Adrian Piccoli, The Age, 30 Nov 2018. NAPLAN and the publishing of school-by-school reslts on the MySchool website started out as relatively harmless, but has turned into a wrecking ball for Australian education. Read the article here
Archive | Articles
Where you live is determining your school’s NAPLAN score
The Age, 27 Nov 2018. New analysis by Macquarie University has found that the area in which a student goes to school is one of the clearest predictors of Year 5 NAPLAN reading scores, painting a stark picture of Australia’s socio-educational divide. Read the article here
Principals should be wary of decodable readers, says expert
Brett Henebery, The Educator, 23 Nov 2018. Di Snowball says that her 52 years of experience in teaching students to read and in helping thousands of teachers, there has never been the need for decodable books. Principal Beverley Dadds says that phonics is important, but we can help children to use phonics without the reading […]
The future of learning
InsightCreative, 13 Nov 2018. Visit Wooranna Park Primary School in Dandenong, Melbourne, where learning spaces are rich and engaging and children’s minds are being prepared for the future. Read the article here
Australia’s education system nearly the most unequal in the developed world
Trevor Cobbold, Save Our Schools, 15 Nov 2018. Australia prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, but it is a myth in education. We have one of the most segregated school systems and to be the 2nd most unequal education system in the developed world is disgraceful and scandalous. Read the report here
Dealing with school anxiety: powerful things adults can do
heysigmund.com, 13 Nov 2018. Anxious kids are brave kids. They are creative, thoughtful and have the potential to light the world on fire… When anxiety takes hold though, it’s overwhelming. The important adults in their lives can help. Read the article here
The price we pay for decades of school funding based on religion
Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Nov 2018. The coalition government has failed to implement Gonski reforms, which proposed needs-based, sector-blind funding of schools. Read the article here
Learning music early can make your child a better reader
Anita Collins and Misty Adoniou, The Conversation, 8 Nov 2018. Neuroscience has found a clear relationship between music and language acquisition. Read the article here
What are ‘decodable readers’ and do they work?
The Conversation, 1 Nov 2018. The Australian Curriculum defines decoding as ‘A process of working out the meaning of words in a text. In decoding, readers draw on contextual, vocabulary, grammatical and phonic knowledge.’ However, the Victorian coalition defines decoding only as ‘sounding out letters’ and wants their misinformed view of decodable readers in schools […]
Massive gaps in teacher resources between disadvantaged and advantaged schools
Trevor Cobbold, saveourschools.com.au, 23 Oct 2018. Australia allocates more and better teacher resources to socio-economically advantaged schools than to disadvantaged schools. The mis-allocation ranks alongside the worst in the OECD. Read the report here