Mr. Andrew Hocking, Central Ranges LLEN Board Member and Manager, Corporate Community Relations for IBM Australia, along with Rita Ellul, from the learning Technologies Branch of the the Department of Education and Training, staged the launch of the Guiding School Change CD this evening, Wednesday, March 1st at the J J Clark Room in the Old Treasury Building at Spring Street, Melbourne.

Approximately 50 invited guests and project participants attended, including Mr.John Sullivan, newly appointed General Manager from the Department of Education and Training and Ms. Julie Coyne, IBM Manager for Corporate Community Relations, Asia Pacific.

The Reinventing Education (RE) Program is a partnership program between the Department of Education and Training and IBM which began in the year 2000.  The program targeted schools in low socio-economic areas and had a specific focus of technology and educational change in the Early and Middle Years of Schooling.

During 2005, key learnings and experiences from the RE Program were collected from teachers and principals who had participated.  The CD-ROM entitled Guiding School Change provides snapshots of educator experiences, teaching and learning resources and professional development materials which can be adopted and adapted to bring change at the classroom and whole school level.

Guiding School Change is a valuable resource for all Victorian principals and teachers.  It provides a framework in which teachers can work collaboratively as a community of learners and uses Action Research as a strategy to continuously improve their classroom practice.