Australia Association for Research in Education
school reform
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 …
National Evidence Base for educational policy: a good idea or half-baked plan?
The recent call for a ‘national education evidence base’ by the Australian Government came as no surprise to Australian educators. The idea is that we need to gather evidence, nationally, on which education policies, programs and teaching practices work in order for governments to spend money wisely on education. There have long been arguments that …
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 …
Why condemning international tests is a distraction, and what we really should be worried about
Governments all around the world seem to be influenced by the international rankings of students by the Organisation …
Education in Australia needs to change direction NOW, before it’s too late
We believe the next five years are vital to the future of education in Australia. As we see …
Urgent: take a closer look at the Abbott Government’s plans for school funding
Two months ago, four proposals for reforming government roles and responsibilities in schooling were leaked from the Abbott …
Changing from single sex to co-ed can be good if based on educational (not economic) reasons
Single sex versus co-ed schooling is back in the news with the announcement from The Armidale School, a traditional, private, all boy school, that it is turning co-ed. Of course there are many opinions about it, you probably have your own. So, as someone who has written extensively on the issue, here is mine. I’m …
Our obsession with school achievement data is misplaced: we’re measuring the wrong things.
In 2008 Australia began a national assessment program that tests school children in Years 3, 5, 7 and …
Mainstream schools have a lot to learn from the way flexi-schools engage students
Everyone has an opinion on why young people disengage from school. The topic arouses significant comment from politicians, …
Current school reform agenda undermines intelligence and creativity in schools
Education should aim to achieve the enhancement of intelligence. However, current education reform action is driven by narrow …