1990 Annual Report

their professional status, and our students will be supplied with access to a learning environment which remains challenging and stimulating. Some of the changes which impinge upon the School include the Occupational Health and Safety Act which requires that all organisations ~ave specially trained staff who ensure that ·the occupational health and safety of all .employees is preserved. ·Miss Hatton and Mr Vine have become our first accredited Occupational Health and Safety Agents. Over the years Girls' Grammar has been committed to professional development programs and so it was not difficult to accept the demands of the Training Guarantee (Administration) Act which makes it mandatory for all organisations with payrolls over two hundred thousand dollars per annum to spend one percent of the total payroll on structured professional development programs. Heads of Departments and academic coordinators have participated in various intensive professional development sessions. A program for all academic staff will be undertaken in January 1991, when English language usage texts will be introduced formally at all levels across the curriculum. In 1990, further steps were taken towards full implementation of the School Language Policy, which incorporates English Language Development Across the Curriculum. The impetus for this derives in part from syllabus recognition that whilst teachers of English have a special responsibility for language education, it is the responsibility of all teachers to develop and monitor students' abilities to use the forms of language appropriate t~: their own subject areas. The School Language Policy is a unique document which reflects the philosophies, curriculum emphases and perceived needs which exist within this School. Its ongoing implementation is a professional exercise involving inter-faculty coopen1tion, communication and interaction. It is organised to enhance the teaching and learning of English language within the School and to improve student confidence and competence in language use. The introduction of ELDAC in 1990 has assisted significantly in breaking down residual and artificial barriers which may have existed between subjects. The long-term commitment to English language development in this School serves not only as a recognition of the crucial importance we accord to higher level literacy skills, but also as a testimony to the impressive levels of staff dedication and professional commitment to the improvement of these skills in our students. Curriculum structure is presently the focus of much debate in education. The concepts behind such developments as the evolving P-10 or P-12 planning by the Queensland Department of Education, the Hobart Declaration on Schooling, and the recognised need to develop independent, autonomous, creative learners who can view the world in an integrated fashion, are all providing challenges to those concerned irn curriculum plarining.