This report questions some of the key education reform policies pursued by governments in the last twenty years. Introduction In this report, the first of two linked papers on what doesn’t work in education, and then on what does, I describe the confused jargon and narratives that distract us from the most ambitious and vital...

This review of 112 papers from 1979-2014 suggests that smaller class sizes in the first four years of school can have an important and lasting impact on student achievement, especially for children from culturally, linguistically and economically disenfranchised communities.

This report presents the initial findings from an ARC Linkage Grant, titled ‘Punish them or engage them? Identifying and addressing productive and unproductive student behaviours in South Australian schools’ (LP110100317), more commonly referred to as the Behaviour at School Study (BaSS). This phase of the study was conducted in 2011. We used the Behaviour at...

This brief provides an introduction to evidence-based design of classrooms.

The Vinson Report on Public Education in NSW contains a wealth of information, and makes important points about schools, teachers and education in public schools throughout the state. The Report’s recommendation on class sizes has attracted more attention than any other. This is unfortunate because it is on this issue that the Report is weakest...