Gillard calls for lively education debate

Benjamin Preiss Former PM says those who argue money doesn't matter in education are conservative commentators who educate their own children in the most moneyed schools.

Absenteeism adds up to poor maths results

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Young children who frequently take days off school have poorer results in maths, new research shows, but the same level of absenteeism appears to have less of an effect on literacy.

More finish year 12, but then hit the wall

DANIEL HURST The number of students finishing year 12 has grown over the past five years but the result is soured by a drop in school leavers moving on to full time work or study.

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Labor backs gay student bill

JOSEPHINE TOVEY NSW Labor will throw its support behind a push to abolish controversial laws that allow private schools to expel or discriminate against gay or transgender students.

Private schools move to needs-based funding

ANNA PATTY Minister moves to amend the Education Act to allow it to comply with a new national agreement for funding non-government schools, with the sector set to receive extra $790 million over six years.

Cuts were 'worse without Gonski funds'

KIRSTY NEEDHAM The funding cuts to disadvantaged NSW schools would have been worse if the Gillard government had not tipped in $100 million in Gonski cash, a top education bureaucrat says.

School bans phones to rekindle social skills

AMY MCNEILAGE Clusters of teenagers glued to their smartphones have become a largely unremarkable scene in most social settings.

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200 schools worse off in new scheme

JOSEPHINE TOVEY More than 200 public schools in NSW, many in low socio-economic areas, will receive less funding next year under the new Gonski-inspired model, despite a $100 million boost to the sector.

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Teachers little help to brightest students

Benjamin Preiss New study reveals that teachers are adding little ''value'' for students who are highly proficient in reading and maths

Numbers align for girls who put in hard yards

RACHEL BROWNE For some it was tough but fair, for others it didn't add up. That was the verdict as thousands of NSW students tackled their first HSC maths exams on Tuesday.

Degree of difference pays off at preschools

COSIMA MARRINER Children who attended preschool score higher in NAPLAN tests than their peers who did not - but only if their preschool teacher was highly qualified.

Memes the word: lighter side of the HSC

JOSEPHINE TOVEY The HSC has been a stressful time for successive generations of year 12 students, but the current crop has found a decidedly millennial form of catharsis and humour to get through their exams.

Bushfires: HSC students evacuated mid-exam

Josephine Tovey, Amy McNeilage The fires which tore through NSW on Thursday broke out as many HSC students held pens in hand, studying for or sitting the exams they have worked towards for years.

Private schools no guarantee of higher NAPLAN scores, study finds

COSIMA MARRINER Children who attend private primary schools don't perform any better in NAPLAN tests than their peers at public schools, new research shows.

Stress to success: riding the wave of the HSC

Some of the country's greatest achievers look back on their school days and tell Josephine Tovey and Kim Arlington how they survived their exams.

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Rich themes of cultural diversity in 'belonging' HSC question

JOSEPHINE TOVEY In Australia's diverse classrooms, following the adage to ''write what you know'' produces a rich range of material, if yesterday's HSC examination is anything to go by.

By rote or not by rote, that is the question for English HSC

JOSEPHINE TOVEY The first HSC questions will not be revealed until 11.20am on Monday, but many students already know almost exactly what they will write for their English exam.

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State P&C; 'racked by bullying, disharmony'

JOSEPHINE TOVEY It is supposed to be the peak body representing the interests of thousands of parents who send their children to public schools.

Bonus points plan to raise low levels of language study

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Students who study a language for their HSC could be given bonus Australian Tertiary Admission Rank points and all primary school children would undertake some form of language education under proposals to address the low levels of foreign language study in NSW.

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Students stop taking Asian languages in senior years

Amy McNeilage, Josephine Tovey Senior high school students in NSW are giving up on Asian languages at an astonishing rate, despite growth among younger students.

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Teacher sues over difficult students

Nick Toscano, Aisha Dow A former public school teacher who claims he was intentionally allocated classes of a school's ''most unruly and challenging'' students is suing the state government.

Burnout hits one in four teachers

Konrad Marshall Study shows more than one in four new teachers are suffering from 'emotional exhaustion'.

Teachers offer lessons in dedication for keen HSC students

JOSEPHINE TOVEY With HSC exams approaching fast, it's not just students who are feeling nervous and working hard.

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Geography loses as HSC students map their futures

AMY MCNEILAGE HSC students are increasingly choosing subjects such as legal studies and construction with their eye on a future job, at the expense of languages and complex maths and science subjects.

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Low grades for casual teachers in NSW schools

ANNA PATTY School principals have questioned the quality of casual teachers who carry up to 10 per cent of the teaching load at public schools.

Christopher Pyne doubt on languages target

DANIEL HURST The federal government may struggle to meet its target for high school language studies, Education Minister Christopher Pyne has said.

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Number of HSC language students falls to record low

Josephine Tovey, Amy McNeilage The proportion of students studying a foreign language for the Higher School Certificate is at a historic low and less than a fifth of what it was during the 1950s, new data shows.

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Sydney University averts strike action in long-running industrial dispute

JOSEPHINE TOVEY It has lasted for most of 2013, prompted staff picket lines on campus and seen police drag protesters from lecture theatres, but a long-running industrial dispute at Australia’s oldest university is drawing to a close.

Australian unis slide in international rankings

Benjamin Preiss Melbourne University has lost its place in the top 30 of a key international ranking while other Australian universities have also fallen.

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States keep watch on school deals

DANIEL HURST The Abbott government will face fresh demands from states that signed school funding agreements before the election if the hold-out states are lured with more favourable offers.

