Money Matters in Education

Posted on Sunday July 27, 2014

A comprehensive review of research studies on the relationship between school funding and student achievement shows that money matters in education, especially for disadvantaged students. >> Read on...

Chile’s Failed Free Market Education System Faces Overhaul

Posted on Thursday July 24, 2014

Chile’s notoriously inequitable free market education system established under the Pinochet dictatorship is being overhauled to provide a comprehensive free education system. >> Read on...

School Autonomy in Austria Has Developed a Status Hierarchy of Schools

Posted on Monday July 21, 2014

A study of school autonomy in Austria found that it has resulted in more competition between schools, created greater opportunities for student selection by favoured schools and led to more social differentiation between schools. >> Read on...

Large Gaps in Financial Literacy Between Rich and Poor

Posted on Tuesday July 15, 2014

New results from the OECD’s 2012 PISA study show large gaps in financial literacy between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Australia. >> Read on...

Australian Teachers Work Longer Hours and Face More Challenges Than Teachers in Many Countries

Posted on Wednesday July 9, 2014

A new international survey shows that Australian teachers work longer hours and in more challenging circumstances than teachers in many other countries. >> Read on...

Gonski Panel Member Outlines a Future Agenda for Gonksi Funding

Posted on Thursday July 3, 2014

Gonski panel member, Ken Boston, calls for more action to implement the Gonski funding model. >> Read on...

Teach for Australia is Not Cost-effective

Posted on Monday June 30, 2014

Teach for Australia is not cost-effective. It incurs very high costs to the taxpayer, but there is no substantive evidence that it improves outcomes in disadvantaged schools and a very high proportion of TFA teachers leave teaching within four or five years. >> Read on...

Wealthy Philanthropic Foundations are Undermining Public Education in the US

Posted on Thursday June 19, 2014

A new study shows that wealthy philanthropic education foundations in the US have a major influence over national and state education policy and are using that influence to undermine public education. >> Read on...

Markets are Ineffective in Education and Create Social Inequalities

Posted on Monday June 16, 2014

A new study has found that competition between schools and greater school autonomy do not increase student achievement. More competition also tends to increase social inequalities in school results. >> Read on...

Kevin Andrews Exposes Pyne’s Hypocrisy on Gonski

Posted on Friday June 13, 2014

Social Services Minister, Kevin Andrews, has exposed Christopher Pyne’s rejection of conditions on Federal school funding for the states as an opportunistic way to subvert the Gonski funding plan. >> Read on...

School Money Wars

Posted on Tuesday June 10, 2014

Government funding of schools has only increased by 1.3 per cent a year in real terms over the last decade. This is three times less than the figure claimed by the Federal Minister for Education and the National Commission of Audit report. >> Read on...

Wealthy Private Schools Walk Away from Pyne's Train Wreck With Millions in Over-funding

Posted on Monday June 9, 2014

Analysis by NSW Greens MP, Dr. John Kaye, shows that wealthy NSW private schools will continue to reap millions in over-funding while government schools will lose about $851 million from the axing of the Gonski funding model by the Federal Government. >> Read on...

Gonski Panel Member Refutes Criticisms of Needs-based Funding Plan

Posted on Monday June 9, 2014

Gonksi panel member, Ken Boston, has comprehensively refuted criticism of the needs-based funding plan recommended by the report. >> Read on...

Is there “evidence that independent public schools lift student performance”?

Posted on Thursday June 5, 2014

The evidence presented to the Senate Education Committee by the Federal Department of Education to support Independent Public Schools fails to sustain its case. >> Read on...

Taxation Reform to Fund Growth and Social Spending

Posted on Monday June 2, 2014

The National Commission of Audit focused on cutting expenditure and failed to consider revenue raising options to fund the Gonski school funding plan and other social investment. A white paper by Nobel prize winner in economics, Joe Stiglitz, investigates options to raise revenue. This should be part of our national discussion. >> Read on...

Gonski on Gonski

Posted on Monday May 26, 2014

The chairman of the Gonski school funding review has criticized the Commission of Audit recommendation to Government that his funding plan be abandoned. >> Read on...

Research Study Shows that Increased Funding Delivers Better Outcomes for Low Income Students

Posted on Tuesday May 20, 2014

A new study shows that increased school funding improves school outcomes for disadvantaged students, increases their adult earnings and reduces adult poverty. >> Read on...

Abbott Govt Turns its Back on Public Schools and Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Thursday May 15, 2014

The Federal Budget is a disaster for public education in Australia. It has killed off the Gonski school funding increases for 2017-18 and 2018-19. Public schools stand to over $6 billion as a result. >> Read on...

NAPLAN Withdrawal Rates Increase in WA, but Many Parents are Still in the Dark about their Right to Withdraw

Posted on Sunday May 11, 2014

Education authorities continue the conspiracy of silence about the right of parents to withdraw their children from NAPLAN. However, more and more parents are becoming better informed about their rights. >> Read on...

Audit Commission Ignores the High Concentration of Disadvantage in Government Schools

Posted on Thursday May 8, 2014

The Audit Commission recommendation to terminate Gonski funding after 2017 ignores the extent of disadvantage in government schools. New figures from My School show high concentration of disadvantage in government schools. >> Read on...

Means-tested School Fees Would Undermine Public Education

Posted on Monday May 5, 2014

The proposal for means-tested fees in government schools is a threat to the goals of public education. It would compound inequity in education by restricting access to high quality education to those who can pay. It would undermine social cohesion and tolerance by encouraging greater social segregation in schools. >> Read on...

Review of Class Size Research

Posted on Friday May 2, 2014

A new review of research on the impact of smaller class sizes finds that smaller class sizes in the first four years of school can have an important and lasting impact on student achievement, especially for children from culturally, linguistically and economically disenfranchised communities. >> Read on...

Teacher Says He Cheats on NAPLAN Tests

Posted on Friday May 2, 2014

A private school English teacher says he cheats on the NAPLAN tests by drilling his students. He says it detracts from time spent analysing literature. >> Read on...

The Culture Wars of Kevin Donnelly

Posted on Monday April 28, 2014

Appointed by Christopher Pyne to review Australia’s national curriculum, Kevin Donnelly is engaged in his own private culture war against public education. It means that the review will have no credibility. >> Read on...

More on the Storm of Protest in the US Against Testing

Posted on Wednesday April 23, 2014

More about the storm of teacher, parent and student protest against testing in the United States. >> Read on...

Wave of Protest Against Testing

Posted on Monday April 21, 2014

A wave of protest by parents, students and teachers against standardised testing has swept across the United States. >> Read on...

What is Happening with NAPLAN in Your School?

Posted on Friday April 18, 2014

The 2014 NAPLAN tests are only four weeks away. Tell us your stories and information about the effects of NAPLAN in your school. >> Read on...

Your Child Does Not Have to Do NAPLAN

Posted on Thursday April 17, 2014

A flyer for parents about the right to withdraw their child from the NAPLAN tests. >> Read on...

Pyne’s School Autonomy Myth

Posted on Friday April 11, 2014

A review of the research evidence on school autonomy contradicts the claims by Christopher Pyne that more school autonomy over decisions on budgeting and staffing lifts student achievement. It shows that school autonomy in these areas has little to no effect on student results. >> Read on...

Why We Opted Our Child Out of State Testing

Posted on Monday April 7, 2014

An opt-out movement against standardised testing has exploded in the United States in the last few months. Here a New York parent explains her family’s decision to opt out of the New York state tests. >> Read on...

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