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Education

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The tertiary sector is under pressure in a number of ways.
Opinion

Transparency of university governance should be supported

There are genuine concerns that the ability of Australian universities to be at the forefront of social and scientific leadership is being compromised by several variables impacting the sector.

  • by The Herald's View

Latest

The University of Sydney’s VC is again among the highest-paid in Australia, though down from a high of $1.6 million for predecessor Michael Spence.

The uni rich list: Vice chancellors on $1 million salaries revealed

Australia’s highest-paid vice chancellors are now earning six times their university’s senior professors as the union calls for an inquiry into wage theft.

  • by Daniella White and Sherryn Groch
Immigration levels and higher education.

Unis blame government for student visa delays weeks before semester two

Several alarmed universities believe the visa delays are more evidence of the government suppressing foreign arrivals due to a political fight over migration.

  • by Angus Thompson
Selective schools.
Exclusive

The most popular Sydney selective schools revealed

The top school for students vying for entry into the selective system had almost double the number of first preferences than the best-performing HSC school.

  • by Lucy Carroll
Chilean international student Valentina Olivares.

Cockroaches and balconies as bedrooms: How foreign student Valentina survived Sydney

A report has found significant problems with migration and education agents’ practices, which are often marred by high costs and incorrect advice.

  • by Daniella White
Newington

‘Not who we are’: Newington headmaster attacks parents over co-ed campaign

The head of the all-boys school has accused a group of parents of pursuing a “campaign of targeted negativity” after the decision to become fully co-educational within the decade.

  • by Lucy Carroll
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Choosing what to study at which university is a big decision for high school students.

Feeling overwhelmed by uni applications? Here’s what year 12 students need to know

Your key questions answered, from when to put in your course preferences to how to change them.

  • by Josefine Ganko
The Independent Education Union is pushing for pay rises for private school teachers as part of a new multi-enterprise agreement.
Exclusive

Private school teachers push for pay rises above public sector colleagues

The Independent Education Union is calling for an increase to private school teacher salaries to “maintain the traditional premium” above public schools.

  • by Lucy Carroll
Students reflect on their first six months of university

Six months ago these HSC students picked their degrees. Did they make the right choice?

Passion or practicality? These students reflect on one of the biggest decisions in their young lives.

  • by Daniella White
schools
Exclusive

The Sydney private schools with the highest-earning parents

The new figures help rank schools based on parents’ income and determine how much government funding flows to each school.

  • by Lucy Carroll and Nigel Gladstone
Experts say universal numeracy screening could halt Australia’s “catch-up crisis”.

Numeracy in schools doesn’t add up. Here’s how experts would solve the problem

All children would be tested for numeracy knowledge in the first two years of school under a plan to tackle underachievement in maths.

  • by Robyn Grace
2024 NSW budget experts’ verdict.
Analysis

Our experts give their verdicts on the NSW budget

From the gravity of the housing crisis to the weight of tolls, schools and housing, we break down the economic and political implications of Daniel Mookhey’s no-frills second budget.

  • by Alexandra Smith, Matt Wade, Matt O'Sullivan, Michael Koziol, Lucy Carroll and Angus Thomson
Baillieu Library vandals pay tribute to “Lions’ Den”, a militant Palestinian group.
Exclusive

Into the Lions’ Den: Militant Palestinian fighter group inspires hardline attack on Melbourne Uni

In what has been described as a concerning step-up in protest activity, activists in balaclavas have targeted the Baillieu Library in the name of an armed resistance group.

  • by Chip Le Grand
Top universities have warned an international student cap would be an unjustifiable threat to the nation.
Exclusive

‘Unjustifiable risk to the nation’: Elite universities lash student caps

Group of Eight universities have accused the federal government of creating a lasting legacy of political interference in higher education.

  • by Daniella White
Lucia Haigh has lost $7000 in deposits paid for her daughters to attend a space camp.

Parents thousands of dollars out of pocket after NASA trips cancelled

Up to 700 students have been affected nationally including pupils from Reddam House, The King’s School and The Forest High.

  • by Lucy Carroll and Robyn Grace
NSW gets a new budget on June 18. Here’s what we know so far.

NSW is about to get a new budget. Here’s what we already know

Amid an unfortunate accounting error and a huge blow to revenue, the budget is set to be one of restraint. But before it is released, there’s a lot we already know.