Compassion needed to keep siblings together

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Emma Cotterill's son and daughter live in the same house but they may soon be required to attend different ''local'' high schools, eight kilometres apart.

• Enrol in less popular schools: minister

Private schools 'a burden on ratepayers'

Julie Power North Sydney Council, home to seven top private schools, could raise an additional $1 million in rates each year if the existing rate exemption granted to private schools was repealed.

PM holds fire on plan to axe uni services fee

DANIEL HURST Tony Abbott has put a plan to axe the university student services and amenities fee on ice after a Nationals MP warned that regional members would object.

Altered train times mean school's in earlier

JACOB SAULWICK Students from at least one outer Sydney school will have to start and finish classes earlier because of next month's new train timetable.

GPS competition an 'aggressive arms race'

Peter Munro Former Rugby World Cup-winning captain David Kirk has slammed Sydney's prestigious GPS competition as an aggressive ''arms race'' .

• I was cheated by sporting imports, says angry Scots student
• Stakes high as schools dabble in elite approach to success

Scots turmoil: the team no one wants to play

Adrian Proszenko, Peter Munro The GPS is in turmoil with Scots College boycotted from sporting contests amid claims from rival schools that it offered prohibited inducements to recruit young athletes.

• College accused of 'buying' team with scholarships

New board designed to improve pupil results

Josephine Tovey The NSW Board of Studies and the NSW Institute of Teachers will be merged to create a single new statutory authority to improve teacher quality.

Top of the boys' class: dishes for fine dining

AMY MCNEILAGE Top chef Matt Moran was one of only two boys in his home economics class at school, but now more boys are embracing cooking for their HSC.

Bullied school student Jazmine Oyston has damages payout increased

RACHEL OLDING A Catholic school student who allegedly suffered serious mental health problems after years of bullying by the "popular group" has had her damages payout increased despite efforts by the school to have the matter thrown out of court.

School out of bounds for siblings

KIRSTY NEEDHAM Siblings are being prevented from enrolling in the same school as their older brothers or sisters as the number of children in Sydney's inner city swells, squeezing classroom space and forcing public school boundaries to tighten.

Wild muck-up days a thing of the past, principals say

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Muck-up day has long been associated with flour bombs on the teachers’ cars or chucking water bombs and shaving cream at unsuspecting junior peers.

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'No blame' strategies work, but only vigilance beats the bullies

Jen Dalitz There has been plenty of discussion about bullying and, from statistics given, it is likely a child will be bullied at some stage at school.

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Plans fail to cater for student influx

NICOLE HASHAM Schools near the north-west rail line will be flooded with new enrolments but the state government has failed to plan for the student influx, education officials say.

Residents irate as private schools buy up neighbourhood

LEESHA MCKENNY Some of Sydney's elite private schools have been accused of engaging in an ''arms race'' as they expand their grounds into the city's most prestigious neighbourhoods.

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The nerd factor blamed for drop in IT hopefuls

AMY MCNEILAGE In an increasingly technological world, computer science is an unlikely field to be going out of fashion.

Tests show primary students doing better in reading

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Primary student results in national reading tests have improved over the past five years, a new report shows, but a printing error means parents will have to wait several weeks to find out how their own child performed in the latest round of exams.

Under pressure to educate babies

RACHEL BROWNE Exercise classes that promise to help a baby's brain development, language programs to foster a child's lifelong love of learning, music lessons and DVDs of classical music to enrich and entertain your newborn.

Principals want CCTV cameras for all schools to deter abusive parents

Benjamin Preiss A group representing Victoria's principals wants CCTV cameras installed in all state school foyers to prevent staff from being harassed and threatened.

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Classrooms blazing the trail in NSW for bilingual education

AMY MCNEILAGE At Campsie Public School, a subject taught in English one day could be taught in Korean the next.

Push to end expulsion of gay students

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Controversial laws that allow private schools to expel students because they are gay could be abolished if the two main parties are allowed a conscience vote on the issue, the MP seeking to overturn the laws says.

Purpose-built app takes the drama out of marking HSC performances

AMY MCNEILAGE There are entertaining drama performances and there are ones that receive high marks. In the HSC, the two are not necessarily the same.

Public primary school numbers up but it tends to get private after that

JOSEPHINE TOVEY While one child was still in nappies, Liz Foster began fielding questions about where her two daughters would go to school. Ms Foster, who was born in Britain and now lives in Lane Cove North, was perplexed.

Academic ridiculed by Coalition, says Sydney University vice-chancellor

JOSEPHINE TOVEY The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney has told staff he was ''distressed'' to see the work of a renowned philosophy academic from the university unfairly ridiculed by the Coalition as an example of ''ridiculous'' and wasteful government spending.

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Plastic packaging seals student magazine a reprieve

The now infamous edition of the University of Sydney student newspaper, with a cover featuring the genitalia of 18 women, will be sold in sealed plastic packaging.

Vagina cover unlikely to make it to stands

AMY MCNEILAGE The editor of the University of Sydney's student newspaper said a controversial cover featuring the genitalia of 18 female students would almost certainly be guillotined on Thursday night pending legal advice.

Teach for Australia fastracks new breed in classrooms

JOSEPHINE TOVEY Both sides of politics support a program that trains graduates to teach in six weeks, but not everyone is happy.

Bronwyn Bishop says Gonski reforms will 'dumb down' schools

JACQUELINE MALEY The high-achieving schools of northern Sydney are in danger being "dumbed down" to one generic Australian standard under the federalised education scheme planned by the Rudd Labor government, according to comments reportedly made by opposition seniors spokeswoman Bronwyn Bishop to her constituents.