A stand-off between the Albanese Government and the NSW and Queensland Governments over public school funding has been going on for more than a year. The longer it lasts, the more public schools will lose. If it is not resolved, public schools in the two states could lose nearly $40 billion in funding over the next 10 years. Continuing under-funding of public schools will be catastrophic, particularly for disadvantaged students and schools in the two states. (more…)
Category: Education
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A fantasy: The revolution that shook the world
It began with a whisper. A voice, quiet but clear, weaving its way through the fabric of Australian society, carrying with it a simple, but radical, idea: that power should belong to the people, not just those who sat in Parliament House. At the heart of this movement was an historian, and a woman of extraordinary vision. (more…)
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AAUP calls for urgent reform of university management
The Council of the Australian Association of University Professors has welcomed the announcement of a Federal Parliamentary inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers. (more…)
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Neoliberal learning: Horses for courses and donkeys in the paddock
This series is built on the firm belief in “a paradigm of care” being the answer to the cancer of neoliberal economic rationalism, and its bedfellows bullying managerialism, monetarism and compliance surveillance. But following the maxim that “no one likes a whinger”, I am also advocating the timeless message from Swiss American psychiatrist and expert “On death and dying”, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross: “If what you have been doing hasn’t been working, do something different!” (more…)
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Public schools bear the greatest burden of disadvantage
A new research paper published by Save Our Schools shows conclusively that public schools bear the greatest burden of disadvantage, but are not resourced to overcome its effect on learning outcomes. Public schools have to do a lot more with far fewer resources than Catholic and Independent schools. (more…)
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Want more economics students? Drop the obsession with maths
The Reserve Bank is worried. The number of students wanting to study economics has been falling over the years, and it’s worried this will lead to a fall in the electorate’s economic literacy, which could end up worsening government policy. (more…)
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At last the eerie silence on schools funding has ended
With a federal election looming, leaders of two political parties have now announced plans to deal with the protracted under-funding of Australia’s public schools.
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The unravelling of Australian society
Australian society has never really been a cohesive entity. In the past its various socio-economic, religious, ethnic, cultural, and political factions have simply hung together largely through a sense of xenophobia about the outside world (read Asia) rather than a commitment to national unity based on shared values and mutually beneficial interests. But today xenophobia is compounding into fear and loathing on the campaign trail and in the interstices of a society that is in danger of unravelling.
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The campus under siege
Suppression of critical voices through the instrumentalisation of religious fanaticism in university systems remains a powerful tool for maintaining the status quo, writes Sadaf Shabbir.
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Public vs. private schools: The illusion of collaboration
Carolyn Blanden’s recent contribution to Pearls and Irritations,”Public and private schools are partners in educating all Australian children.” presents a counter-argument to my essay “The silent crisis killing public education”, January 9, 2025. She offers a vision of harmonious collaboration between public and private institutions. I suspect that the author misses the point of my argument: the presence of students with severe behavioural challenges is a significant, though not exclusive, reason parents are choosing private schools over public. I will address some of the evidence she presents to support her vision of ‘harmonious collaboration’. (more…)
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Outmoded concepts of disadvantage must be rethought
It’s time to rid ourselves of the concepts of disadvantage and equity and immerse ourselves in the practices of learning and knowledge like never before. (more…)
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Public and private schools are partners in educating all Australian children
John Frew’ s recent essay asserts that public schools are increasingly burdened with students facing complex challenges while private schools lure more desirable students with questionable claims of better academic outcomes and stricter discipline.
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The silent crisis killing public education
The exodus from Australia’s public schools is not a quiet migration – it’s an outright stampede. This dramatic shift, particularly in secondary education, reveals a deep crisis that policymakers, academics, and unions acknowledge superficially but lack the courage to confront head-on. At the heart of this issue lies the unspoken truth: public schools are increasingly burdened with students facing complex challenges. (more…)
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Open access. Break the paywall. Reclaim knowledge now
In my academic career, I’ve always advocated for not-for-profit academic journals. These platforms support academic freedom and align with the principle that research should benefit society, not merely serve the interests of profit-driven corporations. Unfortunately, the academic publishing landscape, dominated by five major commercial players—Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, and SAGE—has become a bastion of profit, with universities and researchers paying steep costs for access to their own work. (more…)
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Best of 2024: What makes Chinese students so successful by international standards?
