Media Watch

- - APRIL 2023
    
    * 'Poor discipline in Australian schools among factors driving teachers away, OECD warns'. Guardian Australia.The OECD document can be found here.*
    
    ''What is the National School Reform Agreement and what does it have to do with school funding?' Glenn Savage in The Conversation
    
    MARCH 2023 *
    
    More on wealthy schools behjaving rather badly: 'Residents, private schools clash over billion-dollar building boom' and 'Sydney private schools breach enrolment caps by hundreds of students'* 'Less philosophy, more skills: Major shake-up of teaching degrees recommended' SMH. Is anyone still keeping count of the number of teacher ed reviews we've had since 2001? fifteen? more?
    
    'No revolution necessary: mainstream public schools can – and must – put creativity at their heart' Guardian Australia
    
    ‘Vicious parents’, students target NSW principals in record numbers' Various media.
    
    'Coalition pledges $50 million to private schools' SMH. Of course they did! Read 'This might shock you (left column on this site).
    
    'The Labor Essayists: Chalmers, Rudd and the failing market of schools' Peter Morgan and myself in a flaskback...and forward?
    
    Building education systems for equity and inclusion Out from the Gonski Institute, from Scott Eacott and a wide range of contributors. Very timely.
    
    * 'Australian children facing higher student-to-teacher ratios at public schools than at private institutions' The Guardian.
    
    * 'Sydney private schools spend millions on land for new campuses' SMH * 'Our study found new teachers perform just as well in the classroom as their more experienced colleagues'
    
    FEBRUARY 2023
    
    * 'NAPLAN year 5 results: The state’s top schools revealed' SMH. This gets more stupid than ever
    
    * 'Fairfax-Ipsos poll: Huge majority of Australians oppose laws banning gay students and teachers' Interesting and encouraging.
    
    * 'School attendance rates are dropping. We need to ask students why' Nigel Howard and Andrew Bills in The Conversation.
    
    * Two opeds in the SMH. Lyndsay Connors nails some big problems in 'If the private school sector is ‘too big to fail’, why make it bigger?' Less resonating, Kevin Donnelly has a little cultural warrior bleat about the rights of church schools.
    
    * ‘We have a retention crisis’: $40,000 pay rises pledged for top NSW teachers' promises the NSW government (SMH)
    
    * 'Hey Sydney, can we talk about something other than property and private schools?' A fun read in the SMH, as are recent letters. ...and also here.
    
    * 'Defunding private schools is not on, but we can make education fairer', a flawed but thoughtful article by David Hastie in the SMH.
    
    * New ABS data on school enrolments - and declines in gov schools - reported, with various levels of detail, in the Guardian, ABC News, the SMH ..Editorialised in the SMH.
    
    * 'Rise in selective schools drains HSC stars from comprehensive system' a report in the SMH (and The Age) on my most recent research into selective schools. A longer article, 'Selective schools, a problem that could become a solution' in Inside Story explores a solution.
    
    * 'Belling the cat in NSW private schools' Yes, it's time. Lyndsay Connors in P&I
    
    * 'PM reaffirms commitment to allow religious schools to hire staff based on faith' The Guardian.
    
    * 'Victorian school students remain among lowest funded in the country' Nine Media
    
    * 'School reform: shift the deck chairs, forget about the ship' P&I. My contribuition to the start of the school year.
    
    * 'Funding for private schools grows faster than for state schools' Situation normal ...in fact, SNAFU.
    
    * 'Private schools are poaching teachers from the public sector with better salaries, principals say' Another situation normal, ABC News
    
    * 'Why we should defund private schools and examine their values' Jenna Price, a take no prisoners contribution. Then, in a case of unfortunate timing (at least for the schools), 'Catholic schools to oppose LGBTQ+ teacher and student law reform proposal', The Guardian.
    
    * New school year, new ideas? Well, not quite. 'Private schools lock in high achievers as demand for scholarships rise' SMH. Just the usual scramble for preferred students. A new Grattan report plugs for high quality small group tutoring in schools....report in the SMH. Labor in NSW wants this and also ban student phones. 'Australia's teacher shortage is a generational crisis in the making', writes Fiona Longmuir (ABC) * With both a memory of the past and an eye on the future, Lyndsay Connors illustrates what is still missing in our approach to school policy. Read 'The sound of silence on school education in NSW' in P&I.
    
    JANUARY 2023
    
    * 'The Watchers - Directors of educational decline' in Pearls and Irritations. This is a very astute comment on the current NSW Department of Education, especially how and why it fails to deliver.
    
    * 'Australia's private school fees continue to rise, but for once they're less than inflation', Julie Hare in the AFR.
    
    DECEMBER 2022
    
    * 'Labor’s delay on public schools funding deal a ‘betrayal’ of disadvantaged students, advocates say' The Guardian. Also, 'Labor Betrays Public Schools & Disadvantaged Students' ...Trevor Cobbold's telling condemnation. Also from Save our Schools: 'Shocking Inequalities in School Results' Very timely and important.
    
    * ‘We shouldn’t be doing well’: how year 12s at one NSW school rose above disadvantage. The Guardian. A better take on achieving schools.
    
    * 'Australia has a plan to fix its school teacher shortage. Will it work?' by Paul Kidson in The Conversation. A good stocktake of the current crisis.
    
    * 'Teachers don’t always follow evidence on what works, research finds'. They should, as should governments and system leaders when they make policy
    
    * Here's the latest set of school education stats from the ABS.
    
    * Not much light comes out of Britain these days, but this is an exception: an editorial in The Observer on how to overcome elitism in education. Bet they don't!
    
    * It has a long title but an important message, from Laura [perry et al in Large Scale Assessments in Education: 'The substantiveness of socioeconomic school compositional effects in Australia: measurement error and the relationship with academic composition'
    
    * 'Australian private high school enrolments have jumped 70% since 2012' Esperanza Vera-Toscano in The Conversation.
    
    * 'Perrottet will open a new selective school at Westmead. It’s a terrible idea'.Jordan Baker on the latest selective madness in NSW. Some wonderful letters in response.
    
    NOVEMBER 2022
    
    * 'Funding smaller classes, teacher home visits would lift outcomes: report' The SMH reports and editorialises on the McKell Institute paper on how full SRS funding can lift achievement. Two-thirds of the paper are very good, the final third is questionable. * The elite (?) schools arms race now extends to salaries for principals. See 'Principals at top private schools notch up pay packages of nearly $1 million' in the SMH. Just as interesting were the letters the next day.
    
    * “The fish has died”: The demise of NSW public schools', John Frew in Pearls and Irritations. A lot of home truths. When will failed system leaders be really accountable?
    
    * 'Writing development: What does a decade of NAPLAN data reveal? ' This report from AERO excited a few headlines about deteriorating writing skills. 'What AERO’s report of writing development in Australia doesn’t want to talk about ' is a response from four Monash academics. James Ladwig also responds, with AERO biting back. My response? It is yet another blinkered report.
    
    * Now here's something (not) new: 'Year 9 boys 'a year behind' year 9 girls as 2022 NAPLAN results reveal 'mixed bag' ABC News. How do you create a headline out of nothing new?
    
    * But this is better: 'Stressful, narrowly focused and, for many, a bit pointless: Is it time to rethink year 12 exams?'ABC News....and the answer to the question is YES.
    
    OCTOBER 2022
    
    * 'Schools in crisis; solutions in disarray'. Pearls and Irritations. I've drawn together recent responses to some well-publicised problems.
    
    * Recent news about schools reveals interesting connections and contrasts. One trigger has been Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools, new from The Grattan Institute. It was reported in the SMH and The Age. In broad terms, it can be seen as part of frenetic efforts to improve measurable student outcomes. But in some contrast, The Guardian has a report: 'Should the Atar be scrapped? Seven experts on the student ranking system' The SMH also reports on 'Aboriginal language boost in curriculum overhaul', a most worthy initiative. So do we want worthy initiatives ... or do we want to screw the system down with standardised lessons?
    
    * Pasi Sahlberg: 'If Australia wants to improve school outcomes, we need to define what ‘equity’ really means' in The Conversation. Full marks to him and also to Trevor Cobbold for opening a debate we need.
    
    * Good read from John Frew: 'Public Education – a test for the ALP' in Pearls and Irritations
    
    * 'Education gap widens as HSC high achievers disappear from low socio-economic schools' Lucy Carroll reports in the Nine media papers. A recent draft of the research is available here.
    
    * 'Sydney private schools warn students will be turned away unless enrolment caps raised' SMH. Nice little illustration of pressure groups and media. Lyndsay Connors (in P&I) calls it out for what it is: 'Independent Schools: Aspiration for the few, desperation for the many'.
    
    * 'Australian education funding went backwards during pandemic'. Reports in the SMH and also on ABC News.
    
    * 'Education is ripe for disruption’: Call to extend school hours, put classes online'. Some better suggestions from the PC report, plus comments from the head.
    
