Education
Young, smart and unable to pursue a future
Thousands of young people who grew up in Australia are denied places at universities and TAFE because they cannot afford the international student fees imposed on people on temporary visas.
- by Bianca Hall
Latest
Exclusive
Plan for tenfold increase in top teachers within the next three years
Teachers have been put off applying to be classed as “highly accomplished” because the application process is too complex and expensive
- by Jordan Baker
Put a timeline on it: Labor urged to detail school funding plans
Public education advocates have urged Labor to detail a timeline for fully funding public schools.
- by Lisa Visentin
‘Goes against our beliefs’: Parents and church clash over school values
While parents pay $30,000 a year or more for their children to go to Anglican schools, the ultimate decisions about how the schools are run, lie not with them, but with the church.
- by Jordan Baker
Campus ‘empty’ as Sydney Uni staff picket during strike action
The university’s NTEU branch president said the campus was deserted on Wednesday, and he had a list “as long as his arm” of classes that were cancelled.
- by Daniella White
Opinion
School toilets must be hygienic and safe
I am still traumatised by my horrors of using school bathrooms. It’s distressing to discover that a generation later, the problem endures.
- by Kerri Sackville
Eight NSW schools to trial extended operating hours
The schools will offer activities to students before and after school run by community organisations, local businesses and sporting clubs.
- by Daniella White
Labor commits to religious freedom and LGBTQ protections but no timeline
Labor says it should be able to tackle both issues at once, as tensions resurfaced in the Liberal Party over the PM’s plans to revive his contentious religious discrimination bill if re-elected.
- by Lisa Visentin
Smelly, dirty, unsafe: parents say school toilets are ‘disgraceful’
The P&C Federation said some were suffering health problems because they were too nervous to use their school toilets.
- by Jordan Baker
Phonics to the fore in pared back Australian curriculum
Australia’s curriculum has been stripped of 20 per cent of its content, including the removal of teaching strategies that play down the use of phonics.
- by Adam Carey
Opinion
With the right support, all schools can be ‘special’ and inclusive
If students with disability (and their teachers) receive the right type of support, everyone can be accommodated in mainstream education.
- by Carl Thompson
All Australian schools to sit NAPLAN online for the first time
More than 1 million students will sit NAPLAN tests this week – and for the first time, all except one must be completed online.
- by Daniella White
High achievers to get up to $12k a year to become teachers under Labor
Students with an ATAR over 80 could get financial help to become teachers under a Labor plan to boost teacher quality.
- by Shane Wright
Opinion
Children like my daughter need special schools to blossom
One size does not fit all. A choice of educational style, be it a special school or an integrated-mainstream one, is vital for children who differ in a plethora of intellectual and/or physical ways.
- by Diana Lawrenson
Exclusive
‘Incredibly loose’: The real problem with Australia’s school curriculum
Australians love a curriculum debate but there’s one element that everyone ignores, at a significant cost to students, experts say.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
‘Every day is a nightmare’: Teen’s death from sniffing deodorant
Children are turning to household aerosols for a cheap high as the number of calls to the NSW Poisons Centre for “chroming” or “huffing” has almost doubled in recent years.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Backlash as Anglican school parents fear conservatism in classrooms
Anglican school guidelines say students struggling with gender identity should be given compassion, but must honour their body’s “maleness or femaleness”.
- by Jordan Baker
Pharmacies brought in to vaccinate 80,000 teens who missed school jabs
Almost 80,000 teenagers across NSW have missed out on vaccines for diseases other than COVID since the start of the pandemic.
- by Lucy Carroll
Exclusive
‘I am livid’: Anglican principals’ fury at edict against gay marriage
The Anglican Diocese of Sydney – which runs Shore, Kings, Abbotsleigh and St Catherine’s – now requires principals to pledge they believe marriage is between a man and a woman.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
1000 extra student doctors needed every year to avert workforce crisis: universities
Leading universities have urged the next federal government to fund 1000 extra places for medical students every year to address critical doctor shortages.
- by Lisa Visentin
Teachers vow to fight on after second strike in six months
More than 250 public schools were listed by the NSW Education Department as non-operational on Wednesday.
- by Daniella White
Teacher bears blame, injured student gets $360,000 for classroom fight
The student at one of the city’s top public schools was left with a permanent eye injury after his teacher struggled to get classroom behaviour under control.
- by Heather McNeill
Opinion
Why parents are ready for teachers to strike
Never have parents been so well-prepared for their children’s teachers to strike. They are COVID-hardened and can see schools are in crisis.
- by Jenna Price
The 14-year-old Ukrainian boy who uses Google Translate for school
Denis Oborskyi fled the war in Ukraine and is now finding his feet at a high school in Sydney’s west.
