Schools, universities, education policy, and student issues
Australia's international student caps are reshaping university finances. From London, Oliver Pemberton examines what a comparable UK debate reveals about the road ahead.
Oliver Pemberton Australia is acquiring nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS but lacks the trained workforce to operate and build them. Analysis of the education and skills challenge the programme cannot afford to ignore.
Aisha Khoury Australia pushed a generation toward degrees and away from trades. The Skills Priority List is the bill coming due.
Riley Fitzgerald NAPLAN 2026 testing is underway amid persistent evidence that remote and regional students trail city peers by the equivalent of up to two years of schooling.
Meg Hadley 
One in three Australian students fails to reach numeracy proficiency, and the SMH Schools Summit heard that fixing it means rethinking how maths is taught from the very first year of school.
Grace Okonkwo 
A network outage across Queensland public schools left teachers using personal devices to keep lessons running, spotlighting longstanding concerns about the state's digital infrastructure.
Mitchell Tan Australia's AUKUS commitments demand thousands of specialist workers, yet chronic VET completion rates raise serious questions about whether the skills pipeline can deliver.
Aisha Khoury 
The NSW government is promising more pathways for gifted students beyond selective schools, backed by $100 million in upgrades — but critics say the equity problem runs deeper.
Aisha Khoury 
NSW is rolling out gifted and high-potential education programmes to all public schools in 2026, backed by $100m in funding and a push for greater equity.
Grace Okonkwo Regional schools across Australia are struggling to find and keep qualified teachers. Federal incentives help at the margins, but the structural crisis demands far more.
Marcus Ashbrook Australia's regional teacher shortage persists into 2026, with rural schools relying on out-of-field teachers while state incentives offer limited relief.
Marcus Ashbrook 
A private school lease arrangement at a NSW community sports facility has angered locals who say public access has been quietly eroded.
Grace Okonkwo 
At Melbourne's Bakehouse Studios, 64 teenagers are rehearsing, songwriting, and connecting face-to-face. Not one of them is looking at a phone.
Grace Okonkwo Australia's Fee-Free TAFE programme has enrolled more than 300,000 students since 2023, but completion rates and regional access gaps continue to shadow the government's flagship skills initiative.
Liam Gallagher-Walsh Australia's teacher shortage persists three years after the federal government's National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, with rural schools and specialist subjects still the hardest hit.
Grace Okonkwo 
A 13-year-old Perth student has died after being hit by two cars while alighting from a school bus, prompting urgent questions about road safety near bus stops.
Grace Okonkwo 
A sinkhole in Sydney's CBD has forced a local school to close and trapped a Coles delivery truck, requiring at least two rescue vehicles.
Grace Okonkwo 
Opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser has urged Australian universities to scrap group assignments, citing widespread student frustration and doubts about their academic value.
Grace Okonkwo 
February hits fast, and for Australian families, the return to school routines can feel like summer never happened at all.
Grace Okonkwo 
D & L Witchard offers a direct connection to local seafood, from school prawns to Patonga Creek oysters, for those who value provenance on the plate.
Grace Okonkwo