Education
Opinion
Beware the promise of easy answers when it comes to COVID
For epidemiologists advising politicians and debating control measures in the public arena: excess haste, over-simplification and exaggeration will lead us into dangerous waters.
- by Ewan Cameron
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‘The joy of teaching’: Plan to find 3700 new teachers to plug school shortage
The NSW Department of Education’s plans to avert a teacher shortage include convincing people it’s a fulfilling job, as well as scholarships and incentives.
- by Jordan Baker
When a third of Camilla Portela’s class caught COVID, she became their source of support
Across the education sector, teachers and schools have gone way beyond their immediate duties to help families or students in need during lockdown.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
Children as young as six mimicking Squid Game in playground, school warns
The principal of an inner Sydney school has asked parents to not let their children watch the violent MA show.
- by Jordan Baker
Updated
Tudge flags further free speech measures as sacked climate sceptic loses High Court case
The Education Minister Alan Tudge says he’s “concerned that, in some places, there is a culture of closing down perceived ‘unwelcome thoughts’ rather than debating them”.
- by Lisa Visentin and Nick Bonyhady
Mandatory jabs for students and staff to return to universities
The University of Technology Sydney and University of Melbourne are among city institutions that have decided to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for staff and students to return to campus.
- by Anna Patty
Exclusive
The ‘impossible’ juggle: Parents spent 14 hours a week on home learning
For Dee Mills, schooling has only been one of the stresses of having children home 24/7; there’s also the noise, the big emotions, and the constant feeding.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
Classroom windows to be open so schools meet COVID-safe air standards
A new report warns there may be some level of student and teacher discomfort when temperatures rise, but that will be necessary to help mitigate COVID-19 transmission.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
The areas in which school enrolments are expected to double
More than 10,000 extra teachers will be required to meet demand.
- by Jordan Baker
Strict ‘cohorting’, mask rules for students’ early return to school
The new buzzword will be ‘cohorting’, which involves sorting students into groups and not letting them mix to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
- by Jordan Baker and Natassia Chrysanthos
Opinion
Teachers continue to inspire, against all odds
During the pandemic and remote learning, teachers continue to work hard and inspire a new generation.
- by Melissa Coburn
Exclusive
One in six teachers working outside their area of expertise, documents reveal
An analysis of HSC results found students taught by specially qualified teachers did better than those who were not, particularly in science and technology subjects.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
Public school teacher shortage raises fears they will ‘run out of teachers’
Confidential departmental documents show NSW government schools face an unprecedented lack of teachers and are likely to “run out in the next five years”.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
We must stop growth of corporate childcare that puts profits above children
The big for-profit childcare centres put children most at risk. Yet, with government support, they now run half of all our childcare services.
- by Lisa Bryant
Exclusive
Moriah College asks parents, relatives for vaccination certificates
Private schools are asking for student vaccination status, but some are also asking for proof of vaccination from parents and relatives.
- by Jordan Baker
‘Not some fringe religion’: Gonski, Piccoli defend Catholic Perrottet
David Gonski, the businessman and university chancellor who designed Australia’s school funding equity framework, has defended incoming Premier Dominic Perrottet against accusations he is too religiously conservative for the top job.
- by Jordan Baker
Disadvantaged students do better than advantaged ones at uni: study
Female and Indigenous students also outperform their male and non-Indigenous counterparts in their first year of uni, a study by the University Admissions Centre has found.
- by Jordan Baker
What is the PARED Catholic school where the Premier was educated?
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet once credited his school, Redfield College, with shaping his future path. The school has links to Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic prelature, but some say those ties are overstated.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos and Mary Ward
Opinion
When this pandemic is over, schools need a louder voice at table
Over the past 18 months, schools have followed multiple messages from numerous stakeholders, often conflicting and sometimes downright absurd.
- by Briony Scott
Teacher vaccination rates on track, but school-level data yet to come
The NSW Education Department is also looking to buy about 10,000 air purifiers to help mitigate COVID-19 transmission in classrooms when students return.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
In lockdown, teenager Jorja has been inventing a needle-free injection
The year 9 student and budding inventor has used the past three months to design a needle-free alternative to the EpiPen for people who suffer from anaphylaxis.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
NSW Education Department scopes 10,000 air filters ahead of return to school
The department is specifying it wants the supply of units that have high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) certified medical-grade filters.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Analysis
Schooners before school: Has the government got its priorities wrong?
First pubs, then schools. For many parents, lifting restrictions in that order shows the NSW government has its priorities wrong. But, as ever in this pandemic, the reality is more complicated.
- by Jordan Baker
Sydney schools to reopen a week earlier, classes to start October 18
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell also wants all schools in Sydney to open at the same time instead of keeping those in areas with high virus transmission closed
- by Jordan Baker, Tom Rabe and Lucy Carroll
Schools expect students to begin returning before official start date
As shops, bars and gyms are allowed to reopen, some parents will have to send their children back to school before the official return date on October 25.
- by Jordan Baker
Mandatory jabs for students considered under return-to-campus plan
More than 150,000 students at Sydney’s largest universities would face mandatory vaccination under reviews being considered by the state’s higher education sector.
