Education Minister Stuart Robert has defended blaming “dud” public school teachers for dragging down academic results, saying his comments were “designed to be provocative”. Mr Robert made the initial remarks in a speech at a national independent schools conference late last week, ...
More »Acting minister under fire following ‘dud teachers’ comment
Teaching experts have criticised acting federal Education Minister Stuart Robert for making a "shameful" statement claiming "dud teachers" are to blame for declining education standards. On Thursday, while attending The Independent Schools Australia National Education Forum, Robert spoke about the ...
More »Australian teenagers are ‘highly respectful’ of other cultures, but there’s ‘room for improvement’: ACER report
A recent report released by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has concluded that Australian teenagers’ respect for people from other cultures is higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. The nationally representative survey of ...
More »Tackling the misalignment between evidence-based research and literacy approaches in schools: opinion
On the first day of the school year as a graduate teacher I encountered a slap in the face. My day started brimming with confidence but that all changed when one boy walked through the door. His name was Jacob ...
More »The future of the Aus maths curriculum – too ambitious or relying on the wrong approaches?
The ability of Australian students to problem-solve in maths classes has been identified as integral in improving the ability levels of current Australian maths students, a challenge that has simultaneously beguiled and confused some educators for far too long. After ...
More »20 years of PISA: Should Australia keep the test?
In a webinar marking 20 years of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing in Australia, the editor of the Australian Journal of Education (AJE), Dr Petra Lietz, asked a pertinent question: Why does Australia keep participating in the ...
More »Gender gap in student engagement in global and multicultural issues: report
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says schools and education systems are failing to give boys and girls across the world the same opportunities to learn and apply their knowledge of global and multicultural issues. This was determined ...
More »New book explores what we can learn from Finland’s education system
A pithy quote sets the tone early in Michael Lawrence’s latest book about the state of education in Australia and why it’s so important: Testing 3,2,1: What Australian Education can Learn from Finland. Penned by English educationalist Sir Ken Robinson, ...
More »Education Council commits to goals and actions for ‘the coming decade’
After the release of December’s disappointing PISA results, student achievement, teacher quality, curriculum content and quality-assurance measures were destined to be on the table at the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, which concluded on December 12. Here are some of ...
More »Poor PISA results indicate a lack of ‘respect’ in Australian classrooms
A UNSW academic has pointed to classroom disruption and disrespect as key causes of Australia’s poor Programme for International Assessment (PISA) results this year. Associate Professor Jihyun Lee from the school of education said PISA measures the disciplinary or disruptive ...
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