October 2020
Mathematical Expertise and Excellence Program – address to the first graduates
The look of understanding on a student’s face when they have that ‘Eureka’ moment is something that teachers live for. Our CEO, David de Carvalho, says, “there is nothing like it”. These are the moments that have been experienced by the first teachers to complete the Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Mathematical Expertise and Excellence Program.
The program is an innovative way to reimagine professional development in our teaching of mathematics so that we 'fan the flames of wonder' in our students.
Read more about it in David’s speech to the graduating teachers (PDF 177 kb).
From left to right:
SCS Director of Education and Research, Kate O'Brien,
ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho,
and Dr Christine Mae, Education Officer, Mathematics and Numeracy K–12, and ME&E program
ACARA Annual Report 2019–20
ACARA has published its annual report that documents ACARA’s performance and operations for the 2019–20 financial year.
To view the report, visit the 'ACARA reports and publications' page of this website or click the image below.
Want to know what teachers think about what they are teaching?
The review of the Foundation – Year 10 Australian Curriculum is now well underway. ACARA’s CEO, David de Carvalho, has been visiting 24 primary schools across Australia, one from each sector in each jurisdiction, to hear from teachers about their experience. Click the image below to view this video to hear about the top issues that are emerging on the Australian Curriculum.
Parents learn more about NAP, NAPLAN and My School
A silver lining of the COVID crisis is that the periods of remote learning have, in some ways, strengthened connections between parents and schools, and parents are interested in more ways to be involved in school life.
That interest was apparent at a recent virtual workshop between ACARA's Chief Executive, David de Carvalho, and Tasmanian Catholic schools parents who tuned in to the online parent webinars designed to help parents and carers understand more about the National Assessment Program (NAP) and My School websites.
The pilot sessions, conducted in partnership with the Tasmanian Catholic School Parents Council, were an opportunity for school stakeholders to get together and ask questions about NAP and My School websites.
Mr de Carvalho provided an overview of the basics of NAPLAN and its purpose – not just to give important information about individual student results but also to help education authorities and stakeholders understand how students are progressing at a school, state and national level.
He also unpacked the individual student report and walked the audience through some of the resources available – such as explainer videos and the demonstration site on the NAP’s ‘Resources’ page.
The second half of the session explored the My School site and gave the audience an opportunity to see in detail the new ‘student progress’ features, which are designed to give insight into how a school is progressing over time.
The online session included ‘question and answer’ sections and parents said they welcomed the live tutorial, as it helped them better understand the data, and it would support their conversations with teachers.
Perpetua Turner, President, and Tricia de Carlo, Administration Officer, from Tasmanian Catholic School Parents Council debrief after the second of the parent information sessions presented by ACARA
A new edition of Parent Update
Read the latest issue of Parent Update, ACARA's e-newsletter that brings national education news about NAPLAN, My School and the Australian Curriculum to parents.
