Why are we loosing so many valuable resources?

How many schools are aware of the new format of the NSW School Magazines and the teaching guides that accompany them?  

Each magazine has its own Teaching Guide which consists of two full lesson plans and four teaching ideas pages which have three activities each as well as a worksheet. 

Each focus is tied to an outcome of the NSW English syllabus and the English strand of the national curriculum.  There’s even a chart at the back that shows the specific focus.

Apart from providing a great resource that appeals to kids (there are comic strips, puzzles, poems, plays, stories, serials and so forth) and the Teaching Guides providing great lesson ideas, a subscription might even save the jobs of those who work for it full-time, given the news about restructuring.

 The lost positions in the organisational chart published at https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/psportfolio/functional-realignment reflect considerable reductions in support for schools in a number of areas, including literacy and numeracy, learning areas curriculum and policy support in all learning areas in a time when schools will want equitable support for implementing new curriculum K-12, PRC is not mentioned, The School Magazine looks like it may have fewer staff etc  – most major projects and programs across curriculum support, online teaching and learning including support, and professional learning are facing significant or complete reductions.

It is true that three positions will be lost from the seven-member English/Literacy team here in CLIC over the next six months: Leader Literacy (Annalies van Westenbrugge’s PEO position), a SEO2 literacy position and the CEO position (Group Leader, English/Literacy).In total about 200 positions have been shed from state office directorates in the Schools Portfolio, including all PEOs and CEOs in the curriculum area.

If you would like more information about the proposed restructure, you might like to go to  https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/psportfolio - you will need to access via the portal. If you look at ‘functional realignment’ in the left hand menu, you will get access to the organisation charts for what appears to be our new area, Learning and Leadership, including Early Childhood & Primary Education and Secondary Education. Apart from the cuts, English and Literacy will no longer be part of the one team and will soon be divided into primary and secondary teams – an odd decision given that we are now embracing a K-10 syllabus.

There is an email address (also available through the webpage above) for any interested person to ask for further information or express an opinion:DDGSchools@det.nsw.edu.au. The consultation period lasts until 10am on Thursday 7 June only.

You can check out what’s on offer at http://theschoolmagazine.com.au/