009 3134 subscribers Subscribe Now In this issue: Economic downturn forces school leavers to rethink plans Concern for VET recurrent funding ACER UPDATE Economic downturn forces school leavers to rethink plans The impact of the global financial crisis has forced many young Victorians to rethink their plans for work and further education, a major survey of school leavers has found. A paper presented to the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) annual conference in Melbourne on 30 October used data from the On Track survey to show that school leavers from the class of 2008 have experienced the most challenging labour market for many years. Continue reading » Concern for VET recurrent funding Speakers at an education conference in Melbourne last month expressed concern about the outlook for the recurrent funding of Australia’s VET sector. In a presentation to the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) annual national conference Peter Noonan an Associate of CEET and Gerald Burke, a former director, provided an update to a 2005 CEET paper on VET funding that had noted a relative decline in recurrent VET funding compared to schools and higher education. Continue reading » ACER UPDATE Students take aptitude test in bid for university places Three of Australia’s leading universities will next week administer an aptitude test to identify candidates with the potential to succeed at university who may otherwise have been overlooked. Flinders University will hold a sitting of uniTEST on 30 November. The Australian National University (ANU) will hold its sitting on 1 December followed by Macquarie University on 7 December to select students for their 2010 intake. Close to 700 candidates will take part. uniTEST assesses the generic reasoning and thinking skills that are necessary for successful study at university. It has been developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment. This latest administration of uniTEST is taking place as part of stage two of the Federal Government’s pilot National Student Aptitude Test for Tertiary Admission (SATTA). New edition of Research Developments Research Developments issue 22 is now available online and in print. Issue 22 features a cover story on Second languages and Australian schooling based on Australian Education Review 54. Other articles cover the release of PAT Science, ACER's work in support of the MindMatters initiative, the launch of the Tender Bridge service and a new report from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) that takes a closer look at how students answered a selection of mathematics items from the 2007 assessment. Progressive Achievement Tests in Science (PATScience) launched The Progressive Achievement Tests in Science (PATScience) was officially launched at a function held at Melbourne's Scienceworks Museum on 23 November. The launch follows more than two years of development and trial testing. PATScience is the latest addition to ACER’s suite of academic tests. It consists of a series of nationally normed tests to assess the level of achievement in scientific understanding for students in Years 3 to 10. The test questions are designed to assess science knowledge, scientific literacy and the understanding and application of scientific principles. For more information please visit www.acer.edu.au/pat.
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News bulletins from the Australian Council for Educational Research published November 2009
3134 subscribers
Subscribe Now

Economic downturn forces school leavers to rethink plans

The impact of the global financial crisis has forced many young Victorians to rethink their plans for work and further education, a major survey of school leavers has found. A paper presented to the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) annual conference in Melbourne on 30 October used data from the On Track survey to show that school leavers from the class of 2008 have experienced the most challenging labour market for many years.

Concern for VET recurrent funding

Speakers at an education conference in Melbourne last month expressed concern about the outlook for the recurrent funding of Australia’s VET sector. In a presentation to the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) annual national conference Peter Noonan an Associate of CEET and Gerald Burke, a former director, provided an update to a 2005 CEET paper on VET funding that had noted a relative decline in recurrent VET funding compared to schools and higher education.

ACER UPDATE

Students take aptitude test in bid for university places

Three of Australia’s leading universities will next week administer an aptitude test to identify candidates with the potential to succeed at university who may otherwise have been overlooked.

Flinders University will hold a sitting of uniTEST on 30 November. The Australian National University (ANU) will hold its sitting on 1 December followed by Macquarie University on 7 December to select students for their 2010 intake. Close to 700 candidates will take part.

uniTEST assesses the generic reasoning and thinking skills that are necessary for successful study at university. It has been developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment. This latest administration of uniTEST is taking place as part of stage two of the Federal Government’s pilot National Student Aptitude Test for Tertiary Admission (SATTA).

New edition of Research Developments

Research Developments issue 22 is now available online and in print. Issue 22 features a cover story on Second languages and Australian schooling based on Australian Education Review 54. Other articles cover the release of PAT Science, ACER's work in support of the MindMatters initiative, the launch of the Tender Bridge service and a new report from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) that takes a closer look at how students answered a selection of mathematics items from the 2007 assessment.

Progressive Achievement Tests in Science (PATScience) launched

The Progressive Achievement Tests in Science (PATScience) was officially launched at a function held at Melbourne's Scienceworks Museum on 23 November. The launch follows more than two years of development and trial testing. PATScience is the latest addition to ACER’s suite of academic tests. It consists of a series of nationally normed tests to assess the level of achievement in scientific understanding for students in Years 3 to 10. The test questions are designed to assess science knowledge, scientific literacy and the understanding and application of scientific principles. For more information please visit www.acer.edu.au/pat.