Education
Without my students, I wouldn’t have got where I am today
Former national handball player and professor of neuroscience Gilles Guillemin was nominated by a patient for his Order of Australia honour.
- by Sean Naden
Latest
Opinion
There’s a lot at stake as the maths wars erupt
Australia can’t rely on parents to teach their kids maths basics.
- by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Exclusive
‘Sydney’s favourite question’: Where the city’s powerbrokers went to school
A Sun-Herald analysis of the schools attended by more than 50 of Sydney’s powerbrokers - men and women who influence the politics, business, and culture of the city - found almost 10 per cent attended the same school.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
Treasurer’s message to unis: Get local students back on campus
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet wants university bosses to explain how they will get more local students back into the classroom as the sector prepares for the long-awaited return of international students.
- by Lucy Cormack and Jordan Baker
Bondi Beach school closed after fire, students to be bused to Bellevue Hill
Hundreds of students from Bondi Beach Public School will be accommodated at Bellevue Hill Public School after fire caused extensive damage to one of its buildings.
- by Sarah McPhee
Editorial
NSW shows how to start the journey of the great reopening
A NSW pilot quarantine program to let in more international students contrasts with the federal government’s lack of urgency.
- The Herald's View
Stockings, tunics and leather shoes: why uniforms stop girls playing
Parents and teachers support students being allowed to wear their sports uniform every day to encourage activity, but principals are reluctant.
- by Jordan Baker
Vice-chancellors’ pay cut as NSW universities feel heat over salaries
Some universities are paying their new vice-chancellors less than their old ones while others are taking a pay cut, amid controversy over university bosses’ high salaries
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
‘Shocking that we would risk kids’ health’: Public schools face cuts to cleaning
The change was delayed in term one last year because of the coronavirus pandemic but will now be introduced. Principals are concerned that schools are still in a COVID environment, and they were anxious about any drop in hygiene.
- by Nick Bonyhady and Natassia Chrysanthos
Top Australian universities climb global rankings
Australia’s leading universities have climbed the latest international rankings, but the impact of the pandemic on international students was not taken into account.
- by Jordan Baker
The Sydney school that figured out how to lift marks and attendance
New research shows students who set specific, self-referenced goals with the support of their teachers demonstrate greater perseverance, aspirations and homework behaviour.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Opinion
All I can think is: what am I paying for?
With rising fees and falling class time, domestic university students are starting to feel like cash cows.
- by Thanmaya Navada
‘COVID is being used as an excuse’: Sydney’s uni students are losing patience with online learning
Lecturers are recycling recorded material and students largely stuck at home are increasingly angry they are not getting value for increased university fees.
- by Anna Patty
Opinion
To improve Australian schools, cut-and-paste won’t cut it
Adopting the practices of high-performing nations on PISA will not, on its own, improve Australia’s educational performance.
- by Peter Adams
Sum of all fears: Why Australia’s maths problem is getting worse
A maths war is erupting as traditionalists and progressives argue about what students should know, and the best way to teach them.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
All Sydney students to have guaranteed access to a co-ed high school
Families in Sydney’s single-sex public school catchments have been lobbying for co-ed alternatives, and their campaign has succeeded.
- by Jordan Baker
Universities should capitalise on research arms race between US and China: Sinodinos
Australia’s Ambassador to the US says our researchers have lots of opportunities to collaborate with US government agencies on defence and sensitive technologies.
- by Lisa Visentin
Analysis
Students are getting worse at maths but will a curriculum change fix the problem?
Today on Please Explain, Nathanael Cooper is joined by education editor Jordan Baker to find out more about the changes to the national maths curriculum.
- by Nathanael Cooper
Universities say their finances ‘not as rosy as the minister thinks’
The chairman of Universities Australia says the government does not appreciate the financial challenge facing the sector, and hit back at criticism of its reliance on Chinese students.
- by Lisa Visentin
‘Confused and confusing’: Maths experts say curriculum is faddish and shallow
Dozens of mathematicians and maths teachers have written to the national curriculum authority, concerned that changes to the maths curriculum will mean “students end up knowing less”.
- by Jordan Baker and Sarah McPhee
Father’s claims of reverse racism at Sydney private school rejected by tribunal
The man had complained to the Anti-Discrimination Board that his white daughter was treated less favourably than her Aboriginal friend.
- by Michael Koziol
Former teacher guilty after school refused ‘fishing expedition’ into his abusive behaviour
Leonard Albert Gardiner is now behind bars after a NSW District Court judge found he had committed offences while employed as a maths teacher at The Armidale School in the New England area during the 1960s.
- by Angus Thompson
NSW government’s school consent package receives lukewarm reception
Educational experts and activist Chanel Contos have welcomed measures announced by the NSW Education Minister on sexual consent, but say they do not go far enough.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
The HSC subjects students are avoiding to protect their ATARs
To rank students for university, UAC works out the overall ability of students doing one subject by looking at their performances in all other subjects, then scales their raw mark up or down.
