Education
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EVAN WILLIAMS. University education: the monster in the room.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone lacking a rewarding occupation must be in want of a degree. A university education is not only a good in itself, but an indispensable passport to a satisfying career and a secure lifestyle. It follows that universities should be open to all, that everyone should be encouraged Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. Gonski is back, but who noticed?
The Government has called for submissions into the “Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools” – aka the “second Gonski review”. Gonski was about money and equity, this review is about what schools should do. Continue reading »
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JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANN. University challenge: Asia in the scales of global knowledge.
The Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES) has published its 2018 World University Rankings. Rankings are rankings are rankings. They are not Holy Writ! Still they can be interesting fodder for drawing some interpretations and implications. I admit I may be partly biased as Oxford has come out number 1! (I was at Oxford from 1967 Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. NAPLAN has just turned ten. So what?
NAPLAN is not unlike some kids I have known: conceived in haste as a result of a rush of blood, a bit of an erratic upbringing (from a variety of guardians), confusion as to purpose in life and fervent hopes that he/she/it will turn out right in the end. Each year there is a birthday, Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Australian business in Asia – ‘pale, male and stale’. (Repost from 8 August 2016)
A recent report on ‘Australia’s Diaspora Advantage: Realising the potential for building transnational business networks with Asia’ reveals that social class and racism, either conscious or unconscious, still excludes many Australians of Asian origin from many Australian institutions and particularly business institutions. The bamboo ceiling is still in place. It limits opportunities for people in Continue reading »
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LINDA SIMON. A crisis approach to reform in the VET sector
Many of us who write about vocational education and training (VET) are asked not to use the word ‘crisis’ as it undermines confidence in the system. Unfortunately it will take a lot more than a change of language to restore consumer confidence, as private training providers continue their financial collapse and students are left stranded. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. Has the Gonski dust settled?
Many claims have been made about the Turnbull Government’s Gonski breakthrough. It seemed to grant the wishes of advocates for greater equity and efficacy in the funding of schools – so much so that I had to re-cast the recommendations in the recent CPD report, Losing the Game, written with Bernie Shepherd. We had always Continue reading »
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Chris Bonnor Vale Bernie Shepherd
Every profession has them: those people with an extraordinary range of interests and talents who change the lives of others and sometimes the profession itself. Bernie Shepherd, who has just lost his battle against cancer, was one of these. He was a science teacher with great interest and ability in English and the arts, a Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR AND BERNIE SHEPHERD. PART ONE: Losing the game? Do we now have another chance to lift school equity and achievement?
Amidst this week’s flurry of activity over the ‘Gonski’ legislation we seem to have forgotten serious problems, both old and new. In this first of two parts Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd consider the problems we still need to solve. In the second part they’ll indicate the new emerging problems we don’t even recognize. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR AND BERNIE SHEPHERD. PART TWO: Losing the game? Do we now have another chance to lift school equity and achievement?
Amidst this week’s flurry of activity over the ‘Gonski’ legislation we seem to have forgotten serious problems, both old and new. In this first of two parts Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd consider the problems we still need to solve. In the second part they’ll indicate the new emerging problems we don’t even recognize. Losing Continue reading »
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Gonski 2.0 is a Fiasco
The Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding plan is a fiasco. Public schools will remain under-funded and there will be a massive increase in over-funding of private schools. The Education Amendment Bill before the Parliament to implement Gonski 2.0 should be rejected and an alternative Gonski PLUS model that builds on Gonski 1.0 be developed in Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. Schools Funding: unearthing the facts
The objections raised by Catholic leaders to the Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding model raise as many questions about the governance and operation of the Catholic school system as about Gonski 2.0. One of these questions is: who pays for the teachers in Catholic schools? Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Gonski in An Age of Budget Repair
School funding is a very complex issue in Australia. It’s now a poisonous political cocktail. David Gonski who had been the poster boy for Julia Gillard’s bold education reforms has now been showcased by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham announcing their new deal for school funding. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Miners, taxation and donations. (Repost 17/10/2013)
In my blog of June 3 “the Miners Lament”, I pointed out that the large foreign owned mining companies in Australia may yet regret that they rejected out of hand the Resources Super Profits Tax that the Rudd Government proposed. Politically of course the miners will never admit it but I suspect that at some Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. The Tangled Education Web. Part 2 of 2: The Catholic Story
‘Sector-blind’ does not mean turning a blind eye to the shortcomings of any sector in distributing public funding received from government. Continue reading »
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JIM COOMBS. Public Goods
Before the advent of the “free enterprise market economy” model’s dominance of economic thinking, there was a distinction made between private and public goods. The idea was that some things had to be provided for a healthy, well-ordered society: such basics to our notion of civilization as universal water reticulation and sewerage (the most significant Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. The Tangled Education Web Part 1 of 2
Gonski 2.0 appeared to be a gift horse but over the space of little more than two week it is looking more like a Trojan horse. Continue reading »
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LINDA SIMON.The future of VET remains uncertain!
