Most parents and school leaders have the same desire: to ensure children’s needs are matched with the best possible teaching. Victorians are in yet another lockdown. School education has been disrupted once again for more than 1 million children. Stress,…
A teacher can always spend another year refining practice. A student doesn’t have the same luxury of learning time. Some of you are spending way too much time on things that don’t really matter. In all seriousness, when unions continue…
‘F*** THE WORLD. I’M THE MOST IMPORTANT’. That was the printed message on a hoodie worn by a sloth of a teenager – aged about 15 – who was slouching in a Centrelink office. He was either the Grand Master of…
Schools usually expect parents to be active in support of their child’s learning and to engage in school initiatives – with regard to homework, committees, working bees, fundraising and social events. You could say it’s the norm. In a similar…
When we use ‘either-or’, we are emphasising a choice between two alternatives. The expression is widely accepted in debates related to education. It makes it clear that the options in question cannot exist, or be achieved, at the same time.…
Australian schools have been rocked by yet another blow. 2017 NAPLAN test results reveal poor performance across the nation. Early indications from the data are that students’ writing skills have gone backwards over the last 6 years. No surprises here.…
‘Backwards by default’ is the most appropriate way to describe the Senate’s decision, on 23rd June 2017, to pass the Gonski 2.0 $23.5 billion funding model for Australian schools. It’s the extreme height of political pragmatism with regard to the…
Less than four weeks into the school year and Australian public school teachers are preparing to strike over an apparently crushing workload. The new Enterprise Agreement, sought by the Australian Education Union (Victorian Branch), is driven by negotiations perceived to…
Australian education is in dire need of overhaul. If you need evidence, look at the 2015 exam results recently released by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The PISA exam, which is administered every three years, measures 15 year-old…
Sexuality education happens in schools. It might be in the intended curriculum – via an open and transparent agreed-upon set of content and standards. It might be in the hidden curriculum, with its opinions, values, attitudes, and approaches that might or…