From the Principal New Urdu Classes Introduced Each New Term Brings with the Growing New Challenges
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VICTORIAN SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES Family & Staff Bulletin 6 September 2017 From the Principal New Urdu classes introduced Each new Term brings With the growing new challenges. number of This year the Department new arrivals of Education and coming to live Training is introducing in Victoria from additional ‘architecture’ South Asia the to support practice demand for the change across the VSL to provide education system in line language classes with the 2015 Education Ms Naela Chohan visiting the stall increases. State reform agenda. The latest request comes from the Urdu-speaking The initiatives are intended to build the capacity community. Urdu is the official language and of Victorian Schools to deliver more effective lingua franca of Pakistan and of six States of teaching, improved learning and improved student India (and one of its 22 official languages), and a outcomes. These include: version of it is also spoken in Fiji. There are over • Professional Learning Communities 100 million native speakers of Urdu in Pakistan • Victorian Curriculum F-10 and India although, given the similarity between • Framework for Improving Student Outcomes Urdu and Hindi, estimating the exact number is (FISO) . difficult. In Pakistan, Urdu is mostly learned as These are the foundation documents of our a first language and is spoken in some form or current Strategic and Annual Implementation another by the vast majority of Pakistanis. Plans and they all contribute towards achieving the Education State targets. The VSL was approached by Mr Atif Khan in 2016 and the language was first taught this year at In addition, the Victorian Curriculum and primary levels at three of its Centres, namely Assessment Authority (VCAA) is undertaking one of Roxburgh College, Suzanne Cory HS in Weribee its periodic reviews of the VCE Study Designs for and Dandenong HS. twelve Second Languages. Our school participated in the consultation process and made a number of According to Mr Khan: “Our community is submissions. delighted that the VSL has listened to us and Once the VCAA makes the final changes, we have decided to open classes in not one but three one year to update our courses in time for the Centres in the metropolitan area. We hope that 2019 school year. The changes will also involve the word spreads the re-writing or updating of all of our Year 11 and and more parents Year 12 VCE Workbooks in the Distance Education encourage their section of the school. This will be a significant children to study personnel and financial challenge for us. the language.” On 12 August On the administrative side, the new Victorian the Urdu staff Government Schools (Industrial) Agreement at the VSL commenced on 22 August and we are Roxburgh and Urdu stall at Roxburgh centre systematically implementing the relevant sections. Werribee centres held an open day to mark the 70th Independence Day of Pakistan. The Urdu As we come towards the end of Term 3, our VCE faculties set up stalls providing information on the teachers in particular are focusing on completing Urdu language, including newly published Urdu the remaining sections of their courses and textbooks.The Pakistani High Commissioner, Ms preparing the students for the end exams. Naela Chohan, visited the Roxburgh Centre and Thank you to all of our staff for their teaching and appreciated the efforts of the VSL teachers and for assisting in the implementation of the tasks she also took the opportunity to speak to the listed above. parents and students. Frank Merlino We wish the Urdu students and teachers well. Principal PAGE 2 FAMILY & STAFF BULLETIN 6 September 2017 Australian Network of Government Language Schools celebrates 20th Anniversary On 14-15 August the Australian Network of Network were sad to hear that Tom Campbell. the Government Language Schools (ANGLS) held its former Principal of the NSW Saturday School of annual conference at the Open Access College in Community Languages, passed away on 6 January Adelaide. of this year. Tom was a French teacher, who served in a range of education positions and transformed The highlight of the the SSCL into an efficient and professional Conference was the organisation. He was a foundation member of list of high profile ANGLS. presenters from the South Australian Participants appreciated hearing about the Department of new developments in the Education and Government schools in other Child Development States/Territories, to swap (DECD). ideas and considering possible These included joint projects. Welcome to Country Executive Director Susan Cameron who spoke about the DECD The idea for the Network priorities and the Languages Strategy; Dr Michelle came about in 1997 when Kohler from Flinders University who spoke on Frank Merlino, the Principal the Review of national Languages policies; Kate of the Victorian School of Cooper from the SACE Board who spoke on ‘What’s Languages, contacted Tom new in Languages at senior secondary level’; Campbell in NSW and Sylvan Tom Campbell Mari Terreri, who spoke on the Implementation Talbot in SA, who managed of Australian Curriculum in DECD Schools; and similar schools in their States. They decided that it Associate Professor Angela Scarino who gave the would be good to meet, swap ideas and network. In main presentation on ‘Key concepts underpinning subsequent years, they were joined by the Northern the Australian Curriculum – Languages’. Territory School of Languages, the Alice Springs Language Centre, the (NSW) Open High School and Dr Scarino is one of others….and the rest is history. The latest positive Australia’s leading development is the participation of Language academic on faculties from State distance education schools. language teaching One of the Networks successes was that the and her insights will schools worked as ‘sister schools’ that were part of have an influence one nation instead of eight separate ‘jurisdictions’. across Australia. The Since then, of course, the move towards a National South Australian Curriculum has taken place, although for a range contingent was of matters (eg interstate student enrolments) the rounded off by Lia SA Executive Director, Ms Susan Departments still operate as separate entities. Tedesco (Principal Cameron of the School of Since the establishment of ANGLS the schools Languages) and Julie Taylor (Principal of the Open have shared ideas on curriculum, administration, Access College). It’s very impressive when all of the marketing, technology and enrolment processes. key players in the State are working together as a They have celebrated student success in an area team. (Languages) that does not always have widespread community/parental support in Australia; shared The conference also welcomed Susan Moore curriculum documents and resources; and co- who is the new Principal of the Alice Springs operated on individual projects. Language Centre, replacing Dominique Castle, and there was also an observer from the Canberra The ANGLS members have definitely made a Academy of Languages. The members of the contribution to Language education in Australia. Ass. Professor Angela Scarino Cutting the ANGLS 20th Some of the participants Anniversary birthday cake Quality language programs since 1935 PAGE 3 FAMILY & STAFF BULLETIN 6 September 2017 VSL implementing the Education State Vision, Initiatives and Reform Agenda The Education State Vision, Initiatives and Reform agenda outlines the government’s goal of supporting Victorian schools to promote an environment of excellence and pride. The Department of Education is cascading support to schools by building the capacity of our education system to offer students a world class education. In order for schools to deliver more effective teaching, improved learning and improved student outcomes, the Education State outlines key initiatives to facilitate the paradigm shift for our schools and students. Some key initiatives that the Victorian School of Languages is prioritising for implementation are: Victorian Curriculum F-10 Framework that identifies the key knowledge and skills all students are expected to develop throughout their schooling and beyond in work and life.These are: ‘Literacy, numeracy, scientific knowledge and skills, resilience, respectful relationships, the use of digital technologies and the capacity for critical and creative thinking and expression’. Since 2015, in consultation with VCAA, the VSL has been scaffolding the changes through extensive professional development. This has provided teachers with the framework and knowledge required to audit their current teaching programs for the 50 languages offered by the school. At professional development sessions since 2015 VSL teachers have had the opportunity to collaborate informally so as to develop and review teaching and assessment strategies for their language classroom. Engaging teachers in high quality professional learning is the most successful way to improve teacher effectiveness. This has also given teachers the opportunity to plan together in language faculties, to transition to the Victorian Curriculum and to develop curriculum plans to reflect the achievements of students against the Standards, stages of learning and student backgrounds and needs. Framework for improving student outcomes (FISO) This is the ‘unifying framework for improvement in Victorian schools’. Through the FISO Continua of Practice schools identify practices and behaviours to strategically plan for student improvement. This provided us with the foundation to develop our VSL Strategic Plan for 2016-2019