* This interview was published in Sydney Morning Herald on 23rd September 2018 Mobile phones are supposed to remain in school bags during classes at Cherrybrook Technology High School. But Isabella Ormsby says that does not deter her fellow students from checking their phones for messages and calls, watching or making videos. “Most of the time the teacher will tell you to put it in your bag or sometimes they’ll take your…
read moreThere is good news and bad news for Australia in the latest Pisa – Programme for International Student Assessment – results released this week by the OECD. First the good: Australia is back in the OECD’s top 10 education countries. Now the bad: that good news is not because our education systems are performing better than before. Australia is still sliding downwards – but other countries are doing so faster. Many of…
read moreTeaching and parenting have one thing in common: Both are much more complicated today than they used to be. The months of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic were concrete proof of that for many of us. In The Drum, Meg Southcombe spoke about the lack of respect that many teachers experience in their work. It is true that teachers feel increasing pressures from the system above and from parents on the side. Moreover, there…
read moreSchools have traditionally been responsible for imparting knowledge and skills necessary for a good education and a prosperous life to children and young people. Not long ago, schools were the primary places where youngsters acquired the knowledge required to succeed in the future. During that era, parents played a crucial role in their children's overall education, including instilling values, shaping behaviour, promoting health,…
read more"If we don't fix inequities in our schools soon, we'll pay a high price for that later." This is what I heard from a primary school principal during my recent visit to her regional school. "But schools alone can't do that. It takes the whole village," she said. She is right. Family background is far more important in explaining what students learn at school than people think. This has remained a solid empirical-research finding for…
read moreDear Minister, As a frequent visitor to your country and an admirer of its cultural richness, I was delighted to read of your recent appointment as minister of education. In your previous job, you often voiced your concerns about the state of education in your country. I have also read your writings where you call into question old ways of thinking about education and are highly critical of how education policy has been put into…
read moreA decade ago paediatricians noticed a worrying trend: children's mental health was beginning to decline. Anxiety disorders, depression and loneliness had suddenly become more common among teenagers around the world. Health experts and researchers didn't know exactly why that happened. Some said that these were simply statistical variations without any particular cause. Others believed there must be something new in children's…
read moreWith Sharon Goldfeld The cold fact is that despite continuous reforms and growing investments over the past two decades, educational performance – and especially equitable performance – of Australia’s schools isn’t improving. Indeed, in many ways it is getting worse. Consider these statistics. Since 2000 Australia’s PISA scores have dropped 33 – 24 points in maths, reading, and science. Students’ performance in…
read moreOriginally published in ABC Education on 24 April 2023 When I ask my own children what they would like to change in Australian primary schools, they say, "We want more play!" My children are like yours: they tell the truth about things that matter to them. That is why I have been so curious to learn what other parents and their children think about their schools. My anecdotal evidence suggests that more time to play would make…
read more“What do you think about Australian school education?” Ever since I came to Australia with my wife and two school-aged children five years ago, this is the question I have been asked more often than any other. Before that I worked as schoolteacher and senior education policymaker in Finland. It seems like people think that Finnish education is a good benchmark to check how school education here compares to the best of class.…
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