Valuable Research into Early Literacy Teaching. The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, recently launched the research report In Teachers’ Hands: Effective Literacy Teaching Practices in the Early Years of Schooling. The report presents evidence-based literacy teaching strategies that will assist teachers in meeting the developmental and literacy needs of all Australian children. The report can be downloaded from the 'In Teachers' Hands Website' http://inteachershands.education.ecu.edu.au/index.php?page=43 [Recent Items]
11:58:50 AM    

Aptitude tests bypass VCE. The Herald Sun reports today that Victoria's biggest university is bypassing the VCE and moving to choose some students with aptitude tests.

Monash University is running a pilot scheme where up to 500 students from underachieving schools can sit an aptitude test instead of using their ENTER score.
Students usually receive a tertiary entrance ranking out of 100 at the end of their VCE and courses require a specific score for entry.

But there are concerns ENTER scores do not reflect some students' potential to succeed at university, and students from poorly resourced schools are missing out.

The new exam will be available for undergraduate degrees at Monash's Berwick campus, which include business/commerce, communication and IT.

"There are large inner-city independent and Catholic schools that get a lion's share of the uni places," Dr Jensen said.

"We believe that in outlying schools and schools in areas that don't have those resources, there are students that could still do well at university but may not be getting an ENTER score that reflects that."

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Stephen Parker said the university's aim of the trial was to admit the best students irrespective of means or circumstance.

The full story can be found here.

[Central Ranges LLEN News]
11:51:40 AM    

New Victorian specialist degrees in music and media. Specialist degrees in music and media are the latest offerings in a burgeoning new education industry. These provide pathways in contemporary new fields for those entering vocational or tertiary education. This may be of interest to thousands of young adults who want to gain a qualification in popular music, animation, film scoring, digital television production and music business management. The Age, 4 September 2006 [Recent Items]
11:37:19 AM