News & Events

In a crisis the first impulse can be fear or panic, but COVID-19 demands clear thought. A University of Melbourne expert explains how to adapt your own thinking

As some Australian states announce COVID-19 school closures, a University of Melbourne expert explains how to help keep your kids learning at home.

Childcare centres are finding themselves in a particularly vulnerable financial position as parents pull their children from services.

Bridie Raban explains what parents can do to create an home environment which encourages the development of literacy skills from an early age.

Professor Lea Waters speaks to The Project about how we can best communicate with our children about the covid-19 pandemic.

"Now, more than ever, is the time for us to be proactive about creating small moments of happiness in our days," writes Professor Lea Waters.

Australia's Chief medical officer says the health committee advising governments believes that keeping schools open is the best thing to protect the community.

Megan O'Connell explores the economic impacts of closing schools and childcare centres on parents, families and casual staff.

Professor Sandra Milligan explains the difficulties schools and teachers are likely to face if they close for longer than two weeks.

Professor Lea Waters explains what can families expect and how can they survive not only the virus, but each other during a period of lock down.

Is a qualification crucial to the work you want to do? Megan O'Connell helps Triple J's Hack investigate.

Laureate Professor John Hattie explains why the independent school sector continues to grow, despite Catholic schools losing ground to the public system.

William Locke, director of the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, writes its unclear whether the Federal Government has a complete vision for its reforms to higher education.

How learner profiles, developed by MGSE, are going to change the way a dozen schools in South Australia are going to judge their students.

MGSE's Anna Krohn says research makes a strong positive link between physical exercise in children and academic results.

Education psychologist Dr Chelsea Hyde has seven tips for parents as their children making the move into pre school.

New findings from the Youth Research Centre finds one or more university degrees no longer guarantees job security as the gig economy continues to expand.

Prof Lea Waters AM provides top tips to deal with self-isolation, which can hit three critical components of mental health

Australia has been graded an "F" for student belonging. And the trend has declining since 2003.

Melbourne's Carey Baptist Grammar School is the first Victorian school to close because of coronavirus.

Dr Chelsea Hyde speaks to SBS World News about more school closures due to covid-19.

Listen: Dr Chelsea Hyde provides tips to parents in dealing with school closures and having their children sent home .

For International Women's Day 2020, Dr Erica Frydenberg answers the question ‘what more can we do to create a gender equal world?'

Dr Jessica Gerrard helps break down what you need to know about the Federal Government's new funding model for private schools.

Prof. John Polesel believes a lack of support and decline in school based apprenticeships are partly to blame for a drop in apprentice numbers across Australia.

1 in 5 kids start school with health or emotional difficulties that challenge their learning.

Finding the perfect job can seem like trying to find the perfect mate, but Dr Peggy Kern's research just made it easier.

Dr Kathryn Coleman and Carmel Mesiti reflect on the life and work of Prof. David Clarke

Australia has been consistent about the way education can build our nation’s soft power, but University of Melbourne experts say this approach needs updating.

Technology is changing our world and education must equip today’s children for the future, says a University of Melbourne expert on International Women's Day.

Critical thinking has become highly valued in business, but University of Melbourne research finds that these skills aren’t taught to business students.

Australian literature has often been ignored in the classroom, but a new University of Melbourne project helps teachers share these diverse books with students.

An innovative University of Melbourne study will explore and challenge what young people really want from their cultural institutions.

How the science of gratitude can help you cope with and enjoy the ups and downs of the festive season.

What we read matters. Reading shapes the way we see the world, increases our understanding of others, and helps us imagine different narratives for ourselves.

State government funding for VCAL was cut in 2011, putting a strain on schools still offering the program, says Professor John Polesel, director of Melbourne University‘s Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy.

This Interim Report was developed by the Expert Panel leading the review, Emeritus Professor Barry McGaw, Emeritus Professor Bill Louden, and Professor Claire Wyatt Smith.

Research undertaken by the University of Melbourne’s LEaRN (Learning Environments Applied Research Network) team suggests that it is time for traditional classrooms to evolve to suit new digital-rich learning possibilities. A survey of more than 800 Australasian schools by LEaRN’s Australian Research Council- funded Linkage Project (Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change) found that more than two out of three schools still teach in traditional classroom-based environments and that teacher-led pedagogies remain the dominant teaching approach.

Laureate Professor John Hattie says that while learning progressions measured an individual's progress, teachers also needed to know a student had achieved specific targets at certain time.

Each year, universities check the latest OECD Education at a Glance report to see how Australian tertiary spending compares with peer countries.

Megan O'Connell writes how Australia has slipped in international rankings. We are still above-average in reading and science, but not significantly different from the OECD average in mathematics.

