From the President's Desk

April 2023

Welcome back to Term 2!I hope everyone had a chance to spend some quality time with family and friends over the Easter and term breaks and are ready to embrace all that Term 2 has to offer.

Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare M.P., announced in March the formation of an expert panel that will advise Education Ministers on the key targets and specific reforms that should be tied to funding in the next National School Reform Agreement. On May 1^st, the Minister announced the members of the National School Reform Agreement Ministerial Reference Group, who will work with, and advise, the expert panel. We are very pleased that the voice of parents has been included on this group, and I am excited to see that ACSSO has a prominent place at the table through the appointment of our CEO, Dianne Giblin, to the Reference Group. Over her years with ACSSO, and in the Education sector generally, she has established relationships with all of those on the expert panel, and has collaborated with them on various reference groups. We look forward to being able to put forward the needs of students in our government schools, and their families, to ensure an equitable outcome for all.

Another way in which we ensure our voice is heard is through our submissions. We recently completed submissions to: the Early Years Strategy Discussion Paper; the Developments In Higher Education Admission Practices Discussion Paper; and the Teacher Education Expert Panel Discussion Paper. These are available to view on our website for anyone who is interested.

It’s probably an opportune time to remind everyone that we have an array of resources available on the ACSSO website, too. You can find information on Family Engagement, wellbeing, online safety, and upcoming conferences, webinars and education related events. It’s also well worth looking at our Parents Australia website http://www.parentsaustralia.com/ where you will find all sorts of information, links and resources on Family Engagement, tips for effective parent-teacher interviews, managing exam stress, etc., as well as practical parenting tips, and child and school related webinars and events.

May 22^nd is the start of National Check-In week, and taking part is simple and takes only a few moments each day to run the Emotion Check-in with students. From this, educators can see the emotional state and learner readiness of individual students, classes, cohorts or whole schools to give agency to students and have important conversations about wellbeing with students, and colleagues. This information can also be shared with families to enable them to help their child with any identified wellbeing issues causing concern. Registration is free at https://nationalcheckinweek.com/ Mental health and wellbeing are both constantly being identified as a major concern for students and families, and the Check-in is a great way to start conversations, and identify where we can help our children and young people to be the best versions of themselves, which, in turn, will help them get the most out of their education.

Cheers,

Sharron.