    SEPTEMBER 2022
    
    * 'Confession of a Knox Grammar old boy: my son won’t lose sleep as I have' A good read.
    
    * 'Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs claim the most HSC disability provisions' SMH. Getting serious when the SMH editorialises.
    
    * Trevor Cobbold has joined in this important push: 'Labor Should Scrap the Stage 3 Tax Cuts for the Rich'.
    
    AUGUST 2022
    
    * 'Teacher crisis won’t resolve until we end game of political football' A smart take on the issues by Adam Voigt.
    
    * 'Private schools to be forced to shed light on salaries for top staff' SMH
    
    * OK, my turn: 'A teacher surplus is hiding in plain sight' in the SMH.
    
    * 'Bigger salaries for top teachers to stop classroom exodus' Lucy Carroll in the SMH.
    
    * 'Australia spends $5 billion a year on teaching assistants in schools but we don't know what they do'. Julie and Jordana from Grattan, in The Conversation. Yes, we need to know more about this!
    
    * 'Private schools win millions in disability funding' Exclusive from Rick Morton in The Saturday Paper.
    
    * 'King’s School forced to explain spending on plunge pool, flights to British regatta' SMH. A little start, but a long way to go!
    
    * 'NSW is reserving 20 per cent of selective school places for disadvantaged students, and some parents aren't happy about it'SMH. What a surprise!!
    
    * 'Lift school age to six to put students on more even footing, says education minister' SMH. Interesting, but what else might be driving this suggestion?
    
    * 'As another elite boys’ school goes co-ed, are single-sex schools becoming an endangered species?' Amanda Keddie in The Conversation.....and does anyone care?
    
    JULY 2022
    
    * 'Falling enrolments, high fees threaten viability of Sydney’s Jewish schools'. SMH. Just like the rationalisation of Catholic schools in Ashfield, this story tells a lot. * 'NSW to ‘chase and recruit’ public school teachers as private sector snaps up graduates'SMH. * Trevor Cobbold has reviewedWaiting for Gonski. If you've read the book then many statements in the review might come as a surprise. Tom and I have responded to his review. The big plus is that this is all a long-overdue conversation. * Chris Ho (in The Conversation) comments on recent changes to selective school entry ... reaching out to disadvantaged students. * Interesting: 'Contagion effect’: Students choose unscored VCE in record numbers' The Age * Three gems from The Conversation: 1. 'No wonder no one wants to be a teacher: world-first study looks at 65,000 news articles about Australian teachers', Nicole Mockler 2. 'Don’t expect schools to do all the heavy lifting to close the education divide between the big cities and the rest of Australia', John Halsey. 3. 'What does equity in schools look like? And how is it tied to growing teacher shortages?' Lucas Walsh.
    
    * Trevor Cobbold and Pasi Sahlberg send their message about what equity is and how it sould be measured to the PC review of the NSRA.
    
    JUNE 2022 * Are there dots to join between falling stated belief in Christianity and the large number of church schools? * The King's School gets itself into trouble ... again (SMH). This time over the headmaster's plunge pool ... a good way to relax after the flight back from Henley-on-Thames. See also Julie Hare in the AFR. * Meanwhile, in the real world: 'Teachers the fall guys for a failing system', Jenny Gore and Nicole Mocklet in the SMH. * The Productivity Commission is reviewing the National Schools Reform Agreement. One can only hope they'll take a much wider view than do the 'reformers' Submissions to the review are available here. * 'Labor confirms it will allow schools to hire secular workers under chaplaincy program' The Guardian. Looks like the new minister is going for the low hanging fruit. * 'High-salary, key teaching roles must be part of education reform' Jordana Hunter in the SMH. More blinkered views of reform. * 'Why Australia should ban private schools' Elizabeth Farrelly in The Saturday Paper. * 'Private school fee rises may exclude middle-class families, principals fear'. SMH. Here we go again: If we don't get help our fees will go up!! Yet when they do get special deals their fees still go up! * 'Teachers speak out about 'atrocious' staff shortages crippling many NSW public schools' ABC. This is a read and weep task! * New minister Jason Clare reveals something about himself in News.com.au.....while Trevor Cobbold issues 'A Public Education Agenda for the New Education Minister' * 'Will Labor's 'big reforms' mantra deliver for education?' asks Deniz Uzgun in Education HQ. * 'More than 20 per cent of NSW students fall below acceptable standards' SMH story on NSW NAPLAN results.
    
    MAY 2022
    
    * 'Election 2022: no education minister and an opposition without a school funding policy' Tom Greenwell and I in Pearls and Irritations.
    
    * 'Public Education Is in Crisis, but Who Cares?' Dan Hogan in Meanjin
    
    * 'Put a timeline on it: Labor urged to detail school funding plans' SMH May 13.
    
    * 'Plan for tenfold increase in top teachers within the next three years' SMH May 15. What's old is new again ...Don't bother, shift the deck chairs instead!
    
    * 'Education goes missing in election action'. Jennifer Hewett in the AFR. It sure does! Also raising their eyebrows on this missing education issue are The Guardian, (watch this space). I offer Tom's and my priorities in John Menadue's current series 'If I were minister for ....'
    
    * At last, Labor has a good idea: 'High achievers to get up to $12k a year to become teachers under Labor' Just observe the wry smiles on the faces of older and retired teachers! Also reported in The Guardian. As usual, Trevor Cobbold offers the sharpest commentary on Labor and schools.
    
    * But some related matters haven't gone away, like the guerilla warfare in the Sydney Anglican schools and church over LGBTIQ kids etc. Issues come and go, but the culture wars go on forever.
    
    * Two more reviews for Waiting for Gonski: by Rebecca Birch and by David Ferrell.
    
    APRIL 2022
    
    * 'If I was the Minister for Education, these are the three priority things I would do for schools' My contribution to a creative series of articles organised by John Menadue.
    
    * 'Private schools received an extra $10bn funding in Coalition ‘special deals’, study finds' Outstanding work by Adam Rorris reported in The Guardian.
    
    * Trevor Cobbold reports on the over-funding of NSW private schools, with a follow-up article in Peals and Irritations.
    
    * ‘How are there so many perfect scores?’ IB results raise eyebrows. SMH. It is an inevitable outcome of an hierarchical system.
    
    * Jenna Price (SMH) nails the wider problems facing the education sector.
    
    * ‘Is this really fair?’ How high school students feel about being streamed into different classes based on ‘ability’. Olivia Johnston in The Conversation. No it's not fair, but the parallel identical separation of enrolments between schools is even less so on a national scale.
    
