Search Western Teacher by topic

Last month, Australia woke up to a barrage of reports about the latest NAPLAN results. Media coverage described an “epic fail”, “plummeting” performances and a “bleak picture”...But many of these analyses are misguided and unhelpful.

Wear it Purple Day will be held on 30 August this year and unites LGBTQIA+ youth and allies to shine a light on the thousands of schools, community organisations, universities and workplaces that are coming together to create a more inclusive future.

If you feel like you’re paying a lot for your child’s private school education, that’s because you probably are.

In Facing the Facts, Dr Carmen Lawrence told us that teachers and school leaders feel undervalued, disrespected and insecure, that the sheer volume of work is exacerbated by growing complexity, that burnout must be addressed - and that more system support is needed.

The more things change, the more (some) things stay the same.

School leaders have reported high levels of resilience despite facing the worst recorded levels of physical violence, threats of violence and bullying in the 13-year history of the annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey.

Cranbrook in Sydney’s east is one of the most elite boys schools in Australia. In March, the ABC’s Four Corners program aired claims some female teachers had been bullied by male staff and sexually harassed by students.

Public schools in Western Australia educate proportionally more than twice the number of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds, compared to private schools and 2.7 times the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) has urged the nation’s education ministers to make real progress on public school funding, with new research revealing the urgent need for the additional investment to lift results and combat debilitating teacher shortages and declining student and teacher wellbeing.

At a time when the future funding of public schools is being determined by negotiations between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments, a groundbreaking new research paper shows that increasing funding for public schools has positive impacts on student achievement and attainment.

Unpublished data provided to Save Our Schools by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that nearly four in five Australian students did not fully try in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment.

How many of us recall having to calculate our body-mass index (BMI) as children at school, prompting comparisons of our weight with that of our peers? Or perhaps we remember references to calories and diets in the classroom.

The teaching profession is in crisis. By 2025, the federal government estimates a shortfall of more than 4,000 high school teachers across the country.

Five private schools spent more on lavish new facilities in 2021 than governments spent on over half the public schools in the nation, according to a new report which reveals the full extent of the $30 billion capital divide in Australian schools.

The State School Teachers’ Union of WA has described last month’s funding announcement for public schools as a very positive first step.

As the latest generation of Western Australian children start their education journey it is time to stop talking and start acting to address the problems facing public education. The announcement of a new funding agreement bringing $1.6 billion into WA public schools is a good start but there is more to do.

The Australian Education Union has welcomed the recruitment campaign launched by the Prime Minister in late October, but said a far greater investment in the teaching profession and public schools was needed to end chronic shortages and ensure teachers have the time and support to meet the needs of every child.

We asked members to share their stories about the impact of class sizes and what smaller class sizes would mean for them and their students.

The latest Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Education at a Glance report shows that Australia significantly underperforms against most OECD countries when it comes to investing in public schools.

On World Teachers’ Day 2023 - 27 October – AEU branches across the country launched a national road trip to help secure full funding for public schools.