•  On Nov, 29, 2024
•  Tarwala1

Truancy Fines in The North Maningrida is in the news.  The Maningrida Aboriginal community, 500km east of Darwin, along the coast, is up in arms about Truancy Fines for parents who do not get their children into school. The fine is about $AU350.  It’s double that figure in Queensland! About 250 compliance notices were recently […]

•  On Oct, 18, 2024
•  Tarwala1

Mobiles Off and Away Mobile phones are banned across schools in Australia as of now, mid-2024. There is an exception to this rule. Mobile phones can be taken out of the lockers for learning purposes under a teacher’s supervision. Some claim the debate continues. Yet, recent evidence in Australia seems decisive: it’s a good policy. […]

•  On Feb, 13, 2024
•  Tarwala1

Science in Time-Short Classrooms Simple Ways Science in Time-Short Classrooms has some ideas that are workable for busy teachers. It combines the science context with literacy lessons. Also, parents can follow these simple principles when teaching their own children in the home setting. 1 — A set reading piece on a science topic provides children […]

•  On Feb, 13, 2024
•  Tarwala1

Grattan Institute Education Nonsense Dr Jordana Hunter has a PhD — but not in Education.  Hunter’s areas of study are in Social and Political Science, Law and Commerce. She is one of the authors of the Grattan Institute Education Guarantee Report released in February 2024. Anika Stobart, the co-author, has first degrees in law and […]

•  On Jan, 08, 2023
•  Tarwala1

Teacher Shortage 2023 Teacher Shortage 2023 is a problem that has been brewing for many years. Increased student numbers; heavier teacher workloads; more administration and form-filling! The Education Departments around Australia heard but did nothing. There were lots of stats available to them about teachers’ sick leave, burnout, stress levels and resignations. Governments are good […]

•  On Dec, 18, 2022
•  Tarwala1

NAPLAN Results 2022 NAPLAN Results 2022 confirm the trend: for ten years literacy results indicate students are not moving forward between Grade 4 and Year 7. Australian schools are good at teaching early literacy. By Year 4, students can >decode the text on the page; >answer questions relating to the chronology of stories; >find explicit […]

•  On Dec, 10, 2022
•  Tarwala1

Enquiry Learning Lacks Research Emeritus Professor John Sweller of UNSW questions the continuing extension of enquiry-based learning in the face of recent research findings about how humans learn. In https://www.cis.org.au/publication/why-inquiry-based-approaches-harm-students-learning/  Three earlier posts published since 2018 from a hands-on knowledge of enquiry tasks in schools.   Enquiry Learning Needs Overhaul, Post        Enquiry Tasks Have […]

•  On Dec, 07, 2022
•  Tarwala1

Teaching Grammar is Back  Teaching Grammar is Back and word has got around! On 22 September 2020 the Sydney Morning Herald published an article titled, “How does grammar help writing?”  Changes in the New South Wales school curriculum are afoot to introduce the teaching of English grammar in explicit ways. It has always been there […]

•  On Jul, 17, 2022
•  Tarwala1

The positive effect of parents’ socio-economic standing (SES) is less than it used to be and the negative effect of staff turnover in larger primary schools is now greater.

•  On Nov, 07, 2017
•  Mary Keating

Excessive homework is often at the insistence of parents. But his is about taking control. It is about applying good homework tasks that are based on sound research findings.