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Faculty of Education

January 2009 'ED NEWS'

New directions for 2009

Happy New Year to all and welcome to 2009.  This year in higher education promises, as always, to be a time of change as we see what the government response to the Bradley review will be, as we gear up for the ERA research activity and as we at La Trobe prepare for the AUQA audit to be held in semester 2 of this year.  The curriculum review and renewal process which began at La Trobe last year will continue and the functional reviews will be completed resulting in some structural changes no doubt.  This will all impact upon our work in many ways and our readiness to embrace change and move in new directions will need to be to the fore.

VTAC selection

Thank you to all staff who are so heavily involved in the VTAC selection process at this stage of the year.  The year has begun well for the Faculty with demand for courses on all campuses increasing on last year’s figures for this stage of the year.  Demand at Bendigo over both education and outdoor education and environment courses is up by 1.9% in total with undergraduate education at Bendigo up 5.6%.  At Bundoora demand for courses is up by 5.5%; with demand at Albury-Wodonga up 4.5%; Shepparton up 27.2% and Mildura up 3.7%.  It is clear from the trends in the applications that there is a greater demand than in previous years for part time places or courses which allow students to combine study with work.  The other programs which seem to be in demand are career change programs.  These trends are no surprise and the reforms that we are progressively making to the delivery and structure of our courses should place the Faculty in a strong position to increase demand for our programs.  The method areas in which the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development reports specific shortages are mathematics, general science, physics, LOTE especially Indonesian, Italian, French, Japanese and German, IT and technology subjects.  There is also a particular need for teachers in regional and rural areas.  Special education teachers and primary teachers with LOTE qualifications, physical education and music are also greatly in demand.  In rural areas early childhood teachers are also in high demand.

Staff farewells

The Faculty farewells a number of staff this year and to all those staff who are leaving the Faculty we extend sincere thanks for their work and for their dedication to the students and staff with whom they have been involved.  We wish you all well in the future in whatever new directions you take.

Welcome to new staff

We also welcome to the Faculty all new staff and look forward to working with you.  I will circulate separately, a list of all new staff in the various academic units once I have confirmed all of this information with the unit directors.   There are three new additions to the professoriate in 2009 with the arrival of Professor Tanya Fitzgerald, and the appointments of 2 existing staff, Adjunct Professor Bernie Neville and Professor Ramon Lewis to the professoriate. 

New management structure for 2009

Following is the management structure of the Faculty as from January 2009.

Faculty Academic Management Structure

Dean

Professor Lorraine Ling

Deputy Dean

Professor Vaughan Prain

Director (Learning, Teaching and International)

Professor Noel Gough

Associate Dean (International)

Dr Wan Ng

Faculty Co-ordinator (Quality Enhancement)

Dr Julie White

Faculty Research Director (joint position)

Professor Vaughan Prain and Professor Margaret Robertson

Faculty Director, Graduate Research (joint position)

Professor Tanya Fitzgerald and Professor Ramon Lewis

Faculty Co-ordinator (Consultancies & Contracts)

Vacant

Academic Unit Management Structure

Academic Director Education Bendigo

Dr Jennifer Sheed

Academic Director Education Bundoora

Professor Tanya Fitzgerald

Director, Centre for Regional Education

Dr Howard Nicholas

Director, Centre for Excellence in Outdoor & Environmental Education (joint position)

Director (Learning, Teaching & International)

Dr Glyn Thomas

Director ( Research & Quality Enhancement)

Dr Andrew Brookes

Every good wish to all for what promises to be an exciting 2009.

Lorraine.