Schools now have their hands on early NAPLAN data, a day after two US professors called for the marks to be discarded, and questioned the futility of comparisons with previous years. ACARA today released the NAPLAN 2018 summary information, which ...
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Introducing Simon Birmingham’s successor
The son of a former state Liberal MP (his mother) and a past party vice-president (his father), Dan Tehan has politics in his veins. His rapid ascent – from local federal MP in 2010 to government front bencher in 2016 – ...
More »Amid #libspill, NSW teachers cry out for funds
How would schools fare under a Peter Dutton-led government? According to the NSW Teachers Federation, they couldn't do much worse than the status quo. The union is using the battle for leadership of the Liberal party to highlight one of ...
More »Bringing up the career: fears job advice is failing school students
There was a popular story shared by kids in my hometown about a local school career counsellor. It went like this: A student went to Mr X and told him that he wanted to be a Ghostbuster. Mr X nodded ...
More »What’s a god got to do with it? Theistic evolution beliefs decline among students
First-year biology students are “rapidly abandoning” beliefs in theistic involvement in human origins. That’s according to annual polling of university students on their views on evolution and creationism. Researchers asked UNSW Sydney biology students to circle one of the following: ...
More »Guide to help young people #chatsafe online about suicide
Young people often turn to social media to talk about suicide-related thoughts and behaviours but have had limited access to guidance on how to do so safely. Now, they – along with teachers and parents – have access to a set of guidelines focused ...
More »Are ‘poop hands & green lizards’ the future of STEM engagement? #NationalScienceWeek
If 'poop hands & green lizards' or 'dino dandruff & asteroids' don't intrigue you, what will? These episodes illustrate the premise of Up & Atom, a radio show for young listeners. Broadcast on Sydney-based independent youth radio station FBi (94.5 FM), the 15-20 minute show aims ...
More »What drives teaching quality? A PISA co-creator’s take
Last week's hand-wringing over the comparability of online NAPLAN tests with paper versions is moot. That is, according to one of the architects of PISA, Professor Doctor Eckhard Klieme. Klieme, a professor of education research (with a background in maths and psychology) ...
More »Why teaching should be like medicine
What do a doctor and a teacher have in common? Potentially nothing, yet Professor Geoff Masters would like them to share something significant. Delivering a keynote presentation at the ACER Research Conference 2018, Masters, ACER's CEO, explained his viewpoint. "The origins of ...
More »Transitioning refugees to an Australian school? It takes villages
Jericho, Jordan, Nazareth, Bethany and Emmaus aren't just Biblical places. To Good Samaritan Primary School, they are ways of ensuring no child gets lost in their system. By splitting the school into these namesake 'villages', the needs of 700 children – ...
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