Tag Archives Teaching

91.2% of Class Time in Their Seats. USA Today is reporting on a new comprehensive study of elementary school classrooms that is being published in this week’s Science magazine. Aside from not being overly engaged, the study of over 2,500 classrooms showed that “The typical child in the USA stands only a one-in-14 chance of having a consistently rich, supportive…

According to reports, TEACHING students would not graduate from university unless they passed national skills tests, under a Labor plan to improve literacy and numeracy in Australian schools. Source: Labor plan to lift skills of teachers. Theage.com.au  

I think it is a big step forward, and it should have happened 20 years ago

Dr. Ken Boston

Philosophy in schools. Philosophy is about asking childlike questions - how do we know the world exists? How do we know it hasn't just started existing? Why can't we go back in time? So why not teach philosophy in schools? It doesn't happen much in this country (it doesn't much happen anywhere) but it does go on in Queensland, and…

Andrew Leigh has a rivetting outline and discussion on the merits of "merit pay" and its relationship to policy work on teacher effectiveness. Have a read and engage in the debate. Debating the merits of merit pay. Glenn Rowley and Lawrence Ingvarson have a piece in today’s Age, criticising my recent study on teacher effectiveness. It’s not online, so I’ve…

Teacher inquiry report now available. A unified, national approach to improve teacher education in Australia is the predominant theme of the House of Representatives Education and Vocational Training Committee's report on the inquiry into teacher education. The report, Top of the Class, makes a total of 12 recommendations. It proposes a powerful reform package of practical and achievable measures that…

Child as a learner. This is the first in a two part article which explores how young children learn languages and what teachers can do to help them and their parents to make this process more enjoyable and positive. It covers: when to start language learning; what stops children from learning; how children learn languages; getting parents involved; learning styles;…

Future of schooling online conference begins. The free 2nd ACEL/Microsoft online conference on the future of schooling will be active until midnight Sunday 19 November 2006. Access a wide range of papers by classroom teachers, school leaders and education academics and take part in discussion with education colleagues in Australia and around the world. There is NO COST for participating…

Teachers are not as smart as they were 20 years ago, an Australian study by economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan from the Australian National University concludes, in a finding that will reinforce concerns over declining classroom standards. The study used literacy and numeracy tests as the best proxy available for assessing teachers' academic abilities. Link: Teachers not so clever any…

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