The Dean of the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, Jim Watterston, said state governments didn’t distribute money “exactly on the formula” of the Gonski model of needs-based funding.

At least 50,000 Australian children are completely detached from formal education at any one time.

Dr Jim Watterston says that to effectively train future educators, their curriculum merges theory and practice.

Associate Professor Peggy Kern says many people are prioritising meaningful work over simply paying the bills.

Associate Professor Peggy Kern talks to ABC's This Working Life about the importance of finding fulfilment at work.

Standardised tests like NAPLAN and PISA are part of an approach to schooling and testing that isn’t fit for purpose now, says a University of Melbourne expert.

University of Melbourne research finds that the alarmingly high number of school-aged Australians detached from education has been largely hidden – until now.

Associate Professor Larissa McLean Davies writes about how it's time more Australian schools taught Australian books.

Earlier this decade, pundits predicted that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) would hit universities hard. Now as we approach the end of the decade, undergraduate enrolments remain strong. So the great MOOC takeover of higher education never happened writes Andrew Norton.

Jane Orton, honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education, claims there are only 130 fluent non-Chinese Mandarin speakers in Australia, which includes academics and business people.

Professor of language and literacy education at Melbourne University Joseph Lo Bianco said universities needed to take a lead by setting up courses that combine advanced-language study with subjects students want, such as commerce or international relations.

Having developed a wellbeing program for students that incorporates biofeedback and gaming technology, Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick shares her take on how schools can use technology to foster positive wellbeing practices with students.

During the initial public hearings of the Disability Royal Commission disability, with a focus on education, advocates said there was a problem with the evidence coming from parents and teachers, rather than the students themselves.

Sydney's Macquarie University has been hit harder than most other Australian universities, but many universities are finding it more difficult to recruit students than they did a few years ago.

Enterprise Professor Milligan said that using evidence from the learner’s time in school would showcase students’ strengths, passions, patterns of capability and attainments.

Director of Assessment Research Centre Enterprise Professor Sandra Milligan speaks to ABC's Richelle Hunt about how a Learning Profile would work in place of the ATAR.

On ABC RN Professor Joseph Lo Bianco discusses how in 2013, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged that 40 per cent of year 12 students would be studying a foreign language within a decade.

The Learning Profile is an alternative to the ATAR that may better recognise student achievement and inspire good learning says University of Melbourne expert.

Dr Lisa McKay-Brown calls for year nine-specific programs to be rolled out across public schools.

Opinion piece by Emeritus Professor Patrick Griffin

Andrew Norton, an honorary fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at Melbourne University, said anxiety over placement was overblown as more students were going to university than ever before.

Professor John Hattie, described education as an immature profession that often relies on ideology rather than evidence. He says that too many education professors promote teaching methods and strategies that have little empirical evidence supporting them. “There is a preference for the teaching method that fits the latest ideology, and rarely are these methods assessed by evidence,” he explains.

The University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, has been implementing an evidenced-based’ teaching model where their teacher candidates are sent to centres or schools two days a week, similar to how doctors or other health professionals take up residency.

Professor Lea Waters, who is an expert in positive psychology at the University of Melbourne, says that our brains are wired to see problems and threats.

At its core, jealousy is about insecurity, fear or a sense of competition, explains Lea Waters, a psychology professor at the University of Melbourne and author of "The Strength Switch." "It's a feeling of 'I'm not enough; something is lacking.' "

Daylight saving will begin this weekend across most of Australia, signalling warmer weather and new opportunities for children to make the most of time outside. It can also mark the start of a rough patch in the sleep department.

Research from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) has found that fathers who read to their children can have a unique impact on their child’s language development.

Dr Jenny Chesters says private schooling is no better than public in the jobs market.

The controversial NAPLAN test has been labelled as a failure by some and a crucial test by others. Dr Jenny Chesters speaks on ABC's Life Matters about the pros and cons of NAPLAN and about what an alternative testing model might look like.

The re-design of school facilities in the first two decades of this century is considerably more sophisticated than the open-space design of the 1970s.

The Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) project is a four-year study that began in 2016. Lead Chief Investigator Wes Imms shared some of the early findings on the opening day of Research Conference 2019.

Honorary Professorial Fellow Professor Richard Teese, who is also an adjunct professor at Victoria University, said some schools feared being labelled a ‘VCAL school’.

In Victoria an interesting collaboration has been developed in schools where students are learning about positive psychology in the classroom. To find out more about the program 2ser spoke with Dr TC Chin, Director Of The Wellbeing Profiler at the Centre for Positive Psychology at The University of Melbourne.

Melbourne University's Dr Lisa McKay-Brown, a former Travancore School teacher who developed a mental health-focused program, said about 71 per cent of attendees were attending school full-time six months after the program.

