Review of Higher Education

Here’s the latest reporting on the Bradley paper from Google News. Don’t forget you can also search news sources, including those not available freely over the internet, via our Factiva database.

The paper can be found online and I will have it catalogued and a link made available from the catalogue entry.

Blueprint for Early Childhood Development and School Reform

Via Edna, news that Victorian ministers Bronwyn Pike and Maxine Morand have just released discussion papers to reform early childhood services and schools. The Government is inviting public feedback on the reform plan.

We are excited to present a proposed five year reform agenda for early childhood services and schools that will drive improvement and integration and help us to deliver the best possible outcomes for all our children and young people.

Minister announces RQF replacement

From the ARC website, Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, has just announced the Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA) initiative. As reported in the Australian’s Higher Education:

The ERA would use research metrics, such as citation data, and draw on the kind of expertise found in the ARC College of Experts and the review panels of the National Health and Medical Research Council. There would be eight expert review panels corresponding to discipline clusters, based on the workings of the ARC and NHMRC. Assessment would take place by discipline and institution. The ARC and Senator Carr’s department would craft the new system.

“We want to tie this to the ARC processes to reduce duplication for the universities and the researchers,” the minister said.

Rudd revolution

There has been a lot of material from the Edna site recently on the initiatives and changes to policy by the new Rudd government so I thought I would just link to a few of the more relevant ones for education.

• The Reconciliation Australia website provides a video of the formal apology to the “stolen generation”, ie. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were removed from their families and communities as children. There is the response by Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. There is also Edna’s Indigenous Australians page.
• The website for Australia 2020 summit explains this as an initiative to develop ideas on how best to meet the major challenges of the 21st century. They invite submissions for individuals, schools, groups and organisations. UPDATE: Julia Gillard announces that Australian school children will have a voice at the summit.
• The ministerial press release on the Digital Education revolution. The Digitial Education Revolution site explains this as an initiative to transform teaching and learning within Australian schools so as to prepare students for living in a digital world.
•  The announcement of Barry McGaw as head of the new national curriculum initiative.
• The website for the National Accelerated Literacy Program and the report of the workshop at Charles Darwin University.
• A report of the removal of the link between AWA’s and university funding.
• A proposal before parliament for the VET FEE-HELP scheme expected to assist students in high-level VET courses.
• Recent comments from the minister on the need for a revolution in higher education also.
• UPDATE: Opinion piece by CEO of ACER on the Rudd revolution.