The arrival of two guinea pigs marks the end of Jodie McEwen’s pet procrastination. I’m just not an animal person; love of creatures is not in my nature. My dad tried to pass on his love of animals, so we had rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, birds,...
Starting behind: more than half of young Australian kids living in adversity don't have the skills they need to learn to read, report Sharon Goldfeld, Hannah Bryson, and Jodie Smith Around one in three (36%) Australian children grow up in families experiencing adversity. These include families...
Not every student needs senior maths, but we can make maths more engaging in the earlier school years, writes John Fischetti. In late 2019, New South Wales announced it would make maths compulsory all through school. Victoria will have an additional, easier, year 12 maths subject...
Parents, your kids are watching you, writes Katy Thomas Recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australians the treatment of women is not “of a scale that any government can simply change, it is something we must change as a society”. And as a society, we are in...
Homeschooling boomed last year, write Rebecca English and Karleen Gribble. But these 4 charts show it was on the rise before COVID Home education, sometimes called homeschooling, is when children are educated outside a formal institution like a school. Parents of home-educated children are wholly responsible for...
We know that quality early childhood education is critical, writes Dr Jan Deans and Professor Collette Tayler but what is actually happening in kindergartens, childcare and homes across Australia? Over five years, dozens of researchers from the University of Melbourne and Queensland University of Technology have...
Too much screen time and a penchant for computers is playing havoc with children’s school readiness, as new research from the University of South Australia shows that modern lifestyles are influencing our young generation’s prevalence of developmental delay, reports Annabel Mansfield Conducted by UniSA researchers, Dr...
After a year of digital learning and virtual teaching, let's hear it for the joy of real books! Says Kathryn MacCallum. We know COVID-19 and its associated changes to our work and learning habits caused a marked increase in the use of technology. More surprising, perhaps,...
Some unusual picture books this month especially the one on Synaesthesia. Sometimes described as a handicap and often as a gift. Who am I? by Percy Shozi & illustrated by Maren Mia du Plessis p/b, RRP$24.(available directly from the author at Percys Poems) Ages 5+ The author grew...
Kate Noble and Sarah Pilcher report that many families in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have been paying around double what families in other states and territories pay for preschool. Median out of pocket costs for preschool, per hour, range from A$2.82 to $3.82 in...