- by Daniella White
Exclusive
Teachers warn plan to address staff shortages could lead to lower standards
NSW authorities are looking at ways to remove qualification barriers for teachers, but the union and principals are worried standards will fall.
- by Jordan Baker
Push for special schools to be phased out under inclusive education plan
The peak youth disability advocacy group has called for funding to help all students with disabilities study in mainstream schools, but an autism expert warns it could leave many students with no schooling option.
- by Nicole Precel
SCEGGS bans students using mobiles as schools battle online dependence
Teachers across school sectors say students’ screen habits have intensified since last year’s pandemic lockdown.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
Where you send your child to school means so much, yet maybe so little
So I’ve had the thing, now I’m expected to teach it things. Alarmed to learn this may include spending $100,000 on private education. That’s my money, dammit!
- by Emma Young
‘Chronic shortage’: Childhood education providers sound alarm over staffing
The latest National Skills Commission figures show there were a record 6236 early childhood education vacancies across the country as of March.
- by Daniella White
Editorial
The children are not OK - and they need our help
Teachers in NSW are noticing behavioural setbacks and developmental issues in students since the pandemic lockdowns, including more aggression.
- The Herald's View
Teachers say pandemic hurt child development, ask for study into chaotic schools
Teachers say students have been more distracted, disobedient and unsettled in their friendships since the return to school and fear that years of disruption will have a lasting impact.
- by Jordan Baker
Ties that bind: The private girls’ schools producing Sydney’s A-list
Sisterhood, prestige and bonds that last a lifetime. The production line for high society begins at a select group of schools. So, who went where?
- by Lucy Manly
Demand for specialist preschools after surge in autism diagnoses
The surge in children being diagnosed with autism at age three or four is fuelling demand for specialist programs in preschools.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
‘Left to our own devices’: Lockdown kids got two years of screens, influencers and junk food ads
A group of high school students has ranked some of the most serious risks to teenagers in an essay published in one of the world’s top medical journals.
- by Lucy Carroll
First-year university students feel full brunt of Coalition fee changes
Tertiary education costs have risen sharply this year, and the Bureau of Statistics says the Coalition’s university funding changes have pushed up inflation.
- by Adam Carey
Victoria, NSW maintain ‘baffling’ freeze on student exchange
While international students can fly into Australia for university, teenagers in the country’s two biggest states are still waiting on government approval to study overseas.
- by Madeleine Heffernan and Daniella White
Exclusive
WA’s richest high schools rake in millions as public schools suffer
The Commonwealth is over-funding WA private schools to the tune of hundreds of millions this decade while public school underfunding continues, new data shows.
- by Emma Young
Premier pledges to boost public sector pay – but not until June budget
Dominic Perrottet has tried to placate public sector workers with his strongest signal yet the government will move on wage reform this year.
- by Lucy Cormack
Not happy, Dom: Teachers walk out as Premier arrives to open school
High school teachers have walked off a campus in Sydney’s north-west as Premier Dominic Perrottet arrived to open a new education precinct.
- by Lucy Cormack
Exclusive
BYO laptops led to gaming, porn, gambling in class, Shore School says
Shore has scrapped its BYO laptop policy and now charges parents for a school-supplied computer that limits what children can access and when it can be used.
- by Jordan Baker
School strike: Education minister accuses union of using students, parents, teachers ‘as blackmail’
Public school teachers have voted to take industrial action next Wednesday as part of their dispute with the NSW government over pay and conditions.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
Children are back in the classroom, but teachers are weighing up their options
With declining levels of trust in their professional judgment, is it any wonder teachers are looking for an escape route?
- by Rachel White
$5 return for every dollar invested in R&D, universities say
Universities Australia says economic modelling shows a 1 per cent increase in research investment could grow the Australian economy by $24 billion over a decade.
- by Lisa Visentin
Class on the grass: Flood-hit schools face years of disruption
For many students in NSW’s north, classes remain off site for the foreseeable future.
- by Daniella White
School COVID-19 rules relaxed further as students prepare for term 2
Household contacts of COVID-19 cases will be able to attend school, but must wear a mask and take rapid antigen tests for five days.
- by Jordan Baker
Exclusive
Labor promises $15 million on language schools for kids
More than 700 community language schools across Australia will be able to access grants of up to $30,000 each under Labor’s proposal.
- by Lisa Visentin
Opinion
Australia spent a million dollars training me – and now I’m leaving
Once a week, I sit down with my friend’s five-year-old nephew, Ben, and talk to him about numbers, planets and cells. Fun stuff. When my friend found out I was emigrating, he had one question. I think it’s a good one.
- by Miro Astore
Before the vax mandate, Christian was a science teacher. Now he drives trucks
Teachers who refused to be vaccinated have declared victory after the government said mandates would be lifted, but others are worried.
- by Jordan Baker and Mary Ward