Ability to attract private funding dictates capability in NZ tertiary sector writes Stuart Middleton Education is funded in two ways. First it is funded by public expenditure (that is by people paying taxes of which a proportion is passed on ...

Publicly funded VET doesn’t meet the minimum conditions that would make it viable to contract it out, argues Phil Toner. At the request of the Council of Australian Governments, the Productivity Commission (PC) recently undertook an examination of the publicly ...

The Melbourne Master of Teaching is a more expensive and complex model of teacher preparation, but the demands and expectations on teachers have changed. Nothing less should be considered acceptable, writes Stephen Dinham. The importance of quality teaching to student ...

The purpose of the university is to prepare people to contribute to society through high-level thinking, writes Stuart Middleton As educational professionals we are letting ourselves down by the continual use of wishy-washy statements about the purpose of education. We ...

Sports-style leadership needed in VET, writes John Mitchell. I have just watched our Prime Minister on the evening news rousing the faithful crowd at an AFL Western Bulldogs event, proudly holding aloft a jersey with her name on it and ...

The toll on education of the NZ earthquake was huge writes Stuart Middleton. This week, 76,000 learners in NZ will not go to early childhood centres or schools. No, it is not another statistic about disengagement but one about the ...

Stephen Buckle takes a critical look at the low scores achieved by humanities and social sciences in research rankings. The publication of the ERA results raises the question, what do they mean? Some have been very quick to offer their ...

Does ERA mean excellence for research in Australia or the emperors’ renovated apparel, ask Adrian Gibbs and Barry Osmond. The first national report of the ERA (Excellence for Research in Australia) scheme has been robustly defended by Kim Carr, the ...

Why do I care that the Australian Learning and Teaching Council has gone, asks Adrian Lee. Here I am, a greying retired professor enjoying grandkids and all those wonderful benefits of life after academia. So why am I so upset ...

There are still questions to be answered about the manner and indeed the rationale behind the closure of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, (ALTC). The announcement of the intention to close it down at the end of the year ...