Education
‘Forced out by cancel culture’: Tudge condemns Vaile’s exit as Newcastle Uni chancellor
But senior Newcastle University academics say there was widespread unhappiness among staff at Mr Vaile’s appointment due to his chairmanship of Whitehaven Coal.
- by Lisa Visentin
Latest
Charles Sturt University refers fraud allegations to police
The university’s interim vice-chancellor, Professor John Germov, said an external review of the university’s governance had uncovered a historical case of fraud that police were investigating.
- by Anna Patty
Sydney to get its first new selective high school in 25 years
New schools are also planned for St Leonards, Chatswood and Macquarie Park - one of them on the site of the Premier’s old high school.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
School asked boys to use rating system on girls, female students taught to keep virginity
Boys at a northern beaches Anglican school were told to choose the qualities they looked for in a girl from a list that allocated more points for virginity, looks, and strong Christian values than for generosity and adventurousness. In another classroom, girls were given articles to read about why remaining a virgin until marriage was important.
- by Jordan Baker
Mark Vaile quits Newcastle University chancellor role amid backlash over coal links
The former Nationals leader’s appointment as chancellor was met with significant backlash from staff, students and potential donors.
- by Lisa Visentin
Free preschool program extended to 2022
Many families will get 15 hours per week of free preschool access next year after the NSW government extended a COVID-19 program.
- by Pallavi Singhal
Investigation
Bags of money and the old school tie: Private schools and their impact on Melbourne
Economic and social change has weakened old school networks while the debate about state aid rages on.
- by Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders
Exclusive
Up to 5000 NSW students are convicted of a crime every year. The schools are never told
The father of a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by another student called on the NSW Department of Education to keep a register of students who have been charged with sexual assault.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos and Jordan Baker
SMH editorial
School day shake-up looks like a very poppable thought bubble
Many teachers feel the people making these decisions have little to no idea about how schools actually work.
- by The Herald's View
Exclusive
‘Greedy land grab’: Why Sydney’s top private schools can be difficult neighbours
Sydney’s top private schools continue to build lavish new facilities, but at what cost to their neighbours?
- by Andrew Taylor
Exclusive
New online syllabus to save teachers hours of ‘opening multiple web pages’
The NSW government will commit $196 million in next week’s state budget to develop a new school syllabus, and that will include money for an online system that will allow teachers - as well as parents and students - to find what they need in seconds.
- by Jordan Baker
Investigation
Top private schools build up multimillion-dollar investment portfolios
Australia’s richest schools have hundreds of millions invested in the sharemarket, reaping big financial returns while also receiving more than $600 million a year in government funding.
- by Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar
Investigation
Australia’s top private schools are growing richer and faster than ever
The country’s most prestigious private schools are worth a massive $8.5 billion and accumulated assets at a greater rate than the property market or the stock exchange between 2015 and 2019.
- by Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar
Exclusive
Plan to end the 9am to 3pm school day in NSW
In a radical move from traditional school hours, the government will encourage principals to work with parents and students to find innovative ways to provide flexibility for families.
- by Alexandra Smith
Exclusive
NSW schools going backwards on HSC achievement, graduates’ careers
The NSW Education Department set improvement goals for 2022 in areas such as HSC performance and year 12 completion, but if the present trajectory continues, few are likely to be achieved.
- by Jordan Baker
Parents cobble together childcare options and make their work fit
Parents are compromising on the kind of childcare they want and how much work they can do because of high costs and difficulties in finding places.
- by Katina Curtis and Wendy Tuohy
COVID’s ‘lost generation’: OECD warns of long-term impact of remote learning
But researchers note reading to children at home can improve literacy outcomes, which in turn boost ongoing skill levels as they became adults.
- by Shane Wright and Monica Attia
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
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