For the past ten years, the expression “positive education”, often linked to benevolence, has been a great success, whether with school institutions or families. A whole series of variations is possible: positive parenting, positive authority or positive discipline. Although its definition is yet to be done, it already appears that it is above all a question of respect […] … learn more→

It might be your worst nightmare. Your child, sitting at the kitchen table, slides you a brochure from the local university. “I’ve been thinking of majoring in history.” Before you panic and begin calling the nearest computer science department, or worse, begin to crack those tired barista jokes, hear me out. This might just be […] … learn more→

Think the way to forge a brilliant career in academe is to produce good research, teach skilfully and mentor generously? That arduous approach works for some – but there is an easier way. Universities sing the song of meritocracy but dance to a different tune. In reality, they will do everything to reward and protect […] … learn more→

The families of young children who emigrate to another country, who are going to spend a long season abroad or are composed of mixed couples in which each parent has a different mother tongue end up inevitably asking the same question: When is the best time to start teaching a second language to our children? […] … learn more→

When it comes to news literacy, schools often emphasize fact-checking and hoax-spotting. But as I argue in my new book, schools must go deeper with how they teach the subject if they want to help students thrive in a democratic society. As a new poll shows that Americans struggle to know if the information they find online is […] … learn more→

In recent weeks, Australian universities’ commitment to teaching Australian literature has come under scrutiny. This came amid revelations Sydney University has withdrawn funding from its Chair of Australian Literature – the nation’s first. Later news of the possible closure of UWA Publishing compounded anxiety about the future of Australian literary studies. An article in The Australian newspaper noted there is […] … learn more→

So I’m looking at a list of “17” (actually more than that) questions about higher ed that a former Poo-Bah of higher ed now asks…he’s out of the game, so he can afford to ask questions which would cost the job of a lowly one such as myself to ask. If we were building from […] … learn more→

Australian teachers are in the thick of producing end-of-year reports. In many schools, the report writing process begins several weeks – or even months – before reports are eventually released. This process has significant costs, including time spent away from teaching. For the past three years, the Australian Council for Educational Research has been investigating how effective […] … learn more→

Do you wonder about the difference between coding and programming? Are you new to these concepts? If you hear the word kernel, do you think about corn before you think about computing? Do you have maths trauma, believe in the ‘geek’ gene, stare blankly at people who mention operating systems, the command line or bandwidth? […] … learn more→

In a survey of a representative sample of 8,214 K-12 teachers on their personal assessment of the causes of school failure (published in 2019), we were struck by expression of powerful cleavages between those who “go forward”, and the nostalgic of a “school order”, in their eyes, as well as by the great suffering of all teachers […] … learn more→