DIRECTORS' MESSAGE

Welcome to the July edition of TA Talk.

We hope you have had a relaxing mid-year holiday break. Whilst there is always much on the go at ATA HQ, we certainly found our days a little quieter as you were recharging your energy levels in preparation for the rest of the year.

However, now that term 3 has resumed, our customer service team is extraordinarily busy onboarding new school members and support staff, meeting with up to 3 schools on any given day. It is pleasing to see the majority of schools taking the opportunity to attend an orientation to learn how to maximise their membership and engage their education support teams with our extensive range of evidence-based professional learning.

Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed reading about the achievements of education support staff nominated for this year’s Australian Teacher Aide of the Year award, and our assessors are in the midst of determining the nominees who qualify in the highly commended and finalist categories. The finalists and highly commended nominees will be announced on Thursday 15th August, and our winners will be announced during another calendar highlight, Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week, 2nd – 6th September.

There is an enormous amount of work happening to ensure we are on track to publish the Australian Teaching Assistant Professional Standards (ATAPS) later this year.

Our team is collating the last of the feedback from our pilot schools and finetuning the language used in the standards document prior to our final meeting with the industry reference group in August, where we will seek ratification of the framework.

Additionally, we have spent many productive hours in consultative meetings with AITSL, unions, and public, independent and catholic education departments. These meetings continue to provide us with valuable feedback, and enable us to create wider awareness of the standards.

We hope you will enjoy reading our latest blog (link below) which includes some reflections and feedback from some of the ATAPS pilot schools that participated in our recent action research workshops.

Warm regards

Stella and Mandy

AUSTRALIAN TEACHER AIDE OF THE YEAR AWARDS UPDATE

We are in the final stages of our awards program!

The nominees have been published and our team will be working hard during these last few weeks to narrow down the competition until we are ready to announce our finalists and highly commended nominees on 15 August 2024.

In the meantime, head to our website to find out who the 2024 nominees are.

ATA IS A BUSINESS FOR GOOD

At Australian Teacher Aide, we make no secret of the fact that we stand for empowerment and development but, did you know that every time you, your school or your training organisation, purchase a new membership or renew an existing membership something amazing happens in the world!

We are extremely proud of the fact that every new and renewing membership allows Australian Teacher Aide to provide health and education support to children in Australia and around the world who would otherwise be without. So far, we have made 2793 impacts globally!

Read more about the impact we are making together and stay tuned for more updates on our giving stories.

UPCOMING EVENT

A Whole School Approach to Mental Health

Tuesday 13th August 2024 at 3.30pm AEST

Would you like to gain a better understanding of how to talk about mental health and be able to recognise someone in need?

Then our upcoming webinar is for you!

Register for this webinar and learn as Manager of Quality Mental Health First Aid International and Youth, Teen and Standard MHFA Instructor, Janie McCullagh, teaches all-important things to consider when managing mental health. 

Janie will discuss the importance of a whole school community approach to mental literacy including looking for signs and symptoms of mental health problems and the support services that are available.

 NEW RESOURCE

Differentiation Part 2 – Strategies to Collect and Record Evidence

Part 2 of our extremely popular differentiation series is in our resource library!

Watch and learn as ATA writer and facilitator, Kim Nuske, explains why differentiation evidence should be collected, as well as giving time-saving documentation tips for busy teacher aides moving between multiple classes and students.

During this fascinating webinar, Kim also uses her vast teaching experience to unpack The Universal Design for Learning using a clear and explicit analogy to explain all the different teaching roles.

 RECOGNISING AND VALUING THE WORK OF TEACHING ASSISTANTS

The Australian Teaching Assistant Professional Standards (ATAPS) has been developed by Australian Teacher Aide, in collaboration with an industry reference group of education experts to align with the Australian Professional Teaching Standards and recognise the work of teaching assistants by providing an evidence-based supporting framework.

Over the past 6 months, a select number of schools in diverse settings were invited by ATA to participate in the ATAPS School Pilot Program. School leaders and teaching assistants from these schools, attended three workshops, to learn how to apply the ATAPS framework to their school’s performance and professional growth processes, and provide feedback.

Find out what the school leaders and teaching assistants say about the workshops.

OUTSTANDING PARTICIPATION IN ATA PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

This month, we celebrate the following 4 schools for their outstanding participation in ATA professional learning. 

Newbury Primary School (VIC)

NT Christian Schools (NT)

Ilim College (VIC)

Redcliffe State High School (QLD)

DON'T FORGET TO USE OUR JOB BOARD

Positions Vacant

Waverley Christian College, Victoria South East has a position vacant for a Learning Support Assistant.

Applications close 29 July 2024

Looking for staff?

Schools with ATA membership can advertise positions vacant for education support staff on our Job Board.

Looking for work? 

Individual ATA members can advertise positions wanted. 

WHAT'S TRENDING ON THE ATA FACEBOOK PAGE

Congratulations to all the 2024 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year nominees! 

Congratulations to all nominees for your outstanding work supporting student learning and wellbeing!

We are thrilled that your efforts are being acknowledged formally through our national awards programme.

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Leaders in Professional Learning for Schools

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