In this issue:

• Student achievement is key to building genuine self-esteem
• Cunningham Library launches Connell Collection
• Good teaching and good schools can overcome disadvantage
• ACER UPDATE

The best way to build student self-esteem is to provide balanced feedback within responsive and demanding learning environments to enable them to achieve, according to ACER’s Professor Stephen Dinham.

 “Achievement is the foundation of self-esteem,” Professor Dinham said in an address to the . Smith Family Sydney Conversations Conference: How to create a sense of wellbeing in children earlier this month.

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ACER’s Cunningham Library celebrated the opening of the W.F. and M.L. Connell Collection on 28 May.

Formerly the private collection of Emeritus Professor William Connell and his wife, Margaret Connell, the Collection of over 6000 items has been catalogued onto the Libraries Australia national database so that it is accessible to researchers Australia-wide.



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The biggest equity issue in Australian education today isn’t computers, new buildings or equipment, according to ACER’s Professor Stephen Dinham. He told education graduands at the University of Southern Queensland last month that the biggest issue is each student having quality teachers and quality teaching in schools supported by effective leadership and professional learning.

“Life isn’t fair, but good teaching and good schools are the best means we have of overcoming disadvantage and opening the doors of opportunity for the young people of Australia,” Professor Dinham said at the graduation ceremony.

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Staff in Australia’s Schools Survey

ACER is conducting the second cycle of the Staff in Australia’s Schools survey (SiAS) in 2010. SiAS is an Australia-wide survey to collect information directly from school teachers and leaders about their background and qualifications, their work, their career intentions, and school staffing issues. A large sample of primary and secondary schools in all sectors and states and territories will be randomly selected and invited to participate in SiAS.

The voluntary survey, which should take approximately 15 minutes to complete, is intended to provide a snapshot of the Australian teacher workforce, including demographic information such as gender, age, qualifications and work roles. It will also gather information that may be used to assist in planning for the future, including data from current teachers and school leaders about their employment intentions and career plans, and staffing issues that schools are facing.  This survey will also map key trends since the first SiAS in 2006-07.

SiAS has been commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). The Advisory Committee includes representatives of government and non-government school authorities in all states and territories, national principals associations, teacher unions, teacher education institutions and the ABS.  The online survey will be conducted in August and September. For further information visit www.acer.edu.au/sias

New edition of Research Developments now available

The Winter 2010 edition of Research Developments – ACER’s print magazine – is now available online from http://research.acer.edu.au/resdev/vol23/iss23/. Print copies will be distributed at the end of June. The articles in this issue cover the latest results from the National Assessment Program – ICT Literacy, ACER’s evaluation of the One Laptop Per Child program in remote Indigenous communities, findings from a survey that examined the further study and work destinations of Victorian school leavers and details of the first Australian administration of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).