They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But having an apple or a sandwich for lunch when students are supposed to be doing well in school is not enough. We all know healthy children learn better. Healthy school lunch served free to every Australian child would be a simple way to improve education and child wellbeing. Some schools offer children breakfast or lunch daily, but the majority have to get by with what’s in their…
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When people overseas ask me about Australian schools, I tell them that we have some of the best schools in the world — but they are not for all of our children. International reviews have proved that the Australian school system is one of the most unequal and socially segregated among the rich countries of the world. This is not a recent finding. During the last decade, evidence from abroad and findings in our own studies…
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Every three years around this time politicians, education leaders and pundits step up to call for fixing their education systems. This has happened for two decades now. Education reforms follow one after another. Still, according to the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa), school systems are not getting any better around the world. Indeed, in many countries, students’ test scores in reading, mathematics…
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American journalist and social critic H L Mencken wrote that “for every complex human problem, there is a solution that is neat, simple and wrong”. "Back to basics" or phonics tests are such answers that have been offered to improve Australian schools. Alarm bells were ringing around Australia when the latest PISA results became public on Tuesday. Australia scored its lowest ever results in the global reading, mathematics…
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The biggest issues confronting parents these days all seem to have one common element: smart devices. We know for sure that children today suffer more mental health issues than generations before. We also know that kids now sleep much less than they should, and a lack of sleep affects their wellbeing and learning. Reading and writing skills have been declining in Australia over recent years and students’ learning in other areas…
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By Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson Originally published in Washington Post on 30 August 2019 Finland has been in the spotlight of the education world since it appeared, against all odds, on the top of the rankings of an international test known as PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, in the early 2000s. Tens of thousands visitors have traveled to the country to see how to improve their own schools. Hundreds…
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Hundreds and thousands of students in more than 100 countries are walking out of their schools on Friday with a shared purpose: Save our planet. Some teachers, parents and politicians have raised objections to insist that these children should stay in school instead. I think we grown-ups need to think twice before we stand up against our children on this burning issue. First, it is difficult to understand how young people feel…
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Renowned Finnish education expert shares his views on Finland’s education system Photo: Damir Klaic-Kljuc DUBAI: Considered a benchmark of educational innovation, Finland’s approach to schooling and sparking young minds has a history that can be traced back to the 1860s when Uno Cygnaeus, who is sometimes referred as the father of basic education in Finland, said that in an ideal classroom, pupils speak more than the teacher.…
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EMMA DAVIES spoke with Finnish educator and author Pasi Sahlberg who has worked as school teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and advised education reforms around the world about the importance of bilingualism. Originally published on 2 November 2018 on The Australia Education Reporter. Q. Why do you think recommendation 24 of Gonski 2.0 should be about learning a foreign language? There are 300…
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“The time has come to ban cellphones in the classroom”. Wait, wait, but “A blanket ban on cellphones in class would not be smart”. These were the headlines of two op-eds published in Canadian daily newspapers in early September. This debate has already reached an international scale: Since 2012 most teenagers in rich countries have had access to smartphones. In Kerry, Ireland, one school has restricted children’s use…
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