When students are engaged in class, they learn more. It is vital that teachers create the right classroom climate for learning: raising student expectations; developing a rapport with students; establishing routines; challenging students to participate and take risks. These all affect how much their students engage and learn.

Overview A new deal among governments and school systems can end Australia’s toxic school funding debate and transform teaching and learning in schools, without costing the Commonwealth more money. Historically low inflation rates create an unprecedented opportunity to reduce excessive school indexation payments that are locked into legislation, saving the nation billions of dollars.

Australia’s schools are not keeping up with the best in the world. There is a real problem, and governments must act. But the newly elected Coalition government must tread a fine line: good Commonwealth policy will not save Australia’s schools, but poor policy will damage them further. A big challenge for any Commonwealth education minister...

Learning gaps between Australian students of different backgrounds are alarmingly wide and grow wider as students move through school. SummaryThe gap between students whose parents have low education and those with highly educated parents grows from 10 months in Year 3 to around two-and-a-half years by Year 9. Even if they were doing as well...

A huge spread of achievement levels in Australian classrooms is making it hard for teachers to implement best education practice and target their teaching to the needs of every individual student. A range of studies show that at any given year level there is a five to six year difference between the most advanced and...