Faculty of Education

"I strained my eyes for a glimpse of Hermione Granger, or Matilda, before accepting that these kids were probably too young. However, with 90 percent of their brain development happening before the age of five, the dearth of storybook role models for their age group is a heavy shame. The pretty princesses still reign supreme," columnist Jamila Rizvi in the The Sydney Morning Herald this week. Any Hermiones at your school?

“Working with children always presents an opportunity to think differently. I love seeing problems from their perspective and helping them solve it – it’s a breath of fresh air," says our PhD alum Dr Phan Thi Thu Hien, who is now the Dean of the Early Childhood Education Department at the Ho Chi Minh University of Education in Vietnam. “I wanted to come to Monash because I admired the work of Professor Marilyn Fleer. "When I got to Monash, I was so lucky to work with such a brilliant team of passionate academics." #monashalumni #loveteaching #monashpride

Monash researcher Sarah Rutherford investigates the kind of learning that happens when Australian students take part in service-based programs overseas. "I want to know how we might use that experience to create a trajectory for kids to become engaged in their local community, rather than beef up their CV so they can get a job that makes them look like they care." Sarah says her research shows that students experience little intercultural learning from the service component of their programs. "They learn from the marginal spaces where adults are quite often not invited into." Sarah is passionate about making sure that programs respect the dignity of the communities they are supposed to serve. "It's important to explicitly teach kids so they are not operating from a deficit model about giving to the poor, so that it is actually about reciprocity. "It is complex, poorly understood and requires sophisticated leadership." #researchinaction

Can you spare five minutes to take part in our national survey of teachers in Australia? http://bit.ly/Monash-teacher-survey With thanks to Bank First for supporting this research. #researchinaction

"Philosophy is about life. It’s about being engaged with life. It’s about being in the world. Asking ethical questions allows us to reflect on how our actions affect the world. The value to these young people goes far beyond their test scores, their use of critical thinking skills or their future employment options," writes our PhD student Ben Kilby about a philosophy program for primary students. #researchinaction