Welcome to the April edition of TA Talk.
It's almost show time again! At ATA HQ, we are super excited to announce that nominations for 2023 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year will open in just one week. This is, without a doubt, one of our favourite times of the year. It is an absolute privilege to sponsor and facilitate this awards program, and we eagerly anticipate hearing from school leaders about the significant contribution education support staff are making to student learning and wellbeing in schools.
Each year, the calibre of nomination jumps another notch, and we are confident this year will be no exception. Keep your eyes on our website, as next week we'll be publishing all the information required to write a winning nomination! In the meantime, we invite you to download the awards flyer and share it with your colleagues to help spread the word!
Our other major project, the development of the draft Australian Standards for Paraprofessional Educators in Schools, is progressing well. This term, the goal of our working group is to complete the competencies and expectations for each of the Standards. Two of our member schools, St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Queensland and Padua College in Victoria, will begin trialling the Standards shortly and, following, we will be inviting further schools to participate. This is an exciting phase of the project!
Notwithstanding the enormity of these projects, we continue to build on our professional learning library of evidence-based resources month by month, upholding our mission To empower educators to help students succeed. Our newest resource, The Landscape of Anxiety, is featured below.
All in all, busy times! But, we wouldn't have it any other way :)
Warm regards
Stella and Mandy