I looked forward to the report on the NSW curriculum review of education with some optimism as I’d heard on the grapevine that it was making recommendations that align with the work I do. While they recognise that kids are disengaging from the current offering, the recommendations for implementation fall far short of the mark. …
Continue reading “Time to slaughter the Sacred Cows: A response to the NSW Curriculum Review”
I recently had the good fortune of visiting Thebarton Senior College, and I was so excited to find that they didn’t ring a bell or sound an alarm to signal the end of the lesson. Instead, they relied on students and staff to manage their own time and get where they needed to be. I’m …
Continue reading “What will replace the ‘School Bell’ in the online home classroom?”
I was an early pioneer of online teaching, teaching through video conference to classrooms overseas before Zoom, Collaborate, Google Classrooms and Microsoft Teams existed. I’ve got over 10 years of experience teaching online in universities, and I have spent the last four years developing an online curriculum for high school children who, for whatever reason, …
Continue reading “Shutting your school? Teaching online is different to teaching face to face”
We’ve seen a decline in PISA comparative results for Australia for nearly 2 decades now, and what have seen in response. More rigid curriculum requirements; more rigid reporting requirements; more rigid testing requirement; more pressure and blame on the teachers; more diversified funding of schools leading to greater inequality of provision; and in some states, …
Continue reading “Stop Blaming the Teachers for Poor Results”
Is it me, or is Australia in deep trouble? I’ve spent 3 years developing an alternative curriculum and education system for high schools called the Inventorium, and have researched and interacted with lots of schools around Australia and many of the Assessment Boards. In my experience, South Australia has the most forward thinking and flexible …
Continue reading “POLL: Would this do anything to motivate you?”
