Australian students’ performance and engagement in mathematics is an ongoing issue. International studies show Australian students’ mean performance in maths has steadily declined since 2003. The latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 showed only 10% of Australian teenagers scored in the top two levels, compared to 44% in China and 37% in Singapore. Despite attempts to […] … learn more→

Children living in relative poverty in England have worse average educational outcomes, including lower grades in exams, than other pupils. This situation is often referred to as the poverty attainment gap. Closing this gap, so that poorer students do as well at school as their peers, is a concern for countries around the world. The […] … learn more→

Whenever the Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place, parents and children may wonder: What does it take to become a champion? Is it worth the effort? But to the extent possible, competitive spellers, including several previous Scripps National Spelling Bee winners, have purchased special word lists to gain a competitive edge. These word lists, which may come in the form […] … learn more→

The latest reform of the professional path was presented on Thursday May 4, 2023 by President Macron. The press kit that accompanies these announcements highlights the need to make the sector attractive and to make it a path to success and excellence. Implicitly, it paints the portrait of a student in lack of success undergoing a default orientation and prone to […] … learn more→

Teacher shortages around Australia mean there is an ongoing debate about how to attract, retain and educate more teachers. One part of the push to increase teacher numbers is encouraging people to swap their current career for a teaching role. Mid-career or “career change” students are increasingly common in teacher education programs. The most recent Australian data shows as of 2017, one-third […] … learn more→

People, students, are not highly capable: they have capacity to varying degrees, as occurs in other less elusive aspects such as weight, height or any other physical condition. Both ignoring it and trying to make categories based on measurements of whatever kind is to lose focus. To consider “high ability” as a dichotomous variable (“some are” […] … learn more→

Despite growing demand for computer science skills in professional careers and many areas of life, K-12 schools struggle to teach computer science to the next generation. However, a new approach to computer science education – called integrated computing – addresses the main barriers that schools face when adding computer science education. These barriers include a lack of qualified computer science teachers, a […] … learn more→

“More sport at school” is one of the priorities announced by the government in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in a context where the health crisis has highlighted the urgent need to “move” young people. Only half of boys and a third of girls reach the WHO recommendations and the increase in time […] … learn more→

Reading is a critical skill for school and life beyond it. Young people need strong reading skills to learn and demonstrate their learning. Reading skills are not just about performing well in subjects such as English. They are related to performance in subjects like science and maths. When it comes to reading, girls typically do better than boys. This […] … learn more→

We live in a world very different from that of our grandmothers, even that of our fathers and mothers. The school is an organization that tends to look more to the past than to the present or the future , and it takes time to be prepared to deal with some of the new characteristics and challenges of […] … learn more→