That “Eureka” moment when a student thunders over an educational hurdle opening up a new realm of learning, is the holy grail for educators. The technical term is a “threshold concept”, and they’re being…
Despite ideas to the contrary, the evidence shows that texting does not make us bad spellers.
Flickr/lanier67
Children and teenagers today do all the things that children and teenagers have more or less always done – they talk to their friends, have dinner with the family, and watch TV. However, as even the casual…
All is not well in the Australian school system. Australian schools are struggling to meet the achievement levels of OECD leader Finland. With the release of the commissioned research reports for the Gonski…
A year four slump can be avoided if children are given the tools to read when very young.
Flickr/Éole
Human speech has long been present in every culture, and our brains have evolved specialized features to enable its rapid development when we are exposed to the speech of others. Reading however is a relatively…
Australians want to learn more about science - it’s more interesting than sport.
travelskerricks/Flickr
Late last year, the media reported the surprising results of an ANU poll. Apparently Australians are “more interested in science than sport”! But the really interesting news was a small clarification in…
The “future” is something which manifests nowhere more potently than in our cities. Yet a substantial transformation over the past twenty years in the way cities are being made – both in terms of their…
More maths teachers means better outcomes for students.
Flickr
Jan Thomas, Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute
There is a crisis in the education system, and it’s affecting the life chances of many young Australians. The number of secondary teaching graduates with adequate qualifications to teach mathematics is…
Welcome to “One small thing …”. We asked our authors what one small thing they, or you, could do for the environment. We’ll bring their answers to you on Friday afternoons. Today’s one small thing comes…
Some parents send their children to a religious school, but others struggle to choose.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Australia has an unusually high proportion of children enrolled in non-government schools, when compared to similar nations. This dates back to the struggles between colonial governments and Catholic bishops…
Exams aren’t the only way to turn out graduates ready for the world of work.
Flickr/Reality-check
The time has come to abolish university examinations. Just because something has been around a long time there’s no reason to assume it’s outdated. But in the case of exams that assumption would be right…
A perception that international students are mistreated in Australia has prompted rallies and helped drive down enrolments.
AAP
Failure to reverse a downturn in international student enrolments could cost billions to Australia’s GDP and over 45,000 jobs by the end of the decade, a report has found. International student enrolments…
Pupils at this charter school appreciate President Obama’s support, but it’s not the only option.
Flickr/The White House
Education policy in the United States is paved with some glaring failures. Despite this, many Australian reformers are looking west for inspiration, as the Gonski review of education funding is carried…
The best and the brightest put themselves put themselves through an intellectual ordeal to end up here.
Flickr/Tejvan photos
The most feared exam in the world has been dropped. For over a century those hoping to study at All Souls College in Oxford opened an envelope with trepidation to discover just one word inside. They then…
The current debate about government funding to private schools is misdirected. The issue is (or should be) not at what level should private schools be funded, but whether they are entitled to any funding…
The University of New South Wales Chancellor, David Gonksi, is chairing a review into school funding.
AAP
As a five member panel headed by noted business figure and University of NSW chancellor David Gonski reaches the final stages of its review into the structure of school funding in Australia, lobbying by…
Early intervention is the way to turn children’s chances around.
Paul nine-o/Flickr
Speak to any teacher who has worked in a school with a high level of social disadvantage and you’ll find plenty of concern about the links between educational failure and long-term social exclusion. Teachers…