Greg Ashman

Greg Ashman is a teacher and head of research at an independent school in Victoria, Australia and a PhD candidate. He is a podcaster and a prolific blogger and has written two books on teaching.

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11 Posts

Direct Instruction Works. So Why Is It Controversial?

In 2016, I was sitting in the classroom of a Melbourne school as Dr. Kerry Hempenstall described the early stages of a reading program. He projected a series of letters on the screen. First, he displayed an “f.” “This is an ‘f’,” he said. Then he displayed an “f” written

Greg Ashman

14 May 2022 · 7 min read

What's Wrong With the New Australian Curriculum?

In education, we have lots of wars. There are the math wars, the reading wars, and the ongoing culture wars. What is less common is for all of these wars to ignite at once along with the declaration of a new war or two, just for the heck of it.

Greg Ashman

8 May 2021 · 7 min read

Can You Teach Children to be Anti-Racist?

Just as we can teach children multiplication facts, we assume we can teach them the attitudes to the world that we want them to have.

Greg Ashman

13 Apr 2021 · 6 min read

Decolonising Math is Rooted in a Decades-Old Conflict

The central point of contention seems to be between math’s claim to universal truth and the kind of subjective, lived-experience approach embraced by many social justice movements.

Greg Ashman

4 Mar 2021 · 7 min read

Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking

It is not hopeless. A recent analysis of research on college graduates suggested that attending college appreciably increased their critical thinking capacity.

Greg Ashman

20 Feb 2021 · 6 min read

Why Is Biden Trying to Punish Charter Schools for Their Success?

Charter schools are publicly funded institutions that charge no fees and have more flexibility than regular government schools in how they manage their affairs and run their programs.

Greg Ashman

29 Jan 2021 · 7 min read

Shoulders of Giants

Concepts do not have a fixed lifespan. Some concepts are more enduring than others because they have more value.

Greg Ashman

24 Nov 2020 · 12 min read

Australia’s PISA Shock

Reforming Australia’s national curriculum to make it more knowledge-rich, as has happened in England, would be a step in the right direction.

Greg Ashman

10 Dec 2019 · 8 min read

The Knowledge Gap—A Review

This is a dimension where knowledge of the world—that same prior knowledge that needs activating—is the last thing that it would occur to anyone to actually teach children in schools.

Greg Ashman

8 Aug 2019 · 7 min read

What 'The Coddling of the American Mind' Gets Wrong About Early Education

Young people are told to trust their feelings, that what doesn’t kill them makes them weaker and that the world can be divided into goodies and baddies.

Greg Ashman

28 Sep 2018 · 8 min read

The Tragedy of Australian Education

The Gonski panel is the chorus and we are the audience. The play is the ongoing tragedy of Australian education.

Greg Ashman

11 Jun 2018 · 13 min read