    * Sue Thomson: 'Reversing Australia’s declining achievement a shared problem' in ACER Discover. The full article in Teacher magazine puts numbers around adjustments for student and school-level socioeconomic background. Revealing!
    - FEBRUARY 2022
    - Waiting for Gonski, how Australia failed its schools, by Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor. Launch events, include Gleebooks in Sydney on March 1st...and at Harry Hartog bookseller in Canberra on March 9th, 6pm. Also 'Why Gonski was Always Going to Fail' in Education Today. Also our oped in The Canberra Times: 'Gonksi review 10 years on: Australian schools are in worse shape than ever' . The Guardian (Feb 28) has published an extract, and ABC News (online) has it as an expanded news item. First review comes from Rachel Wilson in The Conversation: 'Still 'Waiting for Gonski' – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding'.
    - Related publicity includes 'Will schools now get back to normal? We have to do better than that' in Pearls and Irritations. Tom and Chris were interviewed by Geraldine Doogue on Saturday Extra. We also join the dots between school funding and wider issues (including money) in the Australian Financial Review.
    - * Trevor Cobbold restates the need to get the Gonski Review back on track.
    - * 'No other wealthy nation concentrates disadvantaged children into disadvantaged schools like Australia does.' Pasi Sahlberg and Adrian Piccoli in The Guardian.
    - * Gonski tenth birthday celebrations (?) See Ken Boston: 'Want to know why our schools keep lagging the world’s best?' SMH. Then Nine Media continued with Jordan Baker's 'No Gonski ‘nirvana’: Why Australia’s most ambitious education reforms have failed' just a day after a big conference on the same topic at the NSWTF.
    - * Relious schools and discrimination will be a lingering topic. Read Lyndsay Connors' 'An unholy mess: discrimination tangles up schools as well as everyone else'.
    - * Trevor Cobbold's latest post-Gonski working paper is now available. It addresses the immediate response by Labor in 2012-13. It is part of an invaluable series. Trevor has also just released new funding figures. Note more detailed account in The Guardian
    - * ‘Obscene greed’: WA’s priciest schools rake in fat JobKeeper profits' WA Today. This is one of the more substantial news reports created from Trevor Cobbold's substantial work on this issue.
    - * 'Majority of voters reject Coalition’s proposal to allow discrimination on basis of religious belief, poll suggests' The Guardian.
    - * 'The Australian school system has a serious design flaw. Can it change before it’s too late?' Pasi Sahlberg in The Guardian. This is a landmark article, an edited extract from Griffith Review 75: Learning Curves. Also be sure to read Helen Proctor's 'Climbing the opportunity ladder' in the same issue, and others including by Andrew Leigh and Gabbie Stroud.
  - JANUARY 2022
  - * 'NSW private schools reaped $72 million in JobKeeper payments'SMH. A timely report on Trevor Cobbold's work.
  - * 'COVID-19 pandemic may not have been all bad for school students, study finds', ABC News.
  - * 'Revealed: the Sydney schools running out of space',SMH, Jan 4.
  - * 'Don't mind if we do: Victorian private schools deep in JobKeeper trough'. Trevor Cobbold in Pearls and Irritations.
  - - DECEMBER 2021
  - * 'School fee rises keeping pace with Sydney house prices' Jordan Baker and Nigel Gladstone report in Nine Media.
  - * 'Mind the gap: what we should do about NAPLAN’s worrying report card' Jordana Hunter and Owain Emslie in the SMH.
  - * 'First, it’s not an instruction manual: 3 things education ministers need to know about the Australian Curriculum' from Emily Ross and Rachael Dwyer in The Conversation.
  - * The end of the school year may never be the same again. No pre-Christmas HSC/VCE etc results in the media. No league tables, heartwarming stories, beat-ups and beat-downs. How will we cope?
- * The end of the school year may never be the same again. No pre-Christmas HSC/VCE etc results in the media. No league tables, heartwarming stories, beat-ups and beat-downs. How will we cope?
- * 'Private school boys need to stop behaving badly', Julie Hare in the AFR. Julie is the best thing in the AFR since Tim Dodds years ago. Also from Julie in the AFR (December 12): 'Private education driving the global divide between rich and poor'.
- * 'Revealed: Sydney schools with the highest-earning parents', Jordan Baker and Nigel Gladstone in the SMH. There is so much in this article, including implicit warnings that less public funding will see private school fees rise. The real constant is that their private funding and fees have risen cinsistently now for two decades.
- * 'Kids and teachers deserve better than this crisis in the public school system' from Lyndsay Connors in Pearls and Irritations. For years, no, decades, Lyndsay has been best able to write the best 'cut through' commentary.
- NOVEMBER 2021
- * 'Yes, Australia’s PISA test results may be slipping, but new findings show most students didn’t try very hard', Stewart Riddle in The Conversation.
- * Dean Ashenden reviews Glenn Savage's new book The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy, just out. Dean's review is in Inside Story. 'Savage’s analysis of the inner workings of the education revolution' he says, 'is quietly devastating. But he urges a wider look at school system structures which also need to be reformed. Sounds like a good idea for a book ...
- * Trevor Cobbold raises a 'Question Mark Over the Accuracy and Reliability of PISA Tests' and also has recent posts on wealthy schools pocketing JobKeeper funding, and provides another reminder why money still matters in school education.
OCTOBER 2021* It's party time again. No, this isn't about COVID. It is a new political party. Want to know more? I've written a brief article about a new venture in NSW. Watch this space.

* 'Australian politicians trust scientists on Covid. Why don’t they listen to teachers on school reform?' Pasi Sahlberg in The Guardian. * 'Parents must be included in changes to education system' Leon Furze in The Age. Another insight into innovation in school credentialling. * 'The areas in which school enrolments are expected to double', Jordan Baker in SMH.
* 'Study shows high levels of public trust and value for Australian teachers', Mirage.
* 'Private schools reap $750m in JobKeeper' AFR, Oct
. * 'Disadvantaged students do better than advantaged ones at uni: study', SMH. Everyone will have a theory about why, but it is very interesting

SEPTEMBER 2021 * One to read: 'Want to improve our education system? Stop seeking advice from far-off gurus and encourage expertise in schools' by Glenn Savage in The Conversation..... and here is the link to Glenn's book. The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Polic * Great editorial in The Age: 'Religious schools discrimination law update merits bipartisan support', September 19. * ‘Sleight of hand’: Public schools get $3.5b less than original Gonski plan intended', Jordan Baker in the SMH.
- - AUGUST, 2021
   * 'Steph Lentz was sacked this year for being gay. It was perfectly legal' an extended report from Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar in the SMH. It raises serious questions about the obligations of publicly-funded 'private' schools.
  
   * 'A review of the Gonski school funding inquiry and report' is the first of three from Trevor Cobbold of Save our Schools.
  
   * COVID constinues to expose many things about our crazy school systems: 'Thousands of HSC students set to travel more than 20km to class'. This SMH report includes an interesting graphic showing where selective school kids come from. That's just the tip of the problem. A new virus exposes an old ailment!!
  
   * Alternatives to the Atar: ‘Most kids don’t know about them’ The Guardian reports on a debate that won't go away.
  
   * August is looking interesting. The differences between the school sectors over when and how students should return continues to reveal how similarly publicly-funded (but different sector) schools are allowed to play by different rules.
  
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   JULY 2021
  
   Alas nothing to report. A combination of school vacation and COVID has again pushed everything else aside.
- - JUNE 2021
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   * Three groundbreaking reports from Nine Media's Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar. The first is 'Australia’s top private schools are growing richer and faster than ever' June 18. The second is 'Top private schools build up multimillion-dollar investment portfolios' June 19. The third is 'Bags of money and the old school tie: Private schools and their impact on Melbourne' June 20.
  
   * On some similar themes is 'Colleges build a head of steam and leave many fuming' in the Sun Herald June 20. (can't access the URL yet)
  
   * Shane Wright and Monica Attia in the SMH: 'COVID’s ‘lost generation’: OECD warns of long-term impact of remote learning'
  
   * Chris Ho: 'School catchment zones may be annoying for some parents, but they help ensure equality for everyone' in The Conversation.
  
   MAY 2021
-  * Now this IS one for the record books: ''Never had it so good’: Archbishop says cashed up Catholic schools must learn from state schools' Read this SMH report carefully, Anthony Fisher reportedly made many interesting comments.
  
   * '1 in 4 Australian year 8s have teachers unqualified in maths — this hits disadvantaged schools even harder' Sue Thomson reporting on TIMSS in The Conversation.
  
   * New Education Secretary in NSW appointed, no school experience necessary!!. 'Teachers I know are utterly disappointed by the new boss of NSW public schools' responds Judy King in the SMH.
  
   * Still more from TC: 'Education department refuses to hold private schools accountable for taxpayer funding' in Pearls and Irritations.
  
   * 'Calls for NAPLAN to be replaced with national bank of class tests' SMH report on Rachel Wilson's paper with the Gonski Institute for Education. A much better system is proposed!
  
   * Still more, this time: 'New figures reveal increasing resource advantage for private schools'. Trevor shows resource advantage of private schools is projected to accelerate over the rest of the decade to 2029.
  
   * Nothing stops him: 'Students must learn about Western heritage to defend democracy: Tudge' SMH New stakes in a new cultutal war.
  
   * 'Tudge fudges school results and funding' from Trevor Cobbold in P&I. What changes? The minister is shaping up as Christopher Pyne without the frills.
  
   Also Top article from Jenny Gore in The Conversation. More balance to counter the Tudge smudge.
  
   * How about this quote from the PM: ‘‘ We cannot allow what we think we are entitled to, to become more important than what we are responsible for as citizens,’’ In the SMH on May Day. One to keep in mind...
  
   * 'Australia’s school curriculum: what are the proposed changes, and what’s the fuss about ‘invasion’?' Naaman Zhou in The Guardian. I gave up commenting on stupid moral panics about schools, years ago. This article puts things in perspective.
  
   APRIL 2021
  
   * 'Minister says quality teaching, not more school funding key to better results' SMH. Mark Latham ... then Alan Tudge. Can it get worse? Don't forget that he has also declared the school funding wars over. My take on this is 'Tudge on the bludge – new education minister offers nothing new', in Pearls and Irritations
  - 'Report savages curriculum review, calls for mandatory textbooks' SMH. Mark Latham wants more textbooks. The rest of us want less Mark Latham.
   * 'NAPLAN’s back, as study finds students’ scores don’t improve much' SMH. Groundhog Day resumes!
  
   * Great article in AFR by Rachel Wilson and Paul Kidson: 'We need bold schools reform, not tinkering' Very timely in the light of the tilts from Tudge.
  
   * A quiet April, thanks to school vacations. But a few gems. Federal minister Tudge announces his teacher training review/smoke screen. Rachel Wilson's comments in the media report are spot on. Grattan's Julie Sonnemann and Jordana Hunt in the SMH: 'Yes, Minister, you can entice our best and brightest into teaching. You will have to pay them more'.
  
   * Trevor Cobbold has released a draft of his second major paper on the fate of Gonski since 2012. This one is on the current Morrison era. A must read.
  
