HomeRESEARCH AREASEducation and Skills

Education and Skills

It is vital that Australia's education system exposes all sides of the important political issues to young people, and gives them the skills to participate in the modern world. However, many schools and universities are turning their back on free speech, and are indoctrinating children with political dogma. Here you will find our research on restoring freedom to education.

PUBLICATIONS

A Chance For Universities To Think Again

Matthew Lesh 15 November 2018 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

Free speech is fundamental to what it means to be a university. It is fundamental to undertaking research and ensuring students can grow intellectually. The government’s announcement that former...

PUBLICATIONS

IPA Welcomes Robert French-Led Free Speech On Campus Inquiry

Matthew Lesh 14 November 2018 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has welcomed the Government’s announcement that former Chief Justice of Australia Robert French will review freedom of speech at...

PUBLICATIONS

UTAS Risk To Freedom Of Expression And Human Rights

Matthew Lesh 7 November 2018 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

The University of Tasmania’s draft behaviour policy is a serious threat to freedom of expression and basic legal rights. The bedrock of university life is the ability to freely explore ideas. It...

PUBLICATIONS

Minister’s Veto Exposes The Rot Within The Humanities

Bella d'Abrera 1 November 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

The news that former federal education minister Simon Birmingham vetoed several humanities research projects submitted to the Australian Research Council last year has sparked a flurry of...

PUBLICATIONS

Reform ABC And Unis By Funding Cuts

John Roskam 5 October 2018 Education and skills, Ideas and liberty,

In a public debate in Canada a few months ago with the psychologist Jordan Peterson and the philosopher Sam Harris, Bret Weinstein, the American evolutionary biologist, got to the heart of the...

PUBLICATIONS

Universities Have A Duty To Protect Free Speech

Simon Breheny and Matthew Lesh 28 September 2018 Education and skills, Ideas and liberty,

Australia’s universities are public institutions with a corresponding legal responsibility to uphold free expression. This point was made by former High Court chief justice Robert French last week...

Originally appeared in The Australian

PUBLICATIONS

As Unis Stifle Free Speech, We Need A Law To Stop The Rot

Matthew Lesh 28 September 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

The federal government needs to introduce US-style campus free-speech legislation to safeguard free intellectual inquiry and open debate at Australia’s universities. We are in the midst of a...

Originally appeared in The Australian

PUBLICATIONS

Western Civilisation “Not Welcome Here”

Bella d'Abrera 27 September 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

In 2017, following the wishes of the late Paul Ramsay, a businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune in the healthcare industry, the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation was set up in...

IPA TODAY

University of Sydney Encourages Censorious Heckler’s Veto

Matthew Lesh 25 September 2018 Education and skills, Ideas and liberty,

The University of Sydney is encouraging censorship by charging security fees to student event organisers, according to free market think tank the Institute Public Affairs. University of Sydney...

PUBLICATIONS

National Curriculum Changes Should Sound Alarm Bells For Parents

Bella d'Abrera 21 September 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

THE changes to the national curriculum announced by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) last week should sound some very loud alarm bells for Australian parents...

Originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph

PUBLICATIONS

Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?

Matthew Lesh 3 September 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

In recent years behaviours on university campuses have created widespread unease. Safe spaces, trigger warnings, and speech codes. Demands for speakers to be disinvited. Words construed...

Originally appeared in Quillette

PUBLICATIONS

Universities Of The Closed Mind

Matthew Lesh 30 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

A series of leaked emails reveal the depths of prejudice and groupthink at Australia’s universities. In late May, Macquarie University academics were invited to a presentation by an Israeli. The...

Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia

PUBLICATIONS

University Regulator TEQSA Has Lost Its Way On Political Matters

Matthew Lesh 29 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

Australia’s university regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, is not only failing to protect free intellectual inquiry but its ideologically driven interventions are part...

Originally appeared in The Australian

PUBLICATIONS

The Ramsay Centre And How Our Academic Appeasers Censor Students’ Right To Learn

Renee Gorman 22 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

The University of Sydney’s jellyback Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence has given many excuses for why he may not accept the money from the Ramsay Centre. He has explained that he ‘rejects the...

Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia

PUBLICATIONS

Australian Unis Deliver Cookie Cutter Degrees

John Roskam 15 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

Everything you need to know about about the condition of humanities teaching in Australia’s universities is summed up in what happened last week at the University of Sydney. A hundred...

PUBLICATIONS

What Version of Western Civilization are Universities Offering Students?

Bella d'Abrera 14 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

The study of Western civilization in Australia is in crisis. This has come to light in the last few weeks following the Australian National University’s decisionto pull out from the...

Originally appeared in ABC Religion & Ethics

IPA TODAY

At Uni With Mrs Potato Head

Bella d'Abrera 9 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

These days, whenever a local council comes up with a lunatic idea that bewilders ordinary Australians, you can be guaranteed that there is a university behind it. Last month the Herald Sun...

Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia

IPA TODAY

Special Edition of The Young IPA Podcast – Interview with Mark Bauerlein

James Bolt 7 June 2018 Education and skills, Ipa today,

Mark Bauerlein is Professor of English at Emory University, and has been teaching at Emory since 1989. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post...

Education and Skills

BECOME A MEMBER of IPA