  • by Anthony Segaert
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interior photos of Lindfield Learning Village. Supplied
Exclusive

Parents left in the dark after principal and deputies leave north shore school

Families say they are “bewildered” by the sudden change in the public school’s leadership. The NSW Education Department says there is an internal investigation under way.

  • by Lucy Carroll
University of Sydney has begun dismantling the Pro Palestinian encampment after emailing student protestors this morning.
Updated

Sydney University orders protest camp to leave

The move to disband the encampment comes almost eight weeks after pro-Palestinian protesters took over the university’s iconic quad lawns.

  • by Daniella White
Charlotte (not her real name) was fired from her job as a primary school teacher after her same-sex relationship was discovered.

Albanese accused of ‘cowardice’ on law change after gay teacher sacking

The Greens say Labor could work with the crossbench to change the law after a Sydney teacher was fired from her job in a religious private school.

  • by Natassia Chrysanthos
Killarney Heights High School’s science lab needs an upgrade.

This Sydney school science lab has shut down until there is money to fix it. How did it come to this?

The problems at one northern beaches school are just the tip of the iceberg as the state education system grapples with budget cuts and frozen funds.

  • by Lucy Carroll
Charlotte (not her real name) was fired from her job as a primary school teacher after her same-sex relationship was discovered.
Exclusive

A school parent discovered Charlotte was gay on Facebook. Days later, she was sacked

A Sydney Christian school fired their music teacher because of her sexuality in the weeks since the government threatened to shelve new laws that would protect LGBTQ staff from discrimination.

  • by Natassia Chrysanthos
Pro-Palestine protesters at a University of Melbourne rally last month.

Universities under pressure from MPs to adopt antisemitism definition

Jewish MPs want all Australian universities to adopt a politically contested definition of antisemitism.

  • by Angus Thompson
 There appears little nuance in the teacher ban.
Exclusive

Private schools oppose right to disconnect for teachers

Some of the country’s most elite schools, like Sydney’s SCEGGS Darlinghurst and Melbourne’s Scotch College, want to retain the “flexibility” they require from staff.

  • by Olivia Ireland
A new report has recommended a flat $10-a-day fee for childcare.

$10-a-day childcare should be ‘right there’ with Medicare, public schools

A think tank says the estimated $7 billion cost of providing free or low-fee early childhood education and care would be “more than offset” by other benefits.

  • by Rachel Clun
Nicholas Sampson and the  governing council of Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill have resolved a dispute after his dramatic resignation from the prestigious all-boys institution.
Updated

Cranbrook settles with former head as he launches complaint with ABC

Nicholas Sampson and the school’s governing council have resolved a dispute after his dramatic resignation from the prestigious all-boys institution.

  • by Lucy Carroll
Former teacher and parents speaks out after Citipointe Christian College reaches settlement with parents over gender contracts.
1:51

Parents respond to Citipointe expression of regret

Former teacher and parents speaks out after Citipointe Christian College reaches settlement with parents over gender contracts.

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University cheating is up.
Editorial

They say cheaters never win, but they can make universities losers

Unchecked cheating has the potential to hurt Australia economically, but for universities it amounts to an existential threat.

  • The Herald's View
The University of Sydney.
Exclusive

Thousands of students caught cheating overwhelm university integrity departments

Experts fear a cheating black market involving international students and visa fraud is contributing to rising levels of students being caught cheating.

  • by Daniella White
Education Minister Jason Clare raised the issue during question time last week.
Exclusive

Minister warned unis of campus tensions days after October 7

Universities assured Education Minister Jason Clare they had measures in place to deal with antisemitism on campus within days of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

  • by Angus Thompson and Natassia Chrysanthos
School data map
Exclusive

The maps that expose the state’s great HSC divide

Experts warn that some students are becoming effectively ‘locked out’ of tertiary study.

  • by Lucy Carroll and Nigel Gladstone
Cranbrook School has missed a key government deadline.

Cranbrook School misses deadline to answer three key questions

After claims of a toxic work culture and the inappropriate behaviour of a teacher, new documents reveal the prestigious school failed to meet a federal government deadline.

  • by Jessica McSweeney
Two NSW universities, the University of Sydney and UNSW, are in the top 20 in the QS rankings.

Revealed: Where every Australian university sits in global rankings

A Sydney university has reached an all-time high while three Australian universities are in the top 20.

  • by Daniella White
Luke Sheehy

Treat us like mining: Universities warn of 4500 job cuts over student crackdown

Universities say they face a $500 million funding shortfall and are calling for the sector to be given the same bipartisan support as the mining industry.

