Menu Close

Education – Articles, Analysis, Comment

Displaying 2426 - 2450 of 2779 articles

Kids need to learn about climate change in a way they can understand, and that teaches them they can help. 350.org/Flickr

Our kids need to learn about climate change

The conclusions published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this week provide a wake-up call about the importance of teaching kids about sustainability. The IPCC’s…
Research undertaken on beagles and the contraceptive pill in the 1970s was found to be fabricated - there never were any beagles.. Flickr

Fabricating and plagiarising: when researchers lie

There are a few things you might need for an experiment involving beagles and the side effects of contraceptive pills. Animal research ethics aside, beagles might be a good start. Sadly, one researcher…
If graduates are helped along through school, how will they cope in the workforce? Shutterstock

A ‘no-consequences’ education produces unemployable graduates

A research centre in the UK recently found that lavishing praise on students, particularly low-attaining students, may be counter-productive. By providing a no-fail, no-consequences environment in which…
If you don’t eat breakfast in the morning, it’s likely your kids won’t either. Kris Kesiak/Flickr

What happens when kids don’t eat breakfast?

How many times have we heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? There’s overwhelming evidence to suggest that it is, especially for children. Eating breakfast has been shown to improve…
What does it feel like when everyone in the class gets it, except for you? AAP

What is school like for a child with learning difficulties?

The term “learning difficulties” is the hand grenade of education. Throw the terminology around and teachers, students, parents and school community members react widely and, at times, wildly. Some individuals…
Indonesian students, already struggling in maths, reading and science, are often in the middle of conflicts between their schools and communities. AAP/Diana Plater

Indonesia must tackle conflicts between schools and communities

Indonesia’s new Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan has a huge task ahead of him. Australia was alarmed when its students ranked 19th in the Organisation for Economic…
Are scholarships to help out students in need? Or to make universities look good? AAP

What are scholarships for?

The University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor, Michael Spence, presumably achieved his political aim by announcing that his university could offer scholarships to almost a third of its students if fees were…
Research shows children in early learning benefit from having a stable relationship with one teacher, but with 180 qualified early learning teachers leaving every week, that can be difficult to maintain. Shutterstock

Will the Productivity Commission deliver for the childcare sector?

Last year in an open letter to the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, early childhood employers and peak bodies joined forces to ask for a commitment to early learning. They warned the political…
In the wake of a Senate committee report, Christopher Pyne faces an uphill battle to get his higher education legislation through. AAP

Pass higher education bill with amendments: Senate inquiry

The Senate inquiry into the government’s proposed suite of changes to higher education has now reported. The committee came up with five recommendations, some of which were foreshadowed by Education Minister…
The competitiveness agenda might be good for research, but only research that can turn a profit. AAP

Research industry collaborations are only good for some research

The Departments of Education and Industry jointly released a paper, Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research, this morning. While somewhat short on details, the document clarifies that the Commonwealth…
Means-testing the child care rebate means some families are paying twice since their taxes already support education. Shutterstock

Means-testing child-care rebate means families are paying twice

Recent media reports suggest that the Productivity Commission into Child Care and Early Childhood Learning will recommend that the simplified single-payment child-care rebate is means-tested. This is not…
A vice-chancellor has very different priorities, including the finances of the institution, so should they speak for the academy? Flickr/Ben Shepherd

Vice-chancellors vs the collegiate: who is right on deregulation?

The idea of university collegiality is an old one. Among some working in universities it evokes romantic notions of shared authority, democratic governance and inclusive decision-making. Others recall…
Indigenous youth are creating new languages, something that is very rare across the globe. Flickr/Rusty Stewart

While old Indigenous languages disappear, new ones evolve

By now we know that traditional Indigenous languages are losing speakers rapidly and tragically. Of the 250 languages once spoken in Australia, only 40 remain and just 18 of these are still learnt by children…
The big issue here is what is deemed more important: the right to know or the right to privacy? Flickr/Newtown Graffiti

Spurr vs New Matilda case pits privacy against public interest

Don’t be distracted by theatrics about political correctness, the boundaries of bad humour and professorial impropriety. The real excitement in the “Spurr Affair” has been occurring in the Federal Court…
Let’s not focus on what the kids aren’t learning, let’s look at what they are learning, and work from there. AAP

What sort of people do we want young Australians to be?

Among the many recommendations of the Review of the Australian Curriculum is the view that the curriculum should place “more emphasis on morals, values and spirituality”. This is a significant outcome…
Australia has undergone a significant shift from the Whitlam days when tertiary education was free. Dean Lewins/AAP

Why our university funding debate wouldn’t make sense to Germans

Recent times have seen heated debates in Australia about whether higher education tuition fees should be deregulated, and about the private/public benefits of higher education. A question that goes to…
When choosing which university to attend, price is not high on most Australians’ list of priorities. Shutterstock

Does price matter when picking a university?

The proposed changes to higher education, including the removal of caps on student fees, have led many to question what drives students to pick a university. In a deregulated market will universities compete…
Are teaching graduates well enough prepared to enter the classroom? AAP

A teaching degree can’t prepare you for absolutely everything

Two reports released this week highlight that many teaching graduates don’t feel their university studies are sufficient to get them work-ready. A report released by ACER (Australian Council for Educational…
If you’re constantly clearing their path of any obstacles, how will your kids find their own way? Shutterstock

Bulldozer parents: creating psychologically fragile children

An aged-care nurse was recently telling me that their nursing home was seeing most of their World War II veterans pass away, to be replaced by baby boomers. “You know something though,” she quipped “compared…
The history curriculum review was supposed to be free from bias, but unfortunately that’s not the case. AAP

Pyne curriculum review prefers analysis-free myth to history

Education Minister Christopher Pyne launched his review of the Australian Curriculum last week and, as expected, the recommendations for the teaching of history left a lot to be desired. Stuck in its “Judeo-Christian…
American-speak is pervading the English language. But is it actually American? Flickr/Okay Yarramanoglu

Are those damned Americanisms really American?

From time to time, Australians complain about the apparent encroachment of Americanisms in our language, and the Brits seem none too happy about it either. George Bernard Shaw famously said: England and…
School doesn’t work for most kids, which is why some schools are starting to be more flexible in their teaching and learning. Shutterstock

Principal: school doesn’t work for most kids

“Secondary school, at least, only really works for about a third of students,” according to Templestowe College principal Peter Hutton. Speaking in Melbourne last week, he also asked how “we made learning…
Will medical graduates with a hefty student loan be able to resist the higher paying specialties? Shutterstock

Rising university fees threaten to skew public health services

American medical graduates enter hospital training with a debt of around US$160,000 if they attended a public medical school, or US$190,000 if they attended a private school. In the United Kingdom, fees…
Is it realistic to say graduates gain a million-dollar advantage over non-graduates? Shutterstock

Million-dollar degree pay-offs: how real are they?

The main reason given for planned subsidy cuts to university courses has been that, with a degree, graduates will earn “a million dollars more”. Figure 1 shows how the May Budget compared graduate incomes…