News

Some of you would have heard that late last year the New Zealand High Court ruled that its current voting age of 18 is discriminatory. This year, lawmakers in New Zealand are set to debate lowering the country’s voting age to 16.

Last month, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority released the 2022 NAPLAN comparative national results, which compared the 2022 NAPLAN results with those of previous years to show us how Australian students are tracking year on year.

Under pressure to produce lesson plans before being locked down, many teachers recognised the amount of unnecessary fat in the curriculum and when given the freedom to dismiss it, achieved great results.

Upon my return to teaching, what I witnessed inside classrooms was that from the get-go, core academic building blocks have been devalued and life-long skills have been compromised. In their place, starting at the foundation years, students are proactively taught to become activists.

I am delighted to share a compilation entitled 40 Valuable Books for Children and Teenagers, which includes works by many Australian authors, that you can buy, read or gift to young Australians.

…in both subtle and explicit ways, the National Curriculum encourages students to take political action. Education should be about acquainting students with the truth of all things and fostering in them a curiosity for learning.