6 February 2018
Newsletter Articles
President’s Message
Welcome back to the new school year.
On reflection, 2017 was an incredibly successful year. PTANT awarded $164 000 in grants across 14 of our NT associations. Funding was used to support professional learning in bringing high quality presenters and workshops to the NT, as well as supporting members to attend professional learning interstate and overseas. Last year’s highlight was the third Festival of Teaching with teachers leading teachers to deliver a range of professional learning through workshops, presentations and key note speakers. A total of 44 presenters delivered workshops and presentations to 250 delegates.
Our membership has increased in the last 12 months with the establishment of Drama Territory. PTANT is here to support associations in their governance, which includes assistance to anyone wishing to set up a new association.
Over the break PTANT executive members spent time working on the strategic plan. I would like to thank them for their hard work and determination to grow the capacity and continue to support member associations. Executive will be busy in the near future assessing round one grants for 2018, setting our calendar of events and determining the date for our biannual PTANT Awards.
In January, I attended the teacher’s orientation for the Department of Education. The value of our professional teaching associations was mentioned by both our Education Minister and senior executive staff. It was wonderful to see many new recruits signing up to PTANTs mailing list and I’m sure associations will be welcoming new members in the coming weeks.
Wishing you all a most successful start to the school year. I’m looking forward to seeing you at our Annual General Meeting on the 17th of March.
PTANT Executive Update
Welcome to the
PTANT Executive
team Steve
The PTANT Executive Committee have had a few changes recently. Mr John Sarev retired as PTANT President after 16 years on the committee. Jenni Webber has filled the President’s role until a formal election at the Annual General Meeting in March. Pam Adam stepped up into the Vice President role and we would like to welcome Steve Hawkins to the Executive Committee.
Steve is a teacher at Casuarina Senior College working in the Humanities, English and Cross Disciplinary learning areas, with previous experience working in ESL and special education. Steve is a board member for the Geography History Teachers Association of the Northern Territory.
Steve has taught in urban, regional and remote locations and has supported teachers and schools across the NT in departmental roles in curriculum and Aboriginal education with a particular interest in education in the senior secondary space.
Having worked in diverse educational spaces from very remote Aboriginal centres to multicultural urban schools, Steve has a broad understanding of the issues facing Territory teachers and is passionate about supporting educators to provide high quality inclusive education to students wherever they live and whatever their background and experience.
2018 Teacher Orientation
Executive Officer
Kristina Miletic
at the 2018
Teacher Orientation
The PTANT display at the 2018 Teacher Orientation attracted interest from teachers who wish to drive their professional development and networking whilst teaching in the Territory. PTANT provided participants with association benefits information. PTANT was highlighted as a go to place for teachers to network and access professional learning opportunities.
Teachers were invited to follow us on Facebook and subscribe to this newsletter. Associations are encouraged to advertise through PTANT to reach a wider audience and build associations’ profiles.
PTANT Executive Committee Meeting Schedule
The PTANT Executive meeting timetable for 2018 is now available. Be sure to save the date of the Annual General Meeting on the 17th March.
At each meeting the executive committee address the PTANT 2018 strategic plan developed in line with the Department of Education (DoE) Strategy and Strategic Framework. We work towards building the capacity of each member association with new initiatives being developed each year. PTANT ensure our work abides by the Association Act, the PTANT Constitution and our funding agreement with the Department of Education.
PTANT 2018 Strategic Plan will be available early February.
PTANT Supports Associations
PTANT strive to support member association and provide the following services. In 2018 PTANT will work to deliver additional support services.
- Grants for professional learning, governance and national conferences.
- Advertising of events, conferences and annual general meetings.
- Governance guidance to ensure each association complies the Act.
- Promoting associations at events such the teacher orientation.
- Storage facilities to store associations’ belongings and records.
- Survey software to gather comprehensive feedback at professional learning events.
- For other services/support please complete the Request for Support Form.
For further information please email ptant.doe@nt.gov.au.
