The ‘big five’ challenges in education, six years on: a special webinar series
In 2015, ACER Chief Executive Professor Geoff Masters wrote an influential article about the five big challenges to achieving equity in, and improving the quality of, Australian education. Six years - and a global pandemic - later, experts from education research and practice revisited those challenges in an exciting webinar series expertly moderated by ACER Deputy CEO Dr Catherine McClellan.
coming up
Raising the professional status of teaching
In our final session, ACER researchers Dr Hilary Hollingsworth and Dr Kerry Elliott were joined by Principal of Victoria's Berwick Chase Primary School, Chris Short, to look at current perceptions of the teaching profession and the challenges that stand in the way of changing them.
Weds 19 May, 4pm AEST
Getting all children off to the best start in life
In our fourth webinar, we looked at what it might take to get all children off to the best start in life. ACER early childhood education and care researcher Dr Dan Cloney was joined by Myra Geddes from not-for-profit ECEC provider Goodstart Early Learning, and The Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation's Mary-Ruth Mendel, for a rounded look at what 'high quality' ECEC looks like in Australia, and how to ensure access for all children.
Weds 5 May, 4pm AEST
Equiping students for the 21st century
In the first webinar in the series, University of Melbourne Professorial Fellow Esther Care joined ACER researchers Dr Claire Scoular and Jonathan Heard to discuss how far we have come in teaching students the skills and knowledge required in a 21st-century workforce – and what needs to happen next.
Reducing disparities between Australian schools
In our second session, ACER's Dr Tanya Vaughan and Dr John Ainley and Principal of Western Sydney's Rooty Hill High School Christine Cawsey looked at differences in student outcomes across Australian schools, their sources, how far we have come in reducing them and what needs to happen next to reduce those disparities further.
Reducing the ‘long tail’ of underachievement
Disadvantaged students are disproportionately represented in Australia's 'long tail of underachievement' - that is, students who fall behind early and never catch up. How do we work towards a more even playing field in Australian education? The Smith Family's Anne Hampshire, Victorian secondary teacher Steven Kolber and ACER Deputy CEO Dr Sue Thomson took part in this exciting discussion.
