I wrote the first version of this in 2024, back when the doom was slightly quieter and nobody had yet stood at a podium to announce that the reading wars were over. Two years on, the catastrophe headlines have multiplied, the NAPLAN numbers have moved in genuinely mixed directions, and the overclaiming now comes from bothContinue reading “Ignore the Naysayers (2026 Update): Why Australia’s Education System is Stronger Than You Think”
Tag Archives: education
Academia: Hard to Enter, Harder to Defend, Still Worth It!
There has been no shortage of articles lately warning people to think twice before pursuing an academic career. Most make entirely reasonable points. Academic jobs are difficult to secure, casual employment has become entrenched, permanent positions attract enormous fields of applicants, research funding is scarce, and Australian universities have developed the sort of reputation that now makes “governanceContinue reading “Academia: Hard to Enter, Harder to Defend, Still Worth It!”
The Wellbeing Industry Has Eaten Difficulty: We promised students comfort and called it care.
Somewhere right now, a Year 9 student is sitting in a beanbag in a softly lit room because quadratic equations made him feel overwhelmed. Someone will record the visit as a wellbeing intervention, the relevant box will be ticked, and everyone involved will have acted with entirely decent intentions. The student was distressed, a teacherContinue reading “The Wellbeing Industry Has Eaten Difficulty: We promised students comfort and called it care.”
Differentiation Is Not the Problem. Pretending It’s Easy Is.
Somewhere right now, a teacher is producing three versions of the same worksheet and calling it inclusive practice. There is the “support” version, where a few of the harder questions have quietly disappeared. There is the “extension” version, where the same questions have been given an extra verb, probably “evaluate”, because nothing says academic stretchContinue reading “Differentiation Is Not the Problem. Pretending It’s Easy Is.”
How Many Standards Does It Take to Train a Teacher?
Education reform has a curious rhythm. A problem appears. A review is commissioned. A framework is introduced. The framework does not quite fix the problem, so a second framework arrives to strengthen it. Eventually, the system begins to resemble a geological formation: layers of policy sediment built up over time, each one deposited with theContinue reading “How Many Standards Does It Take to Train a Teacher? “
AI Is Not the Problem. Avoiding Effort Just Got Easier
One look at the headlines and you would think civilisation is either ending, ascending, or about to be permanently automated. Apparently, AI will destroy work, create infinite prosperity, democratise knowledge, eliminate expertise, replace teachers, save education, and possibly run the world sometime between Year 10 exams and the next university curriculum review. Not bad forContinue reading “AI Is Not the Problem. Avoiding Effort Just Got Easier”
You Are Misusing Cognitive Load Theory
Education loves its theories. We love them with a kind of earnest devotion that would be charming if it were not so historically destructive. A theory emerges in the literature, carefully tested in small, controlled studies involving volunteers who sit quietly, complete tidy tasks and never once throw a pencil across the room. Then, almostContinue reading “You Are Misusing Cognitive Load Theory”
Questions That Will Define 2026
There’s a predictable rhythm to education. Every few years we rediscover an idea we abandoned a decade earlier and insist it’s revolutionary. The only constant is the pendulum swing: one decade it’s all soft lighting, beanbags, and “let the children lead”; the next it’s rigid scripts, highly structured lessons, and the kind of certainty usuallyContinue reading “Questions That Will Define 2026”
Teaching: Better Paid, Still Broken
Teaching is a 9–3 job in the same way parenting is just birthday parties and Instagram photos. In a previous post on Becoming a Teacher and the work of a teacher, I wrote about what teachers actually do beyond the hours the public sees. It was anecdotal. It was based on my lived experience and others’, tiredContinue reading “Teaching: Better Paid, Still Broken”
TikTok Kids, Burnt-Out Teachers, and the Illusion of Reinventing School
Every few years, we’re told the classroom has to be reinvented. Gen Z students learn differently. Gen Alpha will need something else entirely. Now Gen Z teachers are arriving, and apparently, they’re a new challenge too. The result is what I call generational whiplash. Gen Z supposedly required “21st century skills” (as if critical thinkingContinue reading “TikTok Kids, Burnt-Out Teachers, and the Illusion of Reinventing School”
Maximising Student Potential 