MTANT Annual Math Meet Conference
North
On Friday afternoon 18 May and Saturday 19 May the Mathematics Teachers association of the NT (MTANT) invite you to join fellow teachers at MTANT’s annual Maths Conference, run by teachers for teachers with keynote speaker Joe Speranzo along many other passionate teachers will be presenting.
South
On Friday afternoon 18 May and Saturday 19 May, MTANT invite you to join fellow teachers at MTANT’s annual Maths Conference, run by teachers for teachers with keynote speaker Peter Sullivan.
The conferences aim to support, inspire and connect all Territory teacher form Primary to Year 12.
For information and how to register visit MTANT’s website or email contact.MTANT@gmail.com.
Drama Territory – Zen Zen Zo Teaching Artist
Physical Theatre Professional Development with Zen Zen Zo Teaching Artist
Drama Territory is very excited to present Nicole Reilly, teaching artist with Zen Zen Zo, who will will offer a Professional Development opportunity in Physical Theatre, promising to give participants a range of practical skills for the classroom.
This will be a highly practical workshop aimed at primary and secondary drama teachers. Appropriate for all ages, movement will be explored through Zen Zen Zo’s key methodologies including Viewpoints and Butoh, to foster confidence and self-expression. You don’t need to be a specialist arts teacher to use these learning experiences to engage your students!
Please book numbers are limited to 30 participants.
When: Thursday 15 February from
3:30 to 5:30pm
Where: Darwin High School The Tank
Costs: Drama Territory Members $0 Non-members
$30
For information please contact mark.bunnett@ntschools.net
ALEA announce “Kath Murdoch is coming to Darwin”
The Australian Literacy Educators Association Top End (ALEA) are pleased to announce Kath Murdoch is coming to Darwin, an experienced Australian teacher, author, university lecturer who has worked for many years in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, America and Europe. She is widely respected for her work in inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
The sessions will focus on:
Day 1: Exploring key practices
to strengthen inquiry learning with a focus on literacy
Day 2: Designing journeys of inquiry with and for
students
Inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum provides teachers to:
- Cultivate a curious mindset and grow young people as confident, capable, collaborative and creative inquirers (general capabilities) who research, communicate and self-manage.
- Integrate key learning areas, with a strong emphasis on literacy and cross curriculum priorities in an effective way to maximize deep learning as opposed to surface learning.
- Use an inquiry model as the basis of high impact teaching practices and make progress visible.
When: 11 and 12 April
Where: 11 April TBA, 12 April Wulagi Primary
School
Costs: ALEA Members $120 Non-members $200
For information and how to register please contact pam.adam@nt.gov.au
CEANT Training Day
The Career Educators Association of the NT (CEANT) hosted the delivery of ‘Coaching Young People for Success’ (CYPFS) accreditation training sessions in Alice Springs and Darwin during November and December 2017. Eighteen people attended the Darwin training day and a PTANT grant was used to support eleven members to become accredited trainers.
The CYPFS Accreditation Training is for teachers and all professionals from the youth, community, education and government sectors who want to bring the POWER of COACHING to their work with young people.
The Leader Accreditation program will enable participants to confidently deliver the life, career and school performance coaching modules in both groups and one to one within their own school or agency. Participants were taken step by step through the program and were able to experience firsthand of all the coaching activities and resources by designing their own Life and Career Pathway Plan.
The CYPFS Modules aim to ensure that “every young person designing a plan understands their strengths, connect to their dreams and develop the skills and qualities they need to achieve success in their life career and study.”
“It was an intense and lively day exploring two of the four coaching modules in depth. Participants worked through the Leader’s Manual and Pathway Plans, and considered ways to use, adapt and grow this coaching system to apply to the diverse situations and needs.” Participant
All participants agreed that this was a very worthwhile professional development day that would definitely be used within their school, in careers, Personal Learning Plan classes or in one on one coaching sessions. The PTANT grant was vital in allowing so many professionals to undertake this training and this financial support is greatly appreciate.