EDUKATION REVIEW

Brendan Nelson finally caught the exclusive eye of the media. Transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly, the Herald gave him a Christmas makeover, but his hair-do remains unchanged (“The Evolution of Brendan Nelson”).
The man and his machine… Brendan Nelson likes to take to the highways for relaxation from politics.

The softening of […]

[Read more →]

Andrew Norton at Catallaxy makes an interesting addition to the debate (rendered scandal) of admitting students with lower entry cut-offs on the condition of paying full fees, as discussed in my previous post.
He believes that “…. it is not clear that admitting students on low marks is necessarily in their interests,” at the same […]

[Read more →]

It’s interesting how an overabundance of issues suddenly surface when HSC results are released. It’s as if some public relations firm just released a product and now we’re supposed to review and reflect on its workings. From policy issues to the very significance of education today, such matters are only sparked by the release of […]

[Read more →]

Last Friday, the AFR ran an unusual, in-depth feature (“A Radical Education”) on Pakistan’s madrasas (or “terror schools”). (I think the article was first published in the New York Review of Books). Now it’s really difficult to find an article (and such an outstanding read) that looks at Islam’s education system so thoroughly in a […]

[Read more →]

Looks like The Age is exhausting its investigative tool-kit at the moment: leaks, anonymous sources, FOI requests, and a nice little table and profile on suspicion and alleged corruption of La Tobe’s Vice- Chancellor. Now that typifies the whole doctrine of precedent in “real” journalism - disclosure over enclosure, confidence over secrecy, and publicity over […]

[Read more →]

Today VSU was passed. As one Senator put it: “Today is Freaky Friday in the Senate”.
Anyone who read the papers yesterday or this morning was left in no doubt that VSU couldn’t manage a passing mark this year. Fair enough. First, it was too much of a fluke that such a contentious bill could […]

[Read more →]

Nelson’s last chance to secure VSU by this year went down the drain today. The Senate wants to see amendments to its current state and cross-flooring Superman, Barnaby Joyce, remains unsympathetic. But should both continue to block Nelson’s ideological pathway, an alternative vision is already in place: the referendum.
Let’s recap on Australia’s recent history of […]

[Read more →]

Current and proposed higher education reforms of the Nelson era have managed a good showing of the Education Minister’s ability to keep the most contentious schemes afloat, despite much opposition.
Last month, the legacy of Nelson and his far-fetched reforms was extensively appraised in a confrontational paper by Professor Max Corden, titled “Moscow, Markets or Trust: The […]

[Read more →]