It is not entirely clear what the problem is to which performance-based funding is the solution, apart from allocating additional funding from the Commonwealth Grants Scheme to support the growing numbers of school-leavers in Australia in the coming years.

Professor John Polesel from the University of Melbourne said there was limited research into the worth of school-based work experience.

Professor John Hattie says that tracking has minimal effects on learning outcomes and profound negative equity effects.

Positive psychology in schools is exploring how best to apply the science of wellbeing in key learning environments - helping students develop skills for life.

Currently, half of all early childhood teachers have a bachelor degree, with a further one-third still working towards one. With many expected to drop out, new modelling shows a significant shortfall by 2023.

Developmental psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, Terry Bowles, said that a mobile phone ban would not solve cyber bullying on its own.

On Tuesday 4 June the Melbourne Graduate School of Education celebrated the success of our graduate students, and the many achievements of our alumni and staff at the 2019 Awards Evening.

Professor Lindsay Oades, director for the Centre of Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne, told 10 daily the rules are "no different to somebody asking for a hug or asking for positive comments" in real life".

Dr Yvette Slaughter said Chinese had started from a much lower base than other languages, partly because there were too few qualified teachers.

According to Dr Jim Watterston, the Dean of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE), the way in which teachers are trained therefore needs to reflect these challenges so that they can develop the necessary skills and competencies in order to prepare the next generations for future success.

Schools are leading the way with decisions around technology and perhaps they have a lesson for the rest of us, too.

Dr Anna Dabrowski said one of the biggest barriers to having fluent language teachers was that they had to have Australian teaching registration in the respective states and territories.

Senior fellow at the LH Martin Institute at Melbourne University and the former chief executive of TAFE Directors Australia, Martin Riordan, said the collapse in enrolments pointed to a "significant waste" in public money, coming on top of the $3 billion VET Fee Help scandal of 2016.

The UK’s TEF experience should be a warning to Australia’s re-elected government not to settle for empty accountability, says William Locke.

It is no surprise that teaching involves catering to a variety of different learning needs, and that this can be challenging.

School leaders’ roles have evolved from being primarily focused on management, to being direct concerned with improving student learning.

If real-life politics is getting you down, these fictional political TV power players might inspire your interest instead.

This week, 120 parents turned up at a northern suburbs primary school in Melbourne for a consultation evening about technology in the classroom – and many voiced a question routinely asked at schools across the nation.

School leaders’ roles have evolved from being primarily focused on management, to being directly concerned with improving student learning.Anyone who works in a school knows it’s tough being part of the leadership team.

How do teachers assess the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum, and what does that mean for how they teach?General capabilities, soft skills, 21st century skills; the notion of including ‘skills for life’ in the Australian curriculum is not a new one. But it is, perhaps, more embedded than ever.

Maxine McKew and Larissa McLean Davies discuss the importance of teaching Australian literature in schools, and what this mean for our students, our teachers, and of course, our writers.

As the federal election approaches, we’re expected to drown in slogans like “lower taxes”, “wage growth”, “franking credit reform” or “negative gearing reforms”. These mostly assume voters are as obsessed as the politicians with economic and financial issues, rather than, say, the kind of Australia they want their grandchildren to live in.

Glenn Savage, an Honorary fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, said in an ideal world teachers wouldn't need to offer rewards and prizes, but the classroom reality was a different story.

Preschool funding is shaping as a major election battleground, with warnings Australia risks falling behind without significant investment.

By the age of five around 300,000 children are starting school – but more than one in five are not as prepared as their peers.

Research into child development is now showing that the middle years – from age eight to 12 are a crucial time.

A new professional learning academy for teachers, including those working as early childhood teachers (ECTs) has been officially launched in the South Australian suburb of Hindmarsh.

The Coalition’s approach to schooling policy since the 2016 election has primarily focused on its Quality Schools agenda.

What does it mean for the unemployed? Refugees? Indigenous Australians? Climate change and education? University of Melbourne experts assess the Federal budget in part two of our coverage.

If there was a simple recipe for improving schools, governments, principals and teachers would be diligently following every step.

Early career teachers are more likely to stay on if they practise what they teach in their own time.

During a recent tip to Asia, Professor John Hattie said he observed a class being taught by a robot, with kids telling him they preferred the android to a human.

The tourism body partnered with a leading psychologist of positivity and professor at Melbourne University, Lea Waters, to develop a series of values for happiness, by which the Bulanaires have been selected.

How well are we preparing the typical primary school kid for life when they graduate in 2032?

Everyone wants to be happy, but this goal can seem elusive. Take Lea Waters, who found that the effects of a troubled upbringing got in the way and was desperate to claw her way back to good mental health through treatment. By the time she graduated as a psychologist, those issues were under better control.

