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I recently created a retro gaming console using a Raspberry Pi. The first game I got working was the old classic, Spy Hunter, which I used to play on the Commodore 64. I remember being about 7 years old and being completely obsessed with the game. Now, I look at it and I’m perplexed by…

It seems that everywhere you look, everyone in education is talking about STEM education. Whether it’s teaching coding to all students or making sure that all schools have access to makerspaces, STEM education is very much the buzzword of the current time. And why shouldn’t it be? There’s a lot to be excited about in…

It seems obvious that, if you are going to teach a subject, then you should really know a lot about the subject, right? Certainly in high schools, where teachers often specialise into one or two subject areas, there is a real emphasis on the subject matter knowledge of the teacher – which is why, the…

This will be the first of what will be, I imagine, a number of different posts about the role of the public sphere in civics and citizenship and education. They will be informed by my own reading of some of the recent writings in the area, which I will acknowledge, but all errors are, of course, my…

There has been a fair amount of discussion recently about the role of technology in schools. I say recently, but this seems to be something that flairs up quite regularly – certainly, for as long as I’ve been teaching there have been interminable debates about the value of technology and how it should be deployed…

Even the smallest school principal is responsible for the welfare of children and staff, as well as having control for large and very valuable materials, equipment and building. It’s a job of immense responsibility and I don’t envy the duty and burden of care that weighs on our average high school principal. I’ve worked for…

I have chosen Collective Bargaining as the topic that I will discuss; I have chosen this topic because the right for employees to undertake collective bargaining has been under attack in various guises in Australia during the last decade or so. In addition, assisting workers in collective bargaining is central to my own role as…

I went to the Welcome Refugees rally last weekend. The idea was that it was a show of strength in order to support Australia changing its draconian treatment of refugees, and especially how that should relate to children refugees. It has been for at least 10 years – and as far as I am concerned,…

Academia is a pretty serious business. Even in Australia, which hasn’t quite reached the carnivorous levels of the US, competition for research grants, for positions and for awards in different fields is intense. In many ways, it’s like the selective school for the real world – everybody you deal with who’s either done a PhD…

This article was originally published on the AARE blog here: http://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=1470 The topic of whether religion should be taught in public schools has been an ongoing cause of rancour since the late 19th century when the first classes were held. In recent years it has become a clearly defined battleground for opposing religious and secular interests. In…