   * 'Sydney’s most sought-after schools growing rapidly despite enrolment caps' Report in the SMH.
- MARCH 2021
- ‘Big five’ education challenges: The ‘long tail’ of underachievement in Australia. Sue Thomson in Teacher. Very brief but compelling. Have a close look at the three graphs! * 'The Australian 'school funding wars' may be over – but kids at public schools are still losing out' Adam Rorris in The Guardian. Adam takes a closer look at the capital depreciation rort. * Tudge again. I missed this. Apparently he declared the funding wars over. Trevor Cobbold has issued a blistering response. * Tudge on the bludge: new minister takes the lazy, repetitive, failed and distracting path to school reform. See 'Tudge announces 10-year blueprint to get Australian schools back on top' in Education HQ. * 'More School Funding Means Better Student Outcomes' Trevor Cobbold reports on a meta-analysis by the US National Bureau of Economic Research * 'Education funding is unfair — and public schools asking parents to chip in makes it worse' Anna Hogan in The Conversation. ..interesting, but not that new.
FEBRUARY 2021

* Meanwhile, I've suggested 'Three school education policies for Labor' in P&I. Perhaps they'll be adopted, while squadrons of pigs take to the air... * The Gonski Institute for Education has just released Structural failure: Why Australia keeps falling short of our educational goals. This report challenges the big claims (and unrealised plans) made about school education in Australia. Rachel Wilson and Paul Kidson report on this project in The Conversation....as do I in Inside Story. * 'Catholic leader dismisses school funding reform as ‘flight of fantasy’ SMH. Adrian Piccoli has offered a solution to a decades-old problem. The CEO of Catholic Schools NSW, Dallas McInerney, begs to differ. Also see Edu-fact check (left). * 'Former premier warns teaching profession facing crisis, change urgently needed' The Gallop Report is released. Also read Geoff Gallup's comments in the SMH. * Two interesting reports on school enrolments. 'Independent schools defy COVID-19 downturn to record fastest growth' SMH ... and ''Critical mass' needed in Catholic schools' Yahoo News. In brief, more students in Independent schools and not enough Catholic students in Catholic schools. * Tanya Plibersek has released a book of essays entitled Upturn, a better normal after COVID-19 and has contributed a chapter on education. But there is too much missing. Read my response 'Upturn in education: Tanya Plibersek’s lessons learned' * This is worth following up. The SMH has written a report on an interesting tool developed by UNSW for the Gonski Institute. The 'Gonski Gapfinder' enables users to track how students in different places perform in NAPLAN. It's part of a project to study the social influence on how children fare at school. * 'School segregation harms career chances' Anna Patty in the SMH (via another link). 20 years ago I worked with a leading educator to link business to a wider variety of school students. This article shows how and why the idea is now more urgent. * Just released: a useful summary by Trevor Cobbold on the projected over-funding of private schools * You have to read this: 'Alan Tudge as Federal Education Minister: what does he mean for our school system?' by Lyndsay Connors. The new education minister once lamented that the Gonski reforms would require Catholic and independent schools to take “certain cohorts” of students, amounting to “an incredible intrusion”. * Trevor Cobbold uncovers more doubt about the efficacy of PISA testing: 'Beware false idols of education excellence: take PISA test results with a grain of salt'. More than two-thirds of students in the OECD did not fully try on the tests.
JANUARY 2021

* 'The epidemic Australia is failing to control' by Pasi Sahlberg in the SMH. A timely attempt to create an agenda that has been shunted to the side by COVI

* Trevor Cobbold has released three pivotal reports in January. 1. 'Does education technology improve learning?', on a recent paper. 20 years ago I commissioned work on the same topc and it also expressed cautions. 2. A report coming out of UNE: 'Public schools are as good as private schools'. See original report. This work takes a different approach and affirms a well-known conclusion: differences between the school sectors disappear after socioeconomic status and prior achievement ware taken into account. 3. Finally, Trevor takes a hard look at support for school fees comong from grandparents - something which understates the measured capacity of parents to pay...ultimately boosting private schools' public funding. See 'Morrison’s private school funding model Ignores the bank of mum and dad'.

DECEMBER 2020

* HSC and all that! At least this year there is a conversation about the value of the HSC and what it shows. Jordan Baker reports....and comments. See also SMH editorial. * TIMSS results: 'NSW lifts Australian high school students to world's top 10 in maths, science' says the SMH. What? No moral panic, hand wringing? Check out who takes the credit. The NSW Minister is an early starter. Full TIMSS report online. Here is a good article giving a potted history of standardised testing. * Jane Caro nails another current NSW problem: 'Is Mark Latham running education policy in NSW? No, but the direction is concerning' The Guardian * November was almost a non-event, but December is looking interesting with the announcement of a School Success Model for NSW. To cut a long story short, it is yet another trade-off by the NSW government to keep Mark Latham happy (?). Educators are up in arms for good reasons. My take is in Pearls and Irritations. * A heads-up from Sue Thomson in The Conversation about the coming TIMSS results. A good explanation of how it works.
NOVEMBER 2020

* A very welcome update of Commonwealth funding by Trevor Cobbold: 'Funding gap between public and private schools will accelerate over the next decade'.

OCTOBER 2020
* Significant report from Victoria University's Mitchell Institute: Educational opportunity in Australia - Who succeeds and who misses out. Reported in ABC News and the authors have followed up in The Conversation. It follows the first outstanding report in this series in 2015.
* 'To those that have more will be given: Education resource gaps in Australia'. Trevor Cobbold writes about the issues in his latest report. Nicely summed up by Trevor: The extent of the gaps is appalling
* 'How the lobbies hijacked school education' is a report by Lyndsay Connors and myself in Pearls and Irritations. It is one of the 'Lobbyland' series being compiled by John Menadue. A great series!
* Just out, a report by Adam Rorris for the AEU shows a mounting disaster - for government schools - in continuing the "Gonski 2.0" funding solution.
SEPTEMBER 2020

* Trevor Cobbold takes a closer look at the direct income measure of each (non-gov school) family's capacity to pay fees etc....something which determines public funding. But it is seriously flawed! * Watch this series: Part 1 'Education policies over the decades have intensified socio-economic segregation' Lyndsay Connors in P&I. And Part 2, Society bears costs of education policy ‘crimes’ * 'How the Catholic school system takes from the poor to give to the rich' ABC News, Sept 2.This is a substantial and significant piece of investigative journalism. It has been going on for ages, but this report contains everything, including the smoking gun! More from Trevor Cobbold and from Alex Mitchell, plus my own take, all in Pearls and Irritations. Catholic school authorities have responded, but haven't fully addressed the matters raised in the ABC report. And another response, this time a fact check rebuttal from Catholic Schools NSW. * 'The NAPLAN is trying to do too much. It needs urgent reform to be a ‘diagnostic’ test only' Venesser Fernandes in The Conversation. * 'Thousands of NSW students never returned to school after lockdown'SMH. A disturbing report.

AUGUST 2020
* 'Parents want advice from teachers on how to raise their children, inquiry to hear' SMH. A report on the Valuing the Teaching Profesion Inquiry headed by Geoff Gallop.
* 'Push for NAPLAN to be expanded into new test for all students' SMH. One small step for 'man', one giant leap etc etc....that is, if it even happens!
* 'Wealth, not faith drives most Australian students to religious schools' SMH. Strange report: it doesn't match the headline and the research cited (and the survey it draws on) doesn't allow for SES differences between schools and sectors. Sloppy.
* Speaking of sloppy, try reading 'Where's the national outcry as schools go backwards?' Australian Financial Review. It falls short on many counts.
* This will put the pussy cat among the pigeons: 'Government 'should fully fund primaries' SMH reports on an idea from Adrian Piccoli....with an accompanying op ed from the former NSW minister. AND then an extended comment from Tom Greenwell in Inside Story: 'Should private primary schools be free?' Caitlin Fitsimmons follows up with an opinion. My opinion? I'm with anyone who kicks the door open to a debate about what we have at present.
* 'The bureaucratisation of public education in Australia' Read Trevor Cobbold's report in Pearls and Irritations, full document on the Save our Schools site.

·
JULY 2020
* Nothing like school vacations and a virus to dampen school news. But there are some gems. A report from Pivot provides a lot more on socioeconomic disparities in schooling created in recent months. The Gonski Institute for Education has issued a new policy brief: Equity in Australian Education: Achieving a brighter future for all young Australians. Also, Royce Kurmelovs has written up Trevor Cobbold's recent findings in The Saturday Paper. See 'Public schools still missing out on funding', July 11-17
* 'Catholic school systems to face more funding transparency' SMH July 6. Very topical, given Turnbull's revelations.
JUNE 2020
* And for the last day in June: 'Growth in money for private school students outstrips public schools' SMH and The Age report on Trevor Cobbold's latest.
* Significant: 'Future proofing Australian students with 'new credentials' Sandra Milligan further reports on the Beyond Atar project.
* And more on the technology gap: 'Public school students 2.5 times more likely to be without home internet' SMH.
* Students 'need $1.1 billion to close remote-learning gap' SMH. Grattan Institute's Julie Sonnemann costs the catch-up tutoring needed for disadvantaged kids these last three months. See the Grattan report. My response is 'Kids are back at school, but some have fallen well behind' in Pearls and Irritations.
* 'Turnbull Exposes Rorting of School Funding by Catholic Church'. Trevor Cobbold digs deeper into Turnbull's book. Michael Furtado, in Pearls and Irritations, provides a different perspective.
* 'Indigenous children among those making best gains in Naplan testing over decade' The Guardian. Good news amidst many non-significant NAPLAN trends.
* 'Education chief blames ATAR for 'profoundly distorting' final years of school' NESA Chair, Peter Shergold. Absabloodylutely!