The 2017 Federal Budget provided little new funding for vocational education and training, with its main focus the Skilling Australians Fund. This Fund appears to only exacerbate the uncertain future of the VET sector with its narrow student application, dependence on revenue generation and outcomes focus. Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. Policy mayhem is stifling efforts to have more Australian doctors “in the bush” – part one
In this two part article, I am reviewing the basis for the serious problem we have in providing adequate health care for Australians who live in rural, and particularly, remote areas. Good intentions are, as ever, intertwined with political machinations which make policies for solutions harder to implement. Currently, yet another government review is soon Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR and BERNIE SHEPHERD. Gonski’s second coming will need a miracle or three
Anyone remotely committed to excellence with equity in our schools will feel the urge to break out the champagne this week. After six years a conservative prime minister is not only using the language of Gonski, he had the man standing next to him while he re-booted the Gonski Review. Politics was swept aside: this Continue reading »
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SAMANTHA PAGE. In defence of public investment in childcare
When childcare issues have hit the news lately, it’s either been about the Federal Government’s new $1.6 billion package to help make childcare more affordable, or about massive fraud cases where rogue Family Day Care operators have pocketed millions of tax payer dollars. Continue reading »
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How has education come to this?
For a country that prides itself on the egalitarian ethos of a ‘fair go’ for all, the latest results from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are a distressing reminder that many are not getting a fair go in education. The egalitarian label is a self-indulgent delusion as far as education is concerned. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL D. BREEN. Bullying Documentary on ABC Television March 14 & 21
Bullying is an epidemic. Bullying is a complex social matter. Systemic problems need systemic remedies. There is a wealth of international research available. Good will and enthusiasm are insufficient treatment qualifications; even if the presenter is a national good guy. Is it acceptable to test drive a dubious procedural treatment on T.V.? Would it be Continue reading »
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Disadvantaged Students Denied Adequate Funding by Massive Tax Concessions for the Wealthy
The latest Tax Expenditures Statement shows that Australia can easily afford the Gonski funding plan to bring under-resourced public schools up to the national standard and reduce the large proportion of disadvantaged students not achieving expected benchmarks. It is simply a matter of reducing the tax privileges of the wealthy to support increased learning opportunities Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. Selective schools: comprehensively routed?
When you are a school principal there are some days you don’t forget. For me it was the day the government ambushed my school by establishing a selective school down the road. No warning, no consultation – it just seemed like a good idea at the time. It was argued that it was a good Continue reading »
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FAZAL RIZVI. What students learn about Asia is outdated and needs to change.
While we readily recognise the new Asia to be culturally dynamic, and changing rapidly, we have yet to develop a more sophisticated understanding of Asia-Australia relations – and indeed also of the discourse of Asia literacy. Continue reading »
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The Barnett Government Has Slashed Funding for Public Schools
The claims by the Western Australian Government that it has massively increased school funding in recent years are highly misleading. The fact is that the Barnett Government has taken to the axe to funding of public schools while boosting its funding of private schools. It has abandoned disadvantaged students, the vast majority of whom attend Continue reading »
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How we can do better on education. (Jean Blackburn Oration)
When you do so little to require the winners from economic change to compensate the losers, and then, whether by accident or design, you have an influx of immigrants, you end up with Trump, Brexit and the resurrection of One Nation. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. A trans-Tasman story out of school
The Gonski recommendations were our best chance to create something better, but it didn’t happen in the way the review envisaged. As one of the Gonski architects puts it, instead we are just on a path to nowhere. Continue reading »
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Resource Gaps Between Advantaged & Disadvantaged Schools Among the Largest in the World
Disadvantaged students in Australia are being denied equal opportunities to learn because they have less access to qualified teachers and material resources than advantaged students. The gaps in access to education resources between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia are among the largest in the world. Continue reading »