Christmas 2012
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17 December 2012
Victorian Year 12 results
17 December 2012 | More than 49,000 students have graduated with their Victorian Certificate of Education and over 11,000 students completed their Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) in 2012. Eligible VCE students will also get their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)….[Continue reading]….
Let us know outcomes in other jurisdictions!!
Evans damns TAFE cuts
17 December 2012 | Commonwealth minister for skills Chris Evans has met with New South Wales TAFE teachers who are facing the sack as a result of the O’Farrell State Government’s cuts to TAFE. More than 800 jobs will be axed as a result of the NSW government’s decision to cut TAFE funding, slash jobs and increase student fees….[Continue reading]….
Students face disciplinary action over protest
17 December 2012 | La Trobe University is facing a student backlash over rights to protest, after it charged three students with misconduct over their alleged actions during demonstrations against cuts to the humanities faculty….[Continue reading]….
Education faculties slammed over poor results
14 December 2012 | University education faculties and state education departments have been singled singled out to shoulder some responsibility for the shockingly poor results for Australian primary students in international reading, maths and science tests. The tests reveal that about 25% of students in Year 4 failed to meet the minimum standard while students’ results in maths and science have stagnated during the past 16 years….[Continue reading]….
STEM teaching patchy
14 December 2012 | Engineering faculties were singled out for special disfavour according to the Interests and Recruitment in Science study, conducted in late 2011 for chief scientist Ian Chubb. The report showed only 56% of 3500 respondents thought their lecturers “actually cared’ whether or not their students learned. Less than half received personal feedback from them and tutors and for students at Group of Eight universities the figure was less than 40%….[Continue reading]….
ATARs becoming less important
13 December 2012 | Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks were the determining factor in less than 34% of undergraduate admissions this year, according to HES estimates based on innovation department statistics. At least 66% of admissions — mature-age students who applied through tertiary admission centres, school-leavers who were made direct offers and international students — were determined only partially, if at all, on ATARs….[Continue reading]….
CQU puts value on teaching and scholarship
13 December 2012 | Staff at Central Queensland University are about to vote on an enterprise agreement that will divide academics into five categories, whereby the most effective researchers will spend only 10 % of their time teaching. At the other end of the spectrum, the best teachers will spend only 10% of their time on research, although the vice-chancellor, Scott Bowman, is clear about the relationship between academics and scholarship….[Continue reading]….
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Once was TAFE
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The first in our series on the year in Australian tertiary education and training, as recorded in the pages of The Scan.
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The apparent end of the world arrived for the Victorian TAFE sector about 8 months earlier than the scheduled date of 21 December.
On 28 April, the Victorian government pre-announced, through The Australian, swingeing cuts to TAFE funding, which essentially removed any special funding for TAFE as the public provider of vocational education and training in Victoria. It was gobsmacking stuff, as reflected in The Scan’s first comment – indeed, the first published comment of any kind – published on 30 April (Once was TAFE).
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Free public talk
Meditate in Melbourne
Friday 4 January 2013 · 7pm – 8pm · Main Square · Federation Square
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Life & stuff
2012 in focus
2012 was an eventful year, from big events like the London Summer Olympics and the U.S. presidential race, to regional conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, to smaller issues closer to home. Reverberations from last year’s transformative Arab Spring still heavily affect Syria and Egypt; and the slow recovery from the recent global economic crisis brought bitter austerity measures to parts of Europe, leading to widespread protests. This photo essay from The Atlantic is in is in three parts. Thanks to It’s work…honest for bringing it to our attention.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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Got somewhere interesting near where you live and/or work? Got an interesting story? Got an event coming up? Tell us about it!
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