MAY 2020

* Amidst all the virus news comes a timely broad view: 'How COVID-19 exposed the fault lines in Australian education' Jordan Baker in the Nine print media. And related to this: 'Full-time school to put extra pressure on transport, roads', a report which includes some startling facts.
* An excellent and unfolding recent history of school funding is being written by Trevor Cobbold. He has completed a draft for comment on the Abbott to Turnbull era. Trevor also reports on a New study shows that the social composition of schools strongly influences school results
* 'The Sydney schools exceeding new enrolment caps by almost 1000 students' Interesting table. SMH. My guess is that the over-subscribed schools are high ICSEA and the reverse for the under-subscribed.
* SMH reports: 'Mid-year school reports to go ahead, without controversial A-E grading' How on earth will everyone cope?!
* 'Catholic Church duplicitous and unaccountable in needs-based school funding says Malcolm Turnbull' Quentin Dempster in both the New Daily and P&I.
* 'How schools have become political pawns' Jane Caro in The Saturday Paper

APRIL 2020

* 'Federal payday gives NSW private schools reward to return to class' SMH April 29. Also in Guardian. At first sight this is just bringing forward some of next year's funding BUT my guess is that next year they'll (yet again) seek a one-off grant to help 'adjust'. So it is a problem!
* Much more evidence emerging on the equity impact of online learning, reported by ABC News and the SMH. Dorothy Hoddinott's piece in the SMH raises problems around the HSC.
* The virus has brought out wonderful writing about teachers and schools. The end of Craig Petersen's piece in the SMH should be displayed in every school foyer. And don't miss Lyndsay Connors' Learning the value of teachers' work in Pearls and irritations.....long memories combined with longstanding truths 'Independent schools demand federal government withdraws threat and guarantees ‘vital’ funding' Guardian, April 13. It seems that Christian Schools Australia isn't 'turning the other cheek'. 'Don't waste a good crisis, even in schooling' - Dean Ashenden points to some strutural reform possibilities in Inside Story... as do I in Pearls and Irritations. Tom Greenwell offers proof that we can do things differently: 'Why do Canada’s schools outperform Australia’s?' in Inside Story. The message of all three is simple: don't give the non-gov school sector any funding.

MARCH 2020

* 'Private schools brace for dropouts' and 'Catholic school fees to be waived for struggling families' Two recent stories in the SMH. More of this about Victorian schools in The Age. With day care being fully-funded is the non-gov school sector lobbying for a bail-out? * 'Independent schools may ask for money to survive COVID-19 crisis' SMH. By any standards this is quite breathtaking! See Edu-fact check (left) * 'Private schools 'not saving' the public purse' The SMH reports on some of the findings of The school money-go-round. Also, a cut-down version of The school money-go-round has just been published at Inside Story and an even shorter version in P&I. Not related, I'm sure is this story in the SMH: 'Private school funding under threat if schools close against government advice on coronavirus' But it isn't often that any Australian government threatens the non-gov sector. * Now I'm not an expert but....with 'schools and the virus: it’s not just an open-or-shut case' SMH March 20. And I'm kicking myself for not mentioning that schools with substantial personalised learning in place are perfectly placed. * Watch the young public school girls on Q & A articulating the unfairness of school funding: https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1237157881138405376. How about this for double standards: NSW public schools get beaten up for not spending all their funding but the '$1.2 billion private school 'choice fund' can be used as investment nest egg' (SMH). Meanwhile 'An arms race for prestige': The billion-dollar private school building boom' Hmmm. * More unfolding on the looming end of the 'Prague Spring' in NSW schools. Following the NSW Premier's announcements the Minister (Sarah Mitchell) has waded in with more detail. The reaction from principals and others soon followed. Then the Minister backtracked a tad, saying it wasn't about punishing schools. Then back to the Premier who says schools need to earn their 'independence'. My contribution is in P&I. One thing is sure: meaningless, unproven and counter-productive measures of school quality are back! Meanwhile, non-government schools who manage to avoid such unproductive accountability are set for a multibillion-dollar funding boost. And to spend as they wish. Who is really watching the elites? * In the Conversation Helen Proctor and Jessica Gerrard show how More money for private schools won’t make Australia’s education fairer, no matter how you split it . This article comes at the same time as Trevor Cobbold's latest analysis: 'Private schools continue to have a massive resource advantage over public schools'. * The problems around school funding just don't go away, and also in public schools, it seems: 'Sydney schools sitting on up to $5000 in unspent money per student'. This little beat-up has emerged every few years for over two decades....read the full article.

FEBRUARY 2020

'Tanya Plibersek cites 'visible inequality' at schools in call for fair education funding' The Guardian. Mostly soothing, but what has really changed? * If you want a headline or two put on a summit. That's worked for the SMH today Feb 20. Sydney University's Rachel Wilson has deservedly stolen the show with her op ed ''Your country needs you!' It's high time for a drive to recruit better teachers' as well as the SMH report on this topic. The SMH also reports on the NSW Premier's keynote: 'Premier says status quo 'no longer tenable' in schools, flags reforms' but SMH editor Lisa Davies gently pours a bit of cold water over hasty ideas. Mark Latham, take note! Fun and games. Chris Bonner's longer response is in P&I. The Australian February 12, reports on former Macquarie Group chief executive, Nicholas Moore as the new chair of the National Catholic Education Commission. He replaces former South Australian Labor eduction minister and lobbyist, Greg Crafter . Again from Trevor Cobbold and well-reported in the media, a new research paper (based on OECD) on the poor allocation of teacher and other resources to low SES schools.

JANUARY 2020

It's January: the awful fires running through the school vacation have seen most other stories take a back seat, but here are a few:* Trevor Cobbold has issued a short paper following a recent call to end exemptions for private schools in paying local government rates....untouched business arising from clear misuse of charitable status.* Also, another top read from Tom Greenwell 'Less choice, less affordability, the private school subsidy paradox' - in Inside Story.

- DECEMBER 2019
  
  Again we celebrate the top 20 HSC schools. But top at what? When ranked by ICSEA the order doesn't change much. Schools and teachers matter, and kids deserve credit - but if we want to know about school results check out the kids walking in. ‘School’ results are increasingly created by family background. What stupid country would persist with a system like this?
  
