ACER eNews


ACER UPDATE ACER celebrates 80^th Anniversary April 2010 marks the 80^th anniversary of the establishment of ACER. 80 years ago, on 1 April 1930, two staff members, Ken Cunningham, the inaugural chief executive and secretary Mary Campbell, established ACER's first office in two rooms of the T&G building on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets in central Melbourne. By the end of the 1930s ACER's total staff had expanded to five. From that humble beginning ACER has grown into one of the world's leading educational research bodies with an expanding national and international presence. Eight decades after the organisation was founded, ACER has more than 300 staff working in offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai and Delhi. This article briefly outlines the ACER journey. A brief outline of ACER’s history has been posted on our website. Kids who walk on track to better health Results from an ongoing study being undertaken by ACER for VicHealth suggests that children who walk to school are significantly more connected with their local community. ACER researcher Catherine Underwood presented the first findings of a three year evaluation of VicHealth’s Streets Ahead initiative at the inaugural International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress in Melbourne last month. The research presented to the Congress involved analysing surveys and pictures drawn by 659 primary school aged children between the ages of 9 and 12. Twenty-six per cent of children surveyed had walked to school in the previous five days. Children who walked to school drew detailed elements of green space such as parks, trees, grass, flowers, sporting ovals and children playing football, people riding bikes, walking their dog and playgrounds. In contrast, children who travelled to school by car tended to depict abstract, isolated images of their neighbourhood environment with the car and the road as the central theme. Further Information on the Streets Ahead initiative is available from the VicHealth website. « Back to eNews
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ACER celebrates 80^th Anniversary

April 2010 marks the 80^th anniversary of the establishment of ACER. 80 years ago, on 1 April 1930, two staff members, Ken Cunningham, the inaugural chief executive and secretary Mary Campbell, established ACER's first office in two rooms of the T&G building on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets in central Melbourne. By the end of the 1930s ACER's total staff had expanded to five.

From that humble beginning ACER has grown into one of the world's leading educational research bodies with an expanding national and international presence. Eight decades after the organisation was founded, ACER has more than 300 staff working in offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai and Delhi. This article briefly outlines the ACER journey. A brief outline of ACER’s history has been posted on our website.

Kids who walk on track to better health

Results from an ongoing study being undertaken by ACER for VicHealth suggests that children who walk to school are significantly more connected with their local community. ACER researcher Catherine Underwood presented the first findings of a three year evaluation of VicHealth’s Streets Ahead initiative at the inaugural International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress in Melbourne last month.

The research presented to the Congress involved analysing surveys and pictures drawn by 659 primary school aged children between the ages of 9 and 12. Twenty-six per cent of children surveyed had walked to school in the previous five days. Children who walked to school drew detailed elements of green space such as parks, trees, grass, flowers, sporting ovals and children playing football, people riding bikes, walking their dog and playgrounds. In contrast, children who travelled to school by car tended to depict abstract, isolated images of their neighbourhood environment with the car and the road as the central theme. Further Information on the Streets Ahead initiative is available from the VicHealth website.

ACER UPDATE