A prominent public school advocate has argued that well-off private schools are overfunded by $3 billion that would be better used to continue paying for Gonski reforms. Trevor Cobbold, national convenor of Save Our Schools, said in 2013 the total overfunding of ...
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Playground packs them in at PNG school
School attendance is on the rise at one Papua New Guinea school, and researchers say its new playground could be responsible. Truancy is an issue throughout PNG. Only 55 per cent of primary age children are enrolled in school and ...
More »Experts debate Gonski’s remaining impact
Australia must address growing inequity across the school system in 2016, experts agree. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows Australia’s schools are becoming socially stratified. OECD figures in the Going for Growth 2015 report show a direct correlation ...
More »Financial barriers stand between refugees, education
Refugees on temporary visas and about 29,000 asylum seekers may miss out on education because they are ineligible for government aid to help meet the substantial financial costs. To go to university, refugees on Temporary Protection Visas and asylum seekers must pay full ...
More »Making sure kids are vaccinated, complex issue: expert
The recent chicken pox outbreak at a Melbourne primary school reinforces the importance of ensuring kids are vaccinated, an expert has said. Last week 80 of the 320 kids at Brunswick North West Primary school came down with chickenpox. At ...
More »Children’s commissioner wants gaps in family violence data filled
It can be pinpointed that 1 in 12 Australians experience physical abuse before they turn 15, and 1 in 28 are sexually abused, but data gaps mean the perpetrators, victims and frequency of the violence is unknown, the Children’s Rights Commissioner ...
More »People with disabilities struggle with transition from school
Australia must develop a coherent national strategy on post-school transitions for people with disabilities, a report advocates. The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 45 per cent of people with a disability in Australia live in or near poverty. The same ...
More »Volunteer works to move Indonesian children from street to class
“Education can change someone’s life.” That's why Mira Lay is volunteering in Indonesia to get street children into the classroom. Lay has been working at Sahabat Anak, a volunteer organisation that gives free informal education, in Jakarta. The Indonesian Government estimates ...
More »Union questions research that backs computer marking of essays
The New South Wales Teachers Federation has criticised research that argues marking NAPLAN essays with a computer is viable. Research from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) found four separate automated essay scoring systems were able to mark ...
More »A gaming voyage into Tasmania’s colonial history
Children will navigate Tasmania’s colonial history through a new educational game developed by the Australian National Museum of Natural History. The Voyage puts children in the shoes of a convict ship’s surgeon superintendent, sailing from London to Van Diemen’s Land ...
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