Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett will today demand that the states and territories dramatically lift their game on indigenous education, warning that they are not on track to meet their Closing the Gap targets. Mr Garrett will use the education ministers' meeting in Sydney to call on states and territories to improve their performance … Continue reading Australia must improve performance on indigenous education
Tag: Education
Australia: Fourth Muslim school has government funding frozen
A fourth Sydney Muslim school has had its funding frozen by the NSW government, amid allegations in a court case of financial mismanagement and a claim by the school's chairman that he was threatened with a gun and subjected to a death threat by a relative of the principal. Rissalah College in Lakemba, in Sydney's … Continue reading Australia: Fourth Muslim school has government funding frozen
Australia’s Asian Century talk is empty; language funding falls short
It's supposed to be the Asian Century but educator Marnie Hughes-Warrington is having to turn away students keen to learn Asian languages such as Chinese and Hindi. It is a lesson in unintended consequences. This year a new diploma was launched by the Australian National University, a languages powerhouse where Professor Hughes-Warrington is deputy vice-chancellor … Continue reading Australia’s Asian Century talk is empty; language funding falls short
Australian university funding cuts would be risk to teacher quality
Monash University vice-chancellor Ed Byrne has warned that cuts to universities could come back to bite schools. Professor Byrne said good teachers were the defining element of good schools, and teachers were educated at universities. "Universities are operating on very fine margins, and after these cuts they will be even finer. They'll survive but there … Continue reading Australian university funding cuts would be risk to teacher quality
Australian asylum children denied right to attend school
Asylum-seeker children aged under-15 continue to be denied the right to attend schools in Tasmania, despite the state government's strong desire to educate them "outside the wire". After criticism from the state Children's Commissioner, it was yesterday announced that up to 150 children aged 15 to 17 would be allowed to attend Hobart Polytechnic colleges … Continue reading Australian asylum children denied right to attend school
Australia’s “Asia Literate” plan fails: more students learning Latin than Chinese
Asian language teaching in Australian schools has declined to the point where more year 12 students are studying Latin than Chinese. Despite China's growing importance and the Gillard government's goal of creating an ''Asia Literate'' society by 2025, fewer high school students who don't speak Chinese at home are learning the language than four years … Continue reading Australia’s “Asia Literate” plan fails: more students learning Latin than Chinese
A fifth of Australian teaching degrees will fail new government quality test
About a fifth of the 400 teaching degrees offered by universities around Australia will struggle to meet standards required for accreditation by the national teaching institute, and half of those courses are expected to close. The chairman of the Australian Institute for Teaching School Leadership, Tony Mackay, yesterday said the new national standards for accrediting … Continue reading A fifth of Australian teaching degrees will fail new government quality test
Australian teachers have a lot to learn
The goal of the "Give a Gonski" campaign is not a revolution; it is a counter-revolution. Its targets are changes taking place in the Coalition states that bring greater autonomy to government schools, devolve more control from bureaucrats to parents and principals, and increase school choice. Victoria's proposals, released last week, to provide every low-income … Continue reading Australian teachers have a lot to learn
Demand for Australian university places plateaus
Demand for university places has plateaued after three years of strong growth, suggesting key participation targets may prove to be unachievable. Only 1400 more people applied for university this year than in 2012, an increase of just 0.6 per cent. Western Australia registered a drop in applications of 2.6 per cent while Tasmania heralded a … Continue reading Demand for Australian university places plateaus
Hangzhou China NAFLE Drama Competition
November 23 2011: While living in Hangzhou, China, I was invited to write and direct a play for the Year 7 "Ruling Class" students, at Greentown Yuhua Middle School. The play won the Zhejiang Province Division of the NAFLE Drama Festival, and the students were invited to participate in the National Finals of the competition, … Continue reading Hangzhou China NAFLE Drama Competition
Essay: Discourse Theory and Black English Vernacular Amongst Australian Aborigines
To understand the Discourse Theory, it is first necessary to distinguish between the terms “Discourse” (with a capital letter) and “discourse” (all lower-case). The term “Discourse” refers to the ways in which social and political inequity is reproduced (or subverted) through the uses to which language is put; whilst “discourse” refers to the actual use … Continue reading Essay: Discourse Theory and Black English Vernacular Amongst Australian Aborigines
Craig Hill 