Education
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Public Schools Are Swindled by Billions Under New Education Agreements.
Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled by about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. The loss to NSW public schools is about $6.1 billion over the ten years and about $1.4 billion for South Australian public schools. Continue reading »
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JOHN TONS. Testing times for South Australian schools.
Coming soon to your local school is news about South Australia’s ranking on the McKinsey Universal Scale. Most likely you will have never heard about the McKinsey Universal Scale, or McKinsey for that matter. McKinsey is yet another international company that is seeking to cash in on the international preoccupation with constructing league tables about Continue reading »
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Time for a long hard look at the goals and purposes of schooling.
Schools hold up the mirror to a society as well as shaping its future. There is more to education than schools, but schooling is the formal process by which we assist young people to develop their capacity to learn and to think for themselves in a democratic society. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. The ABC of school funding
Years ago the late Bernie Shepherd and I began wading through a mountain of My School data about schools. We soon discovered that the public funding of private schools was growing so rapidly that they would soon get more money from governments than was going to similar public schools. So we published our early findings Continue reading »
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ROGER SCOTT. All creatures great and small: parity or esteem?
The festive campaigning season is upon us and the federal Minister for Education wishes to bring gifts to those small tertiary institutions located in sensitive rural constituencies. Unfortunately for those who live in the greater (ie research-intensive) metropolitan institutions the Minister seems to have been told that the load capacity of Santa’s sleigh is finite. Continue reading »
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Australia’s education system is nearly the most unequal in the developed world.
Australia prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, but it is a myth in education. Not only do we have one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and the world, but a report just published by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) shows that Australia’s education system is nearly the most Continue reading »
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Australia has one of the most socially segregated schools systems in the world.
A new OECD report shows that Australia has one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and in the world. It also shows that Australia had the equal largest increase in social segregation in the OECD and the world since 2006. Government education and funding policies are major factors behind the increase in Continue reading »
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Discrimination recriminations in the debate about private schools
Debates about discrimination in schools need to go much further, argues Chris Bonnor Continue reading »
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University Research Under Veto
Veto action on certain successful Australian Research Council research proposals together with a proposal to establish a “national interest” test by federal Ministers for Education reflect poorly on the independence and integrity of university research and research training. Continue reading »
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RICHARD HOLDEN. The best way to boost the economy is to improve the lives of deprived students. (The Conversation 25.10.2018)
What if we had an opportunity to double the size of the tourism industry, or to quadruple the size of the beef industry, or to boost the economy by more than any of the presently proposed tax switches? What if we could do it while permanently improving the lives of disadvantaged young people? We surely wouldn’t let Continue reading »
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CARMEN LAWRENCE. Waste in the Commonwealth/State divide in education
In the seemingly never ending debate about the best way to fund our schools, relatively little consideration is given to the effects of the declining influence of state governments and the increasing exercise of power by the Commonwealth. However, in our discussions in the panel which reviewed school funding in Australia – the so-called Gonski Continue reading »
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Disadvantaged schools miss out in access to teachers.
The large gaps in student achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia are well known. What is less well known is that government teacher policies are compounding the gaps by discriminating against disadvantaged schools in their access to teaching resources. Incredibly, Australia allocates more and better teacher resources to socio-economically advantaged schools than to Continue reading »
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Morrison puts more nails in the coffin of Gonski.
The Gonski funding model was systematically dismantled by the Abbott and Turnbull Governments and it was almost dead and buried by the end of Turnbull’s reign. The Morrison Government has put more nails in the Gonski coffin with a new special $4.6 billion funding deal for private schools that is not based on need. Continue reading »
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PETER VARGHESE. Australian Universities and China. Part 2 of 2
My remarks today are very much a personal perspective, drawing on my past engagement with China as a foreign policy practitioner and informed by my current role, but it is not an official University of Queensland position. Today I wish to talk about what China means to Australian universities: what are the issues we face, Continue reading »
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PETER VARGHESE. Australian Universities and China. Part 1 of 2
My remarks today are very much a personal perspective, drawing on my past engagement with China as a foreign policy practitioner and informed by my current role, but it is not an official University of Queensland position. Today I wish to talk about what China means to Australian universities: what are the issues we face, Continue reading »
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ALISON ELLIOTT. Making the preschool promise a reality
The recently announced promise of preschool education funding for 3 year olds has the potential to improve developmental and education outcomes for young children, but with chronic teacher shortages in early learning centres, delivering new preschool programs will be a major challenge. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. Ruddock review kicks up a storm
If short term reactions are any guide it seems that many of those who submitted to the Ruddock review into religious protections might have some cause for regret. While it is early days, it is likely to throw a timely spotlight on religious school enrolment and employment discrimination. Such discrimination already applies unevenly across Australia, Continue reading »
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LINDA SIMON. When will students get their money back?
