Columnists articles

Equity in education is often viewed as equivalence or sameness. A more useful way to view equity is through the lens of ‘fairness’, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his new Teacher column.

This year, for the first time, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will assess global competence. In his latest Teacher column, OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher discusses what the assessment entails.

The increasing number of children enrolled into primary schools globally show there is great progress being made to improve the quality of education, Julia Gillard writes. Despite these achievements, there is still one group being left behind from all this progress: children with disabilities.

Raising the expected performance standard in each year of school and holding all teachers and students accountable for achieving these higher standards may not be the most effective way to improve levels of performance in Australian schools, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest Teacher column.

‘… teachers talked about how they can prepare today’s students for their future, rather than for our past.’ Teacher columnist Andreas Schleicher shares details of discussions from the recent Qudwa Global Teachers’ Forum, which brought together 800 educators.

There are good reasons to rethink how we organise the school curriculum. An alternative would be to structure the curriculum as a sequence of proficiency levels unrelated to age or year level, according to Professor Geoff Masters AO.

Quality early grade reading is a key focus for the Global Partnership for Education. In her latest Teacher column, Julia Gillard explains how hundreds of millions of children around the world are denied the opportunity to learn to read, and shares how a focus on improving reading standards in Nepal is changing lives for the better.

The decision to move NAPLAN online provides an opportunity to place less emphasis on comparing the performances of schools and more emphasis on supporting student learning, according to Professor Geoff Masters AO.

It’s often asserted that some things can’t be measured, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest column. But how true is this? And if we can’t measure something, should we stop pretending we can teach or develop it?

'Too often in our schools, the time-bound curriculum does not deliver learning experiences matched to individuals’ present levels of achievement and learning needs,' Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest Teacher column.