Rather than leaping to conclusions about a failing education system, we need to look at what the data tells us about student performance at a state level to help us make more informed decisions.
Should we base education reforms solely on Australia’s international ranking?
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On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, on Oct. 5, a scholar explains why borrowing teacher quality models from high-scoring countries such as Finland, South Korea or Singapore is not effective.
Has education spending gone up while student achievement has stalled?
AAP Image/Dan Peled
Sue Thomson, Australian Council for Educational Research and Peter Goss, Grattan Institute
The Productivity Commission has said that education spending has substantially increased over the last decade but student achievement has shown little or no improvement. Is that true?
A helping hand for school children from disadvantaged backgrounds would yield economic benefits for NSW.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Evidence suggests early intervention to improve educational opportunities for low-income kids yields impressive long term results – but we need to use better evaluation methods to know what works.
Education standards in Australia are slipping.
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Sue Thomson, Australian Council for Educational Research
International education tests reveal Australia has either stagnated or declined in many subject areas, including maths and science, while other countries have made big improvements. Why is this?
How do you do it then? British prime minister David Cameron visits a school in Singapore.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive
Art teachers have been evaluated on English test scores. There seems to be no limit to how test data are being used to punish students, teachers and schools.
What books will children need if subjects are off the timetable?
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It easy to lampoon education reforms in Finland that aim to scrap the teaching of traditional subjects in favour of broader topics. The new initiative could see history, geography and languages replaced…
Counting up the costs ahead of the election.
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