Education
Exclusive
Elite unis lower ATARs in favour of special entry schemes
Universities are increasingly moving to US-style portfolio-based entry schemes, leading to fears they could undermine the HSC.
- by Daniella White
Latest
The best and worst areas in NSW for NAPLAN revealed
The breakdown of NAPLAN results by state electorate shows the worst-performing areas are about seven academic school years behind the top achieving parts of the state.
- by Christopher Harris
Local high schools should be supported as well as selective ones
While some parents will always want to send their children to an independent school the possibilities if all other students attended their local high school are amazing. The local school’s NAPLAN results would be better. All students would live locally, rather than having to travel to a school out of their area.
Opinion
Why selective schools are missing the mark
Despite a revamp, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are severely underrepresented in selective schools. There’s more to do.
- by Millie Muroi
Selective school students were asked if they were satisfied with life. Then they were scored
A major study of NSW students spanning more than a decade has measured life outcomes of children who attended a selective school.
- by Christopher Harris and Lucy Carroll
Exclusive
‘We run the school’: The man behind Sydney’s top-performing Reddam House
The for-profit private school is looking to the inner west, Sutherland Shire and lower northern beaches named as potential sites for expansion.
- by Lucy Carroll
Exclusive
‘A very curious deal’: The $340m uni campus with a $1.8b price tag
Property developer Lang Walker gave generously to Western Sydney University. His company stands to gain far more.
- by Patrick Begley
‘Full-scale offensive’: Sydney University restricts all student protests on campus
Students now need permission to use megaphones and must give three days’ notice for any protests on campus.
- by Daniella White and Lucy Carroll
Exclusive
Former Shore headmaster takes legal action against school
Tim Petterson left in July 2022 after a review of the school’s culture found new leadership was needed.
- by Lucy Carroll
Payman and Palestine challenge our democratic comfort zone
It’s time for Labor to not just allow a conscience vote to its members on issues regarding Gaza but for our society as a whole to acknowledge there is more than one worldview for our collective future. Surely we need this honest discussion more than ever?
$1.1 billion black hole: Unis brace for loss of tens of thousands of students
New economic modelling suggests universities are facing a funding shortfall of more than $1 billion under the federal government’s crackdown.
- by Daniella White
Exclusive
Top-band HSC, NAPLAN targets for schools have been scrapped. Now, principals will set new ones
Some principals say removing clear and ambitious targets based on NAPLAN results risks improvement measures becoming too ambiguous.
- by Lucy Carroll
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
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
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
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
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
‘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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
$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
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
Parents respond to Citipointe expression of regret
Former teacher and parents speaks out after Citipointe Christian College reaches settlement with parents over gender contracts.
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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.
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
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
‘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
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