Blog Archives

Do’s and don’ts of writing a short story

Do’s and don’ts of writing a short story

Mini manuscripts and stories seem pretty engaging. Authors quickly grab the audience with the plot and lead them to a short journey they have created. People love such kind of stories. They like to read more and more when the author provides interesting content. You can also create such entertaining stories, but take care of […] … learn more→

Bias starts early – most books in childcare centres have white, middle-class heroes

Bias starts early – most books in childcare centres have white, middle-class heroes

Only 18% of books available in four Australian childcare centres include non-white characters. Animal characters make up around half the books available, with the animals largely leading lives, and adhering to values, of middle-class Caucasians. My study, published in The Australian Educational Researcher recently, analysed 2,413 books in four Western Australian childcare centres. Most of the small […] … learn more→

Quality of employment and retention of apprentices in higher education: a winning duo

Quality of employment and retention of apprentices in higher education: a winning duo

The path of learning is increasingly favored by students of higher education. The evolution of the apprenticeship workforce continues its accelerated pace since the beginning of the 2000s. According to statistics from the Evaluation, Forecasting and Performance Department (DEPP), the progression has been significant since 2015: +3 , 8% in 2015, + 5.9% in 2016, + 9.1% in […] … learn more→

Making better use of Australia’s top teachers will improve student outcomes: here’s how to do it

Making better use of Australia’s top teachers will improve student outcomes: here’s how to do it

Australia must do better in school education. Following our worst ever results in international tests last year, politicians are keen to act, and quickly. But Australia has had any number of educational reforms over the past few decades, and our grades keep slipping. We need a much more systematic approach. Many teachers and schools are already doing […] … learn more→

Handwritten valentines create a legacy of love and literacy

Handwritten valentines create a legacy of love and literacy

Romantic love is a complex emotion thought to have ancient roots in human evolution, and associated with the need to pair-bond in stable relationships. Through songs, poems, diaries, journals, cards and artwork, love is celebrated for its ability to send both lover and beloved into the enthralment of passion, whether the feelings are lasting or as […] … learn more→

Over-parenting teaches children to be entitled – let them fail and learn to be resilient instead

Over-parenting teaches children to be entitled – let them fail and learn to be resilient instead

During the last couple of decades, new types of parents have emerged. From the anxiously involved helicopter parents to the pushy tiger mums, these differing styles all have one thing in common: they tend to involve over-parenting. This is where parents micromanage their children’s lives – giving them little autonomy, putting too much pressure on them to achieve […] … learn more→

Writing home and away

Writing home and away

I’m working away from my desk, as my out of office assistant puts it. But I’m still very much working. I’m writing out of place. I don’t have my usual working set up. And not just for a couple of days but actually for quite a lengthy period of time. I’m writing on a netbook […] … learn more→

How to make school traffic from primary to secondary more bearable

How to make school traffic from primary to secondary more bearable

There is no more delicate moment in compulsory education than the transition from primary education to secondary education. It is then when boys and girls have to carry out a complex process of psychological, social and academic adaptation to accommodate the new reality of their school environment, important changes in their interpersonal relationships and changes in their […] … learn more→