Minnis Journals

For Education Leaders

Aporophobia: Poverty is Not a Learning Disability (for discussion)

The term aporophobia was coined by the Spanish professor, Adela Cortina, in her analyses of people’s attitude toward the poor, which she saw as a systemic rejection towards poverty and people without resources. In schools, we need a concerted Australian effort to banish aporophobia, to break the poverty cycle, and to give every child a fair go. This change is bigger than a school-based collection of strategies, and it requires a commitment to a cultural valuing, such as Ubuntu (MacNeill & Boyd, 2023) in which an individual’s humanity is fostered in a network of relationships - I am because you are; we are because you are; which then can drive the more communal sense of reciprocal care. Read more

Teaching Fractions in the Primary Years of the Australian Curriculum – What’s New!

ACARA has increased the focus on fractions in the primary years of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics 9.0 (ACM). What are these changes and how might they impact your instruction?
Imagine you want to figure out how much you will pay for a $480 bicycle that has been discounted by 25%. This is a typical problem that many people encounter in their everyday lives, which makes it a skill that all numerate individuals should master. Read more

Six Ways to Boost Teaching and Student Performance

Staff morale, enhanced teaching quality, and student performance at school all flow from whole-school approach to curriculum planning.
When teachers have access to a common bank of materials, they are almost four times more likely to say they are satisfied with their school’s planning approach - and they save about three hours a week because they don’t have to source and create materials themselves. Read more

Encouraging, then Managing a School’s Growth

ACC Casey, a prep to year 9 school, located at the gateway to the Mornington Peninsula to the south of Melbourne, is in rude health.
The school is moving to a new location which will accommodate the surging student body. It is envisaged that the college will grow to a student population of 1200 plus. Principal Daryl Pollard has been hard at work encouraging that growth while managing its demands.
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AI Interactive Presentation Tools Level the Education Playing Field

AI interactive presentation tools are transforming education by changing traditional teaching methods. When putting a presentation together, AI can now do the writing, design, storytelling and real time assessment, leaving teachers with nothing to do but present.
Research indicates that 20 to 40 percent of current teacher hours are spent on activities that could be automated using technology.
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Creating a Culture of Child Safety

My work over the last thirty years as an early childhood professional, mentor, presenter, child rights advocate and now author has led me to taking action to see the early childhood sector take a great leap forward, to be working from a position of earlier identification and prevention of abuse against children. The need to write a book came from initially wanting to address the confusion around who has to report abuse.
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