An unhealthy data obsession is strangling our schools

Tim Perkins

By Tim Perkins
Community contribution / February 13, 2019

In education one of the very pertinent questions we currently need to be asking ourselves is, ‘are we spending too much time weighing the pig and not enough time fattening the pig?’

School leaders have become compelled to be obsessed with data.

There is an increasingly widely held belief in schools that ...

Business Manager - Gladstone Central State School

Department of Education and Training (Queensland) Rockhampton

Gladstone Central State School is seeking a full-time temporary Business Manager to oversee administrative, financial and HR services, support the leadership team, and...

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 24, 2026

Teacher Aide - Cambooya State School

Department of Education and Training (Queensland) Toowoomba

Join Cambooya State School as a Teacher Aide, providing classroom support to enhance student learning and engagement. This position is being offered in a Temporary P...

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 24, 2026

Veritas North West London

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 24, 2026

School news / Indigenous-led cultural learning in schools is vital - but no govt is listening

Schools far too often rely on symbolic gestures rather than meaningful action to support Aboriginal students, and there is an urgent need for governments to properly resource Indigenous-led cultural learning, a five-year WA research project has co...

School news / NZ education sector continues to lash Govt’s curriculum reform intentions

New Zealand’s education sector is demanding that the National Government pause the rollout of what stakeholders call its “rushed” curriculum reforms as opposition to the direction, scope, and pace of change continues to swell.

School news / New research suggests kids’ pretend play ability linked to better mental health

Children who demonstrate pretend play ability as toddlers have significantly fewer emotional and behavioural difficulties at primary school, a new study has suggested.

Leadership / Exceptional principals seek out ‘quiet achievers’ for leadership roles, study finds

The exact practices that exceptional principals use to identify and develop middle leaders in their schools have been revealed in a new study – and there’s good news for introverted teachers and quiet achievers.

School news / Consumption gumption: schools’ new push to get kids eating more vegetables

Nutritional intake by children in Australia is well short of where it needs to be, with 96 per cent failing to eat enough vegetables and more than 40 per cent of their daily energy intake often coming from unhealthy “discretionary” foods, but a ma...

Community / WHAT MATTERS to young Australians in 2026? A national What Matters? Writing Competition helps young students to find their voice!

In classrooms across the country, the most powerful moments often begin quietly. A question. A pause. A student finding the words to say something that matters to them.

School news / Sweet Swahili: award-winner promoting community harmony and social cohesion

You might not know it, but you can speak a tiny bit of Swahili. Who doesn’t know the words ‘Hakuna Matata’, from Disney’s 1994 animated feature film The Lion King?

Community / Five classroom strategies to help build calm in a chaotic world

Hasn’t the world seen more than its fair share of upheaval in recent weeks?

School news / Priced out: ‘Key worker housing’ for NSW teachers could save the profession

A housing affordability crisis is derailing Australia’s efforts to tackle chronic teacher shortages and poses a significant threat to the future of the profession, with researchers warning that median house prices in Sydney are now more than 13 ti...

School news / Tackling the school-to-work gap: a revolutionary AI career platform is here

As a nation, Australia handles the school-to-work transition as poorly or worse than any so-called advanced country in the world – but that is set to change with the launch of a new AI-powered platform that will revolutionise how young people plan...

Comments