The following letter was submitted to The Australian for possible inclusion in the edition of Monday 9 November 2015 but, alas, it was not selected for publication.
Covering education
It is pleasing to note that The Australian's national education correspondent, Natasha Bita, has been given an award by the NSW Professional Teachers' Council for positive portrayal of the teaching profession ("Teachers salute reporting", Nov 7-8). Not too long ago such an event would have been inconceivable.
It goes without saying that responsible journalism, as distinct from public relations, needs to present negatives as well as positives. However, in the past, quite a few people who work in education have formed the perception that the paper routinely misrepresented what was happening in the nation's schools. No doubt the paper would argue that this perception is wrong, but it has been strong enough for otherwise fair-minded professionals to refuse to buy The Australian as a matter of principle.
Often when I wish to mention an article about education from this paper to colleagues I need to provide a copy, because they have long since stopped reading it. Hopefully we can look forward to ongoing fair and balanced coverage of education.
Garry Collins
President, Australian Association for the Teaching of English
Tags: General news |
March Seminar 2021: Challenge and Change: Doing things differentlyWe are delighted to announce that we will be back with face to face professional learing events in 2021 - usual format but with some important changes: the March Seminar will be a full day event; the AATE-ALEA National Conference will be held in Brisbane in July and consequently there will not be a state conference. The Program Our fi... |
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Grammar at Hervey BayA grammar workshop will be held at Hervey Bay State High School to assist attendees to develop their understandings of grammar in order to fully comprehend and to effectively teach the Australia Curriculum: English (AC:E). Also highly relevant to Years 11 & 12. This will be an updated re-run of the activity conducted in both 2018 and ... |
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May Masterclass 2021THE CHALLENGE OF TEACHING ANALYSIS: DO WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR PRACTICES? Teaching the process of analysing texts in order for students to produce a spoken or written response remains amongst the most exciting and difficult challenges we face as a community of English teachers. Building on lessons from ETAQ's 2020 student and teacher ev... |
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JCU SpectacularJoin Dr Claire Hansen for a two-hour session on teaching Macbeth. We'll dive into an exploration of the language of Macbeth and teaching strategies to engage students with Shakespeare's Scottish play. The workshop will also explore learning activities for Macbeth created by the Shakespeare Reloaded project. This session will... |
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Grammar DayETAQ will be conducting another of the very successful grammar days on Saturday 29 May 2021. The venue will be Elanora SHS; any one who wishes to come is welcome. |
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Jennifer Alford, QUT
The six practices of English teachers who effectively exercise their agency.
Tristan Bancks, author
Keynote: A future-facing method for inspiring young writers
Workshop: Vision boarding
This is the first time I have been to an ETAQ conference and it was really sensational to get so much at all of the sessions.
ETAQ conferences always have sessions that make me excited to be a teacher.
I know that ETAQ conferences in the past have never disappointed - valuable, relevant, practical, inspiring so I came again.
Read AllConnect to a great range of people who are passionate about English and have their finger on the pulse.