In the February issue of Education Review I was interested to see in the table of contents an article titled “The end of segregation: Research shows single-sex schools won’t exist by 2035”. As head of a single sex school, this came ...
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Sector reacts to Chief Scientist’s ATAR critique
Australia's Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, has an ATAR-related grievance. "Students select their courses with an eye to a number: the ATAR to enter a particular course," he wrote in his introduction to the STEM Industry-Schools Partnerships report. "Rightly or wrongly, ...
More »As Ivy League colleges diversify, a Mackay, QLD native gains admission
This year, Harvard admitted a record high 20.3 per cent of students from modest or low-income backgrounds. Also, for the first time in a decade, a majority (50.1 per cent) of its admissions were female. There’s even an argument it's becoming so diverse it's ...
More »Parents defy expert backlash with pro-NAPLAN statement
While certain experts think NAPLAN bizarre, parents and teachers, plausibly with more skin in the testing game, vociferously support it. Officeholders from the Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO), the Australian Parents Council (APC), and the Isolated Children's Parents' Association of ...
More »What $20 billion worth of educational inequality actually means
$20 billion could relieve almost all world hunger for a year. It's also the amount Australia lost due to educational inequality in schools between 2009 and 2015 – so avers the Public Education Foundation in its latest issues paper, What Price the Gap? Education ...
More »New research reignites class streaming debate
The lower-attaining the student, the worse the effect streaming has on them, new research has found. Published in the Cambridge Journal of Education, a study found that streaming creates a 'culture of dependency' in 'lower' classes, which inhibits students' learning. Using data ...
More »Backlash against NSW Education Minister, who called STEM push a ‘fad’, grows
NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes used a speech on Wednesday night to spurn what he perceives as schools' overemphasis on STEM. Stokes, who has an Arts/Law background and has claimed he's "no expert in matters of education", contended "STEM seeks to dehumanise education – ...
More »One standardised test doesn’t fit all: ACER CEO
Ever wonder why our children's NAPLAN scores are stagnating, and in some cases, declining? Geoff Masters did, and now has an explanatory hypothesis. The chief executive of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) thinks the tests themselves could be ...
More »Why aren’t female Bear Grylls’ recognised?
Adventurer Bear Grylls, of Man vs. Wild fame, was first praised, then scorned for his 'tough guy' persona. All the while, most people hadn't heard of Megan Hine. The fair-skinned, doe-eyed fellow Brit was once described by Grylls as "stronger than 99 per ...
More »NSW scraps link between NAPLAN and HSC
The Independent Education Union of Australia (IEUA) has “cautiously welcomed” a decision to scrap plans that would link NAPLAN results with qualifying for the HSC. NSW education minister Rob Stokes today announced the contentious plan would not go ahead, after ...
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