From Nine to Noon, April 9, 2025
Listen to Nathaniel Swain, a former primary teacher turned education academic, who says streaming classes by ability level is not the way to go to lift achievement.
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School Shorts, Season 1, Episode 7, April 7, 2025, with Melissa Chan Green
The Forgetting Curve is a useful tool in understanding how best to try and remember all the learning that goes on at school - or anywhere for that matter!
Nathaniel Swain is a teacher, researcher and coach of great techniques to help children learn. In this episode he shares the importance of regular review instead of cramming for exams.
The discussion also touches on strategies for supporting young learners, the role of cultural context in education, and the need for personalised learning approaches. This episode will be useful for people of all ages who want to remember things!
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The Age, March 13, 2023, by Lucy Carroll and Adam Carey
In 2023, NAPLAN was moved from May to March, shifted entirely online, and introduced new proficiency standards to provide earlier insights into student learning. These changes raised concerns about student stress and equity. While not commenting directly on NAPLAN, Dr. Nathaniel Swain advocates for evidence-based teaching and a knowledge-rich curriculum, aligning with the goal of using assessments to better support learning.
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ABC National Radio, December 15, 2022
Is the size of your child's class the optimal size for learning? Are they being given the kind of homework evidence says is useful, if evidence says homework is useful at all?
These are the kinds of questions being asked by a national body set up to make sure Australian schools are using as much evidence-based practice as possible. Their first report is out now.
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SBS News, October 18, 2022
Listen to Nathaniel Swain, a former primary teacher turned education academic, who says students are coming to a ‘bottle-neck’ with their learning and we need to understand why this is the case.
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