Chess boosts student memory, creativity and concentration. Why isn't it compulsory?

Tim Perkins

By Tim Perkins
Community contribution / October 12, 2019

In 1983 the first Australian Computers in Education conference was held in Melbourne.

Evidence has resulted in chess being made compulsory in primary schools in Armenia, Hungary, Spain and Russia.

Over the following four decades, computers have proliferated in classrooms all over the country with schools making major investments in ...

This story appeared in the October 2019 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine.

Deputy to the Headmaster: The Rockhampton Grammar School (QLD)

Hutton Consulting Rockhampton QLD

A pivotal executive leadership role shaping the culture, operations and wellbeing of one of Queensland’s leading regional schools. • Executive leadership of a large, ...

School Management / Mar 19, 2026

Deputy Principal: Head of Junior School - Tara Anglican School for Girls (NSW)

Hutton Consulting Melbourne VIC

Tara Anglican School for Girls seeks a visionary, Christian leader to shape and lead a vibrant Senior School community. • Executive leadership of a high-performing Se...

School Management / Mar 19, 2026

Support Worker (Autism Support)

Veritas Southport

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Mar 19, 2026

School news / Dismantling the manosphere: how one school program is cutting through

For boys who have absorbed misogynistic views and warped ideas about masculinity, how can schools dismantle the manosphere’s influence from within the classroom?

School news / ‘All too hard’: the school camp sector is fighting for its very survival

School camps are a vital part of the Australian educational landscape, providing essential opportunities for students to build resilience, independence, and social skills outside the classroom – yet their very existence is coming under increasing ...

School news / SA’s return to constructivism: literacy experts slam proposed Year 2 phonics check

Once a lighthouse state showing the nation how the explicit teaching of reading could be improved at scale across public schools, South Australia has lost its way under a government that is straying from the evidence base about what works best, a ...

Community / Breaking down what the soaring fuel prices mean for Aussie teachers

In many households, fuel price apps are getting a serious workout as families struggle to find affordable fuel. The impact is being felt by teachers across the country, with those in regional centres and country areas being particularly hard hit.

School news / ‘We can and must do better’: national survey to strengthen sex and consent education

With the concerning rise in the influence of the ‘manosphere’, teachers are reporting a corresponding spiralling of gender attitudes in the classroom, with young people experiencing higher rates of peer-to-peer abuse.

School news / Great expectations: stronger code of conduct for public school students

In a first for the state, NSW public school parents and students will be asked to sign or acknowledge a new Student Behaviour Code of Conduct (the Code) at the start of every school year.

School news / ‘Completely unacceptable’: teachers set to strike after rejecting pay offer

The Australian Education Union Victorian branch executive has voted to reject an Allan Labor Government proposal of a 17 per cent pay increase over four years and hold firm, it said, for a better deal.

Opinion / Poor or insufficient sleep a significant barrier to students’ learning progress

Sleep quality is often reduced to a simple question of ‘enough’ or ‘not enough’, but research provides metrics to objectively assess sleep quality.

School news / Australian boys groomed into despising ‘woke’ school system

Commercially-motivated influencers in the manopshere are indoctrinating Australian boys, teaching them to reject the authority of teachers and the ‘woke’ school system, one expert has warned.

School news / ‘Surface-level mastery’: cognitive atrophy a risk of schools’ unchecked AI use

The excessive and unstructured use of AI in Australian schools risks derailing students’ acquisition of foundational skills and knowledge and is setting young brains up for atrophy, an expert has warned.

Comments