The prescriptivist stranglehold on grammar isn’t just restrictive, it’s often just plain wrong.
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Were your teachers right about when to use commas, and about not starting sentences with ‘and’?
Is school the most important part of education?
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We take a closer look at some of the common claims made this year to see if there is any truth to them.
A year of high expectations, yet little action.
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Gonski funding was scrapped and the vocational education sector got a new student loan system. Here’s what else happened in education this year…
How can we use data from international tests to improve student learning?
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Various forms of testing that reduce students’ knowledge, capacities and skills to a single number cannot of themselves help inform improvement.
Spending on vocational education has declined.
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While spending has grown for preschools, schools and universities, vocational education misses out.
On average year 3 girls perform higher than boys in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, and spelling.
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The latest round of NAPLAN results show Australia’s school systems are not good at reducing the influence of a student’s background on their academic achievement.
Constant reforms in maths education aren’t helping Australia to improve its performance.
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Policy continuity is what is needed to improve Australian students’ maths capability.
A flat-rate fee on student loans isn’t a radical idea.
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A flat-rate fee on all student loans is a fairer economic proposal.
60% of high school students in Singapore receive private tuition.
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The role of private tuition plays a part in the overall success of students in Singapore, with around 80% of primary-school children having at least three hours of private tuition a week.
Should we base education reforms solely on Australia’s international ranking?
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The furore over Australia’s international ranking in science, maths and English obscures what we should really be focusing on.
Australia needs an agreed approach to quality science teaching.
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Australia’s performance in science continues to slide due to ineffective, traditional teaching practices and an outdated curriculum. Here’s what needs to change.
A phonics check could improve Australian literacy standards.
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A focus on phonics may be the cure to Australia’s literacy woes.
Young people’s negative attitudes towards maths are increasing.
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The questions young people tend to ask about maths often relate to their personal experience of how they found maths in school.
Some exam questions are poorly designed and written – this needs to change.
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Exams do have a purpose, but they shouldn’t be used to assess the recall of meaningless facts.
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What students can learn from time spent in care homes.
Little has changed in Australian students’ achievement in maths and science since 1995.
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Latest TIMSS report shows that students in Australia make very little – if any – progress in maths from Year 4 to Year 8.
A new model proposes to fix school funding arrangements.
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A new proposed deal on school funding delivers the Gonski funding within budget.
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In praise of the teaching excellence framework.
Employers’ demand for critical thinking skills in new graduates has risen 158% in three years.
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Being a good critical thinker is a desirable and highly-sought after trait for getting a job in today’s economy. But are universities actually teaching this skill effectively?
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Highly restrictive speech codes are now the norm in some of the world’s universities.