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- 'Back Back to basics' is not our education cure - it's where we've gone wrong' say Richard Holden and Adrian Piccoli in The Age. And I comment on 'School fixes and fantasy' in P&I.
  - * 'HSC subject hierarchy can lower students' horizons, says study' SMH reports on Phil Roberts' important research. Matches well with my research released at the start of the year: 'Winners and losers': school shopping widens education gap'
  - * 'Education ministers approve ambitious plan to track students' learning' SMH reports on the Council of Ministers meeting. More to come....
  - * For something completely different read 'Levelling the Playing Field', an account of inequality in Columbian education. Or is it completely different?
  - * Follow-up commentary on PISA from Margaret Merga (ABC News), more from Jordan Baker (SMH), Pasi Sahlberg (SMH), Natassia Chrysanthos (SMH)....and my hopefully wider perspective in P&I. But the best 'wider perspective' read at the moment is Dean Ashenden's What is to be done about Australian schooling? in Inside Story. A superb essay.
  - * It's PISA time again, time to re-run what it again shows and the responses from the usual suspects. The headlines tell bits of the story: 'Australian students' maths performance falls to OECD average in worst result since 2000' The Guardian. 'Australian students behind in maths, reading and science, PISA education study shows' ABC News. 'Alarm bells': Australian students record worst result in global tests' SMH etc. Stand by for a deluge of opinion, with Jordan Baker first off the block with 'The PISA problem: 'The rest of the world is moving away from us' (SMH). Dan Teehan says we should get back to basics - and it's downhill from there. Comments like "alarm bells" and "wake-up call" are in full flight.
  - * 'Transparency fears as My School overhaul considered' SMH reports on the forthcoming Education Council deliberations. Hope they don't change too much...might do me out of a 'job'!
  - * 'Poorer and regional Australian students lag behind richer peers, report finds' If the Guardian report is any guide, this probably expensive Deloitte report offers almost nothing new about the problem and 'solutions'....other than the economy getting a possible $200bn boost etc etc.
  - NOVEMBER 2019
  - * 'Abused and intimidated': Australia a world leader in school bullying' SMH Nov 29. Another league table with an unhappy story. Interesting to see this a day after '50,000 children missing from school: Australia’s 'hidden disaster' revealed', a report in The Age. Is it just me or can others see the connection between the two stories?
- * 'Two in five parents regret the school they chose for their kids' SMH reports on a CIS survey which is interesting as far as it goes...which is not far enough.
- * SMH analyses the long journeys to school for selective school students, with an additional report on the impact of partially selective schools. But this is just the tip of the iceberg of the total numbers commuting long distances to school.
- * 'Don’t blame the teacher: student results are (mostly) out of their hands.' An interesting study of twins reported by Callie Little in The Conversation.
- * 'Private school funding growth rate almost doubles state school growth rate' ...despite a slowdown in enrolment growth. The Age. Not new news but good to see it get oxygen.
- And this may help explain, in a symbolic way: 'Government schools excluded from Coalition's $10m drought education funding' The Guardian
- OCTOBER 2019
- * 'New vision for school system means students wouldn't need to choose between theory and skills' Jordan Baker's longer report on the NSW curriculum review. SMH. Also - a 'please explain' podcast. Also (earlier) 'ATAR has failed students, universities and business, so let's replace it by 2025' Adrian Piccoli in the SMH.
- * 'The debate over private schooling has missed its impact on city traffic' ABC News Interesting research puts some numbers around what we know.
- * 'Choosing a school for your kid? Here’s how other Australian parents do it' Jen Jackson in The Conversation.
- * Co-ed versus single-sex schools: 'It's about more than academic outcomes' Cenina Ribeira in The Guardian. A good update on what is otherwise a pointless topic (After 10 years as P of a boys' school I can say that)
- * 'Private schools must learn to live without government funding' Crispin Hull in The Canberra Times.
- * 'NAPLAN results to be demoted on MySchool website' The Age.
- * Another perspective on ending private schools. New Daily. Also, Brigid Delaney asks us to 'Imagine a city with no elite private schools or prohibitive house prices – I've lived there' Guardian.
· * Julie Sonnemann (Grattan) writes: 'There's an easy fix to improve teaching and lift student performance' Nine media. We've been there before in NSW but arguably didn't do it
SEPTEMBER 2019
- * Has NAPLAN failed its most important test? Essential read: Tom Greenwell puts NAPLAN in its wider context in Inside Story
- * UK Labour wants to integrate all private schools into the state sector. The Eton old boy (Boris) says it would cost 7 billion pounds ($A12.8bn). It raises many interesting questions as I explain in Pearls and Irritations. Also Paul Kidson in The Conversation scans the legal/constitutional protections for private schools in Australia, and raises wider equity issues.
- * 'America’s Wildly Successful Socialist Experiment' The Atlantic. Does this conver a message about school system competition? I think so!
- * 'Myths about teachers’ pay are derailing the Australian debate' Julie Sonnemann and Jonathan Nolan in Inside Story.
- * 'Private schools: to have and have not' Interesting data and even some insights from the ANZ bank. Also more data on school enrolments from Zoran Endekov in The Conversation.
- * 'Business lobby urges radical overhaul of school funding based on job success' Gee, that's a variation on a fairly useless theme.
- * 'Back to the drawing board: NAPLAN overhaul on the cards in three-state review' It's a bit like climate change: the states drive the much needed changes while the federal government sits on its hands.
- * Engines of Privilege review – a challenge to Britain's private schools? Melissa Benn in The Guardian (UK).
- * So Labor now supports the Coalition's choice and affordability slush fund! Put your hand up if you are surprised. Thought not!
- * 'NAPLAN results show Year 3 students perform better than Year 9 in writing, and it’s a worrying trend' Stewart Riddle in The Convo. This is one of the better reports on NAPLAN results. Wanna know my take? Year 9 probably don't take NAPLAN seriously!
* 'Business lobby urges radical overhaul of school funding based on job success' Gee, that's a variation on a fairly useless theme.
* 'Back to the drawing board: NAPLAN overhaul on the cards in three-state review' It's a bit like climate change: the states drive the much needed changes while the federal government sits on its hands.
* Engines of Privilege review – a challenge to Britain's private schools? Melissa Benn in The Guardian (UK).
* So Labor now supports the Coalition's choice and affordability slush fund! Put your hand up if you are surprised. Thought not!
* 'NAPLAN results show Year 3 students perform better than Year 9 in writing, and it’s a worrying trend' Stewart Riddle in The Convo. This is one of the better reports on NAPLAN results. Wanna know my take? Year 9 probably don't take NAPLAN seriously!
AUGUST 2019

* Goodness how time flies, it's NAPLAN reporting season again. And apparently results progressively decline from Year 3 to Year 9. What a surprise! Once again: serious hand-wringing, without any attempt to join all the dots. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Edu-comment A nice quote: "the more diverse we are when we gather, the more we stimulate, challenge and goad one another to greater heights of imagination and creativity". Professor Ian Harper quoted by Ross Gittins. So what happens when our schools become even less inclusive and diverse? On the same note, this reflection from Bruce Elder is worth reading.

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And * Lyndsay Connors lays out an exquisite yet troubling analysis of the abandoned role of government in educating our children. A must-read! Also she shows how we are now reaping the whirlwind created by consumers and providers in school education.

* August is quiet on the school front but two articles in The Age on August 5 tell a story. The first shows that the barriers some kids face in finding a school ('The students with disabilities excluded from our schools' Melissa Raine in The Age). The second 'Competition fierce for places at private Melbourne girls' schools' is the flipside. Maybe the families in the first article could tell the families in the second about a real problem?

JULY 2019

* 'Almost half of Adelaide public high school students live outside their zone' ABC News. And a closer look soon reveals why: The most affected schools are usually higher ICSEA schools.
* 'Only three Australian high schools able to overcome disadvantage: study' SMH etc. Another brilliant (?) piece from CIS, an organisation which not only ignores the elephant in the room but knows how to tip-toe around its droppings!

* Looks like the debate about selective schools has reached WA: Perth Modern School increasingly out of reach for disadvantaged gifted students, experts warn ABC News
* Victorian state schools shortchanged under 'escape clause' The Age, July 8. Trevor Cobbold shows how Victoria, like the other states, are effectively cheating on their school funding obligations. See his report. My current work is showing that the states have a big incentive NOT to properly fund their schools. Watch this space.
* 'Not spoilers, wreckers or lunatics': Mark Latham sets sights on schools' Love this tongue-in-cheek headline in the SMH report. Looks like Latham has found a fools-gold mine of discredited ideas.

JUNE 2019

* Trevor Cobbold has once again nailed the funding issue with his new report using latest figures. The facts about school funding in Australia take inflation into account and show that public schools are seriously under-funded. Small wonder: 'A private school gets a castle-library, while we fundraise for public school music lessons' from Selina Ribeireo in the Guardian.
* 'Sending new teachers to difficult schools could be driving them out of the profession' Interesting report in The Guardian.
* With Piccoli and Stokes out of the way the NSW government is foraging around in the conservative treasure chest of useless ideas. After the selective school decision we now will have more monitoring and control (read Jordan Baker's comment). Kellie Bousfield in The Conversation explains how 'giving schools extra money only if they meet ‘outcomes’ can hamper teaching standards'
* 'Country kids left behind as education gap widens' Comprehensive report in The Age. Yes, but which country kids? And did you know that kids have to attend school to learn? This stunning finding is in a SMH news report on attandance rates.

* Trevor Cobbold has once again nailed the funding issue with his new report using latest figures. The facts about school funding in Australia take inflation into account and show that public schools are seriously under-funded. Small wonder: 'A private school gets a castle-library, while we fundraise for public school music lessons' from Selina Ribeireo in the Guardian.
* 'Sending new teachers to difficult schools could be driving them out of the profession' Interesting report in The Guardian.
* With Piccoli and Stokes out of the way the NSW government is foraging around in the conservative treasure chest of useless ideas. After the selective school decision we now will have more monitoring and control (read Jordan Baker's comment). Kellie Bousfield in The Conversation explains how 'giving schools extra money only if they meet ‘outcomes’ can hamper teaching standards'
* 'Country kids left behind as education gap widens' Comprehensive report in The Age. Yes, but which country kids? And did you know that kids have to attend school to learn? This stunning finding is in a SMH news report on attandance rates.
* Trevor Cobbold reviews some of the latest reports which show the how money matters for the achievement of low SES students.
* Ah, but all is not lost it seems: 'Plan to help state's gifted students thrive' - the SMH reports on the NSW government's sop to those not selected. A good idea if its introduction will see a reduction in the number of selective schools....AND if the new opportunities for students were personalised.
* 'Complete surprise': new selective school Berejiklian captain's call. SMH June 6. Complete opposition sums up the main response, incl from the SMH.

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Edu-comment New selective school in SW Sydney? An unbelievably stupid decision! Our Institutionalised Separation paper shows the likely impact. For most local students, this new school will turn disadvantage into disaster. It is hard to find a decision that so obviously flies in the face of evidence! Read more of my response in Pearls and Irritations.

