Dean Ashenden

Dean Ashenden has worked in and around schools as a teacher, academic and consultant, and in journalism. He has contributed to all major print outlets and to many professional, academic, and social affairs journals. His previous book, Telling Tennant’s Story, was inaugural winner of the Australian Political Book of the Year Award. He is a Senior Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

Dean Ashenden has commented on education in all major Australian print outlets. His Unbeaching the Whale: Can Australian schooling be reformed? was published earlier this year by Inside Story

Dean's recent articles

Should the Commonwealth get out of schooling?

Should the Commonwealth get out of schooling?

Lyndsay Connors (Pearls and Irritations, 14 November 2024) takes issue with my argument that the Commonwealth should get out or be pushed out of schooling.

The Commonwealth should get out of schooling

The Commonwealth should get out of schooling

There is no government or agency or combination of them capable of conceiving and driving the kind and scale of change Australian schooling now requires. The 'national approach' installed by the Rudd and Gillard governments fifteenyears ago has not worked and cannot. Its sponsor, the Commonwealth, should move or be moved to the margins or get out of schooling altogether.

<