Term 4 Newsletter 2018

Newsletter Articles

President’s message

Hello everyone, I hope Term 4 is going well.

How has the new term structure impact your teaching and students’ learning this year? Is it positive, or negative, or a mixture of both? PTANT is giving you the opportunity to give feedback, which will be collated in a report for the Minister for Education, the Hon. Selena Uibo. We welcome your contributions. You should have received an email from your association with a link to a survey where you can provide feedback on the term structure, or you can respond via the link later in this newsletter.

The biennial PTANT Awards were held on Thursday 15 November. These awards, which began in 2009, acknowledge the dedication and hard work of teachers in advocating and promoting professional collegiality, engagement, knowledge and practice. Acknowledging teachers leading teachers across a range of professional and educational contexts, these awards recognise the efforts of our educators in supporting their colleagues and striving for improved outcomes for our Territory students. Thank you to our associations who nominated a deserving member. The evening was a great success and a celebration for all who attended.

I am very proud to be a part of PTANT and was extremely pleased when PTANT was recognised for its dedication to educational leadership at the 2018 Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) NT Awards. PTANT won the Leadership Award, which recognises demonstrated excellent educational leadership.

PTANT’s largest association collaboration efforts result in our highly successful Festival of Teaching (FoT) event every second year. With 2019 fast approaching, the FoT steering committee has been established, and they’ve started work on developing and delivering the festival on 24 August 2019. When your association plans professional learning for 2019, please keep in mind that the FoT is held in August, and you can use PTANT grants to deliver professional learning workshops at the FoT, including bringing presenters from interstate or overseas.

To help associations work effectively and comply with the Associations Act, we held two valuable association professional learning opportunities in Term 3. The first explored IT tools that help associations operate easily and effectively, and the second explored the Associations Act and being on a management committee. We hope you found these workshops useful. We are listening to member feedback and will organise an association constitution health check workshop in early 2019.

Thank you to the associations who have already returned their grant acquittals. I look forward to reading the performance reports from our member associations and sharing your achievements.

This is the last newsletter for the year, and I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the ongoing commitment and dedication from our executive committee and officer and to congratulate everyone on a successful year for professional teaching associations.

PTANT Awards, 2018

The PTANT Awards acknowledge the contributions individual educators make to the profession through a professional teaching association.

The 2018 award recipients were nominated by peers to acknowledge the experience and dedication these teaching professionals exercise daily to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the Territory. Professional associations deliver professional learning, mentoring, networking and local, national and international voices for NT teachers.

The awards allowed the space and time for associations to acknowledge amazing achievements and to identify an association member who goes above and beyond to demonstrate teaching professionalism in the Territory.

As the peak body that represents our members and as the link between associations, PTANT was proud to see associations come together to celebrate their hard work.

ACEL Awards, 2018

The Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) held its NT awards in August. PTANT was delighted to receive the ACEL NT Leadership Award. Each year, the Leadership Award is presented to individual educators, teams of educators, schools, networks and professional associations who have demonstrated excellent educational leadership in developing and implementing a significant educational initiative, conducting research or influencing educational policy, leading to improved outcomes for students and/or colleagues in any educational setting. To read about other award categories and winners, click here.

Term dates: association feedback

PTANT will present a report to the Minister for Education, the Hon. Selena Uibo, about this year’s changes to the NT school calendar.

The 2018 term and holiday duration changed from ‘1,4,1,6’ to ‘1,3,2,6’, and we would like to gather feedback from association members for the minister. PTANT has 18 member associations with a collective membership of some 900 educators, and we’d love as many members as possible to complete the survey.

The Department of Education website has more information about the 2018 changes.

Festival of Teaching, 2019

PTANT hosts the biennial Festival of Teaching (FoT) event. In 2017, 250 educators attended a full-day conference with two keynote speakers and 44 workshops. PTANT and our member associations form a FoT steering committee, which works to host the festival, ensuring professional learning is represented across the curriculum. Leading teachers in their field of expertise deliver the workshops (or outsource delivery) to ensure the festival gives NT educators the opportunity to learn from experts. The festival provides quality, targeted professional learning to empower teachers and improve educational outcomes in the NT.

The 2019 Festival of Teaching will be held on Saturday 24 August. The 2019 festival steering committee is:

Steve Hawkins – GHTANT
Georgina Gunson – ALEA
Jemma Rust – ALEA
Carolyn Knutsen – ACHPER
Lenny – NTAEGT
Tina Challis – AASE
Vicki Potter – HEIA NT
Korin Lesh – AENT
Gail Barwick – STANT
Danielle Hazleton – ETANT
Guy Glover – MTANT.

