Best education reads
Unions call for urgent support to make sure educators get vaccinated against COVID-19
From The Sector, July 13, 2021
Three education unions called on the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to prioritise coronavirus vaccinations for teachers and support staff left 'unprotected' on the virus 'frontline'.
The Morrison government has fallen short in all areas of the Covid vaccine rollout
From The Guardian, July 13, 2021
Columnist Greg Jericho says the federal government had several jobs to perform regarding COVID vaccinations – and it failed in each of them.
How ‘gamified’ classrooms, social media could help engage students
From the smh.com.au, July 14, 2021
Schools have been urged to learn from social media and the gaming industry to make their classrooms more exciting and incorporate elements such as rewards and level progressions to engage children in their learning.
Education data reveals poor attendance, increased student suspensions and stress related workers compensation claims
From The Advocate, July 11, 2021
New data has revealed that Tasmania has experienced an increase in teachers submitting worker's compensation claims due to increased workloads and burnout.
The Australian workers, including teachers, who should jump the Covid vaccine queue
From the Herald-Sun, July 14, 2021
Business owners and industry leaders pleading for a redefinition of 'frontline workers' to prioritise vaccination for important Australian employees.
Goodbye periodic table? VCE chemistry faces elemental change
From The Age, July 13, 2021
Lessons on the periodic table and the chemical structure of food could be erased from VCE chemistry classes to make room for the teaching of “green chemistry principles” such as recycling metals and plastics.
Call to put First Nations educators in every primary school
From the smh.com.au, July 11, 2021
The Know Your Country campaign, led by First Nations people and organisations and convened by World Vision, is asking all levels of government to employ a First Nations cultural educator in each of the country’s 6249 primary schools.
Private co-ed schools trying to entice more female students
From the Herald-Sun, July 12, 2021
The battle for female students at Melbourne’s most prestigious schools is heating up with some offering of leadership roles, scholarships and targeted facilities to secure enrolments.
Invasion or reconciliation: What matters in the Australian curriculum?
From Monash University Lens, July, 9, 2021
The ongoing politicisation of the curriculum contributes to making teaching for reconciliation difficult terrain for teachers to navigate in their classrooms.
The Australian Curriculum revisions ask us to follow through on our commitment to reconciliation, to use respectful and culturally-responsive language, and strengthen relationships.
Dear Comrade: Do I Have to Take my Boss’ Fashion Advice?
From Megaphone journal
Megaphone's advice column addresses dress codes, and the lines bosses cannot cross when it comes to what you wear to work.
Mike Gold, the Writer Who Believed Workers Could Speak for Themselves
From Jacobin magazine
Benjamin Balthaser argues that much- derided writer Mike Gold's pioneering work in the 1930s created a 'working-class literature written for, by, and about working-class people' – and in another era dominated by 'hard, successful, ignorant' men, he is again highly relevant.
Urgent art for urgent times: Easy Riders and the gig economy
From Megaphone journal
Easy Riders is a unique play at Trades Hall produced by experimental theatre group APHIDS in collaboration with and performed by gig economy workers. Its physicality exposes the demands of the consumer convenience edifice on its workforce.
Cybernetic capitalism with Chinese characteristics
From Arena magazine
Timothy Erik Ström contends the extreme surveillance of China's Social Credit System makes it a form of computerised capitalism, and finance relies on the state, and organised violence.