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• Education

Quality school education is vital for individual potential and a healthy society. All children should have access to an education that is responsive to their needs as well as upholding high academic standards. CIS’s research focus is on policies that improve the quality of teaching and student outcomes.

National curriculum must ditch politics for evidence
Glenn FaheyMay 3, 2021Sydney Morning Herald

As the dust settles on proposed changes to the national curriculum, gears must shift from...

On Liberty EP48 Education or Enstupidation? English in the Curriculum
Salvatore Babones, Fiona MuellerApril 28, 2021On Liberty

How can students be expected to develop into intellectual adults if they are never exposed...

Why Australian educators should welcome teacher training review
Glenn FaheyApril 25, 2021Canberra Times

Tiresome and all-too-predictable resistance to reviewing teacher training is more proof the education system is...

States spoil Australia’s school scorecard
Glenn FaheyApril 14, 2021Financial Review

Arresting Australia’s educational decline calls for national leadership. And federal Education Minister Alan Tudge, has...

Countering Indigenous educational disadvantage
Lorraine HammondMarch 26, 2021Ideas@TheCentre

For decades, and despite best intentions and considerable resourcing, there’s sadly been limited evidence of...

Alles Gute, Mathias Cormann!
Fiona MuellerMarch 26, 2021Ideas@TheCentre

While not a product of Australian education, former Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, is an exemplar...

Childcare in Australia: A new approach
Gigi FosterNovember 20, 2025RR51

Executive summary Several well-known bodies, from the Productivity Commission to the Australian Competition and Consumer...

Knowledge is power: What do teachers believe about learning?
Trisha JhaOctober 30, 2025AP92

Executive Summary This report presents findings from literature about what teachers believe about how students...

Sex and maths success: myths and interventions
David C. GearyJuly 17, 2025AP83

Executive summary Mathematical competencies at the completion of secondary school influence later educational and occupational...

Early Numbers, Big Ideas. Fostering Number Sense in Young Children
Nancy C. Jordan, Nancy DysonJuly 10, 2025AP82

Introduction Numbers are an integral part of our daily lives, both inside and outside of...

Fractions Minus the Friction. A guide to four teaching practices
Leanne R. Ketterlin-Geller, Allison McClure, Cassandra HatfieldDecember 12, 2024AP78

Introduction Understanding fractions has a significant impact on both individuals and society. Fractions are an...

The Argument For Debate: how school debating can improve academic outcomes and foster a stronger democracy
Deidre Clary, Fiona MuellerDecember 5, 2024AP77

Introduction The Education Goals for Young Australians prioritise “excellence and equity” and the formation of...

Attitude to history has moved from pride to shame
Joanna WilliamsJuly 29, 2022THE AUSTRALIAN

Think of the great Enlightenment philosophers — Hume, Hegel or Kant — and what comes...

teachers resignation
There is no great resignation of teachers
Glenn FaheyJuly 10, 2022AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW

Education unions say there are too many teachers leaving the profession, but the real problem...

Linking pay to performance the best way to help teachers
Glenn FaheyJune 26, 2022DAILY TELEGRAPH

Repeated strikes over pay undermine teachers’ work and prove unions are tin-eared on the need...

The new national school curriculum should be celebrated
Glenn FaheyApril 6, 2022Canberra Times

Australia’s educators and policymakers now have a less cluttered, clearer, and more knowledge-based school curriculum,...

Laptop on book
For a better class of teacher, invest in smarter training
Glenn FaheyFebruary 17, 2022The Australian
It is 10 years this week since the release of David Gonski’s landmark report into...
School children
School return plans amid Omicron outbreak should protect face-to-face learning
Simon Cowan, Glenn FaheyJanuary 29, 2022Canberra Times
There is a bit of extra nervous tension in households across Australia this week. School...
Behind Every Great Teacher Is a Great System | David Didau, Jenny Donovan & Trisha Jha
Trisha Jha, David Didau, Jenny DonovanMarch 20, 2026

David Didau — education consultant, teacher trainer, and author of Making Kids Cleverer and Intelligent...

Education Reform That Works: Insights from UK, New Zealand & Australia
Glenn Fahey, Nick Gibb, Jason Clare MPDecember 8, 2025

Three leading education ministers — Sir Nick Gibb (UK), Erica Stanford (New Zealand), and Jason...

What do teachers believe about learning? | Trisha Jha
Trisha JhaNovember 6, 2025

This report presents findings from literature about what teachers believe about how students learn: the...

Restoring Excellence in Australian Education | Senator Jonathon Duniam
Glenn FaheyOctober 3, 2025

At this Centre for Independent Studies forum, Shadow Federal Minister for Education Senator Jonathon Duniam...

Evidence vs Ideology: Why the Science of Learning Matters?
Doctor Carl Hendrick, Doctor Simon Breakspear, Glenn FaheyJune 26, 2025

As Australian student outcomes decline and education inequality persists, a growing movement is challenging the...

The science of learning will set students free | Glenn Fahey
Robert Forsyth, Glenn FaheyJune 13, 2025

Robert Forsyth interviews Glenn Fahey, director of the education program at the Centre for Independent...

Submission to NAPLAN Reporting Review 2019
Blaise Joseph, Jennifer Buckingham OAMMarch 18, 2019

NAPLAN is a key element of government transparency and accountability There is very little evidence...

Submission to the Senate Education and Employment Committee Inquiry into The Australian Education Amendment Bill 2017
Blaise JosephMay 24, 2017CIS Submission
Productivity Commission Inquiry Into Introducing Competition and Informed User Choice into Human Services: Submission in response to issues paper
Trisha JhaJuly 1, 2016CIS Submission

The Human Services Inquiry is ‘examining policy options in the human services sector that incorporate...

Productivity Commission Inquiry into the National Education Evidence Base: Submission in response to the draft report
Jennifer Buckingham OAMMay 1, 2016CIS Submission

The Review of Education Evidence (Draft Report)—the ‘Draft Report’—provides a useful, up-to-date overview of the...

Submission to the Parliament of NSW Standing Committee on State Development: Inquiry into economic development in Aboriginal communities
Sara HudsonFebruary 12, 2016CIS Submission

In seeking to improve Indigenous economic development outcomes it is important to recognise that high...

Submission to the National Commission of Audit
Alexander Philipatos, Jennifer Buckingham OAM, Jeremy Sammut, Robert Carling, Simon Cowan, Stephen Kirchner, Trisha JhaApril 1, 2014T30.08

The federal government’s Commission of Audit (CoA) was established in 2013 to review the performance...

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