Melbourne's oldest girls' school uses the city as classroom and playground
Sherryn Groch Their blue uniforms are a regular sight on city streets; they exercise in the city's parks and gardens, sketch in the towering cathedrals and study in the libraries, museums and galleries. Meet the girls from the Academy of Mary Immaculate.
Latest education news
Centrelink 'auto-rejects' tens of thousands of claims
Noel Towell Tens of thousands of Student Payment claims "auto-rejected", government insiders allege.
Meet the woman teaching medical students about family violence
Kathy Evans Doctors see it all but they need specialised training in medical school to identify where family violence – directed at adults, children and elders – is occurring. A former GP now leads a ground-breaking program at Monash University.
Education news in brief
Students vie for maths and science Olympiads; time to apply for training awards; Camberwell High student wins innovation award; Premier's VCE award winners announced; an oration on the future of legal services; after-school coding classes prove popular; an animation educates about menstruation and what about recycling stationery?
"Is there a special needs teacher on board?"
Konrad Marshall When she first boarded Flight JQ527 from Sydney to Melbourne three weeks ago, Sophie Murphy felt an "awful tension" and bitterness in the cabin.
Little people thinking big
John Elder While small children are busy learning the names of things, they are also capable of putting together the big picture. John Elder reports.
VCE cheating scandal rocks elite school
Timna Jacks Caulfield Grammar School has been hit by allegations that a VCE student hacked into a teacher's computer in order to cheat on high-stakes assessments.
'Spend money on education or build more jails'
Eryk Bagshaw The economy will be $72 billion worse off if one key education outcome isn't improved, says new report.
Education news in brief
MSO's Education Week nears; dairy research centre established; ACMI offers intensive course for years 10-12; personalised maths teaching works; engineering scholarship lures cutting-edge researchers and legal centres demand restoration of youth legal aid budget
Respectful relationships curriculum aims to change a generation
Josh Jennings Victoria is leading the way in educating students about respectful relationships, gender differences and family violence but it's a minefield of sensitivities about definitions and levels of responsibility.
University inter-library lending scheme rewrites e-book trend
Glenn Mulcaster A trans-Tasman inter-varsity library loan scheme has now 7.5 million books and journals available for borrowing by staff and students at 15 institutions. It's a surprising trend in the age of the e-book.
Second Victorian school embroiled in drug scandal
Henrietta Cook, Timna Jacks A second Victorian school is embroiled in a drug controversy, with the bust filmed as part of a new TV series which has sent the Education Department into a spin.
Writing is on the fall for senior school students
Henrietta Cook It's called the "middle years slump" and it's punctuated by sloppy writing.
TAFE enrolments drop amid financial turnaround
Henrietta Cook Enrolments at Victorian TAFEs have plummeted up to 27 per cent, despite their finances improving under the Andrews government.
More Koori students finish high school
Henrietta Cook, Education Reporter Christopher Saunders admits that dropping out would have been easy. But the Koori student from St Patrick's College in Ballarat pushed on – and last year became the first person in his family to complete high school.
Law student wins her fight to kill off 'creepy' Facebook page ranking hot Melbourne University students
Timna Jacks, Henrietta Cook Social media page that rated students' appearance has been taken down, four days after the launch of a petition calling for its removal.
Leaky, cramped and forgotten. Specialist schools receive urgent funding boost
Henrietta Cook, Timna Jacks Every building at Mornington Special Developmental School contains asbestos, and there's holes in the walls and a leaky roof.
Melbourne Girls Grammar students 'busted with ecstasy at formal'
Patrick Hatch A Melbourne Girls' Grammar student has reportedly been expelled and two others suspended from the exclusive school after they were caught with drugs including ecstasy at a year 12 formal.
Liberals lash out at domestic violence curriculum over 'sexy freak out' ad
Timna Jacks, Henrietta Cook The Victorian Liberals have criticised changes to the curriculum to combat domestic violence because they will involve Year 8 students studying ads that refer to "sexy freak outs".
App tackles teenage mental health via gaming
Andrew Masterson A game-playing app is designed to help mid-teenage students develop skills and strategies for positive thinking that may help keep depression at bay.
Education news in brief
Entrepreneurship program develops in north east; competition to design and construct a model bridge; Essendon players work with schools on bullying; regional arts fundraising drive begins and an exhibition on the Vietnam War opens at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Victoria's schools of the future: a work in progress
Kathy Evans Victoria will need to accommodate almost another 200,000 students in the next decade and architects and planners are at the heart of this expansion that is going up and out.
Opinion, Analysis
Why parents must unplug their kids to improve their literacy
When teenagers switch on their phones and ipods, reading goes out the window and the evidence of this is in declining NAPLAN results between years 5 and 9.
A tale of two brains is more fiction than fact
Myths about left brain and right brain functioning stereotype children's capabilities and limit what parents and teachers expect of them.
No more classes, no more books ... and no permanent teachers either
Modern tertiary education has become a detached affair with online classes and e-books and that's just for the students. For teachers, the experience is mostly a casualised, isolated affair.
Turnbull's bias revealed in school funding plan
The government proposes turning its back on the schools where most Australian children get their education.
The school reform options we should be debating
Schools funding from 2018 onwards has been kicked down the road until early next year – after the election. Voters deserve to know what the Turnbull government is planning.
New curriculum is almost impossible to assess
Changes to the curriculum mean new challenges such as how success can be measured in ethics, social competence and creative thinking.
Cost shifting by Victorian government has short changed schools
Successive state governments have used increased federal government education spending as a way of reducing their own contribution.
New report: early development delays go on to mar educational achievement
Children who enter their first year of school behind in any of the five key areas of development are, without intervention, likely to remain behind throughout their education.
Culture shock awaits disadvantaged students who make it to uni
Enrolling at university is a huge achievement for disadvantaged students but once on campus they discover cultural and financial barriers remain.
University born of a dream of opportunity for all
Footscray Tech was begun in 1916 by a former Antarctic explorer with a dream of creating opportunities for young men from the western suburbs.Today that school is Victoria University.
What if passion is the highest qualification you need?
Worry less about ATAR and choosing the perfect course - the future demands flexibility and adaptability so passion will be the quality to carry young people further.
A 30-year teacher looks back with gratitude
The average tenure of a teacher today is three years; a three-decade veteran reflects on what he loved about the profession, what inspired him and why it is time to go.
Schools crisis comes with massive waste of tax dollars
Fishermans Bend provides a stark lesson in how not to plan a new community.
The private school myth that doesn't add up
Our grossly inequitable education system is propped up by a lie that even kids would find hard to swallow.
VET sector: a get-rich scheme for shonks and shysters
Competition policy is all very well, but beware the pitfalls of privatisation that led to the great unwinding of vocational education.
VET loans freeze will not stop rogues
The government has been slow to react to claims of fraud in the vocational education sector.
Take a risk – set your child free
Excessive safeguards don't ensure children's long-term wellbeing, quite the opposite. Parents and schools should be facilitating and dreaming of the odd small accident.
We need an ombudsman to protect free state education
The education industry is one of our biggest and most important exports and is not protected by solid governance.
Seasons greetings and a casual goodbye
A year is a long time as a casual academic - a dance of fitting in, being an outsider, getting up to speed, making your mark and then in this, the season to be jolly, it is the time of very casual goodbyes.
Turnbull hints at return to egalitarian education
The new prime minister's statements about education give hope that he will commit to the final years of funding for the Gonski reforms and will use education and opportunity as a key part of economic growth.
Are you letting your kids call the shots?
Children have inflated self-esteem and lack humility because parents are unsure what authority they ought to have and how to exercise it.