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MAY 2019
* Seven years after the Gonski reforms, why is school funding still so inequitable? - asks Jordan Baker in the SMH on election day. It is a pity Labor hasn't asked this question.
* Peter Goss follows up with a punchy article in the SMH. Meanwhile, Adrian Piccoli wants a review of the 80:20 funding: 'No logic': calls for a review of state-federal school funding split' ....as does an editorial in the SMH.
* 'Private school funding growth outstrips public schools' despite Gonski' SMH etc. Well done Grattan Institute (and Jordan Baker at SMH), some real issues at last.

Edu-comment: After the early work done by Bernie Shepherd and Chris Bonner on these matters it is so rewarding to see our findings confirmed, improved and expanded by the Grattan Institute, amongst others. Good work from Peter Goss and Julie Sonnemann. More comments in Pearls and Irritations.

* Finally, a substantial media scan of the big equity issues which have remained (and shall remain) off the election agenda.
* 'Christian schools urge parents to vote for religious freedom on Saturday' SMH. Good idea...and vote to cut themselves free of the wicked State...and its school funding.
* 'Some Catholic schools in key marginals get more government aid than public schools' Guardian. Indeed they do, and in many other places as well!
* Dan Teehan as education minister is singularly unimpressive, but he is right to lean on the states to do their bit for public schools.
* This election is even more depressing than usual. So read my take from the school education perspective and become more depressed! True, Labor has tackled some hard questions, but they have a long way to go.
* Is this a solution to the selective school problem? 'The battle over who gets into elite public high schools' Education Week (US)
APRIL 2019
* This is a good read out of the US: 'The Benefits of Socioeconomically and Racially Integrated Schools and Classrooms' - from The Century Foundation. Timely reinforcement of the benefits of bridging and linking.
* Very interesting, if brief, publication Improving Educational Equity in Australia - just out from the Gonski Institute. It will help open the door to conversations about policy options. There is substantial other work addressing these themes currently under way.
* 'Public schools actually outperform private schools, and with less money' David Zyngier and Pennie White in The Conversation.
* Some good pre-election pieces by Pete Goss in the Convo. Grattan also says 'Cut Catholic and private school fund, raise teaching ATARs' ... reported in the SMH.
* My School is updated this week (April 10), showing 2018 data and 2017 finance data. I have a little team sorting out what it tells us. Watch this space!
* 'Very suspicious': the schools cracking down on enrolment fraud SMH
* Extended piece on NAPLAN etc by Jordan Baker in the SMH. Related and bigger issues addressed by James Ludwig in an AARE blog.

MARCH 2019

* Trevor Cobbold shows how under new agreements public schools will only be ever funded at 91% of the national resource standard at best, while private schools are guaranteed to be funded at 100% of the standard or more by 2023.Most state governments have walked away from their funding obligations. It threatens huge costs to individuals, society and the national economy. * Following the corruption aound uni entry in the US, Kellie Bousfield shows how 'Aussie parents are under pressure to buy their kids academic advantage too'The Convo * Conflict of interest: The AEU has raised concerns that the previous head of ACARA is now working with Pearson * 'Funding Increases for Private Schools Continue to Outstrip Increases for Public Schools' A very significant contribution: Trevor Cobbold creates a 'level playing field' comparison of school funding to come up with alarming figures and trends. * SMH reports on some submissions to the current review of NAPLAN. Funny how the private school peak group seems at odds with principals! On the matter of testing, the SMH reports that PISA is set to change. * 'The ups and downs of school fees' We are going to hear more about school fees. Here is my wider perspective in Policy Forum.

* '$500m funding for new private school classrooms'SMH. So there really IS an election soon! * Peter Goss gives a pre-election school funding update in The Conversation. * 'Parents threaten to chain themselves to classrooms over plan to slash enrolments'.ABC News. In reality this is a story about governments trying to deal with the massive diseconomies created by choice. * Trevor Cobbold has been refused access to data about distribution of funds to Catholic schools. Read this and laugh, then weep, then get angry. * How to choose the right school. Published on a Sunday! on a related note, read 'The move in, move out families gaming Melbourne school zones'
FEBRUARY 2019

Very significant: 'Why school shopping is killing off the local high school' SMH Feb 25. Then, almost as a follow-up, 'It drags down the average': School shopping has a cost, experts warn. SMH, Feb 27
* Trevor Cobbold has picked up on a Joint Committee's criticism of the Federal Ed Dept monitoring (?) of school funding.
* Tom Greenwell points to pre-school education as the next great social policy reform. Inside Story
* Three reports from the SMH "Schools' Summit" addressed forthcoming changes to the HSC, ATAR and university entry - also the challenges facing rural schools (yes, but which ones?).
* 'Private schools to reap hundreds of thousands in extra payments' SMH Feb
* 'Public Schools are Defrauded by Billions Under New Funding Agreements' writes Trevor Cobbold in Pearls and Irritations. Original here.
* 'Deals mean fewer schools will meet funding target' SMH Feb 3

'Winners and losers': school shopping widens education gap' Jordan Baker's report in Fairfax on Chris Bonnor’s latest research through CPD.
See Separating scholars: how Australia abandons its struggling schools. Also summary report in Inside Story and in Pearls and Irritations
'Money matters for student outcomes' Trevor Cobbold refers to new evidence from the US. P&I Feb 1

'State and territory governments increase funding for private schools' SMH Feb 1

JANUARY 2019

'Questions loom over legal validity of school funding' Anna Patty in Fairfax. DOGS Mark2 anyone?

Lyndsay Connors: 'Curiouser and curiouser, the marketing of private schools' in P&I As usual Lyndsay raises the issues others miss.
'The 'Uberfication' of education: warning about commercial operators' Sun Herald. A timely wake-up call.
'Are we really running schools like factories?' asks Tom Greenwell in Inside Story. Tom visits Lindfield Learning village, opening this year, and tells the story of innovative schools.
'Are Australian classrooms really the most disruptive in the world? Not if you look at the whole picture' says Jonathon Sergeant in the Convo

DECEMBER 2018

he ABC presents a sometimed silly sometimed deep analysis of sachool choice.
A nice wrap up of 2018 by Bronwyn Hinz in The Conversation.
NSW continues to distance itself from the Morrison government, this time over Gonski.
'HSC rankings don’t show how effective schools are'. Jo Tovey in The Guardian. Other reports on HSC results are almost as silly as usual.
Media reports the findings of the selective schools review. The review has been underwhelming but they did as well as they had been asked. Watch this space.
It isn't often we see a problem and a solution in the same media on the same day: SMH reports the education ministers are worried about how the mix of online AND pen and paper NAPLAN results might look. Rob Stokes has the solution: 'Let's end our neo-liberal school testing fixation'.
Lyndsay Connors and Jim McMorrow remind us that the Gonski recommendations need to be up there in lights for next year's election.

'Too much being taught' says federal minister Dan Tehan about curriculum....but his other comments stand at odds with Gonski 2.0 and maybe the current NSW review. What price yet another curriculum cultural war early next year?
'Two myths fuel the pressure to excel in the ATAR' by Andrew Martin in Fairfax. More good reason for a rethink.
'Significant sacrifices: private school parents worry about high fees' Fairfax, Dec 5. Does this sound familiar? It's a form of push polling: do the survey, raise the anxiety, increase the pressure. Quite routine. Ho Hum!
NSW could pilot 'morning and afternoon schools' Rob Stokes says. SMH Dec 5. Not with conventional schools it couldn't...but a nice stimulus to rethink how we should 'do school'.

NOVEMBER 2018

'Where you live is determining your school's NAPLAN score' SMH Nov 28. And the researchers have shown that this is worsening. Read the analysis by the Macquarie Uni academics. A wonderful application of geographical information system technology. Adrian Picolli comments. Note that the research doesn't (and can't) take into account non-local enrolments - a big factor which worsens the findings.
When spending on public schools just isn't: Trevor Cobbold challenges what is counted and reveals who loses. See 'Public chools are swindled by billions under new education agreements' and the Fairfax report on his findings.
ABC News has completed exhaustive research on school funding and released the findings today November 22. See 'Counting the cost of the education revolution' in its web version. The interactive section (just type in your own school and see how you stand) is brilliant. It raises questions to be answered about schools in all sectors. Both Lyndsay Connors and I comment in P&I. This debate has only just begun.

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Edu-comment: The investigation by the ABC takes up where Bernie Shepherd and I left off. Our first report on this was over two years ago and since then given oxygen by the Centre for Policy Development. More mainstream media and researchers should be doing this work - but then again, they don't all have the talents of people like Inga Ting !

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Trevor Cobbold has taken a close look at OECD's Equity in Education and it isn't good news for Australia. Trevor's report tells how Australia has one of the most socially segregated schools systems in the world. See it also in Pearls and Irritations. Trevor also highlights yet another report which shows that funding public schools matters!
The ongoing war over discrimination involving LBQTI kids and teachers hasn't gone away. An Anglican school head tries to explain it all, while Cathy Sherry says it doesn't make sense.

