Dear Reader,
The latest quarterly report from the National Disability Insurance Agency shows 16 per cent of all six-year-old boys now rely on the NDIS. The most common primary disability recorded in NDIS plans for children 0-6 is developmental delay (around 48 per cent), followed by autism (about 33 per cent). NDIS has become the ‘default support system’ because mainstream services have diminished or are inaccessible.
More than one in 10 Australian children aged five to seven are participants: 13.7 per cent of boys and 6.4 per cent of girls.
This is significant for people with special needs that the NDIS budget was originally intended for, but also has great consequences for the classroom. Given the ever-growing demand for teachers to develop Individual Learning Programs for children with special needs, the behaviour management skills required and the lack of initial teacher training in the area, it is no wonder teacher vacancies have doubled since 2018. (Productivity Commission 2023)
This trend also raises important questions for education policy. If more and more children are entering school with complex needs, classrooms will continue to shoulder the burden. Instead of expanding bureaucracy, the focus should be on restoring early intervention services, strengthening teacher training, and ensuring schools are equipped to provide high-quality education—not just manage crises.
Boys’ Education Crisis
Recent research ‘Echoes of Disparity’ by Catholic schools NSW shows Australia is facing a silent crisis in boys’ education, their underperformance, and particularly their over-representation among the most academically vulnerable students.
Government attention has tended to focus on areas where girls have underperformed (think STEM) while the far larger gaps affecting boys are too often ignored.
NAPLAN data shows boys are twice as likely as girls to fall into the lowest literacy bands, and international tests confirm the same pattern in reading, maths, and science.
Boys are also more likely to be diagnosed with disabilities, and analysts point to Australia’s unusually disruptive classrooms as a key factor that disproportionately harms boys’ learning.
Public concern about boys falling behind at school is finally starting to cut through, and while the policy debate is still limited, it is growing. The issue of classroom management is at last getting attention, with a Senate inquiry and the government’s own education research office releasing new resources for teachers on how to restore control to the classroom. There is also a move away from “inquiry-based learning” and so-called “innovative classrooms,” and a renewed focus on proven methods—direct instruction and structured classrooms that actually allow discipline and order—benefitting all students, particularly boys.
If education policy continues to overlook boys’ struggles, Australia risks entrenching long-term disadvantage for half its young people—a social justice issue that can no longer be swept aside.
Schools Program New Unit: What are Australia’s Energy Options?
Australia’s energy supply is an important but controversial and complex issue.
The National Curriculum demonises coal and gas and promotes renewable energy as a moral or civic responsibility necessary for addressing climate change. Critical analysis of such factors as intermittency, reliability, cost, land use and sovereignty is ignored. Consideration of energy alternatives like nuclear, is largely absent or presented as unsafe.
Our latest release will help students gain knowledge and understanding of the variety of possible sources of energy, their advantages and disadvantages, and what is required to create a sustainable, economically affordable and reliable power system for our nation.
Students develop the skills of critical analysis, carry out guided research, and identify possible future developments in energy supply that will influence their world.
The new unit can downloaded here.
IPA Schools Program Out and About
On The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research on Australia’s declining living standards.
On Sky News Australia discussing IPA’s research on Australia’s taxation system.
On ABC Radio 774 – regular fortnightly appearance on The Weekly Wrap with Raf Epstein and Emma Dawson on August 15th.
Published in The Spectator Australia: It’s NAIDOC Week and they don’t want your child to forget it.
Published in The Spectator Australia: Democracy demands civic competence, not just teenager passion.
On Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research on welcome to country.
On ABC Radio 774 – regular fortnightly appearance on The Weekly Wrap with Raf Epstein and Emma Dawson on July 25th.
On ABC Radio 774 – regular fortnightly appearance on The Weekly Wrap with Raf Epstein and Emma Dawson on July 18th.
Published in The Spectator Australia: ‘Replacing science with scaremongering’ contextualises and disseminates the findings of the IPA’s research into Climate anxiety in children.
Quote of the month:
The way we educate children today determines the strength, character, and capability of the nation tomorrow. The importance of early intervention and classroom needs, the urgent crisis in boys’ education, and the importance of teaching critical, disciplined thinking and behaviour is brought to the fore in this quote:
“Educate the children and it won’t be necessary to punish the men.”
-Pythagoras
Thank you for your support.
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