- by Jordan Baker
Editorial
Writing is a critical life skill and it’s time to focus on it
Too many NSW students are leaving school without the ability to express themselves in writing, even though they are entering a world that increasingly requires it of them.
- The Herald's View
Exclusive
Year 9 NAPLAN writing results the best predictor of HSC success: study
The government’s internal analysis found writing, spelling and grammar skills “more than compensate” for under-performance in numeracy.
- by Jordan Baker
Family braces for tough week as remote learning challenge returns
Isolation won’t be a problem for Melbourne University arts student Sobur Dhieu as she bunkers down for Victoria’s snap lockdown, but finding a quiet place might be.
- by Adam Carey
How did a man who preyed on children end up advising students at Melbourne Uni?
When a “tall, dapper, eloquent older man” wanted to take photographs of student Anders Villani on campus, he came with the apparent imprimatur of the university.
- by Ben Silvester
St Paul’s warns demand for all-male colleges is waning amid co-ed backlash
Sydney University’s St Paul’s College says it now needs to take students from other universities amid declining demand for male-only residences.
- by Jordan Baker
Knocked back endlessly for principals’ jobs, when he got Dapto he wept
Dapto High School head Andrew FitzSimons is a former Knox Grammar school boy with a strong commitment to public education. And ensuring students eat breakfast.
- by Jordan Baker
Western Sydney school sport bus services thrown into chaos
Schoolchildren in Sydney’s west will miss out on sport this week and perhaps for the rest of the term after their bus hire was cancelled by a private operator.
- by Jordan Baker and Tom Rabe
Exclusive
‘A ghetto school’: Six students suspended after fight at troubled school
A student filmed a fight at the troubled Walgett Community College, which led to the suspension of six students. It is the latest incident at a school plagued with violence.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
‘Never had it so good’: Archbishop says cashed up Catholic schools must learn from state schools
Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher wants Catholic schools to examine what state schools were getting right and have the humility to learn from them because they regularly perform better in academic results.
- by Jordan Baker
Massive school brawl at Walgett High
Teachers tried to stop a rolling brawl involving many students of Walgett High in NSW.
NSW Parliament to debate teaching toxic masculinity, slut shaming in sex education curriculum
Chanel Contos’ petition reached the requisite number of signatories to trigger a parliamentary debate one day after the state government vowed to overhaul sexual assault laws.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
Underpaid, unemployed and starving students create hub to help each other
The International Student Hub will be launched in Surry Hills on Wednesday night to provide community support to international students struggling with social isolation and exploitation at work and in student accommodation.
- by Anna Patty
Opinion
Teachers I know are utterly disappointed by the new boss of NSW public schools
Yet another senior leader of the Department of Education has been appointed without teaching qualifications or experience.
- by Judy King
Opinion
Sydney University’s invasive conflict of interest declaration rings security alarm bells
Higher degree by research students have to declare their personal relationships, including sexual partners, broadly relevant to their candidature.
- by Brian Toohey
Editorial
Quality early education key to lifting numeracy standards
Australian students are slipping behind those in comparable nations when it comes to mathematics. But new research shows there are changes we can, and must, make to improve standards.
- The Herald's View
Students starting without the basics leading to poor results in world maths tests
An analysis of international testing results has found about 47 per cent of Australia’s year 4 students attend schools where a significant proportion of students began without key foundational skills, such as recognising numbers above 10.
- by Jordan Baker
The ‘difficult choice’ new NSW schools’ boss made for her daughter
Georgina Harrisson, who was named as the new secretary of the NSW Department of Education on Monday, is a career bureaucrat who has spent 20 years working in government agencies in Australia and the United Kingdom.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
Why I’m in my thirties but wishing I was 40
Teachers were frontline workers during the height of the pandemic in Australia but are at the back when it comes to vaccination.
- by Daisy Turnbull
These schools have it all but their boards are missing something: women
Under pressure to show leadership on gender issues, private boys’ schools acknowledge they need more women on their governing councils.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
Eastern suburbs school board crisis over falling results, fraud, debt
Moriah College’s board elections are the most heated in more than a decade amid concern about falling HSC results, a $7.3 million fraud and a $25 million bank debt.
- by Jordan Baker
‘Ignorance and xenophobia’: NSW school dagger ban sparks international furore
The Sikh parliament has urged the Indian foreign minister to intervene, while Canadian Sikhs say the ban will lead to ignorance and xenophobia.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
There’s a safe way to let schoolboys carry religious daggers
Religious freedom is a fundamental human right, though it does not trump the right to life or safety. The Sikh ceremonial knife, however, can be made safe for schoolboys to carry.
- by Simon Longstaff
Opinion
Why the government is unwilling to support universities
A class I took in my first year of university speaks volumes about the frosty relationship between academics and right-wing politicians.
- by Katy Barnett