One of education's most influential academics has warned teachers not to underestimate the ability of robots to take over at least some aspects of their job, saying he recently observed a robot teaching a class and that the pupils preferred it to their teachers.

John Hattie, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, has been ranked as the sixth-best university educator in the world by Global Top Gurus.

In 1970, just one in four university students were women. By 1987 the figure was 58 per cent, a figure that has remained more or less stable for the past 30 years.

Predictions about the impact of artificial intelligence and ­advanced automation on society and the economy alternate ­between the euphoric and the cataclysmic. But there are few areas where the impact of robotics will be more profound than healthcare, medicine and surgery.

Australian history teachers want to cover the history of massacres against Indigenous people during the colonial era but are squeezed for time in an already overcrowded curriculum, educators say.

Nearly 13 per cent of Australian students and more than half of all Indigenous students are missing at least one year of schooling by the time they reach year 10, despite the nation achieving 100 per cent school enrolment rates.

Confusion is a common aspect of our lives but it can be useful and perhaps even necessary, particularly when we are trying to learn something.

The National Excellence in School Leadership’s (NESLI) Staff Wellbeing Toolkit is having a significant and positive impact on school staff around Australia, according to a new report measuring the efficacy of the support program.

Professor John Polesel, Director of the International Centre for Classroom research and professor at the University of Melbourne’s School of Education, says that he believes if the program were to come to Australia, it would be equally beneficial for our students.

Chi Baik, an ­associate professor at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education, told The Australian the study’s major message was that students’ course experiences had a significant ­impact on their wellbeing.

Honorary senior fellow at Melbourne University's LH Martin Institute, Mark Warburton said matching tax records and student data did not address the big issue of university funding and performance.

In a first for New Zealand, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School has become a Visible Wellbeing TM school, partnering with leading international Positive Psychology expert, Professor Lea Waters, to expand their support of student wellbeing.

Most of us have memories of our days at school—usually some good and some not so good. But the chances are the good memories arose when we felt cared for and valued by our peers and the adults who helped us learn.

Martin Riordan, head of education firm Lighthouse Learning International and senior fellow at the University of Melbourne's LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Education and Training, said a funding squeeze had made vocational education and training the "poor cousin" of the education system.

A report from the University of Melbourne's Youth Research Centre found racial discrimination, particularly at school, was still a reality for many young Australians.

Lorraine Graham y Lisa McKay-Bronwn son dos profesoras especializadas en educación de Australia.

While this practice has been lauded as a helpful way for educators to address the learning needs of children who are progressing at different academic levels at once, some argue it puts too much of an administrative strain on teachers, who must spend more time preparing lessons.

Australia is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign PhD students to carry out university research as local students shy away from doing research degrees.

Failing to read to your children and do things to improve their vocabulary throughout childhood and early adolescence could lead to a higher chance of developing hyperactivity-inattention, a new study by Australian researchers have found.

Dr Jane Page received recognition in the awards, which were announced 26 January 2019. The Order of Australia is the principal means of recognising outstanding members of the community at a national level. Anyone can nominate a member of the community for recognition through the Order and nominations are encouraged from all members of the Australian public.  

While just about everyone agrees that critical thinking should be learned in school, the actual teaching of better reasoning is not easy.

Most of us have memories of our days at school; usually some good and some not so good.

Researchers have found that children need downtime, and reducing the number of scheduled activities is an important aspect for parents to understand.

Australian universities are outsourcing their research productivity to international recruits, with a new analysis concluding that almost four out of ve additional doctoral students recruited over the past decade have been imported from overseas.

For most students attending school is not a major problem. From the earliest days of childcare, children adjust to consistent attendance.

Terry Bowles, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, said paying for chores may offer children a sense of independence “but it may not be ideal for helping people identify how they can contribute generously to the group they are working with”.

Split or "composite" classes, when children of different ages are placed in the same class with one teacher, have long been a feature of primary schools in WA, but just how prevalent they are remains a mystery.

Teachers must be given better training to manage classroom discipline, Education Minister Dan Tehan has said, amid concerns graduates are increasingly unable to control disruptive and abusive students.

Did you know that about 10 to 20 per cent of children and adolescents experience mental disorders worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)? The average age of the onset of mental illness is said to be 14 years.

According to Jon Quach, an early bedtime is anything before 8:30pm. Sometimes that’s not feasible, but if you can make it happen, you should.

The federal Education Minister, Dan Tehan, has dismissed Labor's threat to universities that their education faculties must toughen teaching degree admission standards, saying it will lead to a "teacher shortage".

Research Fellow Paula de Barba says for students to successfully complete an online course, they need to work on their motivation and time management skills.

Research by education guru Professor John Hattie, of the University of Melbourne, has found the quality of a teacher is the most important determinant of student outcomes - after the student themselves.