With 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.…
read moreWolves live in extended families called packs. That helps wolves to defend their territories and ensure the protection of, and food for, the young. Cooperation is why wolves survive in harsh conditions in wilderness. Sometimes a wolf leaves the pack and becomes a lone wolf. A lone wolf is often stronger than the others in the pack. In the wolf kingdom a lone wolf can also be a curious young adult that wants to explore new territories…
read moreEver since students’ performance in school has been measured by standardised assessments, one question has trumped all others: What explains variability in these tests? The question really is, why some students are more successful in school than other students. Some parents think that their children don’t work hard enough for success in school. There are authorities who think that students’ success in school depends directly…
read moreLast week, the Productivity Commission released a major report on how to improve Australia’s school and university sectors. “Education is ripe for disruption”, deputy chair Alex Robson said. The commission suggests longer schooldays, online classes taught by qualified teachers, and streaming students into ability groups to improve Australia’s educational performance. But while these ideas may work well for some students,…
read more"Many earlier efforts to define equity in education fall short of adequately combining equality of access and equality of outcomes in education. If we wish to offer world class schools for every child, we need a better definition of what equity in education means." What do people want? Three years ago, I asked my colleagues the following questions: What do Australian adults think about educational equity? Do they think our school…
read moreLast Friday, Australia’s state and federal education ministers met with emotional teachers, who spoke of working on weekends and Mothers’ Day to cope with unsustainable workloads – and how they were thinking about leaving the profession. This was part of their first meeting hosted by the federal minister Jason Clare. The top agenda item was the teacher shortage. The issue has certainly reached crisis point. Federal education…
read moreOne of Labor’s key education pledges is A$50 million to encourage school leavers with an ATAR over 80 to study teaching. This is part of the new government’s plan to “fix teacher shortages”. The teacher shortage in Australia has reached crisis levels. But this must be addressed by improving the working conditions for existing teachers, not by cash incentives to university students. Thousands of vacancies Teaching…
read moreBy Pasi Sahlberg and Caitlin Senior As the new political leadership in South Australia state their plans for improving education, we should all keep one fact in mind: Australia is an outlier in global education. Not because it provides every student a ‘fair go’. Quite the opposite. Because it is uniquely unfair. In Australia, according to international data, at the age of 15 the most socio-economically disadvantaged students…
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