This week Coalition MP Alan Tudge wrote a piece in the Australian Financial Review calling for an end to the 26-week academic year. In his article, he said students were spending the remainder of their…
What are you paying for when you choose a private, non-government school?
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Australian parents are increasingly choosing to spend more money on their children’s education. A report released last week showed parents who chose private education for their child were paying an average…
It’s time to move past outdated ideas about porn.
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The launch of a new academic journal doesn’t usually grab popular media interest. But the first journal of Porn Studies seems to have bucked the trend. For the most part, media coverage has contained more…
School music proponents like to big note the effectiveness of such programs, what what evidence of genuine benefit is there?
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School music is a big fish within the small pond of the Creative Arts curriculum. In lobbying for more space, music advocates often use an array of arguments – some backed by evidence, some not. Many argue…
The latest report from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) shows raising two children for middle-income…
There are many reasons a child could be held back from reaching their learning potential – will extra money help?
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As the Gonski school funding debate heats up again, the political focus so far has been on the big billion dollar figures. In this crowded debate about who’s right or wrong on the numbers, there’s little…
Students and teachers could be missing out on real learning.
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Have you ever walked out of a class without having learned anything at all? Or maybe you were on the other end, watching your intricately planned lesson go off the rails because students didn’t prepare…
The Gonski reforms will mean different levels of funding for different schools according to a variety of factors.
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In an attempt to pressure state leaders on schools funding reform, prime minister Julia Gillard revealed new data showing the difference her package would make at the national and state level. The June…
Children are getting their (mis)information about some scientific concepts from mass media sources.
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“DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as evidence if someone’s been stabbed. We can run tests in suspects.” (Girl, 12, central Queensland) “DNA has to do with blood types and fingerprints, it helps…
Wayne Swan’s budget has been disappointing for Labor’s education legacy.
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The last Labor budget has seen the top half of the Education Revolution fizzle. The ideals that powered the 2009 Gillard policies are in fragments. Demand-driven higher education will survive until the…
We’re understanding more about how the school funding reform will work, but there is one important question that goes unanswered.
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Last night’s federal budget had few big spending items, but one standout area was the A$9.8 billion school funding reform. With most states still yet to sign on to the package, the budget papers reveal…
NAPLAN tests are only measuring a very small part of literacy and learning.
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Students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are currently sitting for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. These tests are supposedly designed to identify whether…
A Palestinian farmer and Israeli soldier clash in an olive grove. Can academics in other countries affect this situation by boycotting one side or the other?
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The news that famous physicist Stephen Hawking has decided to join the academic boycott of Israel has attracted some heated commentary. Hawking pulled out of attending an Israeli conference in June, explaining…
For all its faults, NAPLAN is helping Indigenous education.
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Federal education minister Peter Garrett confirmed late last week that education ministers from around the country had agreed to lift national efforts to improve Indigenous education results. Results from…
Science, like the benefits stemming from it, is international and should be viewed that way.
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The Australian government’s ironic and perverse decision to better fund schools at the expense of already-promised university funding would make for a good episode of the 1980s sitcom Yes, Prime Minister…
Getting the mix right: we need to take a closer look at the future of science education.
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Every now and then we manufacture a crisis in Australian school science. People write reports. These recommend change, including curriculum change, and point out the ways in which current patterns of school…
With the rise of mass higher learning, tight public funding and intense competition for students, universities are often encouraged to see students as “customers”. But should they? Commentators who criticise…
Universities Australia Chair Sandra Harding looks at the future of universities.
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Professor Sandra Harding, the Universities Australia chair and Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University addressed the National Press Club in Canberra today. Here is a copy of her speech. In his novel set…