The plan's mission statement is to address the inequity in educational achievement. Although the draft plan is to be commended for its vision and timeline, it fails to note ‘disability’ as a minority group in a commitment to ensure that students are ready to graduate from high school to go on to further study or careers “regardless of race, income, or neighborhood”.
MAA CEO Alex Varley said, “Ai-Media deserves all of the accolades for its in-school solution. It has been carefully thought through, properly tested and is an affordable, robust solution for Australia’s ten thousand Deaf and hearing impaired students. MAA has been involved in a steering group and is developing its Classroom Access Project with some input and crossover with Ai-Live.
The focus on resilience for both students and teachers was of keen interest to the conference. The development of resilience in students who are Deaf or have hearing impairment has many positive and lifelong benefits. The conference presentations looked at these issues from several angles.
The Federal Government’s Draft National Curriculum was released last month for public viewing and feedback, and will remain open until 23 May. The draft is comprehensive, covering the subjects of English, History, Maths and Science, and is available online.