  • by Angus Thompson
Explicit teaching
Opinion

Explicit excellence shows value of traditional ways

Explicit teaching is now being recognised, as it should always have, as the most effective learning method for the vast majority of students.

Higher education has had a bad year.
Opinion

Let’s not be tossers to our foreign students. Looking at you, Randwick

We’ve opened our doors, but not our hearts, to international students. Now a Sydney council has joined the pile-on.

  • by Jenna Price
Spring Farm Public School, near Camden.

Sydney teacher charged with filming students’ private parts

The 30-year-old man will face court on Tuesday after he was allegedly caught filming up female students’ skirts by a schoolchild.

  • by Sally Rawsthorne
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Captain James Cook with the lyrics from the track by Birdz.

‘White devil’: The Indigenous protest song that has parents up in arms

NSW Education Minister Prue Car has intervened after a parent complained about a song calling Captain James Cook a “white devil” being played at a public primary school.

  • by Angus Thomson
Elise Mountford with year 6 Charlestown South Public School students.

This school doubled its NAPLAN high achievers. Now its techniques are spreading

About 30 schools across NSW have formed a grassroots network to share maths lesson plans and run professional learning for teachers and school leaders.

  • by Lucy Carroll
A render of the revised 16-storey student housing development on Anzac Parade proposed by UNSW and Iglu.

This Sydney university wants to build 1000 apartments. Locals are up in arms

A dramatic stoush has broken out over a proposal for two student housing towers on Anzac Parade next to a light rail stop, UNSW and acting school NIDA.

  • by Michael Koziol
About 40 per cent of students in Australia report being distracted by digital devices in their maths lessons.
Exclusive

How much screen time is too much? This is the answer to every parent’s question

New data reveals how Australian schools rank among OECD nations for the time students spend on digital devices in classrooms.

  • by Lucy Carroll and Robyn Grace
Universities in crisis

Australian universities are under siege from all sides. Are they powerless in the face of political attacks?

The federal government’s use of international student numbers to slash migration puts universities’ business models at risk. Here’s why.

  • by Daniella White
Parents and former Newington College students protested outside the Stanmore campus last month.

Newington College co-ed fallout leads to Supreme Court stoush

Opponents of Newington’s decision to admit girls won a Supreme Court battle against the college’s old boys’ council last week.

  • by Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
A major study benchmarking the nation’s science curriculum against seven comparable countries shows Australia has half the content of other education systems.

Nearly half of Australian school students failed this science test. Can you pass?

The latest National Assessment Program report in science literacy found about a third of year 6 students say they do not have science lessons every week.

  • by Lucy Carroll and Robyn Grace
The pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Sydney.

Student campers reject Sydney University’s pledge to review defence ties

The university said its offer to review its defence ties was more comprehensive than ones accepted by other encampments across Australia.

  • by Daniella White
WA universities are boldly developing micro courses to upskill managers and workers to cope with the changing industry needs.
Opinion

What’s the point of going to uni? It’s a question I’m still asking

I had gone to school with people who thought tertiary education was something to be admired. What surprised me, when I actually arrived, was how pointless the whole thing seemed.

  • by Flynn Shan Benson
The government is going to apply credits to all student debts that were indexed on June 1 last year, and June 1 this year.

How the changes to higher education debts will affect you

How will the changes to HECS indexation actually work? And how much do you stand to benefit? Here’s a quick guide.

  • by Rachel Clun
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Hundreds of vocational and english colleges are at risk of closure, the sector says
Exclusive

Colleges face mass closures as students from whole continents banned

Hundreds of private colleges face closure as the government pushes ahead with its plan to slash migration.

  • by Daniella White
Former NASA JPL deputy director Larry D. James (left) and Professor Christopher Lawrence from Monash University.

Former NASA boss arrives to boost Australian space race

Lt Gen Larry James has moved to Australia to increase our teaching and research capability.

  • by Stephen Brook
The pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Sydney.

Sydney pro-Palestinian students suspended after classes ‘significantly disrupted’

The university says some students have gone beyond the bounds of acceptable behaviour in protesting against the Israel-Gaza war.

  • by Daniella White
Rizina Yadav attended an Ivy League university

Thousands of Australians want a place at a top US university. Here’s how Rizina got hers

Australian students vying for entry to elite US and UK universities are beginning their college preparations from as young as 12.

  • by Daniella White