Some online platforms are starting to measure ‘student engagement’ at school, writes Chris Zomer. Here’s what you need to know. There is increasing concern children are less focused in school. This is often blamed on smartphones and social media. At the same time, there is significant pressure...
‘You can learn from this and so can the class’, write researchers Carly Steele and Graeme Gower All Australian teachers need to be able to teach their students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. It is part of their professional standards and the curriculum...
‘I have been ground down’: about 50% of Australian principals and other school leaders are thinking of quitting. Paul Kidson, Herb Marsh and Theresa Dicke investigate the problem. Australia’s school principals collectively manage nearly 3 million students and staff. But who is responsible for them? Since 2011,...
'No mullets, no mohawks, no ‘awkwardly contrasting colours’. Researcher Kayla Mildren looks at disputes over school uniform policies and why they often involve hair. A Queensland dad recently took his four-year-old son out of the Gold Coast’s A.B. Paterson College because the school had ordered the...
Marilyn Campbell and Elizabeth J Edwards looked at all the recent evidence on mobile phone bans in schools – this is what they found. Mobile phones are currently banned in all Australian state schools and many Catholic and independent schools around the country. This is part...
Researchers Jenny Gore and Drew Miller look at ways to improve teaching by boosting teachers’ morale and lifting student outcomes at the same time. Australian schools are facing unsustainable pressures. There are almost daily reports of too many students falling behind and not enough teachers to...
Sexism, misogyny and gendered violence are now part of Australia’s national conversation, writes Dr Catherine Smith This article contains references to offensive language Recently, several male students from the elite Yarra Valley Grammar in Melbourne’s east were expelled after they put together a spreadsheet rating the attractiveness...
Many schools say yes, but the answer is not so simple, writes Catherine E. Wood Should my twins be in the same class at school? As a clinical psychologist specialising in twins, this is one of the most frequent questions parents ask me. Many schools continue to separate...
Jessica Kean, Helen Proctor and Kellie Burns look at the history behind one of the biggest debates in education. When students walked through the sandstone gates of Sydney’s Newington College for the first day of school earlier this year, they were met by protesters. A group of...
Australian teenagers are curious but have some of the most disruptive maths classes in the OECD, writes researcher Lisa De Bortoli Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian...
