Teacher training 'failing'

Sarah-jane Collins TRADITIONAL teacher training has ''overwhelmingly failed'' to produce effective, confident graduates and more needs to be done to ensure new teachers are ready for classroom pressures.

Teachers push for national pool of school funds

Andrew Stevenson Federal and state government funding for schools should be pooled and money distributed according to nationally agreed objectives, says a report commissioned by a teachers' union.

Minister urges more school funding, but state control

Dewi Cooke The federal government should not be given any more control over how money for education is divided between the states, the Baillieu government says.

School chaplains' forum highlights tension

Sarah-jane Collins THE head of Access Ministries, Stephen Hale, has sought to assuage community concerns about religious instructions in schools.

Music program with all the strings lets plucky pupils take a bow

Sarah-Jane Collins Students at Meadows Primary learn their skills from some of Australia's best musicians: members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

New VCAL providers upset by cuts

Dewi Cooke Program faces a $12 million a year cut after the Baillieu government announces funding for co-ordinators will be removed next year.

Nine teachers deregistered over sex offences

Dewi Cooke Government report also highlights the first prosecutions of people found to be teaching unregistered in schools.

Australia lagging on education

Sarah-Jane Collins Experienced secondary school teachers are getting paid less than the OECD average.

Out of the blues, a chance to learn new skills

Dewi Cooke Shae Stinson credits her transformation to a small program offering a chance at vocational education.

New choice for school chaplaincy program

Sarah-Jane Collins Schools will be able to decide whether to use their funding for a chaplain or a secular welfare officer.

Comments 16

Ex-pollie takes a crack at being a class act

Geoff Strong Julian McGauran has just begun his post-Canberra career as a trainee secondary teacher at Genazzano Girls College in Kew.

Apples dunked for just $1.15

Jewel Topsfield Education Department rejects a bid to provide teachers with an up-to-date laptop instead of an obsolete model - because they would cost an extra $1.15 each a week.

Comments 156

Let's think beyond ink in exam room: principal

Jewel Topsfield Six weeks before VCE exams, students at Ringwood Secondary College dump the computer keyboards and start practising their handwriting.

Comments 51

Calls for more equitable school funding system

Jewel Topsfield Every child would receive the same base level of school funding, with extra allocated to disadvantaged students, in a proposed overhaul of schools funding.

Comments 35

Apple deal is rotten: teachers

Jewel Topsfield Not only are Victorian teachers forced to lease laptops from the Education Department, they have also been told if they want a Mac they have to choose a model that was killed off last month.

Comments 154

Schools in battle to lure students

Jewel Topsfield The competition between schools to attract students is fiercer in Australia than any other OECD nation, raising fears our schools are becoming increasingly divided along class lines.

High school students trial to write 'university' thesis

David Rood Year 12 students would be able to write a university-style thesis as part of their VCE, under a radical new proposal by the state's curriculum body.