- by Lucy Carroll and Anna Patty
‘Lives completely shattered’: Graduates plead for work visa extension
Thousands of international graduates of Australia’s education system have watched with despair as the clock has run down on their visas to work in Australia while they are trapped offshore.
- by Lisa Visentin
Unis call for Australia to accept students vaccinated in China
Australian universities have welcomed a plan to bring 500 students into Australia, but want the government to recognise Chinese-based coronavirus vaccines to attract Chinese students.
- by Anna Patty
Three children and a mother caught COVID through school. Here’s what happened
Sydney pathologist Andrea Thomson* didn’t see the school holidays going this way: locked inside with her three children, all COVID-19 positive, while her husband isolates separately in the house.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
The Australian universities with the most employable graduates
Close to 40 per cent of recent university graduates say they are not making full use of their qualifications, but those who attend institutions with business partnerships are getting an edge when it comes to finding jobs.
- by Anna Patty
NSW classroom audit began two weeks after back-to-school plan announced
The NSW Education Department has not placed an order for any air purification devices despite conceding they may be necessary for some indoor spaces when students return next month.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
International students to return to NSW by the end of the year
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet confirmed the plan to restart the state’s critical international higher education sector had been finalised and would form part of the state’s road map to reopening after the Delta outbreak, but students from key markets in China and Nepal are not likely to be among them.
- by Anna Patty and Alexandra Smith
Exclusive
The Sydney university scholarship student defying mongooses and mozzies in Indian slum
Tushar Joshi has next to nothing. But a scholarship from Sydney University with help from the non-profit Asha Society is helping lift him out of poverty and one of India’s slums.
- by Julie Power
In the Herald: September 22, 1968
Australian actor George Lazenby still has a strong chance of becoming the next James Bond.
- by Harry Hollinsworth
‘Schools should be made safer’: Scientists say NSW needs better plan for ventilation
Science network OzSAGE said schools should be given the same treatment as NSW Parliament, where the upper house’s ventilation system has been upgraded to ensure eight exchanges of fresh air every hour.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
Demand for loan laptops another signal of a city divided by COVID
Thousands of laptops have been sent to homes in Sydney’s hotspots as students face home schooling hurdles.
- by Alexandra Smith
‘We have to be realistic’: Temporary COVID school closures to remain
The education department is preparing COVID-19 mitigation measures for when school resumes but public school classrooms will not be fitted with air purifiers or carbon dioxide monitors despite them being part of the plan in Victoria.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Some parents demand a return to class, others want to keep their kids at home
Schools are grappling with fiery divisions among parents about whether students should be back at school, with some calling for remote learning until the end of the year.
- by Jordan Baker
Editorial
Parents need more information to prepare for school return
With five weeks to go until kindergarten and year 1 are due back in the classroom, principals are grappling with parent communities that are increasingly divided over whether students should be vaccinated, and whether children should be back in the classroom at all.
- The Herald's View
How to make locked-down holidays different from locked-down learning
“It’s important that children do not spend all their holidays on devices,” said STEM education professor Garry Falloon.
- by Andrew Taylor
Exclusive
‘Not too much to ask’: The students who won’t return to school this year
Many children with chronic health conditions are unlikely to return to NSW classrooms this year, despite the Department of Education saying it won’t run a dual system.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Teachers to spend less time on reports, forms and playground duty
A plan to reduce the time teachers spend on menial tasks could save them up to 40 hours a year.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
Opportunity knocks for WA unis to reset targets since losing foreign student ‘punchbowl’
Once university management and former auditor of Australian universities, Dr Michael Tomlinson knows the difficulty of ‘herding’ academic opinion but sees increasing value in them.
- by Michael Tomlinson
Exclusive
Industrial battle with teachers looms as students head back to school
Teachers are campaigning for a wage rise of five per cent beyond the government’s cap, and say low wages are putting people off a career in classrooms.
- by Jordan Baker
‘I want their voices heard’: Assault survivors to speak at consent roundtable
The online event will involve a significant gathering of high-profile ministers, rights groups and curriculum authorities to discuss sex and consent education reform in light of Chanel Contos’ petition.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
University peak body unsure which countries are a foreign interference risk
Universities Australia says foreign interference on campus is “not a one-country problem” but the peak body is unsure which countries besides China are potentially exerting undue influence.
- by Lisa Visentin
‘They just sit there’: The schools where hundreds of lessons are cancelled
At some schools, there have been hundreds of classes merged or put under minimal supervision due to a shortage of casual teachers.
- by Jordan Baker
‘Gone in 15 minutes’: Parents rush to vaccinate children before school return
Some parents have been able to secure vaccine appointments for their children as the clock ticks on their return to school. Others face a busy Monday.
- by Anna Patty
Opinion
COVID cuts to Asia-Pacific learning experiences put regional ties at risk
Australia could lose a generation of people who want to study and work with their Asia-based peers, and we’ve seen before the consequences of blundering engagements with key neighbours.
- by Alice Dawkins
Opinion
Opening pubs and hairdressers before schools a sign of misplaced priorities
There’s something badly wrong when pubs and hairdresser can open before schools.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons