In the last couple of weeks, I have given seven sites some intensive support to assign their ESL Scales. These schools include primary and high schools in Western Adelaide, Port Augusta and Whyalla. On most occasions I have only been making minor adjustments to some of the Scales already assigned. I think this is a sign a of the quality of the previous tarining about how to assign Scales and the professionalism of the etachers involved. Participation in voluntary regional moderation helps schools to have accurate Scales history for their students and therefore schools can have confidence in this data when tracking student improvement and prioritising resources. In addition these sites should have very few concerns if they are randomly selected for inclusion in the external moderation process. Each year 40 schools are notified which 10 sets of evidence they need to send for moderation. After moderation each school and regional office is sent the results. These show the percentage of Scales that were confirmed at each school and a comparison to the region and the state.
To coincide with Refugee Week I organised a professional learning session at the Aboriginal, Multicultural, Languages and Learning Resource Centre. The resource centre staff had a range of resources about refugees on display. After teachers had the chance to look at these, two speakers from the Australian Refugee Association spoke about the services they provide. In particular, we learnt about the expansion of homework clubs into the southern suburbs and that senior students can underatke Flexible Learning Options (FLO) through ARA as a way of completing their SACE. We also heard from Ker Wol Mading, one of the DECD CLOs, who spoke briefly about some of his personal experiences growing up in Africa and the important work of the CLOs.
Last week I attended the Settlement Council of Australia (SCoA) national conference here in Adelaide. It was sobering to hear the state minister for Multiculural Affairs deliver a very emtional and sincere speech about the plight of asylum seekers. It was also refreshing to hear from someone as eminent as Professor Graeme Hugo who presented current immigration statistics. These debunked many of the ignorant claims made in the media and general population about the negative impact asylum seekers supposedly have upon Australia. However, I felt disappointed that at a two day conference entitled "Creating our Future" very little was said about children with a migrant or refugee experience and that the important day to day role that schools play, sometimes in partnership with agencies and NGOs,  in the settlement of students and their families was not even acknowledged.