Correna became Federal President of the Australian Education Union in February 2015. She has spent 17 years teaching in public primary schools. As President of the AEU, she led the union through a long-running industrial dispute with the SA Government as well as organising the “I Give a Gonski” and “Stop TAFE Cuts” campaigns. She has extensive experience and understanding of social justice issues, with a particular interest in students and their families from disadvantaged areas.

Show Notes

AEU Submission No 112 Upper House inquiry into teacher shortages in NSW.

Carter, D. (2020). Three reasons why year 12 should go back to school immediately. Sydney Morning Herald.

NSWTF. (2021). Valuing the Teaching Profession.

NSWTF. (2019). Impact of Enrolment Growth on Demand for Teachers.

Chris is an education commentator and former school principal. He is a longtime campaigner for public education and his recent publications both in books and online opinion pieces in national publications focus on equity and funding. He is not hopeful about where education in Australia is at, he says: “It’s in the too hard basket. We have left so many things undone, for example, we haven’t solved the problem of equity – private providers undermine equity – it’s a system at war with itself. Deep structural reform is needed.”

Show Notes

Bonnor, C. (13 August 2022). Solve school crisis by funding most in need. SMH

Bonnor, C. (21 September 2022). We couldn’t have built a less fair system if we tried. SMH

Eacott, S. (22 September 2022). What we must do now to rescue Australian schools. AARE EduResearch Matters

Greenwell, T. & Bonnor, C. (2022). Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools. Sydney: UNSW Press.

Alan is one of Australia’s leading education research scholars. In this third episode we talk to him about the damaging effects of neo-liberalism on education and why policy in Australian education is taking us backwards.

Show Notes

Hunter, J. (16 August 2022). Teacher shortages and the ‘crisis’ in rural and remote schools, incentives and what needs to change. Interview on ABC radio

MCERA webinar (26 August 2022): The underlying and overlooked aspects of the teacher crisis. Webinar link

Reid, A. (2019). Changing Australian education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.

Varadharajan, M., Carter, D. & Buchanan, J. (2021). Career change student teachers: lessons learnt from their in-school experiences. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48:107–124.