Curios of the week #35

Clippings endnotes and other ephemera

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I don’t want to go out too early, but I think Spring may be happening in Ballarat. It’s still fresh, but we’ve had a fair share of Sun and my herbs are growing.

I often interview people from the UK for positions at our school and one of the issues we try to work out is whether the candidate has done their research on Ballarat. It’s not palm trees and beaches, it’s gum trees, sheep, potatoes, gorgeous Victorian architecture and trendy eateries established by refugees from Melbourne’s house prices. We want people to come here fully informed.

At this point, my colleague, Jen, will mention that Ballarat is cold. I can assure you that it’s not cold. Australia is simply not cold. Spend a week in a UK Winter’s sub-zero temperatures, with a daylight more akin to twilight, and then tell me that Ballarat is cold. But I guess it’s cold for Australia. Sometimes. Even if it tops 40C in the height of Summer.

This week’s Curios include an ad, a movie, some worked examples and much more.

Advertising campaign of the week

Australia is currently suffering from a teacher recruitment and retention crisis, as is much of the English-speaking world. We all know there is only one solution to such a problem that is 100% guaranteed to work — an advertising campaign. Fresh from applying their skills to persuade people to vote for The Voice, Australian advertising creatives have put together a heartwarming promotional video:

Jason Clare, the federal education minister commented:

“Recent surveys show that most teachers don't think that what they do is valued by the community. We need to change that.

This campaign is all about changing the way we as a country think about our teachers, and the way our teachers think our country thinks of them.”

I’m not sure. When teachers say they aren’t valued or respected, I tend to assume that’s code for the way they are treated. Pay is important, but so is the behaviour of students and members of the community towards teachers. Other than a series of commercials, what is the strategy for improving that?

Heel-dragging of the week

While other Australian states have made progress in focusing on a structured approach to early literacy that includes systematic phonics, Victoria has been dragging its heels. It it has no specific literacy strategy.