Tag Archives: education

Addressing male violence at night requires a cultural shift

  The recent killing of 21-year-old Melbourne University student Joshua Hardy is another tragic story of unprovoked, alcohol-fuelled male violence in our community. It is an issue that has animated significant debate in politics and the media in recent years and has motivated the introduction of a range of criminal justice and licensing reforms nationally. […]

Let’s take a longer term view of employment prospects

The most recent Beyond Graduation Survey that was released last month found that, on average, 95 percent of Deakin graduates who were available for work were in full-time employment three years after graduation. It is therefore disappointing to see the claim made last week by the Good Universities Guide that Victorian university graduates have low […]

The future of religious education in Australia

    As the cultural fabric of Australian society becomes increasingly varied, Centre of Citizenship and Globalisation Research Fellow, Dr. Anna Halafoff, examines why education about diverse religions and spiritual beliefs in Australia’s state schools is lagging far behind other nations. Due to processes of globalisation, societies such as Australia have become increasingly culturally and […]

Not well enough informed to "give a Gonski"

Clever marketing strategies, well designed t-shirts, coloured cars, and a social media campaign have increasingly asked members of the Australian public to position themselves as "Giving a Gonski" (see http://igiveagonski.com.au/what-s-gonski/). To badge oneself with this term, is to demonstrate visible support to proposed changes to the funding of Australian schools. I want to give a […]

A question of faith: reforming religious education in schools

Last month, a Victorian tribunal found that the state department of education did not discriminate against children opting out of Special Religious Instruction (SRI) classes. The plaintiffs – parents who chose to opt their children out of the classes – argued the students were treated differently, on religious grounds, and were not being offered proper […]

From stalker to dobber: parenting on social media

My research and thinking, and even my identity with regard to social networking has evolved, but not in a way I have anticipated. Over the past three years, I have offered a number of conference addresses and keynote presentations focussed on the use of social media and networking in education. I have co-authored chapters in […]

Do schools and corporations mix?

 The furore following the announcement that Jenny Craig CEO Amy Smith would address a gathering of hundreds of girls’ school teachers has once again brought the uncomfortable issue of corporate presence in schools to light.  The public response – that school groups should not be seen to endorse the dieting industry – is certainly warranted. But such […]

How to avoid being the runt of the tertiary education litter

We need competition in supply and funding of individuals not institutions Julia Gillard wisely remarked last month that competition with Asia could “make us the runt of the litter” in terms of our educational performance. This provocative remark should trigger urgent application to government policy, given that increasingly unlike much of Asia, ours is a […]

Indonesian education aid works – don't cut it

Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures. Proposing to cut $400 million from Australia’s aid budget to Indonesia’s schools program looks pretty desperate. So one can only assume that having alienated damp Queensland voters and not just a few Victorians, Tony Abbott is trying to find a way out of opposing the one-off tax […]

Oils in education – From Countdown to the Ministry

In a recent newspaper article (Long way to top 10, The Age (Melbourne, Australia) – 23/10/ 2010), I was reminded of the Federal Minister for Education’s previous incarnation as the leader of the Australian band Midnight Oil. This memory of Peter Garrett in this capacity initiated a small glimmer of hope within my increasingly critical […]