Australia Association for Research in Education
educational reform
The White Paper: old, tired and lacking evidence
In the months before the pandemic gripped the world, the NSW Productivity Commission released a presciently titled discussion paper, Kickstarting the Productivity Conversation. Its recently released followup White Paper sets out its plan for rebooting the economy. Lifting school results is part of the plan. The Commission acknowledges the ‘pandemic has shown how quickly schools, …
Why appeasing Latham won’t make our students any more remarkable
Are our schools making the kids we think we should? The tussle between politics and education continues and Latham is just the blunt end of what is now the assumed modus operandi of school policy in Australia. Many readers of this blog no doubt will have noticed a fair amount of public educational discussion about NSW’s …
What does ‘back to basics’ really mean? What ‘reforms’ are being signalled this time?
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been describing the NSW curriculum review as a signal to go “back to basics” despite Professor Geoff Masters, who headed up the review, insisting it is more about decluttering the curriculum. To educators like me the phrase “back to basics” has signalled different education reforms over the years, which begs the …
Is this what Dan Tehan means by ‘back to basics’? The Mparntwe Declaration
The Mparntwe Declaration was released at the end of last year. I do not use the official full title of the document on purpose. I do this as a final hurrah to 2019, the Year of Indigenous Languages and I do this because, as was pointed out, this was the first time a national education …
Put professional judgement of teachers first or we’ll never get the systemic education improvements we all want. Let’s talk about it
In this blog I’d like to bring together three different lines of educational analysis to show how our …
Critical educational reforms and dirty toilets: being honest about blockages and contradictions
Large numbers of educators, community activists, and social movements are rightly deeply involved in the struggles for a …
Secondary schooling in Australia needs to change: throw out the tests and bring in deep learning
There is a problem in some Australian secondary schools right now. ‘Endgame’ assessments such as the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in NSW and the requirements of an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) to gain entrance to university, place restrictions on the kinds of teaching and learning that goes on in classrooms. Some teachers are frustrated …
Are think tanks having too much influence on Australian schooling policies?
The past decade has seen think tanks operate in sophisticated ways to influence the development of Australian schooling …
Educational researchers unite to challenge inequality in Australian schooling
Educational inequality in Australia is persistent. One in four young Australians are now being left behind according to …