Guest Speaker Paul Grover- Lecturer in Education – CSU.

We have recently heard many Australian media commentators and politicians applaud the Finnish education system because of their results on international tests in literacy, numeracy and science – and then go on to say we should adopt certain selected parts of their system to ‘fix’ our own – but they are always selective about which parts according to their own agendas  (why ‘fix’? –  because the underlying assumption is that if we are not winning the international testing race then we must be failing). Last year we welcomed at CSU Albury-Wodonga Finnish research fellow  Dr Tuija Turunen from the University of Lapland – she trains teachers for the Finnish education system.

Key points she noted about the Finnish education system:

• very high status profession (but not higher pay scale)
•  rigorous teacher education selection – highly selective from top performers (in 2012 – 8000 applicants competed for 670 places in teacher education)
• selection is based on an entrance exam, then group discussions and then personal interviews – group discussions look at personality traits and aptitude for teaching – each applicant leads a discussion based on an educational topic…looking for leadership qualities, genuine teaching potential, not dominating types or shy or those who are ‘acting’ a role, want good listeners, contributors, team players
• basic qualification required is a Master’s degree for primary & secondary teaching
• each university offering teaching courses has a school attached to it with high-quality specially selected staff as mentors – very high level of in-school training
• very, very few private schools – virtually all students attend public schools
• no major exams throughout school career for students – only at end of school for university entrance  – not a spirit of competition, but collaboration/support among students, no streamed classes based on Maths or English or Science skills – but parallel classes with all students having equal access and opportunity, accept diversity and be able to work with all people.
• least number of class hours per student in developed world & high level of teacher support for students
• school decides its own curriculum – not the government or the education department. The school is given a curriculum framework and develops the subject curriculum for their own students in their own community – teachers are highly trained to research their own students and their education needs.
• Finland does not see education as a competition with other countries – just what works for Finland…and not much attention was given in the media to these PISA results.

Guest speaker was Frank Zaknich, General Manager with Albury City Council.  He has joined Albury City from Broken Hill City Council where he had been General Manager since 2006. He brings with him a wealth of local government experience during a career that’s included senior positions in rural and metropolitan councils across NSW and South Australia.  Mr.Zaknich presented an informative outline of proposed investment in infrastructure supporting growth in Albury …   “Future-proofing the City”. He said there are a number of projects on the horizon for Albury that he was looking forward to delivering and there were certainly some exciting times ahead for this community in which he was  pleased to be involved.  Some 2013-2014 budget highlights …

The Budget proposes a $3.65M road and drain rehabilitation program. Approximately 40 local roads will be resealed and rehabilitated in 2013-14. Rehabilitation projects include:
– Gerogery Road, between Wagga and Hub Roads, and between Winchester Lane and Himalaya Drive;
– Table Top Road, from Old Sydney Road to Somerset Road;
– Wagga Road, between Henry Drive and the Freeway;
– Urana Road, Heathwood Avenue to McDonald Road, and McDonald Road to Schneider Street.

AlburyCity has also planned a $9.1M investment to fund essential sewer upgrades and improve water quality and supply across the city.

Other highlights of the 2013-14 Draft Budget include:
– $4M to fund the runway overlay at the Albury Airport
– $1M to fund environmental improvements at the Albury Waste Management Centre
– $810K* towards the Murray River Experience – Wagirra Trail Project
– $801K* to begin detailed design of the Albury Regional Art Gallery Redevelopment
– $675K for the Kerr Road realignment
– $143K to continue the upgrade of Mate Street
– $109K to continue the sportsfield renovation program.

He mentioned that he was fortunate to be joining a very talented and capable senior management team delivering great things for this city. He said one his priorities would be continuing to work towards the delivery of the Albury 2030 Community Strategic Plan. He appreciated the warm welcome to the position and added that he was excited to be part of Albury City which has a great reputation and is well known as one of regional New South Wales most progressive and innovative organisations.

Dominic Somers, son of our member, Stan, presented an excellent overview of his experiences mentoring young people in or approaching a crisis situation.  With a teaching background Dominic has experienced a wide range of activities working with young people, especially those in crisis.  Following initial teaching placement he worked with the Big Brother programme mentoring young people, in particular  enjoyable contact and support of a local young boy in need of assistance and direction requiring regular  support over a two-year period. This experience led Dominic to join ‘YES’ (Youth & Family Services) Youth Connection where he has developed a mentoring programme, interviewing, training then  matching volunteer   mentors with young people in crisis … with pleasing results in many cases. YES (Youth & Family Services) is a community-based non profit organisation, which in partnership with the community, strives to provide a coordinated range of support services to meet the changing needs of young people and their families. The Youth Connections Program is aimed at delivering services to young people between the ages of 11 to 19 years who are most at risk of disengaging from education or training and therefore not attaining Year 12 or equivalent and not making a successful transition to further study, training or work. An initiative created to assist the Youth Connections Team to engage these young people is the Mentoring Program. The objective of the Mentoring Program is to help participants of the Youth Connections Program. Dominic mentioned that despite minimal government funding more is always needed particularly in the area of mentor access and training.

Albury Supported Accommodation Service Inc

Caddie Russell outlined for us the goals of this service as it provides much needed short-term support in the community.

ASAS is a community based organisation which services Albury and surrounding districts. ASAS is not a provider of emergency accommodation but manages 10 properties as assistance to those in immediate need. ASAS is funded through the Department of Human Services (Community Services).    ASAS assist families and single adults over the age of 18 years who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless or in crisis, be it from domestic violence, rental problems, family breakdown, job loss.Ongoing support is available once clients have moved back into the community.  Caddie mentioned that ASAS is one of a number of supporting agencies in the community.  There is a daily intake of persons requiring assistance with many successful outcomes … reassurance of the need for this service. ASAS motto is …  “Never look down on someone unless you are helping them up”.

Guest Speaker– Ashley Argoon, a journalist with the Border Mail, has been the driving force behind  the “Head Space for Albury-Wodonga” campaign being conducted by the Border Mail with the purpose of securing government finance for a centre in Albury-Wodonga. At last week’s meeting Ashley gave us an insight into the urgent need for  the centre and its importance in supporting the border mental health services. She spoke of the particular need for suicide prevention by bringing this subject into the open through publicity and discussion. Part of this campaign involved collecting  ‘message Butterflies’ from the border community to form the basis of a presentation to Canberra … 5000 ‘butterflies’ and petition signatures were collected and presented to the Minister of Mental Health in Canberra … each with a personal message of hope. It is understood that funding for the head Space centre will be announced soon.