• [Educational Renaissance Podcast] Classical Education in Australia: An Interview with Kon Bouzikos

    Podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1aKanbvpQfBtkppzEZyazy?si=g6dzDfWvRrSP7d27f2XoXQ&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A1OP6XkowxIwy9smp1m5ua2&nd=1&dlsi=58d41e5c2fc54af2

    Episode Description

    Take a virtual journey down under to learn more about what is happening with classical Christian education in Australia. Dr. Patrick Egan talks with Kon Bouzikos, president of Australian Classical Education Society. Gain insights into the seven schools spread across Australia and the efforts that go into keeping the movement well coordinated and resourced.

    Links from this episode:

    The Educational Renaissance Podcast is a production of Educational Renaissance where we promote a rebirth of ancient wisdom for the modern era. We seek to inspire educators by fusing the best of modern research with the insights of the great philosophers of education. Join us in the great conversation and share with a friend or colleague to keep the renaissance spreading.

    Dr. Patrick Egan's new book, published by Educational Renaissance, entitled Training the Prophetic Voice. is available now through Amazon.

     
  • How Classical Education Can Solve Our School Behaviour Crisis

    Conor Ross

    If the discourse within Australian education is to be believed, our classrooms have never been more inclusive, collaborative, interactive, empowering, and fun. At the same time Australian primary and secondary students have never been as disruptive, aggressive, disengaged, and miserable. In classroom behaviour Australian students ranked 33rd out of the 37 OECD nations, leading to calls for classroom behaviour to be explicitly taught as an academic subject alongside English, Math, and Science. Several longitudinal studies have also reported an increase in anti-social behaviour and violence committed by students against fellow students and staff. The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) comparing similar first-world nations has also shown that Australian students experience the second highest level of bullying, only ranking behind Latvia. Predictably this rise in misbehaviour has coincided with the increasing instability of student mental health and school refusal. Students are not the only ones dealing with violence, false rumours, and emotional abuse as this rampant misbehaviour has had a withering effect on the teaching profession. Over 70% of current Australian teachers are considering leaving the profession, 35% of new teachers leave within 5 years, and the fast-tracking of ill-prepared university students into classrooms is set to worsen this. Greater salaries may make a small difference to this shortage but consistently the calls from teachers have been for change to the culture. However, more than just a culture change, what is truly needed is a change to the entire philosophy of modern schools.

    • About the Author: Conor Ross is a Melbourne-based secondary school teacher. For parents and educators interested in learning more, feel free to look into the Australian Classical Education Society, Classical Conversations, Via Classica, and the CiRCE Institute.

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  • The Core – Reviewing My Progress

    Cheree Harvey

    “When I began teaching my children, I realized that even though the world said I was educated, I found out I was only schooled.”  Leigh Bortins of Classical Conversations fame cuts to the heart of the matter in her book The Core, published in 2010. I am reading this fascinating book for the third time in as many years, as I practice what I preach - spending time thinking deeply with fellow parents about the reasons why and also how I teach my children in the classical, Christian tradition. Is it really the best way? How do I make sure I don’t leave gaps in their education? How will I find a like-minded community? What does it mean to be truly human – a test score or a soul? Slowly, reading one chapter a month has definitely allowed for the truths to be contemplated in a more meaningful, deeper way.

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  • A Treatise On the Education of Poor Mongrels

    Conor Ross

    Old Lady Manning had a dog, so simple and small
    that would sit and pant outside with the family all.
    The Manning family hobby was wholesome and sweet,
    It was to wait for a full moon and hold a porch meet

    And talk with delight of this or of that,
    to smoke a pipe or count passing bats.
    They would play crackajack and stretchy nose
    and games plenty else that nobody knows.

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  • St Philip's School, Blackburn North

     
  • Why Read the Classics?

    Anya Leonard

    Until you read the Classics, you simply don’t know how much of it is around you.

    Sure, there are some things that have survived into popular culture, a herculean task to be sure. A few of the Olympic gods, a reference to a wooden horse, a quote about stepping into a river twice might be surmised without having had the opportunity to read and understand the originals... but this is just a simulacrum, a thin veneer of the wisdom and insight gained from the great texts.

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