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Edu-comment: The Anglican schools say the discrimination is needed so the schools can maintain their ethos and values. I did asked whether this means that chaplains in secular schools should be given the axe. Another reality is that if we are going to battle discrimination we have a long fight ahead!

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Sam Maiden outlines 'How the Catholic schools sector outplayed the Coalition' Guardian
Detailed report in Good Weekend (Fairfax) on the growing number of Big Picture schools in Australia. Tells it from many perspectives...worth a read.

OCTOBER 2018

Advantaged schools get first call on the best teachers. Media release from SOS. Trevor has revealed implications from a recent PISA report. Significant!
'Travelling tutors could bridge the $50 billion bush education gap' SMH reports on the Economic impact of improving regional, rural and remote education in Australia - the first Gonski Institute production.
Latest from Grattan Institute has created many headlines: 'Attending public or private school makes no difference in Naplan progress' in The Guardian. 'NSW falls behind...' SMH. 'Why some NSW students are a full term ahead' SMH How much can we make of all this?
Lyndsay Connors puts the record straight on the gay discrimination front: 'Morality, marketing or a strange convergence of both?' P&I.
Back to funding: Natasha Robinson (ABC) investigates current issues. Trevor Cobbold crunches the numbers in a telling analysis. Adrian 'Piccoli accuses Catholics of bullying over school funding' SMH.
Scott Morrison's policy gymnastics on the gay students issue are a source of fun.
Christian Schools Australia argues that their schools are being pushed into a corner. Also see Edu-fact check (left). As a recent poll indicates, they are way out of step with public opinion on the expelling students issue.
'Religious freedom review enshrines right of schools to turn away gay children and teachers' Various reports from the SMH, ABC. The Guardian sums it up. This issue of private school discrimination against LGBTI community will get an airing.

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Edu-comment: Two comments on the Ruddock review:

1. Current discrimination is now, after the plebiscite, way out of step with public opinion.

2. The freedom of private schools to discriminate is unconscionable, given their level of public funding. But...this could be a debate we had to have...triggered by those who probably didn't want any debate at all. More in Pearls and Irritations.

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'Labor pledges a $14bn public school boost' Too much is unknown to get too excited. How does it relate to other pledges, Gonski 1.0, 2.0 etc?
'Premier calls archbishop in Rome over funding' Yet another pollie jumps to the Catholic schools lobby.
Getting away from money, be sure to read Phil Lambert's 'Students need different skills for a changing world', a timely comment.

'Religious freedom review enshrines right of schools to turn away gay children and teachers' Various reports from the SMH, ABC. This issue of private school discrimination against LGBTI community will get an airing.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Here is a catch-up on events for the rest of September (viewed from afar).
- Trevor Cobbold has taken a closer look at PISA participation and what it means. Read his significant report.
- The Guardian reports on Australia's huge spending on private education. Lyndsay Connors explains why we need a reality check. ABC News adds up the billions to come from the Coalition's recent deal.....as does The Guardian. Meanwhile Rob Stokes fires a shot across his federal colleagues' bows.....with Adrian Piccoli following up with a broadside! For public schools the situation may be worsening as it seems that the states are fudging the figures in their attempt to reach their SRS funding commitments.
- In The Guardian, Lyndsay Connors provides what has to be essential reading on the wider context.
- And the outstanding commentary and analysis just keeps coming. Grattan's Pete Goss does a demolition job on claims by Catholic school peak groups about their schools' need for more funding to maintain choice.....and the Chair of the National School Resourcing Board says that the extra funding wasn't the Board's idea.
- The Fairfax papers have reported on projected stagnation of Catholic school enrolments.

Funding Wars:

The headings of the following articles tell their own story. The Fairfax media journalists and editorials are consistently critical:

Special funding for Catholic Schools worsens dispute it was meant to settle editorial, Australian Financial Review, 23 September 2018 at:https://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/special-funding-for-catholic-schools-worsens-dispute-it-was-meant-to-settle-20180923-h15qkm
‘Catholic funds boost ‘excessive’, editorial, The Age at
Jennifer Hewett, ‘Tehan seems excessively optimistic’ in Australian Financial Review, 24 September 2018 at https://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/education-minister-dan-tehan-excessively-optimistic-about-solving-school-funding-20180923-h15qll
Michael Koziol, ‘ Catholic funds boost ‘excessive’, Grattan Institute analysis, The Age, 24 September 2018 at https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-government-giving-catholic-schools-10-times-what-they-need-analysis-20180923-p505gz.html
‘Buying school peace with temporary cash’ Australian Financial R3view, 25 September 2018, editorial, p. 38 at https://www.afr.com/opinion/editorials/buying-school-peace-with-temporary-prosperity-20180924-h15t46
‘School Funding deal lacks transparency, editorial The Age, 25 September 2018 at https://www.theage.com.au/national/school-funding-deal-lacks-transparency-20180924-p505ps.html
‘Catholic schools tipped to Stagnate’, Henrietta Cook at https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/catholic-enrolments-set-to-stagnate-over-next-decade-20180926-p5067m.html

The Murdoch Press, not unsurprisingly, gives columns to Catholic system lobbyist from the Victorian Catholic Education Commission, former liberal MP, Stephen Elder and his attempt to answer critics. The Australian which is behind a pay wall, had these articles on the Funding Wars:

‘Catholic Schools to Fight for State Cash’, The Australian, 26 September 2018 and
Rosie Lewis, ‘Catholics swipe aty predictable complaints’ over funding deal’, The Australian, 25 September 2018
But The Guardian provides perhaps the most extensive analysis of the ‘funding wars’ issue with the possibility that the extra grants may not get through the Senate :

·         ‘ Greens seek to disallow big chunk of extra funding to Catholic schools’ 21 September 2018 at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/21/greens-seek-to-disallow-big-chunk-of-extra-funding-to-catholic-schools

·         Lyndsay Connors, ‘Coalition recycles old nonsense with business-as-usual schools deal’, 23 September 2018 at:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/22/coalition-recycles-old-nonsense-with-business-as-usual-schools-package

·         Coalition admits states could derail its $4.6bn for Catholic and independent schools on 23 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/23/coalition-admits-states-could-derail-its-46bn-for-catholic-and-independent-schools

·         Victoria's Catholic education head appears to claim credit for minister's scalp on 24 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/24/victorias-catholic-education-head-appears-to-claim-credit-for-ministers-scalp and

·         States seek public education deal after Coalition's Catholic school handout on 26 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/26/states-seek-public-education-deal-after-coalitions-catholic-school-handout

·         Government threatens to withhold billions in school funding unless states back new deal at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/27/government-threatens-to-withhold-billions-in-school-funding-unless-states-back-new-deal

Following recent focus on selective schools it's interesting to see early signs of a rethink about school choice. A few days ago: 'School shopping': The trend leaving Sydney's high schools half-empty' Now 'New out-of-area policy to crack down on school shoppers' and 'Maria sent her daughter to the so-called 'bad school and she hasn't looked back' Both SMH, Sept 8.

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Edu-comment: I'm starting to research the public cost of school choice and duplication of schools. So far I've found that competing small gov and non-gov schools in 100 NSW towns cost governments (state and federal) $30m extra each year. Watch this space!

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And it's on again, the school funding protection racket: SMH and Guardian report on pending deals with Catholic schools.
'Why Scott Morrison sends his daughters to private school' SMH and also in The Guardian. Values free...John Howard circa 2004. Here we go again....
September 3 Good idea - new standards for teachers in NSW, including emotional intelligence and commitment to public education values etc. And a bad idea: St Ives North PS gifted and talented program. Half the students to come from out of area, stuffing up everyone else. Where are their public education values?

AUGUST 2018

Media Watch

· ‘ Greens seek to disallow big chunk of extra funding to Catholic schools’ 21 September 2018 at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/21/greens-seek-to-disallow-big-chunk-of-extra-funding-to-catholic-schools

· Lyndsay Connors, ‘Coalition recycles old nonsense with business-as-usual schools deal’, 23 September 2018 at:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/22/coalition-recycles-old-nonsense-with-business-as-usual-schools-package

· Coalition admits states could derail its $4.6bn for Catholic and independent schools on 23 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/23/coalition-admits-states-could-derail-its-46bn-for-catholic-and-independent-schools

· Victoria's Catholic education head appears to claim credit for minister's scalp on 24 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/24/victorias-catholic-education-head-appears-to-claim-credit-for-ministers-scalp and

· States seek public education deal after Coalition's Catholic school handout on 26 September at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/26/states-seek-public-education-deal-after-coalitions-catholic-school-handout

· Government threatens to withhold billions in school funding unless states back new deal at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/27/government-threatens-to-withhold-billions-in-school-funding-unless-states-back-new-deal