Archive
Categories
- Education (19)
- More Personal Posts (18)
- Opinion Pieces (16)
- Relection and Learning (16)
- Research (6)
- Strategies (4)
- Uncategorized (4)
Follow me on Twitter
My Tweets
Category Archives: Opinion Pieces
ATAR: A Terribly Awful Result?
However, the time has come to acknowledge the shortcomings of the ATAR as a basis for admitting students to university and to look to developing more inclusive, balanced approaches of scoring that encompass these difficulties and better facilitate students’ access to university education. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Opinion Pieces
Tagged Adam Spencer, Andrew Norton, ATAR, Board of Studies, Claire Brown, disadvantage, education, Grattan Institute, higher education, HSC, NSW, school-leavers, ses, socioeconomic status, university, university entrance, University of Melbournce, year twelve
Leave a comment
Anorexia is not an adjective
To Whom It May Concern:
It was with great sadness and frustration that I read the article Housing Crisis by Louis Nowra in this weekend’s (25th Janurary) Good Weekend.
In particular, I took great objection to Nowra’s description of arriving at a house ‘to be greet by an anoxeric [sic] woman.’ Anorexia is a mental illness; a medical condition.
Continue reading
Posted in More Personal Posts, Opinion Pieces
Tagged anorexia, eating disorder, mental health awareness, smh, sydney morning herald
4 Comments
Being a ‘good teacher’ not a sufficient reason to remain in teaching
Recently I’ve been wrangling with the notion of whether I should remain in teaching. I went through this process last year, although for different reasons. At the end of 2012 I was finishing up my second year of full-time teaching. … Continue reading
Equity is the real issue of PISA 2012
The triennial release of PISA results typically results in a flurry of articles from the press condemning the state of education in Australia. Reports inevitably lead to league tables, proclaiming how spectacularly other countries outperform Australia in education. I’ve previously … Continue reading
Maths and English: not so different
The other week I was sitting in the lunch room on my first day of casual teaching at a new school. There are only two Catholic high schools in Lismore, so it was somewhat inevitable that I ran into a … Continue reading
Pyne: a pain for education in Australia
It took all my strength, when reading Daniel Hurst’s article “New broom Pyne ready to reshape the curriculum,” appearing in this morning’s Sydney Morning Herald News Review, to not beat myself over my head repeatedly with my morning cup of … Continue reading
Firing teachers on the basis of NAPLAN scores? Really?
Using NAPLAN data to fire teachers is ludicrous Controversy surrounding NAPLAN testing is old news. Many educators are critical of the standardised test, claiming it creates a culture of ‘teaching to the test’ and unreasonable levels of anxiety in both … Continue reading
What is the biggest predictor of student achievement in maths?
The most significant predictor of student achievement in mathematics might surprise you. Data collected from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has determined that self-efficacy has the strongest impact of mathematics achievement, outranking maths anxiety, previous performance, self-concept and … Continue reading
Teacher quality will always out weigh teacher quality
With the looming Federal election (whenever it is) it is difficult to escape education debates in the media. The Gonski reform to school funding, in particular, has dominated column inches and airwaves. However, the debate over class sizes is ever-present … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Opinion Pieces
Tagged Better Schools, Chris Pyne, class sizes, education, Peter Garrett, teacher quality
Leave a comment
What is the crisis in (mathematics) education
The diametrical nature of the media often results in situations being presented as either a crisis or a non-issue. I recently posted about the performance pay for teachers not being the solution to the “crisis in education” and it resulted … Continue reading
matthitude 