Natasha Bita

Natasha Bita is a multi-award winning journalist with a focus on free speech, education, social affairs, aged care, health policy, immigration, industrial relations and consumer law. She has won a Walkley Award, Australia’s most prestigious journalism award, and a Queensland Clarion Award for feature writing. Natasha has also been a finalist for the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award and the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism. Her reporting on education issues has won the NSW Professional Teachers’ Council Media Award and an Australian Council for Educational Leaders award. Her agenda-setting coverage of aged care abuse won an Older People Speak Out award. Natasha worked in London and Italy for The Australian newspaper and News Corp Australia. She is a member of the Canberra Press Gallery and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Contact her by email natasha.bita@news.com.au

@natasha_bita

Natasha Bita

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ExclusiveEducation

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell, University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott, and Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil.

University vice-chancellors to have million-dollar salaries slashed

A new university watchdog will peg university leaders’ pay to that of top public servants | See how VCs’ salaries compare to top bureaucrats

Natasha Bita

ExclusiveNation

Teachers back to school in free retraining scheme

‘The reading wars are over.’ Universities failed to ensure all teachers know how to explicitly teach children to read and write, so now taxpayers are stumping up for free remedial training.

Natasha Bita

VC salariesHigher Education

CANBERRA, Australia - NewsWire Photos - September 20, 2024: (L-R)Australian National University (ANU) Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Genevieve Bell, Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sharon Pickering, University of Melbourne A/g Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nicola Phillips, University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott, Deakin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin appear at the second inquiry into antisemitism at universities at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

University staff paid more than premiers

Eye-popping pay for vice-chancellors is revealed in a damning new study that blows the whistle on ‘reckless largesse’ and wasteful spending at universities.

Natasha Bita

ExclusiveEducation

Back view of college students raising their arms on a class at lecture hall.

Quarter of students mark down unis

The federal Education Department’s latest Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching data reveals that 23.3 per cent were not satisfied with the quality of their entire educational experience.

Natasha Bita

NAPLANEducation

What type of saver are you. For Kids News. iStock image

Free lunch, reading coaches in school pact

Free lunches, literacy coaches and youth workers for public schools will be funded through a $110m spending deal between the federal and ACT governments.

Natasha Bita

EducationHigher Education

19/11/2024: Ian Pratt of Lexis Training with international students Bautista Crescimbeni 25 from Argentina and Nina Irmak 26 from Turkey at the Noosa Surf Club, Sunshine Coast. Ian has an English language and a culinary school in Noosa, but is losing half its students and had to lay off staff due to the chaos over international student caps and says it's a "lottery'' for who can get a visa to study here. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Crackdown on student visas ‘hurting businesses’

‘It’s a lottery.’ The hospitality industry is suffering collateral damage as the federal government slashes student visas.

Natasha Bita

ExclusiveEducation

St Francis College Creastmead teacher Ella Richards with students Jamieson Norton, 5 (left) and Aria Norton, 6, are using AI in school.Photo by Pete Wallis

Religious filter to Catholic chatbot

Catholic schools have shunned off-the-shelf AI products to build their own chatbot that is ‘grounded in Catholic teaching, tradition and theology’.

Natasha Bita

ExclusiveEducation

Ibrahim Faraj reading to his daughter Lily. Picture: Supplied

Bookworm babies ‘do better in kindy’

Children who were regularly read books from birth were more likely to know letters and words and to speak using complex sentences by the age of three, study finds.

Natasha Bita

ExclusiveNation

WEDNESDAY - HIGHER EDUCATION- BORDERLINE FAILWhat next for international students(generic students on campus pic)

Foreign student crackdown to ‘cost local businesses $4bn’

Small businesses will lose billions in spending a year from international students due to the Albanese government’s visa cuts, a new analysis shows | See which electorates will be hardest-hit

Natasha Bita

UniversityNation

Suburban study hubs for far-flung students

University and TAFE students living in outer metropolitan suburbs will be able to use free facilities at government-run study hubs from 2025. See where they’ll be.

Natasha Bita

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/natasha-bita/page/3