Please email us at ptant.doe@nt.gov.au for more information about the 2019 Festival of Teaching.

IT tools for associations workshop

Each term, PTANT delivers professional learning opportunities for our member associations.

In Term 3, the focus was IT tools that make associations’ work easier and compliant. Steve Hawkins, PTANT’s Secretary and the GHTANT President, ran a workshop for seven associations, some attending in person and others via Skype.

The workshop explored IT tools for:

• association management
• surveys and forms
• event management systems
• communications
• graphic design
• finance management
• databases.

If you have any requests for professional learning opportunities or would like a copy of the workshop materials, please email ptant.doe@nt.gov.au

Associations Act seminar

PTANT invited John McLaren, Manager Compliance Occupations, Associations and Cooperatives at NT Licensing in the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice to present the Associations Act Seminar for member associations.

Mr McLaren has more than 19 years’ experience working with NT associations and presented to 15 members representing eight associations. The seminar was a great opportunity for members of associations to find out more about the Associations Act and being on the management committee of an association.

Member feedback about the seminar:

‘Presenter was very knowledgeable’
‘Anyone involved or thinking about getting involved with an association should attend this seminar’
‘“Very important information for associations’
‘Practical delivery, talking about the Act in real life situations’
‘It’s great to know that NT Licensing are supportive and like to help associations’

If you’d like a copy of the seminar materials or have a request for professional learning opportunities, please email ptant.doe@nt.gov.au

Creating and Maintaining Connections, Understanding Trauma to Support Learning

An exciting professional learning event, Creating and Maintaining Connections, Understanding Trauma to Support Learning, was delivered to 260 people across five Northern Territory locations: Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Darwin, Palmerston and Nhulunbuy.

Mr Philip Riley, a former school principal and Australia’s foremost researcher into adult attachment processes, delivered a keynote address and a workshop at the conferences. Michelle Montgomery, a Trauma Informed Education Specialist at KidsXpress, also delivered a keynote address and a workshop. The day allowed professionals working with young people to gain an understanding of what trauma is and how it affects a person’s ability to learn. The conference focussed on attachment, the importance of positive attachment and the impact of trauma within a learning environment.

Tennant Creek Primary School and Nhulunbuy Primary School took advantage of the professional learning being delivered locally and took a whole-school approach, with all staff attending the conference.

The conference was developed and delivered by two professional teaching associations with administration support from PTANT’s executive officer. The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation NT and the Australian Association of Special Education NT chapter collaborated to provide this very important professional learning opportunity for educators across the NT.

Making music with ASME NT

The Australian Society for Music Education NT chapter has been busy this term making music with educators across the NT. The committee held a Teach Meet focussing on Music Australia’s national program ‘Music: Count Us In’ (MCUI).

Jazmin Tomsen, chair of ASME NT and music teacher at Essington School, and Ty Quinn, music educator with the NT Music School, presented to a group of keen music educators. The workshop focussed on the MCUI program song ‘One Song’ and incorporated classroom music activities, singing and ukulele skills. On 1 November, schools across the country took part in the MCUI celebration day where at the same time on the same day, students sang ‘One Song’ simultaneously to promote the importance of music education across Australia. This professional development session was recorded and can be downloaded on the MCUI website here.

End-of-year messages

Public liability insurance

Association members are reminded to send an invoice and proof of purchase of public liability insurance to claim a reimbursement from PTANT. Email the invoice and document/s to ptant.doe@nt.gov.au

2018 financial acquittals

Professional learning and governance grants received in 2018 and national conference grants received in 2017 are due for acquittal on 31 December 2018. If your association is ready to acquit, please do so before the due date. Click the links below for the acquittal forms.

Please contact our executive officer for information or assistance with grant acquittals by emailing ptant.doe@nt.gov.au or phoning 8944 9234.

2019 PTANT grant information

PTANT provides three types of grants:

• a Professional Learning grant to upskill NT teachers in areas relevant to their association
• a Governance grant to help associations maintain compliance with the Associations Act 2003 (NT) and regulations
• a National/International Conference grant to hold a national/international conference in collaboration with their national representative body where the conference is held in the Northern Territory.

Eligibility

Member associations are eligible to apply for grants if the association is a financial member and previous grants have been acquitted.

For more information and grant application forms, click here