How many students have been the victims of the VET FEE-HELP rorts? The Government doesn’t know the answer to this question, nor how much it may cost to waive such debts. New legislation being introduced to Federal Parliament seeks to make it easier for students who have suffered due to the inappropriate conduct of their Continue reading »
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Of academic freedom and institutional integrity: A Canadian prequel to the ANU rejection of the Ramsay Centre millions
At the University Chancellors’ 11th national conference in Adelaide on 4 October, the Australian National University Chancellor Gareth Evans delivered the inaugural Chancellor’s Oration. One section of his speech dealt with the imperative to defend university autonomy. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. We all owe a lot to great teachers.
Recently I chatted with a friend about how much we all owe to some teachers and mentors. So I decided to share, with a few minor changes, what I wrote about twenty years ago about two teachers to whom I owe a great debt. They turned my life around. Continue reading »
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State Govts Evade Commitments to Public Schools
Public schools have suffered a double blow in the last fortnight. The Morrison Government announced a $4.6 billion appeasement deal for private schools with no increase for public schools. Last week The Guardian exposed how Labor and Coalition state governments are trying to evade commitments to increase their funding of public schools through a subterfuge. Continue reading »
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JOHN THOMPSON. Private schools don’t pay rates and taxes.
While most attention is focussed on the level and distribution of funds paid directly to non-government schools by the Commonwealth Government, little attention is given to the very substantial financial concessions and benefits that the private school system obtains from all levels of government in Australia. The millions of dollars of revenue foregone by local, Continue reading »
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An Inquiry is needed into the ACT Catholic school system.
The ACT should be an ideal location for operating a Catholic school system – a land of milk and honey. Continue reading »
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GRATTAN INSTITUTE Special deals for special interests -Catholic School funding
How lobbyists work to advantage Catholic schools at the expense of state schools . Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. Coalition recycles old nonsense with business-as-usual schools deal (the Guardian, 22.09.18)
The prime minister’s announcement of an extra $4.6bn in funding over the next decade for private schools makes no sense. Continue reading »
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Have Kids Stopped Trying on PISA and NAPLAN?
A much-ignored aspect of school results in Australia over the past decade or more is the sharp contrast between declining or stagnating scores on international and national tests for Years 9 and 10 and solid improvements in Year 12 results. How is it that trends in school outcomes only two or three Year levels apart Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. Latest OECD Education report should spark a reality check.
According to the OECD’s 2018 Education at a Glance report, one measure that places Australia in an extreme position internationally is its high proportion of private funding across the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. And Australia is certainly out on a limb when it comes to the public/private funding mix for private schools. Continue reading »
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VIC ROWLANDS. The Education funding battle and public education.
When then minister Simon Birmingham accepted the recommendations of the Gonski 2 Education funding model it was a courageous attempt to redress the mistakes of the past. His replacement post Turnbull by Dan Tehan sent a message that the traditional powerful education lobbies are still well and truly the influential players. It doesn’t auger well Continue reading »
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GEOFF GALLOP. What does it mean to be educated?
In the Campion Lecture at St Aloysius College, Sydney, on 15 August 2018, Geoff Gallop, former Premier of WA, spoke about the post-truth world and the importance of understanding the role of education in our society. He said in conclusion: Over the centuries human beings have learnt much about nature and society, how to co-exist Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. Tempora mutantur…
Times change, but the Australian system of planning and funding schools is in a time warp, being held back by vested interests from keeping pace with the demands upon it. Continue reading »