By . Starting now, South Africa’s pupils will be able to obtain as little as 20% in mathematics in Grades 7, 8 and 9 and still progress to the next year of learning. This has been touted by many as evidence of an alleged inexorable decline in educational standards. More...
17 décembre 2016
Pressured South African schools had no choice but to relax maths pass mark
Why it doesn’t help – and may harm – to fail pupils with poor maths marks
By . Many South Africans were outraged by the recent announcement that for 2016, pupils in Grades 7 to 9 could progress to the next grade with only 20% in Mathematics. More...
Why Australia should trial the new phonics screening check
By , , and . In the face of unacceptably low literacy standards in Australian schools, the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) recently advocated a trial of the UK Phonics Screening Check (PSC) as one part of the solution. More...
New model for school funding that won’t break the budget
By and . Funding schools according to the needs of their students is something of a Holy Grail in Australia: something that we want very much but that has been very hard to achieve. More...
Should we do away with exams altogether? No, but we need to rethink their design and purpose
By and . Over the past two decades there have been frequent calls to abandon exams. The major criticisms of exams in schools and universities tend to relate to either the misuse or overuse of exams, and not to the sensible use of exams in partnership with other assessment tasks such as presentations, research reports, creative responses, essays, reflective journals etc. More...
PISA results don’t look good, but before we panic let’s look at what we can learn from the latest test
By and . The 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results have been released - and on first glance, it does not look good for Australia. More...
Government spending on education: the winners and losers
By and . When it comes to government spending, all parts of education are not treated equally, new research shows.
Over the last decade, spending on Vocational Education and Training (VET) has plummeted 4% below 2005 levels, while higher education expenditure soared by 45% in ten years. More...
How can we learn to reject fake news in the digital world?
By and . The circulation of fake news through social media in the 2016 presidential election has raised several concerns about online information. More...
The high cost of pursuing a dream to be a veterinarian
By . A 2013 national survey of DVM graduates found the average debt for students was as high as US$162,113. This is similar to the average educational debt of $180,723 accrued by physicians in 2015. However, physicians have much higher lifetime earnings than veterinarians, making it easier for them to manage their debt. More...
How your college friendships help you – or don’t
By . College students spend a tremendous amount of time with their friends. One estimate suggests that the average college student spends only 15 hours a week in class but 86 hours a week with his or her friends. More...
