Imagine a future where university enrolment paperwork is accompanied by the statement: Warning: lectures may stunt your academic performance and increase risk of failure. Researchers from the United States…
Miss! Miss! Is your first name Alice?
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Does it matter what we call our teachers? Some academics seem to think so, and have called for the titles “Sir” and “Miss” to be banished from the classroom because they are sexist. Yet their use in the…
What would you do with $1m? One lucky teacher may have to start thinking. Entries are now open for a new $1m Global Teacher Prize, launched by the Varkey GEMS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Dubai-based…
The issue of teaching character, which until now has mainly been debated within the ivory towers of academia, is suddenly all the rage in policy circles in the UK, in the wake of the report by the All-Party…
Would you admit to being a teacher?
David Davies/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Are you a teacher? When you are at a party, a wedding or in the pub, and asked: “What do you do for a living?” – what do you say? Why might you lie? Is it too boring? Too complicated? Much too likely to…
Universities are increasing the number of academics who focus on teaching, not research.
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In 1988, then-federal education minister John Dawkins almost doubled the number of Australian universities. Dawkins did this by by merging colleges of advanced education and institutes of technology into…
The parents’ voice has been left out of the curriculum conversation.
AAP/Dan Peled
Australia’s national curriculum, which is set to be reviewed, is an easy document for anyone to find and read. It really doesn’t require two experts – or six months – to report on it. Over the past six…
Many young teachers, even the good ones, are leaving the profession.
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As another school year comes to a close, there are some early career teachers quietly packing up their desks and walking out the school doors with no plan to return next year. Some estimate the attrition…
Can you pick a good teacher out from the pack before they enter the classroom?
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It’s one of those debates that has seemingly gone on forever. All the way back to the ancient Greeks, people have been trying to figure out the best way to choose teachers. Australian governments, most…
Spelling tests aren’t teaching kids to spell.
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A couple of years ago, early one morning, I received an SMS advising “resadents to stay indoors because of a nearby insadent”. I was shocked by the spelling, as much as the message. Surely, I thought…
Australian university educators were recognised for their work last night at an awards ceremony in Canberra.
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Professor John Croucher has won the Prime Minister’s University Teacher of the Year award. Croucher, a professor of statistics at Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Management, received the award…
Are “teacher fast-tracking” policies a good idea?
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Governments in Australia are increasingly looking to “fast-track” professionals or high-performing graduates into teaching in schools. It’s a policy idea that has surface appeal. After all, you can get…
Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins has turned his gracious attentions to the state of higher education in an opinion piece. His views on the balance between teaching and research have been greeted frostily…
The Royal College of Surgeons has been improving surgery for centuries.
Andy G
Whether it’s keeping us safe, teaching us to add up, looking after children at risk or helping delinquents mend their ways - police officers, school teachers, social workers and probation officers affect…
How should we teach our kids so they’re prepared for the future?
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There has been a high profile debate recently about the merits of teaching so-called “21st century skills” in the new Australian Curriculum. The national curriculum, some argue, has too much focus on these…
A new report shows that universities that conduct a large amount of research aren’t necessarily better at teaching.
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Australian higher education is dominated by its universities, and therefore by institutions that have dual teaching and research missions. There is a long debate about whether these two activities complement…
Hands-on problem solving methods will help students become - and stay - engaged with maths and science.
Thompson Rivers
MATHS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: We’ve asked our authors about the state of maths and science education in Australia and its future direction. In this instalment, Chancellor of Monash University Alan Finkel…
Science teachers in Australia have copped a lot of flack - so what are our options?
Michael Mueller
MATHS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: We’ve asked our authors about the state of maths and science education in Australia and its future direction. Over the next 10 days, we’ll be running a selection of their responses…
Education used to be about striving towards the light of knowledge but this is increasingly less important.
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It’s nothing new to say we have a problem in education. But I’m not here to discuss the usual gripes with teachers and test scores. I believe we have a more fundamental problem with defining what we want…
There are no short-term fixes to the long-term issues surrounding education in Australia.
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Everyone, it seems, has a “fix” for education. The government has staked improvement on extra funding while others say a higher bar for teaching graduates is needed, and some view the prestige of the profession…