There is a belief widely held across the Western world: Chinese students are schooled through rote, passive learning – and an educational system like this can only produce docile workers who lack innovation or creativity. We argue this is far from true.
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Overreach and technocratic control in Australian University reform
Announced by the incoming Labor government, the University Accord process and review is being touted as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the role and funding of Australia’s 40-plus universities. With 1.5 million students enrolled, including 500,000 international students, and generating $35 billion in revenue, universities have been struggling in the wake of COVID-19. (more…)
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Maria Montessori: Feminist and educator
Born in 1870, the year of Italy’s nationhood, Maria Montessori was a social reformer. The general militarisation of life, the first great slaughter, the rise of Mussolini and the second slaughter, are only some of what she reacted and organised against. She believed her method – now universally known as the Montessori Method – would be instrumental in changing attitudes about education and for ways of being.
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Endless onslaught: Would Israel’s Mordechai be attacked as ‘antisemitic’ in Australia?
Haaretz, Israel’s oldest and most widely known newspaper, has just published a long, roughly 8,000 word feature article, about the work of Lee Mordechai, the Associate Professor of History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has compiled on line a massive report entitled “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War.” (more…)
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Be alert and alarmed: Campus silencing on Palestine
In a number of countries, universities are now to the forefront of punishing and silencing those who challenge dominant constructions of the conflict in Gaza. (more…)
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Why the Productivity Commission is kidding itself on childcare
A more robust analysis by the commission might have yielded different priorities or recommendations for childcare. (more…)
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Australia’s school system: winners and losers?
In a school system so deeply segregated along class and cultural lines it is not hard to identify the losers. But the question is whether there are any real winners? (more…)
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Anti-Palestinian discrimination in NSW public schools
Over 4000 people have signed a petition in three days, calling for an apology for a student who was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to have been banned from attending his Year 12 formal for wearing a keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) at his graduation. The student is from a Palestinian background, and the scarf is traditionally worn at significant events such as graduations.
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In defence of public education
Over the last 10,000 years or so societies have evolved from relatively simple and loosely structured groups of people to the complex entities of the present nation-states (and even a nascent world society), but in this time period the human being, as an organism, has not changed significantly. So, what has changed?
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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. (more…)
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Australia’s school system has lost its moorings
Lack of leadership by successive Australian governments has created a rift between rhetoric and reality that has played a part in eroding public confidence and trust in our school system and generating anxiety for families, teachers and students. (more…)
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One cheer for student loan changes
As you may have noticed, the Government has announced changes to student loans and debts, subject (eyeroll) to their re-election. Tick; even the Greens are taking credit. (more…)
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Josef Stiglitz and national productivity: the need for a new TAFE
When Nobel economists Joseph Stiglitz recently said that Australia’s future prosperity is tied to us acting to become a “Knowledge Economy” there was subdued muttering of the “Fee Free TAFE” mantra from a few Labor federal parliamentarians. This was followed by multi-party total inaction. Could it be that our federal political leaders, who have been so negligent in allowing our TAFE system to slide into its current overall state of decrepitude, are now too embarrassed to even talk about it? (more…)
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A controversial graduation address
On Monday, October 21st, Joe de Bruyn, trade union heavyweight, former National President of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, former member of the National Executive of the Australian Labor Party, committed Catholic, was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Australian Catholic University. As is customary, he was also invited to deliver the occasional address to the students, their parents and their guests at the graduation ceremony. (more…)
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Changes to tertiary education funding fail to remedy “stupid inequity” of Morrison era
The changes to Tertiary Education funding announced by the Prime Minister last weekend, mostly benefit former students. Arguably there are other higher priorities to restore the funding of higher education and remove anomalies in the fees charged. (more…)
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The Queensland elections and the youth crime crisis
“The basic facts about youth crime in Australia, including Queensland, is that the number of young people getting into trouble with police has been going down every year.” – Ross Homel, Foundation Professor in Criminology, Griffith University. (more…)