Education news | schools | universities (via Mowser)

Shortage of funds hits where it hurts

Alicia Wood SMALL school halls, a lack of textbooks and inadequate teacher-to-child ratios. These are just some of the reasons parents want the government to concentrate funding on the public school system.

Solution for schools: $5bn Garrett's answer: fat chance

STEPHANIE PEATLING A $5 BILLION injection into the schools system is needed to give students a gold-standard education, but the Gillard government has refused to commit to the funding its education review recommends.

Primary colours of Nobel scientist

Nobel prize winner Professor Brian Schmidt.

Deborah Smith PRIMARY school teachers are the key to improving the performance of Australian students in science, according to the country's newest Nobel laureate, Brian Schmidt, who has put his money where his mouth is.

Useful stretches of the imagination

Rebecca Wardle with her design of an umbrella that covers a car door, called the Doorbrell.

Kim Arlington REBECCA WARDLE was ''looking for problems I could solve'' when it came to her major project for Higher School Certificate design and technology.

Disabled children pay the price as school bus dodges tolls

Pic shows traffic at 5.30pm heading north west along Victoria Rd near the Gladesville Bridge.

Anna Patty SOME children with disabilities are spending up to four hours commuting to and from school because transport operators are taking longer routes to avoid paying road tolls.

Australian students lag Asia by three years

Bianca Hall THE performance of Australian school students is up to three years behind the performance of children in Shanghai and lags well behind children in other Asian countries.

Power to applicants in uni numbers game

Jen Rosenberg UNIVERSITIES are adopting more aggressive recruitment tactics in an increasingly competitive marketplace, with experts calling for an overhaul of the admissions system to give students more control.

School tests criticised for apparent discrepancy

Bianca Hall NAPLAN's minimum standards have been criticised for allowing students performing two years below their year level to be considered by educators as meeting benchmarks.

No link between school cash and marks: study

Bianca Hall School funding levels are no guarantee of good student results, a report to be released today reveals.

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Parents in dark over loss of special needs transport records

Anna Patty INFORMATION about the safety needs of the state's disabled children has been lost from the database used to co-ordinate their transport to and from school.

Securing place at a private school can be costly lesson in economics

Alexandra Smith, Kim Arlington PARENTS are spending hundreds of dollars on non-refundable deposits to put their children's names on waiting lists for childcare spots they are unlikely to get.

Take the bus to the regatta, headmaster urges rowers

Andrew Stevenson GPS schools will charter hundreds of buses to send their boys to Penrith Lakes for this year's Head of the River contest in an attempt to avoid a catastrophe on the roads.

Fears reward scheme for teachers is being rushed

Anna Patty PLANS for a national teacher bonus scheme are set to fail according to a leading education authority who fears they are being rushed through without proper development.

Homework a breeze as pupils become masters

Kim Arlington IN THE library of Rose Bay Secondary College, nobody is grumbling about homework.

Extent of school sports injuries masked by lack of data

Nicole Hasham FIVE students died playing sport at NSW schools over the past decade. Another 15 suffered spinal injuries, loss of mental capacity or other permanent impairments, official data shows.

Shake-up for disabled students

Disabled students learn how to toe paint.

Jewel Topsfield Federal minister Brendan O'Connor flags a major shake-up of funding for students with a disability, saying the government acknowledged it could do better.

How learning can spark a leading light

Margaret Cook Founder of the Lighthouse Foundation Susan Barton's school report.

Teachers urged to address porn factor

Maree Crabbe: 'Pornography is our most prominent sex educator.'

Denise Ryan Explicit online imagery is now the basis of sex education for many teens.

Back to schools: the end of Howard's way?

A funding review is eagerly awaited, write Dan Harrison and Bianca Hall.

Help autistic to stay afloat

Opinion Without specialist school staff, these children will go under, writes one Sydney mother.

School? Hell no, I just won't go

'School refusal sounds like a child just being naughty ... when in fact it is an anxiety disorder.'

Elisabeth Tarica For some students, the very idea of heading off to class is a step too far.

Chief scientist's mission: spicing up maths and science

Bianca Hall Ian Chubb says students think some key subjects are boring.

Teachers urged to address porn factor

Denise Ryan Explicit online imagery is now the basis of sex education for many teens.

Reach for the stars

D-day approaches for world's largest telescope (Thumbnail)

Peter Spinks Australia's place in exploring the universe may be about to receive a giant boost.

Fame: the school for stars faces unwelcome limelight

It is a college for Sydney's future performing artists. But a property deal involving its founding family has led to a boardroom row, writes Linton Besser.

A chance to close the gap, but what will change?

Amanda Dunn All sectors of school education are keenly awaiting the federal government's funding review.

School system punishes poor, says report

Andrew Stevenson A COMPETITIVE school market is segregating students by ability, socio-economic background and ethnicity with profound effects on education outcomes, states a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Gonski report expected to expose inequities in disability funding

Bianca Hall School funding review is likely to recommend an overhaul of the way money is allocated to students with disabilities.

Poet of the universe

Burkard Polster and Marty Ross Our numbers gurus begin the year by honoring a very special mathematician

Officials knew of school run shortage

Not all back to school ... Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli said there was little notice of the cancelled transport that stranded 700 students.

Anna Patty THE Department of Education was seeking additional contractors to provide school transport for students with disabilities as late as November, raising further questions about the government's failure to prevent 700 students from being stranded without a service last week.

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