Schools Mixing It Up: The Great Co-Ed vs Single-Sex Showdown

In the ever-evolving world of education, Sydney has become a focal point of a significant paradigm shift: the transition from single-sex to co-educational schooling. This is not merely a local phenomenon but a microcosm of a global re-evaluation of educational practices. The latest chapter in this narrative is Newington College, a stalwart of all-boys educationContinue reading “Schools Mixing It Up: The Great Co-Ed vs Single-Sex Showdown”

A Sad Indictment: The No Vote for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition in Australia

As an immigrant and proud citizen of this country, I’m saddened by the referendum’s failure this past weekend. It was a contentious and politicised event, as so many issues are, by factions of the government to undermine the other party. I’m not suggesting that there weren’t valid arguments on each side; however, the lack ofContinue reading “A Sad Indictment: The No Vote for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition in Australia”

It’s not ‘Performance Pay’: You can call it what you want, but it still won’t work

So, if one listens to the news, one would be aware of a pending crisis in schools – a lack of teachers. Various pundits and government officials put the crisis at different points in the future. For example, the Commonwealth government projects a shortfall of more than 4,000 high school teachers by 2025, while NSWContinue reading “It’s not ‘Performance Pay’: You can call it what you want, but it still won’t work”

Teaching Strategies Part 3: The case for and against evidence

If you haven’t read the last article in this series, it might help set the context as I’ll be referring to a few of the authors and ideas presented in that post; however, if you would prefer to start here, the post can stand on its own as well.  In the first post, I referencedContinue reading “Teaching Strategies Part 3: The case for and against evidence”

Becoming a Teacher: Teacher Identity

The next post in the Becoming a Teacher series is about what I consider to be one of the most important aspects of becoming a teacher and should be a sustained thread throughout a teacher training program – no matter if that program is two years or five years: building your teacher identity.  There areContinue reading “Becoming a Teacher: Teacher Identity”

Teaching Strategies Part 2: What teachers know, but researchers fail to acknowledge

This will be a series of posts on teaching strategies and the importance of the recognition that the process of teaching, learning, assessment, feedback and appraisal is cyclical and that a one-size-fits-all model does not take into account the intricacies of most classroom environments. These posts are a long time in the making and followContinue reading “Teaching Strategies Part 2: What teachers know, but researchers fail to acknowledge”

Becoming a teacher: The work of a teacher

When many people think of teaching, they may think of long summer holidays/vacations and short 6-hour workdays, but this is far from reality.  When a parent thinks of their child’s teacher, they likely think about the 9 am-3 pm aspect of the day that that primary teacher spends in the classroom with the students ‘teaching’Continue reading “Becoming a teacher: The work of a teacher”

Becoming a teacher: What is a teacher?

For the second instalment of the becoming a teacher series, I want to explore what a teacher is and what a teacher is not. I’ve long thought about the work of teachers and what we actually do and have come to the realisation that the title ‘teacher’ is a misnomer and gives the wrong impressionContinue reading “Becoming a teacher: What is a teacher?”