DIRECTORS' MESSAGE

Welcome to the April edition of TA Talk. We hope you have had a restful break and that you have returned to school refreshed and ready to tackle term 2!

Whilst you have had some downtime, we have been powering ahead progressing the Standards for paraprofessionals and preparing to launch our annual awards program next week. We are also excited to be a sponsor at the ACEL Inclusion and Disability conference in Brisbane on 16th and 17th May. If you are attending, please pop by and say hello. We would love to meet you.

Over the past few months, our team has also been actively checking in with member schools, offering help and support where needed. If you, or your team, are new to Australian Teacher Aide and would like some help to make the best use of the professional learning available, please contact us. Similarly, if your team needs a refresher 'orientation', we would be delighted to assist.

We had a sensational attendance at our most recent live web event, Understanding the Impact of Adversity and Trauma on Behaviour in Schools, despite many of you being on holidays. We also issued 639 certificates of completion during the month of March. This shows tremendous commitment to professional learning.

Read more about what's new and what's coming up below.

Warm regards

Stella and Mandy

2022 AUSTRALIAN TEACHER AIDE OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Nominations open next week!

It's almost that time of year again! Next week, on Thursday 5th May, we will be opening nominations for the 2022 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year.

We know many of you will be keen to nominate your TAs so keep an eye out for our announcement next Thursday, when nomination details become available on our website. 

Meanwhile, download the awards flyer and post it on your staff notice board or share it directly with your colleagues.

Simply click on the image to download the flyer!

STANDARDS UPDATE

An exciting milestone was achieved in March when the educators on our Industry Reference Group (IRG) reached agreement on the following Australian Standards for Paraprofessional Educators in Schools:

• Professional Knowledge Standard 1: Know students and how they learn
• Professional Knowledge Standard 2: Know how to support teaching and learning
• Professional Practice Standard 4: Contribute to, and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
• Professional Engagement Standard 6: Engage in professional learning

The IRG is close to finalising the remaining three standards, and a group of dedicated members have formed a Focus Group to develop the career stages.

If you would like to be part of this exciting work, please send us your expression of interest.

UPCOMING EVENT

Strategies To Support Students Who Have Experienced Adversity and Trauma

In this webinar, Michelle Murray, Senior Manager at Life Without Barriers and Speech Language Pathologist, returns to explore evidence based strategies that we can use to support children and young people at school who have experienced significant adversity and trauma, and help them break down the barriers, and engage in learning. 

Michelle has extensive experience working with communities across the country to establish schools with a focus on children and young people disenfranchised from education, and her presentation last month was a 'sell out'.  

If you haven't already done so, register now!

 NEW RESOURCE

Understanding the Impact of Adversity and Trauma on Behaviour in Schools

Michelle Murray, Senior Manager at Life Without Barriers and Speech Language Pathologist, believes that teacher aides can play a vital role in breaking down barriers for children who have experienced trauma.

In this webinar, Michelle discusses the neurodevelopmental impacts of significant adversity and trauma on children’s development and engagement, and will help you develop a better understanding of the impact on student behaviour.

NEW LOOK PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNER

Next time you download our PD Planner you will notice a few changes. Not only does the PD Planner have a new look, we have also added some features we think you will find helpful.  

As we have over 100 resources in the Professional Development library, we have flagged the three newest resources in the Table of Contents. Under the Support Materials section we have listed videos that are captioned, and in the Appendix, we have included a Professional Learning Activity Planner which you can print, or use online in writeable pdf format.

As you know the PD Planner is updated monthly, so if it’s been a while, we recommend you download the latest version.  

SOME RESOURCES HAVE MOVED

Have you noticed the new combined interest group, Additional Needs and Disability?

All our professional learning resources related to supporting students with additional needs and disability, have been grouped under the one heading, for ease of access. 

In this interest group, the professional learning focuses on developing a deeper understanding of additional needs and disability, and strategies to assist students to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers.  

All the resource titles are still the same, just in a new home!

TA TOOLBOX - ADDITIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITY

TA Toolbox has links to useful resources, including websites, videos, podcasts, practical resources, stories, articles and more.

The Toolboxes complement the resources in the Professional Development library, and you can now find information on Additional Needs and Disability on the same page.

WHAT'S TRENDING ON THE ATA FACEBOOK PAGE

The flying comma!

17,363 views
767 reactions, comments and shares

This little story brought a smile to many. We are wondering how many of you have adopted this rather fun terminology to help students remember the apostrophe and its use.

Sarah Jane commented, 'my son called it a “hover comma” once, and we use that'. 

Leaders in Professional Learning for Schools

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