An overarching criticism of the recent federal budget is that it overlooked the workers hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, namely women. However, the budget includes one promising, albeit small, initiative that focuses on this group. The government announced a cadetship program to help women to upskill in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), or to build a STEM […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Industry cadetships: a good but small step to tap the talents of women in STEM
Preschool and childcare have little impact on a child’s later school test scores
Early childhood education and care is widely regarded as helping children’s academic, cognitive and social development. Our study, published in the journal Behavior Genetics, looked into whether attending preschool or childcare influences later academic achievement. We found no statistically significant difference between the literacy and numeracy scores of school children who had attended preschool or childcare and children […] … learn more→
New College Course: No More Zoom, Please!
The metaphor of learning as a product of a transmission still determines a common way of understanding training processes. By the general public, but also in university settings. Thus, the image of the teacher who transmits knowledge to students remains in force, who write down the knowledge in the form of notes. Taking the model to an […] … learn more→
I prepare aspiring teachers to educate kids of color – here’s how I help them root out their own biases
I’m a professor who has spent the last 10 years preparing new teachers to enter the workforce. I also study how race, culture and power influence education and childhood development at a time when more than half of the roughly 50 million children who attend U.S. public schools are nonwhite, unlike most of their teachers. About four […] … learn more→
Switching to defined contributions is the only show left in town for the USS
Shortly before many UK university staff packed up for summer after what, no doubt, had been a very stressful term, they might have read the chief executive of the Universities Superannuation Scheme’s account of how Covid-19 has ravaged one of the country’s few remaining defined benefit pension schemes. No doubt many were already concerned about […] … learn more→
COVID-19: Don’t make university students choose between education and legal rights
When U.S. President Donald Trump held a rally earlier this summer in Tulsa, Okla., expecting thousands of supporters to gather in close quarters, he had them all sign COVID-19 liability waivers. This meant they couldn’t hold him or his campaign responsible if they contracted COVID-19 at the event. At the time, we were amused by the […] … learn more→
Secondary school textbooks teach our kids the myth that Aboriginal Australians were nomadic hunter-gatherers
In his book Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe writes that settler Australians wilfully misunderstood, hid and destroyed evidence of Aboriginal Australians’ farming practices. My analysis of secondary school textbooks shows this behaviour isn’t restricted to the past — it is ongoing. In Australia, pre-invasion Aboriginal peoples tend to be portrayed as nomadic hunter-gatherers. For example, a 1979 textbook titled Australia’s frontiers: […] … learn more→
Five suggestions for universal PhD ‘after-care’
One of the things that has become obvious during lockdown is how much more we might do for PhDers contemplating their futures. If ever there was a time to start something better and more supportive for researchers in our care, now is it. There’s obviously a need for much better advice and support for making […] … learn more→
What we do and don’t know about the links between air pollution and coronavirus
As an atmospheric scientist, I am well aware that air pollution is bad. And as a human being in 2020, I am also well aware that this coronavirus is also bad. However, while it’s true that both pollution and the pandemic are worse in cities, simplistic correlations between air quality and COVID-19 deaths have often […] … learn more→
Maths, reading and better nutrition: all the reasons to cook with your kids
If you’re schooling your children at home, chances are you’re very time poor. By teaching your children to cook, you could bundle up some learning while also getting dinner or lunch prepared. Teaching children to cook healthy food helps them gain knowledge and skills across a range of subjects simultaneously. The bonus is, you could get a […] … learn more→
