What’s wrong with school chaplains?

The federal government is endorsing chaplains to provide advice and care to school children. Dr David Zyngier from the Faculty of Education at Monash University says the essential fault of the program is that it is compulsory to put a religious person in this position.

Class size and academic results

Politicians and media too often discuss data about class sizes and impact on student learning without an evidence base. David Zyngier says any policy debate must start with the basic inequality of schooling.

What is preventing Australian education being in the top five?

Education lecturer and former teacher, David Zyngier, outlines the real reasons why Australian students are lagging behind those in other high-performing OECD countries.

The Australian Education Bill 2012 was introduced to parliament by Prime Minister Gillard’s exhortation for a crusade to make our students among the top five performing countries in the world by 2020.

In her speech to Parliament Julia Gillard repeated a fallacy that teachers are the biggest factor in student performance. Once again the blame is being shifted downwards – shifting responsibility to those who can have little or no impact on the lives of students and families in their care.

Teaching crisis – what are the facts?