What a difference a year makes. Around Australia, ‘normal service’ has largely resumed in schools and places of higher learning. This time in 2020, it was a very different story. COVID shutdowns saw institutions racing to implement remote learning models, ...
More »In The Classroom
New farm program aims to inspire young people to take up a career in agriculture
This year Velisha Farms, a Weribee horticulture business, has started up a program for local primary school students to learn the “tricks of the agriculture trade”. The program is described as “hands-on” and covers the full gamut of the agricultural ...
More »Self-determination theory and other associated academic considerations: part 3
Research informs that feelings of social connectedness, attachment, belonging, self-efficacy and self-confidence also help to develop and advance a student’s physical, mental, psychological, social and emotional security, and their overall wellbeing. All of this helps to develop and provide further ...
More »Mark Latham accuses school of ‘losing the plot’
Outspoken One Nation politician Mark Latham has launched a scathing attack on a task assigned to a Year 8 class in a NSW school. The task is part of the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PHPE) curriculum and asks ...
More »One in five NSW teachers now in precarious, temporary positions
Job security remains a key issue for NSW public school teachers, with a reported one in five educators currently in a temporary or contract position. Temporary positions were created by NSW's education department in 2001, and, while the casual workforce ...
More »Self-determination theory and other associated academic considerations: Part 2
For William Hazlitt, the education process should have, as one of its central aims, the goal of creating the next generation of well-educated, independent and enlightened rational thinkers: who should be highly skilled, competent, intellectually erudite, and having the profoundly ...
More »Why ACARA’s CEO believes NAPLAN ‘has never been so important’
As another year of the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy ends, ACARA’s CEO has highlighted the importance of the controversial test in these times of COVID-19. David de Carvalho wrote an opinion piece recently for the Australian Curriculum ...
More »The proposed mathematics curriculum: mostly pluses but a couple of minuses! Opinion
ACARA has recently released its draft revision of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics with the view to “refine, realign and declutter” the content. There are many positive changes in the review, which we wrote about in our article entitled, Where have the algorithms gone? ...
More »Australian Manual of Style goes online
Can infinitives be split?a When do you use a pie graph?b Can ‘Earth’ be preceded by ‘the’?c What order should adjectives appear in?d All these questions of writing style and presentation – as well as up-to-date, research-based ...
More »New curriculum renewal book offers practical tips for teachers of Islamic students
While curriculum reviews have always been debated, the release this month of the Curriculum Renewal for Islamic Education has been welcomed as offering “a way forward for Australian society”. The guide has been edited by Professor Mohamad Abdalla and Dr Nadeem ...
More »