NEWS

Scholarships promote agricultural careers with unlimited growth

Ten Scholarships valued at $6000 each are now available for high school students considering careers in Agriculture and Agribusiness.

The University of Queensland (UQ)  is reserving ten Merit Scholarships to be offered to high achieving students listing the Bachelor of Agricultural Science or Bachelor of Agribusiness as their first preference on their Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) application.

With over 2000 professional jobs in agriculture available every year and only 800 graduates produced nationally by universities, there are exceptional and highly rewarding career opportunities available for students seeking these careers.

Facing global issues such as food security, climate change, biosecurity and economic uncertainty, agriculture will need highly skilled and technology focussed professionals to meet these challenges. Studying  agricultural science, agribusiness, food technology, science or applied science will assist students to become part of this future in Queensland, nationally and internationally.

The Agricultural Science and Agribusiness programs at UQ are offered at  the Gatton campus  and are supported by scholarships, industry placements, summer research positions and some of the best teaching and research facilities in Australia. UQ is now ranked in the top two universities in Australia, in the top 100 universities in the world and in the top 50 universities for Life and Agriculture Sciences.

Students can apply for the Scholarships before October 31st on line at www.science.uq.edu.au/agscholarship

Jackie Mergard
Deputy Manager – Engagement
Faculty of Science
The University of Queensland Q 4072
Ph : 61 7 3365 3634
Email: j.mergard@uq.edu.au

090911

Proposed changes to the Primary Industries Syllabus and the NSWAAT response

Important - All Primary Industries Teachers please read; don't get saddled with a poor syllabus for many years.

The draft syllabus has a number of shortcomings, particularly the mandated units.

 
As the national training package will no longer have a fixed life but will be subject to "continuous improvement" we will probably have the PI syllabus for many years.

We don't want to be saddled with a substandard syllabus that is too prescriptive, content heavy and caters to a small number of schools and teachers where the ATAR is god rather than meeting the needs of all students including School Based Trainees.

It appears that the main push for the heavy content prescription has come from a very small number of members of the Industry Curriculum Committee and that these particular members are supposed to be representing the teachers of NSW not a small subsection.

It is therefore crucial that every Primary Industries Teacher makes a submission to the Board of Studies to ensure that their views are heard.

The syllabus can be changed in the following manner to better meet the needs of all students.

The objectives would better be met by:-

1. retaining the five of the current  six mandatory units however
2. replace HLTFA201 Provide basic emergency life support  with HLTFA301B Apply First Aid.
3. Remove the Plant and Livestock streams as they are too restrictive as outlined at the start of the document.
4. Should the Board consider it necessary to retain “streams” for HSC purposes then there should only be ONE unit in each Stream, vis.
a. Plant stream:  AHCPMG202A Treat Plant Pests, diseases and  Disorders
b. Animal Stream: AHCLSK202A Care for Health and Welfare of Livestock 
All remaining units should be placed in the Elective Pool
5. Retain the focus areas following modification of content due to the above change and reduction in the number of units in the strands as this will facilitate developing of a Learning and Assessment Strategy and content for the OPTIONAL HSC examination.

A similar arrangement applies to the Certificate III Pathway

Please make your submissions to the Board of Studies:  

www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/primary-industries-consultation-2011.html

Closing date for BOS submissions is the 1st of July 2011.

Please do something about it before you go on your well deserved break.

Could you also send any submission you make to me so that I can be certain that we are representing our members and other teachers fairly.

I have attached the submission that is likely to be sent to the BOS on behalf of NSWAAT [attachment]

I hope that all financial members have received their BAAT. Congratulations to Carl and his crew on this great newsy publication.

If you forgot to join again the website has application forms.

The National Ag teachers conference will be in Adelaide this summer holidays. More later.

ACARA has the first meeting of the Technologies Reference panel  late July. A strong association membership helps us in our lobbying  to retain agricultural studies within the national curriculum (it wasn't even on the radar before!).

Graeme Harris
President NSW Association of Agriculture Teachers
c/o Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School
585 Calala Lane
Tamworth
NSW 2340
 
ph 0267648660 (w) 0267648734 (h) 0438656692 (m)