September
- Exclusive
- Private schools
The suburbs where nearly every child goes to a private school
In some suburbs, parents don’t ask whether to go public or private; it’s more a question of which private school to send their kids to.
- Julie Hare
August
Labor’s ‘populist’ student caps will break funding model: unis
Education Minister Jason Clare sought to allay worries over caps on international students, but his proposal was labelled “scandalous” by one vice chancellor.
- Updated
- Ronald Mizen
‘Face it, not every research project deserves funding’, unis told
Productivity Commission chairman Michael Brennan says vice chancellors need to be more realistic in the claims they make to policymakers.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- The AFR View
NAPLAN puts schools in remedial class
The hopes that the $319b Gonski funding revolution would turn around the worst-performing students are turning into one of the great public policy debacles.
- The AFR View
Boys’ results plummet early in high school
After 10 years of compulsory schooling, about two in five boys are struggling to read and write at a high level. This is a big problem for the nation.
- Updated
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- NAPLAN
Three ways to end NAPLAN mediocrity in our schools
Governments must lift proficiency levels, boost the quality of classroom curriculums and identify as soon as possible those students who are falling behind.
- Jordana Hunter and Nick Parkinson
One in three pupils fails to meet baseline literacy, numeracy
The latest NAPLAN results also reveal a stubborn gap between test results of rich and poor children, highlighting the failure of schools to overcome disadvantage.
- Julie Hare
Minister on a mission needs a break from the states
The latest NAPLAN results are bad news for too many school students. Jason Clare is determined to change that, but will he succeed where so many others failed?
- Jennifer Hewett
May
Schools sweat on election funding promises as Victorian debt rises
Melbourne’s Hampton Primary School fears the Victorian government won’t follow through on a promise made on eve of the 2022 election.
- Gus McCubbing
March
- Opinion
- Education
How ‘families’ of schools could spread educational success
Instead of hoping “superhero” principals can lift schools that fall short, a network bound together through a united executive team can increase the odds of improvement.
- Jordana Hunter
Clare threatens to take funding away from Cranbrook
Education Minister Jason Clare has threatened to withdraw federal funding from Cranbrook School if an investigation finds “evidence of a pattern of immoral or unethical behaviour”.
- Julie Hare
Private school parents save the education system $4.6b a year: study
A new analysis calculates that governments spend $4.6 billion less each year than they would if all students were enrolled in public schools.
- Updated
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- Opinion
No class envy in the classroom
The panic over government-school enrolment rates should not undermine Australia’s successful mixed model of school funding.
- Dallas McInerney
February
- Opinion
- Education
Don’t blame the COVID pandemic for truant kids
Social trends, parents and governments are all at fault for rising rates of student absenteeism that threaten to become permanent.
- Glenn Fahey
The rate of teens finishing year 12 is falling
The federal government is increasingly picking up the bill for schools as states and territories fail to meet funding agreements.
- Julie Hare
January
Underfunding of public schools fuels achievement gap, analysis shows
Funding gaps are fuelling unacceptable achievement gaps between rich and poor, private and public, city and country, the Australian Education Union says.
- Julie Hare
December 2023
- Opinion
- Schools
A chance to fix the inequity chasm in Australian schools
A report handed to education ministers last week has outlined a plan for real change after decades of reforms that have failed to bite.
- Doug Taylor
Clare to states on school funding: ‘There are no blank cheques’
The federal government is seeking to link reforms designed to improve the educational outcomes of children in return for increased funding.
- Julie Hare
Every child, better outcomes, every year: schools plan goes to states
Labor’s key targets including attendance and annual learning gain will form the basis of negotiations around a new national school funding agreement.
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Jason Clare’s counter-insurgency must save the education revolution
The PISA results are an opportunity to draw a line under the failed educational thinking and practices that have allowed school students to fall behind.
- The AFR View