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Yesterday Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan joined a forum in Brisbane to discuss key education issues with representatives of the Catholic and Independent sectors.
Minister Tehan spoke about some of his key priorities for the education portfolio and said his most valuable experiences as minister so far had come from his visits to schools. He pointed to support for principals, initial teacher education, staffing in regional and remote areas, and building student wellbeing as some of his main focus areas.
He took questions on a broad range of subjects including NAPLAN, parent engagement, early childhood education and freedom of religious schools to teach according to their faith.
My thanks to Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) for hosting the forum and to the various representatives from QCEC and Catholic School Authorities who attended this event.
While in Brisbane yesterday, Minister Tehan also announced that the government will simplify the process for north Queensland non-government schools to access $4 million in funding to support flood affected students and families.
Details of how the funding will be made available are expected to be released in next week’s federal budget.
The Commission held its second meeting for the year on 19 March and we were pleased to welcome the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) Jacinta Collins to address the meeting. This was the first opportunity Jacinta has had to meet all Commission members and to talk to us about how she sees her role with NCEC unfolding and some of the key issues she will be addressing.
The meeting considered a number of policy and financial issues. The Commission also approved the QCEC Annual Report for 2018 which is available here.
NAPLAN Online refresher training concluded last week for those schools transitioning in 2019. My thanks to the NAPLAN Online Coordinators from QCEC, Edwin Choi, Liam Garvey and Jane Slattery who have spent the past 5 weeks travelling around the state attending training sessions to support CSAs and schools.
A reminder that schools are strongly encouraged to participate in the Coordinated Practice Test (CPT) on the morning of Thursday 28 March 2019. Access to two days Teacher Relief Scheme (TRS) funding through the Non-Government Reform Support Fund (NGRSF) is available to the 167 Catholic schools participating in NAPLAN Online in 2019.
You may be aware that last week the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) advised that the NAPLAN Online ban has been lifted in the state sector and that some state schools should be able to participate in the NAPLAN Online test this year.
As we move towards the federal election campaign being formally declared, QCEC is advocating with major parties for consideration of capital funding for kindergarten infrastructure.
Both major parties have a commitment to universal access to kindergarten and the ALP includes in its policy platform plans to extend the kindergarten offering to three-year-olds. To be able to provide this offering to families who choose Catholic education, we will need to have the physical infrastructure in place to support program delivery.
We will continue to advocate with MPs and candidates in coming weeks and support Catholic schools in trying to secure a commitment to support our sector in building the necessary kindergarten infrastructure.
Read our media release on this issue here.
(Photo source: Facebook, Ryan Catholic College Kindergarten)
Centacare Child Care Services has been renamed and rebranded as Catholic Early EdCare.
The new brand reflects the positive experience they provide for children and families at their services and better positions them alongside Catholic schools at the heart of local parishes and communities.
All CSAs should receive a condensed style guide for Catholic Early EdCare in the next couple of weeks.
Their website is now live and I encourage you to visit the site and follow them on Facebook and Instagram. These channels will be a great way to stay up to date with news from their services.
Last week QCEC representatives Nina MacKenzie, Marie Previte, Glovian Chu and Beatrix Brice attended the 5th Australian Government Data Summit in Canberra.
The summit explored the value of the government adopting large volumes of data and leveraging analytics to drive improvements in service delivery, organisational efficiencies and informed decision making.
The summit provided an opportunity to hear from a variety of Australian and overseas government agencies and private sector data managers and consultants discussing access to data as well as security and quality issues.
Ensuring we are able to leverage the greatest possible value from the data we collect while maintaining strict data governance procedures is an ongoing challenge and the summit provided staff with innovative ideas on how we manage this moving forward.
The Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education would like to welcome you to the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment forum – Future of Education: GTPA Collaboration for Teacher Quality & Learning Impact.
This is the inaugural forum in a nationwide series about innovation and accountability in teacher education.
Visit the website to find more information and register for the event.
As next week we come to the end of a busy first term, I would like to wish everyone in our Catholic school communities a happy and holy Easter season.
If you are travelling during the holiday break enjoy a safe and relaxing journey.
The Secretariat will be closed for liturgy from 11.00am on Thursday 18 April and will re-open at 8.00am on Tuesday 23 April.
(Photo source: St Brendan's Catholic Primary School)