State Council for Term 3 was again held online over zoom for two full days. Your delegate should have by now reported on the comings & goings of Council which included the vote to purchase us a home.

We had both the Minister & Secretary attend online and they as usual were open & frank about happenings.

The Minister discussed:

• COVID-19 and acknowledgement the challenges it has presented. She thanked us all for the management, particularly the schools who have had to go non-operational.
• NAPLAN Review-sensible recommendations were made in the “East Coast” Review, happy where it has landed. The Minister addressed some of the recommendations. Disappointed that Dan Tehan is focusing on the online test and believes that needs to happen before reforming the test. The Minister wants to ensure the platform will be successful.
• Check in assessments-negate arguments about being anti testing. Also pleased with the Phonics assessment.

The Minister was asked many questions focused on our Well-Being, workload, Welfare support in primary schools, contracts, behaviour policy, drought supplementation and our involvement with NESA and the implementation work around the curriculum review.

The Secretary addressed Council and mentioned:

• 2020 challenging. COVID taskforce meets every morning, having to be very responsive. Following advice from Health. Will review guidelines at the end of this Term, hoping for some relaxation. Increased stress and anxiety at the forefront of concerns and actions to provide the support and infrastructure that is needed to address these issues and looks forward to our continued advice. 
• Behaviour Strategy-consultation at the moment. Looking forward to feedback. Tapping into the best global advice they can find, consultation has been provided.
• Early Childhood Education-aware of the enormous gap, working on how to improve access and ensure quality.
• Latham report-the Government has responded.
• Curriculum review-ambitious timetable, the first area to address is Numeracy K to 3. Early mastery is vital. 
• NAPLAN review-recommends reading the report, a number of good recommendations. 
• People Matter survey-DoE has received significant responses. Important to take the pulse and get insight from staff

He was questioned about the re-structure, social media policy, increasing work load for schools, IT devices promised during COVID.

Executive Director, Sylvia Corish led a session on what to expect if you gave a COVID positive finding in your school that was really well received.

Deputy Secretary Murat Dizdar & A/Deputy Secretary Cathy Brennan discussed School Excellence in Action, the next phase in Connected Communities, the new Operational Directorates commencing in Term 4, principal Well-Being, QTSS  and the Curriculum Review.

We were also addressed by the School Improvement and Education Reform Group (SIERG) - Georgina Harrisson, Group Deputy Secretary; Murat Dizdar, Deputy Secretary School Performance, Cathy Brennan, A/Deputy Secretary, School Performance, Martin Graham, A/Deputy Secretary Education and Skills Reform and Jane Simmons, A/Deputy Secretary Learning Improvement. The key group focusing on school improvement.

George focused on: they want a simplified structure. School performance work is driving things. They want to ensure there is clarity in the work of DoE. Communication and Engagements plans must be measured, organised and systematic. Organisation must be accountable and this will be improved. Need to bring Professional Learning into a structured organised site. Georgina stressed that all of the work she outlines will not all land in schools at the same time. Support will be aligned to the SEF so you know where to go. There is a lot underway to improve support to schools. Changes in statewide student services, want to maintain push toward consistence statewide.   

We had an Aboriginal Education update by Karen Jones, Executive Director Aboriginal Education and Communities with Tanya Neal, Director Policy, Research and Engagement Aboriginal Education and Communities. Discussion focused on the partnership Agreement with the AECG for the next 10 years, Language & Culture nests, Kimberwali, DoE response to the Closing the Gap report; Aboriginal state-wide staffroom.

Kay Smith, A/Executive Director Learning and Teaching with Paul Wood, Director, Early Learning and Primary Education and Catherine Thompson, Director, Literacy and Numeracy led a session discussing:

• Statewide staffrooms-over 6000 members, moderators from school services. Kay is interested in feedback about the statewide staffrooms and is happy for direct emails and feedback from PPA groups. 
• Learning from home-they had to change the way they worked and change Professional Learning so it was accessible to the current climate.
• EAfS, from 59 to 527 schools, cross sectorial funding. Two evaluations, Eribius and UTS. NAPLAN, progressions, teacher surveys and focus groups. Rapid diagnostic Positive trends-structures and processes, strong leadership, effective use of data, whole school approach.We were not impressed with the extension of ILs for another year.
• L3 Review- not continuing in 2021. Really disappointing…there were other options.